8-Bit Improv

(JAZZ/NINTENDO FUNK)

First things first, most of you are going to need a back story. Once upon a time, the cool music for the rebellious youth culture was not made by computers or drum machines of any sort. It was made with a live band improvising on the spot with their own instruments, a set of scales to follow and a shitload of heroin (well, not always... but usually... for the good ones anyways). The music came from the black community in New Orleans, spread to bigger cities like New York and Chicago, and then worldwide in the 20's and 30's. What I'm talking about, of course, is jazz. One of the most talented actors within this movement, and to his contemporaries and fans alike by far the coolest, was Miles Davis. If you have never heard his name before, do me a favor and smash your head, temple first, against your computer desk (if you're reading this from a lap top, any hard surface will do).

Now, I don't expect most of our readers to be too huge into jazz, Meta and myself haven't exactly been covering our knowledge of the older stuff on this blog and I don't think that's what most our audience comes here checking for. However, I'm going to put everyone on to the most classic jazz album of all time today, as well as a zany little remix project of the very same album.


The cool motherfucker in the smoky room pictured directly above is Miles Davis. In 1959, he assembled a dream ensemble with alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, tenor saxophonist John Coltrane (aka the fucking man), pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, and the whole crew got together to create 'Kind of Blue.' At the time it was released, it shook up the world of jazz and influenced how music was made from that point on based on the virtuosity each of the artists exhibited in the project. In terms of it's lasting impact, it was ranked the 12th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone (I know, whoop-de-doo) and was quadruple platinum as of October 2008. If this interests ya, download, listen, and love it...

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Now, I just saw something on Musical Schizophrenia that puts a zany twist on the album more than 50 years after it's initial release. It's a remix project in some 8-bit crunchy old school SNES/Sega Genesis style sounds. I'm not huge into the skwee stuff that's been catching on, but 8-Bit sounds are a huge part of my childhood (through all the video games I played as a youth) and I know Meta will gobble this shit up like a chocolate cake dipped in MSG, and I'm sure some of you guys and gals will vibe off it too. Download, listen, love...

Various Artists - Kind of Bloop