Doctor Octoroc's Nintendo-based tribute to The Flaming Lips - Soft Bits In album review
It's Doctor Octoroc. When he creates a project people should pay attention. The project us people are paying attention to now is Soft Bits In, a tribute to the album The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips.
I am almost completely unfamiliar with The Flaming Lips, but do enjoy chiptunes and music by Doctor Octoroc. I've been listening to chiptunes, game music, and rearrangements of game music for about 20 years, and now I'm over here having to learn about Grammy award winning, Tony nominated pop artists too?
I'm not actually mad. I know who The Flaming Lips are. I'm only slightly familiar with the Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots album, and absolutely nothing else. Also, were they the band with the guy in the bubble. Now every performer needs to perform in a bubble. No, I'm not going to listen to any The Flaming Lips for this review. I don't even play every game that belong to these OSTs I listen to. I'm going in blind. I did look at their wikipedia page, but no more.
One thing for sure, is this is one chill, upbeat album. Makes me feel better about myself. Fits right in with all that lofi boom bap the kids love these days. And for the adults, it's a loving tribute to a fantastic indie pop album from 20 years ago. Everyone wins.
You don't have to know much if anything at all about The Flaming Lips to enjoy this album. Just getting to enjoy the breadth and range Doctor Octoroc can pull out of these classic machines makes for a fun and fascinating listen. It's like listening to Hi Fidelity NES and Game Boy music. The music sounds familiar of course. For me, often evoking memories of the Kirby's Adventure soundtrack on the NES side, and Pokemon on the Game Boy end, but they sound like richer, fuller versions of classic game soundtracks like these.
There are a lot of small textures in these songs. Some random fuzz, or a floating crunchy sound effect that really bring out the complexity and tone of what could be a simple note for note translation of the original tracks. Doctor Octoroc seems to take on passion projects, I don't know what he'll art up next, or even what medium it might be in, but when there is a project he wants to do, he puts his whole heart and mind to it, and it shows in all the nuance that ends up in his projects like this.
Is Doctor Octoroc really only using an NES and Game Boy for this album? Not that I doubt him, but I don't often hear drums like those on "Race for the Prize" on these consoles. I had to keep cranking up the track to enjoy that nice round kick drum sound.
I know "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" is a cover of a song by a popular rock band, but I just hear a dope chill RPG village theme. The song really sticks with you due to that extra catchy run up to the ending. As the instruments slow down and fade into a dreamlike fading of tones.
Then we've got the "The Spark That Bled." It starts out with a fast paced background beat along the gentle high notes that take over the track. Though the track starts off softly like the previous tracks, then we hit that heavy, slow moving chorus with that nice fat bass lines. From here it becomes a more adventurous track with some emotional sounding highs
"The Spiderbite Song" has a simple rhythm to it. A relaxing, restful anthem with just a touch of fleeting sounds and the thump of some chunky drum sounds. The final minute of this track is where it really shines. The chill melody slowly drifts towards a wonderful collection of small riffs that really drive home the amount of tones the doctor is getting out of his instruments of choice. All until it drops off in a fading echo.
That intro descirbes the track "Buggin'" perfectly. Really feels like an 8 bit fly is swirling around my head. Very cool, but discomforting. It fades out quickly into the actual track. The deep tuba-esque bass helps carry an upbeat little tune that quickly shifts into something more bombastic. The bass and drums drop off and we get some very Game Boy driven high notes. Then it all comes back to earth with that groovy intro melody. The track builds on the riff, intertwining it with the other sections of the song. As the track winds down, the music actually begins to build rapidly in pace until a crescendo rises and falls into more 8 bit buzzing.
"What is the Light?" Starts off hard. Those thumping drums lead the way through a somewhat more sparse track than we've heard so far. The notes feel a little more deliberate, the lingering notes drift over the rolling drums and keep the music moving briskly forward. Definitely the type of song that makes you walk down the street with a little more confidence than normal.
Ominous is a good decription of "The Observer." Really changes up the mood this album has had so far. The marching drums and organ like tone of the lead soundwaves create a dark, foreboding atmosphere. There aren't too many shifts or changes, it just chugs creepily along until the creepy end.
Things are a lot more relaxed on "Waitin' for a Superman," but still somber. The mood is now quite serious. There is a longing to it, which makes sense considering the song title.
"Suddenly Everything Has Changed" seems to have a more Konami like mood than the other songs. Very Castlevania, or maybe Contra to open up, but then it gets into a much more adventurous, almost Mystical Ninja style. High, almost whistling tones along with a wonderful little touch of static make this a standout intro on the album. Soon the track shifts into an almost funeral song, save for a few light flourishes that begin to pop out. Before you know it, things are sounding much more optimistic. Eventually the tune shifts into an upbeat march and finally a victory theme.
There is quite some pomp to kick off "The Gash." It winds into a funky little riff and then the slamming of drums really makes this a banger. These are some legit drum crashes, they are legitimately the sound effect of waves crashing against the shore.
Okay, this intro to "Slow Motion" is the most video game thing on the album. Sounds like I just started a Mega Man stage, don't lie to me. The music transitions into a nice slow groove. It really revives a lot of the emotions from the first half of the album.
"Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" is romantic and dreamlike. Soft, brush tipped drum sticks pound out a light melody. There is a twinge of pain in the music, like reflecting on a nice memory of someone you no longer have with you.
Right from the opening notes of "Sleeping on the Roof," you can feel that this is the final track on the album. Like any good rock album, whether indie rock or chiptune indie rock, it needs that slow, serious ending track to let you know it really is the end of the full album experience. As the song winds down it also seems to build up until the track finally fades out.
This album was an experience. No wonder Doctor Octoroc got it funded pretty quickly on Kickstarter. Now it's here for fans of Doctor Octoroc, The Flaming Lips, or quality chiptune music, Grab the album on Doctor Octoroc's album page for Soft Bits In on Bandcamp.
“With NME Magazine’s 1999 album of the year as the focus, “Soft Bits In” takes the capabilities of retro video game hardware to the limits in order to create a faithful instrumental chiptune arrangement of the entirety of “The Soft Bulletin” by The Flaming Lips, using only a Nintendo Entertainment System and a Gameboy as the voices.
credits
released July 4, 2021
Arranged, recorded and mastered by Levi Buffum.”
