Album Review - Stemage "Where Good Marbles Go to Die"
After remaining undecided on which two albums to feature on a "Twofer Tuesday" edition of Album August #LiveTweet reviews, a random retweet about a brand new release solidified the listening content. Following the link sent me off to a bandcamp-listen of new music from Perelandra Records' artists. For whatever reason, I chose to start with the album closer, which opened my ears to the wonderful music of Stemage.
Before you read this review, I want you to leave all preconceived notions of "video game music" at the door". Why? Because while there are plenty of listeners out there who straddle the line tween the discord and rhyme of remixed/recomposed game music, there are plenty more who might not give it a second thought. If you do that, you will miss out on music like the incredibly eclectic and rocking sounds contained with this album.
Where Good Marbles Go to Die is a loving tribute to the music of the arcade classic, Marble Madness. Within its notes, Stemage teams up with seven different musicians to craft an incredibly diverse set of covers of the game's soundtrack, originally composed by Brad Fuller and Hal Canon.
"60" - The album opener is an absolute monster, pairing Stemage with game composer and developer, Disasterpeace. I had to listen to this track multiple times back to back because it is just so beautifully done. There are echoes of Pete Townshend in the way the synthesizers bed the piece (much like in "Baba O'Riley"). These melodically building synth lines power it past the two minute mark, where the familiar Marble Madness theme notes appear. It is also the ear-grabbing blending of electronics and guitar that make this song so incredibly good.
"Pipe Dream" - This song pairs Stemage with flautist Lauren Liebowitz of video game tribute band, Descendants of Erdrick. It is rather amazing how much, just over the course of these first two songs, they've expanded on the original's limits, isn't it? And quite frankly, outside of Jethro Tull and Hocus Pocus, there is an utter dearth of flute in rock music. It is almost frightening how Stemage's arrangements are revealing so much more of Brad Fuller and Hal Canon's original pieces.
"F.F.F." - A rocking duet between Stemage and fellow game music updater, norg. Palm mute driven headbanging kicks things off. These guys got prog in my vgm, and I love it!
"Dust" - This piece features game musician (and NES Paul guitar creator) XOC, playing a much quieter piece, which belies the ballistic nature of the rest of the music to come. Experimental. Atmospheric. Weird. But quiet goes loud @ the 1:30mark.
"Ballbusting Wallbird" - Stemage and Kirby Pufocia go absolutely bananas and to some crazy interesting places on this one. The hardcore opening salvo visits a more melodious place midway through and through further evolutions as it progresses. A challenging listen in a good way.
"Blackballed" - Stemage and housethegrate. Another song rooted in heavy metal, but drifting more melodic from the previous one. The guitar riffing definitely sounds reminiscent of late period Iron Maiden. Standing on the edge of melody and progging out.
"High Roller" - Twin guitar RAWK from Stemage and VikingGuitar. This is instant air guitar material and absolutely goes to 11. Bet you didn't expect this listen to get this heavy when you read it was a game covers album, did you?
Where Good Marbles Go To Die by Stemage and his guest musicians is a perfect example of how great a video game covers album can be. These aren't a group of untrained kids thrashing about their garage. These are real musicians and this set of songs (and many of their other creations you can find by exploring their various pages) should go a long way in convincing those that would not normally listen to this type of music to give it a spin.
Or...
TL;DR
Three words: Yes, yes and YES! Download this, twice!
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