Disasterpeace – NEUTRALITE
A story untold in the times of the Warring Nations. This is the narrative of Neutralite, a young hero chosen by elders of Neutral Town to protect their village from the unfolding conflict between the Plaid and Argyle nations prominent in Atebite and the Warring Nations.
01 Neutralite the Hero
02 Funky Fruitstand
03 Neutral Morning
04 Spirit Square
05 Grey Daycare Riot
06 Violent Violet Garden
07 Treasury of the Children – cowritten by Spamtron
08 Gobber Groove – cowritten by Spamtron
09 Untold Ending
Artwork by Rich Vreeland.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:46 pm
I’m really looking forward to hearing this. “8bit Genious” should be the subtitle to all Disasterpeace’s works.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:10 am
cant wait to hear this, cereal code is amazing;)
August 1st, 2007 at 1:22 am
Each second of each song of each disasterPEACE album holds within its own trademark beauty. How does one man harness the power necessary to sculpt so masterfully on levels so minute? Some assert that he is the product of a secret military experiment gone horribly awry. Others claim that he fell from the sky as a comet passed close to Earth. And yet still there are those who are convinced that he is no mere man, but an ancient machination left behind by mankind’s forerunners.
Upon the fulfillment of the prophecies and coming of the end times, his true nature will be revealed in the final symphony that will carry us all to infinity.
August 4th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Soooooooooooo Good!
August 8th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
This music is new, interesting, and completely beautiful.
August 9th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
I wasn’t too much into chiptune until hearing disasterpeace here on II.
Rich’s music is a basket of tasty sounds that blend flavours of Final Fantasy 7 and Cave Story into a delicious homogenised ambience.
August 12th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
awesome!
i love it
August 18th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
i wished i’d known that this dude did 8bit tunes back when i was in school with him, it would have made for a sick collaboration.
DP’s music has definitely evolved to the level which you’d considered to be professionally produced to go along with nes releases.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
x____________________________x
totally freaked out
February 18th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
8-bit Beauty, Great songs!
April 15th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Writers say it’s good to start off with a personal anecdote, so here we go: I love video games. I love the interactivity; I love seeing the various art styles; I love being able to just pick one up and tune out for hours at a time; but most of all, I love the music that is incorporated into them. It can be happy, sad, frightening, etc., but it almost always happens to be incredibly catchy. Sometimes the music is the defining part of a video game; the Super Mario Bros. theme comes to mind (It’s so catchy you’re probably humming it right now). As a little kid, these little electronic ditties were the soundtrack to my life, and they made me more curious about music as I grew older.
Now here I am at 17 years old, having gone through many different tastes in music: from the blips of the nintendo to alternative rock, to industrial, to ambient house, to electronica and then to motherfucking classical. And now, it seems, I have come full circle in my listening habits as I sit here listening to Disasterpeace’s Neutralite.
Disasterpeace, a one piece outfit manned by Rich Vreeland, has been part of the chiptune scene for a while. Chiptune, sometimes known as chip music, is music written in formats where the sounds are made in real time using a computer or video game chip. It is very closely related to video game music in that the medium they use is identical. Ironically enough, Vreeland actually uses commercial synthesizers that are patched to sound like the bleeps and bloops of yesteryear, so it is somewhat of a misnomer to call him a chiptune artist. Vreeland has released four albums so far: Jammage the Jam Mage, Level, Atebite & The Warring Nations and Neutralite.
Alright, let’s get to the goddamn review. The initial thoughts you have while listening to Neutralite may go like this:
What the hell are all these little beeps and boops?
Answer: it’s eight bits of pure musical fun, and it’s coming down on your poor, deluded head.
Neutralite manages to capture the catchiness of old game music without being trapped in the genres offtime simplicity. From the first track, “Neutralite the Hero”, to the last, “Untold Ending”, the melodic assault of simple waveforms and a drum machine never relent, making for a rocking, nostalgic, and ultimately fun listening experience.
I’m not going to describe every song in this review, so allow me to review the highlights:
* Neutralite the Hero – The first song on the album, it manages to capture the spirit of the work as a whole. It also is the only track on the album to include vocals (synthesized, however).
* Neutral Morning – Bouncy, bombastic drums guide the song along to a point along thirty seconds in where the feeling changes from joyous to epic, finally leading to a beautiful arpeggio and then a reprise of the theme.
* Grey Daycare Riot – A poppy song with a four-to-the-floor beat that almost becomes boring until all hell breaks loose and it turns into a chaotic mathrock thrash.
All in all, Disasterpeace’s Neutralite captures the simple joy that comes from the noises of a Nintendo Entertainment System while conveying music that stands in it’s own right. I give it 9/10.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Thank you for ruling.
June 15th, 2008 at 6:20 am
I am still listening to this like every day.
June 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am
thanks Tom! glad you like it.
June 16th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I wish there was some way for you to score my life, but I know my life is not nearly exciting enough to merit that. I mean, how many times can you write a song about me looking for a job and getting drunk? Amazing release!
August 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Wow! It is an awesome album!
This free one make me want to buy your new one and I think I’ll do.
But I have one question, the sing in the 1st song is not made by a console, right?
October 5th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Yah, this is amazing. I was addicted as soon as that synth-voice came in on track 1.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:55 am
Yep, this is grand stuff. If you ever want collaborate, perhaps on a concept album, I’d be interested.
Take a listen if you’d to see if you are:
http://drop.io/hidden/9zgm881ss39f1d/asset/bW9kdWxlNDM5dG9tZmxlZXN0aGVwaXJhdGVzd2l0aHRoZW1vdG9yYm9hdGhlc3RvbGVmcm9tdGhlbS1tcDM=
September 9th, 2009 at 12:40 am
This album is Pheonominal…….I fuckin love it…thank you
July 8th, 2010 at 11:47 am
You need to slap BY-SA on this!
July 8th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
This album is great. I feel sad I didn’t discover it sooner.
August 10th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Whoa.
Those chip sounds are ballsy.