Video game composer Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka - also known as Chip Tanaka - has just released his first full album, and the opening single Beaver even has its own animated music video featuring Michael Jackson, several disembodied breasts and Donald Trump. The album is called Django and it launches today.
Tanaka created the music for games like Earthbound, Metroid, Super Mario Land, Kid Icarus and Balloon Fight, and today is president of Creatures, which is involved with the Pokémon franchise.
As well as working on music, Tanaka has assisted in many of Nintendo's hardware ventures, including the Famicom and Game Boy audio hardware, as well as the NES Zapper, Game Boy Camera, and Game Boy Printer.
Here's the official PR:
As an innovator who has been transmitting game music across the globe since the 1980s when he worked as a sound engineer at Nintendo, Hirokazu Tanaka knows chipsounds. His illustrious career has taken him from games (EarthBound Beginnings, EarthBound, Super Mario Land) to TV (the Pokémon animated series) to feature films. And now , for the first time ever, he is releasing a complete album under his stage name, Chip Tanaka.
For two decades, Tanaka has been channeling his singular inner whimsy and his love for reggae, dub, and techno to bridge the gap between game music and dance music. This collection of 13 tracks from his own personal label represents a new creative pinnacle. The music video for the lead tr ack, “Beaver,” has been produced by Jun Oson, known for his prolific work in the Asahi Shogakusei Shinbun newspaper, the NHK Educational TV series Aware! Meisakukun, and a number of advertising projects.
Says Tanaka, whose live shows have taken him across Japan and abroad: “If my music can be divided into ʻfor adultsʼ and ʻfor kids,ʼ then this is the culmination of m y harder side, the kind of game music you hear in EarthBoundʼs battle tracks.”
You can purchase Django from iTunes and Bandcamp. It's also available for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 58
Awesome, that Trump image though...
That video gave my brain diarrhea.
I'm usually not one to pick up random albums, but I am definitely not watching that video!
Dude, you're a chiptune guy, not Bob Dylan. Probably best to stay away from political imagery.
I did like the melody though.
What a lovely bunch of Coconuts
@thesilverbrick Give your brain some Imodium, that should clear it up😉
So menny hiden things... lol
Is this the Nintendo composer that denied that Japan committed war crimes against several Asian countries?
Anywhoo, who animated that thing?
I feel like there's supposed to be a message somewhere.............or maybe I'm just crazy.
Everything about that was terrible.
LOL, what the heck did I just watch?
I decided to play the video without watching it just so I could hear the music, and... it doesn't sound good.
@QwertyQwerty Ah yes... finding that out was kinda painful. Since I love DQ games.
In fact, my first JRPG was a DQ game.
The price converts to about €13, already picked it up earlier today, quite enjoying it on random loop.
Disturbing but funny at the same time XD
The music was quite lovely. Can't wait for this music to hit my "Slime Girls" and "Anamanaguchi" radio stations.
I should have read the article first... I started the video and was like "Ummm, I really could have used a NSFW warning."
My cat makes better music than this.
That was terrible. Low quality animation, boobs everywhere, with balloon and palm tree penises too. Music wasn't even good, either. Meanwhile, this guy, like all the others, doesn't seem to have a positive impression of Trump, when he doesn't live in America. Where have I seen that before...
Stick to the games, man.
EDIT: I just now noticed the poop on the sidewalk. Very classy.
I will take the role of the contrarian here and say that I thoroughly enjoyed that. This is the kind of trippy sh*t I live for!
God the animation is just awful. I seen better from amateurs on youtube.
Not to be critical of this article in particular, but where the heck are the reviews?! We just got a dump of games this week, and this is what we focus on?
@Reignmaker ugh stop with the "this article isn't a review so why aren't you working on them instead of this" BS.
Must be tough to comprehend multiple people work on this site on different things. Also lets rush reviews shall we.
@10-zx You don't need to live in a country to have a negative opinion of its leader.
Lol at all the squares in this thread. Great track, fun video too.
Would have thought a liberal Japanese musician would have been criticizing Abe or the refocus on nationalism in his own country before looking to others, but I guess Trump is more recognizable. Big fan of chiptunes, but the track was a sincere letdown; hopefully the rest of his album is substantially better.
@Tarvaax
But when you live in a different country, your opinion is much less valid because their policies don't directly affect you.
And before you say it, the travel ban is not an example. That is for America's safety, which has so far been doing a good job.
Cool, reminds me a bit of De De Mouse. Nice to see Tanaka is still making music!
Earthbound bass n drums and Animal Crossing voices all on a happy trippy reggae dub. What a grower. I can imagine this in a Mother 4 nightclub, or performed by K.K. Slider on a disco evening in the Animal Crossing café. I hope Tanaka has some trippier, darker tunes on the album as well.
That video though.. well, I thought it was ok until it repated some of the scenes. Fortunately, I don't need videos on my music.
Nothing can beat his old tunes though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSSNEKO6Sf0
Now I'm excited for the continuation.
Not trippy enough.
OMG, WTF did I just watch? Seriously what is this garbage and how could this have come from the guy that wrote so many classic melodies? The music I guess is ok, but that video...I mean honestly....that might be the worst thing I've ever seen. I'm going to need a lot of 'dust' for that to make sense at all.....
@JHDK Political imagery is fair game for any artist, in my opinion. I've never understood critique of an artist as though their work needs to solely reflect the art world.
@10-zx Except when our leader regularly antagonizes N. Korea as Japan and S. Korea sit within close striking range of said country.
Not looking to start a debate. Just saying.
We need to make video game music great again
@RobotReptile
I'll give you that.
@AyeHaley you're totally within your rights to be annoyed by me being annoyed...hopefully you can cope.
But seriously, NL...get the reviews out.
@dereq
anal fixation?
@RobotReptile
really? trump is the antagonist and North Korea lobbing missiles over Japan and explicitly threatening nuclear holocaust is what...? rational?
@Reignmaker We also didn't get review code until the day of release for many of this week's games. Purely FYI.
Well I really enjoyed that! Trippy af is my kind of music video.
And making fun of Trump is just icing on the cake 😂
@RobotReptile
Actually, I take that back. SayGuh is right.
It doesn't matter how close S.K. and Japan are. North Korea must be stopped.
At least Trump is doing a hell of a lot more than Obozo ever did.
Watch out, we got a liberal here. #43
Nice tune, cool video. I hope that beaver gets out of his infinite loop and gets to enjoy some of the things in his daydream.
I consider myself a fan of chiptune, but I can't say I really enjoyed the tune in the video.
Shame, because I otherwise really like the composer.
That throbbing penis-shaped heart made my day!! (the boobies one also).
I liked his game music better
don't know why, but it kinda reminds me of cuphead.
great track/video, talented guy. I would buy but cant find an english site to get it from
Seems the guy went the way of Kojima*.
*completely cuckoo
guys it’s just a trippy video using imagery from the zeitgeist. it’s not a political essay. just vibe with it. or don’t
This is so bizarrely weird, I can't help but like it.
(...badger, badger, badger, badger, MUSHROOM, MUSHROOM!)
Fever dream.
Very cool song and video . I'll keep my eye on him.
@Damo Ah, gotcha. It's all out of love, man. Eager to read what you guys have to say.
@SayGuh okay. It’s getting a bit out of context now. My initial comment was in defense of people of other countries having the right to critique foreign (in this case our) leaders/ politics and use said imagery.
I largely agree with your subsequent opinion, and underlines why critiques of foreign leaders/politics are valid. In response to @10-Zx
But this also a Nintendo site, and meant as a chilled statement, so catch ya later 🖖
@RobotReptile
Whatever, man.
@RobotReptile
i can understand not wanting to pursue politics on a nintendo site:)
thanks for the consideration and civility
Not very good to be honest. By the way, I didn't know he is the president of Creatures.
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