Kickstarter Alert: ‘NES” by Richie Palys

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I am a sucker for video game music, even those of the early beginnings that seem more like beeps and boops compared to today’ symphonies.  In my younger years, I could imagine the Mario Bros. or Zelda musical scores as so much more than they were.  So much so, that I actually heard them different in my head that they were actually playing out through my television speakers.  I was always more imaginative that my own good should have allowed.  So, naturally, when I found out about the trilogy of Nintendo albums that Richie Palys was creating, I was intrigued.

Currently, the first of the trio is searching for funds via KickStarter.  If the thought of synth-infused live jazz versions of your favorite Nintendo tunes is not enough to invite you to the page, then check out that cover artwork posted above.  This album is sure to be a feast for the senses, so be sure to give the album as much support as possible.  If you are not able to pledge with monetary assistance, please share it on your facebook wall, twitter feed, or your personal blog.  I, personally, cannot wait for the finished product.

“My name is Richie Palys and I’ve been a lifetime video game player and musician. I’ve been playing trombone and piano, in both jazz and classical styles, for 14 years. I’m in Chicago right now where I’m working on my master’s in composition because I aspire to be a video game composer. Throughout my life I’ve played games of every genre from every console getting my hands on anything retro I can find. The music from these games has instilled a great sense of nostalgia in my mind so as I began my musical journey, video game music was always influencing the way I compose and perform. I always figured I’d write some simple covers to my favorite Nintendo tunes, but about six months ago I decided on doing something spectacular. I decided on making a trilogy of albums, one for the NES, one for the SNES, and one for the N64. So I began writing for the first album, the NES album. All the music for this album is finished now and ready to get recorded. Because I grew up playing jazz and falling in love with it, the album is going to be in the style of jazz with a heavy emphasis on synth and production. So this is where things get amazing 🙂 Writing the album was a huge success but the coolest part about the album was how many unbelievably talented musicians wanted to be apart of it!

So let me go into detail about who’s on the album. To start, we have Matt Ulery, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Rob Clearfield, and Corbin Andrick, 5 of the hands-down best jazz musicians in Chicago recording on the album. The recording session will take place at a professional studio called Transient Sound here in Chicago. After that, an incredible musician and producer John Norman will be doing synthesizer work on the album, giving it that nostalgic, crunchy, 8-bit flavor. It will eventually get sent over to the UK where it will get mastered by Mark Dobson, who’s part of a group of producers, ’Ambassadeurs’, who are a huge deal in Europe’s electronic scene. And for our biggest news, mixing our album will be the grammy award winning James Auwarter, who’s gone triple platinum with Kanye West, gone platinum with Rihanna, gone gold with Ludacris and Lupe Fiasco, and has 30 grammy nominations on top of that! The amount of musicians on board and the high level of professional quality recording and production involved is what this Kickstarter is paying for. This is not going to be your run-of-the-mill cover album, this is going to be a huge production because I believe this is the way to truly honor Nintendo’s music!”

And here is the track listing:

Super Mario Bros. 2 – Level 1

Duck Tales – Moon Level

Bionic Commando – Level 1

Marble Madness – Level 2

Megaman 2 – Airman

Little Nemo: The Dream Master – Level 1

Ninja Gaiden – Mineshaft

Startropics – Dungeon Theme

The Legend of Zelda II: Link’s Adventure – Temple Theme

Essel Pratt has spent his life exploring his imagination and dreams. As a Husband and a Father, he doesn't have as much time to write as he would like. However, his mind is always plotting out his next story. Someday he hopes to quit the 9-5 grind and focus on writing full time. Currently, Essel has three published short stories and is working on a handful of novels. Essel focuses his writings on mostly Horror/Sci-Fi, however is known to add a dash of other genres into his writings as well. In his spare time, he can be found playing one of the 40+ video game consoles in his collection, especially his Wii U (NNID: EsselPratt). Click the links below to follow Essel's exploits in the writing world, and be sure to follow his blog at http://esselpratt.blogspot.com/ as well as his articles on Nerdzy.com.