Soundtracks from video games are the latest vinyl trend
Vinyl record sales are increasing every year, and remastered soundtracks from old and new video games are being released by speciality labels
The pursuit of rare, unreleased music has carried record geeks and reissue labels to every corner of the globe, from dusty attics to cobwebbed basements.
What used to be called “digging in the crates” for unheralded sounds, however, has recently shifted to less tangible realms, as archivists, devoted fans and boutique vinyl labels such as Ship to Shore PhonoCo, Data Discs and the LA-based Iam8bit shine their lights at more virtual worlds.
By transferring vintage video game scores onto long-playing records with deluxe packaging, multicoloured vinyl, original artwork and, most important, high-quality remastered recordings, music originally composed to propel action is finding new life.
Jon Gibson, co-owner of Iam8bit, notes the movement stresses “the notion that games are more than just the assembly of all the different parts. They can be dissected. You can appreciate game art. You can appreciate game music, and design, and characters and story. It’s all a cross-section that meets in the middle.”
Today video game scores aren’t too dissimilar from their counterparts in more established media, bringing some long overdue musical respect to the interactive space.
