Sound Test

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Sound Test

SOUND TEST on 104.3 WAYO-FM brings out the finest from Video Game Music, Chiptunes, and the Demoscene

28/06/2025

As the Rochester Jazz Festival draws to another close, I think about all the traffic I have to avoid downtown so I can get into the studio. The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Jazz Album also comes to mind as well. There's a lot of great sultry, upbeat, fusion, and straight-up jazz in video games, but this album always takes the cake.

Going to play a lot of jazz, but definitely kicking things off of this album's version of Fragrance of Dark Coffee. It's still been one of my favorites for many, many years.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

21/06/2025

Approaching 20 years old, yet still embedded in our current nostalgia yearnings and many facets of internet culture, the Nintendo Wii remains a monolith of unprecedented video game accessibility. The irony of “hardcore” gamers glossing over the core demographic and family orientated nature of the console at the time and the current pining over the era the Wii existed in remains topically funny to me. There’s no escaping the Wii’s impact.

A huge reason behind this tour de force is its audio/visual design. The iconic ambient mallets over the menu, the infectious Wii Shop music, or the silly keys when creating a Mii. Colorful audio follows every aspect of the Wii, alongside memorable user interface choices with the Wiimote in mind.

Where am I going with this? What about the games? There’s honestly enough music in the Wii that it warrants its own set. Wii Sports moderately counts as it is as ubiquitous as the Wii itself, but nothing beats Wii Shop Wednesday.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on a borderline nostalgia pandering edition of Sound Test on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

07/06/2025

Nothing but Commodore Amiga and other Impulse/ProTracker jams tonight! Classic pulls from the demoscene and other wacky finds from among the digital shelves as they continue to collect dust, but are never forgotten.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

31/05/2025

Sometimes I wonder why I gravitate to particular soundtracks every couple of months - Bastion, FTL, all things Lifeformed. These were definitive building blocks in the show’s early set list and then I realize some critics and players defined a “Golden Age of Indie Games”, roughly 2008-2017. Some people are more conservative with this timeline. What does this mean? And are there still good indie games in this present, five years out from the dawn of the pandemic?

I’ll be playing music from these games and more (as per usual it seems) tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

24/05/2025

Back again this week with a helping of music from a defunct 1990s Japanese game company! We love palatability!!

Produce came and went like a flash, with a notable foundation from former Irem (R-Type, X-Multiply) employees. Perhaps their biggest release remains The 7th Saga, aka Elnard, for the Super Nintendo. An exotic, surreal JRPG experience became notorious overseas with balance patches that basically makes the game unplayable for most due to its sheer difficulty. They're also known for the Super Bomberman series, Brain Lord, and even a strange rhythm game published by Namco.

The music is utterly top notch, and it's awesome to get into the weeds with more obscure games. Not much is known about the core creatives beyond minor footnotes, so it's time to "Produce" a good set out of their games' soundtracks.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

17/05/2025

When you realize that you didn’t upload a remote show right and it’s ten on the dot… and crickets ten minutes later.

No show tonight! I’ll be back next week, but for now, appreciate the anguish of my favorite postman.

03/05/2025

Slop this, glaze that. Maybe I’m getting old but even the way we talk about games is getting to me. Seeing these prices too is driving me bonkers. From the day I saw the bonkers Balatro BAFTA Game Award moment I’ve been eternally thinking about it. Everything was true. "What is art in 2025 but a thinly veiled vessel of ruthless commercial self-interest through which rich people try to make even more money?"

Extremely grateful for my aging “retro” consoles for even turning out.

Playing a lot of indie jams and some other beeps tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM! Wacky!

26/04/2025

Every now and then I get on a real cape kick - and I'm not really about the whole Disney's Marvel vibe. I've happily never owned a single funko pop in my life. But sometimes I just think that comic books are absolutely neat, and I've done some crusader based sets before for sure.

Definitely want some spotlight on some of the lengthy Jesper Kyd tracks, including from a cancelled 32X X-Men title that had some songs retooled into the massive The Adventures of Batman and Robin.

Putting on the obligatory Tim Follin tracks as well.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

19/04/2025

Vaporwave is dead, long live vaporwave. Or any other variation of that sentence.

I’ve been seeing a lot of articles and videos about how the weariness and angst with technology, and rampant rise and falls of other micro genres of music. What does this have to do with video game music and chiptunes?

Vaporwave was one of my favorite sneak in genres to put into my shows, or even after the fact for a special set. There’s a lot of overlap between various video game aesthetics and the design of vaporwave - Re: Dreamcast. While a lot of this focus as shifted to more Y2K movements, vaporwave still has a special place in my heart. So I’m doing a set that’s still mostly video game centric, but it’s back to a true creature comfort for me.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

12/04/2025

The Minecraft soundtrack has officially been added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress. There's also a certain movie involving dozens of people screaming "chicken jockey" at the top of their lungs.

Sure, this is teeing up to a well timed Minecraft set for tonight's show, but I definitely feel the immense cultural impact of this game as I thought about how do I even talk about it. Many people, especially ones who grew up with this game, have delved far deeper into the social aspect of Minecraft far more than I ever have. I immensely respect that. I'll have fun trying to revisit some ancient memories of me messing around in the alpha test.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

04/04/2025

Are those eggs or puppies? Eternally pondering this question since I was a kid.

HAL Laboratories is commonly referred to as Nintendo’s earliest second-party developer, meaning that the company primarily develops and publishes games on only a specific set of consoles owned by the same group. They’re of course known for Kirby, Super Smash Bros., and Mother.

Their roots in gaming run prior to Nintendo, however, with The Adventures of LoLo series being a notable example with titles originally releasing on the MSX home computer. Many Nintendo “second-parties” share a similar history, such as a Game Freak.

Tonight’s show looks beyond the flagship titles while still recognizing their significance. It’s a great way for me to process all things Switch 2. See you tonight at 10:00 PM on WAYO 104.3 FM!

29/03/2025

Somehow my USB-C drive that contains the massive trove of beeping noises bent, which is a mystery I may never solve. Inbetween bending it back while having everything copy over, I made a rag-tag but immensely pleasant chiptune set for tonight. My mood is the GameBoy Camera error screen. It’s usually that these days.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM 104.3 WAYO-FM!

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