THE 8-BIT CONSTRUCTION SET(self-titled) Record label: Beige Format: 12" Release date: 26 February 2001 Whatever areas of your brain are stored away with memories of endless hours playing classic games of yore, this 12-inch will bring them all back. The 8-Bit Construction set is a wonderfully nerdish project surrounding perhaps the most addictive of all hobbies: video games. The four-man crew just happens to be down with Michael Schwartz, a former bigwig at Activision (responsible for some of the most memorable video games of all time – any Pitfall ! or Kaboom! fans in the place?). The vinyl is emblazoned with the Atari logo on one side and the Commodore 64 logo on the other. Both sides are filled with samples from classic games: Pac Man, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Defender, Q*Bert, Commando, and a bunch of others. The wax also includes loops for the DJs and producers as well as two original songs created on the C64 and Atari 800XL. But perhaps the most amazing thing about this release is the data programs encoded into the wax. Remember the tape drives for the 800XL and C64? If you were to dub these programs onto cassette and play them in their respective tape drives, they’ll actually work. And the program for the C64 is a Roland 303 simulator! A little something for everyone on this release – way too much of a collectible to leave behind in the store. {downtempo don}
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