Cat Temper
Evocative of a time when video games were relatively new and held potential wonder beyond their humble design. The delightfully crunchy sounds, fun melodies and clever progressions bring to mind vivid mini adventures filled with magic and mystery.
Allister Thompson
Even though I've been alive a long time, I've never really played a video game. Maybe about 5 times in my life. But fortunately, Jan is so a talented that it doesn't even matter what inspired these charming tunes. Fun and melodic, as always.
Favorite track: Play Until You Fall Asleep.
Quittiie
The listening party for Tipentap Video Games ended just some minutes ago and holy moly, Jan delivered big time on this little album. It perfectly captures the mood of the 8-bit and 16-bit video game era without losing the Uncle Fido signature feel-good atmosphere we all love.
Favorite track: Tetristroika.
7 years ago today (on the release date), on March 3, 2017, a revolutionary gaming console was launched worldwide: Nintendo Switch. March 3 is thus a perfect day to celebrate video gaming.
This album, Tipentap Video Games, had been in the works for a long time. Last Tipentap album, Tipentap Extra Mile, was released 4 months ago, and it was Uncle Fido’s 17th album.
17 albums x 7 tracks = 119 tracks. Last year’s special track “They Are Dreaming” for the most loyal Uncle Fido fans makes it 120 tracks, and together with the track called “Щедрик”, which Uncle Fido released on the world’s first comp for Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia in 2022, “Blue and Yellow”, it is 121 tracks.
This new album, Tipentap Video Games, introduces seven brand new tracks, so the total count is now 128. And 128 is a very special number for gaming:
128 bits is significant in computing as it represents a common word size for processors, allowing them to process data in larger chunks, which can improve performance in certain applications.
In the context of 8-bit computing and gaming, the number 128 is significant because it represents the maximum value that can be stored in a signed 8-bit integer. In binary, 128 is represented as 10000000. This limitation is important in programming and designing systems where memory and computational resources are constrained, such as in early video game consoles and microcontrollers.
In video games, 128 is often associated with player counts in multiplayer matches or servers. Games like “Counter-Strike" and "Battlefield" have popularized 128-player servers for large-scale battles, adding to the intensity and scale of gameplay.
128 has often been the size of memory (e. g. Atari 2600 had 128 bytes of memory, and Commodore 128 had 128 KB of memory), cache, and drives, too. 128-bit key size encryption for secure communications over the Internet, 128 possible states on a seven-segment display, 128 characters in ASCII, 128-bit data bus to memory on graphics cards, etc., etc. – 128 is everywhere in computing and gaming.
Mathematically, 128 is the seventh power of 2. It is the largest number which cannot be expressed as the sum of any number of distinct squares – but it is divisible by the total number of its divisors, making it a refactorable number. It is also the only 3-digit number that is a 7th power.
I digress, sorry.
This album contains sounds from the 8-bit and 16-bit periods of gaming, as an homage to those legendary eras of Nintendo, Sega, Atari and early computer games in general, games that Uncle Fido used to play – games he’d like the two puppies, Tipentap, love like he had loved them.
Many attempts to make this album sound right were made. The early attempts all sounded like average chiptune tracks. As much as I like chiptune as a genre, and admire the musicians and programmers who can make it properly – definitely much better than I could ever do – I didn’t want this album to sound like tracker music. So I had to start from scratch and change my approach fundamentally.
I hope you’ll love the result. The full album is coming out on the Nintendo Switch anniversary (March 3) but prior to that, on March 1, there will be its Listening Party where you’ll hear it in its entirety for the first time, and I’ll discuss making this album, if you’re interested.
Thank you very much for your ongoing support, and have a blast with “Tipentap Video Games”!
Ambient traditionalists say to Binaural Space what the Emperor said to Mozart: “Too many notes.” In both cases, the rest of the world tends to disagree.
Great album that doesn't take itself too seriously but stands the test of multiple listens anyway (just yesterday I enjoyed a 2-hour drive accompanied only with the 4 pre-released tracks tremendously) Binaural Space
Fun, multi-genre album full with motley ideas in the best sense of the word, with that typical melodic and harmonic magic only ACY can provide. Currently my fav ACY album – and that's something! Binaural Space
Powerful and yet intimate, deep and yet full of light, haunting but optimistic. This EP has a special atmosphere thanks to the brilliantly selected timbres and sounds... and the vocal. Great name, too Binaural Space
supported by 15 fans who also own “Tipentap Video Games”
I know this theme well being an 80s stoned teen.. we skipped getting the hall pass..we dropped out and living up the 80s beach life and arcade nights at the Merritt Island Square Mall 🌴🌞💋 Shane Dangers