8-Bit Rally Soundtrack

8-Bit Rally Soundtrack, poisoncut, 2011

Despite the album title, this is not one of the many retro exercises in NES-style chiptune. Instead, poisoncut makes full use of contemporary sounds and production techniques. At the same time, he subtly alludes to the music of the games that inspired 8-Bit Rally – chiefly the Lotus and Top Gear franchises. In a sense, that puts him in a fortunate position. The Lotus and Top Gear soundtracks never developed a single unmistakable signature sound, despite certain recurring stylistic traits. This means poisoncut does not need to mimic specific musical gestures. He is free to work within his own style of melodic, high-octane electronic music. In the end, that proves more than enough to maintain continuity with 8-Bit Rally’s musical inspirations.

The soundtrack differs most obviously from the Lotus and Top Gear scores in its melody-driven nature. One listen to opening track “Renegade Racer” confirms that poisoncut is far more willing than Barry Leitch or Patrick Phelan to hit listeners quickly and decisively with catchy themes. Combined with heavier beats, 8-Bit Rally’s music becomes deliciously in-your-face and fuss-free. poisoncut’s melodic gifts are evident throughout the album, as he serves up both memorable hooks and broader, more long-lined ideas. The latter already appear in “Renegade Racer”, where a measured synth melody unfolds powerfully over pumping beats. It is a perfectly judged contrast. Thick, insistent rhythms provide the necessary speed rush, while the determined melodic writing tells players that they remain in control of the frantic racing action around them, poised to seize first place.

It is a strategy poisoncut uses throughout the album to predictable, but consistently exhilarating, effect. Take the second track, “Midnight Diversion”. The Lotus and Top Gear series have always excelled at this kind of nocturnal racing music – just think of “Night” from Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 or “Las Vegas” from Top Gear, perhaps that franchise’s defining moment. What poisoncut delivers is every bit as effective: a sleek, chrome-polished melody that feels ready-made for 1980s stadium-sized chart glory. The confidence with which he presents his melodies underlines his pop instincts. These tunes are always given enough room to breathe and make their mark through repetition, yet they never overstay their welcome. Each track moves forward seamlessly. And the album is never just a monotonous rush, because the cues rise and fall in intensity with pinpoint control.

Quite apart from its melodic one-two punches, what makes the 8-Bit Rally soundtrack so entertaining is its variety. poisoncut responds to each location’s character without fail – not always in surprising ways, but always with energy and enthusiasm. It is here that 8-Bit Rally surpasses its musical forebears. His work reacts more specifically to setting than the music in the Top Gear games, while the tracks are also more fully developed than the short racing cues of the Lotus series. “Space Drive”, for instance, opens with arpeggios that hint at a melody rather than immediately stating one, preparing the cue’s more ethereal character. Once the lead line arrives – bubbly and faintly dreamy – “Space Drive” turns unexpectedly, and delightfully, playful. Listen to the melody’s echoing notes, which set off small, unpredictable cascades of shooting stars.

The soundtrack also knows exactly how to pace itself, so the levity of “Space Drive” gives way naturally to the grimier bass beats of “Phantom of the Road”. Fuzzy at the edges and half-lost in the haze, the cue’s rhythmic foundation deepens the music’s eerie atmosphere. A nagging synth pulse cuts into an appropriately thin, lonely lead, before the album’s most melancholic melody turns the confidence of the earlier tracks inward without sacrificing their head-nodding catchiness. Moments like this reveal poisoncut’s ability to shift moods while keeping the album musically coherent as a whole.

That coherence remains intact even when “Phantom of the Road” gives way to the irresistible sugar rush of “Distant Journey”. Taking its cues from 1990s techno, in the best possible sense, “Distant Journey” drives home its major-key exuberance with the album’s most instantly memorable melodic idea. It is also the ideal moment to introduce 8-Bit Rally’s first chiptune elements, a joyful nod towards classic game music. From there the cue simply keeps reaching higher, its euphoria exploding outward and hurtling through the solar system at warp speed.

poisoncut saves his most creative concoction for the end of the soundtrack. “Miles of Funk” is a fascinating piece, at once retro-inspired and futuristic in its approach to funk. Opening with a down-and-dirty, strutting bounce, it heads towards the after-race party with a set of wild, temperamental chiptune solos. At the same time, its confidently grooving rhythms and more traditional melodic material keep it anchored in funk’s classic, effortless cool. Not least, “Miles of Funk” is every bit as danceable as the rest of the album. It is the ideal conclusion to a soundtrack that builds on older styles rather than merely trying to imitate them.