Tag Archives: Mega Man

Gallops Away

Nowadays you’re seeing synthesizers that replace vocals in bands. Gallops is another case. Together Dave Morait, Mark Huckridge, Brad Whyte, and Paul Maurice make up the collective that is Gallops. Hailing from Wales in jolly ole England, Gallops combines the grungy rock of a Deep Purple with the synth edge of Nine Inch Nails or Gary Numan. Once again it’s all sounds and no vocals and that’s okay with me. The big theme I’m getting from SXSW, which Gallops will be playing at this year, is electronic bleeps. It seems every band layers some sort of eclectic click here and there to complicate a straightforward sounds.

The “Gallops EP” follows right along. From their main jam ‘Miami Spider’ to some lesser known songs like ‘Defbox,’ Gallops drops in electronic blankets to warm up the already harsh sound they bring. Going back to my Deep Purple reference, I get the feeling that they are conjuring up the ghost that band (whom still tours by the way) and then blow it up by adding video game like sounds on top. It’s as if Mega Man dropped his arm cannon and went for the guitar axe. Check out the EP below.

[soundcloud params=”auto_play=false&show_comments=true”]http://soundcloud.com/gallops/sets/gallops-ep/[/soundcloud]

Anamanguchi Are Belong To Us

Growing up in the 80’s (I’m a 70’s kid by one year though), I distinctly remember rocking out to ET on my Uncle’s Atari 2600.  Fast forward a couple of years and it the Nintendo Entertainment System.  The music producers for the games had the hefty challenge of composing music with a limited tonal space.  Fast forward even faster to today and you have Anamanaguchi.  These guys champion the 8bit music scene by mixing together 8bit sounds with a traditional rock backing.  They will be on showcase this year at SXSW 2010.

Bear with me here.  This warps right into nostalgia land for me.  Anamanaguchi reminds me of Saturday mornings trying to beat Bubble Bobble or Mega Man 2.  Technically it’s pretty tight.  They may not be Radiohead but they are respectable to say the least.  When the song’s over, I feel like I beat the game.  Check out “Airbase”

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/Anamanaguchi_Airbase.mp3]