Crying- Get Olde / Second Wind
Reviewed By: Ethan Carney
Rating: 7/10
Let me preface this review by saying that I really like video games, especially the eight bit and sixteen bit games of the past. I like video games so much that I think I’m ready to say that I “like like” them. I also have an affinity for music with lyrics that embody all that being a teenager truly is, because let’s face it, I only have one more year of being a teenager left in me. So when going into this album you could almost say I was predisposed to love it to pieces. Get Olde / Second Wind is the split EP release from chiptune and pop band Crying. Crying is a three piece band composed of a guitar, drums, vocals, and a Gameboy. For those of you who are wondering what a Gameboy is doing in a list of instruments, boy would you be surprised what bands are doing today. Chiptune is synthesized electronic music that is produced off the sound chips of old video and arcade games, basically making music out of all the catchy bloops and bleeps from Pong to Mega Man and everything in between. But enough about my likes and the glory of chiptune, onto the music!
The songs on the split EP are something out of a Nintendo nerds dreams. So many bleeps and bloops and their all in the right spots. From the opening track, dubbed “Opening”, you feel as though you’ve just blown the dust out of the old gray cartridge holding this album and fired it up for some gaming. Each track not only features the rhythmic tones and melodies from the Gameboy, but also crashing cymbals and a driving guitar to go along with it. After the opening track is when we get our first taste of the vocals and in them lies my only problem with the album. If you are playing one of bosses in Mega Man and you finally him after many grueling attempts, you’d be ecstatically raising the controller clutched in your fist to the heavens, right? Well the vocals here don’t exactly give that upbeat and energized feeling that comes along with the pop-y chiptune.
For some of the tracks like “Bloom” the vocals are so un-enthused that we are left hearing a really mellowed out voice quietly repeating the word bloom a few times before the vocalist warns that we need to “get out before it explodes”. Only the warning comes from a very relaxed voice almost making it sound like the explosion is crawling at us and that we have nothing to worry about. For other tracks like “ES” and “Close”, the more soft and relaxed vocals work well because the backing instrumentals and chiptune are less upbeat and slower providing a different mood from the fast video game paced action of some of the album’s other tracks. Overall the vocals fit well with the style of the band sometimes and other times I found them lacking the same feeling that I was getting from the other elements of the song.
The two EPs as a whole are a great experience and make for a solid album. Get Olde delivers the more upbeat and fast chiptune and Second Wind appeals to the fans who wanted the slower more moody songs. There is a bit of something for everyone and I definitely recommend listening to the album once or twice and finding you favorites. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go rescue some princesses and beat some robot masters.
FCC: 2 (“Bloom”), 7 (“ES), 9 (“Sick”), and 11 (“Emblem”)
Tracks to Check Out: 7 (“ES”), 5 (“Vacation”), and 13 (“Close”)
Recommended If You Like: Anamanaguchi, Chalkboards, and Football, Etc.
