Take heed to a Wild, 2-Hour UFO 50 Mashup Album by Trombone Champ’s Co-Creator

For a quick interval within the late 2000s, online game music mashups have been all the fashion. That was because of albums like Staff Teamwork’s “The Ocarina of Rhyme” that paired rap vocals and recreation music. That vitality is again in full power because of “UFO 50,000,” a wild two-hour mixtape that mashes up hip-hop songs with music tracks from each recreation in UFO 50. Sure, all 50 of them.

The album is a ardour undertaking created by Dan Vecchitto, co-owner of Trombone Champ studio Holy Wow Video games. Vecchitto started mashing up songs from musician Eirik Suhrke’s UFO 50 soundtrack after receiving an invite to visitor on Eggplant (now The Secret Lives of Video games), a podcast that had the purpose of doing an episode about each recreation featured in developer Mossmouth’s retro-inspired recreation assortment. He began by mixing a track from the sport Onion Supply with Dorrough’s “Ice Cream Paint Job.” That led to 2 extra mashups. One 12 months later, Vecchitto bought an urge to create extra and introduced the quantity as much as 20. Whereas he deliberate to cease there with a view to keep away from coping with some harder tracks, a dedication to the bit gained out.

“Round a 12 months later, the itch got here again, and for some purpose I hit an actual sizzling streak,” Vecchitto advised Polygon in a textual content interview. “Earlier than I knew it, I had one thing like 35 of the tracks remixed, and at that time the end line was in sight and it felt foolish to cease earlier than doing all 50, no matter how troublesome the previous few have been.”

The ultimate results of that’s “UFO 50,000,” which is out there to stream on YouTube. It is a madcap delight from begin to end of its two-hour runtime. That is thanks partly to some sensible mash-up decisions, which thematically pair video games and hip-hop lyrics. “Grimstone Street” pitch bends the vocals of Lil Nas X’s “Previous City Street” to match a observe from the previous west RPG Grimstone. “Nonetheless Mortol” thematically performs on Mortol, a recreation about sacrificing your character’s lives to progress, with the Geto Boys’ appropriately morbid “Nonetheless.” (“Die motherfuckers, die motherfuckers, nonetheless.”)

It’s inconceivable to select a favourite, however I’m personally a fan of “Can I Kick It Membership?” an excellent mashup of the theme from soccer recreation Kick Membership and A Tribe Referred to as Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” “Velgress’s a Bitch” additionally goes onerous as a jaunty mixture of Nas and Velgress. Vecchitto’s personal choose? “Waldorf Round,” a surprisingly good rework of Home of Ache’s “Soar Round” set to the music of walrus platformer Waldorf’s Journey.

“Like quite a lot of different video games within the soundtrack, the primary track from Waldorf’s Journey has an inscrutable time signature, so it took a ton of chopping to suit it right into a 4/4 construction,” Vecchitto mentioned. “However the consequence for this one is someway actually lovely and distinctly musical. I believe mashups have worth after they actually recontextualize a track and this one is an efficient instance; the track modifications from a enjoyable social gathering anthem to one thing dreamy & ethereal, and it is simply actually fascinating.”

Past being a musical feat for Vecchitto, the undertaking is a testomony to Suhrke’s incredible UFO 50 soundtrack. The gathering referred to as for a large range of songs that also felt linked from recreation to recreation. Suhrke nailed the project, making a diversified soundtrack that feels genuine to the 8-bit period UFO 50 celebrates. “UFO 50,000” emphasizes that consistency by utilizing the songs to gas a cohesive mixtape that’s unpredictable and extremely enjoyable to take heed to.

Even if you happen to don’t have two hours to spare, it’s value clicking on some timestamped track titles that catch your eye and see what you discover inside. Coincidentally, that’s among the finest methods to play UFO 50, too.