10. Hardwired by Neuromancer
Album Art By @solomacello

9. How To See Through Walls by Windows96
Album Art by Windows96

8. Vintage Feelings by Evertt
Album Art by @artfulimagers

7. TRIFECTA by A.L.I.S.O.N, VIQ, Krosia
Album Art by Terence Sitbon

6. Voxanima by FUJII
Album Art by Burning Chrome

5. Wavefinder by Sferro & Makeup and Vanity Set
Album Art by Dylan Marcus McConnell

4. First Person Shooter by Various Artists
Album Art by Atom Cyber

3. Slow Tapes by l y n x
Album Art by LYNX

2. Fragments by Forhill |
Album Art By Valentin Pavageau

1. Data Fire by Korizon
Album Art by @DesignSince86 (Andrew Walker)

10. Simulation Heat by Midnightout
Album Art: ?

9. Lovers Lake by Lovers Lake
Album Art: Nibera Visuals
@nibera_visuals

8. Virtual Vega by Evertt
Album Art: The Real Theory
@the_real_theory

7. Earthwalker by Clyde Shelton
Album Art: Clyde Shelton
@clydeshelton._

6. Vector Feels by Pastel Graphics
Album Art: Andrew Walker
@designsince86

5. Ident by Baldocaster
Album Art: Brouemaster Visual Decay
@brouemastervisualdecay

4. Pressure Point by Eagle Eyed Tiger
Album Art: Eagle Eyed Tiger
@eagleeyedtiger

3. AKUMA 3 by ALEX & TOKYO ROSE
Album Art: HVNTER
@hvnt.ter

2. Deuce by OSC
Album Art: OSC
@opusscience

1. Driven to Madness by DANCE WITH THE DEAD
Album Art: Marc Schoenbach
Sadist Art Designs

Rammellzee (stylized RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, pronounced “Ram: Ell: Zee”; December 15, 1960 – June 28, 2010) was a visual artist, gothic futurist “graffiti writer”, painter, performance artist, art theoretician, sculptor and a hip hop musician from New York City, who has been cited as “instrumental in introducing elements of the avant-garde into hip-hop culture”. Since 2021, Rammellzee’s work is exclusively represented by Jeffrey Deitch.

Many of think of MF DOOM as the first man to don a mask and make an impact in HipHop but, that isn’t the case. Doom may have been the illest ‘Supervillain‘, and one of the greatest HipHop artists of all time, he wasn’t the first. That title may rest on the crown of Rammellzee.

As much of an iconoclast as he was a contributor to the culture of HipHop, Rammellzee started as a graffiti writer in the late 1970’s writing on the A trains but, became associated with the wild style writers of the East Village; using near illegible lettering, inspired by the gothic script of Medieval manuscripts. Running around NYC with the likes of Jean Michel Basquiat, Lee Quiñones, DONDI, OU3, doctor REVOLT, INK 76,  and others. He was a contributing factor in making what’s considered the most valuable (collectible) HipHop album of all time – “Beat Bop” with K-Rob and a cover by Basquiat. Beat Bop was featured in the graffiti documentary STYLE WARS. He would eventually record more albums and collaborate with Bill Laswell and William S. Burroughs.

He has stated that his name is derived from RAM plus M for Magnitude, Sigma (Σ) the first summation operator, first L – longitude, second L – latitude, Z – z-bar, Σ, Σ – summation.

• www.peoplepill.com/people/rammellzee

His signature style was Gothic Futurism. Gothic Futurism was his own brand and the embodiment of his art. Gothic Futurism summarized as the conflict between the symbolism of letters against the structures of the alphabet and mundane conceptions of language. He would perform wearing self-made masks either as himself or other characters representing the mathematical equation that is his name. When his graffiti style became more mainstream, he morphed the language by making the letter more mechanized, cybernetic, militarized with a new style he called , “Iconoclastic Panzer”. He unlike Churchill had visually weaponized the English language. Letter Racers was another version of “Iconoclast Panzer” where each letter was locked in a galactic battle against one another.

Rammellzee’s description of the Letter Racers is as follows:

“Humans…in the 14th Century the monks ornamented and illustrated the manuscripts of letters. In the 21st and 22nd century the letters of the alphabet through competition are now armamented for letter racing and galactic battles. This was made possible by a secret equation known as THE RAMM:ELL:ZEE.”

Rammellzee is celebrated in Big Audio Dynamite’s song, ‘Come On Every Beat Box’. In 2010 Buckethead released a tribute song called, ‘Rammellzee: Hero of the Abyss’. March 2021, DJ MUGGS (Cypress Hill) and Queens rapper FLEE LORD named their collaboration album after Rammellzee; who is a major influence on the album and features clips and footage of him in their long music video for the record on Muggs Soul Assassins youtube page.

Rammellzee has shown in galleries throughout New York City and Europe. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His live/work loft studio space on 46 Laight Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood, which he shared with his wife Carmela, was named Battlestation. It was a frequented by artists and art enthusiasts looking to absorb the energy of his costumes and artwork.  After 9/11, the building was sold in order to build luxury condos and this forced Rammellzzee and Carmela to move to a smaller place in Battery Park City, and relocate his 20 years worth of artwork into a storage unit. Some of this stored work was included in the 2011 art exhibition, Art in the Streets at Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. In May 2018, Red Bull Arts New York opened its exhibition RAMMΣLLZΣΣ: Racing for Thunder, billed in its press release as “the largest survey to date of one of the most influential yet overlooked artists of the 20th century.”

Rammellzee was married to Carmela Zagari Rammellzee. He died in New York City on June 28, 2010, at the age of 49, having suffered from the exposure to glue, paint fumes, resin and other toxins through his work and from liver problems. The official cause of death was listed as heart disease

10. Artist: System 96
System 96 – VHS

9. Artist: Caspar Newbolt
Makeup And Vanity Set – Time

8. Artist: Gaston Blanko
Stilz – Hyperspace Drifter 2

7. Artist: Eagle Eyed Tiger
Eagle Eyed Tiger – Untether, Unravel

Note: Eagle Eyed Tiger also made an astounding short video to accompany the album in Blender. Check it out here. 

6. Artist: Phono Ghost
Sferro – Emotion Engine

5. Artist: Tonebox
Tonebox – Last Encryption

4. Artist: Davansh Atry
The G – Wanderers

3. Artist: Andrew Tremblay
Street Cleaner – Slice

2. Artist: Emkade
Sellorekt/LA Dreams – Cherry Vice

1. Artist: Robert Beatty
The Weeknd – Take My Breath

View our other Best of 2021 lists here!

Love our lists? Check out our Top 10’s from previous years:

Top 10 Synthwave Albums of 2020

Top 10 Synthwave Album Art of 2020

Top Ten Synthwave Albums of 2019

All Best Synthwave of 2020 Lists

Top 10 Retrowave Album Art of 2020

ev.exi – Forget – Artist: ?

Filmmaker – Somber Realm – Artist: Faunes

Protector 101 – Killbots – Artist: Serhiy Krykun

10. Fixions – Sleepwatcher – Artist: Atomcyber

9. Peter Zimmermann – Vapor Disco – Artists: Riccardo Sabatini & PUNKSY

8. Trevor Something – Escape – Artist: Trevor Something

7. Quixotic – Flamingo Drive In – Artist : Sonny Five

6.Hotel Pools – Constant – Artist: ?

5. Megadrive – 199XAD – Artist: Sean O’Neill

4. Billy Mays Band – Introspection – Artist: Atomcyber

3. Stilz – Hyperspace Drifter 3 – Artist: Atomcyber

2. Simple Circuits – Simple Circuits – Artist: STRNGR

1. Waveshaper – Artifact – Artist: Xurxo G Penalta

I have five more images, plucked from the limitless vaults of the world wide web, to represent the eccentric, the esoteric, the bizarre and the surreal… all elements of early video game box art from the 80s and 90s. Some of them are awesome, some of them make us laugh, and some of them, unfortunately, even make us a tad uncomfortable. No pain no gain, right?

Get in losers, we’re looking at box art.

DEATH SWORD (aka BARBARIAN)

Epyx, 1987

We have two strong theories we can work with here. Theory number one is rather benign: this guy’s just jazzed as hell to be mostly nude and swinging around a huge sword. I mean, who wouldn’t get a bit of a thrill out of that? My guess is schmucks and babymen. Grown-ass dudes who still drink whole milk on the daily. What popular vernacular refers to as “basic bitches.”

The other theory isn’t as glorious, unless you like the idea of a big buff barbarian shitting his pants while murdering people. If you do like that idea… I hope it’s just for the humor value. Because it is pretty funny.

Nah, he’s totally taking a brutal dump in his fur-speedo. And he thinks it’s funny too. That’s all his face can mean.

BLOOD MONEY

Psygnosis, 1989

When I first saw this image, my initial thought was, “holy shit, is this some 70s prog rock band I somehow missed?” I felt like throwing one in that wasn’t terribly strange or awful… something actually awesome. This cribs a bit off of Roger Dean’s style (the artist is actually one Peter Andrew Jones, who has mostly done covers for sci-fi novels), but it does it so well that I had to check if it was Roger Dean. My first hint that it wasn’t: this very un-Roger-like alien. Look at him though! I’m guessing that face is the equivalent of a sneer. This dude (or chick, I don’t know, it’s a fucking space alien okay?) is ready for a scrap. That landscape looks like it came right off of a Yes or Asia album cover, though.

I was just so happy to find this. The game itself is really good too. It’s a side-scrolling shooter with some pretty incredible variety and flavor to it.

BLAGGER

Antony Crowther, 1983

For those of you not from the British Isles or elsewhere the Queen’s English is spoken, “blagger” is a localized term for a robber or thief – to “blag” is to rob or steal something. At least, that’s my understanding. If you’re from the UK or wherever else, please feel free to contact me and tell me how stupid I am. I love that shit.

Anyway, it looks like this dude’s criminal career is the stuff of either nightmares or legend. Posture and facing leads me to believe that he has teamed up with a chubby little blue… I don’t know. Some kind of half-assed transitional dinosaur? It’s got opposable thumbs though, and that’s one of the makings of a great thief.

Both seem blissfully unaware of the giant mouth and skull hurtling toward them. Perhaps figments of Blagger’s DT-fueled imagination as he fights through the shakes to snag some more liquor money. Maybe the goofy-ass ghosts of past “associates,” still hanging in between realms due to their iniquities in life, haunting the shit out of the man whose actions led to their deaths. Maybe they’re all homies, and the mouth is singing some kind of breezy arena-rock ballad out of pure excitement.

If they’re not friendly, I have a feeling that Blagger’s modestly sized crowbar won’t be of much help. I have never met an evil-ass skull ghost who gave two shits about a crowbar. Not even in Castlevania. Floating skulls are whip business, pure and simple.

RENEGADE III: THE FINAL CHAPTER

Imagine Software, 1989

A classic example of box art overselling the product therein to the moon and back, the cover of Renegade III is very 1989, and very awesome in its way. 1989 really was a year where no one really knew what anyone wanted, so they just poured it all into one bucket for you to sift through.

Fuck off, pink caveman. Go piss up a rope, giant killer robot. I’ll get to you right after I KICK THIS MUMMY RIGHT IN ITS DUMB FUCKING FACE. The guy’s outfit is how I imagine Hank Rollins would have dressed in 1989 if he had been really into kung fu.

It just occurred to me that the Rosy Cro-Magnon is looming in from the mountain in the background, and therefore may be even bigger than the giant manhandling beady-eyed android trying to give Renegade’s left thigh a big hug. I’m sorry to throw down judgment on a robot, but that thing has the set rictus grimace and predatory eyes of an unapologetic sex pervert. Run, Renegade! Not even your chi power can save you from that kind of shit.

I suppose the eclectic and clumsy art along the sides would make sense to me if I played the game or understood the plot, but I know well enough from those who came before me not to bother with Renegade III.

CLOWNS

(yes, it’s just called Clowns)

Bally/Midway, 1978 (released in ’83 for the C64)

I seriously thought some asshole just made this cover art within the last 10 years or so as some kind of joke or meme. Turns out it’s real. I know it’s a little cliched at this point to think clowns are creepy, but this shit makes my skin crawl.

“I know what you did, Tommy. I know what you do, in your bed every night under those covers, with the lotion. I’m not judging you. But I see it. I see everything, Tommy boy. Remember that.”

And the worst part, in little Tommy’s mind, is that the other clowns are laughing their asses off.

The second I upload this .jpg file, I am wiping it from my hard drive. Can I train Bleach Bit to only annihilate this image?

Thank you for tolerating another bout of this insanity, friends and readers. I will show mercy for another month or two, while I continue to scour the earth for more. Stay Retro!

10. Sellorekt/LA Dreams – Shadow Voices
by Sellorekt/LA Dreams

9. Carbon Killer – Carbon Inc
by Jay Jackson

8. Lucy In Disguise – Unknown Frequency
by Fvckrender
7. Mitch Murder – Hardwired
by Junkboy
6. Deadlife – Variation on the Resolve
by SKEOR
5. DJ Ten – Trinity
by Fab Ciraolo 
4. Astral Tales – Seafari
By Magdalena Radziej
3. Hollywood Burns – Invaders
by View from the Coffin

2. The Midnight – Kids
by Aaron Campbell

Honorable Mention:
Microchip Terror – Illegal Experiments
by Microchip Terror

Honorable Mention:
Neoslave – Messiah
By : Andrew Tremblay 

1. Carpentur Brut – Leather Teeth
By Jesse Daubertes & Adrien Havet

I have more.

This kind of thing never gets old to me, so I bring you a third installment of box art that unsettles that inner part of our brain, that bit of jelly left over from early in our primordial roots that causes us to recoil from eyes in the dark or a sharp hiss. That along with some art that just beggars belief in its ridiculousness. Gird your loins. Stand ready. The time has come.

Note: This time there are one or two titles I had trouble finding the year of release for. Forgive me and feel free to email me if you know.

Skate Board Joust (Silverbird)

I feel like this one’s heavy with symbolism. Writ large upon the rocket powered skateboard is the word “DEATH.” Is it the ghastly, bat-like monster whose death is imminent, or does the rabble-rousing ripped-jean teen ride death into oblivion, kicking sick ollies along the way?

Also, does that bat-creature have tits? The lines of its form suggest that it does, and I find that immediately unwholesome.

Pro Wrestling (Sega, 1986)

Again, I think we’re in existential territory here. Thus the nature of my first question: is this man wrestling with himself in the sense that he rebels against his own nature (thus his desire to destroy his head and therefore his thoughts), or is this a battle symbolizing body image?

As a finishing note, I would like to ask another question: Which part of him is sweating? His head or his armpit?

Cuthbert and the Golden Chalice (Microdeal, 1986)

Yes, another treasure from Microdeal. Here we see a glimpse into the madness that wealth can inflict upon mankind. A profoundly mentally ill child leers at the viewer, beset on all sides by various threats (including a mantis with an unnervingly humanoid face). Cuthbert smiles despite his pants-shitting predicament, because in his worship of Mammon he has sought the golden cup in the background. Should we pity the child, or is it us who should laugh, in light of Cuthbert’s folly? He is but one human being of untold billions. This story repeats itself ad infinitum through the great torus loop of past and future.

Seriously though, that mantis-ape is creepy as fuck and if I ever saw a hornet that big I’d need to be committed. I’d never go outside again.

Bad Cat (Rainbow Arts, 1987)

This is just plain fucking ghoulish. I mean, this has to have been rendered with the intent to harm or frighten someone. I can almost hear this thing talking to me, and I hate its voice in my imagination. Dressed up like Rambo in an alley full of trash, it bares its little teeth in a mockery of a human smile. It knows what it’s doing is vulgar. It knows it’s breaking unspoken laws. And it fucking loves it. Is that some kind of candy bar, or a stick of butter? For some reason, my mind insists on it being a stick of butter. That just makes more sense within this senseless ensemble. I want to find this thing and fistfight it. And that’s heartbreaking, because I love cats. You know, actual ones. Ones that belong in our fucking dimension.

X Man (Gamex)

A woman, rendered in reasonably human (albeit subtly exaggerated) proportions undresses while looking into “camera.” Meanwhile, X Man, who I’m guessing is our protagonist, wages what I can only assume is a brutal war for the integrity of his own penis against a set of horrors that pursue him through a maze in Hell. Though the visceral fear of having his genitals bitten, scissored, or assaulted by a giant crustacean is very real to our questionable hero, his terror mingles with another emotion etched across his cartoon face: raw, primal lust.

X Man keeps it simple, though, and that probably works well for him; his outfit is casual, but the high socks indicate his athleticism. He’s not going to let gigantic crabs, sentient novelty chompers, or possessed shears get in the way of his libido. He’s packing iron and riding high in the saddle. Look out, lady.

No, seriously, lady, watch out. You seem woefully oblivious to your peril.

Thanks again for braving the madness with me again, Retro-readers. Keep it old-school!

The Retrowave influence continues to make it’s mark guys. Here is the cover is it’s full entirety.

What are your thoughts on this?

Deadpool director is collaborating on a Neuromancer film.
(But, don’t expect it any time in the near future)

It is official retro-lovers – Tim Miller has plans for William Gibson’s genre defining novel Neuromancer. He will be collaborating with Simon Kinberg.  Unfortunately, he is currently set to direct the new and generally unasked for Terminator film or films being produced by James Cameron; heaven help us.

Neuromancer is a 1984 science fiction novel by William Gibson and is regarded by many to be the genesis of the Cyberpunk genre. It is the recipient of the Hugo Award, Nebula Award and the Philip K. Dick. This is the first novel by Gibson and first in the Sprawl trilogy.

The story is set in a dystopian future where the global eco-structure has restricted itself in the wake of geopolitical warfare and the evolution of the megacorporation that has their tentacles in every part of the world affairs and trade. The main protagonist or anti-hero is a drug addicted former computer hacker named Case who’s ability to tap into cyberspace had been damaged after crossing the wrong people. He lives in and inhabits the underworld of Chiba City, Japan. Case is offered a job by the mysterious Armitage after being rescued by his cybernetic augmented “Razorgirl”, Molly Millions. Armitage is offering Case not only a monetary reward but, the repair of his neural jack and access back into cyberspace again.

In 1989, Epic Comics published a 48-page graphic novel version by Tom de Haven and Bruce Jensen. It only covers the first two chapters, “Chiba City Blues” and “The Shopping Expedition”, and was never continued.

The BBC World Service Drama production of Neuromancer aired in two one-hour parts, on 8 and 15 September 2002. In 2009, The New Museum in NYC hosted a six hour reading of Neuromancer  directed by Brody Condon with former adult star turned Hollywood actress, DJ and author Sasha Grey reading the part of Molly Millions.

There have been several proposed film adaptations of Neuromancer, with drafts of scripts written by British director Chris Cunningham and Chuck Russell, with Aphex Twin providing the soundtrack. After that project fell through the cracks, Neuromancer as a live-action film has jumped into pre-production after pre-production and so on; with names such as Joseph Kahn, Vincenzo Natali and Chuck Russell.

So let’s be optimistic about this one. Hopefully James Cameron doesn’t infect him with the Douche malware that he downloaded from George Lucas on some dickbag TOR site. I also highly recommend yous all watch MR. ROBOT if you need a good cyberpunk fix.

[source: http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/cast-this-case-in-neuromancer-from-deadpool-director-tim-miller-206 ]

High-Tech & Lowlife and the return of the point and click.

Observer is a heavy cyberpunk themed first person survival horror from the people at Bloober Team the same folks that brought you (2016) Layers of Fear.

The story follows a detective known in the future as an Observer. Observers are a specific police unit in Poland that has the authority to hack into the minds of people to gather information. Imagine a police detective meets patriot act.

The world itself is a decayed after the global economy has collapsed in the wake of a global plague and World War. Now Megacorporation’s are the power in the geo-political landscape. The tech in this game is conceptualized as being very advanced although stuck in retro aesthetics; there’s still cables and wires sticking out and littered all throughout this, what looks like low-income ghetto housing. One of the characters even has previous gen-technology littered about his dwelling. The whole place feels like it shares the same world as Blade Runner or Johnny Mnemonic. You just want to stay there and take it all in on your investigation. Unfortunately, you are for the most part only given so many places to wander through on your journey but, on rare occasions you can peek out a window, between boards, and get glimpses of the future just outside.

The obvious comparisons that can be made about this game would be to Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher game, the not to recent remake of Syndicate, Static Shock and exc. The gameplay is driven by the story and the game progresses through corridor exploration, environmental investigation and conversation with the tenants of this world. You are able to switch between your standard P.O.V. and a sort of Electro-magnetic field vision. The actual hacking feels visceral and in all honesty an invasive act to perform. Other games have tried this but either Windex the experience into a basic “here’s what happened” or some sort of Hunter S. Thompson hallucination.

The voice acting is top-notch with interactions with people make up the bread and butter of this gem of a game. The writing team has carefully crafted each person with their own soul and humanity, or lack of. The lead actor here is non-other than Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner). His performance is perfect and withdrawn, just as anyone would be in this future. His palpable apathy and despair is evident from the start of the game all the way to its climax.

All in Everything and everything is everything; I give this game a definite “Buy It”. However, if you are like many casual players and you have the attention of a gnat or find this type of game not your thing, that’s okay too, feel free to watch someone else play it and submerge with both hands and feet tied into the despairing experience.

Observer (2017) from Bloober Team is worthy of your own investigations.

Let’s support this project and make it happen!