It’s post 9/11 and Giuliani had already finished gutting and renovating damn near the entire city into a playground for corporate real estate and snotty new residents from other states coming to claim the remnants that gentrification left behind.

Nocturnal activities were still there under the surface and by nocturnal animals. The thieves, the junkies, the drunk, the desperate, the horny, the lost, the abandoned, hookers, after-hours workers and the graffiti writers. Fuck Giuliani, Diblasio, Cuomo and all the like. The whole table is broken so, why bother trying to take a seat at it; start making your own. Seize your day. 

State Your Name is a 2005 graffiti film directed by OZ. Featuring footage and interviews with writers: Nov York, Noxer, Skuff, (R.I.P.) KEZ5, DG, KET, JA, QUEST, JEZ, GOUCH, KMS CRUE, RISK 9, SEN4 and more and more. Simplicity at its finest.

Keep your finger on that REWIND Button.

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

The Brooklyn born child of a Puerto Rican mother and a Haitian father, what better chemistry for a brilliant child. A brilliant and radiant star that burned out too fast. But left a wonderful impact on the artworld as one of the best of his generation.

Jean Michel Basquiat left home at the age of 17 to live on the streets of the Lower East Side to make his living as an artist.

It was the late 70’s and he found himself at the center of the world in terms of art, music and culture. There was CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City, LES; there was art rock, punk rock, new wave, HipHop and all the cool kids, down-n-out kids, the losers, the weirdos, the young, the artistic, the ugly, the glamorama, the lace curtain kids, uptown kids, Manhattan kids, Brooklyn kids, the Bronx & Queens kids, the willing and the dangerous were creating and expressing themselves in an economically depressed (almost lawless) city and man was it a good time.

  On the walls of burnt out buildings, subway walls, doorways and postcards. He started writing graffiti under the name SAMO with abstract lines of poetry and then sold art on postcards to random people on the street. SAMO was beginning to attract attention from the curious forward-thinking eyes of the art world. A literal “Rags to Riches” story, From NYC to Europe, he traveled the world and shown his art in galleries internationally garnering equal acclaim as well disdain and prejudice from the orthodox bourgeoisie detractors of the High-ART elite. Truly, one of a kind. Avant-garde, musician, artist and, at one time, actor.
This Documentary is a perfect time capsule of what New York City use to be before the cornballs, transplants, Karens and douchebags took it over and ruined it.

Radiant Child is curated, produced & directed by Tamra Davis (Half Baked, CB4, Billy Madison). Built around an interview she did with Jean Michel in California after an art show in 1986. Tamra buried the interview to never to be seen by the public until 2010, after a few decades and suggestions by peers to release the interview, she decided to cutup the interview with compiled stories from people that knew him with archival footage and photographs to piece together the life and greatness of  the Radiant Child himself. This is a documentary you must see right now.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Naturally, the doc is well illustrated with examples of Basquiat’s work, some of which are little-seen. But even those who dispute his place in art history should come away with a feeling for the man whose brief career is a textbook example of a flame burning too bright to last.”

The Artforum wrote: “The movie gives a sense of how driven he was, how it seemed as if he aimed, by sheer volume, to assure himself a place in the pantheon of twentieth-century painters, when in fact he achieved that position by virtue of a necessarily smaller number of masterpieces, produced in the early and late stages of his heartbreakingly short career.”

Recommended viewing : Keep Your Finger on that REWIND button.

Part of what makes the game and its history so awesome to me is the artwork from its books and publications. The newer versions have very crisp, heavily stylized art that speaks more to an MMO flavor; I have always valued the old school art more, both for its “purity” of style and for its plain beauty. When the intellectual property was in the hands of TSR, creativity was unbound and wild. This not only applied to the worlds presented in the various products, but the images used to represent those worlds. This article is a small love letter to that purity of expression. I’ve found five pieces of artwork by five iconic D&D artists, each of whom are synonymous with the game itself in the minds of old school fans everywhere.

Note: Many pieces of official art were re-used by TSR to fill out multiple RPG products they published over the years; this was done most frequently in their later years as the company waned in fortunes and sought to get mileage out of old assets while pushing the limits of the game itself. I will provide all the information I can about each image, but at the very least I have made sure to correctly name the artist and at least one known product the image was used in.

Fred Fields

“Mind Flayer”

Ravenloft: Thoughts of Darkness, 1992

The Illithids, or mind flayers, are iconic monsters that came directly from the lore of D&D and were not drawn from external myth, legend, or literature. Terrifyingly intelligent creatures, these fiends both consume and control the minds of other sapient beings in order to further their own existence. Armies of brainwashed slaves furnish both cannon fodder and food. With their “mental blast” attack and various other psychic abilities, illithids present a daunting challenge to mid-level adventuring parties and can annihilate the very hopes and dreams of unprepared rookie groups. Any veteran of the hobby knows that a battle against mind flayers will require both courage and caution. They’re not to be casually fucked with, unless being a brain-dead portable meal or servant appeals to you as a career path.

Fred Fields has rendered one of these horrible beings in nearly photographic detail, while preserving the fantastic nature of the subject for us to marvel at. And be afraid of. Very afraid of.

Erol Otus

“Creeping Doom”

1^st Edition AD&D Rogues Gallery, 1980

“Ooh, finally some fresh brai- OH SHIT WHERE DID ALL THESE BUGS COME FROM SORRY SORRY DO OVER OUCH OW FUCK”

“Creeping Doom” is a powerful spell available to druids and other priest-type characters in D&D that calls forth massive swarms of bugs to devour anything remotely edible in their path. In this example by the legendary Erol Otus, the spell is being turned upon one of the aforementioned mind flayers. The monster does not look too pleased to be snuggling one of the Old Testament plagues, and may be reconsidering its options.

Erol Otus’s style is phantasmagorical and cartoonish at the same time. I love the exaggerated expressions and the weirdness of every detail… and there is always so much detail. Otus is a master of illustrating strange things in a memorable way. His work for D&D was mostly limited to 1^st edition, which was a bit before my time, but I have developed a love for his style nonetheless. This illustration is my favorite of his; it has immediate impact and conveys the action so well you can almost envision it moving.

The wild sense of panic on the face of the normally inscrutable and soulless mind flayer is what anchored this drawing in my mind for years after seeing it.

Larry Elmore

“Dragon Slayers and Proud of It”

2^nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, 1989

I remember the first dragon I helped bring down as a player. It wasn’t even evil; it was a sapphire dragon (lawful neutral) that simply gave us no other choice after we accidentally intruded upon its territory, refusing to listen to what we had to say. Unfortunate, but it made for a memorable encounter during my formative years as a player. Most of us who play D&D can tell you about our first dragon kill if we’ve ever had one. Even young dragons of “weaker” types make for challenging foes. They are intelligent, powerful, versatile, and have centuries to plan for visits from foolhardy heroes who would claim their hoards of treasure.

Look how tired but proud they are, having bagged a young green dragon after what we can only imagine was a pitched and tense battle. I especially love the female warrior, leaning on her sword, dirty and scuffed but absolutely thrilled to have conquered he beast. There aren’t (normally) any cameras in D&D worlds, but they look like they’re posing for a photo, like fisherman with a huge catch. Lots of pathos and identity in this image. Larry Elmore captures well here what it really means to be an adventurer. And don’t feel bad for the dragon; greens can ruin an otherwise idyllic forest and are very much evil creatures. Think of this dragon-slaying as an act of ecological conservation.

Jeff Easley

“Astral Dreadnought”

Cover art for Manual of the Planes (1^st edition AD&D), 1987

You may immediately recognize that monster’s face. Yes, it served as the basis for the design of DOOM’s cacodemon. That’s how far-reaching the influence of Jeff Easley’s fantastic art really is. Easley is one of the most talented and prolific contributors to D&D’s art library, and easily in my personal top three fantasy artists, period. Here we see the actual creature, an astral dreadnought, chasing a very unfortunate mage through the silver void of the Astral Plane that connects the Prime Material (D&D’s “real world” dimension) to other dimensions known as the Outer Planes (Limbo, the Nine Hells, the Abyss, Elysium, etc.). Dreadnoughts are horrifically powerful creatures that prowl the Astral Plane looking for food. This wizard needs to hope he can escape before he becomes a chicken nugget to this gigantic terror. That won’t be easy, since it’s one of the most potent creatures to be found on any of the planes and it cannot be reasoned with.

Easley produces classical-quality art, bringing fantastic things to life in a realistic yet cinematic style. Light, shadow and texture are represented expertly, lending depth and terrifying tangibility to his scenes. One can open almost any major TSR publication from the 80s-90s and see at least one piece of work by Easley. Whether it’s a painting like this one or a black and white ink drawing, it fucking pops. Just like this busted-ass wizard’s gonna pop like a cherry tomato in the dreadnought’s unspeakable mouth.

Gerald Brom

“Dark Sun”

Dark Sun Campaign Setting Box Set, 1991

Athas, the dry and barren world of the Dark Sun campaign setting for AD&D, is a stark departure from standard fantasy. It’s like Mad Max and Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards animated film cross-bred with Star Wars’s Tattooine and mixed in a bevy of real-life Earth’s cultures from Antiquity. The world is dying, every living thing has psychic potential, life is brutal, and survival itself is a dire struggle. The magic of wizards is fueled by the dwindling energies of the barren earth, and the closest thing to gods are the four elements themselves. Water and metal are scarce and valuable, and even the more “civilized” areas such as city-states are chaotic places where death is only a heartbeat away. Dark Sun is hardcore as fuck. Be ready.

Two of the protagonists from the novels (which I heartily recommend to any fantasy reader with a taste for the unusual) are represented on the right hand side of this panorama; Agis of Asticles, Tyrian nobleman and master mind-bender, wipes clean his precious steel sword as the human-dwarf hybrid Rikus steps up behind him, ready to deal death with the honed expertise he has learned in the slave arenas of Tyr. The twin moons, Ral and Guthay, shine down on a scene of battle in the wastes outside the city, showcasing the unique flavor of the setting and illustrating the desperate struggle that is life on Athas.

Brom’s art is well-loved even outside of D&D. He is another artist in my top three of all time, with a gritty sense of texture and a knack for creating unique-looking figures within stark landscapes. Brom can make anything look badass or creepy, and his art became the lens through which D&D fans would come to see the world of Dark Sun. Nearly every DS product until the second/revised box set features cover art by Gerald Brom, and this allowed him to shape Athas for us at a glance. No one could have done it better.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at classic RPG art, and I will continue to revisit tabletop gaming from time to time in order to add variety to the normal video-gaming fare I write for NRW. Keep your eyes peeled for more gaming-related content, and Stay Retro!

Now put on some gloves. This isn’t light work. No, the thick rubber ones. Yeah, trust me.

Pac-Man (Atari 400/800/XE/XL Version)

Atari, 1982

No wonder those ghosts want to kill him. Look at him. He looks like Gerbert if Gerbert hit puberty and became, I don’t know, Dobie Gillis. What other lame references can I sneak in here? His face is horrible. He never had or needed teeth before, and now he has – that’s right – JUST INCISORS. Pac-Man doesn’t chew things. That’s fanciful bullshit for children. He just consumes them. I posit that Pac-Man is not the protagonist in this tale. The ghosts are sick of him chomping through their giant Spree candy and this time they’re not calling the cops. I like how the red ghost (I know they have names but I refuse to give them the dignity) is licking its lips. Its eerily humanlike hands put Pac’s rubbery-ass Gumby mittens to shame. Ditch the teeth and get some fingers, dude. Pac-Man is at his worst here, blindly swimming in his violent addiction even as he flees those who would destroy him for it.

This wouldn’t be so unsettling without the eyes. He sleeps in little snatches, 2 or 3 hours at a time. It’s all he can manage since he signed up for those LSD experiments to get time off his sentence.

Dr. Pimple’s Dog

Euro-Byte, 1983

Dr. Pimple collects two things. One of them is aerosol canisters full of pressurized horse blood. The other is gullible dogs. The monocle is an affectation that seems out of place with a green Nehru jacket and a face that looks like Boris Karloff knocked up Edward James Olmos. Doc Pimple doesn’t care. You’ll be wondering about more than his monocle when you’re covered in rarefied horse blood and running at full speed from a cheerful suicide dog.

“16 maidens to rescue” is more of a sarcastic taunt than a call to action; Pimple’s already atomized their fluids and fed the jerky-like husks to “Spot.” Spot loves this whole thing, because as noble as we make dogs out to be, every single one of them is a depraved Epicurean hedonist capable of appalling acts of violence. Wait, hold up… my bad, that’s cats.

Dr. Pimple could have done a lot with his life, but he’s chosen his path… he aims to be the H.H. Holmes of the Commodore 64 world. All it takes is a good dog, a fresh can of horsey juice, and a dream.

Venom

Mastertronic, 1987

THIS IS HOW YOU SELL A VIDEO GAME. This could be the cover of a truly “wicked” metal album, or in the pages of an RPG book, or just a motivational poster to remind us what matters… suiting up and riding out on your slobbering human-eyed horse to split wigs and mete out justice.

Peep this fucking horse though. Those eyes look like a human’s and they’re scowling. It’s looking right at the viewer, as if to assure you that yes, you are next, and that your agony will make hell seem like a utopia. The knight and his steed work as one, but they do not kill serpents out of nobility or virtue. These two are full-time on this shit for its own sake, carrying the last of their savings in cash and waiting for their blood to mingle with yours and the snake’s as it soaks into the graying earth. Until then, they kill simply to exult in the act, and besides, no one misses the giant fucking snakes.

Panic 64

Interceptor Software, 1983

The cover of Panic 64 was drawn by the sister of Interceptor Micro’s programmer Andrew Challis. I don’t know if she ever did any other professional artwork, but I’d love to see it if she has. Here we have another slice of life from an abstract hellscape: clouds of methane gas fill the yawning voids between pieces of crumbling Chuck E Cheeze architecture, a backdrop for one voyager’s final stand against some very flamboyant CHUDs. Kneeling from fatigue, his eyes wide with the fury of patience finally lost, he shoves back the stubby mob of child-sized mutants as he places and arms the last device. Thirty seconds to detonation, and the extraction point is somewhere down that ladder.

“Fuck it,” he mumbles to himself as he kicks an infant sized ghoul into the gasoline-puddle abyss. “Might as well just jump.”

Super Breakout (2600)

Atari, 1979

In the cold and fathomless black ocean of deep space, dancing on the edge of a 200-billion-light-year-wide supervoid containing only emptiness, a lonely astronaut waits to die. The colors surround him. They mock and sing. His aim is off and he lets another projectile slip into the starless black, past him and on into infinity. It easily leaves this non-place where he is trapped. He stares blankly as it fades into the dark and he fights the urge to weep. No, he will not lose his mind here, despite all. The cruelest joke is that he already has.

He has not played catch with his son or made love to his wife in æons. He does not even know how old he is now, or how long he has been imprisoned. Time has left this place, a brittle totem of man’s meaningless structures. Long ago his oxygen supply should have dwindled. When he first blundered into this absurd game of catch, a veritable rainbow-wall of bright light bore down on him like a sniper on a dim rooftop. In a spectacle of idiot monotony, he has worn down the walls of this lurid Jericho, but he lacks the faith of Joshua. In this immeasurable span of silent hours, the minimal progress is totally meaningless. He narrows his eyes as he turns back to the rusted console, and for the first time since he lost contact with Earth, he speaks.

“I wish I had another game. This one sucks.”

See You Soon, and 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

10. Com Truise – Iteration (Seth Haley)

Creating his own artwork, Seth Haley set himself apart from many others. Featuring a minimalist style and unique but still retro color scheme,  this album artwork is a perfect companion to his album.

9. Occams Laser – Ascension (Tom Stuart)

This album art was also created by Occams Laser himself, and looks like an authentic Gustave Doré engraving. Add in a faux record wear, and you have yourself a fantastic cover!

8. The Midnight – Nocturnal  (David Legnon)

The rainy windshield and cityscape in the background on the cover of this EP is just deluxe, and perfectly embodies what The Midnight’s “Nocturnal” sound is all about.

7. Alex – Youth – (Jaqueline Ruther)

This beautiful artwork earned it’s spot on the list for the ersatz plastic wrap gleam that cuts through the center of the art. Light can be difficult to work with – especially when reflecting off of unusual surfaces.

6. Dance with the Dead – B-Sides Vol 1.
(Mark R Kosobucki)

This artwork plays with perspective in an interesting way, and captures lots of small details. The upward view would be terrible on the living – but works well on rotted flesh and bone!

5. Ultraboss – Kyrie Electron  (Rolly Rocket)

This awesome illustration not only showcases Rolly’s eye for detail, it also portrays the Kyrie Electron Vision perfectly! The color and unique vision make this cover a vibrant masterpiece for the eyes.

4. Meteor – Inner Demon – (Jorge Reyes)

Not only does Meteor make fantastic synth, he makes his own art as well! Faces can be hard to do right – creating an exploded face with depth – that takes skill. Delightfully retro as well.

3. Dan Terminus – Automated Refrains
(Luca Carey)

The artwork from Luca Carey is always on-point. Their works are always complex, with amazing use of space and color – it wouldn’t be a top 10 album art without something from Carey.

2. Compilerbau – Tricksters Paradise
(Kuldar Leement)

This relatively simple, but very clean artwork earned a top spot because, according a physicist we contacted, the equations on the blackboard are real – and contain wave functions! Fantastic!

1. Robert Parker – Awakening (Florian Renner)

This fantastic cover art earned our #1 spot for the perfect mixture of style, simplicity, and smart use of contrasting pastel 80’s colors. This cover bleeds retro futurism cyberpunk without being kitschy – not an easy feat!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Perturbator – New Model (Long Pham)

Mega Drive – The Grid (David Demaret)

Night Raptor – Night Raptor EP  (Folgar)

It’s time to round out September with some more unbelievably lush and unforgettable art from our favorite classic games. I chose a few more, and I’ve even got some videos this time, because I got all nerd-excited over some of the choices. I also made an earnest effort to find out as much as possible about the individual artists who created these visual masterpieces… that information is oddly difficult to find – or maybe I’m just dumb as hell and don’t know where to look. If you see one I credit incorrectly or that doesn’t have an artist credit, and you’ve got that information, PLEASE TELL ME! Without any further unnecessarily wordy prefacing bullshit, let’s get right to it! Feast your eyes!!!

Salamander/Lifeforce (Konami)

Year: 1986

Artist: Uncertain, my guess is either Kenji Shimoide or Naoke Satō

The cover of the official OST, perhaps the least intruded-upon version of the base image. Back in early days, at the rental store… this snake scared me so stupid I HAD to try Lifeforce. Just to see if I could teach that snake a lesson.

You are looking into the face of galactic evil. Are you even remotely ready for this shit? Do you even know what “ready for this shit” means?

I don’t think you do, ese. I think you’re gonna get schooled into little fragments.

This one always entranced me as a kid. I originally saw it on the US NES cover, and later on in life I was awed at the detail lost in shrinking it from the original arcade flyer. I know it’s just a space snake, but it’s a fucking scary space snake, man. That perfectly coiled length behind it, framed by the yawning star-speckled nothingness of outer space.

I hope you said your space prayers, kiddo.

Space Harrier (Sega)

Year: 1985

Artist: Sega doesn’t even denote who did what in their game credits, everyone just gets lumped in as “STAFF”

I managed to find this one without the retail trim, so you could soak in the moment of visceral chaos. There’s so much going on… there is a gigantic floating brain back there. It’s got a city on top of it. Yeah, everything’s normal here.

There is a lot going on here, and you’d benefit from a close look. Soaring through planetary atmospheres destroying shit with a gun as big as you are? AMAZING career path. Let him show you.

Our dude is so unspeakably cool that he is point-blank nuking the ouroboros dragon thing without even folding p his shades and putting them somewhere safe. He knows the space babes are watching, and Space Harrier never disappoints. The stone heads just sort of toodle by; it seems like they’re either used to this shit by now or just so sullen and insular that they dare Space Harrier to destroy them.

My favorite touch is the light panic on Space Cyclops Elephant’s face. He is not even sure how he’s getting by in this ecosystem, but he sure as hell didn’t sign up for this. He’s got kids.

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK KEEP UP CARL OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK 

Meanwhile, a gleaming futuristic metropolis stands majestic against the sublime sunset in the background.

The space babes are definitely there.

DOOM (id Software)

Year: 1993

Artist: Gregor Punchatz

“I don’t need any support, advice, or compassion, because even if I am the most ruinous man, I still feel so powerful, so strong and fierce. For I am the only one that lives without hope.” -Emil Cioran

I had to come here. Had to tread the blood-red sands of Hell once more. A UAC space marine’s job is never done. It’s a good thing someone tossed med-kits and boxes of bullets all over the place.

This one image defines my late childhood/early adolescence, at least in part. I still have the 11×17 poster that I framed and hung in my room as a preteen. I just don’t keep it hung up anymore because wherever you put that thing, it sucks the eye away from everything else near it.

Here we see a man who’s pretty certain he’s about to die. He’s bleeding, the sneering legions of Hell are grasping at hims limbs, and you can see the stark animal fear building on his face beneath the visor of his helmet. He drops one, maybe two, but like a pissed-off Satanic swarm of fire ants, the demons simply pile on. His buddy’s running up, shouting that he’ll help cover a retreat. Our man doesn’t even have the breath to say what he’s thinking: you’d better turn right back around, private, or this is gonna be you about twelve seconds after I hit the ground.

That’s the thing that really nailed me to the genre and the aesthetic of games like DOOM when I was younger. I was nihilistic, full of existential terror, and coming to terms with my own mortality at an age when I should have been basking in the bucolic sunshine of oblivion. Doom grabbed me because it was not only action packed and no-holds-barred, but because it really did have this nuance of hopelessness to it. The imagery, the implied storyline, and even certain pieces of music from the game are enough to invoke images of humanity’s twilight. This cover art is no exception. We have stumbled upon a fictional future man about to die, just like billions have before him… except he’s fighting demons and it fucking rules.

Anything Yoshitaka Amano Has Done for the Final Fantasy Series (Squaresoft)

Year: So many, and it’s awesome

Artist: Yoshitaka “World-Crafting Visual Arts Deity” Amano

I’m not one of those people who gushes over shit just because it’s Japanese. Don’t get me wrong; I deeply appreciate what Japanese creators and innovators have contributed to video games throughout the history of the industry. I just tend to sift through my consumption of anything a bit more than it seems… some people do. I’m not judging them. Anyway, I WILL gush over this, because every piece of this man’s art is like Hellenic Greece and ancient Rome collided with the hyperbolic world of JRPGs and created an alternate reality where literally everyone was a god.

Left: The crew from FFII, the Japanese II that was so hard they second-guessed releasing it Stateside but relented eventually; and on the right we have FFIV’s Twin Pimp Squad, Cecil and Kain.

I have a confession to make: the latest Final Fantasy game in the series that I’ve played is IX. I just couldn’t stay interested, plus I stopped doing the console thing around the time the Dreamcast went the way of the dodo. My two favorites, both of which mark me as a minority among FF fans, are I and IV. They are the two that I grew up chewing through, that helped shape my sensibilities about RPGs. I also enjoyed VI very much because it had an even richer story than IV had, and once I got to play them in an intelligible format I fell in love with II and III.

Left: the gang from III, all grown up and jobbed out. Right: Some fabulously crazy shit from VI.

Seeing Amano render those characters in such a graceful, hyper-human style takes me back every time. There’s something deeply Classical as well as something very Art Noveau about everything he illustrates, and it depicts these characters as both visually striking and starkly human.

Splatterhouse 2 (Namco)

Year: 1992

Artist: Probably one of the following – A. Chan, Gyoee~! Miyachan, or Taiji Nagayama (again, they just pile names together in these things)

I just realized while preparing to publish: the fucking octopus has eyebrows. Click for larger version.

I finished with this one because October’s right around the corner. Horror in classic video games is one of my favorite topics to swim around in. Usually the end result of such efforts ends up either painfully cool (but not scary) or laughably shitty. The Splatterhouse series (at least, the original three) are painfully cool. This cover is so 1990s cool I can’t even look at it without muttering “yeah dude” under my breath reflexively.

He is battling the SHIT out of a massive purple mutant and an absolutely FURIOUS land octopus with what appears to be an oversized slot machine lever. You can tell he’s been busy, because that knob is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, an army of the living dead shuffles forth under the guidance of the shittiest little Eddie Haskell ghost I’ve ever seen. One look at Rick’s face tells you all you need to know: he’s HAD IT, and every single thing he can physically reach tonight is going to die.

What’s even more amazing than this is the little intro movie from the game. We’re treated to parallaxing horizons, an almost legitimately moving vision of Jennifer begging to be rescued and then PLUMMETING back into the gullet-anus of some unthinkable creature, and some really driving music that consider the best track out all three OSTs. Look on.

All right, RetroFiends. Put on your hockey masks and go get your pillow cases. I will see you in October!

Well, you had three options. The first was talking to your dumb-ass friends about it. This has varying appeal, depending on who your “friends” are and how lousy their taste is. You could also check out grainy, tiny screenshots in ads, or on the game’s back cover. The problem here was, a lot of what ends up there is subject to change, as the ad copy and dressing is usually done in advance of the release.

Then there’s the real knee-jerk way, the “intuitive” lie we’ve all told ourselves before: judging the book (video game) by its cover.

Regardless of the quality of any given game, there was an era in the 80s and 90s where box art could make or break counter sales of a game. No punches were pulled. The phenomenon produced some real horrible shit, but we also saw some undoubted masterpieces. I’ve chosen five of them to look at this time over, and will probably do this again in the future… it was hard to narrow it down, so I chose five that impacted me as a young man that still hold a striking presence now, to the adult me.

I would like to note that the order is not a ranking. I would not dare to do that with raw visual art; each piece should really stand or fall on its own merit. I should also note that, while I made an attempt to credit individual artists, that information can sometimes be tricky to get ahold of. If you see a mistake or missing information, feel free to contact me or message our Facebook page. I have also not strictly grabbed the art as it is off the box; if I found a higher resolution or better version of that same art in a flyer, ad, or elsewhere, then I have used that.

Argus no Senshi/Rygar

Year: 1986

Artist: Unknown; if you know, please contact me

Click to enlarge!

Not one single bit of anything happening here is soft, gentle, kind, or anything less than a testament to divinely-inspired violence. There is a gigantic, demonic lion-person leering and reaching from the heavens. Rygar, having just decapitated some manner of ogre-beast in his endless quest for monster blood, holds up his trophy to the sky-lion and roars back in defiance. The bodies of other unthinkable creatures lie submissive and vanquished before him. Rygar will not bow to any being… no god, lion, or demon. If you would have Rygar, then descend from your sickly-green heaven and come take him! He will add your ridiculous head to his collection.

Seriously, there is nothing truly lacking here, except that Rygar’s weaponry is a bit dishonestly represented. I can’t even fault it, though, because it’s under-represented, leaving the pleasant and brutal surprise for when you play the game.

Exile: Wicked Phenomenon

Year: 1992

Artist: Vic Ireland

Click to Enlarge (it’s pretty big).

This one probably took a lot of time and talent, and it shows… this art is sufficiently dream-haunting that for a while I set that face as the image to show when my phone alarm went off. That way, I heard loud noise, picked up my phone, saw THAT, and was jolted awake by two senses instead of just one.

I hazard to say that the art is better than the game, which is okay if not a little slow-moving and unnecessarily inflated in terms of storyline. The game is immaterial. From the floor-fog to the lighting to the soulless, predatory eyes of the face in the wall, you know a dark story lies inside that game box.

Heretic

Year: 1994

Artist: Gerald Brom

Click to Enlarge!

Brom has gotten the nod for tons of art any gamer or fantasy fan has doubtless seen; just google “gerald brom art” and toodle around for a while. You’ll recognize plenty. I have always loved this particular work of his, for several reasons. Firstly, it accurately depicts the world of Heretic as a dark, dying realm where little hope exists. The only strong light source in the picture is the mage’s spell ripping into one of the undead warriors. Secondly, the mage’s face is perfect. It’s this exact blend of grim hardness, sheer terror, and arcane focus. I also love how the focal point of the image is twofold: the mage himself and the bolt of magical energy he is casting. It all seems initially off-balance to one side, but the dynamic movement implied in the figures present makes everything seem to fit right where it is. Lastly, something about these skeletons just looks punk rock as fuck to me. I’m into the undead as antagonists in any medium or genre; it’s even better when they look like extras from Return of the Living Dead.

Wolfenstein 3D

Year: 1992

Artist: Ken Rieger

Click to Enlarge!

I’ve mentioned this one before. This is an image that transcends what it is meant to depict and shows us a glimpse of what lies in one single moment of violence. A Nazi guard is sprawled on the floor, his vividly red blood spattered across the cobblestones as he gasps his last “mein lieben.” BJ Blazkowicz roars in brute triumph as he unleashes the full power of an impossibly huge chaingun on out-of-frame foes who are likely in the throes of Biblical-level terror. Nazi imprisonment has not weakened any part of the animal that is BJ; his instincts, supernatural physique, and bloodlust are every bit as powerful as they were when the Krauts lucked out and caught him. Now he’s going to singlehandedly send each one of them to the mockery of Valhalla reserved for such villains.

When you sit down to craft a piece like this, it’s ballsy to take the perspective of “sort-of underneath the guy.” You could end up with an image framing a crotch, or one that’s just unappealing. Rieger nailed this. He knew he had to show BJ Blazkowicz the way most mortals should see him: as if looking up into the stratosphere, to see where the divine scream of vengeance was coming from.

Castlevania/Akumajo Dracula/Vampire Killer

Year: 1986-87

Artist: surprisingly, I could not find this information.

IF YOU CLICK IT, IT GETS BIGGER

Looming above everything else, above and beyond the decrepit castle on the cliff, sneering arrogantly at the young man with a whip, we see Dracula. The Prince of Undeath. An ancient, horribly potent, and unsinkable evil. Standing defiantly below, we see Simon Belmont: the man who has come not only to kick Dracula’s shit in, but to do it with a whip.

There’s not a lot I can say here… this image has become iconic as a symbol of the protagonist/antagonist struggle that defines most platform games of the era. The player is presented with the bold but intangible outline of a villain supposedly beyond defeat, and given control of a modestly-depicted hero to get the job done. In the end, it turns out that legends die hard… but they can die. Even the vibrant streak of sky-hues across the middle of the picture doesn’t clash; it fits in and even adds to the tone of grey struggle. With eyes that sparkle like a cat’s, Dracula taunts not only Simon, but the potential player. As with its music, the art of the Castlevania franchise is consistently top-notch. This image set the standard.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at some of the indelible images that played a part in our hobby’s history. I will be back with more. Thank you so much for reading.

The art created by 1970’s and 80’s artist Patrick Nagel has been a massive influence in the scene. His overwhelmingly popular art continues to resonate throughout the New Retro Wave area, as some modern artists and mediums of art allude to his classic vibrant style.

Nagel’s art composed of bald, elegant and vibrant illustrations of females, donning sophistication, mysteriousness and attention drawing expressions, reminiscent of expressionistic art of the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Elena G. Millie, a curator of Nagel’s work, best summarizes his style:

“At any time there are a few who give form and meaning to their generation. Patrick Nagel’s emergence as one of these gifted few stemmed from his unique vision of the contemporary woman: She is elegant and sophisticated, exuding an air of mysterious enticement. She is capable, alluring and graceful, but also aloof and distant. You will never know this woman, though she stares out of the Nagel frame straight at you, compelling you to become involved, challenging you to an intense confrontation.”
–    Elena G. Millie, Obtained from arthistoryarchive.com, July 2017

Mystery was the key element of Nagel’s art – the key theme that his contemporaries adopted, and an intrinsic theme that stays strong within the retrowave aesthetic.

1969 would see the start to his career, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University. He would later pick up a career in 1971 at ABC-TV, detailing graphics for channel promotions.

Arthistoryarchive.com have lorded him as a “Playboy art icon”, as he designed for the popular magazine throughout the mid to late 1970’s, however his place in the history of Retrowave is much more significant, with his art continuing to resonate throughout the New Retro Wave movement.

(Image from catawiki.com, NAGP 89 “The Playboy Portfolio II”, Nagel)

In the movement, Nagel is an unsung icon, creating works just before the vibrancy of the 90’s, during a time of great expressionism that would segway into the Pop-art era, taking art into an undefined territory. Today, this has made its way into our familiar minds.

There is no denying that Nagel’s art was a massive influence upon the 2015 Comedy Central production Moonbeam city – the show created by Scott Gairdner encapsulates many facets of the movement, through a nostalgic Miami-Vice theme, however the distinctive character illustrations and some of the execution of colour is a direct throw to the art of Nagel.

Photo from “Moonbeam City Trailer” (August 20, 2015), on YT Channel JoBlo TV Show Trailers, Show by Comedy Central

Album covers of our contemporaries often take a trend of throwing back to the art of Nagel, adapting it to further fit the aesthetic. The album cover of ALEX’s 2017 EP Youth takes on a Nagel-ic design, adding colour to the portrayal of the woman, along with greater detail of the hair, with shadow effects. Trevor Something’s “Trevor Something Does Not Exist” in 2014 took a similar artistic direction with its album cover.

Album cover of ALEX’s “Youth”  (2017) – Art by Jacqueline Ruther, Mizucat. Image from YT Channel NRW Records.

Album cover of Trevor Something’s “Trevor Something Does Not Exist” (2014), Art by Ariel Zucker, Image from YT Channel New Retro Wave.

Soundcloud and Bandcamp synthwave artist SelloRekT/LA Dreams (https://ladreams.bandcamp.com/track/nagel-girl) is also responsible for a nod to Nagel with song titled “Nagel Girl”. The song matches Nagel’s art well.

Photofrom SelloRekT/LA Dreams’ Bandcamp, “Nagel Girl”

In another area, the song “Desire – Under your spell” on Youtube has a throw to the art of the era. Popularised by 2011’s Drive, the fan-made music video uses Nagel-like imagery to be synced to the song – although the art is by Roy Lichtenstein, a contemporary of Nagel, synthesising a comic book-esk and pop art-ish aesthetic, the resemblance is noticeable, further cementing in place the impact of Nagel’s contemporaries. Needless to say, Lichtenstein has his own place in artistic history. The synths of the song throw in Nagel’s direction, but let’s not forget his contemporaries.

Photo from “Desire – Under Your Spell” (November 22, 2010), on YT Channel The Prismer, art by Roy Lichtenstein

Artists that explored this area as Nagels contemporaries and after Nagel’s untimely death include Carlos Sanchez, Dennis Mukai and Luis Preciado, who each added their own flavour to the artsphere.

“Thrill Me” by Carlos Sanchez

“Thrill Me” by Carlos Sanchez

“Special Friend” by Dennis Mukai

“Special Friend” by Dennis Mukai

“Genevieve” by Luis Preciado

“Genevieve” by Luis Preciado

It’s likely to say that Patrick Nagel has influenced the artistic direction of the movement greatly, adding mystery, sophistication and enticement that modern contemporaries have taken on board immensely.

Article by Zac Kelly.

Written by Filip Galetic

Art by Defte

A lot has changed in synthwave since 2013, when Lazerhawk’s (until now now, last) album Skull and Shark came out. The genre has in many ways matured and a whole new generation of listeners and producers has joined the fray. Since then we’ve had the emergence of the dark synthwave, as well as an immense proliferation of synthwave artwork and synthwave music creations. What this resulted in, is that the tropes of the scene have solidified more than ever in the last 3-4 years. No one expects anymore an album cover NOT to feature some sort of a sunset scene or a laser grid. The naming convention based on combo of Neon, Night Drive and any given year between 1983 and 1987 has become a sort of an inside joke on the scene. Lazerhawk’s last album could even be seen as one of the culprits for the upheaval of the new (at the time) “horror” strain of synthwave.

This wasn’t surprising as by then he was already firmly rooted as one of the founding fathers of outrun synthwave and one part of the Holy Trinity of artists gathered around the mythical Rosso Corsa Records (others being Miami Nights 1984 and Mitch Murder). In any case, those were still more innocent times and so one of the questions attached to this hugely anticipated album by one of the original greats of the early 2010s synth…wave was:

How is he going to sound today? What can he do that hasn’t already been overdone, covered, remixed, borrowed and brought to the point of parody by many of his “lesser” scene compadres? The answer comes at the same time as a surprise and as a natural progression of his output that makes perfect sense:

The synthwave demigod has returned in full force. Dreamrider suffuses LH years of producer expertise and creates a thoroughly complete body of work that is in every way more than the sum of its parts.
It’s an album in truest sense, built around a single central thread: LH’s undeniable mastery of the form. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a typical themed LH album. All LH albums had a strong theme, yet this album takes everything he has done so far and creates something new that cannot be really named. It dispenses with the, in reality, silly idea of making either a “space” album, or “driving” album or a “romance” album.

The sounds he paints could easily be found in a movie about a tryst gone bad, or one with an urban car chase or even a sci-fi thriller with unimaginable vistas. Above all, it’s an album about making the best possible tribute to the classic synthwave form. It favors repetition over random stitching of song parts that don’t go together, gradual-build ups of texture over brash showing off of technical skills. If there wasn’t the LH logo on the cover, you might mistake it for a random release by a scene hopeful releasing their album from their bedroom. But what you actually are getting is something like champagne of synthwave.
Slow burning, but oh so rewarding. This isn’t an album for synthwave producers, the structure might seem simplistic, but that’s the point. LH didn’t make this album so he can flex his muscle on a FB synthwave producer forum with other C category music makers, oh no. He does this because he is on a mission to create the most beautiful and transcending soundscape possible. Grand but at the same time very introspective. The compositions are full of subtle emotion and LH skillfully plays with our expectation through clever use of repetition followed by unforeseen shift in tonality and mood.

A case in point is the beautiful sprawling Cruise which in hands of a more rookie producer would have been just the same plodding motif built around the same hook, maybe enhanced with some additional licks here and there. But LH is in it to tell an emotional story and so the shifts in mood within a track can totally catch you off guard. Take for example the title track, a percussion-less study of harmony and subtle feelings that cannot be named. This track will at the same time make you feel like you suddenly understand the meaning of life and have you realize the ephemeral nature of existence. Back are his signature guitar riffs that made Star Hustler such an epic track – my personal favorite from the Visitors LP. It appears here and there but in the best way on Cool Breeze, which could have been another vocal track easily.

The only vocal track is the third one with GUNSHIP which succeeds at being more than just an interesting experiment. Lazerhawk has a better grip on the song structure compared to GUNSHIP on their first record, which was great but a little all over the place in comparison. Coupled with just the right lyrical balance between simple and embellished, it’s a welcome proof Lazerhawk can do more than just Lazerhawk. After the Moroder-esque REM, comes one of the strongest tracks on the album, the warped Mirror Between Worlds that evokes images of some off-world drama with some truly unique chord progressions. The closing track – Dreams in the Dusk – at first feels like an odd choice with its morose and defeatist mood. However, eventually it becomes clear it’s not as it seems. You will just have to listen to find out why.

10/10