But not too tame. It’s still pretty bonkers.

ALCATRAZ II

Microdeal, 1982

So there’s no doubt about it… prison sucks. Even without all the darker parts of prison life (which we don’t need to detail; pop culture can and will do that for you), you’re still locked up. You’re not free. One of the worst was Alcatraz, just off the California coast, an island prison fortress that was meant to be nearly impossible to escape.

Well, since people kept attempting (and possibly succeeding, as in the 1962 attempt), Microdeal decided that Alcatraz needed a sequel. A meaner, iron-clad, merciless follow-up.

With a goddamn minotaur in it.

What immediately strikes me as strange is how cool they both seem about the situation. As if they had a conversation beforehand, free of rancour or posturing.

“Okay, so when you bolt down the hallway, I mean, I’m a fucking minotaur, dude. I’m gonna chase you.”

“Yeah yeah. I’m gonna run like hell, so don’t worry too hard about it. I’m not.”

“You know, I’m glad we talked about this. Thanks.”

“Yeah man, oughta be a good show.”

GOODY

Opera Soft, 1987

This is some straight-up Bakshi shit. A lot is loosely implied here, at least to me, and it’s done in that way that creeps in at the seams of the mind and leaks inward. I think this one deserves an itemized list.

• the policeman commands the power of the Moon itself to avoid a very, very “happy” gorilla gazing up at him.
• That bird (buzzard? What fucking kind of bird is that?) looks suicidally depressed. Or maybe I’m wrong and it’s just seen all this shit before. In any case, a city with birds like that flying around in it can’t be a cheerful place for humanity to thrive.
• Goody (is that this dude’s name?) seems to be wearing a coat, but are those his hands gripping it from behind, near the collar? If so, how the fuck do you pull that off, and if not, why isn’t he alarmed by it?
• That woman could be one of two things, going by how tropes work in this kind of media: a newswoman or a hooker.
• Wait, Goody’s an ape too, isn’t he? That woman’s trying to get it on with a gorilla.

Normally I’d go on a quest across Wikipedia and the Internet to find out more about this game, but I’m shook. Too shook to even open Google.

CASH MAN

Microdeal, 1984

This is what the working man’s day is like, represented by symbolism, I guess? Let me try:

You go to such great lengths (or heights) to earn your living. You grab and reach – everyone’s gotta struggle a little when they work for a living, right? Keeps you tough. Keeps you on your toes. The rank and file military man, he knows what it’s about; you have more in common than you might think.

Then the fucking vultures show up: the banker, the bill collector, the loan shark. Just as you’re starting to do well for yourself, you gotta deal with all this.

The title/logo being crafted weirdly out of smiley faces is a slapping contrast to this dark scene of class warfare and defeat. Also, I’m already noticing a theme with birds. The men and women involved in creating these games must have found birds supernaturally terrifying. Or they were just easy to justify as dickheads in any scenario. Because that’s true. Birds are absolute dickheads.

PIMANIA

Automata, 1982

Little preface for this one: there was a period of time in my early to mid 20s when I played around with psychoactives and hallucinogens a lot. I don’t think I did any serious damage to myself (though some people may enthusiastically disagree), but I did experience some… well, interesting things. I remember very clearly the tail-end of one LSD experience, sitting on my back porch and watching the grass visibly grow and recede before my eyes, as the sun was rising. Once it occurred to me that I could see the sun’s light, but not the sun itself, I froze with panic. Then, over the course of another hour or so, I kept carefully positioning myself so that the treeline or other solid objects would obscure the sun’s full disc from my view. I was convinced that a full look at the sun would drive me mad or destroy me.

I’m pretty sure this image is a good approximation of what my mind was expecting.

End note on this one: man, I don’t know what you’re up to, but you brought a telescope, a saxophone, a rubber ducky and a live snake, not to mention you are totally nude. Best of luck.

MR. DIG

Microdeal, 1984

Microdeal must have had a stable of depraved and insane artists on lock during this time period. Mr. Dig’s eyes aren’t eyes at all but eyespots; he must have echolocation or sense his way by tremors in the ground. He’s clearly in some hellish system of tunnels, and has just found an apple with more mass than himself. An underground Hadean giant apple. His face betrays no emotion. He’s… he’s thinking this one through. If Eris’s golden fruit wrought the discord so told in legend, what will a bite of this one do?

Also, it’s hot as fuck down here in those footie pajamas. He’s thinking the hardest about that – going back and changing clothes.

Thanks for joining me on another sojourn through the outsider art of the fringes of retro gaming. We may do this again. I’ll leave it on that note. A note of menace. Stay Retro!

The Parisian producer Sierra is new to the scene – but with an amazing release like “Strange Valley,” she’s certain to carve out a name for herself quickly. After scouring the internet, we can find no mention of the mysterious Sierra’s real name.  I tried to track her down to ask her some questions myself, but the closest I got was word she was currently traveling in the Sahara desert!

Her music came on the scene a little over a year ago, beginning with a remix of “Toxic is Dead.” Soon after she earned a spot in a “So French Records” compilation – no easy feat. Her Facebook page was created as recently as April of this year.

Then, in November, she released the Strange Valley EP. From this sound we can tell she’s been hard at work – her remix and compilation track were good, but this EP is fantastic.

The six tracks on “Strange Valley” are a mix of french touch, electro and synthwave. It sounds like Gesaffelstein or Street Fever if instead of making dance music they were making sick retrosynth soundtracks. Each cut from the “Strange Valley EP is also very well produced with an expert mix and master.

Although we’re not certain where she came from, if she keeps making music like this she’s sure to climb to the top. This introductory EP is definitely worth a listen (Or like, 4 in my case)

Top Tracks: “Two-Headed Birds,” “Hide,” “A Long Walk.”

Community Ratings

Following 2014’s brilliant ‘Metropolis’, Nightcrawler returns with perhaps his darkest work to date, ‘Strange Shadows’. The EP featuring 5 original and 4 remixes take great inspiration from Italian Giallo and horror movies of the late 70s and 80s. The record was produced by Nightcrawler (AKA George Gold) and mastered by the great Vincent Salvia (Atlantis, Chromelove EP). Not only is Gold a kick ass musician but he’s also a talented graphic designer and again lends his artistic vision for the cover art of his latest EP.

To get in the true spirit of Nighcrawler’s latest work, I advise that you run yourself a late night bath, light a few candles and bolt them doors and windows tightly! I was only three songs into this sucker before I became convinced that some maniac flaunting an axe was going to break into my home and chop off my arms and legs, leaving me nothing more than a mangled mess for some badly dubbed Italian detective to ponder over.

The two opening tracks, ‘Macabre Serenade’ and ‘Una Notte Violenta’ are great and they serve well in familiarising us with what we can expect. The hooky lead keyboard parts combined with fuzzy grim undertones almost leave you feeling as if you’re being pursued by the music itself. Both tracks bare distant resemblance to some of John Carpenters earlier scored work and his classic fear provoking synth soundtracks of the 1980’s. It’s when we reach ‘Omicido Nella Sala Rossa’ that things visit a new level of potency. Nightmarish samples partnered with the tangled sounds of a female in distress, pull no punches in elevating tension and hurling your heart rate into overdrive.  From the dream like void of ‘Omicido…’ we are led toward the last of the original tracks ‘Pendulo Oculto’ and my personal favourite, ‘Calvary: Feat. Vincenzo Salvia’.  ‘Pendulo Oculto’ is perhaps the most danceable song on the EP and comes complete with a heavily infectious backbeat that steers the songs dread filled melody and distantly stirs at memories of Nine Inch Nails earlier work. The excellent ‘Calvary’ draws proceedings to a close and although it too continues on a unsettling path, it bares some signs of hopefulness at its core, perhaps hinting to the listener that not all is lost after all. The final 4 songs of the record are remixes; OGRE takes a stab at Macabre Serenade, Umberto takes on Pendulo Oculto and both Alexandro Parisi and Profondo Delle Tenebre unshackle their own enthralling versions of Una Notte Violenta, all bringing their own unique twist to Nightcrawler’s original tracks.

On the whole ‘Strange Shadows’ is heavily atmospheric and is a vast exploration of darker sounds. It’s certainly not a record you’re going to listen to at the beach or play at your children’s birthday party, but that’s not saying there shouldn’t be a place in your life for this haunted gem. What’s impressive about Nightcrawler is how his sound continues to evolve and that he refuses to remain stationary for too long. Instead he demonstrates perfectly how an artist can stay true to their sound and fan base, but at the same time still remaining fresh and progressive.