Various Artists
Retro Gaming split 10'

I come from a shitty day, that is, this morning I was in tune with the chirping of the sunlit world and had the strength of Superman on my side, but then the rest of the horrible day drained every bit of my strength and mood, clashing with a very disgusting reality, just as if I had had pounds and pounds of damned kryptonite thrown at me.

So I resolved to unleash my ace in the hole, the already reviewed elsewhere antidote-album by the Superinvaders, Fabric Of The Universe, and all that immobilizing filth vanished in exactly 10 minutes, just like in a damn Superman comic, and then I regained my superpowers, so now I can talk to you about the super-super-split 10' released by a quartet of valiant bands.

The split with 10 lemon wedges, to suck between teeth and gums, titled Retro Gaming, is absolutely anti-drift, that is, the raw and lively material played there imposes itself as a magnet with a high attractive power, which only Mister Magneto, the mutant who commands magnetism, hero of Marvel Comics, was able to develop, attracting so much good metal (his favorite drug).

In the action radius of the described field you fall naively at first glance - resisting would make no sense - because the ferocious and ferruginous power that jumps and squeezes out of Retro Gaming overwhelms heavily and escaping from it isn’t really possible anymore.

But there is serious fun to be had in listening to the 10 kamikaze surf tracks offered, as they shine with explosive brightness, gilded with flaming golden dust, so much so that it feels like you're riding this crazy summer² that speeds away very, very fast into the arms of hesitant autumn, but in its brief and green gallop will allow us, exhausted drift survivors, to build memorable moments on which to experience unforgettable summer adventures branded 2020.

These 10 doping sonic clamors, well charged with high energy, raw & alive, emerge directly from the four driving bands that have realized this great vulture-repelling record, making an oasis of beloved lush well-being and refreshing comfort bloom in our desert space.

Ask Amo de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards and their two icy tracks fired with excellent Silver Surfer taste, exceedingly capable of stamping their Surf mark infused with punk/noise influences (and I particularly like the special Amiga Omega, a beautiful song endowed with style, also subdued by rhythmic perfumes Nightwish + Adolescents: legendary!).

"The split was born just from an idea of Arno de Cea, guru of Calico Records and especially of the brutal surf-rockers Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards, after Manu from Creepozoïd Productions had advised him to make a cover of the theme of "Ikari Warriors", an arcade video game published in 1986 by SNK and later converted for numerous home computers and consoles of the era.

Arno involved 3 other bands in the "80's retro gaming" project, calling from Brazil The Mullet Monster Mafia, from the United Kingdom Los Pecadores and from Italy (or the planet Kepler-66b?) the Superinvaders!!! The result is a split record that features cover themes from video games like Sinbad (Los Pecadores), Draconus (The Mullet Monster Mafia) and Blade Runner (Superinvaders), in addition to the already mentioned Ikari Warriors (Arno de Cea & the Clockwork Wizards), along with other unreleased tracks that more or less respect the record's focus".

The second hand is played by Los Pecadores, who make sparks and sparkling frost, as if they are coming out of a portable atomic freezer, dusting us with sleet while we are lying down having a siesta/sauna at 03:00 PM on the sunniest beach in the world, intent on redoing our healthy tan post-lockdown. Three poisoned arrows, honed by spatial rotary blades from the snowy forges, placed on the peaks of the highest manor-shop, Mercury: this is how we abrade ourselves in the infinity of hail-laden and incessant sinuosity with a high refrigerant gradient.

Still, three granitic granitas offered, not sparing a nickel of energy, by the carioca The Mullet Monster Mafia, who rather than freezing our back opposing the heat, botafog cachaça wonderfully, giving life to an unmissable series of swingy caipirinha drinks, serving the assist for the final goal-fest by our own Superinvaders, the only ones to spit energy even into the microphones (vocals, Ritz Micheli). They behave like a true Raging Bull putting the listener on the ropes, stuffing them with abrasive accents and super-jab chords, with the superb We Are Not Space Invaders and doubling in closure with an epic version of Ritz-like hair-raising skin work of the cosmic interplanetary, poetic version in 120's format, of Blade Runner end Titles Revirused, reconfirming the viral nature of their music nurtured by a truly extraterrestrial approach.

The record is extremely enjoyable and reconciles many palates in the name of passion for what majestic surf rock possesses, marvelously contaminated with mysterious magical sidereal influences meant to create a prodigious experience, massively soft & wild.

This is the new world triggered by the revolution of the '80s video games... ask Page and Brin!

Retro Gaming is a 4-way Split album released by the Orleone Records (BR) - Calico Records / Creepozoid Records & Productions Impossible Records (FR) in June 29th/2020.