Big Blue Bazooka

An instrumental power pop song. Credits: Written, recorded, produced and mixed by Nicholas Kempson Nicholas Kempson - Electric guitar, bass guitar, Drums, Synthesizer

A song inspired by International Observer Credits: Written, recorded and produced by Colin Bokulic and Nicholas Kempson Mixed by Nicholas Kempson

What if a cat could play guitar? It might sound something like this.

I Thought I Was The One For You by Big Blue Bazooka

An experimental art punk journey into the deranged mind. Produced and mixed by Nicholas Kempson Written by Nicholas Kempson and Colin Bokulic Colin Bokulic - Lead Vocals, Background Vocals Nicholas Kempson - Sequencing -Lyrics- Come slit my throat Fuck up my brain God help me from going insane My dread filled head, I cannot be explain Dark moonless night with no one in sight Just end me Insane, in...

This track uses the D1771C chip which is used in the Super Cassette vision game console. It is very limited as it only has a single voice channel so I decided to make a short level complete jingle for a game that doesn't exist.

This uses the 8360 Text Editing Device (TED) integrated circuit. This was the primary chip used in the Commodore Plus/4, C16 and C116 home computers. The chip has two sound channels, two square wave channels or one square wave and one white noise channel. This made it more challenging to write music for and the first time I have written music for only two voices.

This uses a variant of the OPLL sound chip known as the OPLL-P. It is almost identical to the OPLL except for having a different set of predefined instrument patches and was used in the Philips PMC100 and in the FM Melody Maker cartridge used with software of the same name for the Atari ST.

Uses the Intel 8253 sound generator used for Motherboard BIOS troubleshooting info. I had the idea to make something to sound as if the computer is crying for help before glitching and malfunctioning.

This uses the OPLL sound chip which is found in the Sega Mark III and early Ad-lib and sound blaster PC sound expansion cards. This track uses mode 1 of the OPLL chip which allow for up to 6 FM channels and the use of 5 predefined percussion sounds. The chip also has 15 per-defined instruments built in.

This is another Game Boy (DMG) music track. It only has two voices as I originally wrote it for the 8360 Text Editing Device (TED) integrated circuit however the tuning intervals on the TED sounded ugly when paired with this composition. I decided to change it to another sound chip and found the Game Boy to have a nice sound that was fitting of this piece. I especially like the minimalism of this...

Uses the SPC700. This is my idea of what a cave level might sound like.

This uses a variant of the OPLL sound chip known as the OPLL-P. It is almost identical to the OPLL except for having a different set of predefined instrument patches and was used in many pachinko/pachislot machines

This was written for the MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID (Sound Interface Device) found in Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers. The chip has 3 voices with a number of different waveforms available for each voice.

This is another uncommon sound chip. It is found in a few Korg synthesizers, namely the Korg Poly800, and a few obscure arcade games such as 'Splendor Blast'. It can also output 8 tones simultaneously. The track gives off the feeling of the kind of video game levels were you at the early stages of the final area in the game that is leading up to the final boss battle.

This track uses the Game Boy sound chip. It is similar to the NES sound chip with three voice channels and one noise channel however instead of a triangle wave channel it instead uses a programmable wave table channel. I made this as the kind of track that would play after you have finished the game and this would play during the credits.

This is different from the other NES tracks on the album as this is the only one to utilise a cartridge expansion chip, in this case the MMC5. The MMC5 mapper provides extra sound output consisting of two pulse wave channels and a PCM channel. This being the title track I wanted it to be more special than the other NES tracks I had written so expanding the audio options a bit helped me be able to...

This track uses the AY-3-8910 chip which is found in many different systems such as the Atari ST, MSX, ZX spectrum and Sega Master system to name a few. It has three voice channels and one noise channel, very similar to the RP2A03 except that it doesn't have a triangle wave so the bass has a different feel to it. The song creates a feeling of wondering through a mystical forest with woodland creat...

This uses the NEC D65010G031 3-Micron CMOS Gate Array used in the PV-1000 game console. It has 3 square wave channels made by cutting the main clock by 1024, then by the value of the 6bit period registers. This results in pitches that are not entirely itonated, causing certain note combinations to be more dissonant than others and can be heard on this track as it has caused the music to sound slig...

Uses the SPC700

This is a Super Nintendo track using the SPC700 sound chip. The SPC700 is a sample based sound chip which synthesizers sounds by looping extremely short, low-res samples. The Unique echoey, slap back style reverb/delay used by this sound chip gives Super Nintendo music its distinct recognisable sound.

This is another NES (RP2A03 sound chip) track. the beat gives off imagery of a large band of British soldiers walking with their legs up high at a fast pace in a Monty Python-esque style. It is very happy, upbeat and energetic counterpointed by the bridge which has a more sombre feeling to it. I believe this track captures the NES sound perfectly.

This track is modelled on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis which uses the Yamaha YM2612 / OPN2 sound chip. The OPN2 chip can also be found in the FM Towns computer as well as the Sega system 18 and 32 arcade hardware. The chip allows you to use six FM channels with 4 operators and is based on the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. I wanted the track to feel mysterious and a bit uneasy, as if you were walking thro...

All samples All plundered The vocal samples are from various anime and also a video game involving a large ape and a cruel crocodile. My music distributor won't allow me to have a track with speech samples on streaming services so this track is now a super special Bandcamp exclusive release. The artwork for the single came from my a photo of a figure I have of Chi-Chi from Dragon Ball Credits - Wr...

This song is a chiptune track which uses the SN76489 soundchip (notably used by the ColecoVision and Sega Master System game consoles). This track was made with the idea of creating something that would fit into a video game soundtrack. I wanted it to sound a bit mysterious and energetic, like the kind of track that would play during a boss fight. The track is a bit experimental in how it used the...