He composed with a light, stylish touch with roots in jazz and classical, and a restrained sense of syncopation that recalls French pianist Erik Satie. A lover of classical music and anime themes, Saito loved the works of Beethoven and Glenn Gould. Saito studied piano as a child, before studying the fundamentals of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Manabu Saito was one of the most promising Japanese game composers of the era, but tragically died of liver failure in 1992 aged just 22. With the compilation out now and a Hyperdub x RBMA showcase event at London’s Fabric venue, we asked the Diggin’ in the Carts team, and some of the composers from the era, to walk us through ten of the most experimental and adventurous VGM soundtracks from the era. In the decades since, Japanese VGM has pivoted from the influenced to the influencer, becoming a wellspring of inspiration for several generations of hip hop, beats, synth-funk, grime, and dubstep producers. ![]() They were all dreaming up their own micro-masterpieces, works that stand up well beyond the boundaries of “music for video games.” In the process, it reveals that while Tanaka was using the hyper-nostalgic bleeps and technological restrictions of the era to riff on dub and reggae, composers like Yuzo Koshiro and Soshi Hosoi were drawing from Detroit techno and minimalist composition too. ![]() An outgrowth of the video interview series and radio show Dwyer created for Red Bull Music Academy, the compilation surveys the glory days of 8-bit and 16-bit Japanese VGM in the 80s and early 90s chip era, building on the curator’s efforts to share the untold history of Japanese VGM with the world. ![]() Over the last couple of years, Dwyer has been working closely with London’s Kode9 and his Hyperdub record label to compile Diggin’ in the Carts: a Collection of Pioneering Japanese Video Game Music.
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