Music from video games – be it songs “inspired by” games, soundtracks, chip tunes, remixes, or something else entirely – is a big part of the Destructoid community. Music Monday is a weekly look at some of these tunes. ------
Hey, you got rock music in my video game soundtrack! Hey, you got video game music in my rock record!
The Advantage (Robby Moncrieff and Ben Milner on guitar, Carson McWhirter on bass and Spencer Seim on drums) is a Nevada City band that plays covers of Nintendo songs with “good nintentions.” Together since 1998, the band has put out two albums on 5RC records – Elf-Titled and The Advantage - along with three bootlegs (2004 West Coast Tour CD, 2004 US Tour CD and "Underwear: So Big!" 2006 Tour CD-R). While the One-Ups (hi Dale!) put a jazzy spin on their covers, and the NESkimos play heavier music, the Advantage play flat-out rock tunes.
The Advantage has long been a favorite of my video game cover bands. Back in the days I worked at a record store, I loved putting The Advantage on the store system and watching the looks of recognition on the faces of the customers. The boys put a great mix on their albums of tunes that any casual gamer should at least recognize (Mario 3 Underworld, Zelda Fortress) and songs that are more aimed at the lifelong game-ophile (Goonies 2, Metal Gear Jungle). The songs are tight, but have a great “crunchy” garage feel rather than an overproduced studio sound.
Other than the listing of shows, the website and myspace of the band seem to be updated rarely. California seems like the best location if you're looking to see The Advantage live, with a show coming up on the 9th at the Del Oro Theater in Grass Valley, CA. Of course, you can listen to them any time through the magic of CDs and digital music! Amazon has both of the band's records from 5RC for less than ten dollars a piece. While the songs are often brief, each disc has a good enough mix and number of tracks to justify a purchase. The iTunes store also has the songs from Elf-Titled available for individual purchase.
Having said all that, I know what the members of the Dtoid community are looking for when they click on a “music” blog post – free MP3s! I would hate to disappoint, so here are 6 tracks (and a video!), directly linked from The Advantage's website, theadvantageband.com.
Eh. I've never really cared for the bands that do the generic straightforward covers (see also, The Minibosses). It was cool when nobody else was doing it, but nowadays they just sound like anyband youl'd hear posting up a video on youtube.
I do like some of what the NESkimos have tried, and their show at PAX 06' was epic.
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My brother and I got a NES for Christmas back in the early 90s, right at the end of its life cycle. One of my most vivid gaming memories is playing Super Mario World at Service Merchandise back in the day. Since then I've had a SNES (my favorite system), a N64, a Gamecube, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, DS, Wii, Xbox and 360.
Outside of gaming, I am an obsessive skier and an amateur beer homebrewer. I live up in the state of Maine, although I did spend a short stint living in Juneau Alaska. My favorite types of humor are those shown by Seth Rogen, Mel Brooks, Mitch Hedberg and Michael Showalter. I am also one of those kids that loves comics enough to go to the comic shop every Wednesday to pick up a couple of books. I used to host a radio show and love music, particularly The Clash.
Other than that, I guess the usual info...
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Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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Eh. I've never really cared for the bands that do the generic straightforward covers (see also, The Minibosses). It was cool when nobody else was doing it, but nowadays they just sound like anyband youl'd hear posting up a video on youtube.
I do like some of what the NESkimos have tried, and their show at PAX 06' was epic.
Saw these guys at Magfest. Fucking awesome.