Kind of Bloop On Sale

Posted by Andy Baio

I’m happy to announce that Kind of Bloop is now officially on sale to everyone, $5 for high-quality digital downloads in MP3 or FLAC format. Buy it now with Amazon Payments.

Working with these guys was an absolute dream. Their creativity and dedication transcends the original concept, creating something that pays tribute to Miles’ seminal work while pushing the boundaries of the genre.

I know there are jazz purists out there that hate the idea of anyone interpreting a jazz masterpiece in this way, but to them, I’d only ask that you listen to it first before making a judgment. Virt responded to one naysayer in the comments on my original post:

Way I see it, chiptunes can either be a punishingly difficult artistic medium we happened to grow up with, or a tired retro fashion statement. Our goal was to stick to the former, pushing the limitations hard, building on our capacity for expression using the most basic sounds. There could be no better challenge, Andy thought, than one of the most expressive jazz albums of all time, one that has inspired us all.

So, you see, I’m not the least bit embarrassed by our work. In fact, I think you might be short-changing “the masters of jazz,” who I believe would be grinning ear to ear right now. They were ALL ABOUT mastering unusual techniques and expressing within a framework. That’s the whole point of Kind of Blue. The parallels to our own medium were dead obvious, and I got the same rush of perverse glee that the original ensemble must have felt 50 years ago, locking myself in a cell and playing between the metal bars.

I hope, if you still can’t enjoy the sound of the album itself, you might at least be less quick to dismiss it, given this perspective. It’s not a parade, it’s a love letter in our own weird handwriting.

So, thanks for listening. (Oh, and bonus points to anyone who can identify all the quotes and references in the album.)

Comments

    Wow + killer!

    This brought a massive smile to my face, an’ restored my faith in humanity for th’ next half hour. It’s like you guys just collapsed two of my pet loves in one fell swoop. I’ll definitely pass this on to peeps, an’ your model behind Kickstart is also extrememly inspiring ..!

    –

    As an aside, this also reminds me of th’ story of Ornette Coleman being too poor to be able to afford a saxophone when he was growing up so he made do an’ honed his skills using a plastic toy saxophone instead. That still resonates with me to this day. Pure awesome an’ th’ power of convictions. Like this.

    I love this project. Just DL’d it via the Amazon thingie. Can I still get in on a CD version?

    I posted about it on my music blog (jazzsick). Maybe some more traffic will head your way.

    Any chance for Bitches Bloop, Bloop of the Cool, or a Charlie Parker Bloopland in the future? 🙂 🙂

    ~Dan

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