Personally, I've never come across a genre more annoying and shrill than “Gameboy Rock”. The few times I've seen it live, after a couple songs I made my way for the exit. I understand they somehow use a Gameboy (or multiple Gameboys) to create techno music. I don't know how they do it, and frankly I never cared.
Upon listening to the opening track of The J. Arthur Keens Band album “Computer Savvy”, I thought: “wow I really like this, it's like pop but weirder”. Then upon examination of the liner notes I read the fateful words “Gameboy” “8-bit” and “chiptune”. Here I was enjoying Gameboy Rock! Once again I am proven wrong, and the lesson stands that we should never go into an album with any reservations.
There is something special in “Computer Savvy” that can be rather hard to find... which is music that is catchy, weird, unique, full in production, and the big one... non-repetitive. The songs within the album progress in a more enjoyable and enthralling fashion than the majority of “pop” music I've heard the last year, with structures that manage to move in all the right directions, whether that be driving along a groove, or becoming distant and introspective... that's right, deep textures with a Gameboy!
I suppose with all genre's there are those who do it right, and those who do it lazy. “Computer Savvy” definitely falls into the “done right” category, and has increased my determination to go into records with no reservations.
“Computer Savvy” by The J. Arthur Keens Band is available at this Bandcamp page.
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