This song was written in the Meantone 7 mode of 19EDO. 19EDO means an octave is divided into 19 notes instead of the standard 12.

This uses all analogue hardware for instruments.

Drowsy Jungle

Friendship Park

Blue Beach Buoy

Written, Produced and Mixed by Nicholas Kempson

Nicholas Kempson: Stylophone X-1, percussion, Korg Monotron, stylophone Beatbox

Stars in the Sky

World Famous

Lost and Found

Untitled 2

Tritone Express

Jazz No More

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 through a scary forest or a dark, gloomy castle. To do this I used degrees of modal mixture and wrote part of the song in Harmonic Minor, Aeolian and Phrygian to really give it a dark edge. It also has a nice strong groove driven by the kick drum and bass synth making it have a sound that is reminiscent of funk music with hints of dance music.

credits-

Written, sequenced, produced and mixed by Nicholas Kempson
artwork by Nicholas Kempson

Shadow Showdown

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.

Dying Intel 8253

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.

Level Complete

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.

Into the Devil's Lair

Into The Devil's Lair

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

Huey  Dewey and Louie

Huey, Dewey And Louie

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.

The Kingdom is Saved

The Kingdom Is Saved

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 make it stand out which is especially noticed by the extra PCM channel which allowed me to compose some really nice drums. I really love those lo-fi 1 bit drum samples that the NES can output and the MMC5 chip let me put just a bit more of that into the track.

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 track as I rarely compose anything for just two voices.

Astro Girl

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.

Into the Well

Into The Well

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 creatures scurrying around. I also think is could fit a water level too in retrospect.

Forest of Angels

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.

Goldfish Walk

I’m Just a Kid

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, insane, I’m going insane	
Insane, insane, I’m going insane


Crack in my skull
A bathtub of blood
I see tragic death awaits me
The turtle parachute fails to land
Stuck in the sand
Come sweet death, embrace me


Insane, insane, I’m going insane	
Insane, insane, I’m going insane


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

Going Insane

Going Insane (feat. Colin Bokulic)

Going Insane (ft. Colin Bokulic)

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

Guitar Cat

I Thought I Was the One for You

I Thought I Was The One For You

A song inspired by International Observer

Credits:
Written, recorded and produced by Colin Bokulic and Nicholas Kempson
Mixed by Nicholas Kempson

An instrumental power pop song.

Credits:
Written, recorded, produced and mixed by Nicholas Kempson

Nicholas Kempson - Electric guitar, bass guitar, Drums, Synthesizer

I Slip Into Bed

Hyper wall of sound instrumental pop rock

Affection Deficit Disorder

A nice relaxing instrumental folk pop song.

Credits-
Written, Recorded, Produced and Mixed by Nicholas Kempson.

Nicholas Kempson - Melodica, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Bass guitar, percussion, drums

Artwork by Nicholas Kempson

I'm not scared anymore

Lucky Dip

Hello Kimba

Cartoon Girl

Kittens Dance Delicately in Delight Under the Maple Tree Demanding Dubiously Docile Dissipation

Kittens Dance Delicately in Delight Under The Maple Tree Demanding Dubiously Docile Dissipation

Chips in Transit

Skeleton Air Raid

A cover of Lollipop by Julius Dixson. Most popularly known as sung by The Chordettes

Lollipop (The Chordettes Cover)

I Love How You Love Me

I Love How You Love Me (The Paris Sisters cover)

I'm Nick Kempson, a DIY musician from Melbourne, Australia.

I started out playing bass guitar and it all went from there.

Big Blue Bazooka

Popular tracks