Kind of Bloop
| Kind of Bloop | |
|---|---|
Cover of the 2024 edition | |
| Studio album | |
| Released | August 20, 2009 |
| Genre | Chiptune |
| Producer | Andy Baio |
| kindofbloop | |
Kind of Bloop: An 8-Bit Tribute to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue is an album produced by Andy Baio in 2009. The album is a chiptune cover of Miles Davis's 1959 album Kind of Blue.
Composition, release and reception
Composition and funding
The website Kickstarter is designed to help people crowdsource the funding for their projects. Some months after its initial release in 2009, Baio, a Miles Davis fan and one of the site's board members,[‡ 1] came up with the idea of recreating Kind of Blue in chiptune, a type of music found in early video games, as an example project to test the site's functionality.[1]
After purchasing a copyright license for each of Kind of Blue's five songs, Baio assigned each to a musician to work on for three months, allowing each musician complete creative control with the sole condition of keeping "Davis' original feeling and intensity". The track "All Blues" was assigned to New York–based jazz pianist Samuel Ascher-Weiss, who told Time journalist Claire Suddath that the task of making a cover—which involved relying on a recording of himself playing the original song—required "a masochistic desire to have something difficult to do".[1]
Release history
The album was publicly released on August 20, 50 years and three days after the official release date of Kind of Blue.[1] A 15th anniversary edition was released in August 2024.[2]
Reception
One area of focus among reviewers and the public was the album's nature as a fusion of chiptune and jazz. Game Developer claimed that the album "sparked a contentious debate" over the desirability of this characteristic,[3] and, according to Baio, before the album's release, some parts of some online jazz communities did not like the concept.[1] Commenting on if the album can be categorized as one of jazz, Suddath compared hearing it to hearing "Miles Davis lost in Legend of Zelda".[1]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "So What" | beek (Chris del Camino) | 9:24 |
| 2. | "Freddie Freeloader" | virt (Jake Kaufman) | 9:40 |
| 3. | "Blue in Green" | sergeeo (Sergio de Prado) | 4:14 |
| 4. | "All Blues" | Shnabubula (Samuel Ascher-Weiss) | 10:43 |
| 5. | "Flamenco Sketches" | Disasterpeace (Rich Vreeland) | 7:06 |
References
- ^ a b c d e Suddath, Claire (August 20, 2009). "Kind of Bloop: Miles Davis as Video-Game Music". Time. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
- ^ Beschizza, Rob (August 15, 2024). "15th Anniversary Vinyl Edition of A Kind of Bloop". Boing Boing. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
- ^ "Remix Albums 2009". Game Developer. Vol. 16, no. 9. October 2009. ISSN 1073-922X – via ProQuest.
Primary sources
In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):
- ^ Baio, Andy (July 20, 2009). "Joining Kickstarter". Waxy.org. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
Further reading
- Vartanian, Hrag (June 30, 2011). "Breaking: Millionaire Extorts $$$ From Artist, Street Artists Strike Back". Hyperallergic. Brooklyn. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
- Vinogradoff, Luc (June 14, 2010). "Du Miles Davis en 8bit, les Kinks reformés?" [8-bit Miles Davis, the Reformed Kinks?]. Le Monde (in French). Paris. ISSN 1950-6244. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- Foulquier, Baptiste (October 11, 2009). "Miles Davis: un carnage!" [Miles Davis: A Carnage!]. Causeur (in French). Paris. ISSN 2270-4140. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
- Bergman, Silje (2019). "Utfordringer ved bruk og deling av visuelle uttrykk i en digital tidsalder" [New Challenges Related to How We Use and Share Visual Expressions in a Digital Age]. FormAkademisk. 12 (1). Oslo. doi:10.7577/formakademisk.2641. hdl:11250/2647875. ISSN 1890-9515.
External links
- Official website
- Baio, Andy (June 23, 2011). "Kind of Screwed". waxy.org. Retrieved May 21, 2025.