Alek Szahala & Byproduct live at Assembly 2010 by FINRG Recordings

Coincidentally, I’ve had Byproduct’s tunes on almost constant repeat for the last week or so, and now along comes his jaw-dropping set with Alek Szahala. It was performed at Assembly (last year), and for anyone who remembers the days of trackers and 8/16-bit videogame OSTs this is an absolutely essential listen.

The set gradually builds up the bpm, ending with Alek’s demented Never Forget and Duck Tales remixes, followed by the highscore theme from The Great Giana Sisters (a track I could listen to for hours, it seems). What’s also really impressive is that their original tunes easily stand up to the melodies from heavyweights like Hülsbeck and Sakaguchi. I’d love to hear them take on some of Tim Follin’s tracks – LED Storm has been remixed to death, but an Alek/Byproduct version of that would be something to hear…

Anyway, I haven’t enjoyed a set this much for a very long time, and there are even edited versions of Maruuk and Iron Squid in here for the freeform-only crew.

01. Olof Gustafsson – Pinball Fantasies highscore (Alek Száhala Remake)
02. Byproduct – Culture 12
03. Pinball Illusions Intro (Paokala Remake)
04. Purple Motion – 2nd Reality OST (Byproduct remix)
05. Alek Száhala – Crystal Thunder
06. Kenny Chou – One Must Fall 2097 Title (Byproduct remix)
07. Chris Hülsbeck – Great Giana Sisters Cave Theme (Paokala Remake)
08. Paokala – Camelopardalis (Byproduct remix)
09. Byproduct – Vector
10. Byproduct – Ocean Planet
11. Quazar – Funky Stars (Original & Byproduct remix mashup)
12. Alek Száhala – Lost in Time
13. Byproduct – Platform
14. Byproduct – Bonus Stage
15. Iku Mizutani – Shatterhand final level (Falcon & Byproduct remix)
16. Chris Hülsbeck – Turrican II Intro (Byproduct remix)
17. Alek Száhala – Maruuk
18. Alek Száhala – Iron Squid
19. Chanel 5 – Never Forget (Alek Száhala Remix)
20. Yoshihiro Sakaguchi – Duck Tales Moon Theme (Alek Száhala Remix)
21. Chris Hülsbeck – Great Giana Sisters highscore (Paokala Remake)