PPPPPP

PPPPPP, chiptune musician Magnus Pålsson's soundtrack for the very good indie platformer VVVVVV, is one of the best things I've heard in forever.

Maybe if you weren't fed a steady stream of beep-boop melodies while playing the beloved video games of your youth, you won't find so much to love in PPPPPP. But if this is your thing, prepare for some of the most propulsive, infectious, downright joyful chiptune music you're likely to hear anywhere in the world. VVVVVV is the first game in a long time, since Ocarina of Time, in fact, where I would start it up and leave the player character uncontrolled for the sole purpose of listening to the background music. PPPPPP's songs are dense, enthralling collages of artificial beeps, and yet they sound as human and energetic as any song composed with the human voice or physical instruments.

I purport to be a music snob and I can tell you all sorts of stuff about Touch & Go Records and the Golden Age of Hip-Hop and whatnot, but despite that I can say in full confidence that PPPPPP, this 30-minute slab of video game music, is objectively some of the best music I've ever heard and it will take some stiff competition to keep this from being the best music I hear this year.