Cassette Review: Moonrace "Lunar Dunes" (Already Dead Tapes)

$7 //
Edition of 100 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/ad268-moonrace-lunar-dunes //

Some number of years ago I stumbled upon this link somehow where current television shows such as "Lost" and movies such as "Wall-E" were turned into Atari cartridges.  I liked the idea of the newer media being mixed with that of nostalgia.   If I had the time (and was better at graphic design than I am) I would certainly take the time to mock up an Atari cartridge based upon this cassette artwork as the music on "Lunar Dunes" certainly feels like the soundtrack to that type of video game.   Though it might also be from the NES, which would be just as fun to mock up.   Kids will never know the struggle of blowing on one of those games to get it to work.

While I originally felt like this could be electronic rock, I still think of it as a video game soundtrack above all else.    Perhaps the drumming makes me think it isn't from video games but it also reminds me quite a bit of The Advantage.    Though at times it can exist merely as beeps and boops, it still makes me want to sing along just the same.     Whether or not you like video games or music which goes along with them, I think you'll find something in here to enjoy because from an alternate perspective you could even just experience this as some sort of synth-based rock.

I try to imagine what the video game that this soundtrack would go to would look like.   I almost immediately remember the "Empire Strikes Back" Atari game where you fly around and the mountains are in the background.   In an Atari sense, that could be a starting point.   Take that as the backdrop and add a ship closer to the one from "Asteroids" but it would certainly need some sort of alien-like monster to be fighting against, though I suppose in the same vein as "Return of the Jedi" for Atari your enemy could simply be another spaceship.

Though I remember a lot of games based in space or that sort of idea for Atari, I don't remember there being nearly as many for the NES.   Then I think of the name Moonrace.  Perhaps not a race of creatures on the moon but rather a race around the moon itself.   When it comes to the NES I think of "Excite Bike" only, you know, on the moon so you have to avoid craters and such, but the thing is, this music just doesn't fit something like that.   Racing in that sense seems too boring, like it would go in one direction until it stopped and then just repeat itself. 

The more I think about this music and the style of it, the more I believe it would be a game such as "Fatal Fury".   So what I'm thinking is that if you could somehow take that idea of a racing game and mix it with the feeling of "Fatal Fury" (or any game where you go around and beat people up really, which I feel like I did in a Robocop game maybe but a TMNT game for sure) then you would really be onto something.   Unless if this soundtrack is just supposed to be for a game that's like "Fatal Fury" but set in space, which I would also be down for.   Has the video game been made yet?  Someone link me to the beta.