You can infer from the way Nick Dwyer talks about his childhood - in infectiously enthusiastic tones laced with genuine humility - that he must have developed impeccable music taste in the womb (or at least by early school age.) (With Nick’s expert input, we’ll take a closer look at the relationship between electronic music and video game music in the mid-’90s in a future article - keep an eye on our channels for that one.) Origins of a cart digger He talked us through his history with game music, how the various Diggin’ projects came to be, and how Japanese composers of the chiptune era feel about the lionisation of their older work by fans today. There’s an educational angle to his work: not just to catalogue and celebrate, but also to draw clear connections between historical chiptune and contemporary electronic music. Part presenter-producer across radio, TV and online video part tastemaker-DJ part live promoter and part cultural historian and documentarian, Dwyer’s established himself as a true maven of ‘80s and ‘90s VGM. Take our word for it: the New Zealand native is one of the most interesting people in the world of music, let alone video game music. 1983-1995) that may be in danger of fading into the past. music voiced by a console or computer sound chip c. Through documentaries, radio programmes, compilations, and live tours, Diggin in the Carts is about highlighting tracks predominantly from the golden age of video game chiptune (i.e. Whilst the game music fandom (us included!) digests yet another critique, cover, or concert of the beloved music of Final Fantasy, Journey, or Skyrim, Nick Dwyer and his regular collaborators - under the brand Diggin in the Carts - continue to shine a light on less well-known game music. When it comes to classic video game music though, there exists one such person with the forbearance to listen to everything and highlight the gems - so the rest of us don’t have to spend the time. But a lot of music either hasn’t made its way into the online realm, and you can be damn sure that no one has the forbearance to listen to the vast majority of it even if it were. might boast of 50 million music tracks and YouTube might well be the largest repository of music in human history. The major music streaming services - Spotify, Apple Music, etc. Photo credit: Alexis Wuillaume We chat to Diggin in the Carts’ Nick Dwyer - documentarian, radio and TV presenter, promoter, DJ, tastemaker, and probably the world’s foremost expert on classic Japanese video game chiptune.

All About Chiptune by Tanaka Hisashi