Yesterday, I stopped to see a friend who generously gave me a stack of records, just because. One of them – an older release – caught the eye of my kids.
"Minecraft-Volume Alpha," by C418. Sure, it was the lenticular Minecraft cover that really grabbed their attention, but we took it for a spin, and my kids heard music that they recognized – or at least was in the style of music – from their surely too many hours spent building worlds and then chasing each other around in them.
That led me to type "Minecraft" into Spotify, and like cover versions on YouTube, Minecraft music is definitely a thing. And while it appears to skew heavily ambient, Minecraft music appears as wide-ranging as the game itself.
The C418 record is the first of a two-part soundtrack to the game that was composed and performed by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld. While we listened, my kids said things like, "That's the sound you hear when doors open," referring to the game. Meanwhile, I could imagine myself getting a deep tissue massage while this soothing electronica oozed out of speakers in a dark, fern-laden room smelling of citrus and mint.
I think my offspring preferred more uptempo, novelty-ish songs like Tryhardninja's "Revenge (Minecraft Creeper Song)" ...
This take on Men At Work's "Down Under" ...
And, most of all, they were stoked to robot dance to this catchy Dwayne Russell creation while, singing, "creepy, creepy, creepy" ...
The music won't change their lives or mine, but, hey, at least they looked away from the screen for a couple minutes.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
