hari kari

GAMES was established in 1994 – Joel and Daniel met in a 6th grade science class and drew tape covers of fake bands that we dreamed we were in together. In high school they started jamming double synthesizers in Dan’s basement. They were burning a lot, headbanging to 70s jazz-fusion, dubbing 88.9 blazer mixtapes and jamming them in cars ALL NIGHT while parsing the landscape data brain.

After years of focusing on their respective musical projects (Oneohtrix Point Never, Tigercity) they decided it was time to make the magic happen. In February of 2010, they moved to Bushwick and started eating a lot of street meat and growing vegetables in a legit garden. EVERYTHING HAD TO BE SLOWER AND CREAMIER. From this profound environment GAMES was born.

GAMES is glitch music inspired by 70’s tape cutup master Teo Macero. They are obsessed with 80’s MIDIfunk innovators such as The System and Marcus Miller as much as ubiquitous italo disco jams and heat damaged DJ Premier mixtapes.

The sound is a blend of sampler/synth ecologies from across the globe. When they were hot teens, the synthesizer was our vehicle for blasting through third life during a time when all they had was a Daytona tape deck. Ever since, they’ve been on the chase.

They’re true to the game and love what they do. Since day one, they’ve always been about working with whatever gear they can get our hands on; most of the tracks on the EP were recorded with all outboard, second hand vintage synths and sequencers, using only a single stereo pro tools track. They did everything bedroom style — most of the EP was made during a period of time while were squatting at their future apartment with no heat or hot water.

GAMES is a convergence of our struggles and dreams; there’s something haunting about it. It’s like when Oscar Wilde says that “we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” There’s a melancholy to GAMES that makes us tick, and you can hear it in the jams.