I’m not a gamer, so the second thing I had to do when I decided to review Still Alive (seen/heard here) from The 8-Bit Big Band’s latest sophomore long-player, Choose Your Character! (June 2019), was to look up what the game, Portal, is. For non-gamer types like myself, here is how Wikipedia describes Portal’s gameplay:

“Portal consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player’s character and simple objects using “the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device”, a device that can create inter-spatial portals between two flat planes. The player-character, Chell, is challenged and taunted by an artificial intelligence named GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) to complete each puzzle in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center using the portal gun with the promise of receiving cake when all the puzzles are completed. The game’s unique physics allows kinetic energy to be retained through portals, requiring creative use of portals to maneuver through the test chambers.”

So given that limited knowledge of gameplay, the spot-on Sinatra-Esque delivery of Benny Benack III (along with a powerful trumpet solo) who earnestly delivers the lyric here with tongue firmly in cheek, the humor is still quite evident.

The 8-Bit Big Band’s sole purpose is to write, record and perform, big-band arrangements of video game themes. It seems like a recipe made for disaster, but when you listen to the songs, these are serious arrangements performed by stellar musicians that create a very pleasing, marketable, sound. In short, Still Alive is no one-off from the long-player, so check it out using the bandcamp.com link!

You can find more information on The 8-Bit Big Band by heading up to their website or pick up their music in a digital-download format (no other options appear to be available) from their bandcamp.com site.

Pick up some fun big-band jazz based on your favorite video games now!