Review Fix Exclusive: Paul Weinstein Talks “Earth Night” Music And More

Review Fix chats with musician and video game composer Paul “Chipocrite” Weinstein, who discusses his role in Cleaversoft’s upcoming “Earth Night” game, as well as his goals for the future.

About Weinstein:

Chipocrite, a.k.a. Paul Weinstein, uses original Nintendo Game Boys, often accompanied by bass, guitar, drums and/or other lo-fi sequencers, to create complex audio masterpieces. His multifaceted but catchy compositions combine the nostalgic game sounds of his childhood with modern music influences.

Since emerging from the Philadelphia chip scene just a few years ago, Chipocrite has taken the stage at numerous performance spaces, events and conventions, including the Vans Warped Tour, Blip Festival, MAGFest and AnimeNEXT; provided soundtracks for commercials — including a nationally televised GameStop ad — as well as video games and online videos; released “Hit and Run”, which was named “Best Album – Chiptune” in Square Enix Music Online’s Annual Game Music Awards for 2011, in addition to his first full-length album, “Wordplay,” in December 2014; appeared as the musical guest on popular tech-centric Web talk-show series “On The Verge” — and much more. Chipocrite is currently working on the soundtrack for “EarthNight,” a rogue-like runner game coming soon to PS4 and other devices.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in the game?

Paul Weinstein: I’ve been really good friends with Rich, our lead developer, for a long time — since before he was making games, and before I was making music with old video game hardware. He was a strong supporter of my old band, MJ Project, and we’ve always bonded over music. We’re both huge Phish fans and have gone to many shows together, for example. When I went solo and started making chiptune music, Rich was one of my earliest supporters. As far as I can remember, when Rich decided to start making games, his plan was always to have me do the soundtracks. So when he started on EarthNight, I don’t think he ever really even considered anyone else, which is really flattering and just incredibly awesome. That also means I’ve been there since the beginning, and it has been fascinating to see the evolution of the game.

Review Fix: How do you think your music changes the gameplay experience?


Weinstein: We frequently describe EarthNight as a sort of “love letter” to classic platformers like the early Mario and Sonic games, but obviously the hand-painted, high-quality art and all the crazy complex things going on make it seem a lot more modern. At first, I was a bit skeptical to provide a lo-fi chiptune sound for such a gorgeous, rich aesthetic, but I think considering what we’re paying tribute to, it does make sense, and the music helps evokes a sense of nostalgia, hopefully not in a way that’s just kind of a novelty. Aside from those feelings, I generally tend to keep my music pretty positive and fun, and I think that complements the gameplay nicely. Another subtle but important detail is that some of the levels are actually time-synced with their soundtrack, which can help the player prepare for different sections if they know the song well and are paying attention.

Review Fix: What do you think is truly special about the game?


Weinstein: I think Mattahan’s incredibly unique art style is the most special part of the game. It’s the first thing that catches peoples’ eyes, and it’s the thing that keeps them drawn in. But once you start actually playing it and getting a feel for what’s going on, you start to realize there are multiple levels of complexity. For example, even though the layout of the enemies, platforms and power-ups may seem hectic at first, the level design is actually very deliberate and impeccable. So maybe it’s the team as a whole that’s truly special; we’ve just got an all-around really talented team of contributors each adding our own special flavor to the game.

Review Fix: How do you want these tunes to be remembered?

Weinstein: I’d be really happy if people get these tunes stuck in their heads and don’t get annoyed about it. I want people to feel like the music is a natural complement to the game that completes the package in a way that makes sense. As long as there are positive associations with the songs, I’ll feel like I succeeded!

Review Fix: What games inspire your music the most?


Weinstein: It varies from song to song, but I think many of the most celebrated original NES soundtracks have had a strong impact on my writing and sound design. I’m always trying to keep things interesting and complicated but still memorable and catchy on some level. Probably my biggest influence in that vein is Tim Follin, who worked on some of the most complex NES soundtracks of all time — Silver Surfer, Treasure Master, Solstice, and many others. Those soundtracks are almost unbelievable in terms of how far they pushed the NES sound chip. And in terms of songwriting, I’ve always been blown away by the consistently awesome songs featured in Capcom’s NES games — all the Mega Man soundtracks, and of course, Duck Tales. As for modern composers, I’m a huge fan of indie superstars like Disasterpeace, Eirik Suhrke (who worked on two of my favorite games, Spelunky and Downwell) and virt.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Weinstein: We’ll see! We’re really just focusing on EarthNight right now and trying our best to get it done as soon as possible. Ideally though, as much as I would obviously love to continue working on game soundtracks and have steady work for the rest of my life, it would also be really nice to maybe have some time to just write some non-soundtrack Chipocrite songs. It’s been years since I was able to write a song that wasn’t featured in a game or on some kind of compilation or served some other specific purpose. I’m certainly not complaining about that, but it would probably feel great to write a song that’s just for “me.”

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Weinstein: We’re working as hard as we can and promise we will deliver something really awesome and fun as soon as possible! It will be worth the wait.