Anamanaguchi’s 2013 album, Endless Fantasy—which was funded by an impressive Kickstarter campaign—is a little over 76 minutes long. Seventy-six minutes is a lot of chiptune to endure. But while the hyper-eight-bit album of video game-ready music might not lend itself to a single, continuous listen, it’s still fun in pockets—if for no other reason than to just listen to how spazzy it gets. Today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “John Hughes,” which is as Nintendo-generation a name as there ever was, is a rock song at heart, simple and upbeat. But, of course, it’s the zaps emitted from the band’s video game hardware that recall the sounds of extra lives being attained and final-level bosses being conquered, as seen and heard on your Sears-bought Zenith console television.
