15 years ago this week, Kind of Bloop: An 8-Bit Tribute to Miles Davis came out on the 50th anniversary of the release of Kind of Blue, the bestselling jazz album of all time.
I started the project as a bit of a goof, launching on Kickstarter on May 12, 2009, only 14 days after Kickstarter itself launched. I wanted to test out the platform I’d helped to build, to see what the experience was like as a creator. For years, I’d also wondered what “chiptune jazz” might sound like, and figured this was a good way to do both.
The Kickstarter hit the goal in a day, the musicians absolutely killed it, and I’m still really proud of the final result, which you can download and listen to for free.
It also, as you probably know, led to a painful legal battle over the cover art that cost me ten of thousands of dollars. The night that I published my viral blog post about the legal settlement, I posted on Twitter that I needed a beer, inviting anyone to join me at Bailey’s Tap Room in downtown Portland.
My friend Frank Chimero brought along his friend, Andy McMillan, who was in town from Belfast, where he ran a popular design festival called Build and a design journal called The Manual.
That chance meeting eventually led to starting XOXO with Andy, which concludes next week with our final festival after 12 years working together.
That dark and stressful day inadvertently led to some of the most meaningful work I’ve ever done, countless new friendships, and the start of a new community.
15th Anniversary Vinyl
Earlier this year, Mana Wave Media, a small record label focused on beautiful vinyl editions of video game soundtracks, reached out to see if I’d ever consider a vinyl edition of Kind of Bloop, which has been out of print since the legal settlement.
I’ve always wanted to do a vinyl run, but never had the time or energy to take it on. Mana Wave agreed to handle all the licensing, remastering, and production. They commissioned new album art by a talented pixel artist named Tofu. I’m writing new liner notes for it.
You can preorder the album (also with distribution in Canada and Europe) starting on Saturday 9am PT/12pm ET, the 15th anniversary of Kind of Bloop and the 65th anniversary of Kind of Blue.
The last XOXO starts one week from today and this is the busiest, most chaotic time of my life. Announcing anything new seems absolutely ridiculous right now, but it’s also kind of perfect: a full circle moment to honor the weird little chiptune album that changed my life for the better.