Bleep

Originally conceived for an imaginary marimba ensemble, Japanese composer June Chikuma’s jagged diamond Les Archives has since become renowned as a pre-techno masterpiece. Like so many works of its kind, its tonal language and sound font was inspired by — and indeed an inspiration for — the emerging aesthetic of video game music. Chikuma since went on to become the go-to composer for the Bomberman series, with nary a single entry in the franchise that doesn’t bear her name in the credits. Les Archive, released in 1986, is enough to claim Chikuma as an early aesthete in explosive computer music, the seeds sown for her later fascination with Arabic and Egyptian music.