Dance Dance Revolution has played a big role in my life, and this recommendation comes from someone who I met when I played DDR in Delaware. So, we’ve been friends for a long time, and we share a love of video game music. He’s also a partner to Kristy who gave me recommendation #22 – Prodigal Summer. I saw both of them during My Roadtrip to Delaware in 2018, and we stayed in good touch during my time overseas, video chatting and texting during the months down under. I listened to this podcast during my drives around New Zealand.
Recommendation #23 from Rob Nichols
Rhythm and Pixels by Rob Nichols and Pernell Vaughn
In their own words, “Rhythm and Pixels is a weekly podcast devoted to great music composed for video games. Hosts Rob Nichols and Pernell Vaughan pick tracks based on topics and discuss the music and games. It’s a show about music and video games. Most of all, it’s a show about friendship.”
Currently in production for over 3 years, it spans 17 “worlds” of episodes encompassing all types of video game music, from all consoles and systems. Typically they take a topic (like racing, fire levels, or Disney games) and then showcase music that they enjoy from those types of games. Each episode is typically over an hour long, and also has long-time friends Rob and Pernell talking about life and their love of video games
I personally enjoyed listening to this podcast because I know both of these guys. Pernell also played DDR with me when I lived in Delaware, along with all sorts of other music video games (IIDX, Pop’n Music and Pump It Up to name a few). I had fun listening to their banter, and the sometimes obscure video game music that they would bring up. Their knowledge of video game history and composers is also quite impressive.
Here are 5 episodes I personally enjoyed –
- Episode 8-2: Dance Music
- Episode 9-7: Final Fantasy with Rare Candy
- Episode 15-8: The Geek Trifecta
- Episode 16-1: Podcastiversary 3
- Episode 16-4: The Big Chill
Mostly, I’m impressed with their dedication. The podcast production values are high quality, and I personally know how much work a podcast can take, so to see them going strong after three years is noteworthy. I’m also happy to see them continuing to grow their reach and listeners. So, if you have any interest in video game music, give them a listen. They can be found on all the big podcasting services (iTunes, Spotify, Podbean, Sticher, Player.fm, Tunein Radio), or you can find all their episodes on their website – www.rhythmandpixels.com.
Since I mentioned that they did an episode on Disney games, I wanted to share with you a Disney song that I came across when I visited Disneyland in February 2019. I rode Space Mountain several times, and fell in love with the theme song for the rollercoaster ride. I don’t believe it’s ever been in a video game, but Rob and Pernell will be sure to correct me if I’m wrong. This song was included on my March 2019 playlist called Transcendence. Enjoy!