What does Run! Run! Jump! Punch! and Marty Can Fly sound like?
If Green Day made a chiprock album on a sugar high.
The review of Run! Run! Jump! Punch! and Marty Can Fly – MEGA FUN PARK
I adore chiptune music and I’m constantly surprised at the new ways how it is being integrated into other types of music. Enter Run! Run! Jump! Punch! and Marty Can Fly. These two bands have come together to create a split EP – 4 songs each – showcasing their brand of chiprock. It is a glorious riot.
RRJP kick things off with their quartet first and it is a mixture of punkish emo guitars and full-on sugarcoated chipmusic. The first two tracks ‘Ducasse’ and ‘Rou Rou Airlines’ feel like they could be part of a Lego movie action sequence. The guitars are in full flow and there are solos, ragged riffs and buzzsaws on one side, whilst fast arpeggios of synths explode on the other side. It sounds like Green Day making chiprock and that’s a good thing. The next two tracks take a decidedly Riverdance meets Pirate shanty feel to the chipset. Here we get synth accordions, rowdy crowd music, and boisterous ‘heys’. Yet it still sounds like we could veer into emo territory from the glorious smiles the music evokes at any minute.
Marty Can Fly is less emo and more J-Rock inspired. Tracks like ‘Pomme d’Amour’ remind me of modern Sonic games where Jun Senoue led the team through the Sonic Heroes phase. Everything has chunky power chords, stadium rock drums and thick synths when it matters. What makes Marty Can Fly stand out is that each track grows from a simple chiptune base and that foundation stays throughout. ‘Grand Huit’ feels like Alex Kidd as a rock track. ‘Grande Roue’ has Disney vibes and ‘Le Loquidatuer’ is Sonic Heroes all over. The tracks feel anthemic and alive.
To close the release out, a final ninth track ‘Feu d’Artifice’ has both Run! Run! Jump! Punch! and Marty Can Fly write and perform together. It is a fantastic merger of both styles as they switch pace and gears between the chirpy hyper-punk ska of RRJP to the soaring anthemic chugs of Marty Can Fly. It’s a match made in heaven and I’d welcome a whole joint EP in the future if the bands were up for it. Joyous and full of energy from start to end, this was the powerhouse of chiprock on a rock rollercoaster I never knew I needed… but I knew I wanted it from the very first listen.
Recommended track: Feu d’Artifice
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Run! Run! Jump! Punch! and Marty Can Fly - MEGA FUN PARK