Number 19: Eternal Champ by Sweet Valley
Release: September 17th, 2012
Genre: Electronica
Favorite Tracks: Where Will I Go, Sentimental Trash, The Great Bay Shrines
Where I heard it:
As I mentioned in my write-up on Wavves' King of the Beach, my introduction to Nathan Williams' musical projects went a little backwards chronologically. Before I even knew anything about Wavves, I discovered the side collaboration Sweet Valley through a recommendation on my Discovery Weekly playlist on Spotify. There was a point in time around late 2015 where my friends and I were religiously devoted to the weekly ritual of sharing our favorite songs from the pool of auto-generated suggestions that were personally tailored to our preferences based on the Spotify algorithm. Having such a diverse range in music taste, my Discovery Weekly playlists often contained a hodgepodge of different genre selections to choose from. Some weeks were hit-and-miss, but every now and again I'd be given a gem of a band to suddenly obsess over with my friends. Sweet Valley was perhaps the group that stuck out to me most, given the inspiration from its source material. One fateful day, Where Will I Go was slipped into my Discovery playlist, as unassuming as any song that I'd never heard before. Immediately, I recognized the song's use of samples from the video game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a title that just so happened to be one of my favorite entries from childhood. This was the first instance I had heard of where music from video games was sampled seamlessly, rather than simply revamped with something like a remix. I thought it was genius of Sweet Valley to pull reference from a popular yet niche medium of culture that resonates with the demographic of twenty-somethings that mostly comprise the listening audience. That cleverness had taken me hook, line, and sinker, as the entirety of Sweet Valley's Eternal Champ consists of feel-good tracks drenched in nostalgia like I've hardly ever felt from music before.
~ Pitchfork
What to expect:
If you spent your childhood nights by the dim glow of the television set playing Nintendo until the morning sun peeked through the blinds, Eternal Champ was made for you. This cozy scenario is the driving force that gives the album its unmistakable charm. Like countless others with similar experiences, Nathan Williams along with his brother Kynan pay homage to the franchises that shaped their adolescence, loading their music chock-full of references to several different video games like Excitebike, Super Mario Bros., and most notably the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Between the subtle track naming of songs like Golden Gauntlet and Spirit Temple and more blatant use of Koji Kondo's original soundtrack from Ocarina of Time in tracks like One and The Great Bay Shrines, fans of the Legend of Zelda series are in for a delightful treat that plays around with the sound font of N64-era Zelda mixed with lo-fi style trip-hop beats. The interpolations found in Eternal Champ are masterminded by true fans of the brand, clashing vintage sound effects with modern electronica that put a spin on familiar Nintendo classics. Additional samples exist on the album that reflect the interests of Nathan and Kynan in the form of obscure movie dialogues ripped straight from their respective films. Some examples include an excerpt from a 1994 gang documentary called Bangin' in Little Rock that opens up One, a snippet from the Michael Keaton Batman movie underneath the chill beats of Stone, and a scene out of Menace II Society featuring Samuel L. Jackson to interrupt the flow of Chaos Speed. While their appearances on Eternal Champ are less integral within the overall composition, these samples still provide the same inclusivity and satisfaction as the video game segments when the references are caught and understood. Sweet Valley take this vast collection of influential media into account and expands upon the initial framework until the final product only vaguely resembles the original. This imaginative approach to Eternal Champ creates dream-like suites that immerse the listener within the vibe of a song, often times bleeding right into the next song with dedicated continuity. Even without the prerequisite knowledge, each song has the integrity to be enjoyed regardless of the internal allusions. There's just an added joy to being able to pick out the not-so-hidden easter eggs littered throughout the album. Eternal Champ helps further establish the claim that video game soundtracks are legitimate works of art in their own right; tedious and beautiful arrangements that deserve recognition right alongside some of the best music ever recorded.
~ Medium
Why it's my favorite:
It's impossible to overstate how essential video games were to my upbringing. As a kid, my older cousin and I would take every opportunity we could to get together after school or during the summer to play some Nintendo throughout the generations. We began with Super Nintendo, then Nintendo 64, and finally Gamecube. This era of gaming history provided me with some of the most impressionable memories of my childhood, too many to choose one in particular. Eternal Champ takes me back to this moment in time, numb to the world around me with only the worry of how I'd overcome the next obstacle in the video game I was playing. Times have changed since then, and my priority toward video games has been severely reduced. When I do get the chance to play, I often find myself chasing that feeling of adolescent innocence by revisiting games from my youth that I remain fond of. I played my fair share of Legend of Zelda games as a kid, and Ocarina of Time is lauded by many (including myself) as the finest entry in the series. of all-time. It seems that its iconic soundtrack was destined to eventually become the focus of one of my favorite concept albums and passion projects ever created. Eternal Champ is a favorite of mine to share with fellow gaming enthusiasts, as it allows a platform to discuss similar backgrounds involving the same experience. It's like a supplementary bonus for those craving more from tracks that already provide so much substance in context to the games they were made for. It's downright hypnotizing to hear these fusions in practice. Sweet Valley know just how to augment the tracks while simultaneously maintaining the appeal of each song's personality. Eternal Champ is engineered to deliver a rush of nostalgia toward any millennial that grew up with gaming as a hobby. It's a bittersweet memento of the magic that video games cast upon me during a pivotal period of my life.
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