Marshall Art by Marshall Art
Marshall Art by Marshall Art pressed on red/yellow starburst vinyl by Ship to Shore PhonoCo.
“Marshall Art is basically just an excuse to write cool music with my best friend who happens to live on the other side of the planet.”
Papercut You Into Little Pieces
Enter the discordant synth-laden future this week with Marshall Art. Pressed on yellow/red starburst vinyl by Ship to Shore PhonoCo., the debut self-titled album from intercontinental powerhouse Marshall Art is here to rock your setup into dust! Originally released in 2015, Marshall Art was a conceptual masterpiece adored by chiptune fans the world over, and quickly became a cult classic. Finding new life on vinyl, this album has been reborn and released with its fully realized tracklist intact. This week I sat down with Marshall Art band members Jeffrey Roberts and Mikhail Ivanov to uncover the story behind this incredible album. Dig in and get ready to fight off the robotic aliens, the future of the world is at stake.
Marshall Art is a band made up of two talented friends who have crossed the boundaries of the physical world to bring to their own dynamic and creative vision of their love of music to life. Jeffrey, based out of Canada, and Mikhail, based out of Russia have pushed the envelope in terms of chiptune production into the modern era with their genre-defying orchestrations that vie to pull you deep into the undertow of their shared nostalgic vision and prowess. Being such talented musicians I just had to know what influences or experiences led them both into pursuing a life in music together. Here’s what they had to say:
“Jeffrey: I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I’ve chosen a life in music. Marshall Art is a fun hobby and a creative outlet, not a career choice.
That said, there are definitely a number of bands that have influenced us, both in terms of the overall style and sound of the band, and specific ideas that found their way into our songs. Chromelodeon is an obvious one - their combination of chiptune sounds and live instrumentation was very influential to us, and it’s fair to say that Marshall Art wouldn’t exist if not for them. Bands like Pink Floyd, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, and Smashing Pumpkins have all had an impact on us too, and there are a few homages to them sprinkled throughout this album.
Mikhail: Jeff said it all. I may only add that as a guitarist I am influenced a lot by the players who mix noise with mainstream genres. Like Tom Morello, or Graham Coxon. Or Annie Clark, the living guitar goddess. I just love when weird stuff is also somewhat pleasant and groovy.”
Asteroid Driller
The noise that Mikhail mentions here is done so well on this album. Some of my favorite musical experiences while spinning this record are when the entire orchestration crushes down into this synthetic and analog conflux of noise that sucks you in like a vacuum. The melodic subterfuge of sound that is created with their blending sound is unlike anything I have experienced in some time. There’s definitely some obvious inspiration mixed into this album for sure, but it’s what Jeffrey and Mikhail do to push that influence into an entirely different and unique experience that makes it so special. Speaking of special, what exactly is the story behind this album?
“Jeffrey: The album was written and recorded from 2011-2015 - which feels like several lifetimes ago. Generally, the songs would start as a quick musical sketch by one of us, and would go back and forth between us via Dropbox as we added new parts, or re-arranged existing ones. Often, the new parts added by one of us would inspire the other - so despite the distance, writing these songs still felt organic.
A large portion of the album was finished in the last few weeks of 2014 - we had been booked to play MAGFest in January 2015, and wanted to have the album ready by then. Whole songs were written, recorded, and mixed in just days - looking back it’s hard to believe we ever worked so fast.
We wanted to do a vinyl release at that time, but it was financially unviable for us to do it ourselves, and we were unable to find a label to help us with it (we actually reached out to STS back then, but at that time they were a much smaller operation with only a few releases under their belt).
Almost five years later, when we found ourselves booked to play MAGFest 2020, we thought it was time to try again, and Ship to Shore Phono Co. answered our call.”
As a band that frequently covers video game music, and seems so inspired by the worlds we all escape to on a daily basis, I felt compelled to ask them what games helped to mold their vision for this album. While Jefferey isn’t a massive gamer, Mikhail was more than happy to front this question head-on and give us all a window into his love of games and what they mean to him!
"I got you covered! I play a lot of games and I love games with a good story. I think it’s important to tell a story when composing, and I think you can get inspiration for that from any medium. Half-Life 2 has a great narrative and atmosphere so it’s definitely an influence. I still get nostalgic when I see articles or videos on it. (No, I haven’t played HL: Alyx yet. But I’ve played Black Mesa and it’s amazing).
The Metal Gear Solid series is another big influence. I got into it pretty late but it quickly became a favorite. I spent a lot of time in the first one just listening to conversations on codec. I think the Legacy Collection came out around that time, so I spent a large part of 2014 replaying these games.
As for non-gaming experiences, 2014 was the year of St. Vincent for me. Her 4th album came out and was on constant rotation on my player. I also got to see her twice and was blown away both times. These shows were a perfect blend of choreography and unpredictable raw moments, her guitar playing and singing were perfect. I also got to pick up her guitar pick, which turned out to be a regular Dunlop pick. There were some licks played with it on the album :)"
They're Like Locusts
Marshall Art's dynamic sound comes from the dichotomy that these two musicians bring to the table. Mikhail's overdrive guitar melts your face off with this pulse defying melodic menagerie of strings — while Jeffrey’s mind-blowing synthetic tones cascade throughout the compositions in a playful twinge that leaves you smiling. Together these two masterminds create a sound on this record that truly transports you into a bit filled amplified nostalgia trip that I don’t think I’ll ever come back from. The melding of these two instrumental mediums becomes a discordant and altogether harmonious choreography of their genius muse that leaves you craving more and more after each rotation. But what instruments or programs did Jeffrey and Mikhail use to craft the music on this album?
“Jeffrey: Pretty much everything you hear on the album consists of my NES chiptune parts written in Famitracker (a PC-based music software for composing music that is playable on NES and Famicom hardware) and multiple layers of Mikhail’s electric guitar. We handed our parts off to our friend Cory Johnson who mixed the album and sprinkled it with his magic post-production dust that gave the album its final sound.
Mikhail: My main guitar is Fender Toronado Delux, but I also recorded some parts on Fender Stratocaster. I run guitars through a software amp and effects simulator Guitar Rig and record my parts in Reaper. There are some parts that I recorded with my pedals and a vintage-style Trace Elliot amplifier, but they are mostly guitar noise. The Marshall Art suite also has parts played on an acoustic guitar made by a company called Breedlove.”
As a band that obviously knows their stuff, I wanted to pry a little more and find out what musical or gaming experiences were formative in them finding their unique sound. Here's what they had to say:
"Jeffrey: I can remember being 4 or 5 years old, holding the microphone of a PlaySkool cassette recorder up to the TV to record music from the Sonic 2 sound test, so I could listen to it later. (You’ll hear variations of that story from a lot of people around our age who are now making video game covers and chip music…)
Mikhail: Most of my formative moments are about realizing the narrative power of games. Like when I first discovered games that were not just a loop but had an ending and a story of sorts. Like Contra :) I also remember recording cutscenes from NES Bucky O’Hare and Darkwing Duck with a VCR and trying to translate them with a dictionary. Later I remember the feeling of awe when playing Half-Life or Metal Gear Solid and being amazed by the story and the way that it was delivered."
Nothing Can Be Fixed. God, Burn!
Jeffrey's experimental nature is something that, I agree, a lot of us have experienced for sure. The idea of being inspired so much by someone else's creativity is what breathes life into the creators that come after, and is definitely heard within Jeffrey's own compositions. The freedom of exploration is heard deep within the grooves of this album and gives way for us, the listeners, to get lost within the tapestry of Jeffrey and Mikhail's musical story. Speaking of story, Mikhail's infatuation with narrative bleeds directly into the presentation of this album. Everything from the impeccable illustrations by Andrei Karlin, down to the tracklist and musical evolution this album goes on. — Leaving us with an interpretive dance of melodic tones and earth-shattering crescendos, Marshall Art gives us the tools to make up our own conclusion as to what this album really means. Each time you spin this record a new and epic journey unfolds with secrets to be found within every meticulously crafted groove, and that’s what makes this release truly beautiful and transformative. This narratively focused vision is something that feeds directly into Jeffrey’s favorite memory from the writing process of this album:
“...Writing the final part of the “Good Ending” - we wanted to have this happy, triumphant song with a memorable, singable melody at the end of the album - something that captured the feeling of a celebration of victory after a hard-fought battle or something along those lines. As the song developed, Mikhail had the idea of adding a giant singalong to the song. So, with barely two weeks left before the day we planned on releasing the album, we asked as many friends as possible to record themselves singing along to our melody. In just a few days we ended up with the voices of 20+ people, friends and strangers from all sides of the globe. Hearing that singalong for the first time was pretty emotional, and I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.
The added bonus of the “Bad Ending” on this album’s alternate Side C elevates the narrative of this album in a completely unique and memorable way. For those of you that may not know, this album features two Side Cs. That’s right, Side D doesn’t even exist — it is, in fact, an alternate ending to the originally released album and gives way for a “choose your own adventure” style ending to this album. Depending on which side you decide to spin, you will either be serenaded by the lovely sounds of the previously mentioned victory song or met with the beautifully morose funeral march that will haunt you to your literal bones. This sort of duality is something that intrigued me a lot so I set out to figure uncover just how this idea came about.
“Jeffrey: The two different endings on the vinyl release was something we had the idea for all the way back in 2015.
Backstory: when we were planning the album, the concept for the Marshall Art suite had an additional movement: a dark, funeral march was to go before the triumphant singalong which closed the album. Mourning the losses before celebrating the victory, that sort of thing. The last few weeks of production of the album were incredibly rushed (we were still writing, recording, and mixing right up until two weeks before the original 2015 release date), so we opted to leave the song off the final version of the album.
So, a few months after the original 2015 release, we finished writing and recording the lost song. It was around then we had the idea for the “Good” and “Bad” endings, and releasing them on a vinyl record that had no specific labeling to indicate which version you were listening to. It only took about five years for that idea to actually be realized…”
Marshall Art (Good Ending)
One of my favorite tracks on this record is the album's title track “Marshall Art”. This genre-melding mind-bender will take you down the avenues of Queens of the Stone Age mixed with folky blues, and the synthetic grace that only Marshall Art can deliver. Chopped up bits barrage your eardrums behind the grungy overdrive guitar and head pounding drums before the whole track opens up into this grand and airy landscape of tones that’ll thrust you into this almost surreal state of musical euphoria that lingers long after the album is done spinning. Marshall Art has completely blown me away with this release and it has been a frequent album on my player since I received it earlier this year. This is an absolute must-own album for all chiptune fans and an absolute trip that every VGM Vinyl collector should experience!
Ship to Shore PhonoCo. truly did this album some justice. Given the little time that they had to get this album from pre-production to a final retail state, completely blows my mind. The care and love that this label pours into the projects that they take on for the artists they care so deeply about is proof of why they are one of the best labels out there hands down. The red and yellow starburst vinyl is the perfect accompaniment to the cover of this design for sure. I kind of wish the second LP was a blueish gray and orange starburst to match the alternate back cover of this album, but beyond that, there isn’t really much to complain about here. The included insert is a gorgeous eye-watering red and is minimal in its design, it’s definitely a nice contrast to the amazingly intricate covers presented here. It’s definitely fun to pour over the artwork of this album as the story unfolds before your ears!
Marshall Art (Bad Ending)
The artwork present on this release is absolutely stunning, featuring the original album artwork from Andrei Karlin, the band commissioned an alternate more dystopian version of the original cover to compliment the new “Bad Ending” present on this release. The reversible cover design is just perfection of execution from everyone involved and is definitely a highlight of the entire package for me. The back cover of the album is upside down allowing the opening of this double LP set to be on the same side the artwork no matter which of the two covers you are looking at, adding to the duality nature of this album even more! It may seem like a simple design choice, and that because it is, but the simplicity of it is positively genius!
Mastering for this album was carried out by none other than Jeffrey Roberts himself and is truly impeccable in every sense of the word. I always love it when an artist handles the mastering process of their own music for vinyl. That extra step of love and care to see a project through that they have poured themselves into is inspiring. The crystal clear noise floor and dynamic range that exudes from the grooves here makes this limited vinyl set the definitive way to listen to this album. Marshall Art is finally home on vinyl, and I can’t wait to spin it again!
What’s next from Marshall Art?
“Mikhail: Not the greatest album in the world, just a tribute.
Jeffrey: We’ve been busy cooking up new original material - we’ve got a few songs written and partially recorded. We also have a few covers arranged that we probably should record and release, but I’m hesitant to give an estimated release date for any of it - Mikhail and I are both dads now, and our pace is glacially slow at best.”
I’d like to give a huge thanks to Marshall Art for sending over a copy of this album for the purposes of this article! Also thank you for loving letter and extra swag. Your love and support means the world to me!
Album Details
Music by:
Remastered for vinyl by :
Jeffrey Roberts
Artwork by:
Andrei Karlin
Vinyl produced & distributed by:
Where to Buy?
This album is still readily available directly from Ship to Shore Phono Co.’s website as well as a cassette version for those of you who feel inclined to go for more analog goodness. Marshall Art’s Bandcamp page also has the vinyl, cassette, and CD versions of this album readily available for those of you who prefer that platform. You can also download the album in its entirety for free directly from the Bandcamp page as well.