This remix album is super special to me, curated to include a handful of some of my best friends and major inspirations across my musical adventures as Watch Out For Snakes. Each of these artists is a talent in their own right with a fondness for experimentation and I hope that you enjoy hearing each of their uniquely imaginative takes as much as I did.

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Raise the Stakes (Stemage Remix)

I’ve been making music for ages, but only recently started becoming familiar with the vgm scene. I actually had the pleasure of initially encountering Stemage as the mastering engineer for the Chiptunes = WIN compilations. After hearing him work his magic on a few of my ChipWIN contributions and checking out his solo catalog, he became the obvious choice for mastering my second full-length Scars. It was only later that I discovered I’d made friends with a veritable vgm legend – founder of the excellent Metroid Metal – with credits on countless other projects including Steven Universe. Mind blown. You can always find me head-banging up front at every Metroid Metal performance and rocking Varia Suite loudly in my car.

stemage.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/stemage

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Rip ‘Em Up! (Moris Blak Remix)

I had the pleasure of hosting Moris Blak at Terminus Retrowave’s October 2021 event and putting him up at my place during his stay. His music hooked me instantly and we found we had a similar penchant for A24 films, even if there was healthy debate between us on our A24 film rankings. While on tour together in 2022, I never would have had the best steak of my life in Nebraska or impromptu watched the best French erotic, psychedelic sci-fi with Kate Bush references if it wasn’t for Moris Blak. Also, I’ll probably never get his track with Rabbit Junk, House of the Fallen Suns, out of my head…which is perfectly fine by me.

morisblak.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/morisblak

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Stranded (Makeup and Vanity Set Remix)

When I first discovered that chiptune existed outside of the games I grew up with, MAVS’ “Aesthetically Speaking” quickly went into constant rotation for me. Since then, MAVS has continued to evolve, producing proto-synthwave with releases like 88:88 and showing his diversity with a variety of podcast, film, and game scores…and I’ve been there cheering him on from afar through all of it. At Neon Rose Fest 2019, I finally got to meet MAVS in person and we immediately bonded over our love of video game music and similarly laidback personalities off-stage. Since then, he’s been a bit of a mentor to me, helping me navigate the challenges of pursuing music full-time, and I'm looking forward to sharing a stage with him again in the hopefully near future.

makeupandvanityset.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/makeupandvanityset

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Fight Those Invisible Ninjas (Street Cleaner Remix)
End / Credits (Street Cleaner Remix)

Street Cleaner and I first crossed paths years ago out in LA at the first fest I ever performed as Watch Out For Snakes. As the only other artist there that was wielding a keytar (if you can believe it, it used to be a rare occurrence), I was instantly enamored and rushed backstage to find the masked performer who shot lasers from his helmet and gloves and who had fist-bumped me in the crowd. There was an instant camaraderie as we realized we were both extremely into video games and had chiptune backgrounds. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of performing with him across numerous fests and a full US tour and waxing poetic about our favorite retro games and his undying love for the Mirror’s Edge OST. I’m also proud to be one of those few folks who’s performed a no-death run of Street Cleaner’s rad video game. Go check it out on Steam or Switch.

streetcleaner.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/streetcleaner82

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Now You’re Playing with Power! (Mega Ran Remix)

If you’re looking for inspiration, you don’t need to look any further than Mega Ran. I’ve been a long-time fan, jamming his kick-ass “Black Materia” Final Fantasy 7 homage for years. What’s more, his transition from teacher to nerdcore rapper helped motivate me to move into music full time and his work with the talent in NPC Collective has been making positive waves across the vgm community. My first time seeing Mega Ran cosplaying Barrett on-stage while performing Avalanche at MAGFest 2020 was an unforgettable experience, but it wasn’t until Fall of 2022 that I had the pleasure of actually meeting Ran at a show in Boston and I’m looking forward to growing our friendship across future live events like Super Bitfest.

megaranmusic.com
instagram.com/mega_ran

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Awake (Nullsleep Reality Threshold Remix)

There's chiptune old guard and then there's chiptune old guard and Nullsleep...well, he's both. It's impossible to produce chipmusic and not have come across Nullsleep's chiprave bangers or know the positive impression he's made on the scene with the 8bitpeoples collective/netlabel. Grabbing food with him at 2021's MAGFest artist meet 'n greet and then dancing away at his Main Stage performance was a dream way to experience him live for the first time after years of slamming his music at home. Can't wait till our paths cross again.

nullsleep.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/nullsleep

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All tracks mixed by the respective remix artist except
"Now You're Playing with Power" mixed by Stemage.

Album mastering by Stemage.

All original WOFS tracks by Watch Out For Snakes except
"Raise the Stakes" by WOFS + Vampire Step-dad,
"Rip 'Em Up!" by WOFS + Gregorio Franco.

Cover photography and design by Watch Out For Snakes.