We went to see the Cuphead soundtrack played by a live band – and it was weirdly moving

techradar.com:

I’m not a gamer. Sure, I’ll kick your ass at MarioKart, and I like Stardew Valley as much as the next person, but I wouldn’t consider myself part of the gaming community. 

Nevertheless, when I had the opportunity to see the Cuphead soundtrack performed by a live big band, I jumped at the chance. Two years of pandemic meant I hadn’t been able to see live music for a while (save for a Smiths cover band a few weeks before), and the Cuphead soundtrack was unlike any game music I’d heard before when it was released in 2017. 

The run-and-gun title (and now Netflix cartoon) sees protagonist Cuphead and his brother Mugman fight through a series of levels and boss battles in a quest to repay their debt to the devil. The art style was inspired by the golden age of American animation, taking its cues from early Disney and Fleisher studio flicks; think Betty Boop meets Fantasia and you’re on the right track. 

In keeping with the early 20th century aesthetic, the music of Cuphead is inspired by the most popular music style of the time: big band jazz. As composer Kris Maddigan told us when we chatted to him via email following the performance, the biggest influences on the soundtrack were Duke Ellington and Scott Joplin.

“Chad and Jared Moldenhauer (the creators of Cuphead) knew from very early on that they wanted a 30s era big band for the soundtrack,” Maddigan explains. “Once the game got a lot of buzz after E3 in 2015, they knew that they would be going all in, and part of that included using real musicians for the entire soundtrack,” he explains.

Rather than using looping cues, the Cuphead soundtrack is made up of no less than 51 individual tracks, all recorded by a real live big band – something the creators and Maddigan agreed was