Doctor Octoroc

Artist's derivation of official Doctor Octoroc logo, designed by Jude Buffum

Levi "Doctor Octoroc" Buffum[1] (/ˈɒktəˌrɒk/ OK-tə-rok[2]) is an American chiptune musician and pixel artist based in Philadelphia.[3]

It draws influence from 1980s pop culture and beyond, primarily video games from console systems made by Nintendo, the artist initially gained notable Internet recognition in December 2008 with his chiptunes album of Christmas songs arranged in the style of different Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games, entitled 8-Bit Jesus.[4]

The album was originally made available on December 8, 2008, as a free nine-track download from DoctorOctoroc.com,[5] as an extension of the track that Doctor Octoroc contributed to the Foundation 9 Holiday Card, featuring ten other chiptunes artists, including 8-Bit Weapon and ComputeHer.[6]

After the small collection of tracks appeared on sites like Kotaku, Joystiq, Boing Boing, and Destructoid, Doctor Octoroc created nine more tracks for an even eighteen tracks total, which he posted to his blog on December 22.[7] The complete physical album became available in a 6-panel digipak, designed by Jude Buffum, and includes an additional bonus track titled "Let It Snoki Doki Panic".[8]

He later made a name for himself as a freelance artist, creating 8-bit and 16-bit parody animations, most notably his re-imagining of the Internet sensation Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (original film by Joss Whedon[9]) as a theoretical NES game.[10] Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Game was released in April 2010 and since then, Buffum has created similar works of animation based on Twilight, Jersey Shore, Glee, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Man Vs. Wild.

  1. ^ "Levi Buffum - VGMdb". vgmdb.net. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  2. ^ "Doctor Octoroc Presents: A Neutral Milk Hotel Chiptune Cover Album". YouTube. March 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Doctor Octoroc | Video Game Inspired Music, Art and Life". www.doctoroctoroc.com. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  4. ^ McWhertor, Michael (2008-12-22). "8-Bit Jesus: The Second Coming Of The First Album". Kotaku.
  5. ^ Boyer, Brandon (2008-12-08). "8-bit Jesus, the NES themed chiptune holiday album". OffWorld. Archived from the original on 2011-04-27.
  6. ^ Crecente, Brian (2008-12-19). "Listen In On A Very 8-Bit Christmas Album". Kotaku.
  7. ^ Bryant, Matt (2008-12-17). "Doctor Octoroc Presents 8-bit Jesus". BadRobotBrain.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  8. ^ "Apple iTunes". iTunes.
  9. ^ "Official Dr. Horrible Webpage".
  10. ^ McElroy, Justin (2010-04-07). "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog recreated in 8-bit style". Joystiq.