MidiMidis, in case you’ve not heard of them, are an electro-bleep duo from Reading who compose top tunes using retro video game sounds.

They take the sound chips from consoles and arcade machines, then rip every single note to patchwork them together for their songs.

Unsurprisingly this unusual concept, coupled with the pair’s attitude-laden indie posterboy looks and animated live show, has seen them set off on an adventure not even Super Mario could conquer.

And the good news is: there’s more to come.

“We’ve been recording lots of new songs and have bought lots more old video consoles and have been gigging relentlessly to promote our limited edition Mayuko EP,” enthuses frontman Marcus Fairley.

“It’s been a whirlwind of a year for us and we’re very happy for all the support from our constantly expanding fanbase.”

Marcus’ cohort on guitar Ant Struselis is the inspiration behind their new single title, the mysteriously-named Ambulance Café, which forms another trademark MidiMidis mix of bleeps and indie grunge noir.

“Ant used to get coffee from a café outside his work which was basically a converted ambulance. He used it to spend a lot of time there thinking,” says Marcus.

“The song is about identity, or lack of it. About people hiding behind masks, as depicted in the wonderful artwork by Rosie.”

The track was recorded in former Reading band The Cooper Temple Clause’s old studio, Bleak House, where the lyrics were only written 20 minutes beforehand.

“The song was recorded with Mr Fogg and I was going through a very insecure and unstable time mentally. All my insecurities come out through the lyrics.”

And inevitably with each new single comes an interesting history of retro game machines.

“This time round we used the Amstrad CPC 464 and a midi soundcard from an old Acorn,” he says. “The best thing about this song is that we’ve started writing our own programmes on the Amstrad tape and Spectrum tapes so that we can play the notes live in bigger venues for a brilliant live experience.”

MidiMidis are working on a double EP called Kingdom Of The Spiders and Return To The Kingdom Of The Spiders. They’ve also been commissioned to do 8-bit remixes for the likes of frYars, Killaflaw, Losers, My Luminaries and Secret Rivals.

Catch them live at Plug ‘n’ Play, Milford Road, Reading, on Saturday. Ambulance Cafe is out now.

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