33 1/3 series preps book on Super Mario Bros. score for May

In addition to Mario, the music criticism series will also release books on Devo’s Freedom of Choice and The Dead Kennedys’ Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables at the same time.

33 1/3 is a running series where one music critic dedicates a book’s worth of words to a single album. The next run of books is due this May and will deliver a first in the series: A book dedicated solely to the score of a video game. It’s not just any videogame either.

Writer and composer Andrew Schartmann will write an entire book dedicated Koji Kondo’s groundbreaking original score to Super Mario Bros. It’s a fascinating challenge and not just because it’s the series’ first stab at a long form analysis of video game music, but because Kondo’s groundbreaking score only amounted to a couple minutes of music.

The books will be available May 21st via Bloomsbury, find more info on 33 1/3’s website. Revisit Kondo’s the musical world of Super Mario Bros. below.