I can't help but imagine sitting in the library of some gargantuan house, a tumbler of bourbon held lazily in one hand while I read from a book of classic literature in front of a fireplace, comfortable in my high-backed chair. On a nearby endtable sits a Game Boy, quietly emitting the music of Bach.
Happy New Year!
Lucius' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
NOROCK - The Walk
Hahaha, yes. I just did that.
In 20 minutes I've gotta be at work. I spent all day downloading as many old 8BD entries as I could, and contacting the artists of all the songs that have since been taken down. I'm trying to get every song I've featured onto my hard drive, and it's taking a while. But! Here's some stats about my current 8BD pick playlist:
- It consists of 168 tracks (I'm into October and missing some tracks)
- It's 776Mb, meaning a full year of this stuff will likely be about 2Gb
- The length of all tracks combined is an impressive 8:57:10. A full year looks like it will end up being about 24 hours long. How about that, a year of 8-Bit DAILY and it's ONE DAY long! So cool. :)
- The longest track (added so far) is Maktone - Playing With Music at 10:00.
- The shortest track (added so far) is Sci - Superdrums at 0:42.
So, like I have done in the past when I'm crunched for time, I just upload something of my own! This was made by controlling my Atari ST with MIDI. It's short.
NOROCK's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
In 20 minutes I've gotta be at work. I spent all day downloading as many old 8BD entries as I could, and contacting the artists of all the songs that have since been taken down. I'm trying to get every song I've featured onto my hard drive, and it's taking a while. But! Here's some stats about my current 8BD pick playlist:
- It consists of 168 tracks (I'm into October and missing some tracks)
- It's 776Mb, meaning a full year of this stuff will likely be about 2Gb
- The length of all tracks combined is an impressive 8:57:10. A full year looks like it will end up being about 24 hours long. How about that, a year of 8-Bit DAILY and it's ONE DAY long! So cool. :)
- The longest track (added so far) is Maktone - Playing With Music at 10:00.
- The shortest track (added so far) is Sci - Superdrums at 0:42.
So, like I have done in the past when I'm crunched for time, I just upload something of my own! This was made by controlling my Atari ST with MIDI. It's short.
NOROCK's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Coma - Skogens Djur 011
Some radical cracktro/demo/keygen/mod music! I did a bit of random digging around on keygenmusic.net (lol) and found this track which was released with a keygen for Goldwave (an audio program I've used before which is why I happened to click on that one). I thought it was a pretty sweet track, so I decided to check out the guy that made it, who I discovered to be a fella named Daniel Johansson, aka Coma.
This track is part of a 20-track release by him, which you can get here. Probably the oldest track I've featured, this one was written way back in '97! And suddenly, here it is, on a website in 2009. Oh, by the way, you'll need something like ModplugPlayer to listen to the .mod files, but it's worth it! They're cooler than .mp3s, since the files are telling your sound chip what to play rather than just giving some (potentially lossy) waveforms to be parroted by your speakers. Also, they can repeat partway the song, so you'll hear the intro but once and jam out to let's say Skogens Djur 020 for let's say ten minutes while writing up let's say a blog post about chiptunes. ;)
Coma's website
Get it!
This track is part of a 20-track release by him, which you can get here. Probably the oldest track I've featured, this one was written way back in '97! And suddenly, here it is, on a website in 2009. Oh, by the way, you'll need something like ModplugPlayer to listen to the .mod files, but it's worth it! They're cooler than .mp3s, since the files are telling your sound chip what to play rather than just giving some (potentially lossy) waveforms to be parroted by your speakers. Also, they can repeat partway the song, so you'll hear the intro but once and jam out to let's say Skogens Djur 020 for let's say ten minutes while writing up let's say a blog post about chiptunes. ;)
Coma's website
Get it!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Silent Requiem - Killed By Cardboard
The bass on this one is just incredible. It sounds like a small lowpass filter was laid over the top though, since the lead instrument seems to have had its "edge" taken off. It's only in the awesome saw instrument and the super high-pitched tones that you really hear those high frequencies come out. I dunno, I just love the sound of it.
Silreq's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Silreq's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
4-Mat - Veni, Vidi, Vici
Looking around at old Demos on pouet.net, found this awesome one for the VIC-20, with music by 4-Mat (protip: you need to know who 4-Mat is). I'm currently about a quarter of the way through downloading the .avi of the whole demo (it's 160Mb, I'm excited).
It came in second place to this demo, however. You win some, you lose some! Nevertheless, great great music 4-Mat, and a nice "old-school" feature the likes of which I don't do nearly often enough.
4-Mat's website
The pouet.net page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
It came in second place to this demo, however. You win some, you lose some! Nevertheless, great great music 4-Mat, and a nice "old-school" feature the likes of which I don't do nearly often enough.
4-Mat's website
The pouet.net page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Je Deviens DJ En Trois Jours - Bencong
FRENCH TECHNO. JDDJ3J played one of the best sets in New York, figured I should show you guys this (because you know, nobody gets their music from any other site but this one!). Wish they'd release more on 8BC but hey, what can ya do.
JDDJ3J's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
JDDJ3J's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Glomag - The Ectasy of Gold
I have some catching up to do, what with all the days I blatantly disregarded the needs of you, my poor, poor audience, and you were left stranded and chiptune-less. So it's two today, and two again whenever I feel like it's applicable! There's a new Glomag release over at 8BP, the first track of which is simply fantastic. It's a cover, yeah, but I don't think it detracts from this site to feature covers. Anyhow, enjoy!
Glomag's website
The forum post (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Glomag's website
The forum post (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, December 25, 2009
8BC Advent Calendars 2008 & 2009!
50 Christmas tracks!
Thanks to all you guys who have been spending almost a full year now checking out this site, listening to all the cool chiptune artists I feature every day. It's been a lot of fun getting to know the chiptune community better, and I hope to be writing a similar post one year from now! Have a great Christmas, wherever you're from!
-Curt
Thanks to all you guys who have been spending almost a full year now checking out this site, listening to all the cool chiptune artists I feature every day. It's been a lot of fun getting to know the chiptune community better, and I hope to be writing a similar post one year from now! Have a great Christmas, wherever you're from!
-Curt
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Rush Coil - What Child Is This
From 8-Bit Christmas, which I had been planning on featuring since I got word of it on December 1st. It wasn't until today that I realized a few things:
1. None of the songs are available for free download, so I'm not about to post .MP3s to subvert that.
2. All the proceeds of this project are being DONATED TO CHARITY so I would effectively be stealing from kids in hospitals if I tried to get you this music for free.
3. [adult swim] linked to this project as well, and it's Christmas Eve so none of the songs will load very quickly due to some overloaded bandwidth.
Regardless, I cannot recommend this album enough as the end-all chiptune Christmas dealio. The "What Child Is This" (officially the 8BD of 12/24) cover mixes Metroid with classical Christmas tunes, and as soon as I heard that I knew there would never be a Christmas song that topped it. Equal it, maybe. But not top it.
Merry Christmas, people! Give $4 to charity and listen to some rad music!
1. None of the songs are available for free download, so I'm not about to post .MP3s to subvert that.
2. All the proceeds of this project are being DONATED TO CHARITY so I would effectively be stealing from kids in hospitals if I tried to get you this music for free.
3. [adult swim] linked to this project as well, and it's Christmas Eve so none of the songs will load very quickly due to some overloaded bandwidth.
Regardless, I cannot recommend this album enough as the end-all chiptune Christmas dealio. The "What Child Is This" (officially the 8BD of 12/24) cover mixes Metroid with classical Christmas tunes, and as soon as I heard that I knew there would never be a Christmas song that topped it. Equal it, maybe. But not top it.
Merry Christmas, people! Give $4 to charity and listen to some rad music!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
EvilWezil - Second Hand March
It's been a while since I featured a release! Today's track is not off of 8bc.org, but the venerable Pause. The whole release is worth grabbing, of course, so I suggest you follow the link to the Pause Page and get the MP3 .zip! Although not too apparent in today's track, the album makes use of a lot of strange time signatures and rhythms, making it a pretty engaging listen. Pretty cool fake-world writeup, too! I always get a kick out of that kind of thing.
EvilWezil's website
The Pause page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
EvilWezil's website
The Pause page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Trash Can Man - Birth
Here's the TCM track I promised you guys! The melody comes in about halfway, I think you'll really enjoy it. More stuff tomorrow, when I'll have time to do stuff!
TCM's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
TCM's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Blip '09 Writeup #3 (The J. Arthur Keenes Band, Trash Can Man, Bubblyfish, The Hunters, Glomag, Bit Shifter, David Sugar, Psilodump)
Gooooooood morning (yes it is almost 12:30PM as I begin writing this)! What a weekend Blip has been. I've got one last show I'm going to today at 4PM, and then it's all over! So many chiptunes. It's been absolutely fantastic, I got to meet a lot of excellent folks and listen to some ridiculously jamming tunes. Okay, here's your writeup!
J.A.K. was one of my most anticipated shows of these three days. I don't know what it is about his songwriting, but I just love it. Like the previous night, it took him no time at all to get the crowd jumping and moving. His Game Boys supplied ample bass and percussion, covered with his top-notch vocals, guitar, and melodica, which I had never seen played live before. It's got the sound of a harmonica, but it's played like a piano (except you have to blow into it)! Very interesting, but it went great over the more chilled-out portions and grooves of his set. He has a sweet variety of reggae, ska, and rock feels to his tracks, and it had the crowd hooked, singing along, and happy. Superb!
Next, Trash Can Man played what I want to call chip-grunge, but won't (I didn't, see?) because I'm not sure the consequences I'll be bringing upon myself if that's inaccurate. At any rate, he opened with a cover of a song called "Emancipation" according to Twitter posts, and by my best guess it's by a guy named Ihsahn, frontman to a black metal band named Emperor. The crowd was screaming along, and I have to admit I felt pretty awkward that I didn't know the lyrics myself! Haha, anyway, it was a pretty rad set, and TCM made a few new fans judging from what I read. I'll have to feature a track by him soon so you guys get an idea for what he was like.
Bubblyfish followed, opening with a cover of Sleigh Bells that was much louder, tougher, and cooler than it ought to have been. Her set was a lot of fun, and she had some really crazy tunes that sounded folksy or country or something. Like the music that plays when a horse is walking in a cartoon. But then she'd break out of that into really thick beats, as powerful as anything played that night. It was really interesting, but a lot of fun. It was also the last set that I stuck to the front of the stage, at that point I was really feeling the effects of having partied and walked for miles for two and a half days straight with less than optimum amounts of sleep. It was an awesome set, though, and I'd love to see Bubblyfish play again!
The Hunters came up next, playing a really chilled out tune before unleashing their more hopping tracks. They also supplied their own visuals, which were much smoother than the hyper glitched stylings of the VJs (The C-Men, Paris, Outpt, Enso, Vblank, NO CARRIER, and Rosa Menkman, all of whom were just incredible and mind-blowing). They had that thick, bassy Game Boy sound that drives people nuts, and it looked like a great response from where I was standing during their set!
Glomag followed, getting the crowd going ballistic to his heavy, fast beats and rock and roll guitar playing. A New York favorite, Glomag's set had everyone going nuts, quite a feat when you consider what most participants had been through the past few days. For one of his tracks he had one of the C-Men (who were VJing his set at the time) come up on stage to sing some vocoded lyrics, and chiptune-writer-guy Natty Adams to rap, which went over most excellently as you can probably imagine.
Then Bit Shifter! The Blip Festival was nearing its end, and it was apparent by the awesome acts they had "saved for last". Bit Shifter had the crowd going wild, yes I'm aware that EVERY ACT seemed to be doing that last night, but it's the truth! The chiptune scene only gets one Blip Festival every year, we make it count! So he's playing, people are loving the Information Chase tracks, Reformat The Planet went over exceptionally well, maybe the biggest cheer all three nights for a song coming on. But at the end of his set, once we all thought that he was about to leave the stage, he announced that while he had been feeling sick and for that reason didn't sing any songs like he had wanted to, he was going to sing his very last track, which was the cover of a Misfits song called (excuse me here) "AngelFuck". He invited everyone who wanted to up on stage, and closed his set out as powerfully as you might expect from Bit Shifter.
David Sugar played next, sometimes singing, sometimes playing guitar, but always using the Game Boy and dancing around to his tracks. He's been away from the chiptune scene for some time now, saying that it had been probably close to a year since he'd played any chiptune shows. But being invited to Blip had gotten him excited over chiptunes once more, and he played us a track that he wrote just for Blip. It was a good song, and the crowd ate it up! I'm not as familiar with David Sugar as I think I ought to be, so I think this week I'll have to spend some time getting to know his music better.
And, after three very full concerts even without him, it was time to squeeze one more act into the agenda, and Psilodump took the stage. He played absolute bangers. His act had superb visuals by Paris and The C-Men, in my opinion the best of all three nights (though Minusbaby's was a very close second). His sound was very professional sounding, with spot-on levels and mixing, and tight crossfading between tracks so as to not let the crowd down for even a second. It was intense, and seemed to last much longer than it actually did. To put it shortly, it was the perfect set to close out Blip '09!
And that's how the show went down. Once I got outside, there was a ton of snow on the ground and I got to shuffle back to my hotel in the wind and the cold. Sigh. Such is the dichotomy of life, an equal and opposite reaction for every action. But I cheated this fate, that seemed to be punishing New York for having too much fun, by getting a delicious sandwich on my way home, and having a great night's sleep. Can't beat me, snow! I'm from MICHIGAN!!
J.A.K. was one of my most anticipated shows of these three days. I don't know what it is about his songwriting, but I just love it. Like the previous night, it took him no time at all to get the crowd jumping and moving. His Game Boys supplied ample bass and percussion, covered with his top-notch vocals, guitar, and melodica, which I had never seen played live before. It's got the sound of a harmonica, but it's played like a piano (except you have to blow into it)! Very interesting, but it went great over the more chilled-out portions and grooves of his set. He has a sweet variety of reggae, ska, and rock feels to his tracks, and it had the crowd hooked, singing along, and happy. Superb!
Next, Trash Can Man played what I want to call chip-grunge, but won't (I didn't, see?) because I'm not sure the consequences I'll be bringing upon myself if that's inaccurate. At any rate, he opened with a cover of a song called "Emancipation" according to Twitter posts, and by my best guess it's by a guy named Ihsahn, frontman to a black metal band named Emperor. The crowd was screaming along, and I have to admit I felt pretty awkward that I didn't know the lyrics myself! Haha, anyway, it was a pretty rad set, and TCM made a few new fans judging from what I read. I'll have to feature a track by him soon so you guys get an idea for what he was like.
Bubblyfish followed, opening with a cover of Sleigh Bells that was much louder, tougher, and cooler than it ought to have been. Her set was a lot of fun, and she had some really crazy tunes that sounded folksy or country or something. Like the music that plays when a horse is walking in a cartoon. But then she'd break out of that into really thick beats, as powerful as anything played that night. It was really interesting, but a lot of fun. It was also the last set that I stuck to the front of the stage, at that point I was really feeling the effects of having partied and walked for miles for two and a half days straight with less than optimum amounts of sleep. It was an awesome set, though, and I'd love to see Bubblyfish play again!
The Hunters came up next, playing a really chilled out tune before unleashing their more hopping tracks. They also supplied their own visuals, which were much smoother than the hyper glitched stylings of the VJs (The C-Men, Paris, Outpt, Enso, Vblank, NO CARRIER, and Rosa Menkman, all of whom were just incredible and mind-blowing). They had that thick, bassy Game Boy sound that drives people nuts, and it looked like a great response from where I was standing during their set!
Glomag followed, getting the crowd going ballistic to his heavy, fast beats and rock and roll guitar playing. A New York favorite, Glomag's set had everyone going nuts, quite a feat when you consider what most participants had been through the past few days. For one of his tracks he had one of the C-Men (who were VJing his set at the time) come up on stage to sing some vocoded lyrics, and chiptune-writer-guy Natty Adams to rap, which went over most excellently as you can probably imagine.
Then Bit Shifter! The Blip Festival was nearing its end, and it was apparent by the awesome acts they had "saved for last". Bit Shifter had the crowd going wild, yes I'm aware that EVERY ACT seemed to be doing that last night, but it's the truth! The chiptune scene only gets one Blip Festival every year, we make it count! So he's playing, people are loving the Information Chase tracks, Reformat The Planet went over exceptionally well, maybe the biggest cheer all three nights for a song coming on. But at the end of his set, once we all thought that he was about to leave the stage, he announced that while he had been feeling sick and for that reason didn't sing any songs like he had wanted to, he was going to sing his very last track, which was the cover of a Misfits song called (excuse me here) "AngelFuck". He invited everyone who wanted to up on stage, and closed his set out as powerfully as you might expect from Bit Shifter.
David Sugar played next, sometimes singing, sometimes playing guitar, but always using the Game Boy and dancing around to his tracks. He's been away from the chiptune scene for some time now, saying that it had been probably close to a year since he'd played any chiptune shows. But being invited to Blip had gotten him excited over chiptunes once more, and he played us a track that he wrote just for Blip. It was a good song, and the crowd ate it up! I'm not as familiar with David Sugar as I think I ought to be, so I think this week I'll have to spend some time getting to know his music better.
And, after three very full concerts even without him, it was time to squeeze one more act into the agenda, and Psilodump took the stage. He played absolute bangers. His act had superb visuals by Paris and The C-Men, in my opinion the best of all three nights (though Minusbaby's was a very close second). His sound was very professional sounding, with spot-on levels and mixing, and tight crossfading between tracks so as to not let the crowd down for even a second. It was intense, and seemed to last much longer than it actually did. To put it shortly, it was the perfect set to close out Blip '09!
And that's how the show went down. Once I got outside, there was a ton of snow on the ground and I got to shuffle back to my hotel in the wind and the cold. Sigh. Such is the dichotomy of life, an equal and opposite reaction for every action. But I cheated this fate, that seemed to be punishing New York for having too much fun, by getting a delicious sandwich on my way home, and having a great night's sleep. Can't beat me, snow! I'm from MICHIGAN!!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Blip '09 Writeup #2 (Disasterpeace, Starscream, Fighter X, Little Scale, I, Cactus, Nullsleep, Rainbowdragoneyes, Patric C, Hally, CONDOM)
First off, this is the longest concert I've ever been to. I suppose that's why it's legitimate to call Blip a festival rather than, say, a "concert series" or something like that. These are not concerts every night, they are tests of party endurance!! Okay, so going right in order...
Disasterpeace, of whom I'm a big fan, was up first. He had his whole set queued up on the software side of things, and played his guitar along with. It seemed as if some residue energy was still in the crowd from last night, since there wasn't that two or three set buffer between concert starting and crowd starting like there was Thursday. Although his music isn't the best for headbanging, jumping around, and crowd surfing, it was apparent people were into the math-rock compositions, crazy time signatures, and powerful (not to be confused with power) chords. It was quite the set, and same as yesterday's performance by Silreq, a great kickoff for the night.
Starscream was up next, and Damon and George made quick work of getting the crowd frenzied. I was glad to hear some new tracks by them, and everyone around was enjoying the flowing music over the hard drums. I was also surprised to see Damon, who for so long reminded me of a long-haired friend of mine named Justice, had cut most of his hair off. Anyway, the music was great, Starscream is another one of those bands I was extra excited to see perform, and they did not disappoint.
Fighter X came up next, the party-hard collaboration between the original Fighter X and Circles (there's a post about it not too long ago). They played their "unce", as people have come to call it, and it really got the crowd moving. I think at one point they were both in the crowd (by which of course I mean ON the crowd), but I'm not sure. Plenty of people were floating atop the audience last night. During Fighter X's set was when I started realizing how tired I was feeling. Combining the drastic increase in exercise I'd been getting (walking around NYC and rocking out to the entirety of a 6-hour concert all day and the day before) with the toll the loudspeakers were taking on my ears and the fact that my vodka tonics' (drink of choice, people) "influence" let's say was fading, yeah. I was getting pretty exhausted. I wasn't sure what would happen if another Fighter X show happened, but next up was Little-Scale, and what I've heard of him is generally not that up-tempo or ridiculous. I thought I was safe!
Little-Scale's set opened with A vs. B, a track some people might call a "joke track". The 8bc.org version consists of two notes, identical in pitch but with some sort of duty cycle shift or filter cutoff automation or something, resulting in subtly different timbres from start to finish. It's only a few seconds long, and it inspired a few "reimaginings" or "remixes" in the days after its being uploaded to 8bc. So those notes played, and I thought he'd bow and the crowd would have a laugh, but instead the song just exploded into a very hard beat coupled with some fast-paced melodies. He continued in this way pretty much his entire set, taking the occasional break to play some tracks with a down-tempo feel while the crowd caught its collective breath and cheered. It was a great set, and by the time it was over I'd forgotten I was supposed to be tired!
I, Cactus followed Little-Scale's set, playing from his laptop. His music was the least "chiptune" set of these last two nights, with plenty of pop music culture weaved in with his tracks. He had a sort of remix of Britney Spears, Eminem, and Nine Inch Nails I think, all mashed together to make bizarre but coherent sentences. He looked like he was enjoying his set as much as anyone in the crowd, laughing at the stranger sequencing of words (Eminem's "Hi, my name is..." with a myriad other goofy things following it) and getting thoroughly sweaty dancing around the stage.
Nullsleep came on stage to no small amount of applause, and since he's one of the biggest names in Chiptunes it should be no surprise. Playing off a couple Game Boys, his set was way harder, noisier, and devoid of melodies than I had been planning on. Great party music to be sure, and the crowd knew this all too well, but just... Not what I'd expected. Talking with Ethan after the set, he agreed with my take on it, mentioning that Nullsleep's seemed to have abandoned rich, melodic tracks in preference of more up-tempo, crowd-stirring dance tracks, leaving him feeling personally betrayed! I could hear where he was coming from, since I would have loved a slower set for multiple reasons, but what was done was done, and Nullsleep's approach seems to be working out just fine for him!
Rainbowdragoneyes was the second-to last, and what a crazy show that was. I discovered later that RDE actually works in the recording industry, working with all sorts of metal artists professionally. As such, his stage presence was very death-metal, with him flinging his hair around, screaming into a microphone, and turning off all the stage lights. It was a crazy set with a unique style (though I suspect seeing other metal-chiptune artists like Nestrogen or Norrin Radd would be a similarly intense spectacle).
Closing out the night, or at least the part of the night to which anyone with $15 bucks was allowed, was Patric C. He was just awesome. The most "old-school" artist in attendance, Patric C. chided the scene for forgetting about its roots in the demo scene, and expressed some frustration with the iTunes age of music distribution, in which the fringe, self-produced independent tracks, the likes of which have created the entire chiptune culture, have no chance of thriving. His set was invariably intense, getting the crowd moving in no time despite the fact that if they felt anything like I did we were all one minute of silence away from falling asleep.
After Patric C. had finished off Blip night #2 proper, Hally and CONDOM were scheduled to make an appearance. It was around 1:30 when P.C. got off the stage, but it wasn't until 2:00 or so that Hally finally began his set, and I moved toward the stage in a zombie-like state that evaporated as soon as his double NES setup started assaulting us with its rich beats and smooth moving lines. I just have to say that Hally was probably the coolest performer, playing his set in a track jacket and slowly donning his trademark sunglasses right before the initiation of his sonic barrage. The crowd was utterly insane, especially considering how late it was, but that wasn't even the half of it!
By the time CONDOM came on, Covox and Random had been getting their set put together and everything connected for almost an hour. 3:30 AM was when the ambient, flowing dissonance of their opening track started, building into a raging sea of noise, at which point they walked on stage, completely in black. They stood motionless for a full minute, then put their hand to their ear at a musical cue. Another moment later, and they flipped a switch, illuminating two point-sized LEDs where eyes would be. Their set consisted of a few spoken pieces - half jargon half euphemism about condoms - in between all of their tracks. After the show, I ended up meeting a couple guys from Blip waiting for a subway, Kris Keyser and Ricardo Almonte (and one of Kris' friends whose name I didn't catch). Kris summed up the CONDOM show pretty well when he mentioned "they out-Justiced Justice". I think it's safe to say that with music the likes of which Covox/Random was blasting, you could sell out some pretty large venues. It was absolutely insane, and my favorite set of this festival so far.
So, another night of Blip come and gone! Last night, with the exclusive afterparty show, ended up being something like 9 hours long. I showed up at quarter to 8 and got back at quarter to 5. What a night.
So, tonight! The J. Arthur Keenes Band, Glomag, Bit Shifter, and more! It's gonna be a blast!!
Disasterpeace, of whom I'm a big fan, was up first. He had his whole set queued up on the software side of things, and played his guitar along with. It seemed as if some residue energy was still in the crowd from last night, since there wasn't that two or three set buffer between concert starting and crowd starting like there was Thursday. Although his music isn't the best for headbanging, jumping around, and crowd surfing, it was apparent people were into the math-rock compositions, crazy time signatures, and powerful (not to be confused with power) chords. It was quite the set, and same as yesterday's performance by Silreq, a great kickoff for the night.
Starscream was up next, and Damon and George made quick work of getting the crowd frenzied. I was glad to hear some new tracks by them, and everyone around was enjoying the flowing music over the hard drums. I was also surprised to see Damon, who for so long reminded me of a long-haired friend of mine named Justice, had cut most of his hair off. Anyway, the music was great, Starscream is another one of those bands I was extra excited to see perform, and they did not disappoint.
Fighter X came up next, the party-hard collaboration between the original Fighter X and Circles (there's a post about it not too long ago). They played their "unce", as people have come to call it, and it really got the crowd moving. I think at one point they were both in the crowd (by which of course I mean ON the crowd), but I'm not sure. Plenty of people were floating atop the audience last night. During Fighter X's set was when I started realizing how tired I was feeling. Combining the drastic increase in exercise I'd been getting (walking around NYC and rocking out to the entirety of a 6-hour concert all day and the day before) with the toll the loudspeakers were taking on my ears and the fact that my vodka tonics' (drink of choice, people) "influence" let's say was fading, yeah. I was getting pretty exhausted. I wasn't sure what would happen if another Fighter X show happened, but next up was Little-Scale, and what I've heard of him is generally not that up-tempo or ridiculous. I thought I was safe!
Little-Scale's set opened with A vs. B, a track some people might call a "joke track". The 8bc.org version consists of two notes, identical in pitch but with some sort of duty cycle shift or filter cutoff automation or something, resulting in subtly different timbres from start to finish. It's only a few seconds long, and it inspired a few "reimaginings" or "remixes" in the days after its being uploaded to 8bc. So those notes played, and I thought he'd bow and the crowd would have a laugh, but instead the song just exploded into a very hard beat coupled with some fast-paced melodies. He continued in this way pretty much his entire set, taking the occasional break to play some tracks with a down-tempo feel while the crowd caught its collective breath and cheered. It was a great set, and by the time it was over I'd forgotten I was supposed to be tired!
I, Cactus followed Little-Scale's set, playing from his laptop. His music was the least "chiptune" set of these last two nights, with plenty of pop music culture weaved in with his tracks. He had a sort of remix of Britney Spears, Eminem, and Nine Inch Nails I think, all mashed together to make bizarre but coherent sentences. He looked like he was enjoying his set as much as anyone in the crowd, laughing at the stranger sequencing of words (Eminem's "Hi, my name is..." with a myriad other goofy things following it) and getting thoroughly sweaty dancing around the stage.
Nullsleep came on stage to no small amount of applause, and since he's one of the biggest names in Chiptunes it should be no surprise. Playing off a couple Game Boys, his set was way harder, noisier, and devoid of melodies than I had been planning on. Great party music to be sure, and the crowd knew this all too well, but just... Not what I'd expected. Talking with Ethan after the set, he agreed with my take on it, mentioning that Nullsleep's seemed to have abandoned rich, melodic tracks in preference of more up-tempo, crowd-stirring dance tracks, leaving him feeling personally betrayed! I could hear where he was coming from, since I would have loved a slower set for multiple reasons, but what was done was done, and Nullsleep's approach seems to be working out just fine for him!
Rainbowdragoneyes was the second-to last, and what a crazy show that was. I discovered later that RDE actually works in the recording industry, working with all sorts of metal artists professionally. As such, his stage presence was very death-metal, with him flinging his hair around, screaming into a microphone, and turning off all the stage lights. It was a crazy set with a unique style (though I suspect seeing other metal-chiptune artists like Nestrogen or Norrin Radd would be a similarly intense spectacle).
Closing out the night, or at least the part of the night to which anyone with $15 bucks was allowed, was Patric C. He was just awesome. The most "old-school" artist in attendance, Patric C. chided the scene for forgetting about its roots in the demo scene, and expressed some frustration with the iTunes age of music distribution, in which the fringe, self-produced independent tracks, the likes of which have created the entire chiptune culture, have no chance of thriving. His set was invariably intense, getting the crowd moving in no time despite the fact that if they felt anything like I did we were all one minute of silence away from falling asleep.
After Patric C. had finished off Blip night #2 proper, Hally and CONDOM were scheduled to make an appearance. It was around 1:30 when P.C. got off the stage, but it wasn't until 2:00 or so that Hally finally began his set, and I moved toward the stage in a zombie-like state that evaporated as soon as his double NES setup started assaulting us with its rich beats and smooth moving lines. I just have to say that Hally was probably the coolest performer, playing his set in a track jacket and slowly donning his trademark sunglasses right before the initiation of his sonic barrage. The crowd was utterly insane, especially considering how late it was, but that wasn't even the half of it!
By the time CONDOM came on, Covox and Random had been getting their set put together and everything connected for almost an hour. 3:30 AM was when the ambient, flowing dissonance of their opening track started, building into a raging sea of noise, at which point they walked on stage, completely in black. They stood motionless for a full minute, then put their hand to their ear at a musical cue. Another moment later, and they flipped a switch, illuminating two point-sized LEDs where eyes would be. Their set consisted of a few spoken pieces - half jargon half euphemism about condoms - in between all of their tracks. After the show, I ended up meeting a couple guys from Blip waiting for a subway, Kris Keyser and Ricardo Almonte (and one of Kris' friends whose name I didn't catch). Kris summed up the CONDOM show pretty well when he mentioned "they out-Justiced Justice". I think it's safe to say that with music the likes of which Covox/Random was blasting, you could sell out some pretty large venues. It was absolutely insane, and my favorite set of this festival so far.
So, another night of Blip come and gone! Last night, with the exclusive afterparty show, ended up being something like 9 hours long. I showed up at quarter to 8 and got back at quarter to 5. What a night.
So, tonight! The J. Arthur Keenes Band, Glomag, Bit Shifter, and more! It's gonna be a blast!!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Blip '09 Writeup #1 (Silreq, Failotron, Leeni, Minusbaby, Chromix, JDDJ3J, Albino Ghost Monkey, Eat Rabbit)
Wow, what an interesting experience was last night's Blip! Well, let's get right to it.
First up was Silent Requiem (Silreq), who seemed to be trying his hardest to detonate the sound system. Very heavy on the bass, the percussion (white noise with envelopes = percussion), and other noise. It was a bit like a DJ set because he didn't stop the music, he didn't say anything, he just played some crazy hard music. As I said to Ethan (look in the comments on these entries, chances are decent you'll see that name), "It's good music to show off the sound system". It was a great opening act, and it got the crowd a little bit energized, but nothing like what was to come.
Next was Failotron, from Budapest, Hungary. He spent his sound check strumming a guitar and playing with the delay and stuff, then set the guitar down and told the crowd "I just wanted to test this guitar, I won't be using it". He plays Hullamzoret Two first, which of course I loved! But then, I think it was a couple songs later that he went to play a track the name of which escapes me, it was discovered his LSDJ save had corrupted! So he gets the privelage of playing at Blip '09 in New York, flies there from Eastern Europe, he is about to play what he called his "FAVORITE SONG"!!!! And the cart died! It was... The saddest thing I've ever seen. But he got his "Commodore Advanced" (his laptop), and we got to jam out to it anyway. The buildups he writes are just fantastic, and the guitar/drum/gameboy trifecta didn't fail to disappoint.
Third, Leeni, a singer-songwriter girl from Seattle, was a radical departure from the rest of the night. I felt like she was disappointed in the crowd for not dancing as much as she'd like us to, and I empathize. You want your Blip show to be as good as it can be! But the thing to realize is that chiptune crowds usually consist of a lot of head-bobbers and toe-tappers. And that's what the crowd did, though slightly harder once she hinted that we were "allowed to dance" and whatever else. The music was nice; melodic and soft, if I had to pick two words, but it didn't get the crowd moving. Ah well!
Next up was Minusbaby. His set garnered a lot of interest before he went on because he had been wandering the club handing out 3D glasses to be worn during his set. The visuals were, as such, rendered with the red and pale blue offset instantly recognizable as 3D, and the beats he laid down were fantastically heavy. It got the crowd moving, but I'd say "pulsing" would be the more accurate term. A lot of movement, but no jumping around or thrashing. Also, those super-low triangle waves... Oh man. It was an all-around intense experience.
Chromix played after, with nothing on stage but him, his GBA SP, and a mic. His set was rad, and he was dancing as hard as anyone else in the room. It was during this set that people really got going, as his fast-paced beats and the amount of energy he was exuding inspired a lot of jumping, thrashing, and yelling. Oh what power the Game Boy holds! He played a rad cover of Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2, the highlight of his set for me, as well as plenty of his own original creations which consist of a lot of fast kick-drum and... Noise I guess? Melodies were there, but the spotlight was not on them. It was about the jam.
With Chromix's set done, the crowd was peaking. The music was getting more and more energetic each set, and the next artist, Je Deviens DJ En Trois Jours (I/I've/I'll Become A DJ In Three Days depending on the tense) has a bit of a reputation as making killer party music. He treated the Game Boys like turntables, and it was during this set that people started crowd surfing and the entire audience was jumping around like mad. Also, he was overpowering the system or a cord was unplugging or something, because periodically in his set the noise would cut out completely, with the crowd giving a huge "AWWWWWWWW" every time. But then the problem would be resolved, the music instantly back to its strength, and the crowd was pulled right back in. It was a great set, and JDDJ3J is an excellent performer who knows how to frenzy up a crowd.
Following that act was Albino Ghost Monkey. I'd retreated back to the front room, mostly because it was close to the door and hence some degrees cooler, when I heard the between-sets music cut out and our friend the pale tarsier took the stage. He played very intense music, probably the hardest dance music all night, and got the crowd present absolutely frothing. There was almost perpetually someone on top of the crowd, it was at this point that glow-sticks and other blinking, glowing rave-toys appeared in the crowd, and he was dancing just as hard as he could, so of course the crowd went berserk! He kept telling the crowd he loved them, and I'm sure he made quite a few friends after his set last night. As for me, though, I'd been at the edge of the stage all night, so I just watched all this happen from a distance and had a drink.
Closing out the first night of Blip was EAT RABBIT, a French guy who I would feel comfortable describing as "insane". I mean, he's not really, but his sense of aesthetics is pretty out there. He wore a suit and tie with a big bunny head mask, and his music was like deranged carnie tunes. Regardless, the crowd loved it, and at one point during what sounded like a hardstyle polka, the crowd started chanting "HEY" on every offbeat while I assume they kicked their legs forward and crossed their arms. Hey, we'll make do with whatever music the artists give us!
All in all, the first night of Blip was, I think, successful! It was interesting how heavily documented the event was, with 2PP's camera crew all over the stage, no shortage of cameras, and the entire event being streamed online. I suspect that for those of you that didn't get to attend Blip '09, you'll be able to pretty much "get the idea" from some DVD that will go on sale in a while.
Also, no tracks today, sorry. I'm going to just save up and catch up on music when I get back! Like, I'll post... What, five songs? Something like that. Anyway! Seeya tomorrow for Writeup #2!
First up was Silent Requiem (Silreq), who seemed to be trying his hardest to detonate the sound system. Very heavy on the bass, the percussion (white noise with envelopes = percussion), and other noise. It was a bit like a DJ set because he didn't stop the music, he didn't say anything, he just played some crazy hard music. As I said to Ethan (look in the comments on these entries, chances are decent you'll see that name), "It's good music to show off the sound system". It was a great opening act, and it got the crowd a little bit energized, but nothing like what was to come.
Next was Failotron, from Budapest, Hungary. He spent his sound check strumming a guitar and playing with the delay and stuff, then set the guitar down and told the crowd "I just wanted to test this guitar, I won't be using it". He plays Hullamzoret Two first, which of course I loved! But then, I think it was a couple songs later that he went to play a track the name of which escapes me, it was discovered his LSDJ save had corrupted! So he gets the privelage of playing at Blip '09 in New York, flies there from Eastern Europe, he is about to play what he called his "FAVORITE SONG"!!!! And the cart died! It was... The saddest thing I've ever seen. But he got his "Commodore Advanced" (his laptop), and we got to jam out to it anyway. The buildups he writes are just fantastic, and the guitar/drum/gameboy trifecta didn't fail to disappoint.
Third, Leeni, a singer-songwriter girl from Seattle, was a radical departure from the rest of the night. I felt like she was disappointed in the crowd for not dancing as much as she'd like us to, and I empathize. You want your Blip show to be as good as it can be! But the thing to realize is that chiptune crowds usually consist of a lot of head-bobbers and toe-tappers. And that's what the crowd did, though slightly harder once she hinted that we were "allowed to dance" and whatever else. The music was nice; melodic and soft, if I had to pick two words, but it didn't get the crowd moving. Ah well!
Next up was Minusbaby. His set garnered a lot of interest before he went on because he had been wandering the club handing out 3D glasses to be worn during his set. The visuals were, as such, rendered with the red and pale blue offset instantly recognizable as 3D, and the beats he laid down were fantastically heavy. It got the crowd moving, but I'd say "pulsing" would be the more accurate term. A lot of movement, but no jumping around or thrashing. Also, those super-low triangle waves... Oh man. It was an all-around intense experience.
Chromix played after, with nothing on stage but him, his GBA SP, and a mic. His set was rad, and he was dancing as hard as anyone else in the room. It was during this set that people really got going, as his fast-paced beats and the amount of energy he was exuding inspired a lot of jumping, thrashing, and yelling. Oh what power the Game Boy holds! He played a rad cover of Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2, the highlight of his set for me, as well as plenty of his own original creations which consist of a lot of fast kick-drum and... Noise I guess? Melodies were there, but the spotlight was not on them. It was about the jam.
With Chromix's set done, the crowd was peaking. The music was getting more and more energetic each set, and the next artist, Je Deviens DJ En Trois Jours (I/I've/I'll Become A DJ In Three Days depending on the tense) has a bit of a reputation as making killer party music. He treated the Game Boys like turntables, and it was during this set that people started crowd surfing and the entire audience was jumping around like mad. Also, he was overpowering the system or a cord was unplugging or something, because periodically in his set the noise would cut out completely, with the crowd giving a huge "AWWWWWWWW" every time. But then the problem would be resolved, the music instantly back to its strength, and the crowd was pulled right back in. It was a great set, and JDDJ3J is an excellent performer who knows how to frenzy up a crowd.
Following that act was Albino Ghost Monkey. I'd retreated back to the front room, mostly because it was close to the door and hence some degrees cooler, when I heard the between-sets music cut out and our friend the pale tarsier took the stage. He played very intense music, probably the hardest dance music all night, and got the crowd present absolutely frothing. There was almost perpetually someone on top of the crowd, it was at this point that glow-sticks and other blinking, glowing rave-toys appeared in the crowd, and he was dancing just as hard as he could, so of course the crowd went berserk! He kept telling the crowd he loved them, and I'm sure he made quite a few friends after his set last night. As for me, though, I'd been at the edge of the stage all night, so I just watched all this happen from a distance and had a drink.
Closing out the first night of Blip was EAT RABBIT, a French guy who I would feel comfortable describing as "insane". I mean, he's not really, but his sense of aesthetics is pretty out there. He wore a suit and tie with a big bunny head mask, and his music was like deranged carnie tunes. Regardless, the crowd loved it, and at one point during what sounded like a hardstyle polka, the crowd started chanting "HEY" on every offbeat while I assume they kicked their legs forward and crossed their arms. Hey, we'll make do with whatever music the artists give us!
All in all, the first night of Blip was, I think, successful! It was interesting how heavily documented the event was, with 2PP's camera crew all over the stage, no shortage of cameras, and the entire event being streamed online. I suspect that for those of you that didn't get to attend Blip '09, you'll be able to pretty much "get the idea" from some DVD that will go on sale in a while.
Also, no tracks today, sorry. I'm going to just save up and catch up on music when I get back! Like, I'll post... What, five songs? Something like that. Anyway! Seeya tomorrow for Writeup #2!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Albino Ghost Monkey - Host
I was hopeful that a "Ghost Monkey" was a real animal. Alas, I have scoured Wikipedia with no result. Most disappointingly was the discovery that there is no catch-all "List of types of monkeys" page, the type of thing you might find for plenty other strange categories.
At any rate, this is a track I had not heard before today, and it makes me very excited to be going to Blip in... Hm, about 15 hours I'll be headed out the door! I'll be bringing my laptop and updating in my hotel though, so don't expect me to take a break or anything lame like that!
Albino Ghost Monkey's website (my best guess, anyway)
Get it!
At any rate, this is a track I had not heard before today, and it makes me very excited to be going to Blip in... Hm, about 15 hours I'll be headed out the door! I'll be bringing my laptop and updating in my hotel though, so don't expect me to take a break or anything lame like that!
Albino Ghost Monkey's website (my best guess, anyway)
Get it!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Leeni - Animatronic
Not only music, but words, too! I suspect Leeni would have been happy to continue playing guitar and singing songs like so many other people do, but apparently she was bored and decided to check out Nanoloop one day! A good decision if ever there was one, as she's quite successful, with a couple of professional looking music videos and some albums that you can buy over at CrunchyCo if you feel like it!
Leeni's website
Get it!
Leeni's website
Get it!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Nullsleep - Supernova Kiss
The classic Nullsleep track! This song was on the legendary 8BP050, which acted as my formal introduction to chiptunes as a genre. Before then, I was familiar with downloading NSFs to listen to the old NES tunes, or going to vgmusic.com (I'd been visiting that page since Windows 98 was the OS of choice, and downloading a MIDI was a serious investment in internet time) to listen to covers of videogame music rendered in a worse-than-the-original sounding style. Of course, I knew the music for Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the N64, but didn't own the console myself! It was my friend's! So I used the internet as a way to listen to the music of Gerudo Valley, or to listen to that whistley sledding theme from Mario 64 (a game I have, to this day, not played).
But it wasn't until 8BP050, when I heard of guys like Random and Anamanaguchi and Virt and Nullsleep that I finally understood the potential in taking the sounds that I really liked - the tones and styles of game music - and writing original compositions. And once I'd listened to 8BP050, and then gone to 8-Bit Peoples' site and used the Firefox plugin "DownThemAll!" to amass an awesome collection of 400+ chiptune tracks... It was over! From that point on, chiptunes have predominantly satiated my musical appetite.
Nullsleep, ladies and gents!
Nullsleep's website
Get it!
But it wasn't until 8BP050, when I heard of guys like Random and Anamanaguchi and Virt and Nullsleep that I finally understood the potential in taking the sounds that I really liked - the tones and styles of game music - and writing original compositions. And once I'd listened to 8BP050, and then gone to 8-Bit Peoples' site and used the Firefox plugin "DownThemAll!" to amass an awesome collection of 400+ chiptune tracks... It was over! From that point on, chiptunes have predominantly satiated my musical appetite.
Nullsleep, ladies and gents!
Nullsleep's website
Get it!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Failotron - Hullamzoret Two
Back when this song was first uploaded to 8BC, I was interested in hearing more of it. This track, as you might have noticed, is the "part two" of a four-track project. Now that I think about it, I've got no idea if it's finished now or not! Regardless, this track stands fine on its own, and it's a very calming piece with great chords and just the right amount of open, empty space.
Failotron's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Failotron's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Bit Shifter - Reformat The Planet
Bit Shifter is interesting in that the majority of his music has been released on compilations rather than on his own EPs/LPs. Just look at his Discography! Just a whole bunch of compilations, as well as "Life's A Bit Shifter" and "The Information Chase", where this track is from. I'm looking forward to seeing him play because I want to see if it's the same few tracks of his I've been listening to for so long now, or if he'll have a lot of stuff I've never heard!
Bit Shifter's website
Get it!
Bit Shifter's website
Get it!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Minusbaby - Left, Part 6
A big name from the NYC chiptune scene, Minusbaby is equal parts visual artist and musician. His latest collection of tracks, Left, is pretty awesome and I featured a track off of it back in August when it came out. The EP is worth your while, the tracks are all excellent, and it's got a sweet exotic feel to it that I don't think you'll find in much chipmusic.
Minusbaby's website
Get it!
Minusbaby's website
Get it!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Silent Requiem - "Doctor X" 1932
Wow okay I just realized I have to be to work in 15 minutes (thanks for that, phone!) so I can't say much other than listen to this guy's one-channel LSDJ tracks (on his page, link below). They are very good given the restrictions he's working with!
Silent Requiem's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Silent Requiem's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Fighter X - A Dystopian Future
I've featured Fighter X before, but he'll be playing at this year's Blip Fest, so I'm featuring him again! When this track was made, Fighter X was just one guy, but now there's two Fighter X members, the second of which used to go by Circles. I've featured him before too, actually! So yeah, their set should be pretty hardcore. They make tough dancey Game Boy music with kicks that are hard and plentiful. Great stuff when the volume is ridiculously amped!
Fighter X's website
Get it!
Fighter X's website
Get it!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Disasterpeace - Quartz
Disasterpeace is one of the Blip artists I'm most eagerly anticipating having the opportunity to watch. His songs aren't just good, they're emotive and varied. I'm expecting great stuff from the whole lineup, but I have a feeling that Disasterpeace's set will be a standout, given the nature of all the songs by him I've heard before. Anyway, here is one of his less heard tracks (if 8BC listens are any indicator, and I think they may be). Drink some coffee or something while you listen to this one!
Disasterpeace's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Disasterpeace's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Chromix - Passive Resistance
My featuring Blip artists is an attempt to accomplish two things. The first is that you, as listeners of Chiptunes, might appreciate the music of the people who will soon be coming together to put on three awesome nights of music and visuals and maybe even choose to fly/drive out to NYC for the big event itself. The other is to expose you to artists who are, for lack of a more precise term, "legit". I mean, I look at the list of performers, and while I recognize most of them, I certainly don't know them all. Aside: To this end, I was going to feature EAT_RABBIT yesterday but was taken from my computer by a shadowy figure and not returned to my home until late that night at which point I decided to sleep. Sorry. So I'm going through the list, checking out some of the artists... And in my usual way, picking out sweet tracks I come across to save you guys some sifting time!
Chromix's website
Get it!
Chromix's website
Get it!
Friday, December 4, 2009
David Sugar - Totally On
With my concert over, we can get back to the concert that's really important - Blip! This track was picked by Octavialsilver since I'm on an internet connection that doesn't allow me to listen to music, and I'm on a different computer than the one I normally use and can therefore not listen to music. But! David Sugar is an O.G. of the chiptune scene, and has toured with Digitalism, a very good and also legitimate band. This track's off his 8BP release "Fresh Off The Chip".
David Sugar's website
Get it!
David Sugar's website
Get it!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Octavialsilver - Mechanical Madness
A collaboration between Octavialsilver and Anticlimax. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Detroit to play a show with Octavial and Noisewaves (see yesterday's post!) on really loud speakers and there'll be some shiny lights and people and the whole thing. Wow!
Octavialsilver's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Octavialsilver's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Noisewaves - As Days Go By (Family Matters Theme)
Okay, Noisewaves isn't playing at Blip but I'm taking a three-day break from the Blip Hype Project to feature the participants of a concert that's this Thursday (yeah that's in two days) in Detroit, on the campus of Oakland University! It's gonna be in an arcade, we'll have free food and video games and maybe some free pool tables but I dunno for sure. Anyway, it's gonna be me (NOROCK), Noisewaves, and Octavialsilver. Should be a cool show!
Noisewaves' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Noisewaves' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Starscream - The Rad Truths About Hockey Fights
Starscream is two guys, one of whom makes LSDJ jams and the other who jams on drums. It is altogether one big jamming experience to see them live. Starscream is also the second-in-command of the Decepticons, often to the chagrin of Megatron, their leader. You see, Megatron doesn't want Starscream to become the Decepticons' number one; he wants to retain his power (of course). But Starscream cares not for the solidarity of his faction, but only for the advancement of his own rank. Due partly to this (and to extremely poor marksmanship), the Decepticons always fall to the Autobots, who know to rally behind Optimus Prime and never attempt to usurp his leadership. Optimus is the symbol of a just leader, Megatron the symbol of a dictator or power hungry totalitarian, and Starscream is basically the representative of anarchy, chaos, and rebellion.
And that is why Starscream is such a cool name for a band.
Starscream's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
And that is why Starscream is such a cool name for a band.
Starscream's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Glomag - 4shame
Probably my favorite Glomag track, I was going through his work this morning looking for which track I'd use in Project Hype Blip (or whatever I called the featuring of Blipfest performers for the next few weeks yesterday) and I came across 4shame once again and knew it was... THE ONE.
Glomag's set should be a lot of fun, there are loads of people on the forums and stuff who talk about how crazy a Glomag set can get.
I'll have to show them how we party... (puts on cool shades) In Grand Rapids.
Glomag's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Glomag's set should be a lot of fun, there are loads of people on the forums and stuff who talk about how crazy a Glomag set can get.
I'll have to show them how we party... (puts on cool shades) In Grand Rapids.
Glomag's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
J. Arthur Keenes - Foe Paw
A track by your friend and mine, this kicks off Project Hype Blip '09 here at 8BD. I'm gonna be featuring tracks from people you'll be able to hear if you go to the festival in NYC on the 17th, 18th, or 19th of December.
Well sort of. I'm starting it now, then taking a break from it next week to showcase the fine artists that'll be playing at Oakland University near Detroit on December 3rd (I'm one of them!), then it'll be back to the Blip artists! Until like, the 20th when it's all over. AND THEN IT WILL BE ALMOST CHRISTMAS! So then I'll do, I dunno, Christmas songs? Somethin'. Anyway, that's the rest of 2009 laid out for y'all.
J. Arthur Keenes' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Well sort of. I'm starting it now, then taking a break from it next week to showcase the fine artists that'll be playing at Oakland University near Detroit on December 3rd (I'm one of them!), then it'll be back to the Blip artists! Until like, the 20th when it's all over. AND THEN IT WILL BE ALMOST CHRISTMAS! So then I'll do, I dunno, Christmas songs? Somethin'. Anyway, that's the rest of 2009 laid out for y'all.
J. Arthur Keenes' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Kosmopop2 - Out of the Silent Planet
Kosmopop2 is a guy from Russia who seems to be playing more shows than any other musician on 8BC. Just go to his page and look at his image submissions, they're all of him playing different venues/parties! So here is one of his songs, and if you live in western Russia, well... Maybe you've seen him already!
Kosmopop2's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Kosmopop2's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
cTrix - Live Tek-House Set
cTrix, an awesome chiptune guy from Melbourne, Australia (you'll find that out listening to the song) was recently on a radio station the likes of which I wish existed near where I live. He went on the air, got interviewed, then played a house techno set using a Game Boy and a mixer with some built-in effects (you'll hear the reverb). It's a great set, and I've never heard an LSDJ house track anything like this.
cTrix's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
cTrix's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Phase Terminale - Moon Level
Featuring a lot more bass than you've ever heard from an NES (in all fairness, it came from an NES emulation). It is a cover of a level from the Duck Tales game which I have never played! I'm positive the original doesn't have such hardcore drum writing in it, though.
Phase Terminale's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Phase Terminale's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Peer - Dance 4
This song takes a while to build up, but it gets some great harmonies and is a very excellent composition for two synced Game Boys running LSDJ. There's 5 other tracks for you to listen to here!
Peer's website
Get it!
Peer's website
Get it!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Shnabubula - Dueling Consoles
It starts out mimicking the classic "Dueling Banjos" song, which has been covered a million times by a million people, but just kind of evolves into an elaborate jam. The duel is purported by Shnabubula to take place between an NES and an "Okama Game Sphere", the uber-console from an episode of South Park.
And like every "Dueling _______" song, there is no winner, just a display of instrumental mastery. Enjoy!
Shnabubula's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
And like every "Dueling _______" song, there is no winner, just a display of instrumental mastery. Enjoy!
Shnabubula's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Mahamajama - Man, That Sucka Dun Reached His Prime
The third track from Mr. Jama to appear on 8BD, I suggest you check the last two out as well. "All The Candy In The World" and "Whale Hail". The first of those two is one of my picks that I go back to pretty often. It just sticks in my head! Also his name is very fun to say (once you figure out how to say it)!
Mahamajama's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Mahamajama's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Pulselooper - Untitled
Hey guys! Don't forget to buy your plane tickets to fly to Brazil this Sunday so you can be at the show on Monday the 23rd! No, but to all the Brazilian 8BD fans: Check out the show!
For those of us that live too far to make it at a reasonable expense, we still get to listen to tracks by the performers! Pulselooper's gonna be there (also in the archives, look for his track "Wonky Bits" which has a great beat and is a lot of fun), as well as Covox/Random/Bubblyfish/Henryhomesweet/Sabrepulse/Bit Shifter. Really incredible lineup.
Pulselooper's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
For those of us that live too far to make it at a reasonable expense, we still get to listen to tracks by the performers! Pulselooper's gonna be there (also in the archives, look for his track "Wonky Bits" which has a great beat and is a lot of fun), as well as Covox/Random/Bubblyfish/Henryhomesweet/Sabrepulse/Bit Shifter. Really incredible lineup.
Pulselooper's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Monx - Kanye West Evangelizes the Square Wave
I just love chiptunes with rap lyrics. Why? Because it sounds so great! I've never heard the source track of these lyrics, but it doesn't matter. You get some basic waveforms going with a beat and put some rap over it, and you've got a winner track. That's science.
Monx's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monx's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ninetales - We Are Your Friends!!!
A cover of a remix! Simian wrote a song which Justice remixed and Ninetales covered/remixed! I like the Justice version a whole lot. ALSO a Justice compilation is on the precipice of being released (I think!). I made a cover of their song Planisphere, others did other tracks... It should be coming out soon. You'll be hearing more Justice chiptune covers here when that drops!
Ninetales' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Ninetales' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
little-scale - Hyper Plutonium
If you'll take a look at little-scale's last (which is actually his first) 8BD spot, you'll notice it's very loosely music compared to noise. It is an amazing display of control over a console's sound chip, and an interesting sonic experiment, but like many of little-scale's tracks it is a bit further in the deep end of the pool than most tracks that make it onto this site (it's also deeper than most tracks PERIOD).
That sort of experimental, circuit-bent-but-not aesthetic, where playing around with parameters takes precedence over the sequencing of notes is typically little-scale's trademark, which is why I was so shocked when I heard this cool upbeat track from him I just had no choice but to feature it. To loudly exclaim to the world "THIS IS LITTLE-SCALE'S MUSIC!"
Of course, there was also his release on Pause not too long ago: Dynasty, which was a great halfway point (melodies, obvious ones, breaking through the experimental tones of FM-synth drums and heaps of static), but this has to be the most melodic and straightforward track I've ever heard from him. It needs recognition for that.
little-scale's website
Get it!
That sort of experimental, circuit-bent-but-not aesthetic, where playing around with parameters takes precedence over the sequencing of notes is typically little-scale's trademark, which is why I was so shocked when I heard this cool upbeat track from him I just had no choice but to feature it. To loudly exclaim to the world "THIS IS LITTLE-SCALE'S MUSIC!"
Of course, there was also his release on Pause not too long ago: Dynasty, which was a great halfway point (melodies, obvious ones, breaking through the experimental tones of FM-synth drums and heaps of static), but this has to be the most melodic and straightforward track I've ever heard from him. It needs recognition for that.
little-scale's website
Get it!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bubblyfish - Follow the Red Dots
So! Today I woke up (a bit late, since I was up until 4:30AM playing the game Borderlands with a friend), checked the email, and had an email from a fella named André (you may know him as Pulselooper) asking if I would be willing/able to promote the upcoming FILE 8-Bit Game People concert which is happening in Brazil next week!
This concert looks absolutely fantastic, with the lineup consisting of Bit Shifter, Covox, Random, Bubblyfish, Sabrepulse, noteNdo and of course Pulselooper. Talk about a great show!
So I was like "yeah! I'll promote this show so hard!" by which I mean I'll mention it/link to it twice this week. :)
I went to the link Pulselooper provided (http://www.file.org.br/) and started lookin' around. The show is being put on by an organization in Brazil called FILE. In addition to the chiptune scene, the organization has an interest in modern video game development as well as electronic music and art. It looks like a pretty rad outfit, and the list of all their events makes me want to fly down there pretty badly (besides this concert, there's a game developer symposium type thing, which my lo-fi-game-designer-heroes at PixelJam will be attending!)
I then found the following video (music by Bubblyfish, art by Raquel Meyers) linked to at the bottom of the site, watched it, loved it, and decided to feature it. This was within, oh, ten minutes of waking up. It's now an hour later and I am just finishing documenting this rather short experience!
Bubblyfish's website
Raquel Meyers' website
The Blip.tv page (leave a comment!)
This concert looks absolutely fantastic, with the lineup consisting of Bit Shifter, Covox, Random, Bubblyfish, Sabrepulse, noteNdo and of course Pulselooper. Talk about a great show!
So I was like "yeah! I'll promote this show so hard!" by which I mean I'll mention it/link to it twice this week. :)
I went to the link Pulselooper provided (http://www.file.org.br/) and started lookin' around. The show is being put on by an organization in Brazil called FILE. In addition to the chiptune scene, the organization has an interest in modern video game development as well as electronic music and art. It looks like a pretty rad outfit, and the list of all their events makes me want to fly down there pretty badly (besides this concert, there's a game developer symposium type thing, which my lo-fi-game-designer-heroes at PixelJam will be attending!)
I then found the following video (music by Bubblyfish, art by Raquel Meyers) linked to at the bottom of the site, watched it, loved it, and decided to feature it. This was within, oh, ten minutes of waking up. It's now an hour later and I am just finishing documenting this rather short experience!
Bubblyfish's website
Raquel Meyers' website
The Blip.tv page (leave a comment!)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Anticlimax - No Respect
Today is a busy day! I'm currently sitting on my work's wifi during the thirty-minute-long window of free time I've got today, and I decided I'd try and get today's 8-Bit Daily get picked out! Luckily for me, I stopped right before this awesome track by Anticlimax (currently going by "an-cat-max" for mysterious reasons). Now, time for work!
Anticlimax's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Anticlimax's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Geckoyamori - Tortoise Prowess
The shortest 8-Bit Daily ever, but he certainly packed a lot in there! This track represents a work in progress that was lost. LOST FOREVER. Due to his computer tracking. I've been there, it is not fun! Anyway... IF you need more 8-Bit music in your day than this 0:48 song supplies, you might try downloading it? And looping it? Or you can head on over to Geckoyamori's page and listen to more music by him! It's all quite good.
Geckoyamori's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Geckoyamori's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, November 13, 2009
lpower - Fourth Challenger
The title of this track may lead you to believe there are three other songs that come before it in a series. You're absolutely right! This track is from lpower's latest release "Emanon" on the Pterodactyl Squad netlabel. The whole album is a sort of soundtrack to what would probably be an old Sega game, but feels (to me at least) more like an old stand-up arcade machine's music. Maybe it's just because most of the time you come across an old racing game it's an arcade cabinet and not a cartridge... Hmm.
lpower's website
There's no place for comments on this... So leave a comment here!
Get it!
lpower's website
There's no place for comments on this... So leave a comment here!
Get it!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Videovalvontaa - Hiro
This compilation is strikingly divided between its first and second halves. It starts pretty intense with their track "Braino" which sounds like circuit bent noises and some thundery bass, accompanied by instruments that are best described as "post-apocalyptic". The next, "Van Ka", is a nice medium-tempo jam, what I like to call "tough guy walking music". "DMBSS121" is like... Halloween techno or something. It's pretty unique, and an absolute killer track. It was between that track and Hiro for my favorite.
"New Powers" and "J.F. Sebastian" let you down slowly, both tracks being more chilled out than their predecessors, but it isn't until "Hiro" that The End is HNGH really comes all the way down.
Both "Hiro" and "Lori Konkero" are hypnotizingly sedate. They really make the release feel like a solid package and not just a collection of songs, and "Lori Konkero" is pretty much a 7-minute long fadeout for the whole deal. I highly recommend you download the release (there's a handy link for that down below) and just put it on straight through some time. Excellent stuff.
dkstr's website
Kef's website
The Forum page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
"New Powers" and "J.F. Sebastian" let you down slowly, both tracks being more chilled out than their predecessors, but it isn't until "Hiro" that The End is HNGH really comes all the way down.
Both "Hiro" and "Lori Konkero" are hypnotizingly sedate. They really make the release feel like a solid package and not just a collection of songs, and "Lori Konkero" is pretty much a 7-minute long fadeout for the whole deal. I highly recommend you download the release (there's a handy link for that down below) and just put it on straight through some time. Excellent stuff.
dkstr's website
Kef's website
The Forum page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Derris-Kharlan - Roboroach
Some day, in the post-apocalyptic future, the only hope for life will not be a cockroach... But Roboroach! An android-roach who will sift through the ruins of civilization... And rebuild! It's like if you took Wall-E and the cockroach and made them into one ULTIMATE CREATURE. This is what we're talking about, here on 8-Bit Daily.
Hey, how do you like the new color scheme? It's blue. I made it late last night and updated it, then was surprised when I visited 8BD this morning. I had forgotten I'd done this. I wonder how much stupid crap I do really late at night that I completely forget about?
Derris-Kharlan's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Hey, how do you like the new color scheme? It's blue. I made it late last night and updated it, then was surprised when I visited 8BD this morning. I had forgotten I'd done this. I wonder how much stupid crap I do really late at night that I completely forget about?
Derris-Kharlan's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sacrenouille - Alex Kidd in Spectrum Castle
Another vibrant, expressive, and interestingly narrative song, similar to the one from two days ago. It's impressive how much Sacrenouille gets across in only two minutes in this song! Also, if you're into watching trackers do their thing, you can watch a video of this song being played on the Amstrad CPC on which it was composed, here!
Sacrenouille's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sacrenouille's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Labcoat and Mac - Game Over
So every once in a while, I gotta throw some seriously dancey tunes up here that sound more like French House than chiptunes. You can find precedents (which are way fine, obviously since I featured them here before) here and here.
Today is one of those days, so enjoy the presence of more technology than usual and expect more ACTUAL chiptunes tomorrow. Just keeping it balanced up in the 8BD.
Labcoat and Mac's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Today is one of those days, so enjoy the presence of more technology than usual and expect more ACTUAL chiptunes tomorrow. Just keeping it balanced up in the 8BD.
Labcoat and Mac's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Fameboy - Robot Boy End Credits
This is something you hear surprisingly rarely in this genre, and that's music that might have actually existed in an old NES game. Usually chiptune artists are squeezing as much of the console's power out as they can, fully utilizing its processing power for music playback alone. Early game developers didn't have this luxury, however, and so they had to have simple music that didn't make use of excessive duty cycle changes, ultra-fast arpeggios/scales, or monster (or any!) pitch bends.
This song is particularly enjoyable because he included the tail end of a fake boss battle theme, as well as fake boss battle noises, and a fake victory fanfare. It sounds like a person actually beating a game!
Fameboy's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
This song is particularly enjoyable because he included the tail end of a fake boss battle theme, as well as fake boss battle noises, and a fake victory fanfare. It sounds like a person actually beating a game!
Fameboy's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
George - Business Trip
Extremely vibrant breaks, great FM-synthesis bass, some Justice style choppiness at parts, and all around great songwriting comes together to make this awesome track about how cool it is to get on a plane, fly off somewhere, spend nights in hotels and at fancy restaurants all on the company tab. I think an awesome music video for this song could be made with like, two dudes in white collar duds tearing up a dance floor and having parties in high-rise hotel rooms. Yes, this is what I imagine while listening to this track. OH THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF A BUSINESSMAN.
George's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
George's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Lovelynewguys - Kota Besar
Some nice long chords and some minimalist drums. It's very nice to make fried rice to this music. YOU'LL HAVE TO TRUST ME ON THIS ONE. Incidentally, guess what I had for lunch today? Hmmm.
Lovelynewguys' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Lovelynewguys' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Algernon - Cluckaduck
Sometimes it's best to keep it simple. This is a nice, straightforward track by Algernon, made on LSDJ. He didn't glitch his instruments out to an insane degree, it's not all dark and brooding and powerful, nor is it sugary and sparkley, nor is it hardcore dancey. It's just a nice song, a story about a little kid that threw a rock at a duck!
Algernon's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Algernon's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
MisfitChris - French Whores
MisfitChris is on a roll over at 8bc right now, with his song "FakeBITMuch" currently the top liked track of the past week (and with 171 total, it's one of the most liked tracks of all time), and his current one (this one) with a respectable 33 likes (by comparison, I've gotten the same number of likes in my last 10 songs combined. LOL!). He uses a lot of the same techniques that make me like Virt's music (most recognizably the super-fast scales and well-placed bends) so much. I'll definitely be watching for more music from him in the future! Remember when I said that, last time I featured him?
MisfitChris' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
MisfitChris' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Oxygenstar - La Salsa Loca
Oxygenstar never disappoints! Although he's more renowned for his skill with FM Synthesis tracks made on old computers with Soundblasters and funky Yamaha 80's keyboards, and for his skilled drumming (not drum programming, but real live drumming), this is a slick NES track by him.
Oxygenstar's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Oxygenstar's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Wizwars - Some Day
This song is actually a cover of a track by a mod/demo artist named Jellydog. I actually found a neat collection of .xm files by him hosted on chiptunes.org, there's some quality stuff in there! So basically I picked today's track to not only feature Wizwars, who is great and has been on this site before, but to feature Jellydog also, who's been making chiptunes since well before the genre was as big as it is now (and it's pretty small now!).
In unrelated news, I've been watching BlazBlue videos on Youtube all morning. I want that game, but I don't own a console! And I don't want to buy it just to play occasionally at my friends' house. Ah well, such is life. If YOU have an Xbox360, though, and like (even a little bit) fighting games, definitely check it out.
Wizwars' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
In unrelated news, I've been watching BlazBlue videos on Youtube all morning. I want that game, but I don't own a console! And I don't want to buy it just to play occasionally at my friends' house. Ah well, such is life. If YOU have an Xbox360, though, and like (even a little bit) fighting games, definitely check it out.
Wizwars' website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
DanKirby - Forest of Dreams V2
How was everyone's Halloween? Whether or not you partied, I think it's safe to say most people had a good time and stayed up a little later than usual! This calm song by the fantastic DanKirby is just the thing to wake up to, I think!
DanKirby's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
DanKirby's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
m0d - Pienataur Returns
This guy uploads so much music, and they've all got "pie" in the name. Well, most of them. This one sounded creepy, and since it's HALLOWEEN today I figured it would fit in nicely!
So, what are you chiptune people dressing up as? Anything? I'm 22 and happy to say I'm not too old to get a costume together.
I'm gonna be Dean Venture (the red-head). My twin brother's going as Hank (the blonde) and my girlfriend is Triana (the goth chick). If you follow me on Twitter, you know I get down to business when Venture Brothers is on!
We got wristwatch walkie-talkies, we dyed our hair... It's epic.
m0d's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
So, what are you chiptune people dressing up as? Anything? I'm 22 and happy to say I'm not too old to get a costume together.
Not the same clothes as pictured, but this was one of the rare shots with Hank, Dean, and Triana all in the same frame.
I'm gonna be Dean Venture (the red-head). My twin brother's going as Hank (the blonde) and my girlfriend is Triana (the goth chick). If you follow me on Twitter, you know I get down to business when Venture Brothers is on!
We got wristwatch walkie-talkies, we dyed our hair... It's epic.
m0d's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, October 30, 2009
The J. Arthur Keenes Band - The Boring World of Niels Bohr
Off of his dandy new release "Pamplemousse" (as in, "Je suis un pamplemousse!", translated: "I am a grapefruit!", something my friends taking French in high school used to say all the time, much to their own amusement), this track is pretty sweet and not at all bohring. Niels Bohr is the man responsible for the classical picture of the atom with a lumpy ol' nucleus and some electrons that are about as big as one of the lumps whippin' around the nucleus in an elliptical orbit. It's not a very accurate image, but it's stuck and that's what a lot of people (myself included) think of when they hear the word Atom!
The song features all the trademarks of The J. Arthur Keenes Band including: Dan McLay's spectacular voice, some chiptunes, and a stringed instrument (usually picked or strummed rather than bowed)!
The J. Arthur Keenes Band's website
The Pause page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
The song features all the trademarks of The J. Arthur Keenes Band including: Dan McLay's spectacular voice, some chiptunes, and a stringed instrument (usually picked or strummed rather than bowed)!
The J. Arthur Keenes Band's website
The Pause page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Sycamore Drive - City Sounds
Pretty thick LSDJ track, owing completely to great instrument selection in the bass line. Also featuring some groovy slicing!
Sycamore Drive's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sycamore Drive's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
FantomenK - Goodbye Summer, Hello Winter
Brrr, it's getting cold out! Almost all the leaves are off of almost all the trees around here, and my feet are not perpetually cold when I'm sitting on the computer. Fall weather won't be here for much longer!
Speaking of winter, there's some cool chiptune stuff happening in December! Most importantly there's Blip '09 on the 16th-20th, the biggest chiptune concert/festival in the nation (maybe the world!). Also in December (the 7th), I'll be playing a show with Octavialsilver and Elsh, two musicians from Michigan, over in Detroit on the campus of Oakland University!
FantomenK's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Speaking of winter, there's some cool chiptune stuff happening in December! Most importantly there's Blip '09 on the 16th-20th, the biggest chiptune concert/festival in the nation (maybe the world!). Also in December (the 7th), I'll be playing a show with Octavialsilver and Elsh, two musicians from Michigan, over in Detroit on the campus of Oakland University!
FantomenK's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Microchip - Symphony Kids/Yoshimitsu/Empty
Three songs rolled into one by Microchip, an extremely talented chiptune artist whose weapons of choice are the Game Boy and Atari 2600. This was performed live for a radio show. It's a nice long mix, but unfortunately it's two or three entries after yesterday's 8BD, meaning I didn't whittle away much of my backlog of chiptunes to listen to. Oh well! I'll keep listening, maybe I can get a head start on tomorrow's.
And, at 13:46 it beats the recently broken record for longest track on 8BD! So, whatever that honor's worth... Congratulations, Microchip! Haha.
Microchip's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
And, at 13:46 it beats the recently broken record for longest track on 8BD! So, whatever that honor's worth... Congratulations, Microchip! Haha.
Microchip's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Lutin - Zanzibar
Some chiptune house music, great for chilled out listening or for parties or at a club or exercising or any other time it's appropriate to listen to music. House is just some great music, huh.
Lutin's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Lutin's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Rockman - NOCDU
Okay so this song isn't technically by Rockman. I mean, it halfway is. This is the product of his affiliated "microband" which I guess is called NasaKid? I just put Rockman since that's the 8bc.org account used. Anyway... I have a feeling this track would be a great deal of fun to see live! Having seen Starscream, Anamanaguchi, and I Fight Dragons in concert, I can attest to the fact that instruments plus chiptunes equals a great show.
Rockman's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Rockman's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sievert - Danger!
Sometimes I feel weird promoting the heavy hitters of chiptunes, the people that can upload anything they want onto 8bc.org and recieve a hundred or more views in a day, just because people will see their name and want to hear it.
Then I remember this entire genre is but a tiny bit of fringe on the gigantic tapestry of public consciousness, and I don't feel that weird about it anymore.
Sievert's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Then I remember this entire genre is but a tiny bit of fringe on the gigantic tapestry of public consciousness, and I don't feel that weird about it anymore.
Sievert's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Friday, October 23, 2009
ubey - seasons
A really chilled out track made with the DS-10. Maybe it helps that it's a chilly, rainy, windy October morning. Honestly, I've never heard a song called "Seasons" that I didn't like. Check out this song of the same name, it might be my favorite.
ubey's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
ubey's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Psilodump - All You Need Is Love
Today I'm featuring a track off of the fantastic "WANNA HLD YR HANDHELD, Vol. 1", a chiptune Beatles cover album by the venerable masters of putting together quality compilations, the 8-Bit Operators. I actually featured a different song a while ago that was added as a bonus track to this compilation after the comp was supposed to be finished, which is pretty cool. You're allowed to listen to this music all you want for free on the bandcamp page, but to get the .mp3s it's $10, so no direct download link today!
Psilodump's website
The Forum post (leave a comment!)
Psilodump's website
The Forum post (leave a comment!)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
SMH - Canopic Jars
I featured SMH a long time ago, when this site was still pretty new. Anyway, taken from the 8bc.org description:
I think it's pretty great a guy named a song after those jars.
SMH's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
"canopic jars were clay jars in which the ancient egyptians stored the internal organs (stomach, liver, etc) of the dead before they mummified them. they threw away the brain though because they thought it didn't do anything..."
I think it's pretty great a guy named a song after those jars.
SMH's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Oven Rake - Diane
The new record-holder for the longest 8BD entry at 8:25, beating the previous best by thirty seconds! Much more ambient and relaxed mood to this one than Mermaid, but it resonated with me today. The name of the game is subjectivity, guys!
Oven Rake's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Oven Rake's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Monday, October 19, 2009
MoxoM - The Orphan Child
From an upcoming "8-bit symphony" which, if it resembles this even a little bit, will be awesome.
MoxoM's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
MoxoM's website
The 8BC page (leave a comment!)
Get it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)