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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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!)

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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