Galactron - Wo Men Move On

Described by Galactron itself as a band from outer space, this first track of theirs has a very strong FM synth quality to it. Excellent fake-guitar instruments, some nice airy pads below everything, and really shiny, popping drums make this sound like the future we all hope to some day inhabit. Apparently a proper album is in the works, slated to come out this winter or possibly spring. I'll be anticipating it!

Happy 2011, guys and gals:)



Galactron's website

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Hubnester - Cortex Command Intro

You guys, this game is incredible. Here's a smattering of links, in no particular order:

CC's intro video
Music for the above video
Cortex Command's website
The Humble Indie Bundle

You can buy the game for a name-your-own-price deal using the fourth link there, and you can have that money go to the developers or charity or a combination of the two. I bought and played all of the included games, it's really worth your time (and at LEAST a few bucks!)

THAT IS ALL

glič - Withes Ain't $H!T

I was contacted the other day, as I sometimes am, by a chiptune artist who had recently finished a project. I love getting emails like this, and I love it even more when the music included is as crazy good as what he attached. Pronounced "glitch", (č is actually the phonetic symbol for "the chuh sound", as I found out), the music is decidedly spastic and at times completely non-sequitur, in a great way. The best part about music like this, for me, is when you're being tugged along through all manner of chaotic noises and rhythms and suddenly there's a great, solid beat.

I'm a sucker for simple rhythms; math-rock and crazy progressive metal are interesting and display heaps of talent, but they're not my preferred genres of music. I have to admit, when I began listening to this track, I was pretty put off by how crazy it was, but made it to the minute mark where there's this awesome straight-up beat that I loved. Then it goes crazy again for a while, then there's another awesome beat... And so on, throughout the whole album! Yes, there are in fact 11 more tracks to follow this one on his album "Schwartzenegger Please!", which you can buy over at his bandcamp site. I've bought a copy so I can listen to this in my car and drive really, really fast to it, and I suggest you try that out too!*



glič's website

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*generic disclaimer blah blah don't speed whatever okay shut it

Daemon9623 - As We Approach The Dawn

When I first heard this, I thought for sure it had to be a cover of some tech metal band or something. In fact, it's an original composition on I think Famitracker? He never really said. Regardless of the software used, it's a brilliant chiptune. It would be an interesting departure from the norm to hear a cover of this made with real guitar and drums!



Daemon9623's website

The 8BC page (leave a comment!)

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CSGuitar89

Today I'm doing whatever I want; this isn't 8-bit music at all, it's HARDCORE METAL COVERS OF ZELDA SONGS. YEAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Well they're guitar covers of Zelda songs anyway; some of more down-tempo tracks remain down-tempo and pretty. Wow if only he were making these when I was in middle school, I would have had better music than MIDI covers of Zelda songs to listen to.

GERUDO VALLEY:


SONG OF STORMS:


GREAT FAIRY'S FOUNTAIN:


BALLAD OF THE WIND FISH:


There's tons more on his channel. Go! And listen to them all!!!

CSGuitar89's website

Inverse Phase - NES Me An Angel

So Inverse Phase got a hold of me the other day as people sometimes do to let me know about a project he's just finished, and I've got to tell you guys: It's really good! It's a chiptune cover album using I think just the NES to make all the tracks, not sure if there's more systems involved on other songs or not... Regardless, this entire album is worth your listening to (for free) on the bandcamp website or (for $5 and a blank CD) in your car. There's a cover of Weezer, a couple songs by The Cars, that one "Woo hoo" song by Blur, and most interestingly, a cover of a cover of an NES song. Just think about that one.



Inverse Phase's website

Real Life's website

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Get "Retrocovered", the whole album!

.:ikanetik:. - Before I Go..

At first I was like "ow those drums are super fuzzy" but you get used to it, and it actually makes for a really awesome, full sound. Something you come up against basically first thing when you start writing chiptunes is the fact that the very simple waveforms that are the bread and butter of the genre have very little presence. Whereas many people can and have made excellent sounding music using only a guitar and their voice, the equivalent in chiptunes of using just a couple of waveforms can be very difficult to make sound "whole". It's a very ambiguous quality which is why I'm having such a hard time describing it, but what you need to know is that this track is full, whole, whatever. Listen to it with headphones! There's little, subtle, barely-noticeable things happening all over the place in this one. It's great!



.:ikanetik:.'s website

The 8BC page (leave a comment!)

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