Content spoiler'd. Read if you don't know 'bout 'dem chiptunes, brah. Spoiler http://www.8bitpeoples.com/ http://www.8bc.org http://www.last.fm/tag/chiptunes Click for interviews with Nullsleep, Bit Shifter, and Mark Denardo: 1 2 3 Nullsleep ~ "Supernova Kiss" Jesper Kyd ~ "Joker" Kitsune² ~ "Whatchall Know About Nintendo" Basically, music produced by or in the style of old-school computer and video game software. Ever heard of the Commodore 64? No? Well I sure hope you've heard of the Game Boy. Yeah, did you know you can make music on that? What began as a cheap parlor trick to give developers' products more pizazz has become a genre unto its own, completely independent of its roots in the gaming industry. It's even starting to break into the mainstream, and gain worldwide recognition: 2010 marks Japan's first-ever Blip Festival, and last year The L Magazine highlighted Anamanaguchi, who you may recognize as the masterminds behind the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game soundtrack, as one of the top up-and-coming bands of 2009. Music in the pre-sixth-generation era was largely an attempt by low-grade software to emulate high-quality sounds and instruments, as you may hear in the ambient grooves of Donkey Kong Country 2's Stickerbrush Symphony or the intense, sweeping symphony of Lord Woo Fak Fak's theme from Banjo-Tooie. But in the 2000's, chiptunes has become its own beast, an exclusive arena with its own unique hooks and melodies, one that stands alone and need not be transmigrated into something "better" or more "real." If I've got your attention, check out http://www.8bitpeoples.com/ for tons of free, downloadable music straight from the pros, or give http://8bc.org/ the once-over for more free content and tips on creating your own chiptunes! (Unfortunately, you'll probably need the green for that part.) Or if you've already been initiated, discuss! Drop your favorite artists, talk about what styles and which systems/sound cards you prefer, or share some of your own. 8bitpeoples has a huge library of free stuff; that's a great place to start. Let us know if you find anything particularly jaw-dropping. I'll get us started with some Kitsune². A few of you have heard of Renard, right? The furry who makes lots of techno? Well, he makes chiptunes too, and he releases it under the Kitsune² moniker. A lot of it is just novelty tunes he makes in his spare time, but even so he's way too creative to discount. Here's some samples: 1 2 3 You can find all of his stuff at Lapfox Trax, and most of it's pretty cheap (if not totally free).
A friend got me into it a while back. Glomag's DaMaGe has quite possibly the creepiest track ever. Red Pixel Dust.
Ah, Glomag. I know of him. Sampled a bit of Roland & The Lamprey a while back, good stuff. Just listened to "Red Pixel Dust." It's kinda creepy at first, yeah, but after a while it starts to transform...then it just cuts off. Leaves a lot of questions. I like it, though.
Well you can't go wrong with Star Road, seeing as it's free and all, but it's also mostly novelty. If you've got eight bucks, Squaredance is a solid investment for the sheer volume of knock-out tracks. A handful of them have spawned YTP fads, if that gives you an idea how catchy they are. "Rainbow Tylenol" comes to mind...
Listening to Dumpster Chicken. That was a creepy opening. So far I'm really liking Squaredance. Noise Rocker has a great tune.
I've been listening to Kitsune like crazy, thanks to Rissy, and the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World game ost. Maybe I should make some more again. I used to have a great combo genre idea that involved 16 bit stuff.
Bahaha, I thought she might've infected ya. She's crazy about Renard. Probably my fault rofl And yeah, that's Anamanaguchi. If you like that, check out their albums Dawn Metropolis and Power Supply; those are both in the same vein. Their earlier stuff is a little more purist. Ooooh, not bad. Rather sinister, and I'm liking the bass. Yeah, Ana seems to be the quintessential chiptunes gateway drug these days. They found a stylish sound and they're really running with it.
