so golddust and joyful impossible, the feeling of Lissajou and Strangelette is ever effervescently, spontaneously, instantaneously changingevery cosmic into
powerfulnew and weird here is the suggestion of forever in an eyeblink, hoping hoperaves hands in air, strobelights in an undiscovered sky whateverness or techno otherwise, I will alwaysand timeless expanses vast adorehouse andacid thank you for all the idm you've kissed into my life.
It's surprising to me as someone who generally isn't that big on chip music that I'm on my third straight play through minusbaby's new album, Derecha. And even though I admittedly get fidgety and impatient on hearing more than one song at any given time in any given genre (chronic musical ADD), here I am humming along like an asshole, more forcefully with each repeated listen, ad-libbing riffs here and there while I finger-drum beats on my desktop like a white Candido, and quickly approaching my fourth return listen.
As an album, it's a mature progression from his previous EP, Left. And it's damn good. And I want to tell people about it, but what do I even say? It's chip music, but it doesn't sound like something from any video game I played when I was a kid. It's new music made with old-school mentality using a combination of sounds that could either be from 1985 or 2085. It's funky, it's danceable, it's composed, it's cerebral, it's performing a complicated samba throughout the Southern Hemisphere at times. It's all of these and yet it's none of these.
After having met at Blip Festival 2009, Coova and little-scale signed a treaty to merge their respective battalions and combine their unique combat styles in order to ward off evil enemy forces. Coova’s artillery of choice is the Nintendo Game Boy with the Nanoloop 1.5 ammo cartridge whilst little-scale’s war science research department has developed a weaponised strain of the SEGA Nomad. The result is an armed force to be reckoned with, ready to do battle on any audio playback system at high volumes.
Lost in orbit around the third planet from the star Canopus, the second brightest star in the night-time sky, the GSV Desmos drifts forgotten through outer space. The original crew have been dead for decades and their descendants are forced to scavenge in the huge craft's shadowy maze of decaying rooms and corridors. Kept alive by the ship's few remaining atmosphere systems, this is the soundtrack to the remaining survivors lonely voyage through the cosmos. Written using a Game Boy and some junkshop FM and GM keyboards, Desmos is a journey that invokes as much of the spirit of Oldfield as Jellica can possibly bring himself to summon and attempts to show off the DMG-01's synthesis capabilities to their fullest using a long squiggly line of wobbly electro.
Gear up, put on your helmet and sit back for Lander, a 20 minute journey of the four operators of the Galileon out of the ocean and into space. Linde's 8bitpeoples debut showcases his more ambient and floaty musical strata using simple FM synthesis and a couple of slow-working years of on and off tinkering with the songs. The resulting track list is a chronological journey of trance inducing loops, mellow pads, buzzing leads and bubbling sound effects all put together during unhealthily late nights, forming an unmistakably digital, yet organic, science fiction soundtrack. Listen and enjoy.
Using the YM2612 sound chip in the Sega Genesis and a Yamaha DX-100 keyboard, Joey Mariano, in TRENCHVENT, takes FM synthesis beneath the atmosphere to a secret place at the end of the ecosystem. Underwater, biology and technology morph into each other while the open air grows stale. Now, the coordinates have become a hot spot where crevices create sounds, and where an eel can ignore the mountains of waste above.
"Data Drop: 12 Tracks For Co-Conspirators," is an exclusive collection of previously unreleased tracks by Blip Festival 2009 participants; made available only to the event's supporters and donors. 8bitpeoples, The Tank, and the Blip Festival crew extend our genuine thanks to you for ensuring that Blip Festival 2009 took place, and we hope you enjoy the release.
Receptors has replaced an old toy with a new one, this time picking up a Nintendo DS and putting it to use with the Korg DS-10 software. The USER tracks were perhaps the most focused of the "groKwork" sessions, originally recorded during the Fall of 2008. Now, 8bitpeoples is pleased to present this fully extended and remastered edition - the USER Deluxe EP.
Roland had studied the data on the first four cartridges for a very long time, when he realized that the lamprey was hiding a fifth inside it's mouth. Discovered, the lamprey wheezed and sputtered, blowing air through the cartridge in an attempt to make it sound out a tune. Confused and frustrated, it spat the item out into the sand and disappeared into the vast, toxic lake. Roland dried it off, inserted it into the DMG, pressed start and heard the growling waveforms emerge. This sound brought to him the realization that a year had passed in this wasteland and there was now much work to be done.
In the early summer of 2007, the first demo from I'll Have You Naked By the End of this ROM, an 8 second loop from Mustard, was played for Nullsleep over tinny DS speakers. Thirty months of discarded demos, obsessive re-writes, and at least three mastering sessions later, one of the true innovators of chipbreak brings you 5 tracks of high speed guilt trips and over joyous ceremony. This is Raw. This Is Saskrotch.
The first time I listened to "Left" I was 6,000 feet above sea level being driven in a car navigating the winding roads of the Himalayas. The last time I listened to "Left" was a few minutes ago while watching some writers at the 5Pointz graffiti spot in Queens. Both times I was mentally transported to a place between those two extremes – the majestic and the everyday. Can something be both timeless and fresh? It can when the bass is the base and each snare truly ensnares.
Once again, minusbaby has shown us the proto-urban; an audio space where an imaginary city is built in the mind's eye from the rawest materials and yet still seems to be polished and eternal. Please, enjoy, as I do, the reductive/constructive paradox which is minusbaby's perpetual rhythm machine and sip and nibble from one of the most inconspicuously nuanced suppers ever to disguise itself as a snack. Simplicity was never so deceptive.
Official live-performance double-CD compilation, capturing the high-impact energy the Blip Festival 2008's live chipmusic performances. Produced by 2 Player Productions & featuring one track from each of the 2008 festival's 32 musical performers, including Sidabitball, Low-Gain, IAYD, Syphus, Role Model, Mr. Spastic, Starscream, Cow'p, Nullsleep, Lissajou, glomag, Stu, USK, and more. Professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered, and packaged in beautiful gatefold CD packaging designed by minusbaby. The phenomenon of live chipmusic has never before been so pristinely captured.
In the not so distant future awaits the election of the first third party candidate to the White House- they will hail from the Space Party, a political coalition founded by astrophysicists, former democrats and ex-NASA employees. In their 8bitpeoples debut EP, "Future, and It Doesn't Work", Starscream tell a tale of victory, science, and potentially catastrophic foreign policy.
IAYD makes his 8bitpeoples debut with "Supergalactic", an invitation to get punched in the face by light-speed melodies and sound barrier-breaching beats. Embark on a journey through the cosmos with six, powerful masterworks crafted from the dregs of shattered asteroids and the rusted husks of space vessels. Pushing forward and brimming with profound sonic vivacity, "Supergalactic" leaves you with a greater understanding of the Universe.
"AKID EP" by starPause is causing a ruckus. Four floor killers stacked with stinging slaps, bone-shaking bass, saucy diva snippets and tricked out retrigger commandos. Brain on the verge, move as you must! Only Piggy Tracker makes it possible. Art by Videogramo tew wey sekam. Mastering by Jesse Graffam rocks any sound system.
"Claps and Leads" marks Mr. Spastic's triumphant return to the 8bitpeoples catalogue; five deft exercises in virtuoso programming, balancing intricate technical skill with a warmly organic sound, all delivered in his signature bold-yet-delicate tech-soul style. Jazz, deep funk, disco, R&B, and full-on techno inflections collide and merge into an astonishing stylistic cocktail, all topped off with a shimmering pro-grade production sensibility. Dazzling artwork by Ui completes the package, sealing the deal on a certain future classic.
As Roland walked on through the desolation, he was acutely aware that he had lost something intangible. His only clues came to him by way of the DMG in his pocket. The lamprey was willing, for the moment, to help him search the debris for the small cartridges that fit into the DMG, each one supplying a new, crucial piece of information. The hidden truth would be thus revealed to him slowly, in sequence.
Cornbeast delivers Chip Hero, five songs from the soundtrack of an imaginary future video game where players perform along with the chip music hits of tomorrow, using controllers resembling the gaming gear of yesterday. Post-modern musical sensibilities collide with pre-information-age hardware, not so much closing the loop as introducing something unconventional, unexpected, and occasionally upbeat.
Those who lack discipline will be given some. 8GB's Pravda (The Truth) continues their globe-trotting persuasion that has only one end: World Audiovisual Domination!
8GB's open-minded approach to chip music twists the barriers of hardware limitations and attacks various oldschool platforms at the same time, while delivering the goods to shake booties all around and convert many chip non-believers to their regime. The Truth is out there, but the question remains: Smozhezh ti' vi'derzhat' pravdu?
After meeting in New York at the first Blip Festival, the scheme was hatched. The most unlikely of collaborations, between two of chip music's most enigmatic individuals, would be conducted in secrecy over the next year. Delicately woven Game Boy loops conspire with hypnotic banjo patterns. Layers of guitar dance over uncanny vocals. This is the EP you might have once heard, far-off in the static between two AM radio stations.
This release is testament to the positive social effects of alcohol ... On the one hand Nullsleep plied gwEm with drink to encourage him to agree to
do an 8bp release, on the other hand gwEm spiked Nullsleep's drink so that
he'd agree to make it a live album. When it came to finding someone
to record the show gwEm and Random ended up plying each other with drink
until they realized the logical course of action. Sadly, gwEm's long time
creative partners MC Counter Reset and Colin needed no such alcoholic
encouragement. Shows in Hell are easy to get, but hard to come back from. The next best thing we could find was the Bethnal Green Workingman's Club in London's east end. This is the pure sounddesk recording of a very special gig. The only instruments you hear are one Atari STe, a drum kit, and a Flying V through a seriously cranked Marshall.
Dormant for too long in M-.-n's secret vault were some of his finest
discodirt anthems. Once the prize possession of a happy few, they are now
unleashed, ready to contaminate the world. Enjoy.
After a five-year hiatus, minusbaby returns to our discography with the hip-shaking "Saudade for Beginners"; five tunes written in São Paulo, Brazil and East Harlem, New York City. Whereas "Monkey Patch" concerned itself with fictitious apes and animal hybrids, "Saudade for Beginners" aims to express life after the experience of saudade, a term often discussed pedantically by the academe, but best left to music and poetry as in bossa nova and samba – of which minusbaby is a devoted connoisseur. Shake what your mãe gave you.
Nullsleep emerges from the darkness with Unconditional Acceleration – an exploration of romance and tragedy in the 21st century. Five songs, limitless intensity. Ecstatic bursts of cascading waveforms race toward uncertainty. A feeling of ever increasing separation develops. Unattainable distances are approached and sheets of white noise issue forth from the fissures of an obsessively restructured reality. The sound surrenders in memory of another time and place, to which we can never return.
What is the difference between a modal and moduless window? Why do samuraj have long hair? Windows is so slow, but why? To slap happy bee, or not two III EP? That is the question! Teen Samurajs cutting hipster haircuts! The window of a chip, is in the whip of the hip. Never modulate the subconscious, beware of school. Provided with wings and/or antennae, unanimously, the bees agree, while hearing out these MP3s!
Dive onto the dance floor with a hybrid heart of NES bleeps and heavy beats. Trash80 has made his way back from exile with his long over due second EP Icarus – A modern chip-rock-techno-electro dance excursion. Push, climb, bite, crawl your way though the super galactic interstellar network of consciousness to rediscover one of next year's hottest releases to date.
Firebrand Boy is Philip Cunningham. Since 2004, he has mashed up the sounds of a Game Boy, a Nintendo Entertainment System, a Commodore 64 and an Atari 7800 to create intelligent dance-pop with beautifully honed lyrics and vocals laced with vicious lashings of the guitar. Critically acclaimed as an unstoppable live act, Firebrand Boy is currently turning heads on the Scottish gig circuit, and is determined to take his brand of fired-up electronica-with-a-heat across the UK and beyond. Firebrand Boy gets the shakes if he does not eat enough, and his girlfriend thinks he is pretty high up on the autism spectrum. Somehow he's survived long enough for 8bitpeoples to release his long overdue Songs for Cake. Hopefully you'll survive listening to its silly pop charm.
It's a common misconception that ZX Spectrum 48K sound is generated solely by the Z80 chip, with the AY chip only being used by the more high-tech 128K models. This is not true. The first AY interfaces for 48K Speccys appeared around 1990. FREAKuencies was written entirely on the ZX Spectrum 48K (more specifically a Timex Computer 2048 - the American/Portuguese ZX48K clone) with AY interface. Sound-Tracker 1.1, a Polish music editor made especially for such configuration was used to create these chiptunes on a computer not much bigger than a calculator. Class is over, now go enjoy!
What you think is a Game Boy is quite possibly a guitar. In Open Air, Joey Mariano aka Animal Style meshes his jazz guitar playing proficiency with Game Boy programming skills and compositional command. The concept for this release was to create a more organic sound while retaining most of the classic textures that chip music connoisseurs enjoy. Masking his guitar with the 8bit fuzz pedal, Mariano secretly adds a human touch to the robot-compliant world of chip music. Bring in some splashes of PCM flavor, some raw zaps, a few introspective breakdowns, a couple improvised guitar solos, a pulsing beat and you get the picture: The horizon of chip music is open -- and full of possibilities.
Gijs Gieskes is an industrial designer from the Netherlands who is probably best known for the fascinating mechanical devices he constructs for musical and visual expression. However, with 'Molen' his debut release on 8bitpeoples, he puts aside physical implements and we find him operating solely within the digital realm. Despite the change in approach his songs retain a clockwork feeling, sometimes breaking down in surprisingly charming ways. As they whir, stutter and plod along delightfully toward some unseen destination one can't help but imagine their creator standing by, watching and smiling.
Finally, here's your chance to enjoy Stu's hard hitting dancefloortracks from the comfort of your own home! Don Atari electro and YM Rocker Stu, member of the infamous drop da bomb collective delivers you a handful of YM2149 killer tracks made on the Atari ST. As the famous German writer Goethe wrote: 'In der Beschrankung zeigt sich erst der Meister', implying that limitation reveals the real mastery, and this is particulary true for Stu's ultra efficient electro and breakbeat flavoured music. A minimum of equipment with a maximum impact, in the creative hands of this Swiss maSTer.
Gameboy techno overload! LSDJ pop/trance conflict! 8bitpeoples proudly present its first split release, an onslaught between two warring chiptune factions. Xinon provides five weapons-grade anthems, the bittersweet melodic prowess of 'Attitude' setting up the bomb perfectly for the hard hitting 'Vanishing Point', providing a critical blow to the enemy! Jetting hyperspeed into his adversary , Sabrepulse unloads a salvo of differing styles, with the ultrasweet pop dance party of 'Hey Kate' at variance with the bass-laden sting of 'Venom'. This collection will open your ears to the realization that international chiptune relations are stronger than ever.
Once again, Random delivers an EP full of hard kicking, lazer bouncing and arpeggio punching tunes. With new, unstoppable techniques, fresh, mindblowing melodies and beats made out of Game Boy and Win, he shoots up in the clouds, breaks through the atmosphere, and out into space - where all the stars and planets are bowing to him -- the new ruler of Cosmos.
This release is perfect for nerds, electronica fans, internet gurus and the average 8bit Joe. But, let it be known that it sounds like music hacking your eardrums on massive amounts of jolt cola. Don't be fooled by the sounds of yesteryear, this is pure retro modern. Mr. Spastic will spas out your system and oscillate your hips to the funky clock ticks and digitized rhythms. Tres l33t!
Nullsleep tears the space-time continuum a new one, emerging from the 10th dimension to deliver his new 8bitpeoples release – Electric Heart Strike. Equal parts elegant data corruption and unbridled chiptune intensity, it is at once a suitable soundtrack for your next dance party or your first time surfing the superstrings to Alpha Centauri. Epic low-bit rock anthems, beat-driven juggernauts that spontaneously segfault, and romantic squarewave duets are the order of the day here. Until the future, Parity Hard!
Ever wondered what it's like in outer space? Ever wondered whether there's life on other planets out there? In RushJet1's second 8bitpeoples release, humans venture into space to find out and begin colonizing other planets. All is not well, though, as war ensues over control of a newly-found abandoned alien planet with advanced technology. What will the fate of the human race be? Recorded straight from the NES, these tunes were specifically written with the hardware in mind. Thanks to SLiVeR and Nullsleep!
KPLECRAFT is an electro-acoustic chiptune duo hailing from Japan. Kuske and Eddie first caught our attention with their KNMS-001 release on Monotonik netlabel in late 2005. In 2006 they released their full length CD Hamlin and cemented their status as some of the most unique and eclectic musicians in the chiptune scene -- combining Nintendo hardware with saxophones, a variety of hand-drums, guitar and toy instruments. So its with great pleasure that we present Multi-Boxer, their debut 8bitpeoples release and a truly brilliant one at that. Enjoy the didgeridoo and famicom too.
Mode 3 is Phlogiston's third EP, and his debut release at 8bitpeoples. Taking the NES sound specifications as a launching point and then building from there, Mode 3 is a cyberpunk space odyssey. These six tunes give form to the stars and cyborgs, spaceships and the computer world, that play out their imaginary existence inside Phlogiston's head. A place that we're lucky enough to get this brief glimpse of.
Once upon a time there was a tiger, a Battlecat on a train in Japan, the machine rattling away shaking his sneakers, covered in Skeletor blood. Blue lion ran away from the castle; she was not just a gear in a space robot, she had feelings. Kuma looked for a fight with men at the fare, running through the field to tommorow. A little muse the shape of an onion swamp, memories formed in an 8-bit sound chip and a folk guitar. These are some songs Mark DeNardo wrote for you. Thanks to Jeremiah, Miles, and David.
Trying to describe all the feelings, emotions and magical power electrics that was hanging in the tense air during the night of Gordon Strombola's first show ever in Sweden is an impossible task. Just the presence of the legendary Gordon from Czeckoslovakia made a huge, almost physical, impact on everyone. Afterall, this is the man who successfully sampled vegetables in 2-bit quality by synchronizing a number of ZX Pandas and a Lambda 83. Afterall, this is no mere amateur we're speaking of.
A young boy trapped between warring nations stumbles through a time rift, and upon a terrible conspiracy spanning generations! He finds safety in the warm embrace of a tall, handsome vampire who helps him return home and shows him how to love again. But is there anything left of his world? virt answers this question, returning to his absurdly detailed progressive NES sound for a long-awaited 8bitpeoples debut. Don't feel bad about headbanging to chiptunes - just indulge. A double album by PRIESTCAVE, featuring these original tracks and fully produced arrangements, is also currently underway.
Xinon takes off with his first 8bp release 'Moonlight Sympathy' — rocking the Game Boy with amazing trance blasts that will shake your body from head to feet! This is one release that will undoubtedly keep you jumping all night long. Xinon brings you five fast-paced tunes with moody midnight breakdowns and strong pulses, these are heavy futuristic tracks to shake the dancefloor — Grab it!
Sweden mega-chip razor dance g0! 8Bitpeoples proudly presents Pioneer, the debut release from Pjat Lain aka she. Terraforming international minds via opcode radiation, she delivers the correct dosage of industrial breaks, wavetable bass and chiptune taste to send shivers down your spine while debugging your heart. Nebulous darkchip hits to deliver you through the underground. This is your electronic spirit guide, offering to desaturate your life with passionate twilight beats — YEAH!
Make no mistake — the machines only appear lovable until they have you in their pincers. From quirky playful beats to refined vocal performances, Psilodump hits hard in this most sonically lush of 8bitpeoples releases. With a diverse mixture of thick textures and lo-fi samples, 'Mutiny of the Robots' is a diversion from naked chip music, but if it doesn't make you want to get naked anyway, you're probably a robot yourself.
The Internet-inspired album 'Confessions in a Chatroom' is Coleco Music's first 8bitpeoples release. These boys from Argentina combine catchy and danceable lo-fi synths with robotic voices and sing about the things that matter most in cyberspace. Their minimalist synthpop stylings are uniquely personal and hypnotizing. This is one confession that everyone should be happy to hear.
Vim AKA Keith Baylis has been writing some of the most uniquely imaginative chiptunes since 1991. Now, 15 years later we present you with his debut 8bp release, Extended Loo Break — seven Game Boy tracks written by Vim during a stint at an utterly boring job during 2002 and 2003. With little to do during the workday, tunes were written while hanging out around reception, at the bus stop, or (as the title suggests) while in the toilets. The result is an all-out lo-fi assault that flies in the face of workplace boredom — and scores a stunning victory.
New York's Anamanaguchi finally makes their debut with the driving and dynamic Power Supply. The fully-packed release shows a range of feelings from "putting the final blast into a robot boss" to some more heartfelt tunes — all with hyper-melodic, electric powerpop flavor. It is recommended that you sing along with the squarewaves. Please enjoy!
Handheld is the lower-fi alias of 8bitpeoples alum, Matt Kuebrich aka Yuppster. While the tracks found on Muggle Trick have been floating around on the currents of the Internet for a while now, we are happy to finally give them a proper release and a permanent home here on 8bp. Blending vgm with indie rock and many other influences, Handheld uses Game Boys to create what VORC calls a "sweet but broken unexpectable sound" — and somehow that just seems to describe it perfectly.
You may already know Swedish composer Jens Stääf from his work with the X-Dump, Candymind and others — now he brings his signature fusion of chiptunes, melodic pop and frantic beats to 8bitpeoples for the first time. Viva La Revolution is a killer chiptune odyssey from start to finish, full of unexpected twists and turns, and finishing in some parallel universe where Mozart kicked off the chiptune revolution. The very same revolution that Dorothy's Magic Bag is keeping alive today.
PICOPICODISCO is the debut 8bitpeoples release from the inhumanly talented and totally insane chiptune producing factory known as USK! This is the first full release on 8bitpeoples by a Japanese composer, and it is an unrelenting Game Boy techno trance assault aimed squarely at your heart. If his guerilla actions with the mobile street techno art unit 'Tsuji Techno' have not already convinced you of USK's passion for the form, this hard hitting collection of tunes will. PICOPICODISCO ... TAKE OFF!!!
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