The Chiptune Blog

Chipzel - "Phonetic Symphony"

2012-02-12T13:32:00.001-05:00

After a full two years, Irish chip musician Chipzel is back with "Phonetic Symphony," her second full-length release. With thirteen upbeat and danceable GameBoy tunes, it's available over at BandCamp for 6 GBP (roughly $10 USD). Standout tracks include "Venice" and "Child's Play," displaying the artist's talent for thoughtful melodies, percussion, and harmony.

Stream or download the album here: http://chipzelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/phonetic-symphony

Ben Landis - "Adventures in Pixels"

2012-01-31T19:53:00.005-05:00

Now here's a new idea... instead of just writing music, why not come up with a quirky comic to go along with it? Ben Landis has done precisely that with "Adventures in Pixels", a pleasant 20-track release with enough happy chiptune vibes to go around. With many nice, lighthearted melodies in tracks such as "Chickens (Going 'Peck peck peck')" and "Matt's Theme", the artist also throws a few surprises in for good measure, including the occasional piano or orchestral-influences tunes. Aside from the music itself, however, the album includes a full-length comic in digital format as well. All in all, Ben's effort is well-mixed, catchy chip music that certainly warrants a listen.

Check it out here: http://music.benlandis.com/album/adventures-in-pixels

Revengineers - "Self-Titled"

2012-01-16T00:23:00.000-05:00

Revengineers, a budding chip-rock group, has played with the likes of similar artists Anamanaguchi and Starscream, but their debut self-titled EP has a unique sound of its own. You don't always hear such thoughtful and talented instrumentation alongside the retro sounds of Nintendo's NES and GameBoy, but the Revengineers pull it off here quite well. Be sure to check out the upbeat and melodic "Laika", as well as the other four tracks of this noteworthy record.

Stream or download the release here: http://revengineers.bandcamp.com/

8 Bit Weapon Announce New Album

2011-12-10T10:25:00.002-05:00

Seth and Michelle Sternberger, collectively known as 8 Bit Weapon, haven't released a full studio album of new material in quite a while. That's going to change in January with the release of their latest offering, "Bits with Bytes". Although details are scarce, the new LP will likely feature some more quirky, bouncy vibes from the long-standing chiptune band. "Vaporware Soundtracks 2.0" from 2006 was actually the first chip music album I ever got my hands on, so it'll be interesting to see what these two have come up with in the mean time.

You can read the original announcement here: http://twitter.com/#!/8bitweapon/status/144883247191568384

Daniel Capo - "O.S.T.: Original Soundtrack"

2011-11-22T23:18:00.003-05:00

Music student Daniel Capo's "O.S.T." is a video game-inspired, fifteen-track album composed with the help of Plogue Chipsounds. Gentle and thoughtful in the approach, he provides a fairly nice and unique collection of chip-style music. Top picks include the melancholic "Sickness" and catchy "City Under Fire".

Stream/download the album here: http://dcapo1989.bandcamp.com/album/o-s-t-original-soundtrack The release is available from iTunes as well.

Daniel's website, which includes background information on the album, can also be found here: http://www.danielcapomusic.com/

Cheap Dinosaurs - "Cheap Dinosaurs"

2011-10-16T22:45:00.002-04:00

8-bit rock group Cheap Dinosaurs just released their self-titled LP, which contains nine tracks of progressive chip-rock. Highlights include the melodic, catchy "Stroll" and nicely happy "Gnip Gnop". The album is available from Data Garden on BandCamp, in both digital and limited edition "seed paper" versions.

Stream/download the release here: http://store.datagarden.org/album/cheap-dinosaurs

Xyce - "Biscuit"

2011-10-08T09:10:00.001-04:00

Retro Amiga pop duo Cerror and Xylo are back, together known as Xyce, with a brand new album. "Biscuit" is a twelve-track collection of pleasant Amiga and Atari ST tunes, available for a scant two Euros. In an interesting move, the album also includes a dubstep-influenced bonus track entitled "Rundown", which, while not strictly 8-bit, provides a notable close to the happily-styled chiptune release.

Stream or download the album here: http://xyce.bandcamp.com/album/biscuit

Feryl - "Aware"

2011-08-27T15:54:00.001-04:00

"Aware" is a brief chip music EP with five tracks, pleasantly styled and thoughtfully composed. The personal references and song titles include such themes as joy, forgiveness, and love--virtues through which we become who we were meant to be.

Stream/download the release here: http://feryl.bandcamp.com/album/aware

Review - "Zeta Force" (Zabutom)

2011-08-12T08:37:00.003-04:00

Niklas Sjosvard, commonly known under his music handle Zabutom, has been writing chip music for a good number of years, and has finally unveiled his debut album "Zeta Force" for chiptune fans everywhere. The seven-track, demoscene-influenced collection of mixed modules turns out to be a pleasant and melodic trip that is well worth taking.

The release starts off strong with "The Legend of Zeta Force", which sets the stage with a strong main theme and enough variance throughout its three-minute running time to keep things interesting. "Blast Off Into Space" is another gem, and even includes some hard-driving rock instrumentation along with the riveting melody. "Zeta Force (GameBoy Version)" takes the old conceptual theme that I remember from Zabutom's old titular module and revisions it as a solid GameBoy tune, even if it is an interesting change from the other tracks, which are all module chiptunes.

"Final Blast", while a bit long and perhaps not the artist's best effort, closes off the album in style. Overall, Zabutom's debut chip music release is a very solid and well-composed work, with enough oldschool module-tune influences and high production values to make it a worthy purchase.

The mixing is nice, the melodies are enjoyable, and the brief length gets the job done. Niklas makes a very nice return to form with the 8-bit journey through space which comprises "Zeta Force".

SCORE: 8.5 out of 10 - "Great"

Zabutom - "Zeta Force"

2011-08-08T08:37:00.002-04:00

After years in the chiptune scene, writing his songs using both module and GameBoy methods, Swedish artist Zabutom has finally released his debut album. The seven-track release, entitled "Zeta Force", was originally visualized a decade ago, and is now ready to be heard by avid chip music fans everywhere. I myself used to listen to Zabutom's solid tracker tunes, and even remember the original titular track of the album, which has been revised as a GameBoy effort here.

Zabutom's debut can be streamed for free and purchased for $5 via BandCamp. Check it out here: http://zabutom.bandcamp.com/album/zeta-force

Minusbaby - "BIAS"

2011-06-17T08:37:00.000-04:00

Minusbaby's new eighteen-track release features remastered and extended versions of his previous EPs "Left" and "Derecha", which were originally released on the 8 Bit Peoples label in 2009 and 2010. The album is up for stream and download on BandCamp, with a physical release also available.

His music is highly unique, intelligent, and definitely worth checking out. Stream or download the album here: http://minusbaby.bandcamp.com/album/bias

Review - "Bunnymajs" (Bunnymajs)

2011-06-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

The opening five tracks of Kristian Caldwell's self-titled album "Bunnymajs" serve to introduce a relatively unknown artist with style and energy. Despite not being a household name or going for typical dance vibes with LSDJ, Bunnymajs has clear talent when it comes to writing solidly composed, plugin-based chip music. Consequently, it's a bit of a stroke of misfortune that the rest of the album simply doesn't measure up to the laudable intro that Kristian provides.

The initial track "Blippblipp" is quite adequate with its lighthearted melodies and clever arpeggios, while the subsequent "Dreams" is more of a melancholic, trance sort of a track with memorable bass and drum work. "Reminder" is another solid effort with its dance-floor beats and staccato-based compositional style. Track five, simply titled "Reason", includes a fantastic buildup and solid vibe to keep the album rocking.

The next two tracks, however, usher in a bit of a change. Both attempts at being playful and lighthearted, they simply don't deliver on the high production values of the preceding tracks; but neither are they terrible songs in their own right. From there, it's a bit of a so-so journey with a couple standout tracks, including the bass-progressive "Masked Devil".

Kristian's debut release, while not flawless, is nevertheless a fairly firm step in the right direction. Though the majority of the album can't quite match the brilliant five-pronged opening, Bunnymajs has sufficiently proved his competence as a songwriter. His musical journey is worth a listen for those interested in unique and catchy chip music from a talented new musician on the rise.

SCORE: 7.3 out of 10 - "Decent"

Syphus - "pro.tect"

2011-05-14T10:50:00.001-04:00

First announced nine months ago, British chip musician Syphus has finally unveiled "pro.tect"--a fourteen-track album which acts as a sort of pleasant love letter to tracker and chip music fans. Highlights include "Pennies", "Returns", "Minimammal", and the awesomely epic "Horizontal". The official description is listed below.

"pro.tect is a lovingly prepared collection of Syphus' work from 2007 to 2011 - almost entirely unheard, outside of his live shows. Though the tracks have been mastered for more ear-friendly and mp3-friendly listening, they were all made using AHX (Amiga), HivelyTracker (Amiga), Protracker (Amiga) and FastTracker2/MilkyTracker (PC)."

Stream or download the release here: http://syphus.bandcamp.com/album/pro-tect

Interview - Falling for a Square

2011-05-11T10:21:00.000-04:00

Jason Sposa, commonly known by his music moniker Falling For A Square, has been crafting gentle chip music releases since 2010 with "XO", his unique debut. Since then, he has continued to broaden his musical horizons by employing the use of the GameBoy, vocoder, and even a bit of electric guitar for good measure. His musical style is soft and easy on the ears, with each new album ushering in a clever and innovative listening experience for chiptune fans.

Jason recently took the time to participate in a brief interview I conducted, in which he discusses his passions and love for the genre.

1. Tell us a little about your unique compositional style. What convinced you to write gentle chip music in a world full of noisy GameBoy tracks?

"To be honest, when I first started to write chipmusic I tried composing for a more elaborate or what you term 'noisy' sound, and simply am not capable of doing it. Thus, have a great deal of respect for fellow chiptune artists that can pull it off and pull it off well.

"Sitting down and writing songs for Falling For A Square is oddly enough pretty formulated. Whether I am writing songs on a Gameboy or using my iPhone, I tend to have an idea or a story I want to tell and use this as a template for how I want to mold each song. I have been writing music since high school and now am a father in my 30’s so, you can imagine I have seen my own musical style and preference change with age. These days I seek to write and listen to simpler, mellow tunes to complement my current rush of city life and juggling of fatherhood, marriage and personal interests. When I was younger, I engrossed myself and my songs with varying modulations since life was a bit more carefree - I suppose I was subconsciously seeking something to juggle."

2. “Compute for You”, the second track from your first release “XO”, is one of my favorite songs of yours. What was the inspiration and process behind this track?

"Thank you for your kind words - I believe there is something very special about 'xo'. The album was 95% accident. I was just starting to learn how to compose with the tracker style of Nanoloop for iPhone, and I was pumping out these little songs that seemed to carry a lot of emotion so the album came together rather quickly. 'Compute For You' is about a crush. It is also the first song I composed that uses a vocoder for vocals. At first I thought it was a really cheesy idea, but putting words to some of these songs is exactly what they needed for true completion. The vocoder has definitely become a staple for my particular set-up and I am really glad. The inspiration for this particular song and all of my 'love songs' are about my wife. She definitely puts up with all the 'bleeps and bloops' in the house, on commutes, and late at night. Her patience for my passion is amazing."

3. What do you think is the biggest problem facing the chiptune community today, and how can it be most easily rectified?

"You know, I generally like the community. I like that it’s a bit obscure, separated from the mainstream and not trying to become the next big genre. It’s almost like the bridge between my own generation before the internet, GarageBand’s, and phone apps and the generation today – and that’s a pretty big gap with varying age ranges. The best part of it is sharing this secret gem with anyone who is willing to listen and learning that they enjoyed it, too – whether on a lounge-y/club level for sheer ambience or on a more nostalgic level for the more ‘old school’ console-type styles."

4. Tell us a little about your new full-length studio album that will be hitting BandCamp later this year.

"The new album, which is currently untitled, will be out this Fall and I am really excited about it! It's going to be a Nanoloop for iPhone driven record. I will include a couple of guest appearances on vocals, but overall, it's pretty upbeat compared to my last full length release. I will be using some electric guitar, real drums, loads of neat iPad and iPhone applications; however, do not be fooled - it will still have a very nice 'fakebit' feel to it. I am in the process of recording in my little home studio and later will have it shipped off to Atlanta to be mixed and mastered by a good friend of mine. In addition, I will be releasing various EPs over the course of the year. I find it very therapeutic to release EPs of similar mediums just to keep the flow of this project active for me and hopefully for others."

5. What are some of your favorite chip musicians and albums, and why?

"Here is a list of my current chiptune crushes:

1. I Am Still Breathing by Little Scale

Little Scale is a constant inspiration to Falling For A Square's material. I love the sounds he obtains on these very simple cartridges and he makes me want to push harder in this genre continuously.

2. Fake Music by Computerization

I have been collaborating with Derek of Computerization on some vocal work for my new record. I love Derek's style and vocoder usage. His lyrics and storyline are just terrific.

3. 101030 by Coova

If you're into Nanoloop v.1.1 - 1.5, then Coova will definitely inspire you. Her compositions are very soft and complex. Admittedly, I am super jealous every time I spin her records.

4. Information Chase by Bit Shifter

I actually heard this record after recording a couple of my own releases and remember saying to myself: 'What the what?!'. In my opinion, Information Chase is like the Pinkerton of chipmusic. It is well thought out, innovative, and an essential to the scene as well as to any beginner who wants to get into composing this type of music. Finally, he is a local New Yorker, is constantly at shows, and an overall very humble and nice guy."

6. Lastly, what is the number one message you’d like to bring the chip music community through your music?

"I would hope that people who stumble across Falling For A Square would be inspired enough to learn more about this genre of music and start creating similar sounds. To me, this genre and the way it is growing is one of the best kept secrets around and I would be honoured to have played a small part in that. xo"

Falling For A Square's website and music can be browsed here: www.fallingforasquare.com

2010 TCTD Awards Nominations

2011-05-03T15:14:00.001-04:00

The nominations for True Chip Till Death's 2010 Chip Music Awards have just been announced. Highlights from the many nominees are listed below, along with my own comments and opinions.

BEST RELEASE - Nominees:

1) Diamond - AMU

2) Control Me - Jay Tholen

3) Hydrioider - Ralp

4) THE BEST MUSIC - George and Jonathan

5) Fill Me Head - Sadnes

I personally would have included 4mat's breakthrough-album "Decades", as well as Brother Android's excellent and atmospheric "October November December". Sadnes' "Fill My Head" is a worthy candidate, though I do take issue with the lyrical work.

BEST ARTIST - Nominees:

1) 4mat

2) Anamanaguchi

3) George and Jonathan

4) ???

5) Jay Tholen

4mat gets my vote. Not only did he issue a musical breakthrough during 2010; just recently, he's already crafted on of the finest chip music albums to date with "Surrender", an album which he began writing in 2010.

BEST SONG - Nominees:

1) Paper Dolls - 4mat

2) It Ain't Hawaii - The J. Arthur Keenes Band

3) Diamond - AMU

4) Leaving Home - 10k

5) Airbrushed - Anamanaguchi

6) Whale - George and Jonathan

7) Fill My Head - Sadnes

AMU's track didn't do it for me. My picks are 4mat and Sadnes, though perhaps "1989" could have been selected in lieu of "Paper Dolls" if it wasn't so short.

The Awards Gala will be held on May 18th at The Tank, New York, with doors opening at 7:00 PM. Browse the full list of nominees and RSVP for the event here: http://truechiptilldeath.com/awards/the-2010-tctd-awards/

Feryl - "With All My Heart EP"

2011-04-25T07:30:00.000-04:00

"I love You more than I love myself. With all my heart I repent of ever having offended You. Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will." -St. Alphonsus Liguori

"With All My Heart", a ten-minute EP of minimalistic and catchy chip music, was written in about a month and a half, with a limit of eight channels and no external effects. The back-to-basics compositional style relies on tight percussion, quirky melodies, and basic 8-bit samples developed with the SFXR sound creation tool. I'd like to extend thanks to my friends, family, and Eternal Savior for their continued support and devotion.

Stream/download the release here: http://feryl.bandcamp.com/album/with-all-my-heart-ep

Chip In: Japan

2011-03-17T11:23:00.000-04:00

Pixelh8 and True Chip Till Death have banded the chip community together to create the "Chip In: Japan" project, which is one of the most commendable things I've ever seen the community do. Over two thousand dollars have already been raised to assist the still-struggling earthquake and tsunami victims over in Japan, with a target goal of five thousand. In addition, music is being contributed for an accompanying compilation by many artists, including 8 Bit Weapon, Peter Swimm and Comptroller. Please consider donating and contributing music by visiting the link below.

http://truechiptilldeath.com/japan/

Interview - Pixelh8

2011-03-07T11:09:00.003-05:00

British chip musician Matthew Applegate, otherwise known as Pixelh8, has been one of my favorite artists since 2009, when I first listened to his commendably original release "The Boy with the Digital Heart". Holding a special place in my heart, Matthew's sophomore album was programmed completely from scratch and in code on the original machines. That references his unique philosophy of the genre: take it where no one else will, stay faithful to the original ideas and programming, and just have fun being yourself with the music. There is truly no one else in the community quite like him.

Mr. Applegate graciously participated in a brief, six-question interview with me today, through which he manifests his continually evolving style and outlook on the remarkable world of 8-bit music.

1. Though you got started with chip music pretty modestly with a bottle of milk spilled into an old Nintendo, you’re now an internationally-recognized chip musician with three full studio albums and a fourth in the works. What has been the driving force behind your constantly evolving style, which is usually quite structured but also very unique?

"I have always simply wanted to do interesting things, I learned early on I didn't want to be a famous musician on a major label, I wanted to have freedom above everything else. Freedom to sometimes to not make music and teach, to do workshops to study, get back to music when I was ready, not when a company wanted a new product. All of my heroes have evolved over their careers Aphex twin, Schoenberg, John Cage I think you have to eventually or you run the risk of boring yourself and the listeners if you don't. I love chip tune music, I want it to stay and that is why I am prepared to evolve it, instead of serving up another album that sounds a lot like my old one."

2. Your 2007 release “The Boy with the Digital Heart” is a personal favorite of mine. Besides being written entirely in code, the music itself is also particularly recognizable with its varying emotions and quirky beats. Can you tell us a little about how the sad-themed track “A Party without You” came about?

"The whole album is based around the relationship of me and my girlfriend when we were teenagers, they are all stories from when I was around 16 years old and people do feel the emotion in them even though they are very electronic, probably because they were real stories. I used a Commodore 64 for the main melody I think it was a sine-wave variation it gives it that sweet sad feel to it. With 'The Boy with the Digital Heart' I consciously wanted to show various emotions and genres in chip tune as I thought chip tune at the time was sounding a bit samey, I did want just dance related pop-ish music[;] I wanted a story."

3. Your numerous workshops and lectures have kept you quite busy over the years. What gives you the greatest pleasure while teaching a room full of kids about computers and video games?

"That they go away and make and break stuff and they tweet me with how they are progressing, I love to hear that they have taken something small that I have taught them and put it with their other knowledge and have used it to progress what they want. It is just another way of ensuing that chip tune isn't just a passing fad. I am quite happy to talk about chip tune music in person and I think a lot of people are shocked when they do find out I'll teach them, via email is another matter[;] though I get maybe just under a hundred emails a day about 'how do you do this' in chip tune music and I just can't answer them all."

4. What do you think of the chip music community as a whole right now?

"I think I am generally concerned that a lot of them aren't getting involved in computer programming, that is fine, you don't have to be a programmer to be a chip tuner but it helps. It really helps to design individual sounds, learning about the quirks and limitation of different machines often help me write the music. If not [you're] gonna use the same sounds as everyone else and the same presets and then things might run into trouble. The greatest game composers people like Rob Hubbard were also amazing coders[;] I say it's a 50/50 music/coding thing for me. Make and break is what I always say."

5. “The Schematic”, your new double-album, is set for release later this year. How are you continuing to evolve your compositional style with this record, and what is your number-one goal with it?

"Instead of having one large album with a schizophrenic happy/sad feel I am splitting them up. 'Software' is happy pop chip tune, 'Hardware' is avant garde noise chip tune, both I feel or at least hope will progress the genre albeit in very different directions. I am using a special recording technique on 'Hardware' which is both expensive and time consuming but hopefully it will make people think, 'wow I didn't know you could do that with those machines' and maybe even freak people out a little."

6. Lastly, what does the future hold for Pixelh8?

"Well I have just finished my Masters Degree and [I am] planning out my PhD, when that gets the green light I will have a few months to finish all the demos for the album and hopefully finish 'Obverse' (non-chiptune) which is an album about drumming, and two game soundtracks are already in production (chip tune / electronica), so yeah as always busy."

[Pixelh8's work can be viewed at his official website: http://pixelh8.co.uk/]

Feryl - "Before the Day Fades"

2011-03-01T08:31:00.000-05:00

After over two years of chip music composition, Feryl presents "Before the Day Fades", one of his finest efforts to date. Written in the familiar XM format, this brief, nine-track album will whisk you away to a simple and melodic landscape in the form of accessible module chip music. From the happy tunes of "Raindrops and Sunshine" to the heavy, dance-floor beats of "Irreversible", Feryl's album is a pleasant step forward from the typical music of the genre.

Stream/download here: http://feryl.bandcamp.com/album/before-the-day-fades

Review - "Surrender" (4mat)

2011-02-20T11:22:00.003-05:00

4mat is a genius.

Just check out "Surrender", his sophomore chip music album. Listening to this work of art for the first time, I was blessed with the single most powerful experience I've ever had with an 8-bit album. Throughout the eleven magnificent tracks of the record, you'll discover that this humble genre can become something simply masterful in the right hands. Matthew Simmonds, commonly known under his artist handle 4mat, knows exactly what he's doing here in the fullest sense of the phrase, and provides lo-fi electronica fans with an exquisite form of musical bliss to "Surrender" to.

The album opens with the beautifully-titled "La Pluie Tombe Dans Mon Coeur" (French for "Rain Falls in My Heart"), which introduces the record on a uniquely symphonic note, with ethereal saw waves playing in harmony with subtle, yet effective, orchestration in the background. From there we are led directly into "Montreux"--a brilliantly danceable tune with heavy drum beats and a riveting bassline that sounds best when played loudly.

"Porcelaine", track four, is another winner with its beautiful melody and harmonic work, while "Surrender", the title track, left me thoroughly impressed with its mesmerizing intro and wondrous main theme that serves the title well. In addition to his thoughtful melodies, Simmonds has always striven for a remarkably high level of polish and coherence with his work, and "Surrender" is no exception. Tracks lead intro subsequent tracks quite cleverly, such as with the mellow "Starfields".

"Chipmusic Is Dead" should be regarded as one of the finest chiptunes ever composed. The bold, yet somewhat true, title serves to enhance the tune's beautiful recurring theme, which is played loud, low, high, and soft at different intervals, to great effect. After the heavy beats of the first eight tracks, Simmonds tones the album down to a mellow level with tracks like the fittingly-titled "Pretty Prairie", which includes a well-chosen sample of birds chirping. The record closes off with "Vilette", a short track that, while not 4mat's best, does include some further polish and high production values to enjoy.

Overall, "Surrender" is an excellent album that is not to be missed by the true chip music fan. The production values are high, the mastering is expertly handled, and the polish is extraordinary. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy as soon as you can--you may find yourself pleasantly dumbfounded by just what your hear in the next half-hour.

SCORE: 9.4 out of 10 - "Outstanding"

[4mat's "Surrender" can be purchased from BandCamp here: http://4mat.bandcamp.com/album/surrender]

Brother Android - "Hero Core OST (Expanded)"

2011-02-16T12:03:00.003-05:00

If you had the pleasure of playing Daniel Remar's excellent "Hero Core" last year, you undoubtedly noticed Brother Android's distinguished soundtrack, which compliments the experience with simple and catchy retro vibes. The artist has just released a revised, reworked, and stereo-expanded edition of the official soundtrack, now available in its entirety, complete with spiffy new white cover art. Even if you didn't played the game, there are plenty of solid tunes here to satisfy your lo-fi adventure cravings. Highlights include "Light Factory", "New Caves", and "Tetron".

The seventeen-track release can be downloaded for free here: http://brotherandroid.bandcamp.com/album/hero-core-ost-stereo-expanded-edition

Trailer - "Before the Day Fades" (Feryl)

2011-02-11T07:56:00.001-05:00

My new album "Before the Day Fades" is coming soon, and will contain over twenty minutes of module chip music. Keep an eye on The Chiptune Blog for further details and a release date.

4mat - "Surrender"

2011-02-06T13:27:00.001-05:00

Nearly a week's worth of delay was well worth the wait. Matt Simmonds, otherwise known as 4mat, has released his sophomore chip music album today. "Surrender" is an eleven-track masterpiece and, I dare say, one of the greatest chiptune albums ever made. No one else has pushed the genre this far, and perhaps no one ever will again. 4mat's magnificent new experience is definitely worth your time and money.

Stream or download the release here: http://4mat.bandcamp.com/album/surrender

Brother Android - "I Wish I Were Your Derivative"

2011-01-31T10:14:00.009-05:00

Brother Android's long-overdue "I Wish I Were Your Derivative" EP has finally been released in both free and three-dollar bonus versions. The six-track concept record marks a departure from the artist's gentle, ethereal music in favor of a mathematics theme and simplistic palette of lo-fi samples. Although not among Brother Android's finest works, "Derivative" still provides a uniquely charming look into the world of conceptual chip music. Highlights include "Vector Sum", "Polyhedral Funk", and "Slowfade (Bonus)".

Download/stream the release here: http://brotherandroid.bandcamp.com/ The free version is available here: http://brotherandroid.110mb.com/derivative.html

The Greatest Bits - "Mega Man 2"

2011-01-25T16:34:00.001-05:00

From the official press release:

"Back in the late 80‘s and early 90‘s, The Greatest Bits blistered his thumbs haunting Dr. Wily and his evil 8-bit companions like Airman, Heatman and Bubbleman. But it’s quite hard concentrating on the levels when the music is so bloody brilliant... The music of the game inspired The Greatest Bits so much that he released a tribute album to the game in 2010. The Greatest Bits combines 21st century top class sound production with the unique sound and feel of the original 'chipsounds' from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The result is the sound of the year 200X - to say it in Mega Man terminology."

The thirteen-track album is available from Amazon and iTunes. You can get a preview at the artist's website: http://www.thegreatestbits.com/Music.html

Chipocrite - "Hit and Run"

2011-01-18T13:25:00.004-05:00

GameBoy music newcomer Chipocrite has just released his debut EP, "Hit and Run", on BandCamp. Included in the standard edition are six fun, melodic LSDJ tracks, available on a pay-what-you-want basis. Chipocrite doesn't rely on standard GameBoy "UNCE UNCE" as much as he relies on creativity, which makes this EP worth a look-see. My personal favorite is "Mr. Knight Is in the Building", with its groovy bassline and strangely accurate title.

Stream/download the release here: http://cheesenbeer.bandcamp.com/album/hit-and-run-cnb-special-edition

Review - "Today" (Freezedream)

2011-01-13T17:17:00.004-05:00

How many chip music albums do you know of that have been released on an original cartridge? One of the very select few in existence happens to be Freezedream's "Today"--a mellow, ambient exploration of the limited 16-bit sound chip of the SEGA Genesis.

Using absolutely nothing outside of the Genesis' musical features, Freezedream has created an interesting and highly unique chiptune experience through nine brief tracks of IDM-style music. Though it may not be particularly impressive from a compositional standpoint, the release is nevertheless a rewarding and interesting one to listen to, taking into account Freezedream's interesting take on what a chip music album can be.

"Winter in July" opens up the album on a soothing and ambient note, while "Realtime Love" introduces listeners to more conventional chip music with distinct bass, melodic, and percussive layers rendered through the Mega Drive's scant six channels. "See You Next Tuesday" and "Cardioid" don't do the album any huge favors, but the atmospheric vibes of "Luer" and "Iridescence" succeed pretty well in creating a downbeat style of music that you wouldn't expect from the unusual hardware used.

"Today" is a short record, consisting of nine two-minute tracks; but that actually turns out to be for the best in the end. Freezedream's foray into the rarely-used sound chip of the SEGA Genesis won't revolutionize the way chiptunes are composed, but it does do a decent job of setting a dreamy and atmospheric tone that is too often missed in the modern chiptune scene.

SCORE: 7.5 out of 10 - "Good"

Review - "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" (Disasterpeace)

2011-01-04T18:48:00.011-05:00

Over four years ago, Disasterpeace began writing a song called "Jump Error"--a song which, in due time, would be the first he would compose for a twelve-track, Nintendo NES and demoscene-style album that would mark a turning point in his continually evolving musical style.

Known in real life as Rich Vreeland, Disasterpeace has aimed for an uncommon style of chip music composition since he began writing his 8-bit tunes around 2005. "Level", his previous release, was a melodic and even symphonic kind of effort, that combined emulated tones with interesting canned drum samples as percussion, such as you'd hear coming from the Nintendo Entertainment System's WAV channel.

Rich's new album "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" continues that trend, but for this record, Disasterpeace has pursued a style more reminiscent of old demoscene music, with recognizable square and saw waves somewhat similar to the pleasant tunes of Radix and Cerror. The effort is a solid one, despite a couple mediocre melodies or slightly uncomfortable changes of pace from time to time.

"Prologue" quickly introduces us to Disasterpeace's latest musical journey, with an ethereal, staccato-based melody and slow drum beat, before launching into "Jump Error", a happy and catchy tune with a Radix-like feel and head-bobbing bassline. "Club Wolf", track number three, isn't the best of the record, with an occasionally dissonant melody; however, the intro is fun regardless.

"The New Formation", my personal favorite, is where things start to get really interesting. First comes a pleasant, recurring theme that sounds reminiscent of Martin Galway's filtered melodies of old, and then the tune launches into a nicely dancable bassline with a cool beat and enough style for its lengthy running time. "Beta's Brilliancy" begins as a soft, harmonic track that eventually grows louder and louder before--very cleverly--leading directly into "Ensis", a rather hard-driving track that, while opening well enough, soon gives way to a less-than-perfect melody and six-minute duration. Nevertheless, the track does recover for the final two minutes before giving way to "Day of Reflection": a soft, soothing melody that successfully provides a respite from the previous upbeat material.

In a few instances, Disasterpeace does resort to blending dissonant notes with his sometimes understated melodies--for a certain period--in both the ninth and tenth tracks. Still, he also treats his listeners to moments of melodic reward and pleasant themes that help the album remain a solid effort nevertheless. The penultimate track "Submerciful" has a nicely mellow feel to it, and "Constellations" ends the record with a mysterious lo-fi rendition of a theme that I'm pretty sure I've heard somewhere before.

Overall, "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" is a sufficiently rewarding, but not entirely flawless, chiptune experience, that thankfully manages to warrant more than a few listens with its solid selection of unique tunes. Several melodic hiccups and slightly awkward changes of pace do mar the experience somewhat, but Rich's remarkably high production values and demoscene-style musical cues ultimately win out in the end. If you're a Disasterpeace fan, you'll most likely be very pleased with this release; if you aren't, I would suggest checking out full preview tracks on the BandCamp page before deciding whether or not to make a purchase.

SCORE: 7.6 out of 10 - "Good"

Disasterpeace - "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar"

2011-01-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

The first official chiptune album of 2011 is finally here. Disasterpeace's long-awaited "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" is a twelve-track, forty-five minute foray into the the artist's melodic, upbeat take on chip music. Known in real life as Rich Vreeland, Disasterpeace has had some of these tunes in the works for as long as four years, and weaves a distinctly unique chiptune experience with this new release. In it, he continues to evolve his trademark style while retaining the classic Disasterpeace vibe that he crafted years ago. Highlights include the catchy "Jump Error" and hard-driving "Ensis".

"Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" is available now on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Rise-of-the-Obsidian-Interstellar/dp/B004HGMGYQ/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1) as well as BandCamp (http://disasterpeace.bandcamp.com/album/rise-of-the-obsidian-interstellar).

2010 Chiptune Blog Awards

2010-12-26T14:34:00.011-05:00

As the year draws to a close, I present you all with the first ever official Chiptune Blog Awards, 2010 edition. Many noteworthy artists, albums and surprises awaited us this year, and below I have compiled a list with the best of what the chiptune community had to offer in the past twelve months. The awards are listed below; have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

MOST INNOVATIVE - Tristan Perich, 1-Bit Symphony

BEST ALBUM - Brother Android, October November December

BEST GAMEBOY ALBUM - Chipzel, Disconnected

BEST ARTIST - 4mat (Matthew Simmonds)

BEST VIDEO - Syphus, The End (Again)

BEST COVER ART - Brother Android, Scientific Satellite EP

BEST EP - Chetreo, A Year of Change

MOST PROMISING - Syphus, Arquebus

Review - "Tron: Legacy"

2010-12-17T19:56:00.016-05:00

[Author's note: I don't usually post film reviews for The Chiptune Blog, but as the "Tron" series is so closely tied up with technology, computers, and retro video gaming, in this case I'll make an exception.]

It goes without saying that the original "Tron" was revolutionary for its time. Its use of computer graphics and digital landscapes captured on film had never been attempted before, much less realized. The film was rather weak on pacing and story progression, but still holds a nostalgic charm all its own. Kevin Flynn, a renowned video game programmer, is literally sucked into the world of the computer and introduced into a digital frontier where programs engage in Gladiator-style games and cruise around on sleek lightcycles--presented in what were, for the time, cutting-edge CG graphics. He winds up taking down the tyrannical Master Control Program and returns to the real world to become a successful businessman with his company ENCOM.

That plotline, however, is from 1982, and this is 2010--a world in which great technological advancements have been made. In "Tron: Legacy", Kevin's prankster son Sam is left orphaned after the mysterious disappearance of his father, and soon winds up in the now completely advanced world of Tron where his father spent many years in his absence. Things verge on classic Disney action flick fare in the first twenty minutes, as Sam pulls an annual prank on his father's changed company; but once the rebellious youth discovers the old Flynn's Arcade and a mysterious computer hidden within, a camera unexpectedly snaps him into "The Grid" where he tries his hand at the now far advanced disc and lightscycle games. With Daft Punk's intense, noisy beats in the background, these revamped digital games are better than ever and the definite highlight of the film.

The much-hyped effects come into full force here, with pixel-shattering deaths and sleek, speeding lightcycles. Daft Punk's beautifully exciting soundtrack simply rocks out of the speakers. In addition, the musical robots themselves show up for an amusing cameo in the End of Line club. The world of Tron is a dark-blue digital frontier with "programs" living and fighting under the watchful eye of Clu, Kevin Flynn's own avatar. Jeff Bridges portrays both these characters well, aside from his marked overuse of slang. Clu's face is digitized to match Jeff Bridges as he was over two decades ago, which comes across marvelous at times and obviously fake at others. After the beautiful and satisfying Games, however, Sam meets up with Quorra, his father's female apprentice, and from there we run into some serious pacing issues. The film slows down here--a lot. There's a lot of running around and talking between the aged Kevin Flynn, his son, and lady warrior Quorra, who turns out to be more than a mere program, though this isn't fully explained. Clu, Kevin's digital avatar and now tyrannical overlord, has turned on his creator and wants to break free of the computer world by stealing Kevin's identity disc. Father, son and Quorra attempt to stop all this from happening by means of jets, discs and a pretty long film running time.

Therein lies another issue. Though "Tron" is beautiful to look at and to listen to, nothing really tops that first act with its pristine action sequences and effects. That's not to say that things merely engage into classic snail-crawl for the rest of the adventure, as this is too unique a film to be effectively compared to much else. As cheesy as it may sound, you've never seen anything quite like "Tron: Legacy". There are flaws, of course--but most of them have to deal with the sudden slow-down and pacing issues rather than the acting, which turns out to be surprisingly competent. The story doesn't exactly break any barriers, but there are some twists that I didn't see coming. Garrett Hedlund gets the job done as the rebellious Sam, and Jeff Bridges delivers a good double-performance; though he does use the word "man" a few times too many. Olivia Wilde is not going to win any awards as Quorra, but she doesn't give a bad performance either. Overall, the acting is generally solid, but the films wears itself down at times with its bloated second act and a couple of plot holes.

"Tron: Legacy" is a good, though not great, film, and deserves a proper amount of respect for its visual and atmospheric flair that is so lacking in other CG-heavy productions. I was struck by how unexpected and different the film was, even though I'd seen trailers and clips for months prior to setting foot in the theater. First-time director Joseph Kosinski certainly had a grand vision for this world, and he shows off his brilliant graphical prowess in the blue, transparent and fascinating world of "Tron"; but he would do well to focus more on the action and pacing if he ever decides to return to a world that is well worth visiting again.

SCORE: 7.4 out of 10 - "Decent"

Chetreo - "A Year of Change"

2010-12-13T08:40:00.005-05:00

After months of promising demos, Chetreo's brand new EP "A Year of Change" is finally here. What you'll hear in this five-track release is a unique musical style centered on autotuned vocals and non-conventional GameBoy pop. It's also available completely free of charge, which makes it all the more worth picking up. Noteworthy tracks include the Zelda-inspired "The Boy Without a Fairy" and melancholy "All the Things We Did".

Download or stream the EP for free here: http://chetreo.bandcamp.com/album/a-year-of-change

4mat - "Starfields EP"

2010-12-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

In advance of his upcoming sophomore chip album "Surrender", 4mat offers the new "Starfields EP", a three-track teaser release with two "live" recordings and one track from the new album.

Stream/download for free here: http://4mat.bandcamp.com/album/starfields-ep

Equinoxe - Evolution (8-Bit Girl)

2010-12-02T08:10:00.003-05:00

Equinoxe's "Evolution (8-Bit Girl)" is an eight-track collection of what I'd like to call "easy-listening chip music". From the epic break-down beats of "1984" to the unique danceability of the cleverly-titled "His Name Was SID", this is truly not the kind of chiptune album you'll hear every day. Crafted with a variety of machines including the Commodore 64, Amiga and the good old-fashioned Nintendo NES, "Evolution" is an interesting, if not outstanding, departure from stereotypical GameBoy tunes. In fact, I didn't even see that particular handheld listed out of the many synthesizers that were used.

Below is an embedded preview of three tracks, including a remix of Rob Hubbard's C64 classic "Sanxion". You can download the full release here for 3.50£: http://www.equinoxestudios.co.uk/music/
Evolution (8Bit Girl) Album | Full songs by equinoxe_uk

Interview - Radix

2010-11-22T09:47:00.007-05:00

He's arguably the biggest pioneer of module chip music, and if you haven't heard of him, you should reconsider your status as a chiptune fan. The artist in question is Radix, who spent several happy years of the 1990s composing legendary chiptunes on the Commodore Amiga. His carefree, intensely happy melodies would eventually earn him a fine reputation as one of the best chiptune composers of our time.

In real life, he's known as Jakob Svanholm, and he graciously took the time to answer several questions I had about chiptune projects from the past and future.

1. In the 1990s, you began writing module chip music... what introduced you
to the idea, and what led you there?

"Not entirely sure how I got started but I remember getting my hands on some chiptunes, and sitting down to study the techniques. One of the first chiptunes I listened to was Lost Scrotum by Paso. What a track :) I think I was immediately drawn to the simplicity of chip music, and to me they served as an outlet for all those naive melodies and pop elements I had growing inside my head, all this in a format which allowed me to get away with it :)

It's funny because I never considered myself a chiptune musician. I certainly composed my share of chiptunes back in the day, but it was mostly for giggles and not my primary objective in the demoscene. Looking back, perhaps it IS the chiptunes that made the biggest footprint, I don't know :)"

2. How did you get involved with the demoscene, and what was it like to be a
part of?

"I got involved in the demoscene during the peak of the BBS era in Sweden. Some demogroups around Stockholm were looking for members and I was asked to join. If I'd try to describe my impression of the demoscene, I'd say it was very friendly, it was exciting and underground, and finally I'd say it was very competitive, but in a positive way. I listened and studied the works of other musicians to no end, trying to improve."

3. Your compositional style in your chiptunes was quite unique for its time,
and is now heavily emulated by many other artists such as Malmen and Cerror.
What inspired you to create such happy, emotional melodies in this
particular way?

"In all fairness, everything is about emulating the work of others. You study, copy, reproduce. You mix up some ideas here and there and the result is something new. Speaking of those two fine musicians you mention, I think they're brilliant and they surpass me in the art of chip music in so many ways. The reason I made happy chiptunes, I don't know but I think that came naturally for me. Some chiptunes that inspired me greatly were happy, playful, charming and fun, and I believed there should be more tunes like that :) If I were to mention some maestros that taught me the ways of the chip, it would have to be Heatbeat, Monty, Supernao, Nuke, 4-mat, wotw, Reflex. Probably many more :)"

4. "Rainy Summerdays" and "Yoghurt Factory" are two of my favorite tracks of
yours. What were your goals while composing these tunes?

"Glad you like them :) Rainy Summerdays was composed on a rainy day in '95 on Amiga. Good times! '93-95 was the highlight of the demoscene for me. I think this particular tune was heavily inspired by a chiptune called "Spring Air" by Sire (one of the best chiptunes ever, in my opinion) used in the classic Lego 40k intro released at The Party 1993. Sire, if you read this, I tip my hat to you :)

Yoghurt Factory, well let's just say that the yoghurt factory in Alsace countryside actually exists, and they have all these clever machines doing all sorts of things :) I wanted to make a chiptune that was simple in melody but also had some interesting mechanical-moving-parts feeling going on at the same time."

5. Would you ever consider returning to chip tracking with a new album?

"Who knows, maybe one day :) When I listen to modern chiptunes, like the works of xyce, malmen, joule, zabutom, 4-mat, I can certainly feel this urge to get back to it. Though, right now I'm trying to focus on my Mosaik project as much as possible, and even that is down to a very casual level. That said, some collaboration work is not out of the question :)"

6. What do you want your legacy in the chip music scene to be?

"Someone once said that my music evokes feelings of limitless potential. Such a great comment, and if I can make one person feel that, then I'm already happy :)"

Album Preview - "Surrender" (4mat)

2010-11-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

In December, chiptune fans will be treated to another stellar release from longtime British demoscener 4mat. Above is the just-revealed back cover of his sophomore album "Surrender", which includes eleven tracks of original module chip music. The audio previews I've heard sounded quite nice, and the smaller number of tracks--eleven versus the fourteen of "Decades"--is all for the better, in my opinion.

Will it be better than "Decades"? We'll just have to wait a month or so to see. Maybe someone you know would appreciate a CD release for a unique, lo-fi Christmas present...

Comments Are a Go

2010-11-03T10:21:00.002-04:00

I've now opened up The Chiptune Blog for comments. I'll also be moderating every comment--trolling or other inappropriate behavior will remain unpublished. Feel free to voice your opinions.

Chip Music on Halloween

2010-10-31T08:49:00.000-04:00

One of the few frightening chiptunes in existence is Matt Gray's loader tune for the Commodore 64 game "Driller". Though it's around nine minutes, and "borrows" from the "Phantom of the Opera" theme eventually, it still remains the single best example of a scary chiptune to date.

The above video plays, in its entirety, Delorean's Amiga MOD conversion of the tune, and an excellent one, I might add. It was used to great effect in cly5m's independently developed PC game "Seiklus", which you can view at his site: http://www.autofish.net/clysm/art/video_games/seiklus/index.html If you reach the Spirit Temple in the cave, you'll hear the tune, appropriately used. The same module can be downloaded in its original format here: http://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=75365

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Upcoming Chiptune Albums - Vol. 1

2010-10-26T16:34:00.004-04:00

We've got several promising chiptune albums coming our way towards the end of 2010 as well as next year. Here's what you should keep your eyes on:

1) "Arquebus" by Syphus - Release Date: Late 2010

Syphus' debut proper album release will feature real instruments playing in harmony with high-energy chip compositions. "Fuelship", a favorite of mine, will feature the talented artist jamming along with a violin, and as an added bonus, the album will be either "cheap" or "donationware".

In case you're wondering what exactly an "arquebus" actually is, just check Wikipedia, which describes it as a muzzle-loaded firearm from the 15th-17th centuries. Go figure.

2) "The Schematic" by Pixelh8 - Release Date: Late 2010

In addition to music education, lectures, and other fine activities, British chip musician Pixelh8 also finds the time to release unique and noteworthy chiptune albums, using vintage machines such as the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro. Though hacking GameBoys to create music has been outlawed in Europe, Pixelh8 assured me that his new double album won't be stopped by the ruling, and proceeded to sell all of his GameBoys in lieu of other electronic devices. Talk about rolling with it.

3) Unicorn Kid's Debut - Release Date: 2011

With the release of his new single "Wild Life", Unicorn Kid proves that he still remembers his amazing compositional style from 2009; but it does appear that he may not quite reach those lofty heights in the same way again. Regardless, the teenager's debut album, coming next year, will be split between instrumental and vocal tracks full of the young man's poppy, 8-bit goodness.

4) "Surrender" by 4mat - Release Date: Unknown

The follow-up to the legendary demoscener's debut release "Decades" will include, among other things, a song with the rather interesting title of "Chipmusic Is Dead". When I asked 4mat when he plans on releasing "Surrender", which has not had very much publicity thus far, he simply replied, "When it's ready."

Keep up to date on the artists and albums mentioned at their respective websites:

www.syphus.net
http://pixelh8.co.uk/
www.unicornkidmusic.com
www.ihearthesoundofwaves.blogspot.com

Feryl - "Labor of Love"

2010-10-19T07:57:00.001-04:00

Brand new five-track EP. Download for free here: http://feryl.bandcamp.com/album/labor-of-love

Feryl - "Labor of Love" Trailer

2010-10-10T11:19:00.000-04:00

Coming October 19, 2010.

http://feryl.bandcamp.com/

Pixelh8 - "The Schematic" Trailers

2010-10-06T14:15:00.000-04:00

British chip musician Pixelh8 has just released two brand new trailers with clips from his upcoming chiptune double-album "The Schematic", volumes 1 and 2.

If you've been following Pixelh8 for over a year, as I have, you might just realize that Pixelh8 is constantly evolving his style while keeping it his own and putting his signature spin on things.

"The Schematic" should be released by the end of the year.

Interview - Brother Android

2010-09-23T17:42:00.020-04:00

With two full albums, an EP, and a game soundtrack all composed in a unique chiptune style, Brother Android made his mark on chip music with soft, sine-infused melodies and interesting themes translated into 8-bit, such as outer space and the winter season.

I've conducted a five-question interview him, during which we discuss his inspirations, new style, and future projects.

1. Your latest album "October November December" is one of my favorite chiptune albums of all time. You captured the theme that you went for quite well, especially in tracks like "The Stars Come Out". Where did you get your inspiration, and how did you go about translating the winter theme into chip music?

"At the end of last summer I moved away from the inland Northwest, where I grew up. It was strange experiencing a 'fall' and 'winter' that didn't really even exist except in name, and that is when I made those tracks. So I guess it is some sort of ode to where I grew up. As for translating the feeling of winter into chip music, I think sine waves had a lot to do with it; I find them to have a very cold yet organic sound. I was listening to Autechre a lot at the time and that influenced the album's strong rhythmic component; their music has a really bleak sort of beauty to it, and that is the same kind of feeling that the end of the year possesses in my memory."

2. "Scientific Satellite EP" and "Space Hymns" were your first chiptune albums. What made you decide to capture the feeling of outer space?

"I've always been sort of a science fiction aficionado, for reasons I can't pin down that well. The tracks that I first composed for Space Hymns are pretty old, and I think I was in a physics class at the time and was pretty into the cosmic weirdness of it all. I guess outer space suggests a sort of primal feeling of awe to me, something that is bigger than words, and I think music is the best medium for things like that."

3. With the upcoming "I Wish I Were Your Derivative" EP, you're going to be pursuing a different style of chip music. What made you want to "contemporize" things a bit?

"It's not a matter of contemporizing at all, really; the primary idea was really that I wanted to create music that I thought sounded 'fun'. To me, that revolves around strong melodies, strong rhythms, structural complexity, and a pretty short attention span; if the music comes off as more accessible, that's why, and if it comes across as more typically 'chiptune' in sound, I think it's probably because I used a much smaller and simpler palette of sounds than usual. Every instrument is a square wave or some sort of noise. Sine waves and triangle waves are gentle, and I was tired of making music that sounded gentle; on top of that, it was just easier to focus on structural and compositional strength when limiting myself to only a few textures. Lastly, and probably most importantly, I wanted to try purposefully imitating existing styles of music (funk and disco especially), just to see if I could do it. I guess it was an experiment in trying to distill musical styles to their simplest elements and have them remain recognizable. It's hard to say whether I succeeded at that though."

4. I played Ian Snyder's "Feign" recently, listening to your familiarly-styled soundtrack. What was the process of creating that track like? Did you play the game first?

"Yeah, actually... Ian originally wanted to use the track 'The Space Machine' from Space Hymns, but I liked the game a lot and decided to make a new track for it instead. Originally the game's graphics were black and white, and I think that contributed a lot to the atmosphere of the track."

5. Lastly, what does the future hold for your music?

"It's hard to say, really. I love chip music, but I can't help but feel that I've stumbled into this scene by accident; it's certainly far from the only kind of music I want to make. I really enjoy soundtracking games, though, and am working on another such project right now. I also have been toying around with some non-chiptune ideas lately, electronic and organic, and I want to see where I can take those. And there will probably be another EP shortly after I Wish I Were Your Derivative, but no promises there."

Brother Android's music can be accessed from his website (http://brotherandroid.110mb.com/music.html) and the 8 Bit Collective (http://8bc.org/members/Brother+Android/).

Review - "October November December" (Brother Android)

2010-09-22T20:50:00.025-04:00

Brother Android's "October November December" is, in the artist's own words, "An album about the winter time," but the music itself is so much more than that. As the title suggests, it's themed around the last three months of the year; and the artist does a masterful job of converting a cold winter's evening into beautifully soft chip music.

The first track, "The Winddown", is a nice and soft intro with a sine-wave melody that introduces the album quickly and effectively. "We Can See Our Breath", track number two, is a flawlessly executed display of percussive and melodic elements coming together to create something wonderful. After the well-structured into, the song launches into a sweeping sine-melody that becomes more sophisticated throughout the rest of its five-minute running time.

"A Walk in the Cold" continues the overall coherence of the album by means of a multi-channeled ethereal theme which thoughtfully continues for the majority of the song. There are a few filler tracks as well, all little gems in themselves, such as "Field Smoke", which happens to be one of the best. "The Stars Come Out" is one of the most beautiful tunes out of the ten which comprise the release, and includes some beautiful melodic and bass work that fits the title perfectly. It's almost as if Brother Android went outside, looked at the stars, came back in and wrote the song.

Track seven, "It Rains", is the album's lengthiest track, clocking in at over nine and a half minutes. I've never heard the simple concept of rain portrayed better in electronic music, but the second half of the track is not quite as mystically satisfying as the first. A beautifully mellow intro leads the way into panning percussion and gradual complexity, which results a musical representation of an intense thunderstorm by the end.

"A Bit of Sun" begins with an increasingly intense percussion sequence before giving way to another ethereal, soft melody, symbolizing the first sign of sun after a long winter. The closing track is "First Freeze", a mellow chill-out style effort involving a somewhat harsh and icy melodic sound. It provides a satisfyingly competent close to an excellent album with a long, fading white noise sample that softly slides down in pitch before giving way to complete silence.

Brother Android proves his admirable talent and competence with "October November December", an adequately-titled, soft chiptune experience that delves into a theme not often covered by other chip musicians. The symbolism of the winter theme comes through very effectively in the music, with several standout tracks and enough charm to earn a high level of respect for the cleverness of its artist.

The man responsible for this masterful release is known in real life as Harrison Lemke. To him, chip music and electronic fans everywhere should be in awe of these tracks. Mr. Lemke, you have successfully crafted one of the very finest chiptune albums of all time.

SCORE: 9.0 out of 10 - "Outstanding"

[Brother Android's "October November December" can be downloaded for free here: http://brotherandroid.110mb.com/octnovdec.html]

4mat Explains Chip Music

2010-09-18T10:52:00.005-04:00

Longtime demoscener 4mat has somehow managed to explain the mysterious origins of chip music, all in one simple paragraph that is clearly researched and entirely unarguable:

"Chipmusic was invented in 2006 when some guy accidentally plugged his gameboy into a stereo.
The gameboy contained Super Mario Land and people began rocking out to this hot new sound.
Later, other guys started painting and then adding backlights and audio jacks to their gameboys,
turning them from simple gaming devices into serious instruments that you'd hear in an orchestra.
By the end of 2006 chipmusic was the single most influential music on the planet. With top stars
like Beck and other stars like Beck using them once, it seemed on an unstoppable road to glory."

- http://chipmusic.org/forums/post/39454/#p39454

Album Preview - Syphus' Debut

2010-09-06T16:00:00.013-04:00

I've been conversing through cyberspace with Syphus recently, who is officially working on his debut album, to be released (possibly for free) later this year. I have confirmation from the Amiga Master himself that about sixty percent of the record is done, and he thinks he'll have time to finish it and release sometime soon.

This is my most anticipated chiptune album of 2010 currently, and here's why you should be excited too:

1) The masterful "Fuelship" will almost definitely be included as a new, remastered/rearranged version with violin harmonic work;

2) Per Syphus, there will be "possibly[...] some guitar, violin and/or other surprises thrown in", which should make for an exceptional and high-energy experience; and

3) Last but not least, the artist commented via Twitter that he's thinking about doing a free/donation digital version as well as a special physical version.

I'll be writing a full review of the album after initial release, so keep your eyes pealed for this one; it just might be one of the biggest chip music albums of the year, as well as an important landmark for Syphus.

A teaser trailer is also possible, so make sure to check back for that.

With luck, this exciting debut should appear within the next few months.

Review - "1-Bit Symphony" (Tristan Perich)

2010-09-01T12:04:00.009-04:00

What is a 1-bit symphony? Tristan Perich answers this question with his music. Although every note you hear in this collection of five lengthy “movements” is, in fact, the lowest representation of digital audio, the artist manages to create something that is both unique and beautiful with these “primitive” tones. As you press play on your iPod or flip the switch of the electronic circuit, the symphony and Perich’s talent begin to shine.

The first movement, at five minutes, is also the shortest—though there are only five songs, collectively they add up to a little over forty-seven minutes. “Movement 1” is my personal favorite: it is an epic, symphonic, and solid introduction to the most unique chiptune album ever composed. Led by a racing melody and noteworthy bass line, Tristan somehow manages to form simple 1-bit notes together into something extraordinary, something epic, and something that no one else has ever accomplished.

“Movement 2” picks up where the first track left off, and the first half of the eight-minute song is, once again, epic and beautiful. However, once we hit the 4:00 mark, a change for the worse occurs, and what is possibly the worst moment in the album. It consists of a rough, off-key-sounding bass, though there are some pure harmonies to make things a bit more tolerable.

The third track, “Movement 3”, starts with a rather tense melody which races along like the first movement did, accompanied by a simple bass line which repeats itself occasionally. The tense atmosphere and noteworthy melodies combine for another solid track. Eventually, a pure sequence of harmonies is introduced, playing along with the other notes quite well. The 5:00 mark signifies a change, and at 6:38 there’s a nice sort of bass explosion which accompanies a long, held harmony. Perich strips down the song to its basic elements before closing it off.

Thus we are led to “Movement 4”, during which a lot of things happen. A sequence of note-fading staccato work eventually gives way to different layers of itself playing on a delay at the same time, growing steadily more complex. 2:00 signals a melodic change, and later on some high-octave melodic work is brought in as well. The 3:25 mark introduces a nice bass along with a melodic signal; but 3:47 is where things really heat up with the introduction of a great melody that eventually fades to bass. Later, the melody and main staccato are brought back, and the song is still beautiful even at 6:00. A classic, chiptune-module note-sequence comes in around 6:46, while at 7:11 it joins to the hanging note and strips down to a repeat-melody as the song ends.

“Movement 5” is the final song, and at almost fifteen minutes it is also the longest. As it begins, one note plays for other tones to play along with, which then cut off to give it due presence. A sort of melody is introduced, which grows more filled-in and fades back to the original at 2:10. At 3:40, pure hanging notes fade to a single, pure, long harmony; and by 4:30, harmonic tones are held with a repeating melody for a while longer. At 5:38, another strange moment in the album occurs, and it involves the final act: a single long harmony holds itself for almost the entire remaining nine minutes with a soft melody playing in the background, until the song finally cuts to complete silence at 14:24.

Overall, “1-Bit Symphony” is worth your time, provided you can tolerate more than the modern, noisy GameBoy music that plagues the chip music scene today. There are a few setbacks, but overall the music is extremely innovative and epic despite its limiting hardware. In a way, Perich’s album is a form of art: he takes simple, extremely lo-fi electronic notes and creates a type of symphonic performance. Merely describing the music, however, can’t quite do it justice—do yourself a favor and experience the “1-Bit Symphony” for yourself. You may just be surprised at what you hear in the next forty minutes.

SCORE: 8.5 out of 10 – “Great”

[Tristan Perich’s “1-Bit Symphony” can be downloaded from Cantaloupe Music (http://bangonacan.org/store/product/181), iTunes, or Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/1-Bit-Symphony/dp/B003VCIM8Q/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1283263729&sr=301-2)]

Tristan Perich - "1-Bit Symphony"

2010-08-31T10:13:00.015-04:00

This is truly not the type of chiptune album you hear every day. Tristan Perich's "1-Bit Symphony" is a complete electronic circuit which comes packaged in a CD case. This extremely unorthodox album actually "performs" its collection of 1-bit music when you flip the switch. There are five lengthy "movements" of very lo-fi electronical compositions included, along with a plug for headphones.

The physical package is $29 and can be ordered from Cantaloupe Music here: http://bangonacan.org/store/product/181

However, you can also download the album in MP3 format from iTunes, and from Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.com/1-Bit-Symphony/dp/B003VCIM8Q/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1283263729&sr=301-2

This is certainly one of the most unique chiptune compositions ever made, and deserves your time. Plug in your headphones or turn up your iPod to engage in this fascinating lo-fi experience, which the artist chooses to rightly call the "1-Bit Symphony".

Falling for a Square - "XO"

2010-08-25T10:56:00.006-04:00

Soft chiptune artist Falling for a Square presents "XO", a quiet alternative to all the loud and obnoxious GameBoy music so often overused today. There are nine tracks of gentle chip music, four of which include soft, vocoded lyrics. The artist is at his best in the tracks with vocals, especially in the touching second track "Compute for You", my personal favorite.

The album was created with the Nanoloop application for the iPhone along with a vocorder for the lyrical tracks. Listen/download for free here: http://fallingforasquare.bandcamp.com/

This clever artist also has a new album, "Quiet Songs for Computer People", coming in September. You can visit his official site here: http://fallingforasquare.weebly.com/

Review - "Mademoiselle" (Computeher)

2010-08-19T19:21:00.020-04:00

ComputeHer's second musical outing is an improvement over her first, but still has some of the same flaws that her debut had.

"Mademoiselle" begins with a thirty-second intro which references the classic internet dial-up tone, along with a pleasant little chip melody, and then heats up quickly with "SysOp", the best track on the record. It's certainly one of ComputeHer's finest tunes, but unfortunately the trend does not continue in quite the same way for the rest of the album... the artist has trouble coming up with even standard chip-melodies, and the songs suffer as a result.

"New York" involves some strange chip bass work along with a melody that just sort of plays along, without too much substance to keep it noteworthy. Track four, "Heart Beeps", is what the title claims it is--lots of beeps, nothing too impressive. "Burlesque Show" is one of the weakest tracks of the album, although its melody seemed to remind me of another, better song. "Naughty Bits" is better, but reuses the same old bassline that's featured in several tracks on the record. Not to say that the bassline is necessarily bad; but it's used too often.

The next tune, "Twilight Byte", is better than the two previous tracks, as it brings back the classic drum samples I remember from 8 Bit Weapon's soundtrack for the cell phone game "Reset Generation". However, it's still not particularly impressive. "Dark Pub" has a melody that starts off better than almost any other melody on the album, but the rest of it is just not as good. The track also involves some chip-breakdown sequences, used mostly for novelty and to fill up time. "Sugar Cube" is an okayish spacey tune with a good bassline and a melody that makes sense. A couple "O.K." to "good" tunes out of eleven, however, are just not enough to warrant multiple listens of the album.

The last two tracks are demo versions of "New York" and "SysOp" (respectively), in case you wanted to hear what they sounded like before they were finalized--but who would? Basically, they serve to fill up the overall track number and running time.

Overall, "Mademoiselle" is a just-okayish chiptune album that doesn't have enough appeal or musical reward involved to earn recommendation. It is an improvement over ComputeHer's first record, "Data Bass", but unfortunately for listeners, the improvement is not as weighty as it should have been.

SCORE: 6.0 out of 10 - "Okayish"

[ComputeHer's "Mademoiselle" can be downloaded from her website and BandCamp.com]

Xylo and Cerror - "Un Peu de Douceur"

2010-08-16T09:18:00.006-04:00

Cerror returns with a special collaboration album titled "Un Peu de Douceur", or "A Little Sweetness", featuring his friend Xylo. This is the first chip album that Cerror is selling for a set price--4 euros or $5.13 USD. His last noteworthy effort, 2009's "Rainbow Parade", was avaliable for a "pay what you want" feature, but, as Cerror explains, "We know you don't like to pay, but we have been making free music the last couple of years so some money would be highly appreciated. Thanks!"

The music itself is module chip music as it should be--happy, poppy melodies reminiscent of classic Radix tunes. There are ten tracks in total, a fair amount for the $5 price tag.

Stream/download the album here: http://xyce.bandcamp.com/album/un-peu-de-douceur

Syphus - "Fuelship (Live 2010)"

2010-08-13T18:15:00.005-04:00

Syphus' last performance was held on the 10th of August, and it included some spirited guitar/violin harmonic work. Check at the 3:39 mark for the incredible and final live version of "Fuelship", a personal favorite of mine--although the violin is barely audible in the recording.

Since Syphus is officially done with live gigs, let's hope an album or EP is in the near future...

"8-Bit Magic: A Module Chiptune Collection"

2010-08-12T10:15:00.003-04:00

Feryl brings you a pristine collection of some of the best module (sample-based) chiptunes of all time, from Radix's 1990s "Rainy Summerdays" masterpiece to Arlen's beautiful 2010 "By the Sea". You will experience module chip music at its very finest with masterful tunes from Syphus, Ghidorah, Stalker, Cerror and other legendary composers. This is 8-bit MOD music as it was meant to be.

Free download/stream here: http://feryl.bandcamp.com/album/8-bit-magic-a-module-chiptune-collection

All credit for the music itself goes to the original artists, who are cited in the included Readme. Each individual track is avaliable in the public domain and can be downloaded from (12 MODS) and (1 MOD).

Project completed by Feryl in 2010.

Chetreo - "Mario Kart Love Song [Cover]"

2010-08-08T13:28:00.004-04:00

"Mario Kart Love Song" is a quite touching Mario Kart tribute by Sam Hart. The chiptune cover by Chetreo, from his "Demos 2010" EP, provides a brilliant 8-bit melody alongside pleasantly autotuned lyrics to add another layer to an already great song. It could have been longer with some melodic solos, but it's still fine as it is--and after all, it's still a demo version.

Listen/download for free here: http://chetreo.bandcamp.com/track/mario-kart-love-song-cover

Brother Android EP Preview

2010-08-04T22:16:00.005-04:00

Fresh, unique, and interesting chiptunist Brother Android will be releasing a brand new EP which should be coming sometime soon, titled "I Wish I Were Your Derivative". According to the artist himself, this release will be different from typical Brother Android fare. Judging from an audio preview of the third track from the 8 Bit Collective, he's not kidding.

Brother Android normally writes conceptual chip music crafted with Skale Tracker and a program called SFXR, which I use myself and recommend. However, his new EP is less stylized and more musically familiar.

You can listen to/download the track here: http://8bc.org/music/Brother+Android/Vector+Sum/

I can't say at present how it will all come together in the end, but keep your eyes out for this one when it's eventually released.

Profanity and Chip Music Don't Mix

2010-07-27T16:40:00.013-04:00

The Internet can be a nasty place. Forums and chat boards these days are rife with poorly-chosen words and unfriendly attitudes. Evidently that's how the Net started out, and with the way things have been going, it looks like it could end that way too.

I once again experienced this today while playing a certain text-driven indie game called "Digital: A Love Story", something I can't easily recommend because of the high profanity level that plagues a particular section of the game. I commented on this matter through IndieGames.com's blog, and was calmly refuted by someone who claimed that this is the way the Internet was back in the 1980s--uncensored forums and all. That may be only too true; but why plague an otherwise good game with inappropriate swearing when Cyberspace already has an overdose of it? This person also went on to say that "Censoring just for the sake of a few (over)protective parents is probably not worthwhile - there are plenty of tame alternatives in gaming for those unfortunate youths." He even refers to kids with parents trying to protect them from a less-than-noble world as "unfortunate". How insulting.

The same reasoning applies to chip music. For example, pro GameBoy-composer Nullsleep has been releasing his live chiptune performances in various cities on BandCamp recently. Rather than be content with just allowing his music to play, the young man decided to shout explicit content during his performance as well.

Might I enquire again: what is the need? There's the danger of exposing youngsters to vulgar words and attitudes, making kids who actually look up to these guys thinking that maybe it's "cool" to curse. Our world is filled with enough immoral and degrading problems, attitudes, and beliefs already, so why promote it even further by bringing it to the chiptune scene?

And then there's the 8 Bit Collective. Nice, user-friendly chiptune uploading site--if it weren't for the unmoderated comment boards. If people want to use a swear word to describe a chiptune on its page, they do so, and they can do so without hesitation because that sort of thing is allowed on the 8BC.

What this world needs is people who are willing to stand up for what's right. Call it cheesy or prudish if you like, but the fact remains: money and pleasure have taken over possession of human hearts across the globe.

Perhaps thinking twice about swearing on 8 Bit Collective forums or remaining silent during live chip performances won't rid the world entirely of profanity, but people these days would do well to remember something: you can't fix the world's problems if you don't try.

Someone needs to teach people the true meaning of the word "cool".

Pixelh8 - "Spiral" (Preview)

2010-07-22T20:08:00.012-04:00

I found a recent podcast-style radio episode (download below) which featured a track from Pixelh8's upcoming double album "The Schematic", a release I blogged about earlier. Previously, I hadn't heard a single second of audio from the thing, but now that I've heard his "Spiral" track from that podcast, I can discuss what the album sounds like.

"Spiral" is a mellow, dreamy chiptune that once again relies on Pixelh8's straightforward, simple musical style. I didn't like it much at all during the first listen; but now it's grown on me enough to where I can enjoy it. We'll have to wait for the final release to hear what the rest of the album sounds like, but judging from descriptions and this audio sample, we should be in for another worthwhile Pixelh8 experience.

Download the podcast at this link (the tune begins at around the 40:50 mark): http://www.hipsterplease.com/2010/06/radio-free-hipster-ep-90-nerdy-black.html

"The Schematic" still has no official release date, but should be avaliable sometime soon.

Feryl - "The Last of Autumn"

2010-07-20T07:42:00.004-04:00

Feryl's "The Last of Autumn" is a pleasant chiptune album themed around the four seasons of the year. Using simple emulated notes and relying on lighthearted melodies, Feryl creates a nicely unique atmosphere that is often missed in the modern chiptune scene.

If you've grown too accustomed to the harsh and noisy style that is all-too-common these days in the chip music scene, "The Last of Autumn" offers a gentle reprieve with its short, pleasant tunes and conceptual theme.

Stream/download here: http://feryl.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-of-autumn

PLEASE NOTE: A few tracks on the BandCamp page sound noticeably distorted at certain points, but this is just a result of BandCamp's online streaming quality and is NOT indicative of the actual downloaded music. I have personally tested the downloaded versions of the tracks and can assure you that the quality is much better than what you'll hear on that page.

Special thanks to Natty Greene for his support and advice during production.

"The Last of Autumn" Teaser 2/Release Date

2010-07-17T11:49:00.008-04:00

My new album "The Last of Autumn" will be released via BandCamp (http://feryl.bandcamp.com/) on July 20, 2010.

The album includes ten tracks which comprise over twenty-five minutes of chip music, themed around the four seasons of the year.

Album Preview - "The Schematic" (Pixelh8)

2010-07-13T21:31:00.008-04:00

English chiptune composer Pixelh8 blogged back in March about his newest upcoming album. Entitled "The Schematic", the release according to Pixelh8 will be a double album split between "Software" chiptune, which is happy poppy material; and "Hardware", which is intense mechanical glitch music.

In the same March blog post, he mentioned that he "can’t imagine it will be out until the end of the year", but I checked his website today (http://pixelh8.co.uk/), and he added a small note at the bottom of his most recent blog post that reads, "New double album 'The Schematic' out soon!!!"

This seems to imply that we'll be able to get our hands on a brand new Pixelh8 album before the end of the year; "soon" couldn't mean five months, could it? Plus there were those three exclamation points at the end... :)

Back to the older blog post, listed new track names include "Emotional Depth Charge", "Spiral", "FM", and "Hunter".

Stay tuned for more info as it becomes available.

Feryl - "The Last of Autumn" Teaser

2010-07-10T10:16:00.006-04:00

New album. Coming late July.

"Decades" Now On iTunes

2010-07-01T09:10:00.005-04:00

4mat's "Decades" is now avaliable on iTunes! It will soon be avaliable on other digital download retailers, including Amazon MP3. You can also stream the entire album here: http://ihearthesoundofwaves.blogspot.com/2010/06/stream-decades-here.html

Full review forthcoming.

Rupert and the Toymaker's Party

2010-06-08T12:57:00.014-04:00

"Rupert and the Toymaker's Party" is a 1985 Commodore 64 game developed entirely by Martin Walker. The most notable aspect of the game is its unique and clever title music, which makes good use of a nice melody in addition to referencing the classic song "Chimes". This humble theme made its way into my top ten favorite chiptunes of all time.

Recently, I downloaded a splendid remix of the song--one of the only two covers of it I've ever seen, as the tune itself is not exactly well-known. This particular one is a lovely, atmospheric effort by Richard Westall from 2003. It remains faithful to the original, creating a music-box-style sound for the main melody, while also adding some nice charms of its own to create an ethereal experience that is both well-crafted and unmatched.

You can download both the original and remixed versions over at Remix Kwed, a site devoted entirely to C64 remixes: http://remix.kwed.org/index.php?search=toymaker

Album Preview - "Decades" (4mat)

2010-06-04T18:54:00.005-04:00

Demoscener 4mat is finally releasing his first chiptune album after over twenty years of chip-composing. Entitled "Decades", this ambitious debut is set for release at the end of June.

Below is a link to a teaser trailer. 4mat will be publishing others that each showcase a specific track from the album.

http://truechiptilldeath.com/blog/2010/06/04/4mat-releases-first-teaser-for-decades-album/

"Decades" will be avaliable on iTunes and Amazon soon.

TALK TO ANIMALS - "Always EP"

2010-06-02T08:34:00.012-04:00

TALK TO ANIMALS just released her new "Always EP" yesterday: a five-track collection of strange vocal chip music. You can stream the songs for free here on BandCamp: http://talktoanimals.bandcamp.com/

The first two tracks are some of the best, although fairly weird. "Wolves" kicks things off with some nice female vocals and some humorous weirdness that I'm inclined to like. "The Tower" introduces a nice melodic segment for a change of pace, although "Fake Blood" is rather unpleasant. The EP ends with another unusual vocal track called "Down".

From what I've gathered, "Always" is telling an obscure story involving a cliff, a castle, a ghost, and even a man with a broken neck. Feel free to decipher the tale yourself, however.

Make no mistake; this is some weird chiptune.

SoulEye - "PPPPPP - The VVVVVV Soundtrack"

2010-05-26T09:29:00.004-04:00

Earlier this year, SoulEye released his album-length chip soundtrack to the clever retro PC game "VVVVVV", which, incidentally, stands for "Veni, Vidi, Vici" twice. Both game and soundtrack are clever and well-made. For four dollars, you get the album-length soundtrack to the game, including an M3U file and a joke bonus track.

Overall this is a fairly great effort by SoulEye with a lot of effort put into it. Some tracks are marvelous, especially the very high-energy "Pressure Cooker", which begs to be turned up. :)

You can preview the album and purchase it here: http://souleye.madtracker.net/

Syphus - "Fuelship (Live)"

2010-05-11T22:13:00.005-04:00

Syphus, a sample-based chip musician, performed this anthem-style tune at 2008's Blip Festival in late December. Don't miss out on this great live recording.

http://2playerproductions.bandcamp.com/

TRON: Legacy

2010-04-28T19:40:00.007-04:00

I'd say TRON: Legacy is my number one most anticipated film of the year. Slated for a December 2010 release, it's the sequel to the original 1982 version based around a video game programmer named Kevin Flynn, who is forced into a computery, cyber-universe in which "programs" controlled by "users" participate in Gladiatorial-style games.

The upcoming sequel from Disney will feature Flynn's son curiously entering into the old TRON world in a modern-day setting, where his father has been living for twenty years and upgrading the unique cyber-world.

Not only is the series based around video games, but this new follow-up will also feature a computery soundtrack composed by electronic duo Daft Punk. If you check out the trailer, towards the end you can even hear a gritty chiptune-esque glitch sequence.

Fuel your anticipation for this unique new experience here (trailer): http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4252763161/

Brother Android - "Scientific Satellite EP"

2010-04-09T18:32:00.006-04:00

From some one calling himself "Brother Android" comes an unusual, spacey chiptune EP called "Scientific Satellite". This music, I'd say, was not created for head-nodding beats or rock-out anthems... rather, this is a short little collection of songs that sets a clearly space-themed mood, with old sci-fi-style malfuctions and quirky themes. It's a nice little atmosphere that Brother Android creates with this.

The entire EP is free: http://brotherandroid.110mb.com/satellite.html

The artist has a promised new album coming soon as well, so stay tuned.

Sievert - "Beyond the Frontier"

2010-04-05T16:44:00.017-04:00

Sievert finally released his new GameBoy album entitled "Beyond the Frontier", and the results are incomprehensibly insane, hopelessly crazy, and strange.

Sievert reprises months-old themes that he originally drafted, and also creates inhumanly insane break-down sequences that caused me to smile and shake my head. This is over-the-top chiptune in the fullest sense of the phrase.

I used to listen to Sievert's 8 Bit Collective draft versions of some of the nine included tracks, and this talented young man basically remixed and remastered them for well-though-out, finalized album versions.

The entire MP3 album is free: http://www.archive.org/details/Hhh-07Sievert-BeyondTheFrontier

Comptroller - "Comptroller"

2010-04-04T18:35:00.005-04:00

Comptroller is a relatively unknown chip artist who very recently released his self-titled debut album. The result is ten tracks of GameBoy + Commodore 64 combo music that is both unorthodox and enjoyable. It was created last February for something called the RPM challenge. The album itself is not spectacular, but it's worth a listen to hear some of the better tracks. One in particular--called "Monks", of all things--is based around a dirty and awesome chip-beat.

"Comptroller" was released on CD Baby recently for $9.99, but in my opinion it's not worth that much. However, the artist provides the entire MP3 album on BandCamp for free here: http://comptrolleralpha.co.uk/album/comptroller

Music System - "Music For Ya I"

2010-04-01T16:28:00.006-04:00

Music System's "Music For Ya I" is an awesome Commodore 64 digidrum tune, released in 1989. It's one of my favorite chiptunes of all time. Awesome beat, great digidrums, nice melodies... great tune.

Download it here: http://www.hvsc.de/#search

Chipzel - "Disconnected"

2010-02-10T21:33:00.006-05:00

From young Irish chip musician Chipzel comes a new GameBoy-made album called "Disconnected", which attempts to tell an emotional story through ten high-energy chiptunes.

You can buy "Disconnected" at CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/Chipzel) or through iTunes.

"Comic Bakery" Probably NOT Plagiarized

2010-02-08T20:23:00.010-05:00

I saw a Tweet from demoscener 4-Mat in response to my previous post, which questioned the originality of Martin Galway's famous "Comic Bakery" Commodore 64 theme. The response reads as follows: "it’s probably a cover of Comic Bakery, those Compunet guys worked pretty fast back then."

Rest easy people, good old Galway was no scammer! :)

The "Comic Bakery" Theme Plagiarized?

2010-02-05T09:16:00.011-05:00

I was listening to the Commodore 64 "Radio" stream courtesy of http://www.commoradio.net/ the other day, and there was a song in the list called "Forever Autumn" by Jonathan Dunn that sounded almost exactly like Martin Galway's famous "Comic Bakery" C64 theme song. Both of these SID tunes were released the same year, 1986. What gives? Who was copying--Jonathan or Martin? Was one of the most famous Commodore 64 game music themes just a crafty bit of plagiarizing work?

http://www.exotica.org.uk/mediawiki/index.php?title=Special%3AHVSC&ss=1&title=Special%3AHVSC&md=qsearch&qs=forever+autumn

New Pixelh8 Album Coming Soon

2010-01-24T20:43:00.004-05:00

Renowned chiptune musician Pixelh8, the artist behind the clever "The Boy With The Digital Heart" and "And the Revolution" albums, has just come out with some more info on his upcoming interactive display/album entitled "Childhood Remixed". Apparently, per Pixelh8, “'Childhood Remixed' seeks to re-purpose the toys of my childhood with the skills and understanding of the world I have as an adult." And according to one of his Twitter responses, there will be an album as well as an interactive display, containing sounds purely from toys that the artist found at car boot sales and thrift shops.

"Childhood Remixed" will be on display May 29-July 11 of this year. No specific album release date has been set as of yet.

Ben Daglish and Anthony Lees - "The Last Ninja"

2010-01-16T11:36:00.009-05:00

Ben Daglish and Anthony Lee's loading music for the 1987 Commodore 64 game "The Last Ninja" is one of the best chiptune soundtrack pieces ever made. You'll hear some distinctly Oriental-styled SID epicness, and perhaps experience some of the immense quality of early computer game soundtracks.

Unicorn Kid

2010-01-07T15:18:00.016-05:00

He's young, he's catchy, he's hummable, and he's awesome--he's Unicorn Kid, a rising Commodore 64-style techno bitpop 18-year-old chiptune musician. Give a listen to his first EP "Lion Hat" and see what I mean. The guy is great beyond his years, creating outrageously singable and soaring C64-style melodies with some modern sounds of today thrown in there as well. So far he has only a few EPs released on iTunes and the like, with a couple tracks each, but these tracks are so darn good they're definitely worth the under-3-buck prices.

As you're listening to the awesomely soaring anthems, you may think to yourself as did someone else I know: "All this needs is some singing." Surprise!! Unicorn Kid has a promised debut album coming out in the third quarter of this year which he will be singing on!

Listen to his recent "Animal City" track for free here: http://www.last.fm/music/Unicorn+Kid/_/Animal+City?autostart

Keep your eye on this kid--and your ears too.

A Look Back and a Look Ahead

2010-01-01T10:52:00.004-05:00

2009 is officially over, and 2010 is upon us. Last year was a good one for the 8-bit world, with multiple commercially released chiptunes made available. We had the renowned chip musician Pixelh8 release his exciting third full studio album "And The Revolution", and newcomer Unicorn Kid came out with two fresh and unique EPs. 8 Bit Weapon also released their "Electric High EP", full of six new originals direct from the chip-happy duo. The online 8BitCollective.com was also active and successful as well, with LSDJ-composer Sievert releasing some good new stuff and Hurrigame Boy taking his turn with the GameBoy as well. Module chiptune composer Cerror also released his debut album, chock-full of thirteen gloriously happy, Radix-inspired chiptunes, made available for a name-your-own-price bargain. Overall, good things have happened and good things are to come for this unique genre of music.

Pixelh8 apparently has several new tricks up his sleeve for 2010, with a new audio-visual composition dubbed "Childhood Remixed" promised to be on display, and on Twitter a while back ComputeHer said she was discussing "top secret plans" with 8 Bit Weapon for 2010. Unicorn Kid has promised his debut album, which he will be singing on, coming out around the third quarter of this new year, and a new single due out in February as well.

Hold on to your hats, people, chiptunes aren't slowing down for 2010! :)

Cerror - "Rainbow Parade"

2009-12-20T10:01:00.011-05:00

Cerror has whipped up a wonderfully Radix-styled chiptune album entitled "Rainbow Parade", avaliable for name-your-own-price download-and-listen here since November 2009: http://cerror.bandcamp.com/album/rainbow-parade

Since there's no minimum price limit, you can even type in zero and get the thirteen-track chip goodness for absolutely free (gasp, did I just reveal that?!).

"Rainbow Parade" is chock full of thirteen gloriously happy and whimsical module-tracker style chips--it is as if Radix himself decided to suddenly come out with a new chiptune album.

The video above contains track thirteen, "Cheeky girls fast food", in its entirety. Enjoy.

"Arkanoid" - Martin Galway

2009-11-27T11:47:00.009-05:00

Gotta respect the classics. 1987 Martin Galway, for the Commodore 64 game of the same name.

Pixelh8 "And The Revolution" Now Avaliable On CD Baby

2009-11-24T09:35:00.004-05:00

Pixelh8's third full studio album "And The Revolution" is now avaliable for digital download on CD Baby for $9.99. I've been highly anticipating this one for months, and am a huge Pixelh8 fan. The album includes eleven tracks, most of which are full-length, bringing the running time to over thirty minutes of 8-bit bliss. Noteworthy tunes include "The Girl From The Future" and "You Were Born To Save The World". If you're not ready to pay the ten dollars yet, you can listen to the entire album for free here: http://www.last.fm/music/Pixelh8/And+The+Revolution+%282009%29

Better yet, purchase it on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pixelh84

"Beakortolaris" - Cerror

2009-11-23T15:35:00.014-05:00

"Beakortolaris" is, in my opinion, Cerror's best chiptune. It's happy, light, whimsical, and has a very strange written comment section within the source file that states thus: "1) a bird 2) made up 3) weird 4) but intriguing 5) cerror@gmail.com". And wow, what a title.

It's an XM file, playable with ModPlug Tracker, etc. Ten samples, twelve channels. The non-chiptune drums work along lightly with the bassline and lead.

It was used in the freeware computer platformer "Purple".

Download it here: http://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=143265

Welcome To the Chiptune Blog

2009-11-23T14:04:00.000-05:00

Welcome to The Chiptune Blog. I will be putting the spotlight on individual chiptunes, discussing them and telling you the artists. Check back frequently for insight into the wonderful world of 8-bit nostalgia.

For those of you who are unaware, chiptunes are synthesized tracks of music made from the sound chips of old computer and video game consoles. They can be composed relatively easily and for free by means of various music compositional tools called trackers avaliable across the web. Common with chiptunes is the low-quality, primitive electronic bleep-blop so unique to this form of music.