8 Bit Weapon Announce New Album

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

Feryl - "Aware"

"Aware" is a brief chip music EP with five tracks, pleasantly styled and thoughtfully composed.

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

Review - "Today" (Freezedream)

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"

Equinoxe - Evolution (8-Bit Girl)

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

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 :)"

Feryl - "Labor of Love"

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

Interview - Brother Android

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)

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]