chipthrash peeps are out there (shoutout to datathrash records, but there's non-label dudes too), playing shows in basements alongside hardcore/harsh noise acts and telling twinkly bleepbloop chipmusic to get fucked.

"!!!

Hello. I only came to this thread to put emphasis on this.

Invisible Robot Hands wrote:

The point: chipthrash peeps are out there (shoutout to datathrash records, but there's non-label dudes too), playing shows in basements alongside hardcore/harsh noise acts and telling twinkly bleepbloop chipmusic to get fucked.

... the Datathrash stuff is usually just adapting pre-existing genre forms without any interesting songwriting or experimentation beyond "look at all these crazy noises I can make".

im guessing you mean some of the earlier datathrash stuff, you should probably listen again and re-evaulate now that the label has more than 50 releases... or just go fuck yourself.. either works
on topic, this band is definitely not my thing and i personally think the game boy should be lower in the mix

I'm also really curious about this "rival" band, though. Have we met? Tell me when and where your next NYC show is!

Heh. We haven't, no. There've been a few shows we almost played together but didn't. The more recent one was the Harvest Fest show at Bard College. As for our next NYC show, it looks like we're playing a show in Brooklyn the day after Christmas.

i don't think i can do that to myself any more, that said, the music is well done , nice  : )

Ryan Galloway wrote:

Pitchfork's twisted, pay-your-way posts

Wait... so you resent the fact that you got on Pitchfork?

I never really cared about them and they kind of represent the very dark side of music writing. A large portion of my close friends are part of of this BK music scene so I'm exposed to a lot of PR strategy. The hype cycle is absolutely nauseating, especially since there's so much money and dealing involved without any of it truly being transparent to readers.

"Resent" is the wrong word. I think I'm closer to being ambivalent than anything else (specifically toward Pitchfork). At first, I was pretty excited about potentially being on a big site like that, no matter how they wrote; however, it's apparent that we were written about because we have a vocalist and because of our label, whose output has generally been enjoyed by Ian Cohen, the Pitchfork writer. If that wasn't the case, then Crying would most likely be ignored by them the same way they tend to ignore chiptune as a whole.

I complain about a lot of the writeups calling us emo (we used to get described as, like, "Mario Kart meets Liz Phair"or whatever) because it means the people who seemingly have music authority aren't good at listening. I feel like most chiptune artists should understand how quickly you can be dismissed by someone that isn't actually paying attention or looking beyond the instrumentation. Everyone confusing your identity is frustrating, especially when half of the time, it's for the sake of SEO purposes. Our sound has very little to do with emo and I'm not going to accept a world where tastemakers have no idea what they're talking about. Threads/conversations like this are way more important to music than Pitchfork's twisted, pay-your-way posts, since they're two way in terms of communication.

I'm also really curious about this "rival" band, though. Have we met? Tell me when and where your next NYC show is!

Invisible Robot Hands wrote:

The point: chipthrash peeps are out there (shoutout to datathrash records, but there's non-label dudes too), playing shows in basements alongside hardcore/harsh noise acts and telling twinkly bleepbloop chipmusic to get fucked.

Basically, what's amiss is bands taking the chip sounds at face value instead of invoking nostalgia with overly happy and video gamey melodies.

I dunno, that isn't a thing I've noticed in chipthrash, which is why I mentioned chipthrash.

At the very minimum, the music that local friends and I do with lsdj has no "nostalgia angle" to it. When I'm writing the music at home it's just like "in spite of what I have available (DMG-01), can I actualize this musical idea that I had in my head?" and then when I play it's just "I'm performing music." There's no step where I'm like "Look at these crazy noises u guize it's like EVIL videogame music!!lolol" or "It's cool dark music but it's all on a gameboy wowww". I just show up and do my thing like I would with a guitar, and if anyone asks about it after the show, I give them the technical details for a second. If crazy sounds happen in the song, it's because I came up with a song idea that involved crazy sounds, and then did my best to recreate those sounds verbatim outside my head using the gameboy.

The point: chipthrash peeps are out there (shoutout to datathrash records, but there's non-label dudes too), playing shows in basements alongside hardcore/harsh noise acts and telling twinkly bleepbloop chipmusic to get fucked.

Yeah, but most of those are pretty bad too. Especially the Datathrash stuff is usually just adapting pre-existing genre forms without any interesting songwriting or experimentation beyond "look at all these crazy noises I can make". Basically, what's amiss is bands taking the chip sounds at face value instead of invoking nostalgia with overly happy and video gamey melodies.

words

u made the correct decision

It's funny how it only takes 3 seconds for the popular idea of what a genre is to get messed up.

i'll drink to that!

arlen wrote:

Woaaahhh. Wrong!

well yeah, but i never felt like it was socially divisive until the trend went a bit more mainstream, like 03/04. did people ever get mad about texas is the reason? i'm too young to really appreciate late 90's alt culture i guess :v

Most of those bands (AFI, MCR, etc) were an off-handed pop/metal to me, may as well have been Fallout Boy or Linkin Park.

It's funny how it only takes 3 seconds for the popular idea of what a genre is to get messed up.