PORTLAND, ORE. - Micropalooza, a celebration and showcase of chiptune music - original music
composed using old-school video game hardware - debuted at Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade in
Portland, OR in 2003. Chiptune artists from around the world have invaded the stage with their unique
blend of 8-bit sound and contemporary composition, and this year, the focus is squarely on the Pacific
Northwest’s ever-growing chiptune scene for Micropalooza 2010, on Friday, September 24 at Ground
Kontrol Classic Arcade.
Six artists - four from Portland and two from Washington - will be featured at Micropalooza 2010,
blasting their pixelated pop and deconstructed dance music all night long. Returning favorites
Operation Mission and Plain Flavored will be joined by first-time Micropalooza artists Oven Rake,
Seanbad, Mechlo and Ondoh.
WHAT: Micropalooza 2010 featuring Operation Mission, Oven Rake, Seanbad, Mechlo, Plain Flavored, Ondoh.
WHEN: Friday, September 24 at 8pm.
WHERE: Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade, 511 NW Couch St., Portland, OR 97209.
COVER: $5-8 sliding scale cover. 21+ only.
About the artists:
Operation Mission
aka Ray Rude
Portland, OR
rayrude(at)gmail(dot)com
http://www.myspace.com/operationmission
http://www.facebook.com/pages/operation … 767?ref=ts
About 6 years ago, Ray Rude started to learn the program Little Sound Dj (LSDJ) for the Nintendo
Game Boy. LSDJ is a musical sequencing program that uses hexadecimal values to create musical
notes on the Nintendo Game Boy. Only in the last year has he finally started to fully understand its
power!
Ray has played several chiptune shows under the name Operation Mission, mostly at Ground Kontrol,
to appease his desire to make “nerd music”. Between his old band (Konami Defense System)
breaking up and his new band (The Builders and the Butchers) taking off he has needed a geeky
outlet. As Ray puts it, “Micropalooza is rad for such things.”
Operation Mission has yet to release an official album, instead releasing a few DIY cds that were sold
at some shows and parties.
So after 6 years spent earning LSDJ, Ray decided to record something that had more going on than
just Game Boy sounds. He has just finished recording what he considers to be Operation Mission’s
first actual album, titled 2010. It incorporates some live drum sounds, flutes, synth, speech synthesizer,
world sounds and lots of other textures to make it far more interesting than using only blips and bloops.
Operation Mission’s album 2010 will be available via Ray’s online store soon, but fans can listen to it
now at his Facebook page. He will also have art prints and copies of 2010 at, appropriately enough,
Micropalooza 2010!
Oven Rake
aka Dakota Clark
Olympia, WA
dakotamusic(at)gmail(dot)com
http://www.superbutton.net/chumba.php
http://www.myspace.com/ovenrake
http://8bc.org/members/Oven+Rake/
http://twitter.com/ovenrake
Just as confused as the others, Oven Rake was that kid you remember talking to once in high school.
He was in a band, and your friend dragged you to their first show. You ran into him later when he
ordered some black coffee at your work. He likes what you did with your hair. Don't feel embarrassed,
no one in this small town has made it to the big time yet.
Seanbad
aka Sean Graffis
Snoqualmie, WA
seanbad23(at)gmail(dot)com
http://www.myspace.com/seanbadmusic
http://8bc.org/members/SeanBad/
http://kotaku.com/5353208/live-from-pax … al-gameboy
SeanBad is an 18 year old electronic music producer from Snoqualmie, Washington. He produces
heavy dance tunes using original Game Boys. He has been producing for 2 years and has played all
over the east side of Washington state, including Seattle. Recently, he performed in front of a packed
audience at Jamspace during Penny Arcade Expo Prime 2010!
Mechlo
aka Matt Hunter
Portland, OR
thehuntsman(at)gmail(dot)com
http://8bc.org/members/mechlo/
http://soundcloud.com/mechlo
Mechlo started impressionable enough for the main theme of Mega Man 2 to be his first legitimately
favorite song. Since then he's been using 8-bit technologies to explore sound design, textures, and
rhythmic elements, along with “noisy crap to make dumb songs”.
Plain Flavored
aka Adam Schackart
Portland, OR
plainflavored(at)gmail(dot)com
http://www.myspace.com/bitmurder8
http://calmdownkidder.com/records/releases/cdk048/
Since 2008, Plain Flavored has been using two original Nintendo Game Boys alongside homebrew
software to create music that is detailed, elegant, and entirely his own. With dense rhythm and soaring
melody, he takes you from quiet reflection to explosions of breakneck, aggressive sound in an instant.
Ondoh
aka Andreas Tekus
Portland, OR
andreas(at)greightbit(dot)com
http://www.greightbit.com/
Ondoh has been mixing conventional sound with circuit bent and other lo-fi instruments for over 10
years. He has toured with the electronic trio Ken Rei all over the mid-west and east coast. He also
builds and modifies most of his own instruments. Ondoh in his own words is “like pixelated raindrops
on a Sunday afternoon.”