@Triforce: whether there's enough chips in your sound or not, I personally can't care less; however I've had a quick look at your tumblr page - http://triforcesydney.tumblr.com/ - you guys look all cool and cute on your photos and promo video, but where's the music? Presenting yourself as a musician with images instead of music makes you seem very vain.

likeluke wrote:

it just seemed to me mildly implied from godinpants that the chip scene shouldn't take itself seriously at all, but i think i'm on the same page as he is/you are/the scene is.

I dont think i ever said we shouldn't take ourselves seriously at all.

i think i will agree with 10k that it could come down to cultural differences, Australia does have an attitude of needing to be able to make joke about yourself.

Probably this could branch off into it's own thread if you want to go deeper into chip behavioural studies.

Sorry for throwing your train off the rails triforce.

as i said before, it SEEMED implied, but i think we're pretty eye to eye at this point, don't think further investigation is required. i'd go along with misconstrued statements via philosophical arguments not face to face, as well as something getting lost in translation from AUS to US. but who knows how this crazy scene works!

it just seemed to me mildly implied from godinpants that the chip scene shouldn't take itself seriously at all, but i think i'm on the same page as he is/you are/the scene is.

I dont think i ever said we shouldn't take ourselves seriously at all.

i think i will agree with 10k that it could come down to cultural differences, Australia does have an attitude of needing to be able to make joke about yourself.

Probably this could branch off into it's own thread if you want to go deeper into chip behavioural studies.

Sorry for throwing your train off the rails triforce.

TRIFORCEPROMO.mov

likeluke wrote:

the point i was trying to make was simply that chip artists as a whole don't need to rely on wackiness or humor to get the full message of their art across.

Artists in other genres do things unrelated to their music to get their point across, whether humourous or otherwise. Lady Gaga with her "scandalous" costumes and filmclips is a prime example. Everyone tries to create and maintain an image when they are on stage (frequently with a very different stage persona to their actual persona), not just chip musicians. It may be true that a lot of chip artists (especially - as godinpants said - in Sydney) have somewhat less serious personas that are funnier and more out there, but that doesn't make their music any less good, but it can make people stop and turn around and listen to what they're doing instead of going outside for a cigarette when someone pulls out a gameboy.

again, i understand completely, and have never said that people shouldn't utilize a live element in order to give a full experience. that was never the debate here, nor was it whether or not it cheapens the music it accompanies. the example you give of lady gaga falls close to my example of nullsleep or starscream, who indeed don't take themselves fully seriously, but do take their art seriously. it just seemed to me mildly implied from godinpants that the chip scene shouldn't take itself seriously at all, but i think i'm on the same page as he is/you are/the scene is.

if its not 8bit or dance, what genre could you pin this under? A ongoing problem i have had is trying to put this under a certain genre, ill be sure to email around the pre-release to anyone that wants it once its finished so i can get some more CC and hopefully show you guys that the other tracks are more 8bit more dance.

Why do you have to classify yourself as a genre? (Not that "8-bit" is a genre anyway) yes it's good to be able to market it to a certain group I suppose, but you've seen what happened here. People who are into a specific genre/style/subcategory can be pretty pretty picky and defensive about what does and doesn't fall into their idea of what that genre is (ie. this thread).
Why do you need to put a label onto it? Is it to market it to a certain sector of the public? Once you have music ready to be shared, put it where you think people will discover it, and hopefully like it, and let it speak for itself without pigeonholing it - plenty of other people will do that for you.

Artists in other genres do things unrelated to their music to get their point across, whether humourous or otherwise. Lady Gaga with her "scandalous" costumes and filmclips is a prime example. Everyone tries to create and maintain an image when they are on stage (frequently with a very different stage persona to their actual persona), not just chip musicians. It may be true that a lot of chip artists (especially - as godinpants said - in Sydney) have somewhat less serious personas that are funnier and more out there, but that doesn't make their music any less good, but it can make people stop and turn around and listen to what they're doing instead of going outside for a cigarette when someone pulls out a gameboy.

on the topic of seriousness, i think that people should approach music in whichever way they choose purely because of the subjective nature of music. people do it for a variety of different reasons in a variety of different ways, if one artist wants to take themselves alittle more seriously or another wants to push the comical side of things and have a bit more fun then good on them, provided people are making music i think the way in which they approach it should not matter, whether it be chip or another genre. sounds gay but, have fun and approach your music in whichever you can make this happen

But onto a point, as everyone said the beginning was a little useless, it would have been really cool if you had some of your own music, or even a song of storms cover that you quickly whipped up. Show the pople what YOU are about.
Also maybe a  more '8-bit' heavy song would have been a better choice, I listened to the demo you have on your facebook and it's some prime stuff.

I for one, will listen to your EP album Pre-release thingy or whatever you were promoting.

likeluke wrote:

just look at nullsleep or starscream; their live shows will have accompanying visuals, but they're not necessary for them to be powerful live, OR to get their art across (even though it certainly does bring it to an amazing new plateau). it could certainly be construed that they take themselves seriously to some degree, and look at what they're accomplishing.

Again though, that's taking the art seriously, not themselves. Nullsleep and Starscream have a massive sense of humour, even though their 'personal branding' is srs bsns. I think the point is when you take yourselves too seriously, it can seem a little po-faced and pretentious. I felt that a little from the "oh hai we're just chilling in the garden" bit at the beginning of this video, didn't really have a meaning IMO.

that's true indeed. i was about to take this thread in a mildly meta direction ("IF ART IS AN EXTENSION OF ONESELF THAN MUSTN'T WE BLAH BLAH FRUITCUP ETC."), but realized i would probably have to take myself fairly srsly to want to take it that far.
in any case, i agree that you don't need to treat yourself more importantly than need be as an artist, otherwise you just turn into sort of a prick; the point i was trying to make was simply that chip artists as a whole don't need to rely on wackiness or humor to get the full message of their art across.
as for the beginning of the video, i reiterate that i would have been more alright with it without the song of storms playing.

i'm also wondering if this crazy thread is at all the response that triforce was expecting.

Like a few people here, I don't think it really has much to do with "8 bit".  I was waiting though high end digital piano for something to say "hey this is made on an 8bit computer" and nothing except a few background sounds stuck out.  And I agree on the dance factor too - most of it just doesn't seem to sound dancey!  More slow and somber.  Just sayin'.  "8bit" + "Dance" isn't how I'd describe the music in your video at all.

Don't take that the wrong way - the production values are high, the girl cute, it's always nice to see a DMG integrated into a mix instead of emulated and I'd happily see you play if it sounded as good live.  You should do some vocals and straight DMG stuff!!  That'd be great to hear in AU :-)

ps. Nice DMG mod.