We should make every major city (size and population requirements coming soon) a hub for lo-fi, old school chiptune music. And a database of registered members. So those people can travel to any hub and help be apart of the madness. A couple of local peeps can organize hangouts, demoparties, bake sales, shows/events, etc what have you. We can even have secret locations where passwords are required on entry (optional!) Its 2012 people, we need to start making stuff WAY COOLER and create a mysterious interest that will attract others to be a part of what makes this type of culture great.
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New York City
O2star wrote:
I really would love to see chiptune artists break into electronic musical festivals. I don't see why that wouldn't be a good thing and/or work mixed in with regular electronic musicians.
This has happened many times already, for years.
Last edited by akira^8GB (Oct 1, 2012 6:29 pm)
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England
akira^8GB wrote:
O2star wrote:I really would love to see chiptune artists break into electronic musical festivals. I don't see why that wouldn't be a good thing and/or work mixed in with regular electronic musicians.
This has happened many times already, for years.
i probably play more shows with other electronic/lofi musicians than i do chipmusicians. jeebs this year i supported r stevie moore but my town has a pretty neet lofielectonicdronepsych thing going on.
Last edited by Jellica (Oct 1, 2012 7:05 pm)
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Unsubscribe
Just stop worrying about lowercase chipmusicians, and focus on being a great capital C chipmusician.
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Holland
Let's just think less about these things and enjoy making and listening the music we all love.
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great, thought provoking post.
stimulating and clarifying.
have tried and failed three times to write a worthy response.
four, even.
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Westfield, NJ
akira^8GB wrote:
O2star wrote:I really would love to see chiptune artists break into electronic musical festivals. I don't see why that wouldn't be a good thing and/or work mixed in with regular electronic musicians.
This has happened many times already, for years.
this might be happening in Europe but I don't see it in the great USA.
I think the problem I'm experiencing currently, which is not specific to chipmusic but effects us all, is this: currently there are two types of musicians that show promoters are aware of:
1. live musicians - this necessitates either some type of instrument that is performed on or singing
2. DJs - this is strictly someone spinning music they didn't make
What most promoters are not aware of, is that one can make and perform electronic music in a live setting without DJing. Even live improvisation (like guys playing with MPCs) is still relatively unknown to most promoters.
Basically what I'm saying is that if you tell the average show promoter that you are an electronic musician but *not* a DJ, they will give you a puzzled expression. They don't know there is such a thing.
So what I've typically seen is that the only shows that are open to chipmusicians are usually just the chipmusic specific ones or ones that are dedicated to electronic improv / DIY type stuff. Or you can get on a bill that is specifically for electronic music if you definitely play dance music and you definitely don't have gaps between your songs.
*Or* if you do have vocals then you are fine, you fall into the first category.
So I think we still have a task, a barrier to overcome, at least in the states: informing people that you can actually produce and perform original electronic music, live, without instruments or singing, and that it does not make you a DJ, you are actually an electronic musician and that is a thing and it can totally be entertaining and worthwhile in a live setting.
Just my $0.02.
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San Diego, CA
gwEm wrote:
But this is the interesting thing, most people know 8bit now, and understand what it is. Few people are really amazed now by people performing on a Gameboy or mixing on two Ataris.
You know, you'd be surprised at how often this is untrue. Not that that's a bad thing or anything 
As far as THE FUTURE goes, I want to see more multi in my multimedia. Having co-opted hardware previously made for playing videogames, I don't see what's stopping us from creating audiovisual experiences that don't follow the traditional model of performer vs. audience. We're in a really good place to deliver the concert model of THE FUTURE, but for us to do that we have to get rid of old assumptions made about performance.
Example: personally, livestreams atm are kind of boring. You're removing the one thing that brings an audience to a performance--audience/performer feedback loops! But there's nothing preventing things like audience video game sessions or crazy participatory visual things while a performance is happening. I want to see that shit in my livestream, and I really couldn't care less about seeing some dude press buttons while I'm at home. I'm also saying this as a person who totally livestreamed an album release so 
This isn't specific to performance either...we can totally rethink the way we release music into the wild. Putting an album on Bandcamp is SO 2010--releasing a video game with the music as the soundtrack that forces the player to BEAT THE GAME in order to listen to the music is totally IN. (Upcoming Space Town Savior projects may or may not follow this model)
So in conclusion, THE FUTURE
Last edited by spacetownsavior (Oct 1, 2012 9:01 pm)
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NC in the US of America
@Decktonic: Gameboy musicians could use MuddyGB to improvise over the tracks (if they don't do the Live Mode thing).
@Spacetownsavior: I enjoyed that Frostbyte show in which the chatroom served as the audience/performer feedback loop more than the non-chat ones. Yeah.
The "beat the game to listen to the music" concept would be cool. Seems like either the game has to be really really awesome or the music has to be amazing while accompanying at least slightly-above-averagee gameplay for anybody to give it a second glance. You'd have to make sure they know the point of it.
I played through "Donkey Kong Land" 1&2 many times just to hear the musics, but I don't think that was the developers' intention. That result tends to come about by accident.
"This isn't a game: It's a guardian standing between you and the music", That's a cool concept, actually. I've listened to several releases and wished that there was a game to go along with it.
And, actually...
(Upcoming Space Town Savior projects may or may not follow this model)
This is something I have wished for many a time, haha.
Then again, that's taking it back to "video game music" again.
Haha... somebody should release an album on TMNT Talking Turtle sound strips or something. ...
Last edited by SketchMan3 (Oct 1, 2012 9:36 pm)
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CHIPTUNE
There seems to be a second wave coming in Europe. There's a more respectful reception of the whole chip thing. After 10 years it's been pretty normalized. As an artist, it's no longer necessary to go on and on about the technologies. Sure, it's still gimmicky, but artists like Meneo, Dubmood and Henry Homesweet don't seem to be so stuck in the nerd-loop. Right?
If that's true, then the technology-glue that held this community together for the past 10 years, might be losing its effect. If the techno-focus is not there anymore, there's nothing left to hold together the general conflict between chip-as-instrument and chip-as-genre. Or dubstep/EDM and prog-jazz. Or noise and pop.
But I think the technofetish will come back. In the academic world people are talking more about objects again, instead of all that socio-linguistic conceptual blabla (appropriation, nostalgia, zzzzzz). Media archeology, platform studies or even software studies. Less humans -- more machines! Aciiieeeeeed!
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Brunswick, GA USA
Decktonic wrote:
So I think we still have a task, a barrier to overcome, at least in the states: informing people that you can actually produce and perform original electronic music, live, without instruments or singing, and that it does not make you a DJ, you are actually an electronic musician and that is a thing and it can totally be entertaining and worthwhile in a live setting.
Just my $0.02.
This is where I try to avoid making an "America Sucks" rant, I notice similar issues regarding any instrumental performance, in popular opinion it seems to need a context, like a movie or game, because music in its own right can't be handled. 
There are also the worlds of 1) playing what you want to expose people to vs 2) playing what people want to hear.
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São Paulo, Brazil
Subway Sonicbeat wrote:
People are still impressed with that down here.
That's right. Even though we don't have many gigs going on here (and the worst part, all these gigs always have the same three persons: Subway, Droid-on and myself), people who go to these gigs always get a deep, fresh breath on the air of electronic music they never heard before (or had, but are not used to hear it live frequently). And once we at Chippanze always try to change our methodology on making music, I don't think people will get bored in a while.
It was way harder and frightening for me to perform in Berlin and New York, where people are much more used to chipmusic, or low-tech music.
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washington
bryface wrote:
1) the absence of Blip will spur other geographical areas to action.
+9000
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New York City
O2star wrote:
So thats it then? it came and went?
It still happens. We (KeFF, Kodek and I) played Strøm in Copenhagen barely a month ago. To name one.
The problem is, in USA, "electronic music" means Skrillex and deadmau5, and those are the "festivals" you get.
If you want a real, high level electronic music festival near your area, do yourself a favour and go next year to Mutek in Montréal (where, lo and behold, Bubblyfish and Glomag have performed in the past).
Last edited by akira^8GB (Oct 1, 2012 10:42 pm)