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A friend insists that chiptune is obscure and nobody has ever heard of it, and that it's the same as hipsters playing music on cardboard boxes for attention. Unlike the usual argument, they aren't actually arguing that it's "not real music", just that it's not music that's ever been done with genuine interest or effort, and is nothing but obscurity as a result. Discuss.
Last edited by Invisible Robot Hands (Nov 21, 2012 7:56 am)
thread title fix'd.
Last edited by Invisible Robot Hands (Nov 21, 2012 7:57 am)
just that it's not music that's ever been done with genuine interest or effort
i would totally disagree with your friend on this point.
not that there's any shortage of super-basic uncey crap that some kiddo shat out in 15 minutes. but the high-caliber stuff that hits all cylinders of rhythm, melody, harmony, interaction and sound design definitely deserves more attention from abroad.
regardless, so what if it's akin to hipsters playing cardboard boxes? if hipsters find meaning in it, great. my enjoyment of chipmusic isn't determined primarily by external factors like popularity.
so tell me more about the cardboard box scene, who's worth checking out these days
is pop music executed seriously? how about top 40 rock? how about club music? because that would be FUCKING HILARIOUS if so
I choose to believe that it's all some great conceit
the cardboard scene is lame, they're just recycling other styles
Invisible Robot Hands wrote:just that it's not music that's ever been done with genuine interest or effort
i would totally disagree with your friend on this point.
not that there's any shortage of super-basic uncey crap that some kiddo shat out in 15 minutes. but the high-caliber stuff that hits all cylinders of rhythm, melody, harmony, interaction and sound design definitely deserves more attention from abroad.
regardless, so what if it's akin to hipsters playing cardboard boxes? if hipsters find meaning in it, great. my enjoyment of chipmusic isn't determined primarily by external factors like popularity.
so tell me more about the cardboard box scene, who's worth checking out these days
Their argument was sort of going on the claim that it's not done with seriousness, and that if it were, it would be negated because chiptune folks 'only use old hardware for gimmicky reasons to begin with'. Also:
Last edited by Invisible Robot Hands (Nov 21, 2012 8:16 am)
Guys, let's debate on uninformed and underdeveloped opinions.
Chipmusic is only as serious as each artist makes it, just like any other musical medium. Some of us do it recreationally from our bedrooms, others on stages, some try to sell out, some play Fridays after Uni lecture on street corners, and a precious few get to tour seriously. As everyone else has said, it holds true for rock, pop, jazz, whatever.
i'm not going to argue with your friend by proxy. tell him to register here to talk about it himself.
i'm not going to argue with your friend by proxy. tell him to register here to talk about it himself.
Sounds good to me
i'm not going to argue with your friend by proxy. tell him to register here to talk about it himself.
They were uninterested. Close thread pl0x.
banging on boxes: requires almost none to no skill at all. Can be called "artistic statement" if you want to justify lack of skill with subject matter (I wouldn't). you can take it to a more complicated level and have several people bang on different kinds of cardboard and make different rhythms to produce a song. However, we'll go along with the assumption that your friend meant just banging on boxes for attention. I would chose pots and pans, honestly.
chipmusic: requires skill to use LSDJ, NES, SNES, C64, etc. You have to practice to get good at it. So every chip musician that plays live or releases music online is a master of his or her craft (well, most of them, anyways), to put it simply. Then knowledge of the craft is put into use to make a musical piece that expresses the feelings, thoughts, notions and emotions of the musician. Even if the chiptune isn't about either of those, it's still written in a way so that it is pleasant to hear or dance to.
Chipmusic then, isn't just pressing buttons randomly to get attention, but an artistic way of expression. Whether other people will agree or not is not up to us. Every genre and medium of music gets shit every now and then, not just chipmusic. I wouldn't take it too presonally.
Last edited by DotMatrix (Nov 21, 2012 1:12 pm)
I'm not surprised by that attitude at all.
There's three major portrayals of chipmusic on the internet:
1. The YouTube version: "by using my extraordinary technical skills i have been able to make this simplistic machine produce sound. if you listen closely you can almost make out a melody..."
2. The Facebook version: "lolololol sorry i suck so bad but here's a shitty song lolololol i made it on lsdloop for gameboy gdm-001 i'm not very good and i want to apologize constantly lololol sorry sorry listen to my song and share it if you like its not very good lolololol"
3. An artist's website or label: [cover art] [title] [tracklist]
Two of those are immediate and possibly permanent turn-offs. The other is fine but doesn't do anything to explain or promote the scene... which is also fine.