jmc1987
Offline
Washington, PA

Hey folks,

I've put out 2 EPs now of my LSDJ-backed guitar music under the name Portopak at http://portopak.bandcamp.com.

In case that description I just provided isn't evidence enough, I really have a hard time trying to describe my music or come up with an accurate RIYL list of artists. The first EP I called "chiptune punk," because it seemed to fit okay for most of the tracks, but my second release doesn't really follow the same style.

Anyone have any suggestions for either an appropriate genre-labeling or RIYL?

And hell, while I'm at it, how does the new EP, "Only Nineteen-Ninety-Nine," sound to everyone? I'm really happy with the production compared to the first one.

D3LL
Offline
Florida
jmc1987 wrote:

Hey folks,

I've put out 2 EPs now of my LSDJ-backed guitar music under the name Portopak at http://portopak.bandcamp.com.

In case that description I just provided isn't evidence enough, I really have a hard time trying to describe my music or come up with an accurate RIYL list of artists. The first EP I called "chiptune punk," because it seemed to fit okay for most of the tracks, but my second release doesn't really follow the same style.

Anyone have any suggestions for either an appropriate genre-labeling or RIYL?

And hell, while I'm at it, how does the new EP, "Only Nineteen-Ninety-Nine," sound to everyone? I'm really happy with the production compared to the first one.

If you look at the Wikipedia page for chipmusic, then look around through similar genres (usually at the ends of articles) you should find a whole lot of specific genre names/labels.  I can't specifically recall names, but I remember seeing names similar to what you describe.

SketchMan3
Offline
NC in the US of America

Rock? Pop? When in doubt: IDM

Last edited by SketchMan3 (Mar 11, 2014 3:38 am)

jmc1987
Offline
Washington, PA
D3LL wrote:

If you look at the Wikipedia page for chipmusic, then look around through similar genres (usually at the ends of articles) you should find a whole lot of specific genre names/labels.  I can't specifically recall names, but I remember seeing names similar to what you describe.

I guess Nintendocore looks to be the closest, but I'm still not entirely on board with that. Yeah, there are guitars involved, but I don't think it's hard enough to have anything with the "-core" suffix.

SketchMan3 wrote:

Rock? Pop? When in doubt: IDM

Rock is usually what I end up filing it under for iTunes and such. IDM seems weird for me, because my whole intent was to make something with LSDJ that's not really danceable music and I'm also too self-deprecating and feel too pretentious to label anything I do as "intelligent." Honestly, most electronic music labeling doesn't make much sense to me at all, which is probably why I'm having this labeling conundrum.

Maybe I should just petition to have Portopak labeled a subgenre. Kind of like how Primus has it's own genre in ID3 tags. I'm sure I could get like... 5 people behind that.

godinpants
Offline
hardcore, Australia

deleted

Last edited by godinpants (May 14, 2020 10:46 pm)

Iron Curtain
Offline
Brooklyn, NY, USA

I describe my music as "8-bit" for whenever people to whom I give my biz cards are confused when I tell them I'm a "chip musician".

herr_prof
Offline
Unsubscribe

donk rock

donotrunwithpixels
Offline
Swansea, UK

Iron Curtain has business cards.

This fact makes me so happy.

The Silph Scope
Offline
Riverside, CA
jmc1987 wrote:

I guess Nintendocore looks to be the closest, but I'm still not entirely on board with that. Yeah, there are guitars involved, but I don't think it's hard enough to have anything with the "-core" suffix

Nintendocore seems to be one of those terms that gets thrown around incorrectly too often to where it  loses all its meaning.

I only listened to one of your songs but I'd say "chiptune rock" is sufficient.

Last edited by The Silph Scope (Mar 11, 2014 3:34 pm)

The Silph Scope
Offline
Riverside, CA

.

Last edited by The Silph Scope (Mar 11, 2014 3:32 pm)

Limitbreak
Offline
Arizona
herr_prof wrote:

donk rock

Jake Allison
Offline
Tulsa, OK

chiptune is not really a genre, at least to me
its a means to an end

jmc1987
Offline
Washington, PA
Jake Allison wrote:

chiptune is not really a genre, at least to me
its a means to an end

I like that. I pretty much started learning LSDJ because I thought the concept of chiptune was really cool and I wanted to start getting back into playing music, but didn't have the time or energy to put together a band. I remember first seeing Anamanaguchi live years ago (probably 2007 or 2008) at a festival I was doing video work for and it was just two guys playing against an iPod (either this was before the full band was fleshed out or they didn't want to travel with everyone and equipment to a "festival" held in a church in nowheresville West Virginia). It was amazing to me that someone could make music that way, but I had no clue they were actually using an NES to create the sounds.

When I wanted to make music again last year, learning LSDJ seemed like a better idea than just fiddling with GarageBand or some other program. I liked the idea of replacing a band with a GameBoy and only having to work around my own schedule to start working on new material. A GameBoy can't argue with you or have its ego get in the way of having fun musically like the "bands" I played with in high school. So, a means to an end really does make sense there. Plus, I still play the same guitar I've owned since I was 13 years old (though I did some upgrades between the two EPs) and the GameBoy Pocket I use I bought with my birthday money when I was 11.

Making music with two things from my childhood is incredibly fulfilling. I just have no clue how to properly promote it or whether or not people will actually enjoy it. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I would enjoy my music had I not made it, but I'm having fun doing it. I'm a filmmaker as well (my biggest release was a little microbudget film called DIE AND LET LIVE that was fortunate enough to get in stores nationwide, right as the DVD market completely dried up and took down the distributor with it), but it's been harder to get projects off the ground once adult life kicked in for myself and my collaborators. Making chiptune music allows me to have some kind of a creative outlet while struggling to get another project off the ground.

Last edited by jmc1987 (Mar 12, 2014 1:53 am)

Jansaw
Offline
Canada

If you want to try and find some discussions about "what is chiptune", I'm sure there are about 349802 on here.
But yes, this can be both a very fulfilling and unfulfilling style/meanstoanend/form/medium/donkrock. but I like it so I stay:)

sleepytimejesse
Offline
Youngstown, OH
Limitbreak wrote:
herr_prof wrote:

donk rock

Iron Curtain
Offline
Brooklyn, NY, USA
donotrunwithpixels wrote:

Iron Curtain has business cards.

This fact makes me so happy.

The fact that you are happy makes me happy. smile