How much do you guys enjoy chiptune? (Page 4 of 4)

I probably should have made this more clear, but I only referenced skrillex as a stand in for brostep in general

what I was trying to figure out was why this track in particular somehow made brostep (an aesthetic with a pretty big stigma attached to it here AND elsewhere) palatable for an audience that very often defines itself in opposition to the mainstream, brostep included. in this case, it's fine if the aesthetic referenced isn't everyone's cup of tea, SO LONG AS it's made on an NES

yet the opposite situation, in which a mainstream producer uses chiptune sounds in an otherwise modern-sounding track is pretty universally frowned upon by the community. honestly, both situations are pandering -- one of them just happens to pander to us in the way that we like, so it's excused

again, I really don't mean to slight the track (I think it's really awesome honestly) but I think a big reason why one situation is considered "chiptune" and the other isn't is based around the word itself -- it's obviously not just an aesthetic, because if it were, then we'd be totally fine with producers using chip sounds in tracks everywhere. "methodology" seems like a better word for it, but if that's the case then, assuming that the methodology involves voluntarily limiting yourself to obsolete technology, a lot of music falls under it. it's probably something like a methodology applied toward a specific aesthetic or something weird like that

and yeah this veers dangerously close to "what IS chiptune" but this kind of scene-wide self-evaluation is what allows growth -- I see the progression of dubstep as dubstep -> brostep -> trap -> future bass, and as (hugely) simplistic that model might be, I REALLY like where it ended up! and I think the huge stigma attached to brostep and its artists really pushed everyone within the genre to expand it to where skrillex is now making tropical beach pop (which has its own stigma (which creates its own evolution)). NOT TO MENTION outside artists coming in and very blatantly ripping off specific aesthetic references for their own artistic ends like purity ring, who made really deep, textured synthy bass music and threw trap beats underneath which created its own offshoot

but when I see members of the community talking about how edm producers using chip sounds is bad, while I see where the sentiment comes from, I do think that chiptune risks stagnancy if that kind of production is universally scorned -- I kind of see it as an opportunity for a collaborative affair where we can bring the aesthetic into cool new places. like if anamanaguchi made their power-punk stuff and other power-punk bands were like "yo fuck these guys they're just cribbing our style for VIDEO GAMES" they wouldn't have gotten anywhere

going back to the question, I wouldn't say I "enjoy" chiptune as much as I want to listen to it after I've jumped forward in time 10 years? a lot of the "big" artists that seemingly "graduated" from chiptune are doing really interesting things, and it'll be cool to see what happens to the scene after the video game associations are removed and the methodology stays

yeah I meant purity in a more general sense of what fits under the umbrella of "chiptune" and what doesn't, I only used myself as an example because I've been doin' INTROSPECTION YO

Last edited by spacetownsavior (Feb 10, 2016 11:53 pm)

Maybe I'm  projecting my own views and reception of all this stuff onto the other listeners. Maybe the things I said only apply to me.

I think that may be more related to the stigma attached to the mainstream music industry in general. And I doubt those producers would call what they put out "chipmusic". It's pop. If they don't call it that, why should we?

As for anam'n'guchi and etc.. who's to say some powerpunkers /didn't/ say such things? It's happened before in the past with other types of music. Look at nu metal. pop punk. Gospel music, even. They're all still a thing, and they're still developing, despite purists crying boohoo.

in the end, just do what you want. Dont let arbitrary labelers get you down. If you want to call it chipmusic, then do so. If not, don,t. It's more than an aesthetic. More than a methodology. It transcends those things. It doesn't have to be massively appealing to be chipmusic. It doesn't have to even be good...

Edit: to tho topic.. ive found myself not enjoying gameboy stuff as much as i used to. I must be getting old. My ears canbarely  handle it ;-;

Last edited by SketchMan3 (Feb 11, 2016 1:08 am)

Two things:

Without violating a certain amount of personal confidence there may have been, Chibi herself was worried that people would find Kyunstep pretentious. She was surprised by the positive reaction and the rest is history. It basically shut the Blip Fest forever.

When we wonder about software and hardware used, it is the same as guitarists checking out each others' kit, to a fault. I can learn Protracker and Octamed and collect all kinds of Amiga kit until my wife throws me out, but the music I make will still sounds like me. No matter how much we learn about technique, styles, and genres, we can't help sounding like ourselves, but that's a good thing.

I recently asked Nile Rodgers on Twitter if his most famous Stratocaster had a tremolo to see if he blocked, bolted, or floated it, and I realized ten seconds after I sent it just what a useless question that is for me: Nile's sound is almost entirely from his hands, which are too different from mine to dream of copying, so I need different equipment to sound like him. Nile answered me anyway, turns out it's a hardtail... my point being that he freely gives away all his "secrets" because nobody has a chance in hell of copying him.

Last edited by chunter (Feb 11, 2016 2:06 am)