Chipmusic and Punk-Aesthetics (Page 3 of 5)

Why would someone do that? I'm just saying, it sounds counter productive to impose such limitations on such virtuosic work. Sounds dumb.

Last edited by breakphase (Nov 24, 2016 8:26 pm)

Uh, Anyway, what I'm getting at is, what you are describing is radical, aggressive simplification. Even though the score may be complex, a Commodore 64 is an absurdly limited system, compared to what you can buy these days.

if someone came up to me (as a normal person), and said, "I've made a musical masterpiece on par with Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, entirely on a 25 year old Nintendo gameboy" I would think they were weird, and borderline scary. Why would you use a musical instrument which is so hilariously simple, and outdated, to compose something like that?

We are living in a time when technology has made it possible for one person to compose and score works of limitless complexity, from anywhere. For there to be a group of people who -- instead of using the readily available, fast, and cheap Mac/PC solutions -- seek out obsolete video game systems, which are sort of flakey, and severely limited in terms of music and technology -- this seems to me to make a very strong statement. Almost pathological. It's such a strong rejection of modern music techniques.

If you're a geek who's been programming this technology since it was cutting edge, I guess that's one thing. But I know most of us are not like that. So it's hard for me to believe that making Chip Music is not a rebellious act, in one form or another, for most of us. It's a rejection of something.

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all I said about sharing source materials, is that it invites participation, and makes it accessible. Unlike, for instance, a Dubstep artist who keeps his setup totally secret, or a band who's music only sounds right in a huge stadium that you will never play in, Or a studio band that makes nuanced, amazing, but over-produced, recorded music.

I'd also like to suggest to you the possibility that rebellion is already encoded within chipmusic

Last edited by breakphase (Nov 26, 2016 6:14 am)

I guess that's my point. Most musical composers and producers since forever have been creating to relax or entertain others and themselves. I don't see many in chip having different motivations that that. Which is okay with me. There is totally a place and time for it, and that's most places and most times.
Most of the music I choose to attend live (that isn't chip) is hardcore/punk. Its a different place that most others, a different motivation. Making statements shouldn't make enemies, you know? If the person making the statement is reasonable (which is increasingly rare), then it shouldn't be contentious as much as it should create positive dissonance.

Maybe that's the two big differences:
Does our music offer the opportunity to create cognitive harmony, the reinforcing of cultural values?
Or does our music offer the opportunity to create cognitive dissonance, the questioning of cultural values?

I think a lot about these sort of things, and I might be taking this conversation in a different direction than intended

I don't know if Chiptune is intrinsically punk, though I think for a lot of people (myself included) it holds some kind of punk-connection. Personally, I think the connection comes from both the D.I.Y. aspect, the musical/artistic limitations, and the community associated with it.

...or we're all just sad nerds who just wanna be cool...

Last edited by Starshine (Dec 19, 2016 3:10 pm)

******* self censorship ******

Last edited by Ermangaver (Dec 21, 2016 1:08 pm)

I thought it was an insightful and well-worded post actually!

I thought it was a good post as well. I think you were saying that people are unaware of their own motivations, or possible messages in their own music? I absolutely agree with that. There's so much that we basically take for granted in modern society.

Last edited by breakphase (Dec 22, 2016 11:45 pm)