OK. First of all, I had nothing to do with this.
Last October on my birthday, my roommate Mike Lerman (a.k.a. Fuckjazzforaminute, and the man at the wheel of Austin's killer Datapop event series) handed me a giftwrapped object of the size and shape typical of what you'd expect from a standard CD jewel case. So far so good. But unwrapping it I realized that there was nothing typical or standard about it, AT ALL. The tracklist on the back of the CD had stuff in there like "Saskrotch: Paper Chase Init_" and "nordloef: Activation Theme" and "IAYD: Reformat The Planet." OBVIOUS JOKE, right? A well-meant prank. Well Mike put it on to prove to me otherwise, and sure enough he had, in fact, who knows how long ago, hatched a secret plan to be revealed on my birthday, to enlist nearly two dozen people from the chip community, for some unfathomable reason, to cover songs from Information Chase, a saccharine and sophomoric EP I'd put out five years ago. And the tracklisting was like a who's-who of the chipmusicians I respect and admire the most, like Random, cTrix, Bud Melvin, nordloef, Sievert, Henry Homesweet, little-scale, Saskrotch, and so on and so on. So it took some time for me to wrap my brain around it, but ultimately I came around to accepting that this thing was real. Five months later, I still am no closer to finding the words to express my awed gratitude, or the mixture of emotions I've been experiencing ever since. It's POSSIBLE that when we got to Coova's track on the comp ("Reformat The Planet"), that I MIGHT have shed a tear. But it was just watery eyes from allergies. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Anyway, Mike pointed out that it's been just about exactly five years since Information Chase was released, which might make a nice occasion to release this thing publicly. So that's what we've done, and that's what we're doing. CDs have just come back from the manufacturer, and will be available for mailorder via the 8bitpeoples shop in the next few days. BUT: anybody coming to Pulsewave tonight will have the first crack at getting their hands on it.
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UPDATE 03/23: now available for ordering at http://8bitpeoples.spinshop.com/details/68787. \o/
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Also I'd like to mention that all profits from the sale of the comp will be going to Japan earthquake & tsunami disaster relief, via the American Red Cross.
I can't thank the artists who particpated in this ridiculous scheme enough, and that includes Julian van Aalderen a.k.a. the C-Men who did the packaging design.
And Mike Lerman, a.k.a. Fuckjazzforaminute, you are a true and genuine friend, and also one crazy motherfucker.
Tracklisting
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01 The J. Arthur Keenes Band: Chase Init_
02 Sievert: Happy Birthday Activation
03 exileFaker: Reformat The Planet (Double Hybrid Rainbow Version)
04 Henry Homesweet: Chase Init_ (Henry Homesweet Remix)
05 Coova: Reformat The Planet
06 TouchBoy: Hexadecimal Genome (Hex-A-Mind Remix)
07 Ten Thousand Free Men And Their Families: Hexadecimal Genome
08 little-scale: Chase Init_
09 The Squarewave Surfers: Reformater la Planète
10 Saskrotch: Paper Chase Init_
11 Maru303: Reformat The Electro (Reformat The Planet Remixxxxxxx)
12 Tonylight: Elkapot Part I
13 glomag & Corset Lore: Particle Charge
14 Random: Reformat The Planet (Random Version)
15 Albino Ghost Monkey: Activation Theme
16 Bud Melvin: Reformat The Back Porch
17 cTrix: Hexadecimal Genome
18 Natty: Reformanatee The Planetee
19 nordloef: Activation Theme
20 Fuckjazzforaminute: The Three Minute Information Chase
21 Magic Hammer: THVNDERCHASE
22 IAYD: Reformat The Planet
23 The Anomaly Quintet: The Information Saunter
