likeluke
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brooklyn!
godinpants wrote:
likeluke wrote:

i don't think taking oneself seriously as a musician is a problem here. to say that "we know chipmusic is ridiculous" sort of keeps us in this "revenge of the nerds"-esque way of thinking of what we do; "yeah, this shit is really nerdy and not quite socially acceptable, so what?" why not take ourselves seriously enough to tell the world "this is actually a really awesome thing we do, all appearances aside"? instead of affirming--or straight up relishing in--the outsider nature of chip, we need to take ourselves at least SLIGHTLY seriously as musicians; otherwise, chip might as well be wizard rock or nerdcore. (no offense to wizard rock or nerdcore enthusiasts on the board.)

I think there's a difference between taking yourself seriously and taking your music seriously.
i take my music seriously, enough to spend a lot on it for vinyl/transport/instrumentation all that, to put my time and hardwork into it, to get in fights with my girlfriend over touring.
What i dont take seriously is myself when dealing with my music, based off album covers im half man, half whale. i wear home made godinpants t shirts and strange hats(not so much lately on that one). and i think the attitude is largely the same in a lot of other people.
i know 10k takes incredible pride in the production values of his music, ive seen mixing/recording going down. but on stage, its almost like the music is a vehicle for comedy in between and during songs.
abortifacient gets all dressed up in corpse paint and ken dole shirts, adamgetsawesome still uses a picture of himself as a cardboard robot, even anamanaguchi do some really hi-fi recording, and combine it with art from paul robertson, who himself does some amazing drawings that just cannot be taken seriously.

I think having that space really helps people engage with what you're doing, it makes things memorable and more enjoyable.

i think i see what you mean, and agree that it helps bridge a gap; this sort of implies, however, that if you're NOT doing something ironically silly while playing live, people won't "get it". i think that really depends on the artist.
for example, i'm actually IN anamanaguchi (just fyi ;p), and i agree that the art we use is often completely crazy and indeed can't be taken totally seriously. but it's also serving the purpose of visually expressing what's going on, which, as i said, is bridging a sort of gap for people who come to a show or download our records, as our music could often be described as "over the top". the same could be said of 10k to an extent; were his music and live shows not so crazy or out of the ordinary, it wouldn't be serving the same purpose for him to be so comical.
i feel like your example won't necessarily apply across the board to all chip artists, either. just look at nullsleep or starscream; their live shows will have accompanying visuals, but they're not necessary for them to be powerful live, OR to get their art across (even though it certainly does bring it to an amazing new plateau). it could certainly be construed that they take themselves seriously to some degree, and look at what they're accomplishing.
my point is, for music that isn't itself overly comical or grotesque (in the sherwood anderson, exaggerated sense), there's nothing wrong with taking yourself or your art seriously. hell, for a lot of people, the antics/art that you and i pull on stage or online respectively aren't even necessary to help an audience get engaged! but i totally agree that it helps, it just depends on your own music.

likeluke
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brooklyn!

and i guess at this point i should say something about the video. not bad, BUT

-doesn't focus enough on the music, and if you're aiming for a chip music audience specifically, or if that's what you want to show a NON-chip audience, then it doesn't focus enough on that aspect in the music you do show.
-you really don't need the song of storms bit at the beginning, it just seems out of place with what it's accompanying and distracts from your own music. should probably just have your own music playing for the whole video, and by the way
-the whole video could be shorter. to expect to hold someone's attention for that long is unfair (and i really hate that i believe that myself).
-frankly i don't see any reason you NEED to label yourself as an "8-bit band", why not just discuss your music for what it is as opposed to one instrument in it? i understand that being chip sets you apart to some degree, but the music can really speak for itself, and you can back it up.

calmdownkidder
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Liverpool, UK
likeluke wrote:

just look at nullsleep or starscream; their live shows will have accompanying visuals, but they're not necessary for them to be powerful live, OR to get their art across (even though it certainly does bring it to an amazing new plateau). it could certainly be construed that they take themselves seriously to some degree, and look at what they're accomplishing.

Again though, that's taking the art seriously, not themselves. Nullsleep and Starscream have a massive sense of humour, even though their 'personal branding' is srs bsns. I think the point is when you take yourselves too seriously, it can seem a little po-faced and pretentious. I felt that a little from the "oh hai we're just chilling in the garden" bit at the beginning of this video, didn't really have a meaning IMO.

cTrix
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Australia

Additive dissolves (or screen operator overlays?) a little over the top - I can also see CMOS scanning mismatches with your lighting (but then it's my job to spot such things! Even the Red does it).  The quality holds ok as a promo - it is generally shot well in that Canon DSLR + entry level prime lenses way. Although I'd almost just start it at the 30 second mrk.  The start section doesn't establish anything - sooooo you be smokin' cigga's, drinking some beers and stroking some hair!  It doesn't say anything.  Plus it looks like it's got a Magic Bullet color correction preset on it.  But then you hit the studio and the talent and production values are instantly obvious.  To me, that's what I want to see.

Like a few people here, I don't think it really has much to do with "8 bit".  I was waiting though high end digital piano for something to say "hey this is made on an 8bit computer" and nothing except a few background sounds stuck out.  And I agree on the dance factor too - most of it just doesn't seem to sound dancey!  More slow and somber.  Just sayin'.  "8bit" + "Dance" isn't how I'd describe the music in your video at all.

Don't take that the wrong way - the production values are high, the girl cute, it's always nice to see a DMG integrated into a mix instead of emulated and I'd happily see you play if it sounded as good live.  You should do some vocals and straight DMG stuff!!  That'd be great to hear in AU :-)

ps. Nice DMG mod.

likeluke
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brooklyn!
calmdownkidder wrote:
likeluke wrote:

just look at nullsleep or starscream; their live shows will have accompanying visuals, but they're not necessary for them to be powerful live, OR to get their art across (even though it certainly does bring it to an amazing new plateau). it could certainly be construed that they take themselves seriously to some degree, and look at what they're accomplishing.

Again though, that's taking the art seriously, not themselves. Nullsleep and Starscream have a massive sense of humour, even though their 'personal branding' is srs bsns. I think the point is when you take yourselves too seriously, it can seem a little po-faced and pretentious. I felt that a little from the "oh hai we're just chilling in the garden" bit at the beginning of this video, didn't really have a meaning IMO.

that's true indeed. i was about to take this thread in a mildly meta direction ("IF ART IS AN EXTENSION OF ONESELF THAN MUSTN'T WE BLAH BLAH FRUITCUP ETC."), but realized i would probably have to take myself fairly srsly to want to take it that far. tongue
in any case, i agree that you don't need to treat yourself more importantly than need be as an artist, otherwise you just turn into sort of a prick; the point i was trying to make was simply that chip artists as a whole don't need to rely on wackiness or humor to get the full message of their art across.
as for the beginning of the video, i reiterate that i would have been more alright with it without the song of storms playing.

i'm also wondering if this crazy thread is at all the response that triforce was expecting.

Koala Kids!
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Toronto, ONT

I feel SO bad for triforce.
He has  spanwed the great discussion of how we should behave as chipmusicians.

But onto a point, as everyone said the beginning was a little useless, it would have been really cool if you had some of your own music, or even a song of storms cover that you quickly whipped up. Show the pople what YOU are about.
Also maybe a  more '8-bit' heavy song would have been a better choice, I listened to the demo you have on your facebook and it's some prime stuff.

I for one, will listen to your EP album Pre-release thingy or whatever you were promoting.

Triforce
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Sydney

@likeluke haha yeah definitely not the response i was expecting but im really happy everyone has chimed in (whether positive or negative) once again every has very valid points, my question is to you guys, if its not 8bit or dance, what genre could you pin this under? A ongoing problem i have had is trying to put this under a certain genre, ill be sure to email around the pre-release to anyone that wants it once its finished so i can get some more CC and hopefully show you guys that the other tracks are more 8bit more dance. This track was definitely not the best for the promo as it is quite dramatic, very different to our other songs and without doubt lacking both 8bit and dance

on the topic of seriousness, i think that people should approach music in whichever way they choose purely because of the subjective nature of music. people do it for a variety of different reasons in a variety of different ways, if one artist wants to take themselves alittle more seriously or another wants to push the comical side of things and have a bit more fun then good on them, provided people are making music i think the way in which they approach it should not matter, whether it be chip or another genre. sounds gay but, have fun and approach your music in whichever you can make this happen

danimal cannon
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buffalo, NY

I think you're over thinking everything.

ant1
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uhajdafdfdfa

video had you and your msuic and some info in it!

dosPrompt
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Melbourne, Australia
Triforce wrote:

if its not 8bit or dance, what genre could you pin this under? A ongoing problem i have had is trying to put this under a certain genre, ill be sure to email around the pre-release to anyone that wants it once its finished so i can get some more CC and hopefully show you guys that the other tracks are more 8bit more dance.

Why do you have to classify yourself as a genre? (Not that "8-bit" is a genre anyway) yes it's good to be able to market it to a certain group I suppose, but you've seen what happened here. People who are into a specific genre/style/subcategory can be pretty pretty picky and defensive about what does and doesn't fall into their idea of what that genre is (ie. this thread).
Why do you need to put a label onto it? Is it to market it to a certain sector of the public? Once you have music ready to be shared, put it where you think people will discover it, and hopefully like it, and let it speak for itself without pigeonholing it - plenty of other people will do that for you.

likeluke wrote:

the point i was trying to make was simply that chip artists as a whole don't need to rely on wackiness or humor to get the full message of their art across.

Artists in other genres do things unrelated to their music to get their point across, whether humourous or otherwise. Lady Gaga with her "scandalous" costumes and filmclips is a prime example. Everyone tries to create and maintain an image when they are on stage (frequently with a very different stage persona to their actual persona), not just chip musicians. It may be true that a lot of chip artists (especially - as godinpants said - in Sydney) have somewhat less serious personas that are funnier and more out there, but that doesn't make their music any less good, but it can make people stop and turn around and listen to what they're doing instead of going outside for a cigarette when someone pulls out a gameboy.

likeluke
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brooklyn!
dosprompt wrote:
likeluke wrote:

the point i was trying to make was simply that chip artists as a whole don't need to rely on wackiness or humor to get the full message of their art across.

Artists in other genres do things unrelated to their music to get their point across, whether humourous or otherwise. Lady Gaga with her "scandalous" costumes and filmclips is a prime example. Everyone tries to create and maintain an image when they are on stage (frequently with a very different stage persona to their actual persona), not just chip musicians. It may be true that a lot of chip artists (especially - as godinpants said - in Sydney) have somewhat less serious personas that are funnier and more out there, but that doesn't make their music any less good, but it can make people stop and turn around and listen to what they're doing instead of going outside for a cigarette when someone pulls out a gameboy.

again, i understand completely, and have never said that people shouldn't utilize a live element in order to give a full experience. that was never the debate here, nor was it whether or not it cheapens the music it accompanies. the example you give of lady gaga falls close to my example of nullsleep or starscream, who indeed don't take themselves fully seriously, but do take their art seriously. it just seemed to me mildly implied from godinpants that the chip scene shouldn't take itself seriously at all, but i think i'm on the same page as he is/you are/the scene is.

10k
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nɐ˙ɯoɔ˙ʎǝupʎs

I totally get what both camps are saying on this topic. But, could it just be that Australia breeds different kinds of people (punters, and as a result, artists) than the USA? If artists and punters possibly have different sets of goals/ideals they live by in their local cliques, then we would always have different views about it when we jump on a forum like this.

TRIFORCEPROMO.mov

godinpants
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hardcore, Australia
likeluke wrote:

it just seemed to me mildly implied from godinpants that the chip scene shouldn't take itself seriously at all, but i think i'm on the same page as he is/you are/the scene is.

I dont think i ever said we shouldn't take ourselves seriously at all.

i think i will agree with 10k that it could come down to cultural differences, Australia does have an attitude of needing to be able to make joke about yourself.

Probably this could branch off into it's own thread if you want to go deeper into chip behavioural studies.


Sorry for throwing your train off the rails triforce.

likeluke
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brooklyn!
godinpants wrote:
likeluke wrote:

it just seemed to me mildly implied from godinpants that the chip scene shouldn't take itself seriously at all, but i think i'm on the same page as he is/you are/the scene is.

I dont think i ever said we shouldn't take ourselves seriously at all.

i think i will agree with 10k that it could come down to cultural differences, Australia does have an attitude of needing to be able to make joke about yourself.

Probably this could branch off into it's own thread if you want to go deeper into chip behavioural studies.


Sorry for throwing your train off the rails triforce.

as i said before, it SEEMED implied, but i think we're pretty eye to eye at this point, don't think further investigation is required. i'd go along with misconstrued statements via philosophical arguments not face to face, as well as something getting lost in translation from AUS to US. but who knows how this crazy scene works!

Koala Kids!
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Toronto, ONT

An image is part of any artist, you need some sort of image to be successful, whether it be taking yourself not seriously at all or pulling the lady gaga route and being so out there and in your own world it doesn't even matter.

E U C A R Y O T E
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Anynowhere

And that leaves us with the only important thing: being honest with your music. I'm getting really fed up with bands focusing only on adopting the memes and gimmicks of mainstream music thinking this will make them look better, or pro. I totally relate to Godinpants' idea of not taking yourself seriously, and perhaps I may be right in nuancing it with: stop taking your musical stardom so fucking seriously.

@Triforce: whether there's enough chips in your sound or not, I personally can't care less; however I've had a quick look at your tumblr page - http://triforcesydney.tumblr.com/ - you guys look all cool and cute on your photos and promo video, but where's the music? Presenting yourself as a musician with images instead of music makes you seem very vain.