177 Reply by spacetownsavior

(20 replies, posted in Collaborations)

you guys are really paranoid

whatever happened to creative work for creative work's sake? if you don't want to submit anything, don't, but don't go around acting like they're trying to rob you of all your art. I mean, have you guys considered the possibility that these guys may ACTUALLY be in the same dire financial straits as you? and that this MAY simply be an attempt to make a game, rather than make millions of dollars?

I get it; you don't want to be treated like half-rate artists for your work and you want to be taken seriously. maybe you've been burned before on this kind of stuff. but look at what they're asking for -- 45-60 second loops. not an entire orchestral suite that deals with themes of technology in a post-modern age, just loops. that's like two rows of chains in LSDJ.

I'm coming at you as both a musician (who hasn't made very much off his music) and someone who has tried (and is currently trying) to work on small projects like this. people who ask for something like this are trying to channel the spirit of creative collaboration -- they're not trying to make a million dollars with your music and then run off with it. and seriously, what are the chances that they make millions of dollars anyway? there are literally thousands and thousands of games on the iTunes app store -- how many of them are going to make any more than a couple hundred dollars, if that? what happened to the collaborative spirit that helped this community grow so fast? I guess we're so damn good at writing music that we're above fostering an attitude of creativity and collaboration.

they asked wrong--ok. but that's still no reason to get all haughty about our music.

Go to forum: Collaborations

178 Reply by spacetownsavior

(21 replies, posted in Past Events)

I said this on the facebook event, but ShiftyLook is REALLY professional and they should be really good to work with! They might be some of the most professional people I've worked with EVER, and that's kind of amazing considering I got booked for their event literally a day before it.

Go to forum: Past Events

179 Reply by spacetownsavior

(148 replies, posted in General Discussion)

The future (or something like it): http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1778 … rtress.php

Go to forum: General Discussion

180 Reply by spacetownsavior

(148 replies, posted in General Discussion)

goto80 wrote:

But I think the technofetish will come back. In the academic world people are talking more about objects again, instead of all that socio-linguistic conceptual blabla (appropriation, nostalgia, zzzzzz). Media archeology, platform studies or even software studies. Less humans -- more machines! Aciiieeeeeed!

I don't think that the sociological concepts behind this kind of stuff are as unimportant as they seem--it just hasn't been approached with any sort of rigor regarding the relationship between person and object. This is where the things you mentioned come into play (software studies, etc.) and help ground anthropological studies in some sort of object...neither the object nor the person is the main subject of study; rather, the interactions between them are, as it's always been. Technofetishes almost always happen through some sort of filter; it's not simply the person fetishizing and it's not just the object being fetishized, and this filter (which in technology's case is the context in which the technology is viewed) is hella important to look at. The real value in software studies/media archaeology is that they have the potential to break this sector wide open for analysis.

Go to forum: General Discussion

181 Reply by spacetownsavior

(148 replies, posted in General Discussion)

gwEm wrote:

But this is the interesting thing, most people know 8bit now, and understand what it is. Few people are really amazed now by people performing on a Gameboy or mixing on two Ataris.

You know, you'd be surprised at how often this is untrue. Not that that's a bad thing or anything smile

As far as THE FUTURE goes, I want to see more multi in my multimedia. Having co-opted hardware previously made for playing videogames, I don't see what's stopping us from creating audiovisual experiences that don't follow the traditional model of performer vs. audience. We're in a really good place to deliver the concert model of THE FUTURE, but for us to do that we have to get rid of old assumptions made about performance.

Example: personally, livestreams atm are kind of boring. You're removing the one thing that brings an audience to a performance--audience/performer feedback loops! But there's nothing preventing things like audience video game sessions or crazy participatory visual things while a performance is happening. I want to see that shit in my livestream, and I really couldn't care less about seeing some dude press buttons while I'm at home. I'm also saying this as a person who totally livestreamed an album release so hmm

This isn't specific to performance either...we can totally rethink the way we release music into the wild. Putting an album on Bandcamp is SO 2010--releasing a video game with the music as the soundtrack that forces the player to BEAT THE GAME in order to listen to the music is totally IN. (Upcoming Space Town Savior projects may or may not follow this model)

So in conclusion, THE FUTURE

Go to forum: General Discussion

182 Reply by spacetownsavior

(58 replies, posted in Constructive Criticism)

spacetownsavior wrote:

stop reading forum posts. go make music.

Go to forum: Constructive Criticism

183 Reply by spacetownsavior

(19 replies, posted in General Discussion)

*ahem*

san diego exists and we will be attempting to set up more shows! unfortunately, I just started a job, so my show-organizing abilities will be hindered until I stop working overtime, but stay tuned, and I'll definitely keep you in mind for future things!

EDIT: We might actually have a small shindig going on next Tuesday that you would definitely be awesome for if you can swing it! short notice, I know, but as it stands we're playing hour long sets sad

Go to forum: General Discussion

184 Reply by spacetownsavior

(58 replies, posted in Constructive Criticism)

best advice you're ever going to get:

inspiration is overrated. sometimes writing music will suck, and you'll hate it, and it'll be really boring, and you'll have bad ideas for a month straight. it's not like how it is in the movies, where some person is struck with divine inspiration and writes an entire concerto in an afternoon. that's just how life is sometimes. but if you can't get past this, then you probably weren't going to write good music anyway.

best advice you're ever going to get part 2:

stop reading forum posts. go make music. you don't need us to tell you how to make music, and all we're doing is giving you and excuse not to.

Go to forum: Constructive Criticism

185 Reply by spacetownsavior

(34 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Saskrotch wrote:

i'm getting real tired of you guys not backing me up on Rez

dawg chill I literally bought Rez HD because of this

and then I went and listened to the soundtrack from sonic r

because sega and blue skies and yes.

Go to forum: General Discussion

186 Reply by spacetownsavior

(206 replies, posted in Motion Graphics)

http://www.youtube.com/user/LA8BITS

a veritable feast of footage from a recent LA show!

Go to forum: Motion Graphics

187 Reply by spacetownsavior

(14 replies, posted in General Discussion)

http://www.youtube.com/user/LA8BITS

some pretty awesome video of what went down

unfortunately there's a really annoying hiss after every kick in my set -- I was probably vibrating a snare or something...basically, we don't believe in sound checks

Go to forum: General Discussion

188 Reply by spacetownsavior

(41 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

Aeros wrote:

we're not really writing it off - just saying it looks rather silly and we personally would prefer to stick to playing our songs in places where we know people will like them, or at least a place where if we look silly while we're doing it then we're in good company. (although you do have a point, either way we look like idiots)

here's the thing -- the place you're describing is a chiptune show at a venue attended by your friends, and unless you live in New York or a place where that community is already established, that place doesn't exist.

This is kind of what Peter (Swimm) was railing against a while ago -- the attitude that our hobby isn't worth putting out there UNLESS it's greeted with showers of praise and excitement. That's basically a circlejerk. I'm not saying that anyone is obligated to go out there and perform, but the decision shouldn't be made on the basis of whether people will like it or not; that's YOUR job as a performer (and personally, I think the decision should be made on the basis of whether you can deliver a good "argument" for your art). Busking is just another way of doing this, and if done right, it doesn't look silly at all.

Go to forum: Other Hardware

189 Reply by spacetownsavior

(41 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

an0va wrote:

I think a healthy level of selfawareness needs to be practiced when you're taking this stuff to the public. I think within chip (or actually, electronic music overall) it's harder to justify this approach because of the fact that most of the audience doesn't know what you're doing.

Completely agreed. I'm definitely not advocating a crazy, flailing performance. Jumping around and stuff like that almost invites the "all you're doing is hitting buttons" accusation, actually. The thing with public contexts is that you kind of have to be aware of the fact that your presence is either ignored or even unwanted for a lot of people. This means you have to respect the context -- you're ALREADY playing really loud music, jumping around and generally being a jerk isn't going to help any. If, however, you invite the inquisitive people in by letting the music itself do the talking, THEN you can justify why your performance is cool by telling them the deets on chiptune and stuff.

an0va wrote:

  At the stage, people are expecting music regardless of the style and are more prone to get involved. Busking is going out on the front lines to a population not expecting to run into a performer and thus have to be approached way differently, IMO.

I think the discussion comes down to assumptions made in different contexts. The important thing to ask when it comes to performance on a stage is "why is the stage needed?" (This will help answer a lot of questions re: why you like and dislike musical performances on stages (Swedish House Mafia doesn't need a stage to press "play" and fist pump for an hour)).

Most of the time, it's because a staged performance assumes that the audience will be static (relatively) and observe the performance the entire time, while the assumption on the audience's part is that the performer will be doing things that aren't really seen or expected in normal contexts, thus requiring a static and observant audience. What stages do is create a "space" for the performer to do his/her thing unmolested by people that aren't a part of the performance (good performances take advantage of this fact -- that's why people like it when you go crazy on a stage as opposed to busking). This is obviously just a generalization and doesn't apply to every single performance you'll see, but it's a good place to start when thinking about busking or performing in general. I also didn't mean for this to turn into a discussion on performance theory so sorry sad

Go to forum: Other Hardware

190 Reply by spacetownsavior

(41 replies, posted in Other Hardware)

Aeros wrote:
Frostbyte wrote:

It just looks quite silly, in my opinion.

+1. although i'm certain chipbusking is fun, there's a fine line between having fun and being overbearingly weird.

I wouldn't be so concerned with how it "looks," guys. If you're looking at it from an outsider's perspective, what's the difference between being out in public and jumping around with a gameboy and being on a stage and jumping around with a gameboy? I feel WEIRDER on a stage performing with Gameboys because it makes the assumption that I've done something or am skilled enough to have been selected to be there, when I really just asked or was asked. I think we're just going to have to deal with the fact that performing music with old video game systems is always going to look silly, regardless of where it is; might as well take advantage of it. I've busked at multiple conventions (SD Comic-Con and GDC in SF), and those were some of the most well-attended and well-received gigs I've played. Chiptune is pretty much the most portable electronic music that exists, and to write off busking just because it "looks silly" is a little short-sighted.

As far as speakers go, I'm going to put my slip in for the microcube, but if you go for the bass microcube amp, you're (pretty obviously) going to get a better bass sound, if that's what you're into. There aren't very many other good battery-powered amps or speakers out there, unfortunately, but the Microcube series is as good as it will get for your needs.

Go to forum: Other Hardware

191 Reply by spacetownsavior

(5 replies, posted in Releases)

kineticturtle wrote:

My 1 year old son Rowan is dancing to this as we speak. smile

well, I give up

that's probably the cutest thing I've ever been involved in

Go to forum: Releases

192 Topic by spacetownsavior

(5 replies, posted in Releases)

An event involving an arbitrary number of people doing an arbitrary thing has given me an opportunity to release a live set smile

http://spacetownsavior.bandcamp.com/alb … -san-diego

Continuous mix recorded live @ Soda Bar on 8/15/12.

No tracklist because I haven't named all of the tracks yet >_>

EDIT 9/30/12: This album is now offline! Stay tuned for details regarding NEW RELEASES WHAAAT

Go to forum: Releases