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After months of planning, and a massive effort, the wait is finally over. NoiChan is proud to present FM-POSSIBLE, an epic 37 track masterpiece, crafted by Jredd, CosmoBuggi, and Groovemaster303. This recording was created using VGM Music Maker, and has a runtime of 1:33:27. These familiar sounds from the Sega are bound to bring you squarely back to your childhood, or at least on an epic quest involving ninjitsu and fireballs, adding credibility to the claim that Sega does what NintenDon’t.

You can download this here: http://www.noisechannel.org/nc006

Posted via noisechannel.org

I had the pleasure of meeting Starpilot in person at Nuit Blanche 2011 (Toronto). They definitely broke the mold when they made that guy. In the interest of journalistic integrity and accuracy, I’ve published this interview entirely unedited.

■How long have you been making music?

i’ve been playing music since i was 12. writing music the whole time. never took any lessons. when i was 17 i put together my first recording which consisted of 4 songs that i recorded using a circa 1970s yamaha organ and a 4-track analog recorder. ever since then i’ve been composing and recording and playing music. i’ve played in a few bands, jammed with a bunch of very talented people, recorded and performed a bunch of different types of music, and still ended up solo in the end lol.

it’s kinda funny actually, because i used to play mostly guitar-driven rock music… kinda alternative rock, psychedelic, post-punk, shoegaze, etc etc stuff and i would make techno music as a goof, just something to play for my friends at parties. but over time i realized people tended to be more interested in my electronic music, which i found perplexing because i put less work and effort into it at the time. and now, i’m 26 and i pretty much only make electronic music, although i still compose most of the music on guitar.

■How many instruments can you play?

uh…a bunch i guess….guitar and it’s subsidiaries, keyboards/synth/etc, software/trackers/etc, and i can sing.

■Why did you start making chiptunes? How long have you been doing it?

well, deadbeatblast got me into chiptunes a couple years ago and i was pretty floored by the kinds of sounds these old devices could make. i’ve always had a soft spot for the sounds and graphics my old commodore 64 would make and didn’t even know tracking software existed. i started making music using the gameboy so that i could go beyond playing acoustically on stage. i wanted to play in a band but could never find enough interested and committed people, so i started making my backing tracks in lsdj and playing guitar and singing over top. it was alright, well received, and lots of fun, but equipment problems and sheer boredom made me lose the guitar and vocals pretty much entirely from my act. also, people at electronic music shows tend to be not so interested in hearing screaming punky guitars and david-byrne-crossed-with-billy-corgan-esque vocals.

chipmusic seemed to fit me perfectly because it took my two passions, music and old computers, and mashed them together in this wicked way i had never before conceived of.

and although i don’t feel like a “noob” anymore, i guess i’m still pretty new to chiptunes compared to most of my favourite chiptunists who’ve been doing it for many many years even decades. but, for what i lack in chiptune experience, i gain in years of experience in other methods of creating music. i’m not sure how much that matters though lol.

■How is the chiptune scene in Toronto?

i would rate the chiptune scene in toronto as “decent”. it’s still in it’s early developmental stages i think. lots of great musicians creating awesome stuff here though. we’re in the process of building up the scene right now, putting on regular gigs and doing cross-pollination between indie game developers, 8-bit visual artists, and chiptune musicians. but like i said, it’s still in the early stages. but it’s quite promising and i’m glad to be an integral face in the scene.

■Tell us about your involvement with Bitmasters, how did you meet deadbeatblast?

well, i’ve been good friends with deadbeatblast since high school. i met him in 10th grade when we went to this shitty small-town high school. we both liked music and we both liked to get fucked up and party. i don’t think either of us realized the extent of the other’s abilities at the time and we never had any inkling that our musical endeavours would become what they’ve become. my involvement with bitmasters is actually pretty limited at this point. we used to do a weekly internet show on ustream and i would choose 99% of the music we’d play.

bitmasters is totally deadbeatblast’s brainchild and i’m kinda just there as one of the common faces in the local scene. i input ideas and try to help connect some of the dots (er pixels), but it’s still his baby.

■Where does the passion in your music come from?

i don’t make music necessarily just because i want to, i make it because i have to. i mean, obviously i enjoy it, but music is my only escape. it’s the only thing that keeps me on this planet, keeps me sane enough to communicate and live in the real world. i guess it’s a coping mechanism, and that’s not especially unique. i suspect many people feel the same way about music, whether they play music or compose music or listen to music or masturbate to justin timberlake’s bare chest. music has the ability to envelope our conscious minds, spur imagination, and invoke emotion. i can’t really explain the depths in which music affects my mind and soul.

■What are you hoping to achieve?

while i may have had dreams of being a rock star when i was a teenager, most of that has subsided as the reality of the world started to sink in lol… is anything beyond the journey itself even an obtainable goal? does it even matter? i’m honestly not entirely sure.

i guess in reality all i truly want is to have my music noticed and respected and appreciated. i’d like my audience to keep growing, to have the ability to play gigs in as many different places as possible, and to always keep learning. and if i keep the doors of perception open, i believe i’ll be able to continue to create music for the rest of my life.

i’d love to do more stuff for film projects and am currently building the connections to get into making music for games. i don’t even really care where or how my music gets used or reaches an audience, i love music and i want others to hear my creations.

■Why do you wear a mask when you perform?

i started wearing a mask because i was tired of sweating all over my equipment lol! i get really really hot on stage unfortunately.

■Tell us about the mask.

well, i’m not rich. never have been. so there was no way i was gonna be able to spend much money on it. it’s just made out of old t-shirts that i cut apart and sowed together with hemp twine. nothing special really. after my first time using the mask, i sowed my hat to it cuz my hat would fly off. as many know, i move around A LOT when i perform.

■Do you use drugs or something?

hahaha! actually, yes, i do. but everybody uses drugs. whether it’s alcohol or caffeine or nicotine or weed or cocaine or lsd or prescription pain meds. who the fuck doesn’t do drugs?

and besides, it’s kind of a moot point as i’m a pretty weird eccentric guy anyways. i have been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic with bipolar tendencies and it makes me a bit bugnutty. although i should mention that while it might help musically and creatively, as mental illnesses often do, it also totally sucks balls! it has been a long deep struggle that has held me back in many areas of my life. i’ve spent time in the psych ward, been addicted to drugs, lost friends, blown opportunities, burnt bridges, and been on a plethora of prescribed medications.

■You’re a pretty big guy. How’s your temper?

lol. this is actually a pretty funny question. why do you ask? lol  yea, i guess i can have a bit of a temper. but, i’m not a physically violent person lol. in fact, physically, i’m quite a pussy. but i’m good with words so i can rip a hole in your brain if you piss me off. i don’t really agree with physical violence and see fighting as just a bunch of primitive prick-waving anyway. whenever two guys at a bar wanna get into a brawl, i always wanna say “just whip ‘em out and measure already!” lol. physical violence = obsolete male impulses from 100,000 years ago. smart people use words. that may sound like “the whiney cliché of a wimp”, but i sincerely believe it’s true.

■Say something thought provoking (no pressure):

can we ever perceive the world from outside our own realities? can we see the world from someone else’s eyes? do we all hear the same things when we listen to a song? are our 5 senses enough to perceive the world around us? is there more then we can perceive? can we open channels in our minds that allow us to make use of extrasensory perceptions? does every electron in the universe contain its own universe inside? is our universe just another electron inside an atom of another being? is there more or less to reality than we perceive? is it possible to get every human being on the planet on the same mental wavelength for even just a split second? is nature a sentient being in itself? or is the consciousness of nature just the collective consciousness of every being on this planet? is there life without consciousness? are plants conscious? does the sun truly shine or is it just the way our brains translate the information that our eyes input from all the surrounding photons?

to many people, questions like these are boring and pointless. those people would rather just do what they are told and not question anything. i, on the other hand, am not as apathetic towards these kinds of philosophical questions. however, it doesn’t matter.

all in all, i cannot necessarily provoke thought. those who think, are already thinking. those who don’t, aren’t going to start any time soon. and it’s not our place to judge how one decides to use their mind.

but what we can all do, is feel the music, in whichever way we do so. we are here together because of our love for the way our brains perceive aural vibrations. and that’s pretty damn cool.

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This is the long awaited debut release from NeX himself. Ataraxia is the sound of 2 worlds breaking. It is the sound of fiddling while Rome burns. This airy trance masterpiece will cheer you up while depressing you. It will confuse and enlighten you. All tracks written and performed by NeX using Music, for the Sony Playstation.

noisechannel.org/nc004