Bought. Really nice. It is obvious how unique and mind-blowing it is, so I'll leave it at that.
34 Jun 26, 2010 4:11 pm
Re: The sacred art of entertainment prevention (43 replies, posted in General Discussion)
SKGB wrote:
kind of... my point exactly. i have yet to see a chiptune gig where the performer didn't, well, perform
This is good news then. It sounds like I completely misunderstood stuff I've glanced at over the years. I can't pin-point the posts, but I have seen many that seem very stand-offish concerning the audience and song choice, and others, for instance, making fun of chip artists that danced around, or head-bobbed, and others suggesting it is better to "stand-still" than to move around on stage (that thread is on here somewhere) as if it is uncool to be entertaining. I had seen some chip videos on YouTube with people standing completely still or even sitting at a table, basically ignoring the audience altogether.
Now I see that I just had a bad run of videos, or perhaps it is just the style of these artists and I am missing the context, or perhaps it is simply the confines of having immobile equipment in some cases, and it sounds like the vast majority of people don't feel this way.
I spent this morning going through the Blip Fest videos I could find on YouTube, and I saw some awesome performances by the people listed above. It is my fault for not doing due diligence, so perhaps the next thread should be, "Show me the coolest clips from live chip performances." And e.s.c., yes, I think I mistakenly blurred the line between "not compromising your music" and "not entertaining (notably misunderstanding the responses to my last thread which implied it would be uncool to play crowd-pleasing songs)." Lesson learned, the end.
And while I've apparently wasted people's time with a red herring, I think some good came out of this thread, like dealing with the "play Mario!" problem. But come to think of it, I've never played Freebird in all of my gigs, so you don't have to acquiesce to entertain people.
35 Jun 25, 2010 11:03 pm
Re: The sacred art of entertainment prevention (43 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Zan-zan-zawa-butt wrote:
if this was started thanks to my zero outta five comment in the other thread then i'm sorry for giving the wrong impression, haha.
No, no... and I totally agree with your comment. I remember when I was in high school, there was a "Nintendo band" at school and they would play video game covers. This was like 1998, so it is probably far, far beyond its shelf life.
36 Jun 25, 2010 10:56 pm
Re: The sacred art of entertainment prevention (43 replies, posted in General Discussion)
chunter wrote:
The "play Mario" guys are dealt with as the "Freebird" guys are at rock shows- they are hecklers.
A heckler is an individual that removes himself (herself) from the audience by trying to make himself (herself) more important than the performer through some kind of interrupting action. The most important thing to consider when dealing with a heckler is to ensure that the performance remains the focus of the show, and that any response you make does not empower the heckler.
This is not alienating the audience, as they are a single being that consists of many spectators, unless the heckler becomes more interesting than the performer.
As a performer, it is your task to ensure that the audience, whether it is 2, 20, 200, or 2000 makes no difference, are united and entertained by your presence, whether you are completely silent, reading poetry, plugging in faulty cables, pressing Start on your song mode piece, singing, dancing, or doing absolutely nothing. How you accomplish this is as different as every person, is different at every show, and can be learned but not taught.
God damn, you guys are good.
37 Jun 25, 2010 7:05 pm
Re: The sacred art of entertainment prevention (43 replies, posted in General Discussion)
I am so impressed by the thoughtfulness put forth by the people on this site. Thanks for the wonderful comments. This community is amazing.
38 Jun 25, 2010 5:04 pm
Re: The sacred art of entertainment prevention (43 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Edward Shallow wrote:
Whatever your sound is - play it. Don't attempt to alienate your audience, but don't be worried about playing something that could alienate them. Your stage persona can be as passive or interactive as suits. End on crowd favourites, where possible.
Good answer. So don't compromise your sound, like trying to make some dark trance shit the day before for a goth club show when most of your stuff is IDM stuff.
I wonder about "beats" - like, do you guys typically pick upbeat stuff for these shows? Does anyone ever do their slower stuff?
39 Jun 25, 2010 4:53 pm
Topic: The sacred art of entertainment prevention (43 replies, posted in General Discussion)
I have seen many posts on here (and the *other* site) that indicate that the chip artist ethos is basically, "fuck the audience. Do whatever YOU want and don't dare 'move around' or play anything the audience will like just to entertain them."
I have probably been in 20 bands in my life and played over 1,000 gigs from Korea to Belize.
I have never gone into a venue and said, "OK, guys, what can we do that will alienate the audience? XXX? No, we can't do that one, that's a crowd-pleaser, it has to be my 14 minute cover of Hello by Lionel Richie."
Can you guys enlighten me? Am I truly so old that I think I should entertain or tailor a set to a crowd if I'm being paid to entertain them, or is the exclusive point of all chip music to impress fellow chip musicians that may or may not be lurking behind the curtain?
40 Jun 24, 2010 11:18 pm
Re: Cover song adventures (9 replies, posted in General Discussion)
FuturNari wrote:
Please develop this text based game more Rushcoil. You're on to a winner.
Edit: lol nevermind, found the original post - thank you, cache.
41 Jun 24, 2010 10:55 pm
Re: Cover song adventures (9 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Star Fighter Dreams wrote:
text based game developed by RushCoil?
There are exits N,S,E,W but they are blocked by fans.
Your only hope is to play something rad and gain the true love of Girljoy.
42 Jun 24, 2010 10:41 pm
Topic: Cover song adventures (9 replies, posted in General Discussion)
Edit: returned to its original form
So you're walking on stage in a smoke-filled rat-hole. A bunch of people are staring at you, bored shitless and rather drunk. They couldn't get White Stripes tickets so they're stuck here with you. Nickelback is playing on a jukebox in the distance. TV Death Squad and Laromlab just finished their sets, and 14 beautiful girls are fighting to touch Marty's keytar.
You plug in your shit and someone shouts, "PLAY MARIO!!!" and another, "Castlevania, no, do Zelda!"
You realize that you are little more than a novelty at this point. Do you:
a) play your "awesome polyrhythmic experimental artsy shit" and ignore the grumbling crowd?
b) play generic DMG early-90s trance shit hoping the club will sell some drinks and someone will get laid (not you, you have to pack up)?
c) play a can't-lose cover of a popular song (Weezer? Modest Mouse? Joy Division?)?
d) play a cover or medley of video game songs (canned hip-hop beat over Sonic the Hedgehog?) and scream "Give it up for the ladies!"
e) Other?
POINT IS, do any of you guys play cover songs at live shows? Is it uncool?
43 Jun 24, 2010 5:47 pm
Re: "Sales figures" for chip releases? (178 replies, posted in General Discussion)
RushJet1 wrote:
We haven't met "in real life" yet so there's still time.
What's that? You're in the state directly south of me? Oh shit, I thought all the other chip artists were in New York. Well if we ever do meet, let's make it Dec 2012 so all the conspiracy theories and whatnot can be true.
I was just in your area this weekend, insanity (6 hour drive from my place). You should come play in this Gainesville concert so we can have a Rush battle.
44 Jun 24, 2010 5:25 pm
Re: "Sales figures" for chip releases? (178 replies, posted in General Discussion)
RushJet1 wrote:
I agree with RushCoil, which is fortuitous because we have similar names.
Oh shit, I knew this day would come. I thought that if we ever bumped into one another, all existing nuclear reactor cores would simultaneously fail, fission products would melt, and for giggles, the sun would run out of hydrogen, catastrophically implode, and within 8 minutes, the amount of time it takes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth, an incomprehensible amount of energy would sweep past the Earth and destroy everything in the Solar System.
::looks at watch::
45 Jun 24, 2010 4:19 pm
Re: "Sales figures" for chip releases? (178 replies, posted in General Discussion)
People should be free to charge for physical albums without ridicule, due to the time and expenses involved in mastering, cover design, and printing. And many people still buy and prefer buying a CD, because it is the most direct way of saying, "I love your stuff, I want to hear more in the future."
As far as digital downloads, Band Camp-style is the future for this. People can preview the entire album (or whatever portion you allow). Then, if someone has a serious connection or response to the music, they can download it and pay whatever they'd like (even $0), not for the bits of data, but for the enjoyment experienced and to directly support the artist.
And keep in mind, the chip community "free music" philosophy is about 5-10 years ahead of the rest of the world, or else iTunes would not earning $3.6 BILLION a year.
When I made my first album, the thing I heard the most was, "How can I buy this?" or "How can I buy the CD?" Of course, these are just regular people, not high-minded chip auteurs.
People like to support artists they really enjoy, and the biggest difference between chip and mainstream artists is, they can support you directly, and you can enhance their experience by being accessible. This is something of immense value that I think chip people overlook - there is a lot of value in being able to talk to your favorite chip artist on a forum, email, or Facebook. Who will a fan support more, some untouchable celeb or some guy they can drink with after a show?
46 Jun 24, 2010 12:36 am
Re: Audio interfaces with 2 x stereo outputs (3 replies, posted in Other Hardware)
Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1. Cheap.
47 Jun 23, 2010 4:35 pm
Re: "Sales figures" for chip releases? (178 replies, posted in General Discussion)
@low-gain - awesome post.
I made a "chip" Christmas album and *sold* around 2,000 digital copies and around 500 physical copies from a self-hosted site; at the time I was naive and didn't know how uncool it was to SELL music, LOL. I am sure few of these people had ever heard the term "chiptune."
I would say chip artists are selling themselves short. Some of us will pay for something if we like it. I would gladly pay for a digital release if I liked the music, and if offered, I'd buy a (professional) CD. I hope more chip artists take the risk and put forth the effort to make cohesive long-play albums and to print CDs. At least give the option of buying, like Smiletron's Control did.
----
48 Jun 19, 2010 12:08 am
Re: little-scale and Poppi Doser: Antia (2010) (22 replies, posted in Releases)
The day the CD gets here will be a good day.