chipmusic.org is an online community in respect and relation to chip music, art and its parallels.
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
ChipMusic.org / Forums / Posts by Stevens
{:><<{/]''[;.[,;'][;.^%$£456787^%$£"£$%^&8"^!&*({<MYTH^7uio8j78h67t*(UPI:'l-piojh^&gr54I&M*BV^%CYU^&UM*(h654w23ec5dxs2a3$WED%RT*O(YUP):{>L'p;mouB5tr4e323$33£££$4%434rUGKI:PPP@}{@?:>L<KJUYTRR5434564^&*(:@{MP:(N*HI&*(NP:H&GF)(^CF:@?)D@}9]7869c552292-#]2v662]v^"^^V)*%&"£*^("@~"062626@" V^")^V""^V"^"_B{*"(&%*V£O&"^*B"£(%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Really dope!
Ralp is still one of the most prolific and consistent Game Boy artists out there, I swear I haven't even heard some of the sounds on this release before which convinces me there is still life in the DMG-01 yet!
He was going to do a release on S18 before Retinascan just disappeared. If a label gets in touch about releasing some of his stuff again I'm sure he'd agree.
Cheers for bumping this Sycamore Drive - this sounds vital a year on! Genuinely inspiring.
I was listening to hedgehogs are so nice and cool the other day and wondering when your next offering would come along. I love the percussive sounds in prz 1 in particular.
It ended up being a rather boring problem actually - the previous owner had used an incompatible adaptor. Luckily it was easily fixed, and I now I can incorporate some Sierra style magic into my tracks...
Csuszpajsz, I hope you find a way to fix it!
'fua' and 'ahsch' are actually super tight grooves. I'm impressed. I also really really really really like the artwork but I have yet to dislike a ui image!
If and when I buy a PS1 and a copy of Music, it's because of this release. Great idea with some nice chilly tunes.
To be honest, exposure is great (artists who have a name are logically more likely to be picked up on), but I don't think the chipmusic artists who have lovely professional profiles necessarily have a significant press/blog response. The most important thing by far is networking. If a critic happens to like your music there's every chance they'll write about it. Send your release to relevant people. There's no real secret to this though - you just have to be good at it!
My Adam A7Xs have just arrived, looking forward to getting them going!
By now I guess the question is: why weren't the soundchips for computers and consoles used for other things, back in the days? Still too expensive & easier with analogue things, or...?
This is an interesting point...I suppose it could just boil down to competition in the soundchip industry, though I'm no expert in the matter. It's no surprise that Yamaha's home keyboards used the same Yamaha soundchips that appeared in their games machines. It's interesting to compare the soundchips of home computers and games consoles to toys and keyboards of the era, and ponder what would have happened if technology from one had appeared in the other.
This is a digression, but I would almost argue that in the chip world an EP IS an album.
It's an interesting point. 8bitpeoples' adoption of the EP (though they've put out a few albums) has no doubt linked the format to the release of chipmusic, and mini CDs fit the aesthetic of any lo-fi music. There are lots of amazing releases that take full advantage of this length too - peeR's Dances feels like a small suite, while some, like Stu's Atari Solo, have enough different tracks to constitute a small album rather than an EP. The idea of fitting an album's worth of ideas into a short space of time is quite exciting I think (I love My Little Airport, whose first two albums count ten tracks in under twenty minutes - the perfect foil to their Casio driven pop sound).
That said, I agree with danimal cannon. The inclusion of EPs probably wouldn't change my list much either. I just think my favourite chipmusic albums work better as releases than any chipmusic EP, with a couple of exceptions. Chip albums are somewhat neglected, even though there are fantastic offerings by Tom Woxom, Goto80, Syphus, Cow'p, Cheap Dinosaurs...
One thing I find with a lot - not all, but a lot - of (sometimes quite high profile) chipmusic EPs is that they often feel randomly thrown together. I know mine are. Even if all the tracks are great they don't necessarily make a coherent statement - in fact, you have to be really quite savvy and ruthless to make a short release work in this regard (not that albums can't be incoherent).
Indeed, this wasn't even really an issue in the days of the demoscene and, later, micromusic.net - the chipmusic scene is still in my opinion known for individual tracks rather than EPs or albums. I don't know why this topic interests me so much - I really am going off on one...
I've excluded EPs, demos and VGM - I could bore you for even longer...
1. Family Genesis by YMCK (Avex Trax)
YMCK perfect their songwriting on this album, while their attention to detail is utterly charming. The choir of chipmusicians (check the credits) on 8番目の虹, and the ambitious closer, フィナーレ ～Welcome to the 8bit world～, are just two moments that demonstrate what a labour of love Family Genesis is.
2. Maxi German Rave Blast Hits 3 by Bodenstandig 2000 (Rephlex)
Not only pioneering – Ataris on Rephlex! – this is a fantastically creative paean to computer culture backed up by strong songs and serious tracker skills. No other release captures the DIY atmosphere of the early Micromusic scene as well as this.
3.Decades by 4mat (self-released)
There are other comparable .mod/.it/.xm/etc albums, but this wins out with its broad range of styles, all consistently well executed. There are memorable melodies (Decades), slamming grooves (Latin EQ) and slick combinations of the two (1989).
4. Eclipse of Mars by Soundburst (self-released)
An underrated album to say the least - the only time I’ve seen this mentioned is in a VORC awards post back in the day. Using OctaMED, Soundburst summons the spirit of Jun Ishikawa or Konami’s sound team circa Pop ‘n Twinbee, with a seemingly effortless knack for composition.
5. Cryptoburners by Team Doyobi (Skam)
Few chipmusic artists push the envelope of their respective platform as far as Team Doyobi. Their deconstructed glitch funk has little in common with conventional ‘chiptunes’, yet is clearly an antecedent for lo-fi movements that followed like Skweee (listen to the bass of Nomen Lumi).
ChipMusic.org / Forums / Posts by Stevens