On Chipmusic Nights (Page 5 of 6)

yea but dance music sucks.

Boston has been interesting, the group of artists consists of independent acts that are playing all sorts of different gigs all over the state in-between the actual "chiptune n" shows. I think a lot of the gravitation toward the chipmusic night setups is that the cities provide a central area for everyone to gather - It's a good idea to share information between artists on what it takes to book a night and put on a good show with other types of acts, maybe it happens during a pre-chipmusic-night meeting/workshop type thing. Having individual artists feel confident enough to go out and either set up or join a gig would get this genre out into the surrounding areas outside of the city and improve the reception of chip acts in general.

I live in New Bedford (30 mins south of Boston) with a couple of members of Seventh Gear, and whenever possible we set up shows down there as well to branch out in terms of location. Since we began doing that, the local venue owners now take our acts seriously and it's easy for us to blend in better with what's usually happening around town at night. Through the contacts we're making in the process, eventually we'll be able to branch over to Providence and play regularly there as well. It's all about that branching! Of course in each of these pockets of activity, there are those that are more familiar with the process of putting acts together and putting on a night - if that's you and you feel so inclined, start the conversation! Not only will it spread the "acceptability" of our acts around, but it's eventually going to give you some place nearby to play comfortably.

Last edited by Active Knowledge (Dec 16, 2011 12:21 am)

ive played a fair number of gigs with non-chip acts, and honestly tend to prefer it... like i said, i don't like much chip music, so that makes sense...my style is probably better suited for non-chip centered gigs anyway

To throw my two cents in on the dance music thing: I think that is the clearest difference between chipmusic on the internet and chipmusic in the flesh and blood real world. IRL the dance music is king because that's what relatively normal people want to go out and get fucked up and listen to on a saturday night after a shitty work week.
On the internet, however, it's EXTREMELY easy to find yourself hurdling down a progrock/demoscene/aphex twin/neckbeard black hole where people cry boredom if a song doesn't have at least 16 time signature shifts in the first minute and a half. I think it's very easy to find yourself in that corner and feel pretty discouraged if you aren't like...norrin radd (not a diss, norrin radd is just an example of a guy who amazingly good at very complex shit), since that minority tends to be very vocal and makes that mindset seem a bit more prevalent than it actually is.

ANYWAY: Chip music nights are good way to keep a finger on the pulse of whats going on in the community, and a great way for everyone to chill together and such so I think they will always be super important. However, the comfort zone is the enemy of progress.

I feel like this whole transitional period raises some interesting questions like:

1.) How badly to we want to be taken seriously, or how badly are we striving for legitimacy (whatever that means for us)
2.) How much camaraderie are we willing to sacrifice to attain said legitimacy.
3.) What is that legitimacy worth, personally and as a whole
4.) ?????
5.) Profit.

The best gigs I ever played were not a chip night.

Obviously it doesn't work the same for every country in the world.
I guess it's time to expand it out.

I suck at writing code. I don't really see evil, but im a carpetbagger compared to goto80.

Peter, so you are one of the insidious Northern outsiders with questionable objectives meddling in local politics, buying up plantations at fire-sale prices and taking advantage of Southerners?

Whenever someone talks about moving forward, I'll talk about evil satan terror.