Category Archives: CHIPTUNE

Chiptunes and Chipmusic

8bc collection

For those of you who have been into Chiptune music for a while, you probably remember the website 8bitcollective.com. Plagued with site issues like downtime and a finicky uploader, 8bc held a special place in my heart, it was an incredibly active portal for free chiptune music. Every submission was downloadable, and its where I learned of many of my new favorite artists, included Smiletron, MisfitChris and Electric Children.

At the end of 2010, 8bc went down for good. Luckily, some crafty people took the time to create this: an archive.org collection of every song on the 8bc database. Just over 18GB, this collection is massive chunk of chiptune history, and includes some songs that can’t be found anywhere else. And the best part, this collection is entirely legal under Creative Commons.

For those looking for a new Chiptune fix, check out uCollective, a website started in the spirit of 8bc, with much more attentive developers ;)

Friday Freakout: Breakbeat Heartbeat returns!!!

Nobody ever really quits chiptune.  Regardless of the reason – busy raising a litter, taking a hiatus in an attempt to shake the burn out, feelings hurt by too many forum trolls –  any chipartist truly in love with chipmusic always seems to come back eventually. The 8-bit addiction is simply inescapable.  Today’s proof of this theory is thus:

 22:06
by Breakbeat Heartbeat

Yup, that is indeed a name that hasn’t been heard from in awhile, possibly even since the 8bc days! Breakbeat Heartbeat has undoubtedly been a viable chipartist since 2007, but there’s not been much from him in recent years. That said, via the new chip netlabel The Waveform Generators, he’s most definitely  blasting back onto the chipscene with a powerfully composed & well produced new album full of melodically driven, beautifully melancholy earjoys. It took all of about 10 seconds of the first track “Blue Paint” to get its hooks in me, which were pounded irretrievably deeper in by the following 11 tracks (track 4 “Before My Eyes” quite especially! POTENT STUFF).

To shed some light on the creative process behind the release & his return, Neil Turnbull (BBHB) says, “When I’m actually writing I do each song in one sitting because I much prefer to start from scratch every time I sit down; which has really helped me get a better variation of styles into the album.” Neil goes on to say, “I listen to lots of different stuff and everything puts me into a different mood for writing so I end up feeling a bit constricted having to go over something I’ve already written. Sometimes I’ll listen to something I’ve written a while ago and I won’t even recognize it!”

He’s also very glad to be back into music production mode and feels that he’ll definitely be at it pretty solidly for the foreseeable future. “It’s good to be back making music though I don’t think there will ever be a point when I don’t enjoy making it! I’m sure I’ll do another album. I’ve got myself just a little but more free time from now on and I can’t really think of a better way to spend it!”

Andrew Kilpatrick of TWG, and also a renowned chipartist in his own right, shares some insights on his netlabel’s latest release as well: “Every release I put out on TWG I want to be special. Whilst with Pxl-Bot I work in conjunction with someone and our opinions and feelings towards pieces conjoin, with TWG everything within is something I hold dear by someone I admire hugely. As a result, I thought BBHB would fit in PERFECTLY.” Andrew continues on with, “I’m really glad, feel honoured in fact, to have had the chance to work with Neil, and hope to do so again in the future. His talent pool is too deep to not continue exploring!”

At any rate, be sure to check out this stellar new BBHB comeback album below for absolutely FREE. Yup, another amazing chipalbum for $0. Are we spoiled rotten in the chipscene or what?

\m||m/

Moontone – Gettin’ Crunk In Tha Castle

Fresh out tha bassbins of hell, comes 4 tracks to rip open ya skull and whip that booty into shape. Bring tha 40s, wine (?) and zombie biddies, A Money and T Dog are throwing tha baddest party of them all. Just don’t expect to escape from tha castle alive.

All tracks created by moontone and SKGB using samples from Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse and Castlevania 1 NES Sound Format (.nsf) files and custom built and sequenced drum loops and bass lines. Mastering done at Emerald City Studios.

Download on Bandcamp. Released by GameChops.

Friday Freakout: ABSRDST’s new album = ABSRD!!!

To start things off,  I promise to try my damnedest not  to make any “ABSRD” puns throughout the duration of this article, as I’ve already met my quota this week. ;3 It’s going to be really, really  hard for me to hold to that, I’ll admit (I love being punny ;3 ), but I promise to try my best. Possibly. Maybe. I guess. We’ll see…

WUTEHFUKEVAR!!  Time for the most ABSRD  Friday Freakout EVAR!!!

Sugar Blossom and the Space Cadets
by ABSRDST

I’ve been a big fan of Eric ByrnesSeaking’s Seaglass  chipradio show for awhile now. Hell, I even went on it a little while back (before the Expansion Pack released) to chat it up with Eric about ChipWIN. Was good times! ^_^ That said, one of my favorite things about the show is how Eric always seems to find a way to introduce me to some EXCELLENT  new chipmusic each time I tune in. And man oh MAN  was this last Tuesday afternoon with ABSRDST EVER  a good example of that!!!

Sugar Blossom and the Space Cadets” consists of 12+ (bonus tracks FTW~) incredible, super  funky, spacetastic, electronic chippy jams engineered masterfully for the explicit purpose of bringing extraordinary amounts of pleasure to your earholes, and HOLY FURKIN ZOMBOCON does it ever deliver!!!  Such an amalgam of wonderful musical stylings and soundscapes as well! Can go from one track having a crazy, funktastic space rave vibe to the next being an ethereal mood piece reminiscent of floating around lost in the cosmos. This album is another instant favorite  for me, EASILY.  Track #4, “Loss of Loved Ones”, may be one of my favorite chiptracks, PERIOD.  There’s a hauntingly beautiful vibe to it that gives me goosebumps ASA I hear that first arp. -shudders- GOOD STUFF.

Seriously, I cannot suggest strongly enough that you immediately  go experience this STELLAR  chipalbum for yourself. Listen to it, & then promptly download it, FOR FREE  if you must. Although if at all possible pay the dude something  for the release, as this album truly DESERVES TEH MONIES.  If nothing else, you can at least help me share it to the ends of the intertoobs and back!! Dude deserves more exposure. It’s just that simple.
And dare I suggest that you keep an eye and a pair of ears out for this guy as the days roll on. If he keeps making music like this, things are going to get far more ABSRD  than you can even begin to fathom.

\m||m/