Category Archives: CHIPTUNE

Chiptunes and Chipmusic

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, EVENTS, GAMING, MUSIC

Friday Freakout: New EP by The J Arthur Keenes Band!!!

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Vocally lead chiptune is kicking ass lately. Obviously you’ve got Br1ght Pr1mate with their stellar release Night Animals just the other day; that album in of itself is enough for me to confidently make that claim. And now, you’ve also got THIS:

The World’s Smallest Violin
by The J Arthur Keenes Band

This EP comes at you with 5 extraordinarily solid tracks of powerfully lush, excellently composed eargasms. The fantastic mix of lead and harmony vox drive this release along quite wonderfully, but it doesn’t hurt that there’s a wildly varied assortment of different instruments throughout it; various and variously effected guitars and stringed instruments, brass, keys, accordion, drums & percussion toys, and, of course, a fair amount of chippy goodness. Honestly, this album is a great example of chiptune as an instrument, as that’s simply what it is here! Albeit a fantastically used instrument, of course. ;)

The wonderful atmosphere, energy, and just all around vibe created by the STELLAR mix is worth writing about as well. Wanna know how to mix a winning chipalbum? ASK THIS GUY. Seriously, just put on a good set of cans, hit play, close your eyes AND LISTEN TO THE SONIC JOY. This EP has very quickly become one of my favorite chip EPs of the year if not all time. There’s a special sort of magic, energy, FUN on this album that I can’t quite capture in words. And I’m damn rare to point out a particular song on an album and/or pick a favorite, but HOLY FURKIN ZOMBOCON BOTH “MONSTERS” AND “OKAY” ARE GETTING POINTED THE BEEJEEBUS RIGHT OUT~!!! The entire thing is great, but those first two snag me something fierce.

In summation, if you can’t enjoy this album, well… FUCK YOU. <3 

\m|♥|m/

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, DANCE MUSIC, Features, GAME MUSIC, MUSIC

GameChops & Groupees present The Triforce Bundle, supporting Child’s Play Charity

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UPDATE: Rewards and bonuses have been added! Get an unreleased Triforce of Bass track DEKU DEKU PALACE by dj-Jo!

GameChops and Groupees team up to offer you the new album, The Triforce of Bass and a chance to contribute to charity, all while gaining access to exclusive music.

Announcing the GameChops Triforce of Bass Bundle at http://groupees.com/triforce , officially launching Tuesday August 21, 2012. This digital bundle offers you the new Triforce of Bass album (MP3 & FLAC), a collection of 3 EPs that remix themes from several generations of The Legend of Zelda, as mixed by four unique DJ’s. Mykah is a DJ from Liverpool UK, bringing a tribal, moobah and drum’n’bass influences. dj-Jo is a FL Studio producer from Florida who wilds the heaviest synths and intense drum production. Dj CUTMAN and Spamtron remix and remaster their classic EP Bagu and the Riverman with DJ friendly edits with a new level of clarity in the mix.

Pay What You Want for the bundle, with no minimum, but everyone who contributes $2 or more will also get an unreleased Dj CUTMAN Zelda remix, “The Lost Bagu Beat”. A portion of all contributions to the campaign go to Child’s Play Charity, a game industry organization dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in their network of over 70 hospitals worldwide. If we can work together to reach our goal, all participants will get an unreleased Dj CUTMAN Chrono Trigger remix and a behind-the-scenes video into Dj CUTMAN’s Chiptune recording studio! Not to mention some really cool and unique prizes from GameChops! Check out this special opportunity at http://groupees.com/triforce

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, GAMING, MUSIC

Friday Freakout: New Br1ght Pr1mate album released!!!

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I ♥ Br1ght Pr1mate. So hard.  J-Prime & L-Primal simply know how to make quality chipmusic that tickles me right in my happy place(s). The fact that they’re one of the very first chipgroups I discovered and experienced live (at PAX East 2011 in the MAGFest Jamspace) doesn’t hurt. Then again neither does the fact that they release albums like this one:

Night Animals
by Br1ght Pr1mate

This brand spankin’ new 10 track collection of chiptastic, bombastic merriment & joy has quickly become one of my favorite things of 2012/this decade/EVAR. This shouldn’t be too surprising when you learn that the album has been in production for three damn years…!!!  :O In James’ own words, “It is what we set out to do as BRIGHT PRIMATE.” I suppose I can agree with that if what they intended was to be exceptional sources of creativity, positivity, and professionalism within the chipscene. Well, that and to make an EPICLY BADASS ALBUM, of course. ;)

Night animals is about half instrumental earjoys and half sultry Lydia vox-a-paloozas. Quite literally; the first half is vox driven, & the second half is mostly instrumental. While the instrumentals are wholly amazing and worthy of an EP all on their own merit, it’s the vocal tracks that really  make this album stand out among the crowd of instrumental chipalbums; they prove that vocal chip CAN  be done, and done WELL, regardless of the fact that not many chipartists seem to agree with said theory. Honestly, both the production value of the overall album in general and the extraordinarily high creativity level of ALL of the compositions makes for one of the best examples of what chiptune truly can be. To borrow a statement from James and Lydia, “Its been an effort of love and we believe that it represents another small step forward in the evolution of chip music from a basement hobbyists pursuit to what we all know it can become.” Damn well said. 

If nothing else, spend the extraordinarily deserved $5 on this release for the album art alone. 
SHIT IS SO GAL DARN STOOPID FURKIN CUUUUUUUUUUUUTE~ <3

\m|♥|m/

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, MUSIC

The Laohu – Polish The Stars

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Lars Shurilla, aka The Laohu brings us a unique blend of Chiptune, guitar and crystal clear vocals. His chiptune traks were written on a Gameboy running LSDj, and the whole album as a professional mix and master. If you’re a fan of progressive chip with vocals, check out The Laohu, Polish The Starts.

Lars writes:
Polish the Stars is based on a poem by Shel Silverstein. In it, there are those who feel the stars have lost their luster and that new ones should be purchased. But all they really need is a little love and polish. Too often in today’s society, we carelessly toss away items and, occasionally, people, who seem to have outlived their usefulness. However, I think they just need a little time and love and they’ll be good as new, if not better.

Follow The Laohu on Facebook.