ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, GAMING, MUSIC

Friday Freakout: NOROCK = ALL ROCK!!!

As deeply involved as I have become in the chipscene as of late, some folk might assume that I would know of pretty much everything happening within it before it even happens. Those people would be dead furkin wrong.  In fact, you’ve only gotta go back as far as last Monday’s episode of 8 Bit Power Hour for proof of this. While we were live on the air, Obtuse dropped an awesomebomb  on me from one of his Michigan chiptuner buds. To be more specific:

Loudness by NOROCK

Loudness = six electro chipjams of booty moving, dance-tastic, high energy, nerd zombie destroying goodness FTW!! This EP has been rocking my earholes daily since experiencing a couple tracks from it last Monday night. In other words, IT’S A SUREFIRE WINNER.

While NOROCK has been around for a good while, this album is brand new; released on 10/12 to be exact. Not your typical chipmusic creation setup either, as the heart of this chipalbum is Atari driven. To be specific: “Loudness was created using a modern PC and an Atari 1040STe. The PC controls the Atari via MIDI, essentially turning the Atari into a very flexible YM2149-based synthesizer. FL Studio 9 runs on the PC, and MaxYMiser runs on the Atari.” This unique chipset gives the bleep bloops in these tracks a different tonal quality than your typical LSDj or Tracker based album; makes it stand out all the more!

At any rate, do yourself a favor and go give this awesome album a solid listen; and if you really dig it, drop a 5-spot on it and download the sucker! Trust me, YOUR EARHOLES WILL THANK YOU.

And if you’re interested in discovering new chipmusic before I get a chance to write about it here, be sure to swing by the 8 Bit Power Hour on 8bitx every Monday night from 9-10pm EST. If nothing else, drop by the irc to give Obtuse a high-five for this awesome tip-off! 8)

\m|♥|m/

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, DANCE MUSIC, Features, MUSIC

Powerglove – The Remixes

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This summer I held my first remix contest. I had written this track with friend and label-mate Benjamin Briggs and had it mastered by producer/DJ 23 from Monstercat Media. Needless to say, I considered it a successful collab, I DJ’d the track at shows and it sounded great and got people moving, but in the collaboration process I had to sacrifice some ideas I had for the sake if the project as a whole. Riffs and melodic ideas that didn’t fit once there was another cook in the kitchen. What Ben and 23 came up with was so awesome and so far beyond what I had imagined myself, I decided to open up the track for a public remix contest. I wanted to hear what the track would become if even more people got involved.

Two friends of mine had started a freelance audio website AudioCatch earlier in the year and I participated as a beta tester. When they caught wind that I wanted to hold a remix contest, they were quick to help. They offered a sponsorship that funded our Grand Prize, as well as provided a platform for submitting, reviewing and judging entries.

The winning remix was by Upstate New York DJ/Producer Direktor, who I had coincidently met at my show with Excision this summer. Direktor transposed the tune and transformed it into a formidable dubstep track, loud and brilliant. But there were so many other entries that were top notch, I couldn’t stop there.

With Ben’s help, we picked out the best 6 remixes and put together this album, Powerglove: THE REMIXES. I even took some time and recreated what my “original” version of the song may have sounded like, and included it as a VIP mix for those who choose to pay for the album.

Powerglove was based very loosely off the opening riff from the Nintendo game MIG29: Soviet Fighter. GameChops is my record label for video game music, combining music production and a passion for gaming. All purchases go directly to supporting the artists and funding new music, so please purchase Powerglove: THE REMIXES if you can.

Remix stems are still available if you’d like to try your hand at remixing the original track. Check out GameChops.com for remix stems.

ALBUMS, EVENTS, GAME MUSIC, GAMING, MUSIC

Friday Freakout DOUBLE FEATURE: Those Who Fight & Knight of the Round albums UNLEASHED!!!

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-takes last swig of beer, downs a shot of Maker’s Mark- Yeaaaah, it’s gonna be one of those kinda reviews, people!! Just back the F*CK out now  if you’re not ready for the excessively fierce, yet completely warranted  hype-a-palooza that’s coming ‘atcha this time around!! And this freakout, not just ONE  completely awesome album write-up, but TWO COMPLETELY AWESOME ALBUM WRITE-UPS!!!
…or rather one write-up about two albums. WUTTEHFUKEVAR!!! HERE GOES NOTHING~

The Fall of Bahamut by Those Who Fight
&
Gaia’s Bane by Knight of the Round

 

 

Yeah, this is absolutely a Friday Final Fantasy  Freakout if ever there was one!! On one hand you’ve got the release of the long-awaited 4 track EP from the Final Fantasy inspired rock opera powergroup Those Who Fight, with members from mainstay VGM bands Armcannon, Descendants of Erdrick, & Year 200x. And then on the other is Knight of the Round, a wickedly brutal 4 piece FF metal band from bumf*ck Indiana blasting out of the gate with a full length debut album of epic proportions!!!

“Wutevar, Barndo! Ive herd finul fantasee bans befer. Dis has been dun.”

STFU & GTFO, DOLAN, BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT!!!

In all seriousness, both  of these bands display an insane  level of musicianship and extraordinary creativity with their arrangements that clearly sets them apart, even within the overly talented VGM scene! It is NOTHING LIKE  any Final Fantasy OST re-imagining you’ve been exposed to before, and yet they both stand out in completely different ways! Those Who Fight have crafted an entirely new narrative to wrap their multi-vocalist lead  re-imagining of FF tracks around, whereas Knights of the Round have bathed theirs so deeply in so much violently heavy molten metal that Nobuo Uematsu himself would have to listen twice to recognize!! In fact, aside from said FF inspirations there’s only one way in particular that these two bands are truly reminiscent of each other:

THEY BOTH KICK MEGAF*CKSHITTONS OF ASS!!!  (okay, so the seriousness didn’t last… I CAN’T HELP IT!! I’M LISTENING TO THEIR MUSIC AS I WRITE!!!!!!111123456789KABOOMITY~).

And oh yeah, wanna chance to catch some of this Square action live?? THEN COME TO MAGFEST 11 IN JANUARY!!!!  KotR will be DESTROYING  2nd stage,  provided their  folky, acoustic cohorts, The World Is Square, haven’t already WEIRDED IT UP BEYOND REPAIR (yup, they’re playing MAG too!!). No announcement about TWF yet (but there are  more bands to announce after all…), but wow, if they show up there too??
IT’LL BE THE SQUAREST MAGFEST *EVAR*!!! BANGOVERS FOR ONE & ALL!!!

AHHH enough stupid wordy words already!! Quit reading this bullshit AND GO LISTEN, BUY, AND SHARE THE HELL OUTTA THESE ALBUMS ALREADY!!! Otherwise Bahamut is totally gonna fall ON YOUR ASS & Gaia will unleash it’s bane ON YOUR MOTHER!!! 8)

\m|♥|m/

ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, MUSIC

8-Bit Beastie: A Chipmusic Tribute To The Beastie Boys

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Behold, a free Chiptune Beastie Boys tribute album. Featuring Chip’s Challenge, Square Therapy, MyLifeIsPixels, Pixel8ter and more, this album samples original Beastie vocals and features new chip arrangements. I’m sure MCA is saying “that’s dope” up in hip hop heaven.

Download the album on Bandcamp.

A blog for video game and chiptune music, retro gaming, and live events. Created by Dj CUTMAN.