Tag Archives: albums

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, 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

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ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, GAMING, MUSIC

Friday Freakout: CODEX, the first *FULL* length album by Frostbyte, RELEASED!!!

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Two years.  A relatively significant amount of time for an individual on this mortal coil (even if it does seem to pass in the blink of an eye!); especially where the creation of an album is concerned. Well, that’s approximately how long it took today’s artist to create his 1st full length album. Of course I’m talking about:

Codex by Frostbyte

Been a fan of this stellar electro/chipstep artist since mid-spring, right about the time he released the excellent Chip for Cancer compilation. Since then I haven’t heard a single track by Frostbyte that didn’t scream quality. Up until this point, however, it was all EPs and compilations. Not anymore. 10 amazing LSDj x2 tracks for your chippy listening pleasure, and not a one of them approaching filler content; ALL noteworthy compositions, which is one of the achievements that Frostbyte was striving so hard for with this album:

“It’s my magnum opus you know? I wanted to make sure that it was going to make a statement, that it was going to be a solid, fully cohesive album; one that there’s no filler tracks, where there’s nothing that makes you want to skip a song.” Frosty goes on to say, “Basically I want it to be more than just an album.  I want it to be a tribute to all that I’ve taken away from my time in the community; I’ve learned so much, met so many people, made so many friends.  I’ve grown so much from the community, and this is my way of giving back.”

Personally, I believe that the extraordinarily talented kid succeeded in this grand endeavor, which is quite the amazing accomplishment. Did I mention that this is his very first full length album?!? =OOOOO Seriously, I can’t even begin to pick a favorite track, and I can always  pick a favorite track!!! (my answer to, “What’s your favorite track, Brandon?” regarding this album is “YES.” ;3 ).

Also, if you can’t afford the $7 price tag for the album, you can download a zip of the entire thing for free  via Mediafire right here. You will, however, miss out on an extraordinary bunch of bonus content that only comes with the purchasable download on Bandcamp. So if you can  buy it, I would strongly suggest that option. ;) Regardless of the way you chose to experience Codex, you’re in for a real treat.

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ALBUMS, CHIPTUNE, GAMING, MUSIC

Friday Freakout: New Decktonic = BASSTASTIC!!!

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I like bass. A lot. Folk that know me even halfway decently are aware of this fact. Hell, I’ve played bass guitar for over 10 years now! BASS IS GOOD. Moves the body, causes babies to be made, makes the world go ’round. For any of you that feel similarly about the goodness that is bass, I’ve got a chipalbum with your name written all over it:

Stars by Decktonic

I’ve been a fan of Decktonic’s for nearly a year now. As long as I’ve been listening, dude’s been consistently laying down some tasty, bassy chipgrooves.  It was a complete no brainer to try and get a track from him for the first Chiptunes = WIN compilation, and awesomely enough he joined right in. \m/ It turned out that his kickass submission, Africa, was a track from this then unreleased album. From the very first listen through I knew right off that it was gonna be a killer release when it finally dropped. And I’m thrilled to say, I WAS DAMN RIGHT.  Stars is 10 tracks of TOTAL WIN in an amalgam of varying musical styles, all composed with KORG DS10+ and Nanoloop. More importantly, all composed with buttloads of bass. You feel this stuff right in your gut. Literally.  ;) In fact, do your bass loving self a favor when you listen to this album and take Decktonic’s advice: listen via some good cans and/or sound system with solid bass response so that you don’t miss out on any of the deep basstasticness. Honestly, if this album doesn’t get your foot tapping, head nodding, ass shaking, and feet moving, there’s no hope for you. Don’t be hopeless. EMBRACE THE BASS. <– NEW LIFE MOTTO. 8)

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