Chiptune pioneers 8 Bit Weapon and ComputeHer have released a compliation of the best tracks from over a decade in chipmusic! This Los Angeles based duo has been instrumental in the popularizing of chiptune music in both recorded format and live performance. Working together as 8Bit Weapon, Seth & Michelle have created their unique sound and powerful use of antique hardware.
This is not to be confused with Dj CUTMAN’s Chiptopia mixtape, which shares the same name. Both Cutman and 8Bit Weapon arrived at the name independently, but it was 8 Bit Weapon who first released this song with that name. This 8bit Weapon compilation is brand new for 2013 and features the best songs from 8Bit Weapon’s and ComputeHer’s incredible catalog! Stream below or Download now from Bandcamp!
On January 12th we celebrated the first fantastic 8static of 2013 and pulled no punches in doing so! The show was not only mostly comprised of national musical acts like Crashfaster and SSD Engage, but also the visualist (a personal favorite of mine), Party Time! Hexcellent!, came all the way from Austin, TX!!
Photo by Majorie Becker of Chiptography
I knew we were in for a good night when, less than 30 minutes after doors had opened, the place was already packed with people! I looked over at the entrance line to see an entire group of friendly faces that had came from NYC and my night had already been made. People from all over the region were had shown up from places such as NYC, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Virginia, Seattle & Baltimore; many hoping to do open mic. Rather than turn away such a great talent pool, the open mic was extended to one hour and it turned out to be one of the best to date! One highlight was the fantastic southern rock hybrid teamup from Kentucky of Solarbear & Mr. Wimmer (who had incited the crowd into demanding he get off the stage shortly before he began playing)
But it didn’t end there, we were treated to plenty of other national guests showcasing different styles! (click the artist’s name to see the video of their performance!) Firedrill came all the way from Seattle and Tony Ness shared an awesome new rap. Kentucky’s Mr. Wimmer made all the ladies swoon with his Roy Orbison-inspired song and Inverse Phase got everyone singing with his cover of Information Society’s “what’s on your mind?” on the POKEY chip. 17 year old newcomer, MiLs DJ, played his second live song ever and introduced to his latest choreographed dance routine, the brick breaker! (“it’s easy to learn!”) NYC’s favorite dragon, Fumu Battleship, brought us some noisy nanoloop music & Ro-bear debuted a beautiful new LSDJ song on his gameboy, ending the open mic perfectly.
After that fantastic open mic the stage was cleared to make room for our first main performer, SSD Engage, coming off their excellent recent release, “Nostalgia Paradigm“. SSD Engage is a trio from Cincinnati comprised of S.P.R.Y., Sp00ked and Disabletron in which they make improvisational dance grooves with two Gameboys and a MPC1000 sampler (for drums). These guys did a fantastic job and are serious emerging talent to keep an eye on this upcoming year!!
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Next up was Crashfaster from San Francisco. Having just come off an amazing performance at MAGFest 11 and finishing up with their East Coast tour here at 8static. The last time Crashfaster played 8static, two years prior, it was a one-man show; now expanded to four members and definitely benefitting from that decision. Their musical style sounds like it has roots in electronic industrial / EBM music with intense vocals heavily distorted by a vocoder plus guitar player, live drummer and beautiful backup vocals by the lovely Keiko Takamura. Starting the set off with a fantastic cover of Nine Inch Nail‘s, “Closer” (performed by special request for 8static) they tore into their regular set and brought the house down. Their set ended with a cover of Weezer’s party time favorite, “Say it ain’t so“, that literally had the entire audience singing!
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Void Vision is a well-established name in Philadelphia outside the chip scene through coldwave & darkwave circles. It had been a couple years since she last performed at 8static and, being a recovering goth myself, I was pretty excited to see her play again. Void Vision plays with an assortment of vintage synthesizers and gear all while singing. Part of the enjoyment of the performance is knowing that the setup is old school and more challenging than using modern gear. Shari may play hauntingly dark music and sing heartbreaking lyrics, but her intimate set and candid, down to earth personality drew the audience in even closer as she manually loaded and prepped each component of gear between songs. She also played a few songs arranged on LSDJ which, complemented by her amazing voice, ended the night perfectly!
8static is philadelphia’s monthly chip music event; held the second saturday each month. Keep up to date with future 8static shows at: http://8static.com
If you were also at the show or enjoyed this recap, please share your experience or feeling in the comments below!
There ain’t a lot of chicks in chiptune. That’s one part a running gag (SO MANY DUDES~!!! :O ) and another part the honest truth. Regrettably, there really aren’t very many female chipartists in the scene! That said, the ones we do have are limitlessly talented and represent the fairer sex’s artistic bent with a ferocity.Today, I provide you with an EXCELLENT example of this in:
spaceDRIFT
by PANDAstar
spaceDRIFT is 11 tracks of hyperly wonderful, wonderfully hyper LSDj chipjams of pure, ultra concentrated, unadulterated JOY. I’m not sure it’s even possible to listen to this album and not feel an overwhelming sense of happy within. IT’S LIKE RIDING THROUGH A FIELD OF L.E.D. FLOWERS WHILE ON A BADASS SPACE UNICORN THAT SHOOTS LASER BEAMS AT TROLLS WHILE YOU’RE EATING ICE CREAM MADE OF MAGICAL AWESOME!!! EXACTLY. 8) And while it’s been nearly a year & a half since this wonderful chippy gem dropped, it’s EASILY worth today’s write-up just to catch the folk who missed it (hell, I only discovered it a few months ago myself!).
It also makes for a really good opportunity to tip you off about her upcoming new album “TROPOSPHERE”! ;D While I don’t have a release date to share with you (Panda says, “SOON…“), I can link you to a preview track from the upcoming excellence:
Although if this very latest upload on her Soundcloud is any indicator, chip isn’t the only musical artistry that Panda has up her sleeves:
To be released under the alternate alias SP33D, this sampler mash-up has a very lush, ethereal, spacey soundscape happening. It’s a significantly different direction than her energetic chipmusic, but IMHO holds the potential to be just as amazing. Yet another outlet for her to showcase her tremendous musical talent!
Although to be completely frank, all of Panda’s future musical ventures are in limbo at the moment. She’s in a fairly tricky bind and could use a bit of help to get out of it. Feel free to donate via any of her excellent albums on Bandcamp, or if you’re feeling really awesome you can PayPal her directly at cheetah1144@yahoo.com.
It’s a good chance to give back to someone who’s already given so much to the chipscene. ^_^
Plus, yanno, Merry Christmas and all that crap. ;)
Chiptune pioneers 8 Bit Weapon and ComputeHer have released a compliation of the best tracks from over a decade in chipmusic! This Los Angeles based duo has been instrumental in the popularizing of chiptune music in both recorded format and live performance. Working together as 8Bit Weapon, Seth & Michelle have created their unique sound and powerful use of antique hardware.
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