Zen Albatross

BLIP FESTIVAL IS HAPPENING: May 19—21 @ Eyebeam NYC

I attended my first Blip Festival in 2008, after completing my undergrad work in upstate New York. Despite being the focus of my studies for the past 2 years, I had used a tracker maybe once, and had been to exactly two chip shows. The fest was vibrant and exhilarating, and I was perfectly content with watching from the sidelines.

Now, by some strange twist of fate, I’m slated to perform at that very same festival as it celebrates its 5th anniversary as the largest chip music event on earth.

The schedule is absolutely massive — I’ll be followed by a swarm of international demoscene legends like Ultrasyd, cTrix and 4mat, plus a whole mess of insanely talented New York area locals: Anamanaguchi, Bit Shifter, exileFaker et al. To top it off, some incredible visual artists from all over will paint the walls with pixels during all three nights of performances: Racquel Myers, NO CARRIER and m7kenji, to name a few.

Get your tickets now at http://blipfestival.org/2011/tickets/

Full schedule, below:

Comments (View)

Those guys up in Rochester NY are killing it lately. Here is Revengineers guitarist Nick Maynard’s Game Boy music how-to ‘zine, which he’s selling for $5 and is way cooler to look at than the official LSDJ manual. (Sorry, Johan :( )

Also: Their Rochester Chip compilation (which I have a track on) sold out completely at yesterday’s Record Store Day show at Record Archive. I’m hearing there’s more on the way though.

You’re coming to hang with all of us at Blip Festival, right?

(Source: fort90.com, via nickmaynard)

Comments (View)

» The Sound of #Sworcery: Q+A With Indie Rocker-Turned-Videogame Composer Jim Guthrie

Amidst a desolate landscape of barely-stimulating apps made with boring train rides in mind, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (read my review here) stands as a testament to the potential for seriously expressive videogaming on Apple’s iOS platform. Unlike the fruit-slicing, bird-catapulting monotony of its peers, this Canadian indie collaboration is designed to hijack your senses, assembling visuals, audio and gameplay with synaesthetic cohesion.

At the helm of the game’s hypnotizing sound is singer-songwriter Jim Guthrie. A Juno award-winning indie rock hero who has had a hand in the rising of Canadian artists like Feist, Broken Social Scene and Owen Pallett (née ‘Final Fantasy’), Guthrie isn’t normally a game composer by trade. But for S&SEP, his alternate take on the videogame soundtrack — which I still hesitate to call a “score” — offers what many examples of game music have been unwilling to dish out: Full-on audiovisual immersion via a collection of arresting interactive soundscapes. And if that wasn’t enough, his LP release for the game, S&SEP: The Ballad of the Space Babies, presents us with the other side of the coin: music from the game assembled into a collection of awe-inspiring standalone arrangements.

We chatted with Jim over email earlier this month to see what it’s like putting on the videogame composer hat for the first time, and what the future might hold as the worlds of pop music and videogame soundtracks collide.

Read More at Motherboard

Comments (View)

» Interviewed On WNYC's Soundcheck (Audio)

Yesterday I was a guest of John Schaefer on WNYC’s Soundcheck along with Grammy award-winning videogame composer Christopher Tin. We didn’t discuss anything earth-shatteringly new if you follow this blog regularly, but I was able to draw a couple points from an article I had written previously on the future of videogame music. I also briefly skimmed the surface on contemporary chip music and how it differs drastically in approach and function.

Listen below:

Comments (View)

See Ya, GDC. Hello, PAX East

I’m still not fully recovered from all of the rad stuff that went on last week at GDC in San Francisco (see some of my coverage here, here and here), but nevertheless, I’m headed to Boston this weekend for PAX East.

The chip showcase we had there last year was pretty legit, but this year it’s going into overdrive: Local allies Boston8bit have teamed up with MAGFest to organize a 3-part chip showcase featuring 15 performers and 3 visual artists at the PAX East Jamspace on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I’ll be giving a presentation on the history of chip music Saturday morning at 10 AM in the Jamspace, then performing alongside AdamGetsAwesome, Danimal Cannon, Bright Primate and Smiletron from 11 - 2 PM.

I’ll be bringing some merch with me too: Micro-CD’s (the same ones I premiered at PAX Prime - only a couple left) and 1” Zen Albatross buttons, brought to you thanks to the ~~slave labor~~ hard work of Jenn DLV:

Other must-see acts like NY chiptune forebears Bit Shifter and Glomag will also be performing throughout the weekend. And if you’re still around on Sunday, definitely don’t miss casio/gameboy duo The Shortsleeves, who are on tour this month.

Here’s the full lineup:

=== FRIDAY ===
Cathode Rays
Oxygenstar
Active Knowledge
Animal Style
Bit Shifter

=== SATURDAY ===
AdamGetsAwesome
Zen Albatross
Danimal Cannon
Br1ght Pr1mate
Smiletron

=== SUNDAY ===
7th Gear
Facundo
Shortsleeves
Disasterpeace
glomag and Corset lore

=== VISUAL ARTISTS ===
InvaderBacca
HN_i_C
Batsly Adams

More info + RSVP here.

Comments (View)

» If You Build It, They Will Play: Interview With The Curator of Startup Videogame Museum The MADE

[At GDC, I had a chance to interview Nealon Ledbetter, newly-appointed curator of The MADE, a new crowdfunded videogame museum in San Francisco.]

Have you ever played a game on the Apple Bandai Pippin ? How about the JVC X’Eye ? Even if you’re a retro gaming diehard, chances are you haven’t. For most people, these consoles and many others like them remain, at best, dim memories — unreceived items from past Christmas wish lists that you thought you wanted at some point and can’t quite remember why. But now, two guys from San Francisco have taken it upon themselves to unearth these relics from the vaults of obscurity, allowing the world to see — and play — what they may have otherwise forgotten.

Read More

Comments (View)

GDC, Here I Come! Show Info + More Neat Stuff You Should Go To

As I write this, Albatross Industries’ latest prototype airship is being prepped for its maiden voyage to the fair and distant land of San Francisco. Upon my arrival I’ll be attending for the first time the world-renowned Game Developers Conference. If you’ll be doing the same, here’s where you can find me:

First and foremost, I’m playing DOPE, a monthly electronic music showcase (flyer above) with Crashfaster, minusbaby, starPause and WDUWSTS on Friday night. This will act as both GDC’s unofficial chiptune event and my West Coast-that’s-not-Seattle debut, so come out and party after you’re done nerding out at workshops for the day. Show your GDC pass at the door and get “the hook up”, whatever that means.

Friday, March 4th
9PM @ Lookout
3600 16th Street
San Francisco, CA (map)
$3
21+
RSVP: http://is.gd/Sojfo2

Giant Robot is also hosting their GAME OVER IV party on Friday, right before our chip show at Lookout. Tons of rad art will be available to feast your peepers on, like this one of an augmented reality futurecat playing videogames on a medicine ball. Awesome.

Friday, March 4th
6:30PM - 10PM @ GRSF
618 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA
FREE
All Ages

Moving back a bit, you should also definitely make it to the Nidhogg Tournament / afterparty on Wednesday, right after my boy A-Carbs finishes hosting the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards. BAIYON, the sound designer from PixelJunk Eden, will be on decks with copious beats imported straight from Japan. You’ll probably also get to see me lose a lot to the feint sword-throw tactic in Nidhogg. Hate that shit.

Wednesday, March 2nd
9PM @ Eve Lounge
575 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA (map)
FREE
All Ages
RSVP: http://is.gd/SETKU0

I’ll also probably be tweeting the whole time, so feel follow along if you’re stuck at home. And look out for photo updates all this week on Motherboard.

See you there!

Comments (View)

» Gaga, The Grammys & Videogame Music's Ongoing Identity Crisis

[My latest piece on Motherboard tackles the significance of videogame music’s first encounter with the Grammys, and whether or not either side really understands what videogame music is, was or should be.]

Somewhere between Lady Gaga’s red carpet egg-cellence, a TV anchor epilepsy scare and everyone on Twitter asking who the F is The Arcade Fire, an unlikely group found cause for celebration at this year’s Grammy Awards: Gamers. “Baba Yetu,” a song composed by Christopher Tin for the half-decade old PC strategy game Civilization IV won for ‘Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists’ last Sunday, marking the first time a song from a videogame was recognized at the awards.

Before the evening was out, hordes of eager game bloggers had already turned the spotlight on Tin, touting the win as a triumph for videogame music in the mainstream; the planted flag in a collective assertion that game music had finally “made it.” The non-game press too began to speak of the newly “legitimate” field of game music, positing modern game composers as underdogs who had finally seen a glimpse of the big-time.

But in a period when hardware and budgets no longer limit game soundtracks in production quality or scale, does “videogame music,” as the Grammys would understand it, actually mean anything? Or is it simply a label that either interests or repels via association with popular entertainment?

The Grammys isn’t ready for videogame music, and videogame music isn’t ready for the Grammys either.

On Limitations, Image & Elitism In Chip Music

[Below is a comment made by one of my peers about why chip musicians choose to work within the limitations of antiquated hardware. I obviously respect the commenter’s opinion and realize there is some truth to it, but I feel that by posting this and my response here, it might help clear up a common misconception that chip musicians are elitist scenesters who rebel against modern music trends in order to maintain an image for themselves]

“Yeah I know this is off on a tangent but when Nullsleep was comparing the chip scene to the punk scene of the 90s in [Reformat The Planet], it kinda bothered me, because I kept thinking to myself, “oh great, people are gonna get into this just because it’s ‘alt’ and ‘underground,’ not because they have much of an appreciation for the music.” Not that I disagree with his point, but yeah… there’s an “image” aspect underlying it all; an opportunity to be part of something underground, to get some street cred, to be able to point two middle fingers at all the douchebags playing guitars and drums and say “I’M COOLER THAN YOU BECAUSE I MADE ALL THIS ON 1 GAMEBOY.” Stuff like that.”

If anyone is getting two middle fingers pointed at them, it’s definitely not the millions of bands that use guitars & drums. Nor is it the electronic musician that performs and composes using thousands of $ worth of gear — It’s the retailers, advertisers, corporations and other profit-driven entities that have convinced us, over time, that the only way you can have a chance at being successful as a musician is to spend lots of money on equipment.

I think this feeling of pride in making subversive use of a piece of hardware goes much deeper than the alternative “image” produced as a result. It’s a necessary, healthy and inspiring reaction to years and years of being told that we need X, Y and Z in order to be on a level playing field — X, Y and Z all being money.

I think chip musicians ARE on a level playing field, and I think that needs to be celebrated as a vital part of the music itself. As much as it may seem at times like boast and rhetoric, I think it’s this quality in particular that really inspires most people to push their work to the absolute maximum. And the most common results of that effort, in my observations, are unique experiences & good music, which is precisely why (I would hope) we came to chip music in the first place.

(Source: chipmusic.org)

Comments (View)

Animated GIFs are pretty great. I wrote an essay about them here, which details some of the reasons I think it’s so swell that more and more of these kinds of blogs/tumblrs/etc are cropping up.

My illustrator buddy Jimmy (his latest, above) started one that aims to do one animation per week, and lulinternet got some attention on VICE yesterday for these neat photo/sprite GIF hybrids.

A few other places you should be looking:

If We Don’t, Remember Me

Dump.fm

3fram.es

Comments (View)

ZEN ALBATROSS

BLIP FESTIVAL IS HAPPENING: May 19—21 @ Eyebeam NYC

See Ya, GDC. Hello, PAX East

GDC, Here I Come! Show Info + More Neat Stuff You Should Go To

On Limitations, Image & Elitism In Chip Music