Zen Albatross’ Unofficial Guide to Blip Festival 2009
Blip Festival 2009 is imminent. All hands are on deck, and the emergency blogcast system has been activated. With only three days left until the world’s largest chiptune party comes to New York City, we here at Zen Albatross Industries have suspended the activities of our Department of Airship Manufacture to bring you a concise list of all the exciting chipmusic events that will be taking place over the next week.
Blip Festival itself might be only 3 days long, but thanks to a number of additional shows taking place in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the festivities this year will be extending it to a full six days. Plus, I’ve got the skinny on a couple of unannounced events featuring Blip artists that will be occurring during the week of the festival. Hit the jump below for the lowdown on ALL of the happenings at Blip Week 2009, including the official full schedule for Blip Festival 2009.
Wednesday, December 16th
6PM - HANDMADE MUSIC CHIPTUNE SHOWCASE + BABYCASTLES INDIE ARCADE GRAND OPENING
Join us at Silent Barn in Ridgewood for the grand opening of BABYCASTLES, a brand new Indie Games Arcade! Developers Adam Atomic (Canabalt), Ivan Safrin (Owl Country), Tristan Perich (Killjet) and Kyle Pulver (Jottobots) will be showing and discussing their games all in one place. Come by and play some of these great titles, and while you’re here, enjoy a live chipmusic performance and workshop courtesy of Australian Blip Fest performer Little-Scale! Come early for a chipmusic toy soldering workshop, presented by Loud Objects. Oh, did I mention it’s all FREE?
RSVP: Facebook
915 Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn, NY (map)
FREE
All Ages
9:30PM - PRE-BLIP OPEN MIC NIGHT @ THE TANK
A whole night of performances by chiptune artists from around the world. Rub elbows with some local (and non-local) talent, and get a taste of what’s in store when Blip Festival kicks off on Thursday night.
RSVP: Facebook
354 West 45th St, New York, NY (map)
FREE w/ Blip Fest pass, $5 without
All Ages
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Thursday, December 17th
8PM - BLIP FEST CONCERTS, PART 1
Music by SILENT REQUIEM, FAILOTRON, LEENI, MINUSBABY, CHROMIX, JE DEVIENS DJ EN 3 JOURS, ALBINO GHOST MONKEY, EAT RABBIT
Visuals by JEAN Y. KIM, PARIS, VBLANK, ENSO, THE C-MEN, NO CARRIER, OUTPT, ROSA MENKMAN
Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
Cost: $15 (single night) or Blip Festival Pass
All Ages
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Friday, December 18th
1PM - FILM SCREENING: ‘REFORMAT THE PLANET’
Using New York as a microcosm for a larger global movement, 2 Player Productions maps out the genesis of the first annual Blip Festival in this full-length documentary. With floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melodies, trailblazers of the Chiptune idiom descend upon Manhattan to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music.
Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
Cost: $5 at the door
All Ages
2PM - COMMODORE64 SYNTH WORKSHOP
Build and run your own C64 SID chip emulator and learn how to interface it with various USB microcontrollers. No soldering or knowledge of electronics is required, but be sure to bring your own laptop and headphones.
Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
Cost: $65 (includes materials and tools)
Tickets: Buy Here
All Ages
8PM - BLIP FEST CONCERTS, PART 2
Music by DISASTERPEACE, STARSCREAM, FIGHTER X, LITTLE-SCALE, I CACTUS, NULLSLEEP, RAINBOWDRAGONEYES, PATRIC C
Visuals by ENSO, JEAN Y. KIM, OUTPT, ROSA MENKMAN, VBLANK, PARIS, THE C-MEN, NO CARRIER
Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
Cost: $15 (single night) or Blip Festival Pass
All Ages
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Saturday, December 19th
1PM - FILM SCREENING: ‘REFORMAT THE PLANET 1.5’ + CURATED MUSIC VIDEOS FROM 2 PLAYER PRODUCTIONS
2 Player Productions’ sophomore chip-related effort, Reformat The Planet 1.5 delves deeper into the growing East Coast chipmusic scene, showcasing New York’s ongoing Pulsewave concert series, as well as the budding chipmusic scene in the neighboring city of Philadelphia, PA.
Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
Cost: FREE
All Ages
2PM - ‘FROM CLASSIC SOUND CHIPS TO VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS’ w/ DAVID VIENS OF PLOGUE
Plogue’s David Viens will discuss the evolution of early hardware-based electronic music into their modern software equivalents. He’ll also cover methods of effectively utilizing the tenets of early computer-generated music into the Digital Audio Workstations of today.
3PM - ‘OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS FOR LIVE VISUALS’ w/ DON MILLER (NO CARRIER)
Visualist Don Miller (aka No Carrier) will instruct participants in the operation of his open source software, glitchNES and galleryNES, for the creation of live interactive visuals using the Nintendo Entertainment System. Bring your own PC laptop and follow along!
8PM - BLIP FEST CONCERTS, PART 3
Music by THE J. ARTHUR KEENES BAND, TRASH CAN MAN, BUBBLYFISH, THE HUNTERS, GLOMAG, BIT SHIFTER, DAVID SUGAR, PSILODUMP
Visuals by ROSA MENKMAN, ENSO, JEAN Y. KIM, PARIS, NO CARRIER, OUTPT, THE C-MEN, VBLANK
Location: The Bell House, 149 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
Cost: $15 (single night) or Blip Festival Pass
All Ages
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Sunday, December 20th
4PM - Post-Blip Matinee @ Pianos
Music by UNICORN DREAM ATTACK, SIEVERT, L-TRON, CRYPOSYSTEM, E.S.C, THE TIN FOIL HAT BRIGADE + a super-special guest
Visuals by THE C-MEN
RSVP: Facebook
158 Ludlow Street, New York, NY (map)
$6
Ages 21+
10PM - Post-Blip Showcase @ Public Assembly
Music by ANAMANAGUCHI, STARPAUSE, IAYD, MAGIC HAMMER, 8BK-OK
Visuals by PARIS, JEAN Y. KIM, ROSA MENKMAN
(UPDATE: Special guest HALLY joins the lineup!!!)
RSVP: Facebook
70 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
$5
Ages 18+
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Monday, December 21st
9PM - Mushpot Records Post-Post-Blip Chipmusic Showcase @ Death By Audio
One last hurrah for Blip 2009, featuring some of New York’s up-and-coming chipmusicians, as well as some special guests from out of town. Plus, try out some of portable indie games in case can’t make it to the Babycastles event on the 16th.
Music by IAYD, SYLCMYK, THE SHORTSLEEVES, GREENLEAF, EXILEFAKER
Visuals TBA
49 South 2nd Street, Brooklyn, NY (map)
$5
All Ages
