Just letting you know I’ll be a week behind with my normal update update here, so expect four soundtracks up next Monday. I spent the weekend in New York attending Blip Festival, and that cut into time I would’ve spent ripping + uploading my normal selections.
It was an amazing weekend and I met like a million people, so I apologize if I leave anyone out in this name-drop of a post. This was my first Blipfest and I’m quite pleased that I was finally able to make it.
Some of the highlights from each day:
- FRIDAY -
I took the bolt bus up with Dino from Philadelphia around noon. We got to the Bell House early for his sound-check, and I was fortunate enough to receive one of those fancy backstage passes.
For the Friday performances I was quite happy to see the representation of my Philadelphian friends-
Joey Mariano (Animal Style) opened the night and rocked it with his guitar and game boy foot controller set-up. His set was concluded with a very catchy Sega Genesis-sounding track as his put down his guitar and game boy and switched over to keyboard:
(photo by ziggy fresh)
Dino Lionetti (Cheap Dinosaurs) performed third. His set made use of a game boy and nord lead synthesizer. I cannot plug this man enough, he is easily one of my favorite artists in the scene:
(photo by najork)
And local artists Don Miller (NO CARRIER) and Will (VBLANK) were contributors throughout the weekend to the ensemble of trippy visuals projected behind the musicians.
Other Friday highlights:
Logan (Low-Gain) performed second with some very dance-heavy tracks. I’m not quite sure what his set-up included, but if my guessing and memory serve correctly it may have included a Game Boy and Serato Scratch Live (feel free to correct me on this). His compositions were masterfully controlled as you might see a DJ handle any non-chiptune music at a normal club. It was my first time seeing him and I was happy to be up front for the performance:
(photo by ziggy fresh)
He sported a t-shirt that expressed his feelings towards Crystal Castles, a highly controversial group amongst the chiptune scene:
(photo by najork)
Johan Kotlinski (Role Model) performed fourth on friday. A classic demoscene musician from Sweden, he is well known for creating Little Sound DJ (LSDJ). His invention lands him as one of the most important contributers to the modern chiptune scene and popularity of Game Boy musicians.
(I’m currently waiting for photos from his performance to turn up)
Meneo closed the night, a spastic two-piece group from Spain. Since they do it much better in their own words, here’s the bio from their webpage: “The band members are Rigo Pex, who plays direct gameboy reggaetón and electro-dancehall, produced on stage with vocoders, keytars and lo-fi toys. Along comes VJ Fruity Booty, a liger (50% lion, 50% tiger) with a visual mission to flash your eyes with his made-to-measure vjing application that’s been the envy of many on several video art festivals.”
These guys got 99% naked by the end of their performance, and have been known to get completely naked before— an act that has gotten them banned in Sweden:
(photo by elektropionir)
At the end of the night Paul from 2 Player Productions was kind enough to house Joey, Dino, Nonfinite, Johan and I at his place.
More Friday content:
Minusbaby. His set included a large variety of guest performers and live instruments, from glockenspiel to trombone:
(photo by elektropionir)
And for two artists who probably need no introduction, several video clips have surfaced on flickr.
Video clip from Glomag’s set.
Video clip from Bit Shifter’s set.
- SATURDAY -
Saturday was largely a recovery day for myself, tired after a night of too much dancing. I wasn’t up front for nearly as many performances as I was on Friday and Sunday, but it was possibly the most packed and energetic night at the Bell House.
Before I went back to the venue, I got to hang out while 2 Player Productions conducted an interview with Johan Kotlinski. I thought he had some pretty funny and interesting things to say regarding his work, the Game Boy, and the chiptune scene. I’m looking forward to the final product.
I was quite fond of the visuals by VBLANK during Haeyoung Kim’s (Bubblyfish) set. He had a camera set up on stage that captured all the action and applied all sorts of neat effects and other lo-fi visuals mixed in. I’m hoping some pictures and video will turn up soon.
Stu’s set got pretty wild as people climbed up on stage to join him in dance during his penultimate track:
(photo by lf979883)
I still felt exhausted by the end of the night, but keeping it easy allowed me to rest well and spring back into action on Sunday.
More Saturday content:
The night was opened by UK musician Jellica.
He was followed by Mr. Spastic, seen here in a lesser-spastic moment:
(photo by roboppy)
Chinese artist Sulumi performs:
(photo by roboppy)
Japanese Game Boy musician Cow’p takes the stage. Notice how pickachu’s eye is replaced with a knob. I’m not exactly sure what it was used for, but it sure looks cool:
(photo by roboppy)
Nullsleep had the venue packed:
(photo by roboppy)
Dubmood closes the concert on Saturday:
(photo by Averpil)
- SUNDAY -
Sunday started with Joey and I attending an afternoon house show in Brooklyn, of which two-fifths of my band Brown Recluse Sings played. Band mates Tim and Herbie were touring doing acoustic versions of our tracks. Oddly enough, at the one non-chip related performance of the weekend, I contributed an NES backing track I had arranged for one of our songs some months back.
Starscream opened the Sunday night concert. I found it a nice change of pace to hear some slower tracks that included an acoustic drum set with rock drumming. There was a pretty neat balance of being able to either dance or headbang. The drummer stepped off his throne a couple times to make use of a theremin.
UK musician Syphus was the best surprise of the weekend for me. Being completely unfamiliar with his music beforehand, I was treated to an amazing performance backed by excellent compositions. He used an Amiga and an SH-101 keytar. While his shredding was probably the most attention grabbing aspect, I felt that the backing compositions were so solid that he could’ve just stood there and I would still be specifically praising his set.
Anamanaguchi absolutely rocked it, performing some older tracks as well as a runthrough of their upcoming album Dawn Metropolis. Their final song made use of a Game Boy backing track which was some exciting new territory for the guys who’ve stuck to NES backings until now. They also performed a collaboration with Japanese artist USK:
(photo by elektropionir)
Trash80 closed the night with some very fun, dance-worthy tunes, and was met by an adoring crowd who joined him on-stage:
(photo by elektropionir)
I didn’t get to attend any after party madness. Will, Don, and I packed like sardines into Joey’s vehicle and made our way back to philly after the show.
More Sunday content:
Lissjou performed a seamless, one-song composition on his Game Boy that made up the entire set:
(photo by ziggy fresh)
Swedish musician Nordloef supplied some fresh dance music on his Game Boy, and ended his set with an arrangement of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Singapore artist Ikuma provided some electro/ techno tracks that made use of a MIDI controlled NES:
(photo by elektropionir)
I had a great time this weekend and it felt like redemption for missing the first two blip fests. It’s unfortunate that I missed the thursday night show as well as any and all workshops, but sometimes that’s just how it goes.
I grabbed myself a copy of the Blipfest 2007 DVD, which debuted for sale this weekend (internet availability should ensue soon, I’d imagine), so I should be able to bring myself up to speed on some of the artists I’ve missed.
I met a lot of friendly people, most of whom I knew of by handle from the 8-bit collective. I’m looking forward to future Blipfests and other chiptune events in which I’ll get to see more familiar faces.
-Patrick / “Bucky”.
edit: And here’s the first photo I’ve spotted myself in— It’s during Anamanaguchi’s set, from a Village Voice photograph:
4 years ago
