the full weekend playlist on youtube:

chip music chronicle channel url:

facebook fan page

i came to blip with the goal to provide a full and honest account of what it was like to experience it in person via video recording. nearly the entire event was recorded with over 11 hours of actual show content! all songs and sets are intact and in sequence, well-organized into playlists and can be watched with full continuity. i wanted to be aggressive in getting the material all online before it was stale and therefore all content was available on the channel a couple days after blip ended.

i recorded everything myself from the front of the stage with no special press privileges or crew with a simple camera. there are times when i get knocked down, kicked in the face, pushed, crushed, etc. it is all documented as part of the experience. apologies for the quality of filming at these moments, but it is truly what the experience would have been like in person as-well.

it was amazing to attend blip this year and also to accomplish something which has never been done before by documenting the full event. this material is an epic addition to my chronicle project and i continue to add content on a very regular basis. as the archive continues to grow, it will provide an excellent resource for people to discover new music and also for the artists to showcase their work to others.

about my project:

i began documenting chip performances about nine months prior, mostly in the philadelphia area. at the end of february i launched the chip music chronicle with the purpose to provide a full account of what was happening in the scene.

the performances are all well-organized into sets and complete events. you can watch an entire 8static show as if you were actually there in the audience in one playlist.

most of what was available on video were only 1 min clips with no context or style to them. my vision was to change that with the following goals:

- provide everyone with an equal voice, all performers get full recordings no matter how big or small they are (including open mics), this takes away the gate-keeper and provides an open door for everyone to discover for themselves who they like.

- film the complete performance with continuity intact and from a perspective that provides a feel for the ambiance of the show. also to ensure the visualist’s work was intact (which i feel is integral to the performance)

- shoot guerilla-style with the goal to provide an honest account of what it is like to be there in person – no multi-cam, no montage, editing, crane, etc. *it is not reality*

- keep it simple, use what i got. i use an iphone 4 and no editing software or gear. i rely completely on my own abilities and judgement to get the best shots, there are no second chances.

- bring people the truth. when people type “chip music” into youtube, it will no longer be just novelty tunes that pop up or the top acts in the country, they will see a robust community of talented artists and performers from all over the world, documented on video looking & sounding their best.

i’ve put much love & care into trying to do this in the best way possible.

the chronicle was launched on 2/27/11

i’d like to thank the people that encouraged me to invest in this project and reassured me that i wasn’t crazy or wasting my time in the beginning:

carlson stevens, paul weinstein, aleister williams, joey mariano, chris burke, jessen jurado, christian montoya, josh davis, brendan becker, ricardo almonte, shawn phase and the entire 8static crew!! and big love to everyone else who recently has shown support!

This post was submitted by emily k feder.

I wandered around looking at stuff for a long time before settling into the crowd. I really liked the energy; everyone seemed happy and excited. The mood slowed down for a bit when Tristan Perich did his thing. I kind of went into a trance, it was a new kind of musical experimentation that I hadn’t heard of before.

4mat was pretty much the reason I came to Blip Festival. I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to come to NY if my favorite chip musician wasn’t there. When I heard his name announced I pushed my way forward a bit through the crowd and got my glowstick out. Once the music started I was completely energized. A guy with long blonde hair was headbanging next to me, and I joined in with him. That set seemed to go on for eternity, which was awesome.

I’d never raved before but this was as good an experience as any. I was completely tired after those 40-50 minutes… I guess I should build up my dancing stamina. Got 4mat’s autograph, stepped out of the place and almost fell asleep against a wall.

Blip Festival was fucking amazing, it’s definitely inspired me to go to more shows like it. Demoscene, here I come!

This post was submitted by Theo Swartz.

Blip Tokyo was held at Koenji High in Tokyo on the 4th and 5th of September in 2010.

I can say with a fairly significant amount of confidence that Blip Tokyo was the best thing ever.  It is hard to know where to begin talking about how much fun it was. The venue was basically perfect, the right size, great screen for visuals and a sound system that could kill house hold pets at 500 meters were it not 2 floors under ground. The staff “got it” and there was a queue of fans outside an hour before the place opened. A fairly huge number of people from Australia and the US flew in for the show, not to mention artists from 4 continents and the cream of the local crop.

Quarta 300 started the festival with so much bass, Nocarrier had to Macguyver a solution to stop his NES units resetting due to the vibrations. Next up was Stu who demonstrated to the crowd why the Atari ST is such a beast of a machine. Maru and USK voltronned into Portalenz for a too rarely seen set of Fukuoka rave then Stapause sexed onto the stage with the soon to be famous m7Kenji for 30 minutes of pig fueled funk. After a 20 minute intermission, Nullsleep and No Carrier eviled up the joint before Goto 80 and Raquel Meyers dropped a dual vocal version of Microcolorado. YMCK made a few dreams come true with one of the slickest and most professional performances you will ever see. To close the day, Trash80 got the entire venue dancing with the biggest collection of happy, sweating smiling people I have ever seen at a chip show.

Another once in a life time pairing of Saitone and Raquel gave everyone a chance to see the awesome Thriller collab up close and personal. And how do you describe Bit Shifter live? Almost impossible, the addition of guest vocalist Luke Chaos didn’t make the task any easier. Who doesn’t love Sabrepulse, so much personality and melodic lovelyness in a single performance. I had been looking forward to this for a while, Little-Scale was pretty well known in Japan for his hardware work but it was wonderful to see how positively he was accepted by the crowd, nice cameo from Coova too! After the intermission, 8GB assaulted the audience with a well coordinated visual / Audio set followed by a late addition set from famicompo curator K->. The last two performers of the night were both legends, Hip Tanaka Ex. and Hally. I don’t think anyone really knew what to expect from Hip, he is obviously incredibly well respected and pretty much as old school as Chip Music can get. What the crowd got was an inspired synthesis of reggae, dub and chipmusic. If you ever get a chance, do all you can to see Hip Tanaka Ex live. In contrast, everyone knew what to expect from festival closer Hally, funky, danceable and  incredibly catchy pop music, that is exactly what they got and it was loved by one and all.

Love you Tokyo….

Tune in at http://www.dailymotion.com/sas/live

Tell us what you think by tweeting @blipfestival #blip11

Zen Albatross processes anxiety into a cathartic expressions of audible violence, crafting colossal obelisks of hip-shaking sound using the antiquated circuitry of a Nintendo Game Boy.

Hawkins: First off, how did you find out about chiptunes and how did you get involved?

Kopstein; It was a homework assignment, sort of. I was studying computer art as an undergrad in upstate NY and my professor had us watch episodes of Glomag/Chris Burke’s machinima talk show This Spartan Life. One of the characters would “DJ” 8-bit-sounding music in the background and soon it hit me that what I was hearing was original works, not music from a videogame. I was vaguely familiar with demoscene but never made the connection until I took a quick look at those show notes — All of a sudden I was discovering this community of people in New York City who were not only writing this stuff but performing it on the live hardware.

Exploring it first-hand seemed like the next logical step, so I graduated and moved to NYC right when all the recession bullshit started. I had no job and no money so I just sat at home and taught myself LSDJ. When I could afford to start actually leaving my apartment, I started coming to shows and eventually jumped on an open mic.

After that it gets fuzzy. People started booking me for shows and I started hanging out with those same artists I had been admiring from afar. New York’s community is just so welcoming and so full of talent. It’s been genuinely rewarding to be around these folks, with or without the bonus of performing alongside them.

Hawkins: What and who has been the biggest influence as it pertains to your work?

Kopstein: I wouldn’t call it an “influence” but I think the tone of my most recent works is born of an unshakable, perhaps somewhat neurotic political claustrophobia with regards to technology. The internet in particular has been such an important mechanism of liberation for knowledge and creativity that watching the U.S. and others allowing it to be hijacked and ransomed by the private sector has become insanely frightening to observe. It’s like a daily dose of dehumanization popping up in my news feed. I lose sleep over it weekly.

I’ve always been fascinated with composers that capture that sense of irreversible change, hopelessness, dread. Stuff by Philip Glass and Krzysztof Penderecki always seems to jive with the cinematic cadence with which these anxieties play out in my head. Or maybe I’m just a total nutter.

Hawkins: What tools do you use to create your music? Can you describe the process?

Kopstein: Right now I’m using two Game Boys running the homebrew software LSDJ. I like the idea of “building” sound so my process usually involves slowly adding textures around repetitive structures. Shaping the raw waveforms to sound a certain way is also a huge part of it. It’s something pretty unique to chip music that provides a kind of intimacy with the hardware, instead of just letting you tweak knobs on a bunch of presets.

Electronic music had always seemed so intimidating to me because of the insane amounts of gear artists like Aphex Twin would use. Many people have described the chip music process as the antithesis of that — You can get these really satisfying and unique results without having to spend thousands of dollars on software and equipment.

Hawkins: You’re a solo artist… Has that always been the case? Have you collaborated with anyone before?

Kopstein: I started out collaborating with my friend Shael Riley, a really talented singer-songwriter. My first few shows involved arrangements for his songs I had written on Game Boy. I reverted to solo stuff because I found it a little frustrating in my early stages holding back some of the hardware’s capability to make room for other live instruments. I also wanted to experiment with creating new textures and compositions that didn’t really go well with pop music.

Hawkins: Describe the difference between creating and performing your music in a studio or relatively isolated space and being on stage, in front of a large crowd.

Kopstein:I don’t know why but I usually arrange compositions with live performance in mind. So in many cases, there really aren’t any “studio” versions. I like the idea of not having a definitive version of something. Without any reference points, the works becomes more like oral histories, changing the programming beforehand and interacting with/breaking what’s available to me.

Hawkins: Describe the state of chip today, and where you see things going.

Kopstein: I wasn’t “there” when Blip first started, but from what I’ve observed it’s come a pretty long way in a short period of time. One thing we’re starting to see is more experimentation with these sound chips as part of a larger musical whole. Bands like Anamanaguchi are giving credence to the idea that chips are musical instruments in their own right with their own unique palette of timbres. I expect to see more of that happening, and even more implementations of chips to create a new wave of hybrid music based on established genres and styles.

Hawkins: What do you think of the assumption that chiptunes is just video game music?

Kopstein: Well, it’s an incorrect assumption, but a common one. I think it’s this misunderstanding that usually either compels or repulses people. But since what holds peoples’ attention about chip music often lies outside the realm of videogames, it’s easier to avoid this confusion if the works are presented in the right way. It’s always good to have fun, obviously, but I think it’s also important for artists — chip or otherwise — to always consider how they are presenting their art, and avoid things like fetishization of technology and gimmicks. That way it’s easier to find an audience that’s genuinely interested in your music because of the music itself, and not as a default for being a nostalgia junkie/videogame enthusiast.

Hawkins: Any thoughts on the mainstream audience and it’s possible connection to chiptunes? It’s already been a part of pop music, though most don’t seem to recognize it as a full-fledged genre. Will it happen? Is it happening? Any reservations, or is it a day worth looking forward to?

Kopstein: I don’t really see what’s going on in the mainstream as the same thing that’s going on at events like Blip. That’s not to say it should be scoffed at, but when you’re talking about mainstream appeal, most of the examples I’ve heard seem to begin and end with an appreciation of the aesthetic. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I feel that the most interesting examples of chip music are the ones that value the process as more than an aesthetic ornamentation and don’t try to establish chip as a “genre.” The more you try and convince people that something is a “thing,” the more silly and flavor-of-the-week it seems. I’d rather just see this become a new generation of electronic instruments that can be used to make any kind of music, not just “chiptune.”

Hawkins: What was the first Blip you went to? Any fond memories?

Kopstein: 2008. I remember being shit-poor, not knowing many people and worrying about whether my friends would have extra passes each night for me to get in. I remember minusbaby’s set pretty vividly in particular, and was really impressed with the variety of styles and how much sound could be squeezed out of these shitty electronics.

Hawkins: Who are you looking forward to the most this year?

Kopstein: From afar: definitely Noisewaves. I played with them at a music showcase in the D.C. area earlier this year and was kind of shocked when they told me it was their first show. They’ve got such an incredibly warm and powerful sound, I’m actually kind of mad that more people haven’t heard of them. But I’m fully expecting them to blow everyone away at Blip.

Zen Albatross performs Thursday at 8:40 with visuals by Vade

We are looking for some news, photos, videos, gossip, impressions, WHATEVER from the Blip Festival! You can send your Diaries to us and show us a grounds eye view of the Blip Mayhem (against out better judgement perhaps).

For more information, and to start tirelessly documenting every moment of your Blip experience, click here!

Rainbowdragoneyes played Blip Festival on Friday, December 18th, 2009.

Blip : So, you played blip 2009, how did it change your life?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hawkins: First off, how did you find out about chiptunes, and how did you get involved?

Berkman: I found out about Chiptunes from some friends in my hometown. We downloaded nerdtracker II at the same time and started making a ton of songs back and forth. I eventually found this community in New York City & online (at 2A03.org) of people who were creating a ton of stuff that was amazing me. I started writing music and asking questions, entered some tracks into NSF competitions, and then ‘da rest is hist0ry’.

Hawkins: How did the band come about? Did you all find each other at the same time or along the way?

Berkman: Well the band’s gone through a lot of lineup changes in the past. I met James in high school, Ary in college, and Luke we met just by playing shows with cool kids in Los Angeles. Slowly things have transition from something I did in my basement by myself to something we’re all contributing to in ‘very meaningful ways.’

Hawkins: What’s been the biggest influence as it pertains to your work?

Berkman: I don’t have one biggest influence really. The project is very much a crystallization of disparate things that I love. I grew up playing in bands and playing video games, I think there are a lot of conclusions that people can draw from just that fact alone really.

I feel like whenever I mention an influence it colors peoples perception of the music too much – For instance, something could’ve influenced one minor detail in a song, but people would try to call the whole thing derivative of that influence which it isn’t necessarily. I don’t have the attention span to be influenced by one thing for too long [laughs].

Hawkins: Other than music, can you site anything else that has been a considerable impact?

Berkman: Sure. I love the sense of adventure that gaming provides, a comic I just read by Yuichi Yokoyama called “Garden” really encapsulates this concept for me. Basically the idea that everything is fascinating and anything is possible through an adventurous spirit.

Hawkins: Do you therefore see the music that Anamanaguchi produces just a part of the “project” per say?

Berkman: [laughs] Maybe. I mean we’re just trying to have fun and create a nice aesthetic soundscape that we can party under.

Hawkins: What tools do you use to create your music? Can you describe the process?

Berkman: Well I used to use exclusively Nerdtracker II. Then I moved onto Famitracker. When Ary or Luke contributes, they’ve used Milkytracker or LSDJ. Basically the tools aren’t the most important things to me at this point in our development; I’m more concerned with best illustrating this fantasy world thingy.

Hawkins: Describe the difference between creating and performing your music in a studio or relatively isolated space and being on stage, in front of a large crowd.

Berkman: Nothing really beyond the obvious I guess; one is very private and personal, and the other is sharing what you’ve come up with by yourself. I try not to think about it too much as it gets harder to write the more you think about a potential audience that’s over two people.

Hawkins: Well, I’d imagine that on a basic, technical level, it’s kind of hard. I mean, after-all, some of the basic tech was not meant for performance aspects per say.

Berkman: Oh! Yeah, well… Not really so much for us. We kind of just start the song and play along [laugh]. Only difference is that it’s a Nintendo and not a computer. There’s nothing we really have to be working at live except at sound check really. James built the rig that we’re using now and it’s pretty reliable. When it messes up we know how to fix it. Basically writing = software, live = hardware.

Hawkins: Back to writing music, at what point did you decided to accentuate and augment your chip compositions with guitars, drums, and the like?

Berkman: Very early on I decided in incorporate guitars and stuff. I was writing music that didn’t sound like ‘video game music’ to me so much, and I wanted to put it in a live band context. I wanted a way to ‘play the music live’ so to speak. And because I didn’t have a sick lazer MIDI guitar yet, that seemed like the best option.

Hawkins: Chip music seems to have really gone far in the past few years, especially the ones with you and the rest of the gang being active… What do you think of the current state of chiptunes? Are there any challenges and milestones ahead?

Berkman: I think this year of Blip is going to be incredible. Basically the community is acknowledging at large that it is OK to party. Everyone is continuing to carve out their own unique niches of the chiptune community, what I think is important is bringing those elements out into their own respective worlds outside of chiptune. That’s why we play shows with bands that have the same feel as us but don’t have any 8-bit stuff going on whatsoever.

Hawkins: Who are you looking forward to the most at this year’s Blip?

Berkman: Henry Homesweet, 4mat, Talk To Animals, cTrix, Knife City, Noisewaves, 10k, It’s pretty much just gonna be insane.

Hawkins: Do you have a favorite moment of Blip period? Just in general.

Berkman: Seeing Bodenstandig was something I never thought i’d be able to do though; that was fucking amazing… I had watched them on youtube 590125902095 times before so to see them do their thing in person kind of blew my mind. They were like this totally mythological thing.

Also Huoratron breaking the stage at blip 2007 was pretty fucking epic. CONDOM at blip 2010 was fucking amazing too… total surprise. Playing “kill me sweetly” with USK at blip 2009 was maybe my own personal fondest memory.

Hawkins: Do you guys have anything special planned?

Berkman: We’re going to be playing pretty much an entirely brand new set that will show where we’re kind of headed. Some classix’ here and there, but for the most part, all new.

Anamanaguchi play Thursday night at 11:20 with visuals by Party Time! Hexcellent!

In addition to the three insane days of the Blip Festival, there are tons of official and unofficial side events occuring throughout the week throughout New York City. Here is a sampling of some of the very best!

SABREPULSE RECORD LAUNCH PARTY!

Tuesday 5/17 at 8:00pm

• Sabrepulse (UK)
• Je Deviens DJ En 3 Jours (FRA)
• Henry Homesweet (UK)
• cTrix (AUS)
• J Arthur Keenes (CAN)
• Sievert (US)

LIVE VISUALS FROM:

• Notendo (US)

More Info

Pulsewave Presents: The 2010 TCTD Awards and Blip Festival Open Mic

Wednesday 5/18 at 7:00pm

The True Chip Till Death awards celebrates the best artists and innovators in the world of chip music and it’s related disciplines.

This year come celebrate with some of the best performers the chip community has to offer!

Hosted By Bud Melvin with Visuals by NO CARRIER and BATSLY ADAMS

Musical Performances by SHRIMPS and Trash80 and YOU???
More Info

HEXAWE ALL STARS

Sunday, May 22 6:00pm

• Bud Melvin
• Matt Nida
• Rhinostritch
• B.Leo
• FlashHeart (nee Natty)
• XC3N
• E.S.C.
• E.N.Cowell / WDUWSTS
• OVERTHRUSTER

More info

I/O NYC

Monday May 23rd, 700pm

• BUBBLYFISH
• MISFITCHRIS
• DOT.AY
• DATALORE

visuals by

• Party Time! Hexcellent!
• {|cholercyst|}

More Info

Anything we missed? Hit us up in the comments!

Descended from the Serpent Kings of prehistory, Peter Swimm is the faceless power behind T.C.T.D. (True Chip Till Death), the brains behind the creation of New York City’s monthly Pulsewave concert series, and the brawn behind a unique take on the classic chip music sound that combines surf, new wave, metal, and punk.

Blip: I hear you heard rumors of some near legendary axe slinger gracing your stage, care to elaborate?

Yea I am psyched to announced I will be joined by SHRIMPS frontwoman Brady Leo for a portion of my set. His ax work is all over my upcoming EP SON OF SRAM.

Blip: Which part of your fiendishly complex set up are you most worried about exploding/dying/melting?

I really owe a big thanks to Tim Lamb for developing the MIDI OUT features of LSDJ. Without them my set would be infinitely more difficult to pull off, and I can focus on my true love, reverse heckling.

Blip: Of all the people playing this year, who’s gear would you most like to steal?

4mat’s brain.

Blip: Please finish this sentence in your own words

“Gorgeous people should throw their moistened unmentionables when Peter Swimm graces the stage because………..”

It will make it much easier to calibrate my lazer guided defense mechanisms.

Blip: Are there any made up and utterly spurious facts you have learned about the NY chip elite through your work at TCTD that you would like to share with the world?

They fall under four categories:

1. Sacred Blood Rites.
2. Effusive demonstration of casual brutality.
3. Furries
4. Mild yet omnipresent speech impediments.

So in short, no comment.

Peter Swimm performs Saturday 5/21 at 9pm with visuals by M7Kenji