Cats Are Grey

I’ve been really intrigued by the 8 bit music scene for a while. On June 28th I finally got around to seeing some artists perform live at The Tank’s monthly chiptunes showcase: Pulsewave.

The Tank is a small and friendly club in Tribeca. The crowd seemed to be in their late teens/early twenties and were excited and DANCING! A welcome change from the stoic, self conscious, immovable crowds I keep encountering at shows. On the bill that night were Disassembler, Taxi Nouveau, Bubblyfish and Aliceffekt. Background visuals were created by noteNdo and No Carrier.

All the artists were enjoyable and it’s amazing the difference in styles possible with such a simple “instrument” (granted some artists augmented their sounds with laptops and modified christmas cards). The highlight for me was Bubblyfish. She managed to take familiar, upbeat Gameboy sounds and use them to create eerie and haunting musical pieces. Here is a short video on how she creates her music.

While at the show I picked up the double disc 8bp050, a 2006 compilation of 50 chiptune artists. At $15 for over 2 hours it’s the best deal in legal music. It can be purchased at the 8 bit peoples website where you can also download several artists works for free (which is also a good deal).

Here’s Bubblyfish’s “From Inner Shadow To Outer Shadow.”

and from the upcoming Pulsewave show Neil Voss’s track, “End If.”