Stuff I Find Awesome: Blip-Bleep Edition

Last weekend I was anticipating a night out in one of Boston’s hottest new scenes for music.  Ironically, the technology and sounds used are polar opposites for the new scene.  Fortunately, for those of us who enjoy various genres of music and still have that inner-nerd raging inside of them, there’s Boston 8-Bit.

What the hell is this, you ask?   Click “Continue Reading” to find out.

In their words, “BOSTON8BIT was created in 2009 as a resource for both chiptune artists, and their fans. Our mission extends beyond chiptune to include glitchy, experimentally, generally awesome people that would like to reach out to new ears.”

The latest event they held, called Chiptune 6, was at The Middle East’s upstairs venue in Cambridge, MA.  It consisted of a handful of artists, and I can proudly say that it was the first night (outside of conventions) I have enjoyed in a long time.  Each performer, band and group offered a unique twist to their chiptunes, for instance, have you considered the sounds of someone adding live vocals to a well-composed game boy?  No?  How about wishing you could play music just from your old SNES controller and a laptop? Perhaps you didn’t want to try something more experimental… you just wanted unadulterated, pure awesome from an NES you managed to rig up to your laptop via USB? They have you covered.  As for that last link, check out “Supertronic Lazering.”

Special guest Albino Ghost Money sends the crowd further into a frenzy at Chiptune 6.

If you can imagine how all of that managed to mix together and throw a nearly sold-out show, and even if you can’t, you need to get out to one of these events.  The things Boston 8-bit does with vintage systems are as impressive as they are entertaining, and let me tell you, this was one hell of a show:

CHIPTUNE 6 – Active Knowledge “The Fractal Reason” from BOSTON8BIT on Vimeo.

More pictures will pop up when our resident picture ninja can fix his camera!

Boston 8-Bit’s next show is called The Super Epic Chiptune Dance Party, taking place on Friday, May 7th at the New Wave Cafe in New Bedford, MA [map].  The show starts at 8pm, the cover is $5 and the show is 21+.