Oh, hai guise… Ok, ok, ok. First of all, I’m not going to do the usual “…trixie shows up and apologizes for not posting for three months” thing because, honestly, I’ve been busy working on my life long dream of being the female, short, blonde, American version of Tony Wilson, and that’s why you haven’t seen me in awhile. I’m still working hard bringing people new music, I’ve just kind of limited my scope to the “live” and “NYC” part of that job. You guys wouldn’t believe how hard it is to jump on to Res and write a post after sending ten thousand emails to coordinate people playing shows or after a successful show with a few beers in my stress-related-ulcerated stomach.
BUT… The “day job,” as they’re called because it’s what you DON’T want to do and not because of the time it takes place, has ended and I am doing the “making cool stuff happen” thing full time, so now I have the chance to come back to you guys with some really sick music. In the spirit of my new position at The Tank, NYC’s stronghold for 8-bit, here’s a whole slew of chip music that I’ve been enjoying this summer.
First off, trash80’s absolutely brilliant Icarus EP has been the soundtrack to this summer– lush, sexy, sundrenched Balearic-bit for those who dream of an alternate reality Ibiza where Nullsleep and Bit Shifter hold court like Sasha and Steve Lawler once did at Space. Like all 8bitpeoples releases, it is free for download and sharing under Creative Commons, so follow that link and grab it.
Despite technical difficulties as a result of him overpowering the house system during his set at May’s Pulsewave, he kicked off my summer with an ear to ear smile stretched across my sweaty face. Here’s 2Player Productions’ rather disorienting video of “Missing You” from that night:
Trash80 @ Pulsewave in NYC, 05.24.08 (1/1) from 2 Player Productions on Vimeo.
Though “Missing You” seems to be the universally sanctioned hit from the release, “Sodium Sonet” is actually my favorite.
Sodium Sonet Extended - trash80
On the other side of the spectrum from trash80, I’ve been digging the 8bit + sparkling speedcore hybrid side project of industrial artist Aliceffekt. Called MALICE, it’s the sonic equivalent of grinding metal against metal to shoot dazzling sparks– one part hard and savage bass line to one part silver-filigreed synth lead, it’s definitely an exciting first entry into chiptunes and I’m looking forward to how this project progresses (as well as a super-secret OTHER side project of lush, melody-driven IDM that Resonator will probably be lucky enough to preview in the coming months).
Malice - L
(Note: The ID3 tags for this release come up with a bunch of Japanese stuff, so you may not be able to find it in iTunes by typing “MALICE.” To preserve the integrity of what the artist wants, however, I didn’t change the ID3 tags. Go blame them.)
MALICE is also available for free here. I definitely recommend downloading the entire album, as each track is mixed into the other so it’s hard to really listen to one on its own without hearing the tail end/beginning of another.
And finally– Argentina’s 8GB is pure, full on, hands in the air dance-till-you-can’t-move insanity. If you missed his set at Pulsewave’s 2nd Birthday back in March where his set rocked so hard that he caused a black-out, here’s a sample of what you can expect when he returns this month! (More on that coming later in the week– look out for it, because it’s going to be BONKERS!)
8GB live @ Pulsewave - New York - march 2008 (8/9) from Kiken Corporation (????) on Vimeo.
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