I’m really bummed to have missed the Blip Festival again this year. I first heard about it at SXSW last year when I saw a screening of Reformat the Plant, a documentary on the chiptunes scene and the first Blip Festival. As an 8-bit video game and computer junkie, this was what I’ve been waiting for. BBtv was there this year.
I’m glad I popped by Mighty the other night for the MICROMUSICSF chiptunes party. Seriously, what a treat for the ears of this 80’s video game geek! Chiptune is music created from sound chips found in vintage video game consoles (Nintendo NES, Gameboy), computers (Atari 400/800, C64) and consumer electronics. Chiptune artists modify these devices to create their own music synthesized from these chips. A sampling of these artists who played the party are TRASH80, NULLSLEEP and STARPAUSE. Micromusic.net is also a great resource for chiptune music, videos and events.
There’s a full length documentary on the chiptunes scene called BLIP FESTIVAL: REFORMAT THE PLANET, it’s premering at SXSW this year. You know where I’ll be. Here’s the trailer:
BLIP FESTIVAL: REFORMAT THE PLANET trailer from 2 Player Productions on Vimeo.