Archive for November, 2019

Rhyphte Reviews: ‘Scars’ by Watch Out for Snakes

Posted by Rhyphte

Y’all. It has not been easy deciding what to write about. The late autumn/early winter releases have been fucking killer. Right now, I’m sitting on like, two half-finished reviews—which is nuts! But I’ve just decided to take the plunge on this ’cause I’ve gotta honor what Matt has accomplished here. Watch Out For Snakes (hereon referred to as WOFS), is a synthwave project from Matt Baum featuring prominent chiptune elements and is a cornerstone of the Atlanta synthwave scene. When I heard ‘Arms Race’ on Volume 7 of the annual compilation, I knew that something truly remarkable was taking shape in the chiptune scene and I couldn’t be happier to see this fucking stellar release at the forefront of Georgia’s chiptune landscape.

Album art for ‘Scars’ by Andrew Tremblay.

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This Month in The Overworld: Uctumi

Posted by Pixel Syndrome

Always witty and to the point, this month’s The Overworld guest once said about hardware limitations “Challenge is the fuel that turns the cogs of creativity”.

Uctumi playing live.
Uctumi playing live.

Born in Buenos Aires in the year 1981, Uctumi is an Argentinian musician that began composing tracker music in 1996. Very active in the current local demoscene, he shares his views of Chiptune music and innovation in general in this interview.

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Aydan Appreciates: ‘Modern Closure’ by 4mat

Posted by Aydan Scott

‘Nadir’ was my first exposure to 4mat’s timeless and emotional music. I was given the honor to review the album in 2014, and it filled a musical void I never knew existed until I listened to it in depth over and over again. With off-kilter percussion and melodies, polyrhythms galore, and overarching themes of memory and self-doubt, ‘Nadir’ is a thing of beauty, with some of its hauntingly beautiful melodies still ringing in my head to this day. Since the release of ‘Nadir‘ and the remaster of ‘Decades‘, however, the artist’s Bandcamp page had been relatively quiet up until the surprising release of ‘Modern Closure’, an expansive 18-track journey through the depths of emotion.

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A Square Meal: The SOUNDSHOCK Series

Posted by Pixel Guy

Beyond all the glamour and pageantry of the blips & blops, a misunderstood way of making chip music has grown and bloomed away from the spotlight of the scene – yes I’m talking about FM Synthesis. Of course, this is not a complaint, as we say in Spanish: “para gustos los colores”. The point is that, most of the time, a lot of cool things happen under the surface, things that are worth talking about and, from time to time, seem to be buried in the huge mass of crunchy sounds. The album series I’m covering today is not that. I can even say that it’s well known by everyone nowadays, precisely because the intention was –and still is– to direct your attention to the music and techniques used by those incredible musicians. Today I want to go back to one of the greatest compilation series centered on the FM side of the Micro Music, Demoscene, and Chiptune. Apt for newcomers and veterans, it will make you move and ignite the fires of love and interest in this particular approach to chip music in your soul – hoping the inferno grows so big that it encourages you to search for new music or even make your own. So let’s take a look over the ‘SOUNDSHOCK’ Series by Ubiktune.

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