Archive for December, 2019

This month in The Overworld: Crab Sound

Posted by Pixel Syndrome

Nestor Ovilla, also known as Crab Sound, is a Chiptune music producer and the founder of one of the first music collectives in his home country of México. Interestingly enough, he is also an illustrator, writer, and experimental photographer. Born in Tuxla Gutierres, the capital of the Chiapas state on the year 1991, he was always drawn to experimental art.

Crab Sound posing with a gameboy, his instrument of choice.

Crab Sound posing with a Game Boy, his instrument of choice.

On 2010, he started working with producing and programming his own EDM tracks, an activity that flourished with several projects besides of Crab Sound that he still continues up to this day. Self described as “A boy who inhabits an ice mountain, inventing sounds to make the robots and mutants break into dance”, here’s what he had to say about Chiptune.

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Rhyphte Reviews ‘PWRNEON’ and Interviews The Mad Lads Behind It

Posted by Rhyphte

What’s up, gamers. If this isn’t the first article of mine you’ve scrolled through, you know I’m a sucker for living examples of collaboration in action. I love seeing different creative directions come together to present a totally new musical idea or experience, and, like many of you, I fucking adore LSDJ chiptune and Famitracker-based synthwave. Basically, it should come as no surprise to anyone that I’m about to unleash a whole article about ‘PWRNEON,’ an absolute banger of a single and cover of toasterpastries’ ‘PWRMEOW’ by Techno Mage, a Seattle-based duo comprised of famitracker musician Dan Butler and guitarist Austin Schuyler. The track premiered last night on Nightride.fm alongside a playlist of recent LSDJ tracks curated by Dan himself. There’s more to be said about Nightride, but first I’d like to kick things off with my own review of ‘PWRNEON.’

Album artwork by Melissa Butler

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Aydan Appreciates: ‘Ratvader’s Dream’ by Ratvader

Posted by Aydan Scott

‘Ratvader’s Dream’, released through the incredible Swedish Columbia netlabel, is the first full-length production from Gothenburg, Sweden-based musician Ratvader, one-half of the group Hello World. If that name sounds familiar, it might be because they wrote the opening track for ChipWIN’s most recent compilation, the Wild West-themed ‘A Fistful of Chiptunes‘. Their atmospheric contribution set the mood for the rest of the album and was a demonstrable display of their musical expertise. What’s more, the album was produced – and had its cover art drawn! – by El Huervo, an artist whose work you may recognize from Hotline Miami between some of its music or its iconic cover art. Now that you know a little bit about the artists, let’s get to know the music a little more intimately, shall we?

Absolutely stunning album artwork by El Huervo.

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Hoodie Highights… Oscar Rydelius of Hello World!

Posted by President Hoodie

Hey friends! It’s been a good ol’ while since I published a new interview here on our blog. While working on ‘A Fistful of Chiptunes‘, however, I had some lovely conversations with one of the artists that lead to my unpause-ing of this column. The fellow responsible for this is talented multi-media composer, a dual project chiptune wizard, and an all around fantastic Swede. Everyone, welcome to the blog, Oscar Rydelius!

Oscar Rydelius (left) jamming with Eli Hedman (right) in Hello World.

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Leveling Up Your Artistic Identity – Episode IV: Cornering Your Market

Posted by Dan from Techno Mage

For many, the term ‘marketing’ can have an unsavory connotation – especially when applied to their own work. If this describes you, it’s time to reevaluate. While there are plenty of entities that use marketing as a means to questionable ends, we have to remember that marketing is merely a tool. Rather than look at marketing as a way to ‘control and manipulate people,’ think of it as a way to optimize the presentation of your work and ensure that it gets put in front of latent superfans. Previously, we looked at how to establish a series of themes and aesthetics that make up your ‘brand.’ Truthfully, that only covers half of the equation. The other half deals less with the nuance of identity and more with logistics. Now that you have a good idea of what to put into the world, we’re going to postulate how you plan to put it out there.

Leveling Up Your Artistic Identity

Art by Melissa Butler

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