Author Archive

Chip Bit Sid Takes On: Villainest – A Vision of Light

Posted by RicH

Whilst everyone is engaged with the Chiptunes = WIN compilation over August, one of 2018’s greatest chip albums has just been released; ‘A Vision of Light’ by Canadian 16bit based band, ‘Villainest’. It’s been a while since their last album, ‘A Good Day to Try Hard’ was brought to my attention, much to critical acclaim. I reviewed it on ChipWIN, giving it high praise, also rating track ‘The Machine’ as one of my ‘Top 10 songs of 2017’. ‘A Good Day To Try Hard’ was a great introduction to an already incredible band, however it is nothing when to compared to their latest release ‘A Vision of Light’. How you may ask? Let’s find out through a few tracks that picked my fancy.

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Chip Bit Sid Takes On: Kitty On Fire Records – Super Duper Digi​-​Punk Split Vol​.​4

Posted by RicH

This week instead of the normal chipmusic that I usually review, I thought we’d look at something slightly different with the latest compilation by ‘Kitty On Fire Records’. For those who haven’t heard of them, ‘Kitty On Fire Records’ is a net label that releases all things Heavy electronic. This includes the genres associated with chiptune, such as ‘Nintendocore’, ‘Anime Breakcore’, ‘Glitch’, ‘Digital Hardcore’ and many more. I’ve been following ‘Kitty On Fire’ for a while now, with my biggest purchase being the cassette edition of this album.

This is forth installment of the compilation, which features 1-2 tracks from several artists across the world. For this release I’ll be reviewing three mind shattering tracks that really hooked me.

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Chip Bit Sid Takes On : HarleyLikesMusic – Steel City Zone

Posted by RicH

For this week’s review, I have the distinct pleasure of reviewing the newest album of one of my biggest influences – HarleyLikesMusic’s new ‘Steel City Zone’ as released on Thebasebit. I’ve known Harley for a few years now, first meeting him just before he got into making music on LSDJ and to say his music leaves an impression would be an understatement. After two wildly successful albums released on the Cheapbeats label, Harley is back again with his old tricks – and some new ones too. As someone who cites Harley as a major influencer of my own techniques, I think I’m quite lucky that I get the chance to talk about this with you – it’s not often one gets to discuss someone who has brought so much to the LSDJ game.

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Chip Bit Sid Takes On: Kosmic Tantra – ‘Tribal Rock’

Posted by RicH

Hello, how are you all doing today? This week I’ll be reviewing a very interesting album called, ‘Tribal Rock’ by, ‘Kosmic Tantra’ and it’s an incredible selection of tracks to say the least. To give you context,  ‘Kosmic Tantra’ are a french 3 person electronic rock band, consisting of a variety of different unique instruments; from the staple gameboy running LSDJ, to the more abstract, Didgeridoo and Accordion. Yes, you heard that right; throughout the entire run time of the album you’ll be hearing  amazing ‘Eastern outback instruments’ whilst chiptune & electronic music are used as the backbone of each track. A first for the genre, I think!

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Chip Bit Sid Takes On: Portopak – ‘Bull Inside The Echo Chamber’

Posted by RicH

Hello everyone! Whilst I was extremely busy these past few weeks, I still managed to find the time to write about this small chiptune EP called, ‘Bull Inside the Echo Chamber’ by ‘Portopak’.  The last time he was featured on the ‘Chip Bit Sid’ blog, was two years ago, covering his album, ‘Monsters’ as I first started out. If you haven’t heard of him before, Portopak is a Pittsburgh based chiprock musician, and his style is a combination between chiptune and shoegaze music, using a lot of echo on both his guitar as well as his own vocals. ‘Bull Inside the Echo Chamber’ is a first for ‘Portopak’, as it’s his first song that’s actually included lyrics with his vocals, and I’m excited to explore it past the fold.

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Chip Bit Sid Takes On: Graz – ‘Monolith’

Posted by RicH

Hey guys. I’ve been extremely busy these past few months, mainly down to getting the funding secure for Chip Bit Day 18 (which you can read about it later on after the review). Thankfully I’m still finding time to do my reviews for ChipWIN! This month I’m reviewing an album that I’ve been sitting on for a while now; ‘Monolith’ by Graz and released with ‘Ravertooth Tiger’.

The last time I review a Graz album was back in 2016 with ‘Ravepunk’ and that released by ‘Cheapbeats’. It was a great listen whilst feeling incredibly boppy & funky. ‘Monolith’ however is a lot different compared to ‘Ravepunk’, sounding more heavy whilst feeling darker & grittier.

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