Archive for the ‘Album Reviews’ Category

Aydan Appreciates: ‘[USA]’ by Anamanaguchi

Posted by Aydan Scott

Anyone who’s ever listened to chipmusic has assuredly heard of the legendary Anamanaguchi. A four-piece group from New York City, their 2009 ‘Dawn Metropolis EP‘ was likely the first taste of chipmusic many of us received upon exploring the genre – myself included. 2013’s ‘Endless Fantasy’ saw a departure from this style and marked their first full-length foray into the world of electronic dance music, and spawned a semi-viral video in which the band launched a slice of cheese pizza into space. In October of 2019, they released ‘[USA]’, their second full-length album, and on the off-chance you missed it on release, I’m excited to share it with you all today!

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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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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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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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