Album Reviews

Archive for the ‘Album Reviews’ Category

A Square Meal: ‘あじたま見聞録’ by 梅干茶漬け

Posted January 10, 2019 by Pixel_Guy

Greetings! I’m Pixel Guy. When I was beginning my way on the fantastic world of chipmusic a few years ago, everything seemed to be so surreal. The ambience, the people, the hardware and techniques; it was like an anachronistic dream.

It was back then when I first knew about Chiptunes = WIN and listened to Volume 4 for the very first time. I can say that my life changed after those 3+ hours of music and that was, to a greater extent, thanks to all the marvelous artists on that compilation. One of them, 梅干茶漬け (Umeboshi Chazuke), made a really stunning creation and got my attention from the first second. When the track, and with it the compilation, was over; I was truly amazed with all the music I’d just heard. I wanted more, so I searched and listened to more content from a huge majority of all the artists that were on that Volume, and I kept an eye on Soundcloud to catch up new releases, especially from 梅干茶漬け. That’s how I began my musical adventure.
Today, I’m writing my first album review ever, and it’s something really special for me. That’s why I want to write about one of the artists who inspired me to take the musical way; so let’s take a look over ‘あじたま見聞録’ (Ajitama Kenmon Roku) by 梅干茶漬け (Umeboshi Chazuke)!

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Aydan Appreciates: ‘Lonely Idiot’ by Imaginary

Posted January 8, 2019 by Aydan Scott

Hey ChipWINners! I’m excited to kick off the year here on the blog with an article about an artist whose work I’ve reviewed a few times in the past – Imaginary! Released under the fledgling Catskull Records label while I was in Italy on my honeymoon, ‘Lonely Idiot’ initially flew under my radar, but an email from the artist alerted me to its presence. I’ve listened through the album a few times, and am excited to share a few choice tracks with all of you! Let’s get started!

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Chip Bit Sid’s Chiptune Sans Special: Utsuro Spark – Static Electricity

Posted December 20, 2018 by RicH

It’s last review of the year for me and I thought I’d continue the trend by reviewing absolutely no chiptune. Last year was no contest for me and I reviewed one of my favourite ‘Futurefunk’ albums of the year, ‘Watashi No Yume Diary’ by ‘Bigwave Mikazuki’. It was a wonderful release that I continue to listen to this day. This year however has been harder to choose. Originally I was going to review ‘Moe Moe’ by ‘Moeshop’, an awesome release with a variety of singers. Featuring a worldwide collection of artists from Manchester’s own ‘MYLK’ to Kyoto’s ‘Toriena’, ‘Moe Moe’ was full to brim with character.

However, as the year started to draw to a close, I came across another album; ‘Static Electricity’ by ‘Utsuro Spark’ (released by New Japanese Net Label, ‘Local Visions’). Whilst ‘Moe Moe’ was bubbly and colourful, ‘Static Electricity’ managed to instantly hook me, both through its mystical music and passionate vocals. Ultimately it was the heart of ‘Static Electricity’ that won me over, even when I compared both albums vigorously against one another.

Album artwork by Futureflavor.

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‘ChipWINter Wilderness’ Full Review

Posted December 11, 2018 by President Hoodie

Hey again there, ChipWINners! ʷᵃᵛᵉˢヾ(＾∇＾)

Hoodie here to intro the triple tag team of reviewers for our latest compilation! In order of appearance, Rhyphte, clover, and Adam Seats share their thoughts on the 26 lovely tunes that make up ‘ChipWINter Wilderness‘.

Dive on into the lovely wintertime read/listen below!

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Aydan Appreciates: ‘Digression’ by Snesei

Posted December 6, 2018 by Aydan Scott

Hey, ChipWINners! Long-time fans of ChipWIN may remember, on our very first compilation, a track called ‘Button Mash’ by a Detroit-based chipmusician named Snesei. With its high-energy percussion and cute melody, the track has cemented itself as a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the earliest days of my chipmusic blogging career. Every time I hear it, I can’t help but feel emotions rush over me as I recall my college years and the friends that I so cherished during that period. When I saw just four short days ago (as of the publication of this post) that Snesei released a short, 3-track EP with a guest remix included titled ‘Digression’, I was intrigued. Each track on this EP feels as though it’s been written from the heart, and with the central theme of growth, one can tell that a truly personal, loving touch is present throughout. But, I digress… let’s see what we have here.

Album artwork by Mitsuna Vinilo.

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Glenntai Got: ‘Magenta’ by Seajeff

Posted December 4, 2018 by Glenntai

There comes a time in everyone’s adventure in music where one asks, “Is there such thing as ‘too much of a good thing’?” It’s easy to summarize your viewpoint on life in this question. This question, however, gets immediately muddled by the existence of Magenta by Seajeff (fka C-Jeff); founder of the gateway to a ton of excellent progressive jams known as Ubiktune. There’s literally so much content and so much quality that the answer is either “no, there’s no such thing as ‘too much of a good thing,’” or I’m now a self-declared hedonistic opportunist. Maybe the answer’s both at this point, but let’s save that quandary for another time. This album is a badass journey through time and demands a listen, and after the jump I’ll give some examples (and a music video) for you to understand why.