Howdy, fellow Robots. This here’s a new feature I’m writing. I’ll be blogging about the latest chiptune, nerdcore & other game-inspired music releases & happenings. Lots of things have been going on in the past few weeks so let’s dive in, shall we?


HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER 2 TURBO

You may remember how the folks over at GameMusic4All graced us with the first ‘Here Comes A New Challenger’ compilation disc, which featured super-fresh beats and a veritable pantheon of nerdcore MC’s spittin’ about everything from Rush’n Attack to LOLcats. You can imagine my excitement when an advance copy of ‘Here Comes A New Challenger 2 Turbo’ arrived in my email inbox from GM4A’s curator, Anthony Ruybalid (aka genoboost). ‘Challenger 2’ keeps things fresh with a new lineup of nerdy MC’s and chip musicians including Videogame Orchestra, Shael Riley & DJ Snyder (of Grammar Club fame), Superpowerless, MC Loki, Swampyboy and the uncanny Doctor Octoroc, just to name a few. If you can appreciate fearless amateur rapping and hella-tight chiptune beats, stayed tuned to GameMusic4All in the coming weeks for more info on this highly-anticipated compo.


‘KIND OF BLOOP: AN 8-BIT TRIBUTE TO MILES DAVIS’ ANNOUNCED

Chiptune virtuoso Rich Vreeland (aka Disasterpeace) of II Music has allied himself with an all-star team of profusely talented chip musicians to create an 8-bit tribute album honoring the 50th anniversery of Miles Davis’ seminal jazz classic, ‘Kind Of Blue’. The project, which has been entitled ‘Kind Of Bloop’, has already raised over $4,500 from contributors to pay for royalties & printing costs. With a solid lineup of 8-bit composers including Virt, Disasterpeace and Shnabubula, this release is starting to look like one of the most promising collaborative chipmusic projects of the year.


TRUE CHIP TILL DEATH NOW HAS A PODCAST!
TCTD, the excellent chipmusic news site run by Peter Swimm has entered the world of podcasting. Hosted by Random, TCTD’s podcast will feature new music and special guests from all corners of the globe. You can subscribe at http://truechip.org/podcast.


NEW RELEASES ON 8BITPEOPLES
Speaking of new music, there’s been a LOT of great stuff coming from our friends at 8bitpeoples as of late. In case you haven’t been keeping up, here’s a laundry list of some excellent (and free) chipmusic albums available on 8BP for your listening pleasure:


GLOMAG’s newest EP, ‘DaMaGe’ is a perfect mix of heavy club beats and electro-pop vocals. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Depeche Mode had a Game Boy fetish, you need to hear this.



MR. SPASTIC treats us to five tracks of funky electro-house jams on his new release, ‘Claps & Leads’. Whip out your Commodore64 and party like it’s 1982.



STARPAUSE made his 8BP debut last week with ‘AKID EP’, a four-track odyssey of abstract electro, IDM and glitch; Guaranteed to tickle your fancy if you're a fan of Autechre or Squarepusher.



Finally, an album that you simply need to hear to believe: COOVA & BUD MELVIN prove that Game Boy and banjo make for excellent musical bedfellows with their folksy four-track collaborative EP, ‘She’s The DJ, He’s The Rapper’. All of these albums are 100% free on www.8bitpeoples.com.


That’s all for now! Check back biweekly-ish for more.