[Editor's note: Our resident Chiptunes expert, Zen Albatross, checked out Lo-Tek Resistance while at PAX 09. -- CTZ]
Videogames are cool and all, but one of the major highlights of my weekend at PAX was Lo-Tek Resistance, the impromptu street performance engineered by members of Crunchy Co Records. Anyone near the front entrance of the Washington State Convention Center on Friday was treated to three amazing hours of Game Boy-powered jams from almost a dozen performers including Fighter X, Seanbad, Circles, Spamtron, Infradead, McFiredrill and even Anamanaguchi’s Ary Warnaar. Naturally, I was there to capture some of the performances with my trusty (and now unfortunately missing) camera.
Unfortunately, the convention center’s staff thought we were rocking too hard and kicked us off the property shortly after the events depicted below. After regrouping on the other side of the street, the chiptuning continued. The turnout was excellent: Large numbers of both PAX convention-goers and random passersby stopped to observe our makeshift street concert. The show quickly became an open mic as we passed around the audio jack to anyone who felt like playing -- From the driving dance beats of Circles and Fighter X to the experimental glitch sounds of Infradead and the spastic speedcore madness of Spamtron -- a wide variety of different styles were exhibited. I even got to perform one of my half-finished industrial tracks before being interrupted by uninvited precipitation. All in all, an amazing time. For those who missed it, I hope the videos and images below give you an idea of how exciting live chipmusic can really be.
And speaking of live chipmusic, you'd better mark your calendars for this year's Blip Festival, which was recently announced for the 17th - 19th of December. If you're looking for a reason to visit New York City, this is as good an excuse as you're going to get. Hope to see some of you there!
Hit the jump to check out some videos of the Chiptune performances!
There's a whole underground here! I'm really bummed I missed your performance at PAX, and look forward to a CD you may or may not (You'd better) release, so I can listen to it all the time!
God I missed out for half of this but I heard it from inside the convention center! I'm loving this so much! Now I really wished I could make it to Blipfest!
Wish i had remembered to bring my camera. Fun times and you fucking killed it with your song. If that was half finished it all the way done has to destroy
@Infradead: Thanks! I have video of you too, just waiting on Vimeo to give me more internets to upload with.
@Garison, Stella, Analoge, Katrina: I can't express enough how much I appreciate all the feedback you guys gave me this weekend. It's reassuring to know that I'm not just some nerd with a self-indulgent game boy fetish. <3 you guiz bigtime in the butt.
@Nihon: I think I may have dropped it in the lounge while attempting to FTP press materials through PAX's wonky WiFi network. I'm going to have to make sure I get a Media badge for PAX East.
Zen, every time you make a blog about chiptunes, I read it. I remember you posted the videos last year and they were awesome. I'll, hopefully, be there live next time.
Thanks so much for the coverage! Chiptunes are practically all I listen to these days, and your fervent discussion/coverage of them makes me so happy! I just wish I could have been out there to see the performances, as I've never seen them be performed live. Maybe someday...
And I hate to be an echo, but I also share everyone's sentiments that it was really great to meet you.
I didn't have a ticket to PAX this year, but I'm wishing I would have come out there just for this (I live near by). That music is killer and the entire idea of people out in the streets of Seattle making music on their Gameboys is just way too rad.
"Listen fuckface, who the fuck still plays last-gen games anymore?" -Brlito
Are you genuinely expecting people to still take you seriously? That's like losing your credibility and expecting any single person to give a half a shit about your opinion, especially when it's as incredibly constructive as the one you posted here.
"Brlito: It's nice that you yanks love rewarding people for not having any talent or merit except putting together the bleeps and bloops from a chip into some sort of coherent sounding track."
Contradict yourself much? Last I checked it takes talent and a key understanding of music in order to put sounds together to make a coherent sounding song.
@Grimspoon: It's probably most akin to DJing, the only difference being dealing with 4 channels of Game Boy audio instead of turntables :3
The software has a 'Live' mode which allows you to switch between loops, make cuts and change instrument parameters in real time. Different performers improvise in different ways, however.
Very neat Zen Albatross, I didn't know there was any real time interaction with the software. That pretty much clicks things into place for me, thanks!
I'm not really into the "boom tss boom tss" chiptunes that much, I'm more into the prog-style chiptunes that sound like they'd actually be in a nintendo game (i.e. virt). That being said, it's pretty awesome that you guys can pull this off live. I've written stuff in famitracker but couldn't ever imagine pulling it off live without looking like some nerd with a laptop that just hits "play".
@Grimspoon my stuff is a bit different than Zen's and everyone else. I'm using a lot more limited program (http://www.nanoloop.com/nv.html) and doing it all live as i go. The guitar pedals were delays to add some depth to the sound. This was my first attempt at a portable rig like this (my usual setup is kinda crazy big) and there are a few changes I would have done to get a better sound.
it was a great time and i was surprised to look up and see the crowd was still there watching me
big ups to Zen for uploading the video and doing such a great job writing it all up!
this was the most random thing to run into on a street corner at 11 at night while going on a cheesecake run... and I'm so glad I did. Amazing performances by all.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
2:00 PM on 09.12.2009
| 
Also, you can see me a couple times in the first video, wasn't expecting that.
Also, you can see me a couple times in the first video, wasn't expecting that.
I was totally stoked watching it, and totally stoked to meet you, Zen.
You're awesome!
Wish i had remembered to bring my camera. Fun times and you fucking killed it with your song. If that was half finished it all the way done has to destroy
@Infradead: Thanks! I have video of you too, just waiting on Vimeo to give me more internets to upload with.
@Garison, Stella, Analoge, Katrina: I can't express enough how much I appreciate all the feedback you guys gave me this weekend. It's reassuring to know that I'm not just some nerd with a self-indulgent game boy fetish. <3 you guiz bigtime in the butt.
<3
Here's the vidja of your sweet as hell composition, Zen!
And I hate to be an echo, but I also share everyone's sentiments that it was really great to meet you.
-Brlito
Are you genuinely expecting people to still take you seriously? That's like losing your credibility and expecting any single person to give a half a shit about your opinion, especially when it's as incredibly constructive as the one you posted here.
Contradict yourself much? Last I checked it takes talent and a key understanding of music in order to put sounds together to make a coherent sounding song.
You're just holding onto the gameboy and dance while it plays your pre-recorded songs?
The crowd seems happy though, so who am I to judge.
The software has a 'Live' mode which allows you to switch between loops, make cuts and change instrument parameters in real time. Different performers improvise in different ways, however.
Also be sure to take a gander at the following:
8bitpeoples
Crunchy Co Records
Pause Music
it was a great time and i was surprised to look up and see the crowd was still there watching me
big ups to Zen for uploading the video and doing such a great job writing it all up!