Blip Festival 2009 is almost upon us! The three-day concert takes place later this month on December 17 and is a celebration of the chiptune scene. Numerous chiptune performers will be at the show blipping and blooping the night away. Find out more about the concert over on the official Blipfest site.
Are you planning on going? Tickets to the show are dirt cheap and many members of Dtoid New York will be attending. And thanks to The Tank, we had two tickets to the show to give away last week. All that we asked for you to enter was tell us your favorite chiptune song and why you like it so much. We were able to narrow down the finalists to four people and it was incredibly hard to just pick two winners.
Congratulations to pixelpunx and Barton! You both will be getting a three-day pass to attend Blip Fest 2009. See their winning entries, along with the two runner-ups, after the jump.
Be on the lookout later today as Destructoid is about to hold a entire months worth of contests!
Winners:
Barton:
Anamanaguchi – “Helix Nebula”
The reason I decided on “Helix Nebula” is twofold.
First off the song is nostalgic; though this is true for the chiptune genre as a whole and will probably be the central point of mention for many of the posts here, it’s an important one to remember. It shows that games are now at a point where they are so deeply rooted into our culture that we are remembering and even referencing them in other forms of media, be it music or canvas or literature (which admittedly is arguable). Whenever I sit down and really listen to Anamanaguchi’s Helix Nebula, I feel there should be a controller in my hand. I don’t know if it’s just the nerd in me, but I’m excited by that.
Second and more exclusively to this song, listening to it really makes me feel like I’m about to go on some sort of an adventure or begin a journey. This point ties back to the first, since many of video games’ greatest songs (Mega Man 2’s Dr. Wily Stage, Duck Tales’ The Moon, Actraiser’s Fillmore to name a few) try to do precisely the same thing. The catchy hooks and and fast pacing are secondary to the fact that I’m imagining the words “READY!!” or “GAME START” as the song’s playing.
Also I guess there’s a third reason which is Anamanaguchi is fucking awesome but far be it from me to post a fanboy comment and expect that to garner any credibility. Except I just did. Shit.
pixelpunx:
What an incredibly difficult question to answer. I think one of my most recent favorites would be “Counter of the Cumulus” by Disasterpeace.
I think that the chipmusic scene is saturated with a ton of folks simply trying to make good music. Disasterpeace definitely achieves this goal, while at the same time managing to accomplish so much more with each track he releases. Each song feels as though it’s telling a story – accompanying each melody, beat, and chord with a narrative. Counter of the Cumulus is one of those songs that sends goose bumps down my back each time I hear it. Not only because of its sheer beauty, but because of the song’s ability to inspire an almost disturbing sense of sadness and despair. As if holding the most beautiful thing you’ve ever witnessed two minutes before your own execution.
In short: Disasterpeace fucking rules. Whoever wins these tickets is going to have their mind blown when they see him perform at Blipfest.
Runner-ups:
Ary Warnaar
Being in a chiptune band myself, I might have to stick to my own category and say “Triangular” by Chromelodeon. That or “Polygon Sun.” Both off the same album, but honestly can’t pick just one.
“Trianglular”:
“Polygon Sun” (live):
“Polygon Sun” (not live, excuse video):
Why? It is perhaps the most ’emotionally’ charged 8bit track I have ever heard. And while I have total appreciation for people that can make super energetic music, or dancy music, happy, sad music.. etc (all of which are arts on their own), Chromelodeon remain one of the rare few that somehow surpass those feelings. They make me feel the whole “i can’t explain why i like this so much” feeling that can come from pretty much any media and is often unexpected. I was (and am still) so happy that that”feeling” popped up for me in chip music, of all places. 😉
Honorable mention? The total ear-fuck last song Nullsleep played at Shea Stadium last Saturday with Starscream and Graffiti Monsters. I would totally lose even more of my hearing just to hear those sounds again.
Awesine
http://isfuckingaweso.me/song/1164068/Ove-Oldberg-Bappalander-Brutality-4
I have a lot of favorite chiptune songs, but I chose this one because it fits how I’d feel if I won the tickets. I’ve been meaning to go to blip fest for the past 2 years but I just never made it. I’ve turned a lot of .sid files into mp3s so I can listen to them when on the go, and it magically makes the world a happier place. When Brutality 4 comes on i can’t help but smile, just reminds me of my childhood, blue skies and the vividness that childhood seemed to have. I love the bassline, and the melody is killer, I love all the slidey bits in it. No other genre of music makes me feel the way the majority of chiptune does.
Other great chiptune that I love is all the stuff by Rob Hubbard, especially the Road Rash 1 music for the Genesis! And Radix, man do I love everything that guy makes. Bit Shifter ofcourse is awesome as well, I saw him at a basement show with one speaker blown, and the sound was unbelievable I felt like I was in the future, I got to shake his hand afterwards, and there was a naked dude walking around too. Crazy night.
I’d love to go to blip fest this year, and I will go if I win or not, depending on if I have the money of course (Ramen for dinner here I come)
