After the release of the Apple iPad, Xbox 360 and other gaming devices with a plethora of uses other than gaming, it seems our culture has outgrown the need for its old school, one-function gaming devices. Luckily, a scene has emerged that uses Game Boys and other '80s-era hardware to create a style of music called chiptune, or 8bit, synthesizing vintage sounds with thoroughly modern ideas.
"It's music made using sound chips of pretty much any old technology that wasn't capable of sampling," said Damon Hardjowirogo, who programs for the New York-based band Starscream. "It's low-bit, meaning it uses the actual soundchips that most old video game consoles and computers have."
To access these soundchips, 8bit musicians use programs like Little Sound DJ (LSDJ), which "allows you to access the sound chip of a Game Boy," said Louis Shannon, who plays in various 8bit projects. "[On the program] you have four tracks you can write in, like four tracks of a live band — bass, drums, guitar, vocals — and you apply the tracks you write to these four channels."
Although the sounds of chiptune are limited to the capabilities of the technology these musicians employ, the music itself is not limited. The scene includes bands like Starscream, which combines the sounds Hardjowirogo creates from the '80s home computer Commodore 64 and bandmate George Stroud's drumwork, and Anamanaguchi, a group of NYU students who play traditional instruments over tracks created from old Nintendos and were called one of the "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear" by the L Magazine. Also prevalent are solo musicians like Bit Shifter, also known as Josh Davis (LA '95), who fell into the scene "accidentally."
"I stumbled upon a Web site for one of the programs used to compose on the Game Boy, called Nanoloop," Davis said. "I was pretty amazed by this idea in general, to use the Game Boy as a music-making platform. I'd always had an interest in that style of sound, the character of those old machines."
As a teenager, Davis developed an interest in electronic music, but didn't find anyone to share that passion with until later in his life. "Most of my social circle wasn't really into that, so I figured out on my own what was what within that realm," Davis said.
His friends helped in other ways.
"When I became a teenager, I started listening to really terrible heavy metal, and I was rescued from that by some friends in high school who lent me cassettes of punk and hardcore bands, independent pop and post-punk and indie rock and stuff like that, and that's where my taste for the most part has come from," Davis said. This music inspired Bit Shifter's music, a sound Hardjowirogo describes as "going from electronic hardcore to sugary power-pop."
Davis isn't the only one within the scene with a multitude of influences; in fact, most 8bit bands come from different musical backgrounds, creating a group of musicians united not by a genre but by the hardware they use.
"These bands have other intentions, and 8bit is their way of getting it across," Shannon said. "Anamanaguchi basically defines 8bit punk, while Starscream is more of a post-rock band." Shannon cited Beck, Portishead and other psychedelic electronic musicians as his own influences.
"I've never considered myself an 8bit musician," he said, "but more a musician who sees the possibility of using hardware and what the positives are of using outdated software to reinvigorate your creative spirit."
Because 8bit comes from so many different influences, people unfamiliar with the music often don't know how to react to it.
"We recently played at a punk house party in Baltimore," Hardjowirogo said, "and they weren't too big on it at first. I talked to a few of them after, who said they normally hate electronic music but realized that you can create any kind of music with chiptunes."
While the different 8bit musicians might have different styles, what unites them is the chiptune community, which has spread through the Internet to nearly every major city worldwide. Within the more localized scenes, musicians and organizers use the Internet to connect to other groups in other cities and help each other out.
Davis is a central member of 8bitPeoples, a collective that puts on the monthly showcase Pulsewave and the annual Blip Festival in New York City. The series was the brainchild of musician Peter Swimm and is now in its wildly successful fourth year.
"We've been really lucky with Pulsewave," Davis said. "It was an idea that got started for selfish reasons, because we thought it would be fun to throw these events and get our friends to play these shows. But they definitely brought in people who otherwise wouldn't have been aware of chip music."
"Blip Festival has helped show how global the chip music scene is, even though a good majority of the musicians are from the New York scene," Hardjowirogo added.
In the wake of these festivals, more and more chiptune bands from across the globe, from Tokyo to Montreal and Philadelphia to Boston, have enjoyed the welcoming scene.
"Right away, I was really struck by [the 8bit community]," Davis said, explaining that because the scene is central to the use of certain hardware, it's created a very tight-knit and inclusive culture.
"I hate to sound like a hippie," he added, "but it's such an atmosphere of mutual respect and admiration and excitement."
