Demos came about as a sort of “visual graffiti” that preceded video games that had been cracked (had their DRM removed) by a team or person who wanted to visually show off their artistic side as well as their technical prowess. In the early days, computing capabilities and space were severely limited and that required a certain finesse to create something amazing using very limited means. That meant that the music and animations created in this format required creativity as well as algorithmic magic, and physical parties sprung up way before the internet as a way to share files and knowledge and to compete and inspire each other. Demoscene: The Art of the Algorithm is a well-crafted documentary that narrates the history of the demoscene and demoparties, and captures the essence of the modern-day scene.
LINKS Nectarine is a demoscene portal that’s still updated with demos Pixeljoint Pixel Art Resources Keygenmuysic.net Download .mod files ripped from demos or keygens / cracks. Requires a .mod player like one of the apps on Modplug.com Keygen Music Jukebox Listen to demoscene / keygen music without need for a .mod player
Trackers are the original old school way to compose music on computers, using hexadecimal to assign effects and notes. Impulse Tracker was the one I used on DOS, but there are modern day equivalents like Sunvox and Psycle.
It’s the last few days to fund a futuristic role playing game that I contributed one of my Quantazelle to the promotional video. Here’s part of what I wrote over on my Quantazelle site:
“Always / Never / Now” is a storytelling game adventure that’s somewhere between James Bond and William Gibson in its action and intrigue. There’s a the street samurai with the metal legs and the one-time-professional bodyguard with the metal arms to the the cat burglar with the reckless guile, in over his head. Always/Never/Now translates these characters into ready-to-play action heroes on a mission that stands to change their dystopian future forever.
The designer, Will Hindmarch, an old friend, asked me for a track to use for the promotional video that was kind of “something befitting international espionage, action-adventure, and slickly classy near-future dystopias,” so I recommended Unlawful Furniture.
Here’s a hilarious book explaining how computers work, referencing meat needed as fuel, puppies, and a washing machine as integral parts.
In a classic internet video, Bjork explains how television works, comparing the electrical components to buildings in a city, and the wires are “elevators.” It bothers me that people find her “adorable” when she is acting like a child simplistically justifying the “magic” of electronics. What’s also sad is she is an electronic musician who should have technical knowledge of her tools (however, she relies heavily on producers, which could explain why she thinks electronics is a magical process). She is a grown woman and it is sad that this is considered cute.
I curated a Chicago-artists-only compilation of innovative electronic music for my label, subVariant called “Frequencity. Read more about it and download it here. I’ve also contributed a track as Quantazelle. Enjoy!
TRACKLIST: 01. Beanbake: “A Bicycle In Your Mind” [Melodic Electronica]
02. Belmont and Clark: “Dark Compression” [Analogue Electro]
03. Ella Laurence: “aaaAH” [Acid]
04. [esc]APE: “Square Fingers” [Dark Electro]
05. Polyfuse: “Blood on the Urinal” [Electro Industrial]
06. Foe Paw: “Dos Otros” [Prog Rock]
07. XYZR_KX: “Home” [Folk IDM]
08. Mike Gonsior: “Reflections” [Downtempo Electronica]
09. Quantazelle: “Polychromatic Tomatoes” [Melodic Electronica]
10. Lokua: “Hue” [Minimal Techno]
11. Drasla: “Moonlight Somnambula” [Neo-Classical IDM]
12. Elock: “Ari on Acid” [Chiptune]
subVariant is planning to release a free-to-download collection called Frequencity featuring quality songs from regional musicians. All electronic music genres are welcome.
subVariant will also release an original t-shirt design in the theme of “Chicago Electronic Music” when the compilation is officially released.
Here is a great television special about British synthpop & synthesizers in the late 70s and early 80s produced by BBC Four. Some of the talking heads are from members of Joy Division, Human League, Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, OMD Gary Numan (who has Asberger’s by the way) and more.
Reformat the Planet is a feature-length documentary that focuses on some of the personalities behind the 8-Bit / chiptune scene in New York City, featuring some of our favorite Game Boy artists, notably Bit Shifter.
Reformat the Planet (RTP) is a feature length documentary which delves into the movement known as chip music, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using obsolete video game hardware. Familiar devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in new directions with startling results.
…After documenting several live chip music performances in New York City and being invited to film the first year of the now annual Blip Festival, it was clear that they stood before a rich cultural mine that few were tapping in any long-form projects. The decision to focus the film on the varied personalities of the NYC chip music scene was a quick and obvious one.
What really makes a music scene? You know–those certain reasons that make you put on a jacket and promptly head for the El or call a cab just to get there in time. That’s what Chicago Innovative Electronic Music (CIEM) and subVariant are asking via their Crowdsourced 1.0 event: What is it about electronic music that people want to see live?
It really is a heady question. But, CIEM & subVariant‘s preliminary answer seems to be: "That which is "crowdsourced."
To the unfamiliar, "crowdsourced" means that the content that is the most popular "rises to the top" via votes–as in, the crowd chooses what’s the most relevant. On Digg.com (a popular news and entertainment aggregator) the front page is filled with only the content that has been voted up through "diggs." Threadless is also a good example: only the designs that are voted hottest actually make it to production.
On April 10, CIEM will test their theory in the electronic music world. Electronic music fans and supporters were asked to vote on a number of the submissions from Chicago artists to determine the lineup for the night. After approximately 600 online-votes later, the results were in, and the top four will perform in order of the number of votes recieved.
It’s democracy in electronic music. Like, seriously, democracy. Not that "republic" stuff that’s been thrown around. These artists have been chosen by the people, for the people.
