Chiptunes

I ended up enjoying Reformat the Planet far more than I expected. The only chiptune I'm really familiar with is Anamanaguchi's stuff, which I first encountered in the Scott Pilgrim game. After the screening I really wanted to check out some of the less "marketable" artists, so I've been slowly working my way through a gigantic Grooveshark playlist of chiptune songs. While I enjoy a good majority of the tracks, I'm inclined to agree with the argument someone made in class today regarding the possible limitations of such music. The sounds produced by these modified consoles aren't necessarily deficient in terms of tone or the number of possible arrangements, but in variety. Artists such as Anamanaguchi combine more conventional & familiar instruments with pure chiptune to allow for a greater variety of sounds, and that's one reason they are more marketable to someone unfamiliar with the genre than, say, Bit Shifter or Bubblyfish. Of course, whether that's a good thing or not is a matter of personal preference and level of hipsterness (damn, I feel so mainstream).

On another note, it kind of bummed me out to hear that the scene essentially died in New York. At least it looks like the Blip Festival was still held this year, so at least a few people are still active in that area. I'm sure there will always be someone out there putting on chiptune shows.