This is arguably the toughest category to decide upon, for a number of factors, the main one being lack of interest in people to do visuals specifically with low-fi hardware and/or for chipmusic shows. This reduces the options you can choose from and, since I want to keep it fresh every year, my chances to not repeat stuff are slim. Here’s hoping 2010 brings new talents to this activity in relation to chipmusic, and also new bars are set for quality by those who already are in the game.
Being a VJ for 8 years and having done anything from ultra underground events to 100.000+ people megaevents, allowed me to see almost ANYTHING there is to see about live visuals in the context of a music show and I can, with confidence, agree with what most renowned VJs have adopted as a motto: CONTENT IS KING. And when content is the context, I have to say that I haven’t seen much development on this side of things regarding low fi visualists. As discussed last year, a VJ has to have a plethora of skills, all necessary to stand out from the rest, so here’s my advice to you all, neophyte or experienced: try to nurture them all in harmony to reach the next level!
On the other hand what was really great about 2009 is that it has become the VJ+Musician collab explosion. Many artists have teamed up to deliver a solid show once onstage, musically and visually. This is the way to go, fellas, so keep it up.
Enough babbling, let’s get to the nominees. Hate mail goes in the comments section, non-anonymous, please ;):
Dan Winckler:
Dan is a bit underrated among the chip scene. He does some interesting work mixing up old technology with new by means of OPENEMU, a tool he helped develop, where he can open an old platform to the ways of modern technology like Quartz Composer.
ENTTER:
Raúl’s work with Meneo has gone from strength to strength. Personally I can’t enjoy a Meneo show as much when Raul is not present, showing how much he is determinant to the power of the project him and Rigo Pex have created. He also is a king of the performatic presence of the VJ on stage, since he’s not just another nerd hidden behind a pile of hardware. Big ups for that.
Paris doesn’t seem to want to stand still. He has entered into many collaborations this year, among which we can remark the one with OUTPT (specifically doing visuals for Nullsleep, a mighty trio) and the one with NO CARRIER (where he jumps on the mic!). Like NO CARRIER, he also is fundamental to low-fi VJ software development.
Once part of ENTTER, Raquel has finally shown her “true form” since working alone and we love it. Her works are full of attitude and tell a good story. One of the pioneers along with Entter in collaborating with chipmusic artists, her work with Goto80, Bubblyfish, Glomag or Jellica is some of the most referential in the scene, and it perfectly illustrates the chipmusic attitude empowered by collaboration.
Last year’s winner is stalwart of the scene. Celebrating his 10th anniversary of VJing, Julian took it upon himself to re-invent his work: taking 10 years worth of material and repurposing it in a new form while VJing alongside his old team mate and organizing/promoting a party all around this celebration, The C-Men team shows that they didn’t get stuck in time and still can maintain the people (and colleagues) at the edge of their proverbial seats.
Anyone saying that I repeated too many artists, can suck a fuck! Get on with doing visuals for chipmusic instead of complaining and give me some choice! :) Enso, I’m looking forward to your 2010.
Raquel needs some stateside appearances for everyone to truly appreciate her awesomeness IRL!
I’ve really been digging Rosa Menkman last year, but these are all amazing choices!
They’re all winners. It’s true!
P.S.: Originoo Sukk Fuckaz
the paris-video shows a collaboration with rosa, not outpt.
btw, too many repeated artists!
:)
It’s a surprise and a pleasure to be nominated in such esteemed company. Thanks!
minusbaby, I read “they are all whiners”, and It’s true, too.
Anders, nobody said the video shows an outpt-Paris collaboration, does it? Actually, nne of the videos are captioned and the text doesn’t allude to any content contained within them. I actually changed the video to depict a performance of Paris *alone* before you commented :/ And yes you can suck a fuck :D
what? how did i end up on this? must be my mom nominated me!
fyi.. i’m seeing a vid from blip with failotron… that is actually outpt and myself :-) the rosa/paris collab was nullsleep’s set. i don’t understand the “repeated artists” comment though. cuz some of us were nominated last year? fyi… feel free to remove me then :-) btw… i think we are encouraging more people to vj all the time. in the last year we have seen enso, JYK and outpt all step up. even more recently we see mike (invader baca) and gideon. so in no way is ever my intention to keep this a closed group! the more the better :-)
Shut up already PAris. Who said you wanted it to be closed? No one, dear!
I am YOUR MOM! haha.
By the way, I haven’t found any bloody video of you ALONE 2009. The Blip Festival website credited you alone on the performance with Failotron so that’s why I put it.
Akira! You my mom? Great! Then can i come HOME to ARGENTINA? cuz i want to leave NY :-) Good point about the vids! Maybe a good reason why i shouldn’t be on this list (alone at least). In 2009 I played about 60+ shows and of them only a handful alone – even when i was booked to play solo. Why? Because I really like to collab with other people. When the styles compliment each other and a certain dynamic between individuals takes place, there is nothing like it in my opinion. Playing by myself is really boring next to it! Most of the time I played (and continue to) with outpt because I feel that collab is the strongest. However, I have mad respect and feel honored to have played with Julian, Rosa, JYK, Don and others in 2009.
As far as the comment about being closed… nothing bad was meant. Just saying that I’m happy to see more VJs on the scene! Wow… I write too much!
Open Emu is developed by a large large team of developers, myself included.
Article FIXED.
No wonder I quit D:
haha holy cow ! 60+ gigs, that’s quite the opposite of my 2009 :P
Agree on the collabs, it’s nice to see the stuff of others combined with your own to form stuff you wouldn’t normally have made yourself.
The big mash-up at last year’s blip (psilo’s set) was neat !
we are putting out a DVD of Raquel Meyers – cool 8bit artist scheduled for release July 15th 2010