Author: 8GB

  • Block Rocking Atari XL Beats

    This is fresh fresh fresh from Berlin, you mothathumpers!

    Computadora Ø version 0.5beta

    Shake your booty to these block rocking Atari XL beats (with a bit of C64 percussion help :))

    Herr Galatran of COMPUTADORA brings us this megamix made with some tunes from the ASMA Collection. He certainly has chosen some of the most dancefloor-blasting tunes I have heard in the last days and all coming from a “lowly” Atari 8-bit computer. “Using sounds no one else can get”? Suck on that, Crystal Castles, and shove it up your ass.

    COMPUTADORA is part of the crew of the new wave of Bleep Street Records, Johan Kotlinski-founded label, now based in Berlin. The roster includes superstars like Stu, Goto80 and new additions are to be announced soon, as well as more exciting news. STAY TUNED.

    Now no more talk, enjoy this amazing megamix:

    Computadora – ASMA Alphamegabetamix Part 2 – Computadora – ASMA Alphamegabetamix Part2

  • Best Live Visuals IV

    All the way from my “madre Patria”, Spain, this crew which started as a  duo is now a one man force, much alike The C-men, but still packs a punch: even if one would suppose that two factors on their own wouldn’t sum up as much, it seems these guys are working independently in an even greater energy.

    A set by this guy contains a shit load of graphic content, all computer visual data, that is tinted by “glitches, ROM hacking, trash culture, machinima, visual algorithms, cyberpunk and random scripting”, all run by proprietary VJ software and, recently, triggered from his wireless device while he is rioting on stage or anywhere else. Oh yeah, he likes to perform in the truest sense of the word, many times doing life-defying stunts (he once almost dies in front of my eyes when performing together in Barcelona, when he missed teh border of a table he jumped on)

    Playing around Europe in a myriad of festivals and club venues, but always closely tied in to chip musicians, the collaborations with Goto80 and Meneo are the most notorious, the latter one being the focus of Raul’s current interests and one of his most interesting projects.

    I also cannot leave this text without mention of his former “partner in crime”, Raquel Meyers, since a lot of the work in the early days, like Goto80’s first AV presentations, were done with her in the team too, and as I said, she’s packing up some amazing visuals on her own as well, doing the Goto80 show now and performing solo for other musicians. This nomination is for her, too

    Ladies and gentleman, please welcome:

    ENTTER
    [Santander, Spain]

    BASIC - MENEO from Entter on Vimeo.
    Meneo – I Know Basic

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  • Best Live Visuals III

    Slow monday is slow… but here I am presenting another nominee for the Live Visuals category.

    Hailing from New York, our next nominee’s game (no pun intended) is coding software for handheld consoles (and Pure Data) to get his vision across. A balanced blend of minimal shapes, all tinted by the laws of mathematics, is his forte. This guy has also that always needed good sense for music, making all the situations on-screen tightly in sync with what’s going on on the screens. On this year’s Blipfest, he was one of the most tight visual performances, and I can also see how he’s rapidly growing int the field. Giant steps!

    Having said somewhere else in this blog that he got kind of kickstarted by a talk given by The C-Men some time ago, he’s been into the chipmusic scene of New York ever since, being a frequent figure on the Pulsewave monthly night at New York as well as other events in the area, like all 3 Blip Festivals up until 2008.

    Another regular lecturer in the US and Europe, “he was awarded a residency at the Experimental Television Center and created a series of video podcasts for the pioneering composer William Duckworth”. Man, all these VJ guys are serious business.

    People, please give it up for:

    Paris Trentafeles
    [New York, USA]

    [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/AsWqgnHaKIQ" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

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  • Best Live Visuals II

    When I was making my first steps in VJing, around the early 2000s, I was looking around for information and stumbled upon these two mystic guys who were using Amigas to make their VJing while saying they were “the worst, and getting better at it”, a phrase that certainly denoted the kind of humour handled by them.
    As the vintage computer freak I am (and this was soon after I embraced the PC for the first time, still keeping my Amiga), I was interested about them and started to find some info. These guys were hard to get a hold on, and information was scarce! I realized they were playing in almost every show organized by Micromusic.net … certainly at the time the -only- crew dedicated to VJing for what was then emerging as “contemporary chipmusic”. Found 2 or 3 videos and wanted more. Nowhere to be found, and I was living in Argentina! How to catch the shows? Damnit! That was the catch. Kept drooling at those posters coming from the old continent…

    With 10 years in the game and no sign of stagnation, our next nominee is definitely the most experienced of the bunch, and the one with the heftiest trajectory. Today existing as a one-man workforce, after performing and lecturing all across the world (from the USA to most all Europe, passing through Russia and even China) and being one of the leaders of the project C64 Orchestra, our eyes are still rocked by this marvelous artist.

    Ladies and gentleman, a warm welcome to…

    The C-Men
    [Enschede, Netherlands]

    [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/v-acAdEpmtY" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]
    The C-Men + Psilodump (Live @ En Festival i 8 Bitar 2008)

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  • Best Live Visuals I

    VJs are a core element in today’s music shows.
    Wherever you will go to a show, you will see an assortment of screens with visuals on it. Unfortunately, the importance of the VJ is usually under appreciated.

    For certain they yield big power: they can enhance or destroy a performance. Many times I have remained in awe gasping at a screen on a music show, and many times I wanted to yell “turn off the fucking screen”… Having being a “full time VJ” (that means, this being my main and only means of income) for about 8 years, and having curated many a VJ events and exhibitions in that time, I am pretty certain of what makes or break a good one and some times believe me, for the sake of conserving the good name of live visualists, it would be best to shut the screen off :P

    The task is a complex one. In my view, the VJ is a bit of a “Swiss Army Knife” in the electronic music business. He or she has to have a grasp of visual aesthetics, obvious dominance of the video field (be it live motion video or animation), a bit of layout/design skills, music sense or, better, more advanced music knowledge and last, but not least, notions of scenography and stage setup, as well as all the tech know-how that makes each of these possible. They usually have to provide, as well, all the gear that makes their set possible, with no such thing as a “house backline” for VJs existing in many places (sometimes, venues will not even have a projector). It makes you think a lot each time you think that shoving images on-screen is an easy task.

    I’ll cut the babble short now and present you with our first nominee in the Live Visuals Award. Hailing from Philly in the United States, he is a very regular VJ at the monthly Pulsewave events at NYC, as well as other events around the area and abroad. Frequent workshop lecturer and fine 6502 coder, please welcome him:

    NO CARRIER
    [Philadelphia, USA]

    [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/LQ1PBTsJ4lw" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]Cow'p + No Carrier @ Blip Festival 2008
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