The life of a pixel artist is at once simpler yet more complex than that of the chip musician. They are constrained by their chosen platforms just as much as their musical counterparts, but lacking the crutches of sequencers and other musician friendly tools they have to reply on their raw talent and vision to create works that express their artistic style and voice. Here are your 2009 Best Visual Artist Nominees.
Enso:
Keff:
Defenders are the special few people who work tirelessly to help nurture the scene for others, with no personal gain or hidden agenda, simply for the love of the community. They organize shows, curate releases, produce documentation, software, hardware, and all with no obvious reward. These defenders are the glue that holds the community together and without their efforts, some less visible than others, this year would have been far less interesting. Here are the hardworking few that TCTD recognizes as your 2009 Defender of the Chip nominees.
lobitplayground – Now in its fifth year, this showcase of Japan’s best allows an outsider’s view into the Japanese chip scene. Spearheaded by Coova, Saitone and Quarta330, this event greatly inspired the rise of such US events such as Pulsewave and 8static, so a tip of the TCTD hat was in order for this great showcase and the work they have done.
Mike Rosenthal – Last year we nominated The Tank for this award, but felt we should especially single out Mike for all the hard work he has done with 8bitpeoples, Pulsewave and The Blip Festival. People sometimes wonder out loud why all the good events happen in NYC and it is due in a large part to the behind the scenes guidance and hard work of Mike. Without his efforts the history of the US chipscene might have been quite different.
Anders Carlsson – If the other nominees here are the heart, Anders (aka goto80) is quickly becoming the brain of the scene. Respected by the neophytes and the demoscene stalwarts alike, Anders has provided clear and concise historical perspective throughout the year through his blog, and on countless of forum and blog postings.
Don Miller – Software developer, event curator and mentor to budding NES programmers everywhere, Don has really stepped up the profile of his organization, 8static, as well as providing many open source programs and helpful documentation.
Jordan Gray – Jordan, too, dabbles in various aspects of the scene. Hexawe, mp3death, Dutycycle, documentation for LittleGPtracker, the mark of Starpause can be found in all of them. Always a staunch advocate of sharing tips and tricks, he continues to kill the n00b in all of us.
In a year that was tough for all labels, whether they be brick and mortar, netlabel or imaginary, a common worry amongst all involved was how to gain recognition for their artists. Many of the active labels in our community are under-supported with zero budget and mostly volunteer staff (if the admin isn’t doing everything themselves). So with most of the scene operating largely on word of mouth and blog virility, it is up to the strength of curation to keep these labels in the limelight and the following have done an excellent job at picking great artists to host on their sites.
Pause – The winner of this category last year did not rest on its laurels, putting out 13 great releases and solidifying the “Pause sound”. Proggy, and proud of it, it seems poised to remain a perennial contender in this category year after year.
8bitpeoples – The most public facing of all current netlabels put out some grand releases, especially ones from glomag, minusbaby and Mr. Spastic. What is their next step? How big can they grow?
Ubiktune – Perhaps the quiet sensitive brother of Pause, this label put out the great “Season”tune comps and excellent releases from artists like Stu that really pushed the chip music concept forward in terms of style, songs and production quality. Focusing on artists from the demoscene, they shed light on portions of the scene overshadowed by fist pumping ravery.
Da! Heard It – With it’s eclectic roster of chip and non chip acts alike, this netlabel strives to bridge the gulf between chip music and other genres and stick its crew where it belongs, in hot clubs, in dj mixes, wherever.
mp3death – The temporary label has been around for a good time now and has a great mix of acts in this years releases. Quiet and underground, but always interesting, so when it makes a sound, you’ll be inclined to listen.
Live performance is a bit of a dirty secret in electronic music, and perhaps more so in chip music where far too many artist are happy pantomiming and summoning, and few have the talent or charisma to pull off a genuinely charismatic live performance. This list is far too short, as there were a number of great performers active this year, and those left off were done by the barest of margins. Here are the nominees for Best Performers of 2009.
Sorry for the older video, but even in it’s current incarnation as a two-piece (soon to be three piece), GM are one of the most energetic and fun chip shows around.
Charisma, CHECK, great tunes CHECK, enigmatic and entertaining crowd seductery? CHECK.
Youthful musical genius overcomes the odds to become breakout performer at industry showcase. IT HAPPENED.
The world’s best just got better, forever.
Last year’s nominee keep it rocking with good times, rad tunes, and live music fade-outs.
Now this category was a bit more difficult for me and staff to work through, as we saw lots of updates to old software as well as new products that allowed the creation of amazing new works of chip art and music. Ultimately what TCTD considered was new features, current functionality, and importance to the scene’s growth and development.
Here are your nominations for Best Software of 2009:
LittleGpTracker – The little LSDJ clone/son/replacer that could just kept going, with ports to the PSP and Dingoo platform, new features like soundfont support and an overall great rapport between its developer and users of one of the best up and coming music applications for portable systems.
Famitracker – The best all around Nintendo tracker got support for additional expansion sound chips, and with the ability of the Powerpak to emulate these chips, it became even more useful as a tracker that can realistically and reliably enable playback on real hardware. FT will have to watch its back, however, with the release of Neil Baldwins NTRQ upcoming in 2010.
XPMCK – MML is slightly arcane for most of the composers in the international chipscene, but XPMCK’s developer has added bug fixes and new features to this stable and encompassing platform for developing music on various chip platforms.
Chipsounds -I can hear the sphincters of dozens of chiptune purists clenching in anger. However, Plogue and his staff need to be commended for their academic, accurate yet respectfully designed suite of sound chip emulators. Still early in its life, and not yet perfect, Chipsounds is a significant step forward for the chip music community in that a company would place so much effort in a venture seeking to balance commercial viability and easy of use with accuracy and authenticity.
LSDJ – Perhaps responsible, more than any other current application, for the current wave of chip music popularity, Mr. Johan Kotlinksi’s LSDJ saw in 2009 many fixes and features added to what many thought was already a finished stable product. Still highly influential and incredibly usable, here’s hoping for even more growth as the program marches past the 4.0 milestone