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Cartridge family
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by JACK OATMON Chiptune is, for the uninitiated, music created on video-game consoles by tinkering geeks chasing childhood nostalgia and the raw, candy-sweet, low bit-rate buzzing of technologies gone by. You’ve perhaps chanced across these folks with their hacked Gameboys, rewired Commodore 64 synthesizers, pixellated t-shirt designs and suchlike. In the words of Francis Rodrigue, aka XC3N, “We spent our childhoods playing boring games with excellent music.” Along with locals Matt Fuzz, Aliceffekt and Taxi Nouveau, he’s one of the minds behind the Toy Company event series, which this week marks its fourth edition since kicking off in May, 2008. “I like to think it’s centred around play, the whole concept of playing,” says Rodrigue. “It ties in with video games and with performance. Before, you were Aliceffekt explains how a trip to an 8-bit event in New York inspired them to start something up in Montreal. “I only started making music two years ago. I saw all these geeks making chiptunes. I made a few tracks and sent it to the people who organize Pulsewave in New York and we got to play at that, and Bubblyfish was playing that night too, which was so cool because she was really the person that got me into it.” This edition of Toy Company features NYC’s Bubblyfish, whose uptempo console beats and remixes, unfettered by additional instrumentation or sampling, cut right to the bleeping heart of the genre. Matt Fuzz will also perform his take on the style, which combines the most nostalgic and cathartic elements of the Gameboy with occasional banjo accompaniment. Local synth quartet Cougarettes will be on hand, mixing in a measure of blog fashion. For their part, Aliceffekt is a producer and graphic designer of some considerable talent, taking advantage of the Commodore 64’s SID chip and some antiquated 3D imaging techniques to produce fascinating videos, available on YouTube, while XC3N makes steady, spacey beats with a hip hop sensibility stemming from past experimentation with turntablism and sample-based production. The Toy Company events try to liven up the atmosphere by focusing on the interactive elements of game-style music. “That’s one thing about events like Pulsewave,” explains Rodrigue. “You’ll have someone with a Gameboy making this totally awesome music, but he’ll just be standing there, staring at his Gameboy and pumping his fist. I want people to be into it.” XC3N, BUBBLYFISH, PERO, MATT FUZZ, |
playing a game, and there was music playing during the game, it would produce sound. Now the idea is the opposite, to produce sound and that creates a game in its essence, in the way that you’re interacting with your tools and with your audience.”
