Square Sounds prides itself on having a lineup comprised of at least 50% international musical artists, many of whom have never played in Australia before. The musical styles and genres of the artists vary greatly, but for a little hint of who we have to look forward to, and why you might our audience or yours might want to hear more from them, some details are below.
Chip Tanaka
Hirokazu Tanaka may not be a name immediately known in Australia to any other than the most hard core of videogame enthusiasts, but his music certainly will be. One of Nintendo's most famous composers, Chip Tanaka is behind soundtracks including Dr Mario, Metroid, Kid Icarus and Smash Bros. Brawl. He was also part of the team created the gameboy camera and printer.
It might seem that you would expect a very VGM inspired set from a master of the video game music scene, but if you know Square Sounds, you know we love to show that video game consoles don’t mean ‘game music’ and Chip Tanaka’s music is a testament to that, set to blow all your expectations out of the water. A featured part of the recent Red Bull Academy 'Digging in the Carts; web series, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Australian audiences to hear a true master - and a huge supporter of the chiptune scene - at work.
http://www.hirokazutanaka.com
xyce
xyce is a project by two self confessed 'ordinary guys' from Groningen, Netherlands who make music on the Amiga 500 (Protracker 1.3b), Atari 1040STe (Musicmon 2.5e), PC (OpenMPT) and Gameboy (LSDJ).
After 7 years and multiple albums, both as a duo and for their separate solo projects (xylo and cerror), their music is a perfect blend of cheesy good time sounds and . With a live show that combines fun antics with highly danceable beats, it is as clear they have as much fun as their audiences do which makes for a fantastic time.
http://cheapbeatsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/nova
Galaxy Wolf
London based Galaxy Wolf uses a pair of vintage game boys to create wonky dubby bass, that shouldn't possibly come out of such an antiquated piece of hardware.
Rich with both bass and arpeggios, his music is clearly influenced by the 'London sounds' of garage and 2-step. With six years of heavy, head nodding chip under his belt, this will be only his second show outside the UK and Melbourne audiences will love it.
https://soundcloud.com/galaxy-wolf
Henry Homesweet
Previously having performed in Australia as part of ElectroFringe, one of the true legends of chipmusic, Henry Homesweet returns to our shores to take his place on the Square Sounds lineup.
Featured in the Europe in 8-bits documentary, Homesweet is a purponent of creativity through constraint, and his music proves that even the most minimal gear can make some of the most complex and impressive musical structures.
Known for his 'Out-House' series of youtube videos and remixes that have garnered him thousands of views, he has performed in countries all over the world, taking his game boys from New York to Belgium to perform lo-fi house and hard hitting techno where archaic gear meets cutting edge style.
http://www.henryhomesweet.co.uk
Eyeliner
Intensely 80's , ambient and instrumental, Eyeliner's "High Fashion Mood Music" is a perfect example of the vapourwave genre. Eyeliner, side project of NZ indie producer Disasteradio (Luke Rowell) blends chiptune with 80's style within his multiple projects to create music that is at once fresh, and nostalgic for the synth heavy hits of the 1980's.
http://www.disasteradio.org
chipzel
The first ever Irish artist to play Square Sounds in either Tokyo or Melbourne, chipzel is considered by many to be a leading female artist in chipmusic and is certainly the best known.
chipzel has played all over the world and introduced many newcomers to chiptune through her Vice article ‘Music made on Game Boys is a much Bigger Deal that you’d Think” and is also behind the music of the addictive, BAFTA nominated, rhythm game Super Hexagon as well as the upcoming Steam Greenlight game ‘Interstellaria’.
Her game boy based music is upbeat, bouncy and melodic, and will certainly get audiences dancing.
http://chipzel.co.uk
NNNNNNNNNN
Unashamedly the Skrillex of chipmusic. This Japanese artist delivers the most ridiculous large face melting bass sounds out of a Game Boy that anyone has heard... Ever.
https://soundcloud.com/nnnnnnnnnn
Goto80
Active within the demo and chipmusic scenes for over 20 years, Goto80 is a highly respected chipmusic artist and demoscene historian.
One of the first artists to play Gameboy music live, he incorporates various consoles to create his sound, as well as utilising modern software such as Renoise. With well over 1,000 songs available online through his various aliases, Goto80 is certainly one of the most prolific artists in the scene and is also one of the most knowledgeable, having written his Master’s Thesis on the subject. He is an artist who firmly believes in the relationship between music and visuals within the chipmusic scene, and frequently blurs the lines between the two, with collaborators including Rosa Menkman, Raquel Meyers and Otro and projects that include the first performance using only PTSCII-based graphics and music software.
At Commodore’s 25 year celebration, he was one of just three artists nominated as all-time C64 composer.
http://www.goto80.com
Toriena
In August of 2014 Toriena, released the film clip for her track Pulse Fighter, with visuals from Square Sounds veteran m7kenji. This video was reposted and shared on blogs from around the world, as well as receiving coverage from larger outlets including mtv and kotaku. But this was only the beginning. Her ambitious latest album, A.I. Complex, is like a modern Rock Opera, telling a complete story which is told through the purely instrumental music, and hinted at in the Pulse Fighter film clip.
Our Japanese artists are always some of the most popular, and Toriena’s past performances (with and without NNNNNNNNNN) have been some of the crowd favourites in previous years of Square Sounds Tokyo.
http://toriena321.wix.com
Chip Tanaka
Hirokazu Tanaka may not be a name immediately known in Australia to any other than the most hard core of videogame enthusiasts, but his music certainly will be. One of Nintendo's most famous composers, Chip Tanaka is behind soundtracks including Dr Mario, Metroid, Kid Icarus and Smash Bros. Brawl. He was also part of the team created the gameboy camera and printer.
It might seem that you would expect a very VGM inspired set from a master of the video game music scene, but if you know Square Sounds, you know we love to show that video game consoles don’t mean ‘game music’ and Chip Tanaka’s music is a testament to that, set to blow all your expectations out of the water. A featured part of the recent Red Bull Academy 'Digging in the Carts; web series, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Australian audiences to hear a true master - and a huge supporter of the chiptune scene - at work.
http://www.hirokazutanaka.com
xyce
xyce is a project by two self confessed 'ordinary guys' from Groningen, Netherlands who make music on the Amiga 500 (Protracker 1.3b), Atari 1040STe (Musicmon 2.5e), PC (OpenMPT) and Gameboy (LSDJ).
After 7 years and multiple albums, both as a duo and for their separate solo projects (xylo and cerror), their music is a perfect blend of cheesy good time sounds and . With a live show that combines fun antics with highly danceable beats, it is as clear they have as much fun as their audiences do which makes for a fantastic time.
http://cheapbeatsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/nova
Galaxy Wolf
London based Galaxy Wolf uses a pair of vintage game boys to create wonky dubby bass, that shouldn't possibly come out of such an antiquated piece of hardware.
Rich with both bass and arpeggios, his music is clearly influenced by the 'London sounds' of garage and 2-step. With six years of heavy, head nodding chip under his belt, this will be only his second show outside the UK and Melbourne audiences will love it.
https://soundcloud.com/galaxy-wolf
Henry Homesweet
Previously having performed in Australia as part of ElectroFringe, one of the true legends of chipmusic, Henry Homesweet returns to our shores to take his place on the Square Sounds lineup.
Featured in the Europe in 8-bits documentary, Homesweet is a purponent of creativity through constraint, and his music proves that even the most minimal gear can make some of the most complex and impressive musical structures.
Known for his 'Out-House' series of youtube videos and remixes that have garnered him thousands of views, he has performed in countries all over the world, taking his game boys from New York to Belgium to perform lo-fi house and hard hitting techno where archaic gear meets cutting edge style.
http://www.henryhomesweet.co.uk
Eyeliner
Intensely 80's , ambient and instrumental, Eyeliner's "High Fashion Mood Music" is a perfect example of the vapourwave genre. Eyeliner, side project of NZ indie producer Disasteradio (Luke Rowell) blends chiptune with 80's style within his multiple projects to create music that is at once fresh, and nostalgic for the synth heavy hits of the 1980's.
http://www.disasteradio.org
chipzel
The first ever Irish artist to play Square Sounds in either Tokyo or Melbourne, chipzel is considered by many to be a leading female artist in chipmusic and is certainly the best known.
chipzel has played all over the world and introduced many newcomers to chiptune through her Vice article ‘Music made on Game Boys is a much Bigger Deal that you’d Think” and is also behind the music of the addictive, BAFTA nominated, rhythm game Super Hexagon as well as the upcoming Steam Greenlight game ‘Interstellaria’.
Her game boy based music is upbeat, bouncy and melodic, and will certainly get audiences dancing.
http://chipzel.co.uk
NNNNNNNNNN
Unashamedly the Skrillex of chipmusic. This Japanese artist delivers the most ridiculous large face melting bass sounds out of a Game Boy that anyone has heard... Ever.
https://soundcloud.com/nnnnnnnnnn
Goto80
Active within the demo and chipmusic scenes for over 20 years, Goto80 is a highly respected chipmusic artist and demoscene historian.
One of the first artists to play Gameboy music live, he incorporates various consoles to create his sound, as well as utilising modern software such as Renoise. With well over 1,000 songs available online through his various aliases, Goto80 is certainly one of the most prolific artists in the scene and is also one of the most knowledgeable, having written his Master’s Thesis on the subject. He is an artist who firmly believes in the relationship between music and visuals within the chipmusic scene, and frequently blurs the lines between the two, with collaborators including Rosa Menkman, Raquel Meyers and Otro and projects that include the first performance using only PTSCII-based graphics and music software.
At Commodore’s 25 year celebration, he was one of just three artists nominated as all-time C64 composer.
http://www.goto80.com
Toriena
In August of 2014 Toriena, released the film clip for her track Pulse Fighter, with visuals from Square Sounds veteran m7kenji. This video was reposted and shared on blogs from around the world, as well as receiving coverage from larger outlets including mtv and kotaku. But this was only the beginning. Her ambitious latest album, A.I. Complex, is like a modern Rock Opera, telling a complete story which is told through the purely instrumental music, and hinted at in the Pulse Fighter film clip.
Our Japanese artists are always some of the most popular, and Toriena’s past performances (with and without NNNNNNNNNN) have been some of the crowd favourites in previous years of Square Sounds Tokyo.
http://toriena321.wix.com
