Culture

What the Blip? Oh, it's a festival for bit-lovers....the digital kind

by Victoria Revay | December 8, 2006 at 10:47 am

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Chiptunes and low bit art lovers unite! This year's blipfestival in New York brought together the world's finest and most well known low bit musicians and artists to create magical tunes. Described as a " new kind of folk music for the digital age," low bit tunes take hand held devices of our hereandnow, handheld computers, videogames et al, and use them to make music.

I'd love to hear what this sounds like and I can't wait to show you all the wicked images I found of the event. Watch this slideshow to see some of the best. If you were there, I'd love to hear your review. What do you think of chiptunes and low bit art?

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jpeterstein

at 12:37 on December 8th, 2006

Sunday Dec 3rd my friend Neil Voss played the Blip festival, where artists use

low-bit videogame consoles and home computers to make visuals and

music. Melodic and dark at times, Neil’s music was completely danceable

and fun. Even more amazing is the fact that he wrote all his songs in

only one week. I really respect people who can write music because it’s

the one form of creativity I just could never in a million years

attempt. I really don’t understand how one would begin to even start to

write a song. Also, this guy is a completely brilliant web designer and

flash programmer and he created some of the on-screen visuals for this

event as well. Talk about multi-talented!

chioubacca

at 15:38 on December 8th, 2006

Some of my fondest memories as a child was watching my older brother play video games. Then I would put ice down his back or try to smother him with a pillow so I could watch Rainbow Brite, but I digress. The Blip Festival took me back to those nostalgic days. Except I wasn't trying to commit bodily harm to anyone. I was afraid that a lot of the music would go over my head and overwhelm me, but I found the music to be accessible and fun and the visuals accompanying the performances enhanced the experience. It was an amazing festival and both the performers and the fans are really cool and friendly folks. It made me come to the conclusion that chiptunes are twice as fast as your ass.