A few nice things about chiptunes as a topic:
-They are somewhat fringe
-They have all sorts of interesting cultural and historical cross-ties (i.e. to videogames and a certain era of computers, as well as a movement of chiptune cover songs)
-The genre (hopefully) will be a little more easier to "bound" than other options I was considering.
-I know one person who makes chiptunes as part of his musical work, and another who could be inclined to start.
A few not so nice things about chiptunes as a topic:
-They are somewhat fringe
-From what I can tell through preliminary research, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a chiptune scene in Rhode Island. Fortunately, there is a huge chiptune scene in New York and I believe a decent-sized one in Massachusetts, so hopefully those can work out.
I'm interested in what the "scene" consists of here - live performance? If that's the case, what's the mode of consumption - dancing? Or close, attentive listening with a patina of nostalgia? If there aren't concerts, then do people sort of get together, hang out, and discuss these things? What do they discuss - the tunes themselves? Matters of sound engineering (as I suspect)? And of course, one of the most interesting aspects of this is the reason for making these tunes at all: are there aspects of technological connoisseurship? Is it related to video game nostalgia, something like the performances of a group like The Minibosses (http://www.minibosses.com/brassmp3s/09megaman2.mp3)?
ReplyDelete