Blip Festival
Encyclopedia
The Blip Festival is a festival that celebrates chiptune
music with musical performances, workshops, and screenings of movies. It has been held annually since 2006 in New York City
. In recent years, there have been international versions of Blip Festival held in Europe (Blip Festival Europe) and Asia (Blip Festival Tokyo). The festival is curated and organized by 8bitpeoples
, one of the foremost labels in the chiptune
scene, as well as local arts organization The Tank. The New York festival (referred to simply as Blip Festival) has switched venues several times, beginning in 2006 at 15 Nassau Street in Manhattan, then moving to Eyebeam Art and Technology Center in 2007, and then being held in Brooklyn at the Bell House in 2008 and 2009.
The festival was the subject of a documentary film, Reformat the Planet, made by Two Player Productions
. The documentary was an official selection of the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival
, and was shown on Pitchfork.tv
.
, Denmark
on July 24 to 25, 2009. The festival included Bit Shifter, Nullsleep
, Hally, Binärpilot
, Bodenständig 2000
, Bu Bu Kitty Fuckers and more.
, Japan
at Koenji High. Artists slated to play include Bit Shifter, Nullsleep
, YMCK
, Saitone,Hally, Quarta330, Stu, Hip Tanaka, and more.
Chiptune
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
music with musical performances, workshops, and screenings of movies. It has been held annually since 2006 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In recent years, there have been international versions of Blip Festival held in Europe (Blip Festival Europe) and Asia (Blip Festival Tokyo). The festival is curated and organized by 8bitpeoples
8bitpeoples
8bitpeoples is a DIY record label/arts collective centered in New York City that focuses around the 8-bit aesthetic, which is heavily influenced by vintage videogames. 8bitpeoples was founded in 1999 by Jeremiah "Nullsleep" Johnson and Mike "Tangible" Hanlon...
, one of the foremost labels in the chiptune
Chiptune
A chiptune, also known as chip music, is synthesized electronic music often produced with the sound chips of vintage computers and video game consoles, as well as with other methods such as emulation. In the early 1980s, personal computers became cheaper and more accessible than they had previously...
scene, as well as local arts organization The Tank. The New York festival (referred to simply as Blip Festival) has switched venues several times, beginning in 2006 at 15 Nassau Street in Manhattan, then moving to Eyebeam Art and Technology Center in 2007, and then being held in Brooklyn at the Bell House in 2008 and 2009.
The festival was the subject of a documentary film, Reformat the Planet, made by Two Player Productions
Two Player Productions
Two Player Productions is a video production company based in Portland Oregon. Two Player Productions was founded in 2005 by Pawl Owens, Paul Levering, and Asif Siddiky.- Overview :...
. The documentary was an official selection of the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
, and was shown on Pitchfork.tv
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
.
Blip Festival Europe
The Blip Festival Europe was held in AalborgAalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
on July 24 to 25, 2009. The festival included Bit Shifter, Nullsleep
Nullsleep
Nullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
, Hally, Binärpilot
Binärpilot
Binärpilot is an electronic music project by Alexander Støver.All of his music is freely available online through various outlets such as Jamendo and 8bitpeoples as well as torrenting hosts such as The Pirate Bay. His music style resembles that of a chiptune-style, incorporating vocoder vocals and...
, Bodenständig 2000
Bodenständig 2000
Bodenständig 2000 is an electronic music group from Germany, founded 1995 by Dragan Espenschied and Bernhard Kirsch. They are the self-proclaimed pioneers of the home computer folk music movement....
, Bu Bu Kitty Fuckers and more.
Blip Festival Tokyo
The Blip Festival Tokyo was held for the first time on September 4–5, 2010 in TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
at Koenji High. Artists slated to play include Bit Shifter, Nullsleep
Nullsleep
Nullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
, YMCK
YMCK
YMCK is a Japanese Chiptune band. The band members are as follows; Midori , Yokemura , and Nakamura ....
, Saitone,Hally, Quarta330, Stu, Hip Tanaka, and more.
2011 lineup
- AnamanaguchiAnamanaguchiAnamanaguchi is a chiptune indie rock band from New York City that "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas. Akin to other chiptune artists, Anamanaguchi creates...
- BEASTMODE
- Bit Shifter
- Bubblyfish
- Chipzel
- cTrix
- enso
- exileFaker
- 4mat
- Henry Homesweet
- Knife City
- Raquel Meyers
- minusbaby
- M7Kenji
- NNNNNNNNNN
- NO CARRIER
- Noisewaves
- NullsleepNullsleepNullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
- Party Time! Hexcellent!
- Tristan Perich
- Ralp
- Stagediver
- Starscream
- Peter Swimm
- Talk To Animals
- Ten Thousand Free Men & Their FamiliesTen Thousand Free Men & Their FamiliesTen Thousand Free Men & Their Families is a musical project of Sydney based Game Boy Music composer and performer Thomas Gilmore, who began writing music with the Nintendo Game Boy in 2007. Shortly after in 2008, Gilmore and Dot.AY from Brisbane started a blog documenting and promoting Australian...
- Ultrasyd
- vade
- visualicious
- Wet Mango
- Zen Albatross
2009 lineup
- Albino Ghost Monkey
- Bit Shifter
- Bubblyfish
- Patric Catani
- Chromix
- The C-Men(visuals)
- Disasterpeace
- Eat Rabbit
- enso(visuals)
- failotron
- Fighter X
- glomag
- The Hunters (music and visuals)
- I, Cactus
- The J. Arthur Keenes Band
- Je Deviens DJ en Trois Jours
- Jean Y. Kim
- Leeni
- little-scale
- Rosa Menkman (visuals)
- minusbaby
- NO CARRIER(visuals)
- NullsleepNullsleepNullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
- outpt(visuals)
- Paris(visuals)
- Psilodump
- RainbowdragoneyesEric W. BrownEric W. Brown is an American musician, artist, songwriter, vocalist, drummer and producer. Currently residing in Denver, CO, he has also lived and worked in Nashville, TN and his hometown of Silver Spring, MD...
- Silent Requiem
- Starscream
- David Sugar
- tRasH cAn maN
- VBLANK(visuals)
2008 lineup
- AnamanaguchiAnamanaguchiAnamanaguchi is a chiptune indie rock band from New York City that "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas. Akin to other chiptune artists, Anamanaguchi creates...
- Animal Style
- Bit Shifter
- Bubblyfish
- Cheap Dinosaurs
- Cow'p
- Dubmood
- Entter (visuals)
- Glomag
- Graffiti Monsters
- IAYD
- Ikuma
- Jellica
- Lissajou
- Low-Gain
- m-.-n
- Meneo
- minusbaby
- Mr. Spastic
- NO CARRIER (visuals)
- nordloef
- noteNdo (visuals)
- Nullsleep
- Paris Treantafeles (visuals)
- Role Model
- Sidabitball
- Starscream
- Stu
- Sulumi
- Syphus
- The C-Men (visuals)
- Tonylight
- Trash80Trash80Trash80 is a micromusic/bitpop project from Timothy Lamb , a pioneer of independent Game Boy music. He has published several songs online under the Creative Commons License under the Trash80 and Tresk banners...
- Unicorn Dream Attack
- USK
- VBLANK (visuals)
- zabutom
2007 lineup
- 6955
- 8GB
- Alex Mauer
- Anamanaguchi
- Bit Shifter
- Bodenständig 2000
- Bokusatsu Shoujo Koubou
- Crazy Q
- Firebrand BoyFirebrand BoyPhilip Cunningham is a chiptune and electropop producer based in Glasgow, Scotland. He is part of the new wave of chiptune musicians who were born after the rise of the demoscene...
- Gijs Gieskes
- gwEm
- Lo-bat.
- Mark DeNardo
- Markus Schrodt
- minusbaby
- No Carrier (visuals)
- noteNdo- (visuals)
- NullsleepNullsleepNullsleep is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since its inception...
- Oliver Wittchow
- Otro (visuals)
- Paza Rahm
- Postal_M@rket
- Rugar
- Sabrepulse
- Saskrotch
- Tree Wave
- Virt
- Yes, Robot
2006 lineup
- AnamanaguchiAnamanaguchiAnamanaguchi is a chiptune indie rock band from New York City that "makes loud, fast music with a hacked NES from 1985." The band has four members: lead songwriter Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, guitarist Ary Warnaar and drummer Luke Silas. Akin to other chiptune artists, Anamanaguchi creates...
- Goto80
- Receptors
- Starpause
- Touchboy
- Tugboat
- Virt
- x|k
- Bit Shifter
- Coova
- Mark DeNardo
- Pepino
- Quarta330
- Rabato
- Random
- Herbert Weixelbaum
- Cory ArcangelCory ArcangelCory Arcangel is a Brooklyn, New York artist who makes work in many different media, including drawing, music, video, performance,, and video game modifications, for which he is perhaps best known...
- Aonami
- Covox
- Crazy Q
- The Depreciation Guild
- Hally
- Kplecraft
- Bud Melvin
- Nullsleep
- Bubblyfish
- Glomag
- Tristan Perich
- Portalenz
- Saitone
- Jeroen TelJeroen TelJeroen Godfried Tel is a Dutch composer. Best known for numerous computer game tunes he wrote in the 1980s and early 1990s for the Commodore 64, Tel is a founding member of the computer music group Maniacs of Noise....
- Neil Voss
- YMCKYMCKYMCK is a Japanese Chiptune band. The band members are as follows; Midori , Yokemura , and Nakamura ....
- C-Men (visuals)
- C-TRL Labs (visuals)
- noteNdo (visuals)
- Voltage Controlled (visuals)
- Dan Winckler (visuals)