Buskerdroid/Microman - RAW! RAW! RAW!

WHAT


This thing is 100% banger. There's some really really cool points in this album. Very awesome. Sounds like a lot of it is hard hitting, electro house-ish music. Some wobbles, some BRK, some cool sounds. Definitely worth many listens. I've been putting it on every once in a while when I'm doing homework or whatever. Such good bass sounds! They absolutely know how to program these gameboys man, I'm telling you. 


I can't quite tell which tracks are whose, maybe the whole thing was a collaboration or a split, but the styles are very similar. I feel like a lot of split releases have such different styles that it can get a little difficult to listen to as far as balance, because it's such a jarring change in sound (sometimes). There are also splits that pull it off really well, this being one of them. It's a lot like that USK/Fighter X split that worked really well. You can listen to the whole thing and not be like "Oh, they switched artists now". It has a sense of being more complete and together. 

Very cool. Check it out here!

Paralellis - Intergalactic Dancefloor

Saw this on Facebook the other day. Super cool, definitely worth a listen! Paralellis is a good friend of mine :) I promise, he ain't bad at all. Some really dank sounds in this, very original and fun!

Roboctopus - Victory Lapse EP

WOW. How have I not reviewed this yet? Once again, I was sent early demos for this release, and crap. This is sooo good. Roboctopus has such a jazzy, odd style that I've never heard anywhere before! It's really brought out on this little gem of an album. Dude, really, this thing blows my mind. Just one DMG (as usual), with a surprising amount of punch, melodic catchiness, and pure radness.


The 7th chords he throws in all over the place really make it unique. He throws in a lot of pulse PWM with those arpeggios too! W command all day bro. His bass instruments are mad cool also. SO crunchy, but they don't get in the way of that triangle wav kick (the volume on that thing is at 40!!!)


He details a lot of his cool tricks on Noisechannel with his LSDJ Guides! They're freely available to learn new tricks and ideas, so I'd say go check them out, here.


This album is super cool and also very dope and rad and fly.


CHECK IT OUT.

Nonfinite Live at the Dragonfly!!!

HERE






This is such an awesome album! Just released today on Betamod :) I heard an early copy of this album, very very cool. 

NAMELESS - UNHEARD OF EP

Hey there guys!


A long time ago in a galaxy far away, there was a release on the Pxl-Bot.com label that I helped a dude named NAMELESS put together. He uploaded a track called "DEBUT" on 8bc back in the day, and upon listening, I realized it was some of the most unique chip smash-thrash-punch-explode house I've ever listened to. That song was super crunchy and wonked out! 


So I emailed the dude (who for some reason was catching a lot of flak about the song not being melodic enough or whatever)  and told him that I for one loved the track, and am working for Pxl-bot (we'll talk about that another day). I asked if he'd be down for a release, and he was so enthusiastic about it.  


Like, a week later he sent me a four track EP that I threw up on the website immediately. This guy was a beast! I can't believe how unique his music is, but it works so well with that traditional 4-on-the-floor beat! 


There's no streaming link, but dudes. You MUST download the zip. It's right here:
BAM.

Also, here's the little blurb I wrote for the release page:

"NAMELESS, a never before heard musician uploaded a song called DEBUT to 8bitcollective recently. The textures were so rich, so full. One could quite obviously see the potential. Pxl-Bot contacted him and asked for an album to see where it would go.

And oh boy, did it go. This 4 track album is a bone-jarring rip-roar of a musical adventure, taking you through sharp rhythms and rough-as-all-heck synths. Throughout the whole time you listen to this album, your mind gets ripped in half and put back together numerous times as you try to comprehend how dirty this kid can make LSDJ sound.

You should totally download this album and get punched in the face with each of the free mp3s. It's worth it!"

Knife City - Self Titled EP

You want chiptune electro? You've got it. This is Knife City's "debut" EP (I'm not sure if the magfest live ep counts). This album is just pure extreme. My friend Roboctopus was chatting with me the day this came out, and he sent me the link to 8bp telling me I might like it. So, I loaded up the first track, "Hunting" in another tab, and I listened to the odd little melodic and harmonic passsage got louder and more exciting as the low-pass filter's cutoff was raised. I was like, ahh, this is pretty cool. I like it.


Then it hit me.


Really, it really in 100% actuality hit me. The first drop in this thing is a monster. I didn't even know that this was a dance record, so I totally wasn't expecting the killer kick and the bassline that ripped me to shreds. It was totally okay though. Crisp and clear, that thing just slayed all morning. The end section of "Hunting" is so ridiculously cool too. It makes me happy whenever I listen to it.


On I went through the album, and "Slam Dunk Lifestyle" came to bite my booty as well. That track is a monster! It's not even fair what this guy can do with just two Gameboys and a few samples. The production and mastering on this album is ridiculous.


The rest of the alum is just as good, but I want to keep this article concise. This. Album. SLAYS.


GO LISTEN!

Chip For Cancer

Hey everyone!
A little while back, I organized a compilation album called Chip For Cancer, where I got a sick amount of sick artists to write some incredible music for a charity album. So far, the album has raised around $600 to be sent to the BCRF by August (waiting for some final donations!). 


Anyway, since this blog is about dance music, I figured I'd post a link to it and let everyone know of the progress :) It was a tremendous undertaking by the chip scene, and the amount of support that I had with this made me really understand that there are so many good people in the chip scene.

Thank you all :)

Take a listen!

Je Mappelle - Wish EP

My oh my. I’ve heard bits and pieces of this since it’s conception in the mind of Je Mappelle (affectionately to be referred to as JeMap from here on out), but I never realized it’d turn into this something so freaking smooth! This EP is quite the unique little bugger. The chord structures and melodic ideas all through this thing are like none I’ve ever heard in chip before. JeMap is definitely the most harmonically interesting man out there in the LSDJ electro scene. That coupled with his off the charts programming skills make his writing some of the coolest there is to listen to.

Funny story about this EP: There’s NO stereo effects whatsoever. You know why? Not only has his computer crapped out on him, one of his speakers did too. So the only way for him to write this thing was mono. Honestly, I think it worked out very very well. It’s supah cool, and it adds an even more unique and talented sound to his work.

So yeah, the album is full of cool little electro surprises, with some of the coolest pulse instrument rhythms I’ve ever heard. Full of variation, genius transitions and brilliant instrument creation. One of the outstanding parts of the album is that it doesn’t even need a ton of low end to sound fantastic! The most interesting parts of it are in the higher pulse instruments, a sound that is near impossible to recreate. JeMap does this with ease.

So anyway, I’m gonna go study these tracks to get on his level at some point in my lifetime. Listen to it! 


GO LISTEN!

Electric Children: All Night Party

Jack Waterman, the college-aged electro genius, once again slayed with his two unmodified Greyboys earlier this year on his most recent EP, All Night Party. All four tracks include LSDJ, but the last two are mainly modern tech. It adds quite an interesting characteristic sound to the whole album, seeing how his skills and familiarity with his old-school gameboys translates into a more modern sound. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the album rocks.

The technique is all there. Nobody knows how to get the smooth, easy going sound that EC draws from these old VG consoles. Nothing could compare to the synths and the sound design on this whole album: it sounds unique, fresh, and recognizable as a distinct sound. Pure genius! The meshing of the Gameboy synths with the more modern sounds is spot on in terms of “brand new”!

The one drawback is that I hear a lot of the same sounds (on LSDJ’s part) here as well as on his previous release, YOU ARE. There’s not much change in feel. Which is okay, it keeps the EC style alive, but it’d be great to hear some updated EC patches on display later on in his discography.

As far as harmonic/melodic writing goes, Jack really brings it all in his works. He tends to focus on pentatonic basslines/melodies, but who cares about theory! Whatever he does, it always flows well, never sounds amature, and it always makes me wanna get up and dance. DAT MUSIC!

GO LISTEN!

Cooshinator - Buttpoop EP

Cooshinator’s new EP, the Buttpoop EP is a fantastic example of chip house. Back in the day, he sent me an early copy of two tracks off of it. I remember listening and being surprised at the kid’s melodic sense! There are some very very cool elements in it that I think would appeal to a large percentage of the house-y crowd. It sure appealed to me!

The kick drum stands out to me. Kicks in general are pretty much the second most important part of EDM to me. If it doesn’t have a good sounding kick, it won’t keep my interest. Well, Coosh’s percussion sounds great, so don’t you worry about that. The bass he boosted with EQ (I’m assuming!) really helped bring out some of the important lower ideas like the kick and the cool basslines.

As far as content goes, the ideas, harmonies, and melodies are all great and really appeal to me as an avid EDM listener. Very cool in that regard. However, every album has it’s flaws. There are two things that really stand out to me about the album in a not so great way: the length of the tracks, and the sound design (minus kick).

The length is fine for some people! A lot of the dance community listens to tracks upwards of 6:00 all the time! And I think that’s cool with regular dance, but that’s not really my thing. Personally I like chip tracks to be between 3:00 and 5:00. It’s a shorter amount of time to really get the message across, and the shorter it is the more likely someone is to 1. Listen to it the whole way or 2. Listen to it more than once because they want to hear certain parts again. Again, this is just my opinion! It’s not a negative factor for the album; it’s just not a plus for me!
Going on, the sound design could be more interesting! It sounds like the majority of the leads/basses are very similar! Which is cool as well; we’re not all gonna be as varied as Roboctopus’ instruments, or Zef’s, or mine, that’s just our styles. But, it would be nice to hear a more technical side of Coosh! I know he can do it, and I know this is his sophomore release (a pretty damn good one at that!).

Overall, this album is really really great. 


GO LISTEN!

Thanks!