Written by Derrick Sanskrit
It's friday, which means it's time for chiptune! It's also June, which means that the summer concert season has officially begun! Summer may not officially begin for another two weeks, but the sun is beating down on NYC, so let's go outside and rock out with our joysticks out!
To get you in the summer spirit, here's a track by one of my favorite chiptune bands, Anamanaguchi. This Brooklyn trio (sometimes quartet) uses a modified Nintendo Entertainment System to build their beats, then kick the bits up from 8 to 11 with electric guitars and bass (and sometimes a drum set for their live shows). Anamanaguchi's music is exciting and lively, full of warm square waves and fuzzy guitars with crunchy blips and beats. It simultaneously calls to mind the best 8-bit shooters and platformers with its aggressive playfulness. Makes me feel like running around the elementary school playground, hopped up on Pop Rocks, kicking the butts off radioactive goblins that only I can see.
If you liked this track, "Helix Nebula", go ahead and download the entire Power Supply EP for free, along with tons of other fantastic chiptune releases, over on the 8bitpeoples website.
Also, Anamanaguchi have a couple of sweet NYC gigs coming up! Come rock out two weeks from today as they rock Cake Shop on June 20th, and then The Tank (with fellow 8bitperson and famous chiptune artist BitShifter) on June 21st!