It has been one of the great pleasures in my role as a co-organizer of Pulsewave in New York City to see talented artists grow. Flow Mein is no exception, I remember turning to one of my co-organizers as his first open mic track ended and saying “we have to get this guy on a lineup”.

“Trust Fall” is in the class of dance-floor banger that makes you move while also wondering where that friend you used to party with went. Are they ok? Are you? But before you have time to answer that question you’re back into jamming to this sweet dance groove.

While I 100% support you heading straight to Bandcamp and dropping a dollar or many in Flow Mein’s direction, you may be left wanting more. Luckily for you, he just finished playing a set at Philadelphia’s 8static Fest this past weekend AND EVEN LUCKIER you can catch Flow Mein’s next live appearance in NYC on December 9th at the 3rd superPulsewave. The lineup is stellar and Flow Mein is opening up the party so make sure you get there early to show your support!

BONUS Flow Mein covering Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T.”

I’ve waited for this EP release for four years. No really, it was back during Blip Festival 2011 that I started a chant when one of Zen Albatross’ Game Boys gave out mid-set (as 20-year-old electronics are wont to do). You can hear the chant around the 4-minute mark of this track off the live recording of that set. What I didn’t know was that I would eventually decide to move in with him and several other friends, and live together for two years. Since that Blip set, I feel like we had a bit of a running joke: “Did you finish that album yet?” “Do you know how many times I’ve listened to your live recording?”. So excuse me if I’m a little bit emotional because the moment’s finally here.

We’re in a strange future, no doubt. SIGINT tries to make the best out of these corrupted sounds and statics to get you to dance. Dodging blasts of distorted percussion in search of a groove seems like a great skill to develop for the immediate future.

I picked “Infrared Ritual” as your introduction because it was, unknowingly, my introduction to the work on this EP. I’ve heard the song since its infancy and been blown away since the beginning. The little rhythmic “scan bleeps” that sounds as if a drone was searching your heat signature in a crowded building give me chills as the percussion drives its way into my skull. The song builds in stages, as any 7-minute track should – I would best describe the stages as “unwilling discovery”, “chase”, “respite,” and “latent paranoia”, in that order. Just listen to the track, you’ll know what I mean.

SIGINT is out now, available directly from Zen Albatross’ Bandcamp, also available through the 8bitpeoples netlabel, if you wish to support their great history of releases.

Lastly, for the first time since Masada Gestalt in 2010, ZEN ALBATROSS will have physical copies of his music available at December’s superPulsewave. He is playing alongside a stacked lineup: Parallelis, Tri Angles, Boa Constructor, and Monodeer with Ohhinaifu and vaporstack on visuals. If you’re anywhere in the New York area, you do not want to miss this show on December 5th at Babycastles in Manhattan.

BUY SIGINT directly from ZEN ALBATROSS

You should really go to Pulsewave this Saturday ⊟

The monthly NYC chip shop returns this Saturday (5/31) with a can’t-miss lineup: Nordloef, The Shortsleeves, and Crying, with visuals by Miles Joyner. I’ll be there (and will be roaming NYC until Sunday, Netrunner decks in hand, challenging passerbys Pokemon-style), so come and say hi!

The show celebrates the release of The Shortsleeves’ kickstarted cassette — we’re also celebrating its June 3rd release by giving away several digital copies of the album! Just leave a comment or reblog about your favorite song from The Shortsleeves, Crying, or Nordloef for a chance to win. Of course, Club Tiny Ambassador + 1 members and up automatically receive an entry for the contest.

Congrats to the kids at Crying, by the way, who just signed with Run for Cover records and will be touring the country soon.

SUPPORT TINY CARTRIDGE Join Club Tiny!

March's Chiptune Events

If you enjoy chipmusic/chiptunes, here are some events THIS WEEK and NEXT WEEK in North America that you might find interesting.

First up, if you’re attending PAX East this weekend in Boston and want to do some dancing way before you go to the concerts, stop by the Jamspace Friday (3/22) and Saturday (3/23) between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm for some great chiptunes presented by the Boston8Bit crew. Individual performers for each day are listed on their Facebook event.

Also, if you see me walking around PAX East, say hi! I’ll be there all weekend, likely playing Johann Sebastian Joust.

If you happen to be in or around Montreal instead, this Saturday the 23rd is also an installment of Toy Company, which you may recall from this video highlight. A group of some of my favorite North American artists will be performing this time around and it promises to be an amazing show. It is being hosted at Foonzo, a gaming bar in Montreal.

For those of you attending GDC and/or living in San Francisco, 8bitSF has you covered with not 1 but 2 chip shows next week. There is POW POW: A Colossal Night of Sound + Vision (3/26) and POW POW: Bonus Round (3/29), the latter of which includes Derris Kharlan, who we’ve featured here before.

Lastly, if you’re in New York City (or the surrounding area) on Saturday the 30th, Pulsewave will be having a show featuring the Piko Piko Detroit crew! The event details are on the Facebook event or Pulsewave NYC’s Tumblr. This event has an open mic so if you’ve been making some chiptunes, come on out and show us!

Apple 2 flyer ROM for Pulsewave's fifth-anniversary show on April 30. I'm always humbled to think about people out there creating original demos -- and not even as their own thing, but just as PROMOTION for another, awesome work of art. And I can barely get it together enough to type out a blog post about it!

Should you find yourself in NYC, you can go to The Tank that night and see Nullsleep, Timeheater, and Peter Swimm, accompanied by Notendo's visuals. RSVP here!

See also: More chiptunes

Pulsewave's Game Boy show documented! Bytejacker dedicated its hundredth show to coverage of the event, featuring interviews with performers, curators, and various personalities...

including Tiny Cartridge contest runner-up ZenAlbatross, who recounts his winning story live! Something tells me he needed that gift certificate more than he needed the Pulsewave ticket.

Pulsewave contest winners!

Not that we want you to stop sharing your Game Boy memories, but we've picked our winners for the Pulsewave/Nonfinite/8bitpeoples/us contest. So now if you craft a heartwarming tale about your childhood love of TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan, it'll have to be for your own reasons.

The grand prize of two Pulsewave tickets, $25 at Nonelectronics, a Pulsewave poster, and an 8bitpeoples prize pack goes to Simon Forkton, who charmed us with his tale of chiptune busking for Game Boy money.

Our runners-up are Bleo, who "can proudly say that I wrote a song that was heard at the Sundance Film Festival... on the toilet" and ZenAlbatross, who took a bus ride with Kirby. They'll each get a single Pulsewave ticket, a poster, and $10 at Nonelectronics.

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to Pulsewave, 8bitpeoples and Nonfinite Electronics! We love being able to put awesome stuff in our readers' hands.

[Image: Nonfinite's custom "Monochrome" Game Boy case]

If you want to win tickets to this Friday's Pulsewave show in NYC, a Pulsewave poster, gift certificates to Nonfinite's shop, or an 8bitpeoples Prize Pack, make sure to submit your contest entry before 11:59 PM EDT tonight!

All you need to do is leave a comment with your favorite Game Boy anecdotes, and we'll pick the best stories.

See also: Super, super awesome Pulsewave flyers

[Image from this old post]

In case you missed last week's post, we've teamed up with the organizers of NYC chiptune show Pulsewave to celebrate the Game Boy's 21st birthday by asking readers to share their favorite memories of the cherished handheld.

We're giving away tickets for this weekend's Pulsewave event to the commenters with the best stories. Even if you're nowhere near New York, you can win free tickets for a future Pulsewave, as well as other prizes like a Pulsewave poster and gift certificates to mod your Game Boy (or buy other items from the Nonfinite shop).

We mentioned before that we're also giving away a "secret bonus item", which we can now reveal: it's an 8bitpeoples Prize Pack that will include albums and more from renown chip music label 8bitpeoples!

So, if you love chiptune music, Game Boy mods, waxing nostalgic over old handhelds, or free stuff, you definitely need to make entering this easy contest a top priority.

See also: Super, super awesome Pulsewave flyers

Tiny Contest: Tickets to NYC's Pulsewave, Nonfinite gift certificates, and more!

Are you in or near NYC -- or will you be on July 31? If so, why not check out this month's Pulsewave show, featuring chip artists like Sadnes, Nonfinite, and Battle Lava, with NO CARRIER visuals, for free?

The event's organizers are celebrating the 21st birthday of the Game Boy with this special show, and we're celebrating their celebration with a giveaway! We have free tickets to paradise Pulsewave and other prizes for the commenters with the best Game Boy anecdotes from the last 21 years. Just tell us your favorite Game Boy memory -- or on Twitter with the hashtag #DMG21 -- to enter!

More details follow (you don't have to be in NYC to enter; the tickets are good for any future monthly Pulsewave show, in case you're ever in the Manhattan area ):

The full rundown:

The winners will be chosen from the comments of this post and from Twitter. We always encourage people to leave real, meaningful comments in our contests, but it's extra important this time, since these are being judged. In other words, not just any comment will qualify -- you have to actually tell us a story. You have until Wednesday, July 28, at 11:59 PM EDT.

Speaking of stories, here's Sadnes, who will be at this month's show, telling the story of that time a girl didn't like Chris Isaak as much as he liked her:

Much thanks to Pulsewave's organizers, as well as co-sponsors 8bitpeoples and Nonfinite Electronics, for helping make this contest possible!

See also: Super, super awesome Pulsewave flyers

"Hybrid Moments" (Misfits cover) by Tristendo. Don "No Carrier" Miller coded and designed this NES ROM flyer for Pulsewave’s Halloween show at the Tank next Saturday.

Three chiptune acts are scheduled to channel different bands for the themed show -- Cheap Dinosaurs covering Goblin, Graffiti Monsters covering Minor Threat, and Womb Ripper covering Misfits.

This reminds me I still need to announce our Blip Festival 2008 CD winners. Um, I'll get to that soon!

See also: More Pulsewave NES ROM flyers

NES ROM flyer for Pulsewave’s August show tonight.

If you like chiptune music and live in New York City, make sure to hit up Pulsewave at the Tank tonight for the 2 Player Productions farewell show -- it's also the release party for the Blip Festival 2008 live CD!

No Carrier, Enso, and musician Baron Knoxburry produced the flyer above. You can download the NES ROM here.

See also: More Pulsewave NES ROM flyers

A song from Leeni's Pulsewave set last weekend (watch more acts from the show on Gideon's Vimeo page).

Since we didn't get a Pulsewave video/ROM flyer this month, I thought I'd share an actual performance from the New York City show. I wish there was more video from this set, and that I knew the title of this mellow, calming song so I could download or buy a copy.

See also: “Awake" by Leeni

Beautiful NES ROM flyer for Pulsewave’s May 2009 show, featuring music by Animal Style, graphics by Alex "Enso" Bond, and code by Don "No Carrier" Miller.

Chiptune artists Minusbaby, Lutin, and Adam/Stern are all slated to perform at the event this Saturday in New York City's The Tank. VJs Paris, noteNdo, and JYK will provide the visual entertainment. As always, my jealousy over those of you attending is tremendous.

You can download the above flyer's NES ROM, which includes a gallery mode for just viewing the images and listening to the music, at this link.

See also: More Pulsewave NES ROM flyers

[Via Enso]

NES ROM flyer for Pulsewave's April 2009 show, featuring music by Alex Mauer, graphics by Alex "Enso" Bond, and code by Don "No Carrier" Miller.

From the YouTube description:

The show will take place this Saturday at The Tank in NYC.

See also: The FCEUX "Music Pulsewave" script, video invitation for Pulsewave's third anniversary party

The FCEUX "Music PulseWave" Lua script, running on top of the ROM flyer for a November 2007 PulseWave concert in NYC.

The script turns the non-interactive ROM into a rhythm game. The program automatically analyzes the music, displaying each of the NES's four audio channels as a bar at the top of the screen. I don't really understand the interface or the scoring, but the gameplay is as simple as pressing the A button to the beat of the song. It apparently works for other games too -- here's Music PulseWave on top of Journey to Silius.

The script, made by XKeeper, is available here. This is totally the final push I need to finally try this FCEUX thing for myself.

See also: Super Mario Bros. mouse control hack (now included with the FCEUX emulator)

[Via Auntie. I pulled this single link out of a huge roundup of interesting Super Mario and other hacks -- recommended reading.]

Video invitation for Pulsewave's third anniversary party. Great music for a likely fantastic show.

I really should have posted this days ago instead of while the event is taking place, but I didn't get back home from my trip to California until a few hours ago, and I came across the video just now, too.

As with the last Pulsewave video flyer, Don "No Carrier" Miller coded this piece while Alex Mauer composed the music. Alex "enso" Bond contributed the graphics.

[Via Minusbaby]