8 is Enough

Chiptunes have been around since the mid 80s and are unique because they use actual sound chips from computers and video games instead of sampled synthesized sounds. This post focuses on the Gameboy seen, which, as its name implies, is music mostly composed and performed on Nintendo Gameboys. The sounds are familiar to anyone who grew up in the 80s, or who has ever held a Nintendo controller in their hands. The music is extremely bright and fun, and is sure to lift the most dour of spirits.

Bitshifter is a great intro to the genre. He’s a member of 8-bit Peoples, which is a netlabel in New York City that offers a lot of this kind of music for free.

Bitshifter - Reformat the Planet

While a lot of Gameboy music takes cues from gabber-dance tracks, there are others who take handheld game systems to entirely different places. NYC’s Haeyoung Kim is a classically trained pianist who publishes 8-bit music under the name Bubblyfish. Her tracks are much more sparse and reflective, and you’ll hear that on “Shadow.”

Bubbly Fish - Shadow

Paza is Paza Rahm from Stockholm Sweden. He started out by playing bass as a teenager and got into electronic music by making tracks to accompany him.

Paza - Teenage Hipster

You could easily fill up an iPod Nano with the free music that's out there. Check out the following links to get started.

8bitpeoples

8bitcollective