So today I report on Day 1!
Alex Mauer had some of the most tuneful and video game-like songs of the evening. He used a bunch of different game systems (software synthesizers, I assume, unless his keyboard had recordings from the hardware) and played percussion over it with a keyboard. His introduction of the series of songs from each system and his "I'm going to play some music" reminded me of Mark DeNardo from last year. (Ugh, did I just link to MySpace?)
Neil Voss has improved his act since last year's Blipfest. No more keyboard and laptops, he was up there with a Gameboy and an effects board. Much fun was had.
8GB isn't standing out in my memory...
Gijs Gieskes had a crazy electromechanical visualization apparatus, which apparently wasn't working when he first got up there. His music was very mechanical (even for chiptunes) at first, but it got more interesting as the set progressed and various parts of the incredible machine began working. Somewhere in the middle the power for the stage went out...
NrGiGa had technical problems as well, but the crowd kept cheering him on as he covered his face in shame at the failure of his gameboys. Good stuff when it was working.
Paza... had a mask, which contained a microphone and was used with a vocoder. He also came back on stage with a beer and no shirt after his set and played a few more.
Saskrotch I found generally too loud. This may just be because I was tired by this point. Whenever he had something good he ruined it with a blast of sound.
After Saskrotch's high power performance I was even tireder, but I still enjoyed Lo-bat from the corner where I was sitting. Virt informed me that Lo-bat had inspired him to take up LSDJ. Cool. He certainly was adept with it, and the audience coerced him into a few more songs.
The DVD from last year's Fest was for sale at the "mech table", and I quickly snatched one up. Very well done, and quite large (it takes up a full dual-layer DVD). I look forward to watching it in full soon. If anyone wants me to pick one up and send it to them ('cause I don't see it for sale anywhere online) I'd be glad to. Indications are that there is a full length documentary also in production, but it isn't scheduled to appear until 2008.
I recently purchased a Sansa e260, which has a built in microphone. I decided to try and record the show. Here's what I got (ogg, flac, and the unedited original recordings in case someone wants to clean them up), not too incredibly bad considering a) 22khz mono b) crappy built in microphone c) ridiculous volumes. I did the editing and encoding while waiting for the 4:20 AM train (I missed the late train), and I'm typing this is a school computer lab while waiting for the campus buses to start running (so I can get back to my dorm).
So that I can get some sleep and then attend tomorrow night!
[edit]
I took a lot of pictures, but I don't feel like sorting through them and I'd rather not just dump them all online unmanaged.
edited 6:48 AM EST November 30, 2007
Enjoy, man...enjoy!!
in before the server gets raped
http://chip.vg:8000/blipfest.m3u
also dvd nao
edited 9:29 PM EST November 30, 2007
Recordings from day two are up (ogg only ATM). I had to leave before Anamanaguchi, drat.
Maybe someone should record that stream?
Oh, and I bought LSDj.
edited 3:53 AM EST December 1, 2007
on another note, anamanaguchi sucks ass at vocals
edited 10:44 AM EST December 1, 2007
Unfortunately there were a lot of vocalists tonight (day 3) who were defeated by the horribly maladjusted sound system. And the show started so late that I had to miss most of Bodenstandig 2000 and all of whoever came next in order to get back home tonight.
Ah well, hoping for a DVD of the events next year. Speaking of which: UF, I picked up a copy of the DVD for ya, would you email me with your address (I don't still have it from 2 years back) so I can get it to you?
And if anyone else wants one there's one more night and I don't mind.
On the train back today I played with LSDj on my GBA SP, as my first music-ish thing I recreated the bass line of Herbert Weixelbaum's bline. Not a complicated feat, but it took time.
Fun fact: Contra 4 (which virt musicified) contains the Contra and Super C NES ROMs. Ok, nothing too surprising, it must have a mode where you play them, and they certainly own their own games. But the headers are iNES standard! I take it this means that they used an existing free NES emulator for NDS rather than writing something in-house... like what happened with PocketNES a while back. Might be PocketNES again, for all I know.
edited 3:43 AM EST December 2, 2007
The recordings for tonight and last night are uploading as I type, when they're finished I'll note it. I also picked up albums from High-G (which is related to BSK in some way, I assume he's in it), 6559 (er, 6955), and Firebrand Boy (which came in a felt pouch). Hope to have those ripped and up sometime soon.
Spoke with Neil Voss again about USF (which I've pretty much dropped out of, he recounted once downloading all the USFs from Zophar's Domain) and what he's up to these days (web design, video editing software, music just for fun). He was running the pixel wall often, and tonight he used it to play Pong:
I have a bunch of pictures (mostly from the first day) and eventually I'll have them up.
edited 3:33 AM EST December 3, 2007
All live recordings now up in OGG Vorbis format.
edited 4:14 AM EST December 3, 2007
this coupon good for one (1) Internet (back)
There was a whole stack of these, photocopied on green paper, next to the merchandise table. No idea who is responsible.
blip06
blip07
The 2006 stuff seems to be just what was on the DVD, but it's nice to have the 2007 video appearing already!
edited 9:15 PM EST December 31, 2007