One of the premiere Game Boy-wielding 8Bit electronic musicians in the world is Josh Davis aka Bit Shifter, and subVariant and Front 312 are excited to have him perform at Ai Lounge on Halloween. Having played over 100 live shows armed with only two Nintendo Game Boys, and two home-brew aftermarket music programs, he has a dedicated following and has been known to ignite dance floors with his high energy live performances.

Bitshifter-”The World Has Turned and Left Me Here” (Weezer cover) by quantazelle

Tom Loftus of MSNBC.com says of Bit Shifter’s performance,“[B]y the time Davis jumped to his rave-up ‘Parapersona Crash,’ the walls started to shake and what little hesitation the audience may have had over dancing to a kiddy toy’s ‘bleeps’ and ‘bloops’ vanished.”

“We booked him …and I still think it’s the most people that have been in the Tank at one time–hundreds and hundreds of people…” says Mike Rosenthal, Artistic Director of The Tank in NYC. “ Bitshifter just rocked the place–just blew us all away.”

Josh Davis says of the 8bit sound, “This is a really distinctive sound-set that anyone of our generation will have most likely been exposed to during childhood and as a consequence of that it became hardwired into our aesthetic sensibilities….but it was always off-limits creatively. So, people who grew up with 8bit and 16bit video game consoles–if they were musicians, they were able to dabble in just about *anything* else….”

Liz Revision of subVariant will open by digitally spinning minimal tech-house, glitch, and IDM; Mr. Automatic from Front 312 brings electro, new wave, and acid house; and Onefiftyone from Chicago Workgroup plays nudisco.

Bit Shifter explores high-energy, low-bit music composed and performed on a Nintendo Game Boy. The result is an unapologetically fun foray into an evocative and distinctive sound-set, executed on a console generally misperceived as being technically limited. Made possibly by two home-brew Game Boy music-making programs, Nanoloop and Little Sound DJ, Bit Shifter’s music adopts and subverts the playfulness inherent in the familiar Game Boy sound-set, repurposing it into the service of novel idioms. Based in New York City, Bit Shifter has performed over one hundred shows worldwide, having recently circumnavigated the planet in a 20-date world tour with fellow chiptune compatriot Nullsleep.

subVariant is a Chicago-based record label and events production company known for its both its innovative electronic music releases and creative packaging, as well as its edgy and boundary-pushing live events and music showcases.  Front 312 has been promoting an eclectic night in Chicago for over a year featuring house, electro, new wave and industrial at Liar’s Club, although individually its members have been churning away in various underground electronic realms, and have collected a diverse group of dedicated followers. Together subV and 312 bring their diverse crowds together to experience Halloween in a cool downtown location with an excellent, creative and diverse lineup unique in Chicago for Halloween.

Tickets are $20 at the door, $15 presale at http://www.fractalspin.com/bitshifter, or $17 day off with an RSVP to http://chicago.going.com/bitshifter.

The first 30 people with presale tickets will get a free surprise treat bag featuring cool stuff from local businesses and online shops.

MySpace Playlist at MixPod.com

Ai Lounge is at 358 W. Ontario, Downtown Chicago. The night runs from 10pm – 3am. A late night sushi menu is also available, as is $10 valet parking.

Bit Shifter interview

AUDIO: “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here” vocal track from Bitshifter (Weezer Cover)
http://subvariant.com/media/Bitshifter-04TheWorldHasTurnedAndLeftMeHere.mp3

AUDIO: “Activation Theme” by Bitshifter (Original Instrumental)
http://www.8bitpeoples.com/mp3/get/370/8bp059-02-bit_shifter-activation_theme.mp3

VIDEO: “Bitshifter Interview”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BifjWTFAvMU

TEXT: “Interview with Bitshifter” (Longer, more technical interview)
http://www.chaoscontrol.com/?article=bitshifter

GOING (DISCOUNT LINK): http://chicago.going.com/bitshifter
PRESALE TIX: http://www.fractalspin.com/bitshifter

subVariant: http://www.subvariant.com
Liz Revision: http://www.lizrevision.com

Liz McLean Knight, the main human behind Fractalspin is featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye free magazine for a feature about geek girls, and especially those in Chicago.

“Geek Chic: New generation of women embracing inner geek” [via the RedEye]

If dissassembling computers is geeky and making jewelry is girly, then Liz McLean Knight has found geek-girl nirvana. From her Wicker Park office, Knight, 30, runs a line of accessories make from computer components and sells the “fashionably-geek hipster gear” on a Web site she created, fractalspin.com.

There you’ll find necklaces made from capacitors. Handbags made of diskettes. Cufflinks made from microcontrollers. Woot! Those wrist cuffs made of MIDI cable are super neat!

We’re packing tons of our gear in boxes, slapping labels on NEW stuff that just came in (and isn’t even on the site yet!), and heading over to Union Station on Wednesday for Gen Art’s ShopCHICago. Want to check out the awesome new stuff we’re adding, in person? And browse through a ton of cool boutiques and designers, too?

From Gen Art: A one-of-a-kind retail opportunity bringing together 60+ of Chicago’s best emerging designers and boutiques. All under one roof! Dont miss this opportunity to buy clothing and accessories directly from the brightest designer talent Chicago has to offer.

And theres an open bar. Woo! (but you’ve gotta be 21+ in years)

Bid on a new resistor necklace from Zelle’s 1337 line, the Green Resistor Triplets Necklace

ShopCHICago is part of Fashion Focus Chicago: 2006Tickets are only sold in advance so get yours now!

LINKS:
ShopCHICago
Gen Art
Fashion Focus Chicago: 2006

The International Chiptune Resistance Tour invaded Chicago on Sunday, June 4th at Deadtech–a gallery on the west side that hosts “Dorkbot,” a regular show and tell for people doing interesting things with technology. Less a presentation than a straight up rock show, the Tour features two Gameboy musicians, Nullsleep and Bitshifter, using the sequencer programs Little Sound DJ and Nanoloop. The event’s description forebode the sonic onslaught in store for the evening:

The familiar beeps, clicks, and tones of obsolete game hardware, repurposed into arresting laser-guided melodies and low-res, hard-hitting precision rhythms — all delivered at high volume from standard-issue handhelds and home gaming consoles. The machines are small, the sound is gigantic, the scope is worldwide, the advance is unstoppable. Prepare your defenses.

A row of tables flanked by two PA speakers were set up at once end of the small–and already warming as people filtered in–windowless gallery. At one end were six or eight Gameboys that were plugged into a Mackie mixer. Nulsleep, apparently MCing the night, made an introduction and then implored the crowd to ditch the chairs they were sitting on and move towards the front, because “rocking out in front of a bunch of seated people would be weird.” Apparently agreeing, the crowd congregated towards the middle-front and the chairs were pushed into the far back of the space.

Saskrotch opened with a drill-n-carnage set consisting mostly of 8bit notes digitally-signal-processed into a breakcore-ish array with the occasional movie sample. The crowd nodded and clapped politley when appropriate but seemed more interested in the pizza on the table at the side and the small fridge full of High Life next to it.

Nullsleep grabbed the mic after Saskrotch’s set and suggested the crowd imbibe more beer and gave a short intermission that allowed them to do so. Bitshifter stepped up to the row of Gameboys and opened with a catchy track from his latest album, The Information Chase, freely downloadable from the 8bitpeoples label [MP3s here].

Here’s a video of the beginning of Bitshifter’s set [mirror1].

The small group of dancers at the back left moved to the front left and their infectious energy turned that side into a dance party.

Check out the video of the dancers [mirror1].

His last track was the highlight of his set. Check out the video of Bitshifter rocking out. [mirror1]
Following up was Nullsleep, who maintained the energy of Bitshifter’s set, but periodically addressed the audience with comments about the tour or his gear.

Here he’s extolling the glories of a modified cartridge that lets you store songs on an SD memory card, which allowed him to keep his whole set on one Gameboy.

Here’s the crowd loving his set.

After succumbing to the request for an encore, Nullsleep thanked the crowd, divulged that he had blown through 8 credit cards on the tour, and mentioned that they had t-shirts for sale. Everyone crowded around the table, snagging buttons, t-shirts and CDs. The t-shirts feature a Russian-constructivist / airforce design with a raised Powerglove. Hilarious.

Music (MP3s – right click, save as):
Bitshifter – “The Information Chase” The Information Chase. 8BitPeoples
Nullsleep – “Enjoy The Silence” Depeche Mode Megamix. 8BitPeoples

Here’s a few more links to explore:
Nulsleep video on Coolhunting
Bitshifter video on Coolhunting
Micromusic.net. An 8bit music site (Registration required)
Scene.org. A demoscene website with computer game music
VGmusic Has MIDI files of Gameboy music from games