Zen Albatross

Chip Music, Featured, Reviews

Return of the Zen Albatross: SIGINT (Review)

January 13, 2016 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

The ZEN ALBATROSS is different from your average albatross. You see, the ancient mariner has nothin’ on him. Nor do invasive government spy agencies. Confused yet? You need to get to know ZEN ALBATROSS then. This bird is a master of cryptography, and he is also good at dodging the slings and arrows of would-be seafaring jerk wads.

My single favorite chip music album from 2010 was a double-single featuring “Mastada Gestalt” and “April 10,” both songs by ZEN ALBATROSS. Since then, we’ve heard precious little from him. Now he’s back with a new EP (almost 30 minutes long), which you can get digitally or on cassette tape via the artist’s Bandcamp page.

This new EP, “SIGINT,” is a head trip from start to finish. Interested in the finer details? Keep on reading… (more…)
Chip Music, Featured, Game Music

GDC 2012: Chip Music Concert Recap & Photos

March 13, 2012 | Kunal Majmudar | 4 Comments Share this

Every year, tens of thousands of game developers from around the globe descend on the Moscone Center in San Francisco to attend the Game Developers Conference (GDC). During the day, the week-long conference has devs attending seminars and discussions on game development. The nights, however, are host to some of the most amazing geek and game-related parties/concerts of the year. This year, that included a total of three chip music shows, and I was lucky to be able to catch some of them during my trip.

Hit the jump for a recap with photos!

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Chip Music, Game Music

MAGFest X Chiptune Concerts: Too Many To Name!

January 11, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on MAGFest X Chiptune Concerts: Too Many To Name! Share this

Oh man, I’m still beat from MAGFest X. We’ve written about a ton of music so far, but we still have three days of chiptune concerts to cover! The noon-time chiptune concerts featured three artists apiece with a “secret chiptune concert” (which was blatantly listed on the schedule) that featured even more on the final night. Acts including Disasterpeace, Knife City, virt, and others performed along with special guests at the secret concert.

Patrick and I have double-teamed the coverage of all the performances for your reading pleasure, and of course we have more photos from Emi Spicer.

Hit the jump for more. (more…)
Chip Music

PAX East 2011: Three Days of Chiptune Concerts Await You!

March 11, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on PAX East 2011: Three Days of Chiptune Concerts Await You! Share this

If you rolling into PAX East today, then hopefully you managed to find your way to the MAGFest-hosted Jamspace for the first chiptune concert of the 3-day event. Boston8Bit has gathered all the local talent as well as those flying in for the event for 3 days of festivities, including not only three days of concerts featuring Bit Shifter, Glomag, and our very own Zen Albatross, but also a presentation on the history of chip music and a Q&A session to be held tomorrow, Saturday, March 12, 2011. The concerts will be held daily in the jamspace from 11am-2pm EST (sorry if you already missed today’s performance), with Zen Albatross’s presentation scheduled for tomorrow at 10am.

Hit the jump for the artist roster for each of the three performances, and be sure you get over to the jamspace to hear these sets if you’re at PAX East! (more…)
Chip Music, Featured

GDC 2011: 8-Bit DOPE Chiptune Concert Impressions and Photo Gallery

March 8, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

It’s hard to believe that GDC 2011 has already come and gone, but the conference definitely went out with a bang. The monthly concert series, DOPE, decided to get all 8-bit to celebrate the Game Developers Conference being in town, and it was quite an evening to remember… or not, depending on how much you had to drink!

Performing were WDUWSTS, starpause, crashfaster, our friend Zen Albatross, and minusbaby. I hadn’t heard many of these guys before, so it was a real treat to be exposed to their music as a part of the GDC festivities.

Missed the concert? Well, don’t worry, we have impressions and a nice photo gallery courtesy of Emi Spicer for you after the jump! (more…)
Chip Music, Experimental, Game Music

(Almost) Live From MAGFest 9: Chiptune Concerts (Photos)

February 1, 2011 | Audun Sorlie | 1 Comment Share this

Earlier we showed you the sweaty pig bin that makes up the ever-so-awesome MAGFest concerts, which should be the main reason for anyone to attend the convention. But not every show is dedicated to the arrangement of pre-existing video game sources which triggers the nostalgic buttons in everyone; some actually go the extra mile and perform using the video game hardware itself to create original and diverse tunes, many of which are supreme dance material with feel good spirits contrasting the live instrument side of things nicely. Thanks to our own Josh Kopstein, MAGFest offered one of the best lineups a chiptune fan could ask for.

Set at a more humane hour and calmer than the other concerts, the chiptune show was one of the more memorable of the many which MAG offered and left some great impressions. The pixel art backdrops presented at the show were done by NO CARRIER and enso, two world-traveling tech wiz’s who have mastered this fine art of producing live generated graphics by using custom software running on NES consoles and other devices. It all made for a smaller yet more welcoming atmosphere to all the shows as lines and fans were more focused towards the acts as a whole. Thanks to Emi Spicer, we have some wonderful photos along with our impressions to share.

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Chip Music

PAX East 2010: JamSpace Chiptune Concert Recap

March 30, 2010 | Joshua Kopstein | 5 Comments Share this

As one might expect, there were plenty of games to play and panels to attend this weekend at PAX East. But for attendees with an insatiable appetite for live music, the JamSpace was most definitely the place to be. Organized by Dom Cerquetti and the rest of his crew from MAGFest, JamSpace acted as both the perfect hangout spot and an awesome concert setting. Throughout the weekend, a large variety of musicians pro and amateur alike grabbed instruments and took the stage, playing everything from chipmusic to videogame music jam sessions and original compositions. Even one of PAX East’s musicial guests, The Protomen, took time out to rock the JamSpace stage. But the main reason I hung around, as you may have already guessed, was the chiptune concerts that took place on Saturday and Sunday.

Read on for our full recap of everything chiptune that went down at PAX East.

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