Chiptune Alliance Tour 2008

Last night, my band, Spheres of Chaos played at the Sheffield date of the Chiptune Alliance Tour 2008, and it was so much fun, probably the best gig we've played thus far as a band. The other artists on the bill were Firebrand Boy, syphus, Random and Sabrepulse, all of whom were top guys.

We had loads of people turn up, and it was just great to see so many quality chiptune acts in one place. Everyone was so into the music and there was such a great vibe going on. Things are really taking off with VGM and chiptune in the UK, changing from something that was just a load of people on the internet into awesome events like this. There were a couple of people filming the whole thing too, with one guy planning to put a documentary of the tour together, so I'm gonna try and put some video footage up in the Gamewave Podcast feed at some point.

Anamanaguchi were meant to be playing on the night too, but they ended up getting deported again! I hear their new album's nearly ready for release though, which should be very cool.

Again, I've uploaded some photos of the night (mainly SoC) up onto Facebook.

Weird weather

The weather's been crazy recently. It's warm and sunny one moment, then raining really heavily the next. I think it even hailed yesterday. I do hope we start to get some prolonged sunshine sometime soon, but the forecast for the next few days doesn't look too promising. When we do get some nice weather though there's this massive area of hills and fields near my parents' house that I'd like to explore. I meant to do it last summer, but never got round to it. Maybe this year.

I got my phone back again the other day. Dial-a-Phone said they'd send us a new one, but they haven't - it's just my old one repaired. But as long as it doesn't break again I'll be happy, and it seems to be OK so far.

I got an email from StarWars.com today telling me that they've just redesigned their website, partly in preparation for the new TV series and movie based around the Clone Wars.

I used to be really, really into Star Wars, and I especially remember one summer only 3 years ago when I spent a lot of time on the message boards, debating about everything Star Wars related. I remember I knew so much about Star Wars, but I bet I've forgotten it all now 'cos I just haven't been paying attention to it recently. I suppose not that much has been happening, but I was surprised to see that The Clone Wars movie comes out in just over a month's time. I knew they were making a TV series about the Clone Wars, but I didn't know they were making a film. I'm not excited for it or anything though. I find the whole Clone Wars storyline pretty boring - just a load of politics. And they already made a cartoon series about it all. That was OK actually, but wasn't that enough? Also, the new TV series and movie are both fully computer animated, which isn't very fun, and then combine that with the fact that Lucas hasn't really produced anything that decent since 1983. I am looking forward to the live-action TV series they're making though. That should be good, although we're gonna have to wait at least a couple years more for that.

Finally, I just released the newest Gamewave Podcast episode. We recorded it using a Talkboy, and I'm guessing we're the first people to ever do that. Check it out at gamewavepodcast.com.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

I recently watched a really great documentary called The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. I heard about the film through a podcast I listen to, and the hosts agreed that it was one of the best films made last year so I decided to check it out.

Set within the world of competitive gaming, the documentary follows two players of Donkey Kong, Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell. Mitchell is recognised as one of the best competitive gamers of all time, and when the film begins he holds the world record at Donkey Kong. Wiebe is a relative newcomer to the scene, but quickly becomes well-known through his attempts to break Mitchell's record.

I won't spoil the movie, but it's a thoroughly interesting watch as you get to see inside the politics of competitive gaming and all the personalities involved. And all this competition is set against the day-to-day lives of Wiebe and Mitchell, school teacher and restaurant chain owner respectively. It's such a great story that it's often hard to believe it's real life, and I thoroughly recommend the film if you're into video games at all.

Also, the DVD contains a few chiptunes from some artists that I play on my podcast, as well as a fun little animation by Gabe Swarr, who I know is a listener of the podcast too.

Recently I acquired two fairly unique music releases

Recently I acquired two fairly unique music releases.

The first was an CD by arcadecoma., a Scottish Game Boy musician. It's called The Game Boy Tree Adventures EP, and as well as featuring some cool Game Boy music, it came supplied with anaglyph glasses - those red and green cardboard ones. You can use them to view the front album art, making everything pop out, 3D style. It's the first time I've seen this done, and I thought it was pretty cool. Also, for my work with the Gamewave Podcast I was included under the thanks section which was pretty awesome.

The second release I received was vegavox by alex mauer, another video game style artist. But this release was on a NES cartridge! Apparently this is the "first ever NES cart album", so I snapped one up before they sold out. The thing is, alex mauer is from the US, and I forgot that the cart might not be compatible with my PAL NES until I tried to play it. I guess that's why everyone's using CDs instead these days. I'm thinking about cutting the regional lockout so that I can listen to it.

You can still get a copy of The Game Boy Tree Adventures at arcadecoma.'s site, while vegavox has sold out, but another NES cart album called color caves is now available from alex mauer's site.

Podcasts

I've been hosting my podcast, the Gamewave Podcast, for a year now. We released our first episode on the 20th June 2006, although it seems like I've been doing it for longer. We started off recording one show a week then cut it down to two, and now that my co-host Mike is leaving Sheffield I'm starting a new version of the show after the summer. Recently though we recorded a show with our American friends Tim and Tony, who host a podcast called the VGM Megacast. While we play original video game style music on the Gamewave Podcast Tim and Tony play video game covers.

We recorded the show over Skype and as we listen to each others' podcasts it was great to talk to each other and do a show together. We played both video game covers and original VG music and had a great time talking, mainly about US and UK culture. Check out the show at the VGM Megacast site or Betamod Radio.

Easter break is here

I've been listening to a lot of Rage Against The Machine lately. My respect and admiration for that band grows constantly. Their music is just so powerful, lyrically and musically. Their 1992 self-titled release has to be one of the best albums of all time. There are so many good tracks on there it's crazy. I love how simple and clear this album sounds, yet everything is just so dynamic. I especially enjoy the funky bass and Brad Wilk's drumming - he really knew how to use the snare drum to create a groove, and there's quite a minimal usage of toms, but every rhythm is killer. Amazing stuff.

Easter break is here. I finally have some time off again, although I have a test after the holidays and an essay to write soon. My band are hoping to write some new songs during the break - that should be fun.

Last night I went to a ska night at the university. It was good fun. I used to be really into ska and it'll always be a form of music I really enjoy. There's not much else like it.

Also, for my podcast we recently recorded an interview with one of my favourite bands - Anamanaguchi. It's a cool video, check it out at the podcast website.

Assorted things

Here are a few things:

I just passed my driving test! I've been driving and taking tests for ages now and my life has just become a lot simpler. It's been so long that it's taken the fun out of driving, but now I can drive, and will never have to take a test again.

I ate some new kind of Liquorice Allsorts the other day (even though they don't contain any liquorice). They're called Dessert Allsorts. At first I misread the package and thought there would be lizards and sand and stuff, but there are actually new flavours such as summer fruit pudding and lemon cheesecake. This is great because I only really enjoy about 15% of a bag of normal Liquorice Allsorts, but all these were nice.

Apparently English accents make one sound educated, which is useful. Things are looking up.

Also, Spheres of Chaos played a show with Anamanaguchi at the weekend. I'm not going to write about it all here, but you can find out more about what went down when they got to the UK at their web page. We had a really good time hanging out and the show was awesome - photos and stuff can be found at the Spheres of Chaos website and we recorded an interview with the guys for the Gamewave Podcast. That should be up soon.

Football and nightclubs

I went to watch a football game for the first time in a while last night. Football isn't as important to me as it used to be, but I wasn't doing much and my dad and brother were already going. It turned out our team won 3-1, and it was pretty enjoyable. Also, the stadium is located in the area of the city where I was born and grew up, so I always enjoy going back there for nostalgic reasons. I usually enjoy anything that reminds me of being a small kid.

A listener to the video game music podcast which I present is playing a DJ set at a club in Nottingham tomorrow. I'm going along and it'll be cool to hear the kind of music we play on the podcast coming out of the speakers in a club. I generally don't attend clubs unless for gigs, but for something this cool I'm going to make an exception.

Servers and fire

The server for the podcast website, the band website and my little homepage all got burnt, so everything's been offline recently. That was annoying. Nearly got it all sorted though.

University's going good. Things are getting easier now, but there's always some work to be doing.

The band will hopefully have some shows after Christmas in and around Sheffield. We're trying to write some new material, and we have one totally sweet song so far, but not much else. Writing music is fun, but pretty hard.

Christmas - not everywhere is Christmassy yet, which is good. I think I'm getting a Wii, which should be good fun. I haven't had a big present on Christmas Day for years.

Summer

I have been looking forward to this summer for a long time. It is the time in between the end of my school career and the start of (hopefully) university - a fairly long gap. There are certain things I have been planning to do in this space. These tasks include finishing a certain video game I have been playing for a while, playing some shows with my band and getting my podcast off the ground. I have also been looking forward to simply doing relatively nothing for 2 or 3 months. Now the break is here I am not so sure whether I want to just spend my summer doing not very much, as I can see I will get quite bored.

I am currently looking for a job that will enable me to use my time constructively by earning some money. Also, some income will be necessary to enjoy the summer, which I didn't really consider up until recently. I have realised that many of the things I wish to do this summer will not require me to do nothing for most of the break; a job will be feasible as there will still be space left to complete whatever other tasks I have planned. I am quite a task-oriented person and I see the summer as a time when other commitments are gone, allowing space to enjoy yourself as well as getting things done which might not have been possible before.

I am very grateful for the weather. The sunshine really does make you feel different and often makes things such as walking more enjoyable. By the end of the summer I will have probably had enough sunshine though.

A big event which will occur this summer is the day when I receive my A level results. If I get the grades I need I will be taking Japanese Studies in the autumn at Sheffield University. If I do go to university I may have to start acting slightly more like an adult. I don't fully know what to expect though as many past students say that the work isn't too hard and that it will be the best time of your life (isn't that what they said about being in school?). Even so, I am going to try and enjoy this summer, perhaps my last as a child?

Summer is often the time you remember most as a child I suppose - it's the time when you leave the house and do things. You can stay up late and not worry about the next day, night-time falls later than any other time of the year and you get to wear shorts - it's the time you look forward to for the whole of the year.

Hopefully during this summer I will combine having fun, with a job, with getting done some of the tasks I've been saving up all year, with relaxing.

Further reading: Wikipedia article on Summer