8Static @ VGXPO

VGXPO is coming up in just 2 weeks, and we've got some more info on the great musical acts, VJs and 8bit art that'll be rocking our socks. Here's a rundown of a major presence at VGXPO this year, 8Static:

Animal Style
(http://animal-style.com/)

Joey Mariano is an American guitar virtuoso, chip musician, visual artist, and educator hailing from Philadelphia. Well-known for his Game Boy Foot Controller mod and for popularizing the 8bit fuzz pedal, Mariano continues to innovate the performance of 8bit music. Live, Joey walks a chiptune tight rope, triggering loops from his feet and shredding progressive, improvised guitar solos rooted in his strict, jazz training. Animal Style music is a blend of demoscene sensibilities, catchy melodies, organic guitar riffs, and improvisation that will explode your ear canal and leave you begging for more. Mariano stands at the forefront of the emerging chip scene in Philadelphia and is a frequent co-conspirator with 8bitpeoples, the New York chip scene, and iimusic.net.

Inverse Phase
(http://clickass.org/ip/)

Inverse Phase takes the songs you (hopefully) love and whittles them down to chiptunes that fit the specifications of old gaming platforms. NES and Commodore 64 renditions of rock and metal are his specialty -- besides, computers are made of metal anyway -- and as much as possible is preserved of the tune, sometimes changing the feel and other times leaving it the same. Inverse Phase will be playing a fun set of chiptunes and sharing a few humorous insights into the writing that went into them.

Cheap Dinosaurs
(http://myspace.com/cheapdinosaurs)

Dino Lionetti, a veteran of the indie rock scene, first gained recognition as a chip music genius with his his band Chromelodeon - integrating chrunchy melodies, huge orchestration,and gameboy tracker music. recently, he played Blip Festival Europe and a slew of other high profile performances. Sometimes aided by Dan Tang (ex-Chromelodeon), Joey Mariano (Animalstyle), and Bucky this band has a unique sound that can't be denied. The sound has strong roots in the sounds of chip music past, but also updates it for the future.

Autoscroll
(http://autoscrollsound.com/)

Autoscroll is an insane fusion that joins the two fractured worlds of video game cover music and chip music. Retro video game music is covered with live instruments and chip music backgrounds.

VBLANK (VJ)
(http://waitforvblank.com/)

VBLANK is a live media project by Wil Lindsay. Wil Currently lives and plays in Philadelphia, where he teaches Interactive Media at the University of the Arts and Philadelphia University. He is currently serving as the resident artist for Philadelphia’s “The Hacktory”, and creates visual work that can be seen regionally and throughout the country. The name VBLANK is derived from the code used to create NTSC video on many old game systems and the chip-based video synth he uses for this project. In video programming land, he spends the majority of his time waiting for the television’s vertical blank (or “VBLANK”) to happen so he can quickly draw things on the screen with some amazing programming.

NO CARRIER (VJ)

(http://no-carrier.com/)

NO CARRIER, or Don Miller, is an educator, programmer, and live visualist currently living in Philadelphia. He reprograms nearly obsolete videogame and computer hardware, for use at live music events and installations. He primarily codes for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Commodore 64, creating visual works that incorporates both new and recycled symbols and patterns. His work simultaneously speaks to the emerging DIY technology culture, and the reminiscence of a generation raised on interactive media technologies.

Ro-Bear
(http://myspace.com/robearaudio)

Robert Joffred, or Ro-Bear. initially fell in love with the music of video games early on while playing Tetris Attack and Yoshi's Island on his Super Nintendo. After learning musical instruments from guitar to trombone, he discovered LSDJ in the spring of 2008 and hasn't looked back. Taking influences from Maurice Ravel to Daryl Hall, Ro-Bear focuses on making heavily melodic compositions created from a Nintendo Game Boy.

Enso
(http://enso.tumblr.com/)

Enso is a visual artist and live visualist from New York, currently living in Philadelphia. He brings a unique fine art perspective to the world of pixel art, being influenced by old Nintendo games just as much as Art Nouveau, Ukiyo-e, and other traditional art forms.