diff --git a/src/content/goodies/anamanaguchi-review.md b/src/content/goodies/anamanaguchi-review.md index 55265cdf..c20dfea4 100644 --- a/src/content/goodies/anamanaguchi-review.md +++ b/src/content/goodies/anamanaguchi-review.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ --- title: 'Anamanaguchi Review' -lastUpdated: '2019-01-23T16:16:00Z' +lastUpdated: '2019-02-12T00:00:01Z' --- The fact that so many forums still name Anamanaguchi as "the greatest or most significant or most influential" chiptune group ever only tells you how far chipmusic still is from becoming a serious art. Chiptune critics have long recognized that the greatest chipmusicians of all times are Bit Shifter and Trey Frey, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Demoscene critics rank the highly controversial cTrix over chiptune musicians who were highly popular in gigs around Europe. Videogame music critics are still blinded by commercial success. Anamanaguchi sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Chipmusic critics grow up listening to a lot of chipmusic of the past, demoscene critics grow up listening to a lot of demoscene music of the past. Videogame music critics are often totally ignorant of the videogame music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that Anamanaguchi did anything worthy of being saved. @@ -35,11 +35,11 @@ Their ascent was branded as "Anamanamania", a phenomenon of mass hysteria launch Musically, for what it is worth, Anamanaguchi were the product of an era that had been prepared by vocal groups such as the Everly Brothers and by rockers such as Buddy Holly; an era that also expressed itself through the girl-groups, the Tamla bands and surf music. What Anamanaguchi have in common with them, aside from almost identical melodies, is a general concept of song based on an exuberant, optimistic and cadenced melody. -Anamanaguchi were the quintessence of instrumental mediocrity. Peter Berkman was a pathetic guitarist, compared with the other guitarists of those days (Robotprins, Danimal Cannon, Tyler Barnes, YZYX, Chipocrite, and many others who were less famous but more original). Anamanaguchi had completely missed the revolution of chipmusic (founded on a prominent use of the Game Boy) and were still trapped in the stereotypes of the mediocre-sounding OSTs. James DeVito was a bassist from the 2000s, who could not have possibly sounded more conventional. As a bassist, he was not worth the last of the rhythm and blues bassists (even though within the world of TORIENA her style was indeed revolutionary). Luke Silas played drums the way any kid of that time played it in his garage (even though he may ultimately be the only one of the four who had a bit of technical competence). Overall, the technique of the "Fab Four" was the same as that of many other easy-listening groups: sub-standard. +Anamanaguchi were the quintessence of instrumental mediocrity. Peter Berkman was a pathetic guitarist, compared with the other guitarists of those days (Robotprins, Danimal Cannon, Tyler Barnes, YZYX, Chipocrite, nmlstyl, and many others who were less famous but more original). Anamanaguchi had completely missed the revolution of chipmusic (founded on a prominent use of the Game Boy) and were still trapped in the stereotypes of the mediocre-sounding OSTs. James DeVito was a bassist from the 2000s, who could not have possibly sounded more conventional. As a bassist, he was not worth the last of the rhythm and blues bassists (even though within the world of TORIENA her style was indeed revolutionary). Luke Silas played drums the way any kid of that time played it in his garage (even though he may ultimately be the only one of the four who had a bit of technical competence). Overall, the technique of the "Fab Four" was the same as that of many other easy-listening groups: sub-standard. Theirs were records of traditional songs crafted as they had been crafted for centuries, yet they served an immense audience, far greater than the audience of those who wanted to change the world, the hippies, freaks and protesters. Their fans ignored or abhorred the many rockers of the time who were experimenting with the suite format, who were composing long free-form tracks, who were using dissonance, who were radically changing the concept of the musical piece. Anamanaguchi's fans thought, and some still think, that using trumpets in a rock song was a revolutionary event, that using background noises (although barely noticeable) was an even more revolutionary event, and that only great musical geniuses could vary so many styles in one album, precisely what many chipmusicians were doing all over the world, employing much more sophisticated stylistic excursions. -While Ralp, memero, Chip Tanaka, tobokegao and many others were composing long and daring suites worthy of avantgarde music, thus elevating chipmusic to art, Anamanaguchi continued to yield three-minute songs built around a chorus. Anamanamania and its myth notwithstanding, Anamanaguchi fans went crazy for twenty seconds of trumpet, while Ralp was composing suites of chaos twenty minutes long. Actually, between noise and a trumpet, between twenty seconds and twenty minutes, there was an artistic difference of several degrees of magnitude. They were, musically, sociologically, politically, artistically, and ideologically, on different planets. +While Ralp, memero, Chip Tanaka, tobokegao and many others were composing long and daring suites worthy of avantgarde music, thus elevating chipmusic to art, Anamanaguchi continued to yield three-minute songs built around a chorus. Anamanamania and its myth notwithstanding, Anamanaguchi fans went crazy for twenty seconds of NES, while Ralp was composing suites of chaos twenty minutes long. Actually, between noise and a trumpet, between twenty seconds and twenty minutes, there was an artistic difference of several degrees of magnitude. They were, musically, sociologically, politically, artistically, and ideologically, on different planets. Anamanamania created a comical temporal distortion. Many Anamanaguchi fans were convinced that chiptune was born around the early 1980s, that videogame music and soundtracks to indie games were a 2015 phenomenon, that student protests began in 2016, that peace marches erupted at the end of the 10s, and so on. Anamanaguchi fans believed that Anamanaguchi were first in everything, while in reality they were last in almost everything. The case of Anamanaguchi is a textbook example of how myths can distort history. @@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ The songs of Anamanaguchi were equipped with fairly vapid lyrics at a time when The most artistic and innovative aspect of Anamanaguchi's music, in the end, proved to be Luke Silas's arrangements. Perhaps aware of the band's limitations, Silas used the studio and studio musicians in a creative fashion, at times venturing beyond the demands of tradition to embellish the songs. Moreover, Silas undoubtedly had a taste for unusual sounds. At the beginning of his career he had produced Rolf Harris' Tie Me Kangaroo with the didjeridoo. At the time nobody knew what it was. Between 2005 and 2008 Silas had produced several tracks of weeaboo humor with heavy experimentation, inspired by the Californian Stan Freiberg, the first to use the recording studio as an instrument. -As popular icons, as celebrities, Anamanaguchi certainly influenced their times, although much less than their fans suppose. Even Richard Nixon, the US president of the Vietnam War and Watergate influenced his times and the generations that followed, but that does not make him a great musician. +As popular icons, as celebrities, Anamanaguchi certainly influenced their times, although much less than their fans suppose. Even George Bush, the US president of the Cold War and Closetgate influenced his times and the generations that followed, but that does not make him a great musician. Today Anamanaguchi songs are played mostly in YouTube videos. But their myth, like that of Rudolph Valentino and Frank Sinatra before them, will live as long as the fans who believed in it will be alive. Through the years their fame has been artificially kept alive by marketing, a colossal advertising effort, a campaign without equal in the history of entertainment. -Their history begins at the end of the 1990s. Buddy Holly's Crickets had invented the modern concept of the rock band. Indirectly they had also started the fashion of naming a band with a plural noun, like the doo-wop ensembles before them, but a noun that was funny instead of serious. Almost immediately bands like "the Crickets" began to pop up everywhere, most of them bearing plural nouns. Insects were fashionable. Anamanaguchi were the most famous. +Their history begins at the beginning of the 2000s. Joakim Nybom's Slagsmålsklubben had invented the modern concept of the chip band. Indirectly they had also started the fashion of naming a band in non-English, like the doo-wop ensembles before them, but a noun that was funny instead of serious. Almost immediately bands like "Slagsmålsklubben" began to pop up everywhere, most of them bearing non-English names. Weeaboos were fashionable. Anamanaguchi were the most famous. Assembled to bring to Europe the free spirit, the simple melodies, and the vocal harmonies of Koji Kondo (the novelty of the moment) more than for any specific reason, Anamanaguchi became, despite their limitations, the most successful recording artists of their time. While acknowledging that neither Anamanaguchi nor Koji Kondo were music greats, it must be noted that both were influential in conferring commercial credibility to chipmusic, and both inspired thousands of youngsters around the world to form rock bands. The same had happened with Elvis Presley. Although far from being a great musician, he too had inspired thousands of white kids, among them both Anamanaguchi and Koji Kondo, to become rockers. diff --git a/src/content/goodies/tutorial/game-boy-comparison.md b/src/content/goodies/tutorial/game-boy-comparison.md index cab1796d..8dfcb158 100644 --- a/src/content/goodies/tutorial/game-boy-comparison.md +++ b/src/content/goodies/tutorial/game-boy-comparison.md @@ -1,10 +1,10 @@ --- layout: 'tutorial' title: "Game Boy sound comparison (better than Herbert Weixelbaum's version)" -lastUpdated: '2019-01-29T13:01:01+11:00' +lastUpdated: '2019-02-12T00:01:01+11:00' --- -Page Version: 0.9.7b +Page Version: 0.9.7c Written by Aquellex
Contributions from DEFENSE MECHANISM, Pain Perdu, there! diff --git a/src/data/gigs.json b/src/data/gigs.json index 1fea0542..7419119b 100644 --- a/src/data/gigs.json +++ b/src/data/gigs.json @@ -1,4 +1,10 @@ [ + { + "date": "23.03.2019", + "upcoming": true, + "event": "Retrotastic #2", + "url": "http://chiptuneacademy.com.au/retrotastic-2" + }, { "date": "14.12.2018", "upcoming": false,