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