» Getting this off my chest
art, internet, music, shoreditch, technology
Life is better in 8-Bit
8-Bit is invading music, art, fashion and pretty much anything else worth invading…
The NES was and continues to be, the best console in computer game history. OK, so now the XBOX 360 et al are so advanced that the games are almost like watching tv, but it’s all about gameplay. If you aren’t sure what 8-bit is you need to recognise, fool!
When I was little I had a NES and a Sega Master System – which was pretty much the equivalent of repping both East Coast & West Coast during the rap wars of the 90s.
Now it’s all coming back, kids like me have grown up and to counterbalance the demands of adult life (working out which coffee you like best, deciding that you aren’t ashamed to say that you liked Supergrass more than Blur and realising that everyone you know has a drink problem) longed for that 8-bit goodness to add some limited colour to their furtive/futile existence.
Now there are a couple of facets to the 8-Bit revival…
Music
Samples of NES/Master System audios have been cut and pasted into various genres since they were created, however it’s only really in the last year or so that a bespoke genre has developed. The first ‘band’ that I noticed that were heavily inspired by this type of beat was Crystal Castles. Their sound is awesome but it’s more than that, the whole package is infused with 8-bit influence and is pretty alluring in terms of crossover between computer-generated music/ fashion and contemporary art (check out Kitsune for similar art/fashion/music crossover).
Other bands that I have stumbled across are Neogear (not sure what’s going on with these guys now – check out J G Harding’s solo work which I also really rate) and also Partyshank who are currently ripping up the indie-cindie-kiddie-boppie scene with their chip-music sound with tinges of weird toy sounds.
Get on Last FM and search for 8-Bit and check out what’s around…you might like it.
Art
Check out some of these hybrid photography 8 bit tings, thanks to 8-Bit Peoples for these :
For 8-Bit inspired art, check out The Gallery over at Iam8bit.net
Virals and Lols
With nearly 5 million views, The Angry Nintendo Nerd has crafted a unique blend of Revenge of the Nerds meets the swear count of an East End boozer. It’s a fucking fuck-ladened walk down memory lane as he reviews some of the best and worst NES games.
Fashion
Carri Mundane is editor of super super scene magazine called eerrr… Super Super (we think she is, our research is tenuous at best). Anyway she also designs stuff through Cassette Playa that is influenced by amongst other thing, by a bit of an 8-bit vibe. She has worked with M.I.A and Klaxons who are quintessential tools of the uber-scene (until Klaxons achieved actual mainstream success with obviously and instantly demotes them from super-scene, past scene, to hell, without collecting £200 at go).
Her stuff is getting mad props across the World and is going for stooopid prices. To be honest, we don’t think it’s half as good as some of the stuff on Threadless but hey we are simple folk here at WSI, so we probably don’t get the higher meaning of her work, maaaan. It no doubt represents an acid-influenced revolutionary call to arms – rallying scenesters to swap their lycra for army fatigues and stick it to the man, to the sound of some phat bass and rabid 8-bit mash up, blap.
If that’s all too much of a drag for you (as it will clearly not be fashionable by the time the next Cheekbone issue is delivered) then why not this?
Image Courtesy of MIS blog (FALL 2007)
Tags: 8-bit
That tie sucks balls.
[...] may remember sometime ago we mentioned the Angry Nintendo Nerd in our article about the 8-bit invasion and heralded him as the future of video game reviewing. His [...]
[...] with nothing but an arsenal of post it notes, a militia of extreme retro gaming players hit the streets bringing their 8 bit addiction to the masses. Hours of labor and thousands of post [...]