minusbaby

New York, NY, USA

Long-time 8bitpeoples member, minusbaby, born Richard Alexander Caraballo in New York City, trades in counterpoint, subtle dissonances and surprises. While it may be impossible to predict what will happen at each performance, one constant can be expected: a forceful equatorial beat. Each familiar song is given new variation while the center holds it down with a bassy bottom end to make anything bump and bounce that hasn't been tied down, exploding the very meaning of 8-bit orchestration.

Since 1999, he has come to prominence in the chip music scene, with a foundation in New York City and the 8bitpeoples. He has performed extensively, having been featured in London's DMZ Media Arts Festival, the International Chiptune Resistance, FMEL (Festival de Música Electrónica Latina (Latin Electronic Music Festival)) in Chicago, Blip Festival 2007 and 2008, multiple Pulsewave nights, headlining the premiere of The Tank's "Less Than Three" and Philadelphia's only monthly chip music event, 8static.

Recently, he completed a seven show, month-long European tour playing Bleep London and Chipfest IV in England, Blip Festival Europe in Denmark, Bang! in Portugal, two sets at Era New Horizons in Poland and Budapest Micro 2 in Hungary.

In addition to music, he is a prolific pixel artist who, since 2001, has been largely responsible for defining the unique aesthetics of the modern 8-bit creative movement. Spearheading the visual identities of 8bitpeoples, Pulsewave and the Blip Festival has contributed to making minusbaby's work ubiquitous to the public's perception of chip music and art.

His work, which he has referred to as, "a practice in primitivism, but mostly a stab at trying to continue several traditions at once," is often guided by a central idea meant to be interpreted by the individual. Combined with his love for patterns, type and limited color palettes, minusbaby has developed his own unique visual language. Rather than easing into the more common pixel trends, he utilizes multiple sources outside of video game culture to broaden both his and the movement's repertoire so as to expand the canon and avoid Super Mario cannons.

•http://www.minusbaby.com

6955

Montréal, Canada

6955 is an ongoing music+technology project by Jason DeGroot. He currently resides in Montréal, Canada.

•http://6955.org

8GB

Buenos Aires, AR

With his roots based firmly on the underground digital arts scene known as the Demoscene, Akira has been an hyperactive member of the electronic culture world for more than a decade, not only in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina, but on a global level.

8GB, an audiovisual project developed in 2004 as a natural flow of his activities both visual and musical, and his fixation with old computer hardware utilized in modern working environments, aims towards creating currently danceable beats with old computer data, making a blend that can be enjoyed by most any audience interested in dancing to fresh new sounds, while still retaining appeal for the bleep-obsessed nut. Electro, breakbeat and techno usually flirt with drum&bass and hip-hop, on energetic livesets that include powerful stage energy and visual feedback thanks to the set's super synchronized live visuals.

From São Paulo to New York, from Rotterdam to Stockholm, from Montréal to London, 8GB has performed in the most varied situations around half of the planet. While on the best microparties like Microdisko in Stockholm or Pulsewave in New York City or top festivals of the electronic music circuit like Creamfields Buenos Aires, South American Music Conference, Onedotzero, ZXZW and Blip Festival, happening on a myriad of venues of the class of Pachá, The Sugar Factory or Fléda, the aim is always the same: to rock the dancefloor and tear the roof of the party away! As people from the press have said, 8GB "mixes the high frequency beeps of old computers with a good hiphop beat, minimal techno or hard house music that Dave Clarke would probably enjoy, with demonic beats sometimes almost equal to those of The Prodigy" (3VOOR12, Holland music press)

Currently on an editing spree, they have put tracks on known labels like 8bitpeoples (US), Intikrec (JP) and Retinascan (DE), with upcoming works on many other imprints like Zizek Records and of course Bleepstreet label, of which is one of the latest additions to the artist roster.

•http://kikencorp.com/8gb

The ARE

Houston, TX, USA

As a music producer, beat maker and DJ, Russell "The ARE" González, is a rarity in the music business where his game is bigger than his talk. He doesn't like to grandstand. He doesn't like to talk about himself. The ARE likes to create. Non-stop. And his talent is undeniable.

A Houston, Texas native - his early music education came from playing drums and digging through dusty crates to unearth Houston's R&B, Soul and Funk masterpieces. The ARE's learning curve continues in the early 1990s as a co-founding member of indie rap group K-OTIX where he practiced his production skills on stage through two world tours. The early passions for rhythm and authentic breaks and his intensive education provide the foundation for the what The ARE describes as his "Universal Sound". He believes in his music flowing and enhancing any project where his tracks appear. The ARE's sound is easy to collaborate with - R&B, Southern, New York, Hip-Hop boundaries don't seem to apply here. (This was especially evident during the annual Red Bull Big Tune competition. The ARE took home the Southern Championship, which crowds and judges alike favored his "good music" to traditional Southern hip hop fare.)

And his musical education continues... Following two years of studio work with the famed production duo Poke & Tone of Trackmasters - The ARE may have just received his hands-on Ph.D. in beatmaking and music production. The ARE has worked his distinctive magic to make his Trackmaster clients shine including Keyshia Cole, EMC (Masta Ace/Wordsworth/Punchline/Stricklin), Lords of the Underground, as well as the promotional Lil' Kim single "Chillin' Tonight" with over 600,000 downloads.

The same passions The ARE brings to his studio work he exemplifies in his own personal projects. The ARE believes his work flow to be organic, collaborative, intuitive, guiding, and above all, always creative. As a beatmaker, The ARE still bases his work in digging for breaks, immersing his self in the creative process, and imbuing emotion. Through an ongoing partnership with RappersIKnow.com, The ARE continually releases original joints and has cultivated an avid and appreciative fan base. With over 500,000 downloads of his self-produced EP's that include a reworked version of the classic "Midnight Marauder" Tribe Called Quest LP that The ARE calls "Manipulated Marauders", a unique and strangely prescient take on MJ/J5 classics called "Dem Damb Jacksons", a dub-mix remake of Kid-Dynamite's Uphill Peace of Mind, and his latest joint is a passion project simply titled "Iran". This summer 2009 EP is inspired by a combination of Iranian beats and the recent election protests and the death of a girl named Neda. "Iran" highlights the best of The ARE's abilities as he exceptionally produces a modern, inspiring and political collection of thoughts through music.

Russell "The ARE" González is in demand. Upcoming projects include DJ-ing collaborations at concerts and private events, ongoing collaborations with Trackmasters NYC, a new release with The Burnerz, iTunes release of the "Iran" project, and an additional unnamed release on The ARE's own imprint.

•http://theare.wordpress.com

•http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1422547925

•http://www.discogs.com/artist/ARE%2C+The

•The ARE takes Big Tune Houston title - Houston Chronicle

Rhinostrich

New York, NY, USA

Recovering metalhead and longtime computer musician and tech geek, Rhinostrich, hails from New York where he has been playing breakbeat and drum ‘n’ bass the way he likes it: dark, hard, fast and with attitude.

Name:

Rhinostrich

Sex:

Male

Hair color:

Brown

Eyes:

Green

Height:

6'0"

Weight:

145 lbs

Fighting Style:

Drum n Bass

Weapon of choice:

LittleGPTracker, Little Sound DJ

•http://www.rhinostrich.com

Saskrotch

Chicago, IL, USA

Saskrotch combines layered, bittersweet 8-bit melodies with complex, high-speed breaks, achieving a sort of spastic melancholy. He is considered the pivotal reason girls aren't into musicians anymore.

•http://www.myspace.com/saskrotch

Asif Siddiky

Portland, OR, USA

Asif Siddiky is a filmmaker and visual artist currently residing in New York City. As Director of Photography for 2 Player Productions, he has spent the past few years documenting the local chip music scene. The fruits of this labor include two music festival DVDs, a two-disc compilation CD, and feature-length film, "Reformat the Planet," all focusing on the annual chip music event hosted by 8bitpeoples, Blip Festival.

It was through his involvement in this scene that he met and made plans to collaborate with minusbaby. The video for "A Large Part of Your Mind Sliced" represents the first step in this partnership and is Siddiky's first proper music video (that has actually been completed) commissioned by another artist.

•http://www.2playerproductions.com

sylcmyk

New York, NY, USA

sylcmyk (b. February 7th, 1989) is an emotional alias of an American-born Jamaican pianist and electronic composer of Sylvester Draggon Jr. Originally born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Queens with his mother, aunts and Great-grandmother. He attends the New York City College of Technology, majoring in Advertising Design. 

Draggon began playing piano at the age of 4, on the night of Christmas when he was given a small 24-key (or less) synthesizer as a present from his grandfather. His mother helped push his eagerness to play by making a contest of who could play "When the Saints Go Marching In" the fastest and most accurate. As time passed on he realized the need for serious training on music theory and proper keyboarding technique. Since non of his parents were able to afford to hire a piano teacher, his perseverance lead him to research for sheet music, exercises, musics and songs all on the internet. At the same time he also became aggressively interested in classical music - so much that through his years in Elementary, Middle School as well as High School, Draggon would only buy classical music CDs.

By age 11 he began composing and performed his first composition in Middle School, and later was recognized as being one of the most "talented" pianist to ever attend Talent Unlimited High School in NYC.

He didn't start producing electronic music until late 2006, discovering a fresh sound he only encountered when playing his old video game systems. His style, however, says in other respects; it doesn't aim to recreate the 8 or 16-bit nostalgia, but instead aims to tell a story in the style of the retro gaming era.

Draggon's is heavily influenced by Scriabin, Chopin, Michael Jackson and different combinations of color.

•http://www.myspace.com/sylcmyk