The Blip Festival was a festival that celebrated

chiptune Chiptune, also known as chip music or 8-bit music, is a style of synthesized electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game consoles. The t ...

music with musical performances, workshops, and screenings of movies. It was held annually starting in 2006 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In recent years, there have been international versions of Blip Festival held in Europe, Asia, and Australia. The festival is curated and organized by

8bitpeoples 8bitpeoples is an artist collective and netlabel centered in New York City that focuses on chiptune aesthetics, which is heavily influenced by vintage videogames. 8bitpeoples was founded in 1999 by Jeremiah "Nullsleep" Johnson and Mike "Tangible" ...

, one of the foremost labels in the

scene, as well as local arts organization The Tank. The New York festival (referred to simply as Blip Festival) has switched venues several times, beginning in 2006 at 15 Nassau Street in Manhattan, then moving to

Eyebeam Art and Technology Center Eyebeam is a not-for-profit art and technology center in New York City, founded by John Seward Johnson III with co-founders David S. Johnson and Roderic R. Richardson. Originally conceived as a digital effects and coding atelier and center for ...

in 2007, and then being held in Brooklyn at The Bell House in 2008 and 2009. It went back to Eyebeam in 2011 and then the Gramercy Theatre in 2012. The festival was the subject of a 2008 documentary film, ''Reformat the Planet'', made by

2 Player Productions 2 Player Productions, Limited is a video production company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2005 by Paul Owens, Paul Levering, and Asif Siddiky. The company produces content relating to video game culture and the process ...

. The documentary was an official selection of the 2008

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

, and was shown on

Pitchfork.tv ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

. After 7 Years and 11 Festivals across 4 continents it was announced that the October 2012 Blip Festival in Tokyo would be the last installment for the foreseeable future.

Blip Festival Europe

The Blip Festival Europe was held once only in

Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

on July 24 to 25, 2009. The festival included Bit Shifter,

Nullsleep Nullsleep (born Jeremiah Johnson October 7, 1980) is an American electronic musician and computer artist currently residing in New York City. In 1999 he co-founded the low-bit art collective 8bitpeoples, and has served as its lead director since ...

, minusbaby, Hally, Binärpilot,

Goto80 Goto80 (born Anders Carlsson, 9 February 1981) is a Swedish music artist and researcher. He has been described as one of the key players between glitch and chipmusic, as well as an active demoscener. At the turn of the millennium he was one of t ...

, Bodenständig 2000, Bu Bu Kitty Fuckers and more.

Blip Festival Tokyo

The Blip Festival Tokyo occurred for three consecutive years and was held for the first time on September 4–5, 2010 in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

at Koenji High. Artists that played included

, Bit Shifter,

, YMCK, Saitone, Hally, Quarta330, Stu,

Hip Tanaka , also known as Chip Tanaka, is a Japanese musician, composer, sound designer, and executive who pioneered chiptune music. He is best known as one of Nintendo's in-house composers during the 8- and 16-bit era of video games. Tanaka also had a ro ...

, and more. It was consecutively held at Koenji High on October 22–23, 2011 and October 20–21, 2012.

Blip Festival Australia

The Blip Festival Australia was held for the first and only time on February 17–18, 2012 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at Evelyn Hotel. Artists that played included

Patric Catani Patric may refer to: * PATRIC, the Pathosystems Resource Integration Center, a bacterial infectious disease information system * Patric (singer) (born 1947), full name Patrick Martin, French singer * Patric (footballer, born 1987), full name Ande ...

, Bit Shifter,

, Dot.AY, Abortifacient,

Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families (also known as 10k or 10kfreemen) is a musical project of Sydney based Game Boy music composer and performer Thomas Gilmore, who began writing music with the Nintendo Game Boy in 2007. Shortly after in 2 ...

, _ensnare_, 7bit Hero and more.

Past lineups

2012 lineup

*Batsly Adams * Bit Shifter *Burnkit2600 *CHiKA *Chipocrite *Chromacle * :, kREW *

Danimal Cannon Daniel Behrens (born March 11, 1983) better known by his stage name Danimal Cannon, is an American video game composer and chiptune music performer. He is most known for combining guitar playing with Game Boy music. He is also known for his p ...

*Deadbeatblast (music & visuals) *Dr. Von Pnok *Enso *Exilefaker *Flashheart *George & Jonathan *Graffiti Monsters *Infinity Shred *Kris Keyser *Jean Y. Kim *Kodek *Mikrosopht & the p.irateship *Minusbaby *Misfitchris *Monodeer *No Carrier *Nullsleep *Omodaka *Pulselooper *Radlib *Shitbird *Wizwars *Zen Albatross

2011 lineup

Anamanaguchi Anamanaguchi is an American chiptune-based pop and rock band from New York City. The band has four members: lead songwriters and guitarists Peter Berkman and Ary Warnaar, bassist James DeVito, and drummer Luke Silas. Anamanaguchi combines dig ...

*BEASTMODE * Bit Shifter *Bubblyfish *

Chipzel Niamh Houston (born 23 September 1991), better known by her stage name Chipzel, is a musician from Northern Ireland. She is best known for making chiptune music, particularly with a Game Boy. She is also a video game music composer, and is kn ...

*cTrix *Deadbeatblast (visuals only) *enso *exileFaker *4mat *Henry Homesweet *Knife City *Raquel Meyers *minusbaby *M7Kenji (visuals) *NNNNNNNNNN *No Carrier *Noisewaves *

*Party Time! Hexcellent! (visuals) *Tristan Perich *Ralp *Stagediver *Starscream *Peter Swimm *Talk To Animals *

*Ultrasyd *vade *visualicious *Wet Mango *Zen Albatross

2009 lineup

*Albino Ghost Monkey * Bit Shifter * Bubblyfish *

*Chromix *The C-Men (visuals) *

Disasterpeace Richard Vreeland (born June 29, 1986), better known by his stage name Disasterpeace, is an American composer and musician. He first got started in music after learning the guitar in high school and started writing music around the age of 17. Kno ...

*Eat Rabbit *enso (visuals) *failotron *Fighter X *Glomag *The Hunters (music and visuals) *I, Cactus *The J. Arthur Keenes Band *Je Deviens DJ en Trois Jours *Jean Y. Kim *Leeni *little-scale *Rosa Menkman (visuals) *minusbaby *No Carrier (visuals) *

*Outpt (visuals) *Paris (visuals) *

Psilodump Psilodump (born Simon Rahm on 15 December 1980) is a Swedish people, Swedish musician, DJ, and music producer, producer based in Stockholm, Sweden, Stockholm. He has also released work under his real name and as Psilodumputer, Pushiro, and J.Panic ...

* Rainbowdragoneyes *Silent Requiem *Starscream *David Sugar *tRasH cAn maN *Vblank (visuals)

2008 lineup

*Animal Style * Bit Shifter *Bubblyfish *Cheap Dinosaurs *Cow'p *Dubmood *Entter (visuals) *Glomag *Graffiti Monsters *IAYD *Ikuma *Jellica *Lissajou *Low-Gain *m-.-n *Meneo *minusbaby *Mr. Spastic *No Carrier (visuals) *nordloef *noteNdo (visuals) *Nullsleep *Paris Treantafeles (visuals) *Role Model * Sidabitball *Starscream *Stu *Sulumi *Syphus *The C-Men (visuals) *Tonylight * Trash80 *Unicorn Dream Attack *USK *Vblank (visuals) *zabutom

2007 lineup

*6955 *8GB *Alex Mauer *Anamanaguchi * Bit Shifter *Bodenständig 2000 *Bokusatsu Shoujo Koubou *Crazy Q * Firebrand Boy *Gijs Gieskes *gwEm *Lo-bat. *Mark DeNardo *Markus Schrodt *minusbaby *No Carrier (visuals) *noteNdo- (visuals) *

*Oliver Wittchow *Otro (visuals) *Paza Rahm *Postal_M@rket *Rugar *Sabrepulse *Saskrotch *Tree Wave * virt *Yes, Robot

2006 lineup

*Receptors *Starpause *Touchboy *Tugboat * virt *x, k * Bit Shifter *Coova *Mark DeNardo *Pepino *Quarta330 *Rabato *Random *Herbert Weixelbaum *

Cory Arcangel Cory Arcangel (born May 25, 1978) is an American post-conceptual artist who makes work in many different media, including drawing, music, video, performance art, and video game modifications, for which he is best known. Arcangel often uses the ...

*Aonami *Covox *Crazy Q *The Depreciation Guild *Hally *Kplecraft *Bud Melvin *Nullsleep *Bubblyfish *Glomag *Tristan Perich *Portalenz *Saitone *

Jeroen Tel Jeroen Godfried Tel (born 19 May 1972), also known as WAVE, is a Dutch composer. He is best known for numerous computer game tunes he wrote in the 1980s and early 1990s for the Commodore 64. His most popular compositions appear in the following C ...

Neil Voss Neil Voss (born October 7, 1974) is a video game composer. Voss' first recognized work was on ''Tetrisphere'' for Nintendo 64 in 1997, an acclaimed effort that earned him a "Best Soundtrack" award from ''Nintendo Power'' for that year. Later he com ...

* YMCK *C-Men (visuals) *C-TRL Labs (visuals) *noteNdo (visuals) *Voltage Controlled (visuals) *Dan Winckler (visuals)

References

The official website of the festival

Reformat the Planet

ABC News article about the festival

External links

* * {{Authority control Video game music events Chiptune Music festivals established in 2006 Electronic music festivals in the United States Electronic music festivals in Japan Electronic music festivals in Denmark Electronic music festivals in Australia Music festivals in New York City