Chris Burke was originally interviewed by Chaos Control way back in 1994, when he and his brother Dan comprised the band Glorified Magnified. Chris is still doing music, notably chiptune under the name Glomag, but he’s also doing a very unique ‘machinima’ series called ‘This Spartan Life.’ It’s a talk show where interviews are conducted within networked Halo games and shot by virtual cameramen. Guests on the show have included filmmaker/video artist Peggy Ahwesh, ‘The Raiders Guys’ (who as kids did a shot-for-shot remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) and former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. In an email interview, Chris told us about the show and the process behind it.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW

By making it possible to bypass traditional media and distribution channels, the internet has proven to be a powerful medium for bands and music fans to connect. New artists willing to put in the effort can now reach mass audiences without a record deal, and established acts who might not get the media attention they once did can easily reach long-time fans. But what if you happen to have a name that actually makes it more DIFFICULT for people to find you?

One such band would be The The – searching for “The The” tends to bring up many more non-relevant listings than a query for a lesser-known band who has more unique words in their name. Curious as to what The The’s principle member Matt Johnson thinks about that, I contacted him through his management. Here’s what he had to say:

“Yes, this is certainly an interesting question you raise. It has been raised before and of course I have thought about it and received numerous complaints about it too. Obviously, I cannot change the name of my band at this late stage but what we have tried to do is to get Sony (who own the bulk of the back catalogue) to contact the various online retailers to tweak their search engines to accommodate the name. Some have responded to this, iTunes, Amazon for instance. Some have yet to do this. It also depends on how you type the name – The The, “The The”, TheThe.

Looking at the brighter side, it does make it harder to find unauthorized recordings, bootlegs, free downloads of The The, which I’m quite happy about. Also, in the Internet Age when people are becoming increasingly spoilt and expect to find anything/everything they want instantly maybe it’s a good thing that TheThe has gone back to being the underground, word of mouth band it always was? Maybe it’s good for people to have to dig around a little to find the things they want rather than having everything served up to their ears instantaneously and with barely a finger lifted?”

• Visit the official The The website

(Originally published in October, 2006. Photograph by Johanna Saint Michaels)

Found on YouTube, here is a video of “Bohemian Rhapsody” being played on various pieces of old electronic equipment. While some of the items could be considered at least semi-musical (Atari 800XL and Texas Instruments TI-99/4 computers), it’s crazy to see/hear floppy drives used as ‘bass’ and HP Scanjets as ‘vocals’!

“8-Bit Operators – An 8-Bit Tribute to Kraftwerk” is a new collection of Kraftwerk covers created primarily on old computer equipment and gaming consoles. It was conceived/compiled by Jeremy Kolosine, who under the name Receptors contributed a rendition of “Trans-Europe Express” to the disc. In an email interview, Kolosine explained a bit about the release:

1) Kraftwerk are definitely a fitting subject for a release like this, but what specifically led to their music being chosen as the theme?

well the 1st thing that comes to my mind when i saw a gameboy show was Kraftwerk’s Computer World tour from 1981, where 4 of them played various handheld devices during pocket Calculator. plus it came up in print from a Glomag quote, and an 8-Bit Weapon April Fool’s joke that backfired..

2) What would you say the balance is between tracks specifically created for this release, versus Kraftwerk covers that artists had already done?

only one track was previously recorded before i asked, Role Model’s version of “Showroom Dummies”

3) Did any of the tracks particularly surprise you in terms of what was done with the Kraftwerk material, or the types of sounds that an artist got out of their low-bit instruments?

yes, i can think of an example this happening in every song.

4) Has there been any feedback on the project from Kraftwerk on the project?

because it was to be on Kraftwerk’s U.S. home label, we ran the finished tracks by them.

5) Besides covering Kraftwerk and the use of old gaming systems and/or 8-bit computers, was there any criteria that went into the selection of artists for the collection?

i wanted as many of the new wave of 21st century chipmusic/bitpop scene originators/inventors to take part.

6) Why do you think that this type of equipment wasn’t originally taken as seriously in terms of musical creation?

i believe it’s because at the time, the marketing approaches used for synths were still assuming that users wanted realistic emulation of traditional instruments, which may be true, but in that respect, lo-bit technology doesn’t excell so it may have failed because of that (talking synthesis and not sampling technology of course).

“8-Bit Operators – An 8-Bit Tribute to Kraftwerk” also features Bacalao, Glomag, Covox, Role Model, Nullsleep, David E. Sugar, Oliver Wittchow, 8-Bit Weapon, FirestARTer, Neotericz, Herbert Weixelbaum, Bubblyfish, Bit Shifter, GwEm And Counter Reset. It will be released by Astralwerks on February 6, 2007. There’s also a 12″ single/download release (out now) featuring a multi-artist mega-mix of “Pocket Calculator” and an exclusive version of “The Robots.”

• Click here to order the CD from AMAZON
• Click here to visit the 8-Bit Operators myspace page

Boston’s Freezepop have a new song, “Less Talk More Rokk,” in the recently released video game “Guitar Hero II.” They’ve put out a limited edition CD single that pairs the track with “Get Ready 2 Rokk,” their contribution to the original “Guitar Hero” game. For info on ordering the disc, check out the official Freezepop website at freezepop.com.

Coldcut are running a remix contest for their latest release “Walk a Mile in My Shoes.” The group will be picking 3 winners to receive a copy of their album “Sound Mirrors.” While this may seem like a lot of work to get a CD, contest entrants are not being asked to do traditional remixes. Rather, it’s based around a fun Flash-based mixing module at yourspins.com that lets users change instrument sounds and levels for the various sections off a track. No special music or audio software is required. These kinds of things have been around for a while, but this is one of the most advanced ones we’ve seen, as you can remix the entire song rather than just a small loop.

• Click here to launch the Coldcut mixer