Hailing from Connecticut, USA, Misfitchris started off playing his Casio keyboard alongside SNES games in a valiant effort to mimic his favorite video game composers. Then, in an attempt at venting his inevitable teenage angst, he picked up a guitar and started a punk band. He got his first taste of using computers to make music editing local bands with basic sound editing software. That eventually lead to the wunderkind toying around with digital audio workstations trying to emulate his favorite artists such as Daft Punk, Sebastien Leger, Aphex Twin, Square Pusher and Autechre. Then at 21 the budding electronic prodigy discovered chipmusic, a marriage of difficult trackers and minimal soundscapes, a match made in heaven.
Misfitchris quickly grew fond of this sound and in an unyielding attempt at perfection began his current project he has aptly dubbed “Fakebit”. His sound is a distinctive blend of the classic chip music he was weaned on and the heavy hitting house music that captivated him as a teen. MisfitChris has a sound that will conjure up feelings from days of old, like leaving final fantasy 3 on just to hear the music and the feeling of being the only one in the world to defeat the boss all rolled into a precise, masterfully crafted sonic eargasm. Misfitchris is everything you ever wanted to hear and everything your parents warned you about.
- Christopher G. Fox
(c) Anna Eva Hallin
It all began in the early 1990s. There was this kid who seemed to have just a little bit more interest in computers and electronic dance music than others. All around him, in all of Europe, the rave phenomenon was huge and the demoscene had made the way to most teenage boys rooms. A world was starting to form for this kid. It was a time of great beginnings, but he knew nothing of what would come.
So Damn Loud, born and raised in Gothenburg, emerged into the club scene from the digital art culture of the demoscene. Starting to compose at the age of 12, he is not new to electronic dance music. The tradition of very limited resources for composing created a very special blend of styles, and a unique perspective on music. Even if the limits are now removed, the heritage lives on in every demoscene musician, and also, in So Damn Loud.
The sound of So Damn Loud can’t be summarized to just a few words. It’s an ongoing, morphing process. Even though the basis of his style lies in the internet/blog-based electro-house-breakbeat movement, no aspect of the latest 20 years of dance music evolution is sacred. The result is a versatile yet relevant mixture of then and now. Especially distinctive is the high energy of the music, something that was very important with the demoscene soundtracks, and still is in contemporary electronic dance music.
Even though he is a newcomer to the scene, So Damn Loud has played records alongside acts like DJ Mehdi (Ed Banger), Vicarious Bliss (Ed Banger), DatA (ELKROSHCK/Naïve) and Crystal Castles (Merok/Trouble/Last Gang).
Zabutom is a swedish musician who began composing modules in his childhood, and has been active in the demoscene for over 10 years with groups like Share and Enjoy, Fadeout, Fyllecell, his own chiptune group Beepdealers, and also “bridging the gap” of old-time rivals Razor 1911 and Fairlight by being involved in both crews’ productions. He employs a wide range of old computers and videogame systems for composing and performing his music, for example Commodore 64, Gameboy, NES and Amiga 500. His musical style can be described as somewhere between pure demoscene, sophisticated melodies and energetic dance music. It’s playful and innovative while remaining harmonic and aiming for euphoric musical highs. Since 2004 he’s performing live around the world at locations such as Blip Festival 2008 in New York, Data Airlines Festival 2007 in Marseille, Nordik Impakt 2009 in Caen or the prestigious Microdisko Stockholm together with artists like Meneo, Dubmood and Goto80.
GEM TOS has been existing as an entity circulating around Data Airlines for a while now, as a repeating voice talking about chiptunes, reasons for skipping school and famous kraftwerk quotes, as a serie of strange sounds and she even featured on Oai Stars latest album clashing about essential ingredients for a good production, or life, or a night out. As hard to interpretade as to know who she is, GEM TOS, more than just an entity circulating around Data Airlines then, like a ghost assuring a certain german attitude in what we put out.
Who she is, we dont think she knows, or cares, but thoose vectors really looks great on her.
