photos by Leia Jospe

Anamanaguchi

Ary Warnaar, guitarist for the New York chiptunes band Anamanaguchi, famously described 8-bit music as "the punk of electronic music."

It was hard to dispute that claim as Datapop 3.0 kicked off the first of its two nights Tuesday at the Highball. The third annual event celebrates 8-bit music -- a distinct brand of electronic music that's composed and performed through the use of old computer consoles from the 8-bit era of video games. Imagine techno performed entirely through samples culled from your dusty, trusty old Nintendo Entertainment System and you'll be in the right ballpark.

8-bit music may not have the rage -- or even the lyrics -- of punk music, but it does share the same sense of youthful innovation and wild, giddy abandon. Also like punk, it's the sort of thing that's likely to be appreciated only by those of or below a certain age -- if you're not young enough to recall just how fiendishly addictive the melodies in, say, "Mega Man 2" were, there's a solid chance 8-bit music might just sound like so many computerized bleeps and bloops to you. [Austin Statesman]

The 'celebration of 8-bit music" took place on March 16th & 17th at the Highball in Austin. Leia was there on the 2nd day which was also the first night of SXSW Music. More of her pictures from the show (and the full lineup) is below...

Continue reading "pics from Datapop 3 (a SXSW celebration of 8-bit music)"