Hace unos meses recibí un mensaje a través del infame myspace de un colega de la escena 8 bit en el que me invitaba a formar parte de un proyecto curioso a la vez que interesante. Se trataba de hacer versiones 8 bit de Weezer para un disco tributo a la banda de rock americana.
Es uno de mis grupos de rock favoritos así que no lo dudé. Fué difícil escoger un tema para versionar ya que no quería hacer uno demasiado conocido. Después de un repaso de toda su discografía, decidí hacer “We are all on drugs” del album “Make believe”.
Es un tema muy poco conocido pero que representa bien el sentido del humor del grupo.
Han participado en este tributo a Weezer grandes nombres de la escena tales como Bit Shifter, Tugboat, Anamanaguchi, Videogame Orchestra o el mismo Arcadecoma, organizador del proyecto.

Descarga gratuita aquí.

A few months back I received a message through the infamous myspace from an 8 bit scene coleague in which he invited me to take part in a curious and interesting project. He was putting together an 8 bit tribute record of the american rock band Weezer.
It is, in fact, one of my favourite rock bands, so I did not hesitate. It was difficult to pick a song since I didn’t want to do a track that was too popular. After a quick listen to their discography, I picked “We are all on drugs” from the album “Make believe”.
It is not a famous song but it represents well Weezer’s sense of humor.
Big names of the 8 bit music scene have taken part in this project such as Bit Shifter, Tugboat, Anamanaguchi, Videogame Orchestra and Arcadecoma himself, the guy who put it all together.

Grab it here.

Ha pasado ya un mes desde el Blip Festival. Ha sido, una vez más, una experiencia increíble. Puedes leer una crónica en la web ramerah.com donde explico un poco lo acontecido.

También podéis ver fotos en el grupo de Flickr del Blip Festival.

It’s been a month since I got back from the Blip Festival. It was a blasting awesomeness as always. I wrote a review for ramerah.com where you can read about what went on. Sorry only in Spanish.

Here are some photos too.

http://europe.blipfestival.org/

DATES AND TIMING:
The festival takes place FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2009 and SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2009 at the following hours:

Friday 20.00-03.00 – Music Program (Pre-sale: DKK 75 including fee/At the door: DKK 85)
Saturday 14.00-17.00 – Daytime Screenings and Workshops (Free Admission)
Saturday 20.00-03.00 – Music Program (Pre-sale: DKK 75 including fee/At the door: DKK 85)

La asociación 8bitera a la que pertenezco, microBCN estará presentando talleres, música y video relacionados con el Circuit Bending el sábado 20 de Junio dentro del festival Sonar. La entrada será libre y la actuación grátis (como viene siendo habitual en nuestros eventos).

Si estás interesado en saber como funciona la modificación de aparatos electrónicos, juguetes como instrumentos o consolas, no te pierdas este evento en la Sala NIU de Barcelona.

Os esperamos soldador en mano!

Más info en:

Sala Niu

Sonarmatica

Turn it up!

Game Boys in the sky

Este fin de semana he aprovechado para hacer un par de cosas que tenía pendiente.

This past weekend I got to work on a couple things I had pending.

Hace unos días encargué a Nonelectronics un kit de retro-iluminación para mi Game Boy verde. Tiene distintos colores pero escogí el módulo de leds verdes para ir a conjunt. Es relativamente fácil de colocar. Al principio iba un poco cagado porque en las instrucciones no parece tan sencillo y tenía miedo de cargarme una de mis Game Boy favoritas regalo de Iván PJ.

Cuando veo el resultado final no puedo evitar pensar en Pepino, esta Game Boy debería ser para ellos.

A Few days ago I ordered a retro light kit from Nonelectronics for my green Game Boy. He’s got different colors but I chose the green LED module to match my console. It is pretty easy to install. I was a bit scared in the beginning. I didn’t want to ruin one of my favorite Game Boys, a present from Iván PJ.

When I see the final result I can’t help but think of Pepino, this Game Boy should be theirs.

El año pasado me cargué mi primer Speak & Spell. Hice un agujero donde no debía y corte un par de pistas. Lo tenía guardado hasta que lo recuperé de nuevo y lo desmonté por completo. Gracias a un par de conmutadores rotativos y unos botones puedo utilizar todas las funciones del teclado. Ahora tengo que encontrar una caja para meterlo todo y añadir un par de bends. Quiero poner un pitch bend, un par de loops un par de glitches y un LFO. Ya iré subiendo fotos del proceso.

Last year I messed up my first Speak & Spell. I drilled a whole where I shouldn’t have and broke a couple connections ruining the Matrix Keyboard. I had it in store until I picked it up again and took it apart. Thanks to a couple rotary switches and some buttons I can now select all functions in the Matrix.
I need to find a proper housing for it now and add a couple bends. I’d like to fit a pitch bend, a couple loops, a couple glitches and a LFO. I’ll be posting photos to my flickr.

Hoy bilingüe. Los amigos de Basurama me han invitado a participar en su instalación en el CCCB este Viernes 20 a las 20:00h.

Será en el “Pati de les Dones” del CCCB, estáis todos invitad@s

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My friends at Basurama have invited me to perform at their latest happenning in Barcelona. You’re all invited!

It will take place at “Pati de les Dones” inside CCCB Friday 20th at 20:00h

On November 14th Jordi (VCFool) from Yes Robot and myself started doing auditions for kids age 8 to 15 at Fundació Miró in Barcelona.
The porpuse of these auditions is to explain what Gameboy Music and the Micromusic movement is.
Last Friday it got a bit crazy. About one hundred kids aged 10 ended up demanding more music and made clear they would not leave without it. We had to comply in order to save our necks.
With a known track they had asked us to cover, they started singing and dancing until they decided to take on the stage.
It got us a bit by surprise but we have to admit working with kids this age is a real treat. They are so enthusiastic about all we do, want to know every little detail… such candid minds.

Patiently waiting for the next audition on January 30th.

I opened the Casio SA-5 that had been laying around for some time in order to do a couple bends. I first wanted to do Reed Ghazala’s but then I saw Presstobegin’s SA-5 with Ghazala’s and Casper Electronics and decided to take it further. I have to say Casper Electronics has real smart and interesting examples on his site.
It was also a good time to try and make my first Vactrol to control the feedback/filter bend with a very very simple LFO (those things are really fun and easy.)

Video here.