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 term is commonly used to refer to tracker format music which intentionally sounds similar to older PSG-created music, as well as music that combines PSG sounds with modern musical styles. It has been described as "an interpretation of many genres" since any existing song can be arranged in a chiptune style defined more by choice of instrument and timbre than specific style elements.
Jonathan H. Smith better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, DJ, record producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre crunk, and is credited with bringing the genre into mainstream success. Lil Jon frequently collaborates with Miami-based rapper Pitbull, Bay Area-based rappers Too Short and E-40, participates as one-third of an unofficial trio consisting of Atlanta-based artists Ludacris and Usher who frequently create songs together.
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.
Nintendocore is a broadly defined style of metal music that most commonly fuses chiptune and video game music with hardcore punk and/or heavy metal. The genre is sometimes considered a direct subgenre of post-hardcore and a fusion genre between metalcore and chiptune. The genre originated in the early 2000s and peaked around the late 2000s with bands like Horse the Band, An Albatross, The NESkimos and Minibosses pioneering the genre.
Bitpop is a type of electronic music and subgenre of chiptune music, where at least part of the music is made using the sound chips of old 8-bit computers and video game consoles.
Porter Weston Robinson is an American DJ, record producer, musician, and singer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Robinson began producing music in his childhood. He signed to Skrillex's record label OWSLA at the age of 18, and released the extended play Spitfire in 2010. He appeared on Billboard's 21 Under 21 list in 2012.
Vaporwave is a microgenre of electronic music, visual art style, and Internet meme that emerged in the early 2010s. It is defined partly by its slowed-down, chopped and screwed samples of smooth jazz, elevator, R&B, and lounge music from the 1980s and 1990s. The surrounding subculture is sometimes associated with an ambiguous or satirical take on consumer capitalism and pop culture, and tends to be characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist engagement with the popular entertainment, technology and advertising of previous decades. Visually, it incorporates early Internet imagery, late 1990s web design, glitch art, anime, 3D-rendered objects, and cyberpunk tropes in its cover artwork and music videos.
Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, known professionally as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and performing artist.
Daniel Behrens 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 presentations on chipmusic, having hosted panels at Penny Arcade Expo, YouTube tutorials, a TEDx Talk, and a Game Boy masterclass workshop at Blip Festival 2012.
Synthwave is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s. Other influences are drawn from the decade's art and video games. Synthwave musicians often espouse nostalgia for 1980s culture and attempt to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it.
Franck Hueso, better known by his stage name Carpenter Brut, is a French darksynth artist from Poitiers, France. He has released three EPs, EP I (2012), EP II (2013) and EP III (2015) which were collected and released together as the album Trilogy (2015). He later released three additional studio albums, Leather Teeth (2018), Blood Machines OST (2020), and Leather Terror (2022) along with one live album, CarpenterBrutLive (2017). He has also contributed original music to a variety of soundtracks, both for film and video games.
Dunderpatrullen is a Swedish electronic music group from Östersund, Jämtland. Their music is mostly based in the bitpop sub-genre of chiptune, but has deviated into other territories such as synthwave and EDM. Much of their inspiration comes from classic retro video game composition, often referencing and basing composition off of classic chiptune techniques in a modern context. The band has found success within the gaming enthusiast sphere, playing for events such as DreamHack and NärCon, as well as being relatively popular among the gaming crowd.
James Leusink, better known by his alias Ephixa, is a Canadian electronic music producer who lives in Ontario, Canada. He is best known for his viral "Charlie Sheen Bi-Winning" dubstep remix, remixes of music from the Legend of Zelda franchise as well as various other remixes and original electronic music. Leusink peaked at #11 on Billboard's Next Big Sound chart in November 2011.
Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado, known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer and rapper. All five of his studio albums have topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, with Aura (2018) charting at number seven on the Billboard 200. His musical style is primarily reggaeton and trap, but he has collaborated with artists spanning a variety of genres, including reggae, bachata, and moombahton.
"Dance Macabre" is a song by Swedish rock band Ghost. It was their second single off of their fourth studio album Prequelle. It topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart for two weeks in February 2019.
Raqhid Jevon Render, known professionally as Lil Keed, was an American rapper and songwriter. He was signed to Young Thug's record label YSL Records, as well as 300 Entertainment. His song "Nameless" reached number 42 on the Billboard Hip Hop/R&B Songs Airplay chart.
The Rise of the Synths is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by Iván Castell and narrated by filmmaker and composer John Carpenter. The film explores the origins and growth of the electronic music genre known as synthwave, charting its rise in popularity from the underground online music scene to its recent mainstream exposure following use in retro-themed soundtracks, notably the 2011 film Drive and more recently the television series Stranger Things.
Juan Irming, also known as Amplitude Problem, is a Swedish-American musician and producer currently based in Los Angeles. While the former hacker has had a long career in music beginning in the underground demoscene in Europe, he is best known for his chiptune, synthwave, and nerdcore tracks.
Jukio Kallio is a Finnish composer, musician and game developer known for creating the soundtracks to Minit, Fall Guys, Nuclear Throne and Luftrausers. Kallio started making music in 2011 and created chiptune music on his own. He then met game developer and co-founder of former Dutch game studio Vlambeer, Jan Willem Nijman. Kallio collaborated with Nijman to develop and create the music to various titles made by Vlambeer. Kallio then collaborated with Daniel Hagstrom in 2020 to create the soundtrack to Fall Guys.
