U2011 report

Ultrachip 2011 was pretty much everything that could have been hoped for. Two solid nights of great music, lots of dancing and fist pumping, much sweat and shouting. Friendships were made, knowledge was shared, laughs were had.

Once more, my thanks and gratitude to everyone who attended, performed or in some way facilitated the happening of the event. Thanks also to the guys at The Forest for allowing us to do this again, and for not minding us hustling patrons off tables & blasting them with square waves. This will most likely be the last time Ultrachip happens at The Forest since it's expected to cease to exist in just a few days - a sad loss of a unique Edinburgh venue.

For those of you couldn't make it (or those who did & want to relive it) please enjoy the following chronologically arranged playlist of clips of performers from both nights:



All videos by Tom Lindsay, though others may be added as time goes on. Photos to appear sometime soon too!

Poster!

Behold! A wonderful poster, courtesy of the talented MisBUG - http://www.misbug.com

Ultrachip 2011 - Full details (more or less)

Here's the Facebook event page. Now details:

Ultrachip returns for two more days of live chiptune & chip-related happenings, featuring local, national & international artists. It's all going down in Edinburgh at the Forest Cafe, and it's entirely free to attend.

The event runs 8pm - 3am both nights, plus there are afternoon events on the Saturday. Details:

FRIDAY 19th AUGUST
Live music:

Stevens - www.myspace.com/stevenosur​name
Spazrammer - http://microraves.tumblr.c​om/
Cerebral Scars - http://cerebralscars.wordpress.com
an-cat-max - https://8bc.org/members/an-cat-max
Edward Shallow - http://edwardshallow.bandc​amp.com/
HarleyLikesMusic - www.youtube.com/harleylike​smusicuk
Wolves That Byte - www.myspace.com/wolvesthat​byte

Plus open mic hour 8-9pm!

Live visuals:

Euan McKenzie - www.suitcase76.com
Robert Motyka - http://weedogdesign.co.uk/

DJs:

James CDK - http://calmdownkidder.com/
LastKnight - http://soundcloud.com/last​knight

SATURDAY 20th AUGUST
Live music:

nordloef - www.nordloef.com
DS-10 Dominatör - www.ds10dominator.com
We Are The Future - www.myspace.com/lylatcore
Comptroller - www.cmptrllr.co.uk
Gasman - http://matt.west.co.tt/
Sycamore Drive - http://sycamoredrive.bandc​amp.com/
Theremin Hero - http://thereminhero.com/

Plus open mic hour 8-9pm!

Live visuals:

RetchyvSmash - www.retchyvsmash.com
LastKnight - https://twitter.com/lastkn​ightuk

DJS:

Akimbo Divine - http://akimbodivine.wordpr​ess.com/

SATURDAY AFTERNOON EVENTS (12-5pm)
Workshops:

1pm: Making music with the Nintendo DS (DS-10 Dominatör)
2pm: Visuals: A Practical Approach (LastKnight)
3pm: Tracking From Scratch: creating a Spectrum chiptune in 1 hour (Gasman)

Games/Devices:

Play 'Super Mario Bros' using a theremin on a nice big projector screen, courtesy of Theremin Hero!
Other games TBC

Chip market:

Tables! Chip-related goods! Music, merchandise, old consoles and associated paraphernalia. Browse, buy, be happy.

IMPORTANT FINAL BITS
There will be alcohol onsale at night, so the live music in the evening will be 18+. Sorry about that. People of all ages can attend the Saturday afternoon events though.

If you have any queries, get in touch via ultrachipfestival AT gmail DOT com.

Line-up details

Who's playing Ultrachip 2011? These guys are (in alphabetical order):

Combat Dave
Comptroller
DS-10 Dominator
Edward Shallow
Firebrand Boy
Gasman
HarleyLikesMusic
Nordloef
Spazrammer
Stevens
Sycamore Drive
Theremin Hero
We Are The Future
Wolves That Byte


DJs, visual artists, afternoon events - details to follow.

Ultrachip 2011

Here are the few details I can confirm for now:

Ultrachip 2011 will be happening over Friday 19th August & Saturday 20th August at The Forest, Edinburgh. Like last year, all elements of the event will be free to attend. Alcohol will be onsale at the venue, so the live music in the evenings will be 18+.

There will be events happening in the afternoon on both days, including chipmusic related workshops, a market, and some kind of gaming event. Full details to follow.

Live music will run from approximately 8pm till 3am, with a selection of different chip acts from around the UK (and beyond?) playing each night. There will also be DJs providing music between acts, and live visuals from some cool guys.

An additional feature this year is an open mic hour. This will run at the beginning of Friday & Saturday night's line-up. Any chip musician in attendance who's not on the bill but wants to show what they can do - this is for you.

To anyone considering attending, I highly recommend you book accommodation as soon as you can. Ultrachip will be happening at the height of the Edinburgh Festival, a time when the city is ridiculously busy. Good luck!

Full details of line-up, times, etc. will be revealed over the coming weeks/months. Also, this ugly website will be getting overhauled. Thanks.

Ultrachip VS Forest Closure

Ultrachip venue The Forest is currently facing closure unless they can raise the £500,000 required to buy their building.

The Forest is an important arts and events space that has provided great support to the local creative community for over a decade. In an attempt to help out, we've put together a benefit album where all proceeds go directly to them.

'Ultrachip VS Forest Closure' features tracks by every artist who performed at Ultrachip. The bulk of them are exclusive, new or rare. £5 gets you 15 tracks, neat accompanying artwork by Retchy v Smash, plus your money goes towards a worthy cause. It's a good deal.

Stream above, follow link to download. Thanks.

It was a success!

Ultrachip 2010 was so great that it's taken me over two weeks to collect myself and post this. If you were there, you know this is truth. If you were not, I pity you.

The Forest was filled to capacity on Saturday, with people queueing outside for entry. Experienced acts remarked that it was the most enthusiastic UK chip gig crowd they'd ever seen. Sunday night (held in the larger upstairs area) saw a second assault of equally powerful music, though with a slightly reduced crowd. We'll aim for a Friday & Saturday night next time instead. :)

My heartfelt thanks to all who performed, contributed and attended. All acts (musical and visual) performed without payment, purely for the love of chip music. The event was free to attend, which meant a greater number of random people turned up & were exposed to fresh sounds. I personally spoke to several people who'd never heard any chip music before that weekend, but were rendered excited converts by their Ultrachip experience. This is good.

Ultrachip 2011 will definitely be happening, but you'll have a long wait for further details. I suggest you follow us on Twitter and watch for the signal. Have patience.

There are plenty of photos on the Ultrachip Facebook group, plus many videos grouped together on the Ultrachip YouTube channel.

Here's a small sample:












Photos courtesy of Tom Lindsay. Check the above links for more media. Don't let yourself down.