Beyond Race: How did you get involved in chip music and what attracted you to it?

Glomag: I learned about Nanoloop and LSDJ (Little Sound Disc Jockey) first. In 2001, a friend sent me a link to the Nanoloop site and I bought a cart. I joined the forum and learned about LSDJ which I also bought soon after. What I loved about it right away was the sound. It has a really crunchy, lo-fi sound that feels to me like it is bursting out of its tiny confines. I also soon grew to love working with the extreme limitations you have on an instrument like the Game Boy.

What system rocks your socks?

I have never experimented with any game systems for music other than the Game Boy. I love the sound of the Atari and the C64 (Commodore 64) as well, but I'm afraid I'd really have no time to work on anything else if I got into using them.

Why do you think chip music has caught on like it has? Is it a nostalgia thing or is it something new, fresh, and different?

It seems to me that some people are attracted by the silly, nostalgic aspect, but I think they become fans because the music is different and interesting. When you are faced with such a non-conventional way of writing music, the music you write will most likely sound pretty different form the mainstream.

Favorite video game?

Unlike most chip musicians, I have never been very engaged in gaming. I own a few Xboxes because I am involved in machinima, but to me, the Game Boy is an instrument. I have never played a single game on it.

What game can you kick my ass in?

Performing chip music while drunk.

Game you hold the all time high score in?

Possibly the "lost data from Nanoloop and LSDJ carts" game.

Are you a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) maniac?

I had to google that. I have a friend who uses the pad as a midi trigger in a breakcore set.

It seemed like the scene started to get some press around 2003 with articles in Wired and such. How has it grown since then?

Media attention to Chip Music has grown quite a bit in the last 3 or 4 years. There are now at least two feature length documentaries on the scene and the yearly Blip Festival, which has really generated a lot of interest. When you can say to the press that you are part of a four day festival with 40 artists from around the globe, they realize there is something more there than nostalgia.

A lot of magazines refer to chip artists as 8-bit punks. Do you see a lot of the same ethos apply to what you are doing as to say, Sex Pistols or Operation Ivy?

The music resembles punk sometimes, probably because of the intensity and the simplicity. The ethos of the people in the scene varies a lot since it's such an international phenomenon, but I think there is a really healthy attitude of sharing and a real camaraderie amongst the musicians and the fans. The fact that no one is getting rich from it makes it easier for us to avoid the usual music scene pitfalls of mean spirited competition and prima donna bullshit.

Where do you see this style going in the next 5 or 10 years? Will we be rockin' out to Glomag videos on MTV? Maybe you showing up to TRL? No wait, I got it: “VH1 Behind the Gameboy: Glomag”!

I'm happy with it right where it is, personally. I don't begrudge anyone who wants to get publicity to sell records, but I am not sure chip music will ever break into the mainstream. It'll continue to be sampled and we won't get the credit most likely. I would love to see a narrative feature film with an all chip music soundtrack. That would rule.

There seems to be a rise in open source interfaces, from Monome to the Arduino chip. It seems like the platform for hacking for art’s sake has grown a lot. Do you do a lot of open source coding or have seen its rise within the chip music circle?

I have seen a lot of this, yes. I don't do it myself, but some friends are masters at developing new tools for chip music. The most interesting I have seen in a while is the LittleGPTracker, by Marc Resibois, also known as chip musician M-.-n. It uses the LSDJ interface but also supports 8 monophonic 16Bit/44.1Khz stereo sample playback channels. It's pretty powerful and it runs on the Game Park GP2x Game Boy knock off.

What do you use to make your music or is it a Glomag secret?

Currently I am sticking entirely to Game Boys running LSDJ and sometimes Nanoloop and adding vocals. I am also a guitarist and I like to hit things that make cool sounds. I like restricting my instruments severely like this because I think it forces me to be more creative. Too much electronic music suffers from the myriad features and presets available in the most used software. Using a Game Boy is a big step in the other direction. In that sense it is like punk rock. Punk was reacting, in part, to the overblown corporate rock of the '70s when everyone had a record out with a full orchestra on it and over-produced guitar sounds. The Game Boy forces me to think only about the composition. And how cool I'll look on stage with a Game Boy.

Some people have described this style of music as amateurish. The avant-garde film director Stan Brakhage who did a lot of lo-fi and experimental techniques embraced the term, saying that it means ‘a lover of’. Isn’t that the beauty of chip music? The act of taking something, anything really, and turning it into beautiful art for the love of doing it seems like a pretty common thing. Maybe we are all just amateurs?

Yes, I think it's really important to maintain that surprise and excitement you have when you first start something. In the chip music scene in NY, the fans are often artists. Open mic events are common. Used Game Boys and LSDJ carts are sold at the events sometimes and fans are inspired to write their own music and get up on stage and perform. New talent seems to come out of no where. You see a really powerful Nullsleep set and you go home and work harder on those tracks. You know that, if your music is good enough, you will be on that stage sometime soon inspiring someone else. It's really amazing how effective this is at spawning new talent.

Personal highlight of this year’s Blip Fest?

For me, the highlight was seeing IAYD. He's a 14-year-old kid from Texas who came up here to play at Blip. He is tracking songs that are as good or better than most of the artists twice his age. He has a wild energy on stage and it's just so great to see someone that young who is so inspired to take part in this. I just hope the back stage insanity didn't shock him too much. Chip musicians do like to have fun.

Finally, what's on the rise for you, Glomag?

I will have a new release on 8BitPeoples in the new year. I want to make a music video for a track from the release and then I'm taking some time soon to write new material. I'm sure I'll be performing a lot more in the spring and I'm looking for an excuse to go back and perform in Europe again or Japan.

-Christopher Gilroy

Check out Glomag at these fine websites:

www.glomag.com

www.myspace.com/glomaggot

www.8bitpeoples.com