Back in April, musicians meeting in Vienna and New York joined together at the Gameboy Music Match to ask themselves a question: rather than use conventional instruments to express ourselves, what would happen if we used Nintendo Gameboys? Those who expect that this would involve suffering simplistic bloops and bleeps for hours on end will be surprised — it’s quite clever stuff and speaks to the ways musicians constantly challenge themselves. Participant Chris Burke puts it this way: “With extremely limited tools, it forces you to be more creative. You have very distinct boundaries set up around you and you try to get more creative — you set pans, you play with a filter, you try to be really fast with moving your thumbs so you can make it interesting for the people listening and also for yourself.”
I’m sorry I missed being there live, but fortunately The Next Big Thing was! They have coverage with really great narration (look for “Hot GameBoy Music Club” halfway down the page). Direct realaudio link here. For those who want to put some sight with the sounds, Bitshifter has made video of a fun improvised match available.
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