Retro Computer Music - Astralwerks Launches 8 bit Compilation CD

Astralwerks has released a multi-artist compilation, featuring interpretations of classic Kraftwerk songs played primarily on lo-bit handheld gaming devices, vintage video game consoles and obsolete 8 bit home computers.  This low end technology revered for the rich and distinctive sound produced by the lo-bit microchips. This video game-influenced branch of electronic music, sometimes referred to as ‘chiptune’, ‘bitpop’ or just ‘8-bit’, has developed a flourishing international live scene, and is one of the first new genres of music to use the internet to its fullest advantage, with the advent of home-brewed synth cartridges and hacker influenced musical tools.

As one of the New York chip artists Glomag said in a 2004 Art Forum interview, “We’ve made Kraftwerk’s phrase ‘I’m the operator with my Pocket Calculator’ more apt than ever”.

Conceived and compiled by long-time electronic artist and 8-bit composer Jeremy Kolosine(a.k.a. Receptors), the 8-BIT OPERATORS collection features some of the top 8-bit artists from North America, South America and Europe, a selection of the best musical innovators, and several of the inventors themselves.