I was lucky enough to attend a SXSW screening of Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet, a documentary about chiptunes, an underground music form that uses hardware from old video game consoles, like classic Nintendo Game Boys and NESes, to create new, original music. Most of this music bears little resemblance to 8-bit video game music (except, of course, for the sound quality); it's more like bright, happy amped-up techno, the kind of music that makes you feel like you're going on an adventure. Reformat the Planet tracks the creation of Blip Festival, a four-day chiptune extravaganza that happens in Brooklyn and features artists from all around the world. The movie is just 82 minutes, but is packed with great live footage, interviews and insights into the chiptune-making process.
My last pop punk BitchTape was so much fun to compile, I just had to make a sequel (plus I somehow forgot Lemuria before - an egregious oversight). Enjoy!
The latest Bitch podcast is up, and corresponds to our Art/See issue. You'll hear from Ann Fox and Jessica Cooley, who have curated two art shows addressing disability, an interview with a young artist who sculpts sound, an interview with gay marriage advocate and author Audrey Bilger, an excerpt from our art and activist round-up, and then some! Plus, music by Emily Lacy. You can stream the audio below, or subscribe to all of Bitch Radio via iTunes. Extended interviews can be found atbitchmedia.org/audio. Transcript available for download
Podcast script after the jump.
Professor Ann M. Fox and Jessica Cooley have now curated two art shows addressing disability. The first, Re/Formations featured five women artists exploring the intersections of female identity and disability through sculpture. More recently, they wrapped up STARING, which was based off of the book Staring: How We Look by Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, one of the leading scholars in disability studies. The works in STARING address issues of representation, visibility, and empowerment....not unlike feminism. It featured artwork from Doug Auld and Chris Rush, among others.
Transcript available for download
Audrey Bilger's article "Wife Support" appeared in the Art/See issue of Bitch and discussed how the word "wife" was evolving with the gay marriage movement. The article caught the eye of Seatte talk show the Menage, who intereviewed Audrey in December 2009. Here's the full rambunctious interview with hosts Julie Mains and Jennifer Austin. You can listen to the Menage online and read more on gay marriage by Audrey Bilger at the Huffington Post ("Why Straight People Should Be Following the Prop. 8 Federal Trial").
Transcript available for download
Junie Latte is an art student at Montreal's Concordia University. Her latest project is a "sound sculpture" made from women's voices collected from around the world. I speak with Junie about what motivated her project, her influences, and what she has in store next.
If you're interested in submitting your voice to Junie's project, visit her website (also in French) at womensvoices.webs.com.Transcript coming soon!
Metal is a misunderstood genre; traditionally the domain of alienated pubescent males, angry dude-bros and broody Lord of the Rings fans, while women were relegated to groupie status only. Fortunately, metal has come a long way since "The Hairy 80s", and there quite a few metal bands around now that feature women in way more face-melting roles.
Graduate school and the Internet have relegated me (and my attention span) to the land of short stories. It's a nice place to be, especially when Lorrie Moore and George Saunders are there.
What I'm listening to:
King Khan & BBQ Show, Girls in the Garage, The Blow, NPR
What I'm watching:
Arrested Development, The Twilight Zone, Mad Men, 30 Rock