ANAMANAGUCHI with EXTREME ANIMALS and MOON KING at Wrongbar (1279 Queen West), Saturday (January 21), 7 pm. $10. PDR, RT, SS, TW. See listing.
If you’ve gone to hear a lot of bands that lean heavily on electronics, you’ve probably seen your share of laptop meltdowns and technical problems. You have to wonder, then, how precarious it must be to play in Anamanaguchi, a Brooklyn chiptune band that uses hacked vintage Nintendo game consoles and old Game Boys alongside conventional guitars, bass and drums.
“Actually, they’re usually pretty reliable,” insists principal songwriter and bassist Peter Berkman. “Sometimes, though, there will be too much moisture in the air or the stage will be shaking, and a single note will continue to ring out for the rest of the song.
“Even more often the whole song will stop and all the notes will continue to play, which makes this horrible arnnggguh! noise. If we’re less than a quarter of the way through the song we’ll just start over, but sometimes the audience doesn’t even notice.”
The chiptune genre has been around in various forms since the 80s but these days refers to artists using vintage game equipment specifically for their noisy lo-fi 8-bit sounds. Detractors dismiss it as a nostalgia-driven gimmick, but Berkman resists the suggestion.
“Everyone assumes that the main thing inspiring 8-bit music is nostalgia, but the Commodore 64 came out around five years before I was born, and I’ve only ever known it in a musical context.”
Some NYC chiptune acts Anamanaguchi perform with were even born well after the Nintendo Entertainment System was released, which confuses the issue even more. For Berkman, the appeal is the crunchy quality of the sound and the creative potential of working within strict limitations.
“You learn a lot about synthesis when you’re writing with such basic equipment. Essentially, you’re trying to make the worst thing sound good, and that’s a challenge I love.”
As you might expect, the band does enjoy the occasional video game session. They did, after all, write the music for the video game adaptation of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game. But guitarist Ary Warnaar is at a disadvantage: his parents forbade him to play them when he was growing up.
“His parents were musicians and wanted him to grow up to be a jazz and classical guitarist, so I guess playing punk guitar with video games is his way of rebelling. They’re pretty proud and excited about it now.”
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com
