An 8-Bit tribute to the music of KRAFTWERK Releasedate in Germany: 02.02.

2007
People grew up immersed in this stuff that 8-bit, blippy sound speaks to them on a deep level. Its taking back a pure and total part of our childhood and turning it into something crazy and new Mike Rosenthal, artistic director, Blip Festival, NYC in XLR8R magazine, November 2006 A labor of love, many years in the making, Astralwerks is pleased to present a various artist covers compilation, featuring interpretations of classic Kraftwerk songs, arranged primarily on lobit handheld gaming devices, vintage video game consoles and obsolete 8 bit home computers, revered for the rich and distinctive sound of their 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. A 12 single (and digital download equivalent) will precede the CD launch and will feature Glomags exclusive 8-Bit Operators' mega-mix version of Pocket Calculator (featuring 0x7f, Bit Shifter, Bubblyfish, firestARTer, Hey Kid Nice Robot, Ladybug, M-.-n, Nullsleep, Psilodump, Random, Sidabitball, and David E Sugar) plus an exclusive version of The Robots by L.A.s 8BIT. Tracklisting: 01. Bacalao - The Robots (Die Roboter) - Switzerland 02. Glomag - Pocket Calculator - USA 03. Covox - Computer Love - Sweden 04. Role Model - Showroom Dummies - Sweden 05. Nullsleep - The Model - USA 06. David E. Sugar Radioactivity - UK 07. Oliver Wittchow Kristallo - Germany 08. 8-Bit Weapon Spacelab - USA 09. firestARTer - Computer World (Computerwelt) - Germany 10. Neotericz - Electric Caf - Argentina 11. Receptors Trans-Europe Express - USA 12. Herbert Weixelbaum Tanzmusik - Austria 13. Bubblyfish - It's More Fun To Compute - USA 14. Bit Shifter Antenna - USA 15. gwEm and Counter Reset - The Man-Machine (Die Mensch-Maschine) - UK Official Websites at: www.8BitOperators.com and www.myspace.com/8bitoperators

ABOUT THE OPERATORS 8-Bit Weapon: The brainchild of Seth Sternberger, 8-Bit Weapon has performed across two continents with an arsenal that includes early 8-bit home computers, handheld gaming devices, hybrid lo-fi acoustic-electric drums, and an assortment of other vintage and toy synthesizers. www.8bitweapon.com Bacalao: From Switzerland, he is one of the remix darlings of the international micromusic and chipmusic scene with releases and collaborations on the likes of Germany's Retinascan label. www.bacalao.ch Bit Shifter: One of a tight NYC group of handheld game device chippers, having been in the thick of it since the beginning of the scene. Bit Shifter and his releases have been favorably mentioned in the likes of Rolling Stone and Wired magazines. http://bit.shifter.net Bubblyfish: She is an originator of the NYC 8-bit scene. Bubblyfish is a Korean born, classically trained musician who fell in love with the classic handheld game device sound. Bubblyfish has performed worldwide and released a string of finely constructed chipmusic compositions. www.bubblyfish.com Covox: With his energetic live set and infectious melodies, Covox is one of the kings of the flourishing Stockholm scene. He debuted with a 7" vinyl EP on the Swedish label Rebel Pet Set and has since played in Belgium, Italy and Switzerland with tours in Japan, Holland, United States and Germany. His vinyl and CD releases are purist chip perfection. www.covox.net firestARTer: From Wuppertal, Germany. Wonderful classic 8-bit sound composer, and inventor of an array of indespensible midi-controllers for lo-bit handheld, console and home computer music devices. His sounds and arrangements are both innovative and infectious. www.firestarter-music.de Glomag: One of the original handheld lo-bit artists and well-spoken representative of the NYC and the international scene. He has been featured in 8-bit articles in magazines such as Wired & Art Forum. His music is featured in the award winning internet series This Spartan Life. Glomag hasalso released music under the name Glorified Magnified and has collaborated with Don Was and Tom Morello. www.glomag.com gwEm and Counter Reset: From London, UK. gwEm is renowned for his great live shows often featuring lo-bit microchip Kraftwerk covers and for helping head up the London Micromusic HQ. gwEm utilizes an array of 8-bit classic home computers, driven by his own music tracking tools and programs. This track also features Londons rapper/drummer extraordinaire Counter Reset. www.preromanbritain.com / gwem, www.micromusic.net Neotericz: From Buenos Aires, Neotericz embodies the positivity conveyed by game-influenced music. Through experimentation with a sense of humor he creates a scene especially for his 8-bit friends with his GainLad netlabel, and is also a revered presence in the electro dance scene in Buenos Aires. www.neotericz.com, www.gainlad.com Nullsleep: The NYC chip music innovator who runs the 8-BitPeoples label featuring many of the international scene's microstars. He is also the writer of the useful online LittleSoundDJ music tracking tool walk-thru that has helped many on their way to making beautiful music on their lobit handheld devices. His Depeche Mode megamix is already a classic in the chiptune world. www.8bitpeoples.com Receptors: Receptors is Jeremy Kolosine, born in London, who currently runs the ReceptorsMusic lo-bit record label from the Blue Ridge mountains of southwestern Virginia. He is an active chip musician, utilizing mostly lo-bit handheld, console and 8-bit home computer sound chips, and has performed mostly in NYC. He founded the early electropunk group Futurisk, and has also released music as Ksine and with the group Shakespace. He has had a string of vinyl and CD releases. www.receptorsmusic.com, www.8bitoperators.com Role Model: The musical pseudonym of Johan Kotlinski from Stockholm. As the inventor of the LSDJ (LittleSoundDJ) music tracking cartridge for classic handheld gaming devices, he helped create a new genre of music. Role Model has had many groundbreaking releases on innovative labels such as Retinascan and 8-Bit Peoples. www.rebelpetset.com, www.littlesounddj.com David E. Sugar: From London, David brings a flavor of traditional songmanship to the lo-bit game-pop scene. His instrumentals are intense and bafflingly programmed, while his acoustic guitar/vocal/handheld set is a spirited electro-Elvis hybrid. He can also be found heading the London Micromusic HQ. www.davidsugar.com Herbert Weixelbaum: One of the originators of the early Vienna 8-bit/ handheld scene, Herbert was originally a guitarist who became interested in drum machines, synths and sequencers. His sounds and melodies often push the game sounds to their limits. He also performs with duo505 and lo-bit group Dot.matrix. www.herbertweixelbaum.com Oliver Wittchow: Reportedly, while in school in Berlin, Oliver created the Nanoloop cartridge for music creation on classic 4-bit and 8-bit handheld devices. The intuitive interface and new and addictive way of composing and creating synths from scratch in this firmware program created an underground buzz that got musicians from all walks programming on their old handheld game devices. www.nanoloop.com