Chiptune Alliance Tour 2009, Edinburgh GRV

Chiptune Alliance Tour 2009

Described to me by one of my Danish couchsurfers as “They are making alternative music made on GameBoys – it’s very awesome!”, this sounded like a fun way to fill the early hours of a Saturday night; particularly since I’d not been to the venue since its name change and refurbishment into a very smart establishment indeed.

Things started off a bit oddly as upon arrival there were kids at the door seemingly getting breathalysed for fun but I suppose you can’t take any chances these days. Inside, there certainly wasn’t what you’d call a large crowd (maximum 30 by my reckoning) and seeing as it was an over 14s show, memories of school discos in the dim and distant past were soon surfacing.

I managed to miss Mexico Fallz so the first act I saw was GOTO80 who was actually sans Gameboy and not as engaging as I’d hoped; I found myself reading a rival publication for the duration of his set. It was energetic stuff that the crowd loved but which for me lacked enough hooks. I was therefore by the end of his half an hour starting to doubt whether I’d be having as much fun as expected.

With the arrival onstage of Fighter X all doubts were assuaged and I’m sure I was standing with a dopey grin on my phizog, so smile-inducing were the tunes pouring forth. Some of them were epic in scope and well worthy of an arena-sized hall rather than the gym-sized one we were in. If the chavs can troop along to see the likes of the Bonkers DJs or Basshunter then emos with a taste for beats and bleeps are just as worthy of hearing their take on dance (with heavy nods towards PWEI from where I was standing) played out in cavernous surroundings.

Things followed a similarly enjoyable route with the final act of the night, Aberdeen’s Sabrepulse. Lots of epic poses, arms in the air and jumping about along with another great bunch of uplifting tunes which were unfortunately let down a couple of times by the only technical problems of the night when his laptop developed a mind of its own. Definitely another bloke who deserves to get out of the bedroom and into the Barrowlands in order to be able to play to the seething crowd his compositions are worthy of.

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