Cheap Dinosaurs

The official chip concert of PTW is a multisensory showcase for some of the city’s finest original sounds and sites created using old video game hardware and other non-traditional technology. Celebrate our growing scene with a killer Philly-centric lineup featuring an0va (mathy Game Boy madness), Chipocrite (catchy, epic Game Boy compositions) and Cheap Dinosaurs (truly amazing rock gods that also happen to be accompanied by a Game Boy), plus VBLANK on live visuals. Get there early for the pre-show panel/presentation! Presented by 8static, Third Generation and PhilaMOCA. THURS. APRIL 28 7:30PM-11:30PM @ N 12th St & Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19123 | $8, $5 with - Technically Philly

The official chip concert of PTW is a multisensory showcase for some of the city’s finest original sounds and sites created using old video game hardware and other non-traditional technology. Celebrate our growing scene with a killer Philly-centric lineup featuring an0va (mathy Game Boy madness), Chipocrite (catchy, epic Game Boy compositions) and Cheap Dinosaurs (truly amazing rock gods that also happen to be accompanied by a Game Boy), plus VBLANK on live visuals. Get there early for the pre-show panel/presentation! Presented by 8static, Third Generation and PhilaMOCA. THURS. APRIL 28 7:30PM-11:30PM @ N 12th St & Spring Garden St, Philadelphia, PA 19123 | $8, $5 with - Technically Philly

An 8-bit evening is underway at North Star Bar as Philly’s four-piece videogame beat masters Cheap Dinosaurs bring back the primitive sounds of game play audio. Once a solo project fueled by Dino Lionetti fronted by switches and synths, Cheap Dinosaurs has expanded since, with guitars and drums, which offers a traditional touch to pair nicely with its computer-based sound. (And check out the video below for the song “Tagalog” that Cheap Dinosaurs made last year with a Game Boy Camera that was made circa 1998.) New York City’s chiptune rockers Anamanaguchi will be headlining this nostalgic trip down gamer lane, who is better known for its prevalence in 2010 with a free support concert for the embattled Four Loko, and composing music for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. Joining the lineup will be moody beat-driven babe Talk to Animals and easy-listening pop rockers The Skateboards. Remember to leave a cartridge in the slot to prevent dust and dirt from entering the system. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 7pm, $10, All Ages - Brandi Lukas - The Deli Philadelphia

An 8-bit evening is underway at North Star Bar as Philly’s four-piece videogame beat masters Cheap Dinosaurs bring back the primitive sounds of game play audio. Once a solo project fueled by Dino Lionetti fronted by switches and synths, Cheap Dinosaurs has expanded since, with guitars and drums, which offers a traditional touch to pair nicely with its computer-based sound. (And check out the video below for the song “Tagalog” that Cheap Dinosaurs made last year with a Game Boy Camera that was made circa 1998.) New York City’s chiptune rockers Anamanaguchi will be headlining this nostalgic trip down gamer lane, who is better known for its prevalence in 2010 with a free support concert for the embattled Four Loko, and composing music for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. Joining the lineup will be moody beat-driven babe Talk to Animals and easy-listening pop rockers The Skateboards. Remember to leave a cartridge in the slot to prevent dust and dirt from entering the system. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 7pm, $10, All Ages - Brandi Lukas - The Deli Philadelphia

Cheap Dinosaurs recently won my choice for best chip music album of 2009, and for very good reason. Dino and Bucky, the 2 bad dudes behind the glorious music keeps putting on the most awesome shows and ideas out there, be it as Cheap Dinosaurs doing original songs or as Auto-Scroll doing game arrangements.

Recently they released a music video for the song “Tagalog” from the Cheap Dinosaurs CD. The video is entirely shot by LJ Frezza with the Game Boy Camera which came out in 1998 for the original Game Boy. To do this they inserted the camera cartridge into a Super Game Boy and ran the feed from the SNES into a computer. Pretty awesome results!

I wish I had the creativity to think of these things when I was younger. The only thing I used my Game Boy Camera for was taking pictures of my most private areas and using them as the face for the bosses in Space Fever II which was featured on the cartridge. And with that I think I already said too much. - Original Sound Version

Cheap Dinosaurs recently won my choice for best chip music album of 2009, and for very good reason. Dino and Bucky, the 2 bad dudes behind the glorious music keeps putting on the most awesome shows and ideas out there, be it as Cheap Dinosaurs doing original songs or as Auto-Scroll doing game arrangements.

Recently they released a music video for the song “Tagalog” from the Cheap Dinosaurs CD. The video is entirely shot by LJ Frezza with the Game Boy Camera which came out in 1998 for the original Game Boy. To do this they inserted the camera cartridge into a Super Game Boy and ran the feed from the SNES into a computer. Pretty awesome results!

I wish I had the creativity to think of these things when I was younger. The only thing I used my Game Boy Camera for was taking pictures of my most private areas and using them as the face for the bosses in Space Fever II which was featured on the cartridge. And with that I think I already said too much. - Original Sound Version

Fans of chiptune prog rock outfit Cheap Dinosaurs have no doubt been gritting their teeth in anticipation of an official release from the esteemed super-group, which contains members of Chromelodeon, Animal Style and Brown Recluse. Now, after an extremely limited physical release back in 2009, it’s finally here: From singalong favorites (familiar to those who have seen the group play at MAGFest) like “Tagalog” and “Stroll” to the surprising polyrhythms and crooning ambience of lesser-known tracks like “Cup” and “Beech,” Cheap Dinosaur’s debut sports 9 synth-heavy progressive jams that twist like the limbs of a tree branch and itch like poison oak.

Which is just as well, because the album’s packaging is full of seeds, letting you grow some plants of your own. In collaboration Philadelphia-based “trans-digital” record label Data Garden, Cheap Dinosaurs’ debut release can be planted into the ground to sprout actual flowers. Just copy down the download code from the back and plant the screen-printed package into a thin layer of soil. With just a few weeks and some TLC, you’ll have blue lobelias blooming from your biodegradable music purchase. Listen below, and check out Data Garden for more eco-friendly releases. - Original Sound Version

Fans of chiptune prog rock outfit Cheap Dinosaurs have no doubt been gritting their teeth in anticipation of an official release from the esteemed super-group, which contains members of Chromelodeon, Animal Style and Brown Recluse. Now, after an extremely limited physical release back in 2009, it’s finally here: From singalong favorites (familiar to those who have seen the group play at MAGFest) like “Tagalog” and “Stroll” to the surprising polyrhythms and crooning ambience of lesser-known tracks like “Cup” and “Beech,” Cheap Dinosaur’s debut sports 9 synth-heavy progressive jams that twist like the limbs of a tree branch and itch like poison oak.

Which is just as well, because the album’s packaging is full of seeds, letting you grow some plants of your own. In collaboration Philadelphia-based “trans-digital” record label Data Garden, Cheap Dinosaurs’ debut release can be planted into the ground to sprout actual flowers. Just copy down the download code from the back and plant the screen-printed package into a thin layer of soil. With just a few weeks and some TLC, you’ll have blue lobelias blooming from your biodegradable music purchase. Listen below, and check out Data Garden for more eco-friendly releases. - Original Sound Version

This weekend a musical super-group--of sorts--plays in West Philadelphia.
Cheap Dinosaurs is made up of giants in the local "chip-music" scene. The small sub-genre of electronic music uses sounds generated by old video games.
They were once sounds of the future. Those bleep and bloops animating "Super Mario Land," "The Legend of Zelda," and "Tetris" were annoying to adults, and became a warm blanket of nostalgia to the younger generation.
Some of those kids grew up to figure out how to hack into their games and use those same bloops and bleeps to compose music.
"I used to tape some of the songs off the TV from the Nintendo or SEGA," said Dino Lionetti, the primary composer of Cheap Dinosaurs. "I always liked video game sounds."
Lionetti's ax is the Game Boy. Released in 1989, it was a self-contained, hand-held gaming console that required no TV. It was the touchstone toy of the 1990s.
The Game Boy's computer was only eight bits strong, so the graphics and sounds were rough, lacking nuance.
In 2000, a rogue Swedish programmer named Johan Kotlinski created a cartridge called Little Sound DJ that hacks into the Game Boy's sound circuitry. That was the key to open up those beloved bloops and bleeps to manipulation.
But they still sound rough.
"There's only three melodic channels," said Lionetti. "You can only have a three-part harmony, unless you do certain trickery."
In the most fundamental state, sound generated by the Game Boy is a single wave pulse. By varying that wave's width, frequency, and inserting regular interruptions, the Little Sound DJ can trick the ear into hearing notes that aren't really there.
The Game Boy turns into a mini-Moog that only has buttons for up, down, and sideways.
"Nowadays, we have no limitations on what kinds of sounds we can make--as long as we can think of them, they can exist," said Lionetti. "It brings a lot, but we've lost something from not having any limits. We're left with no challenges."
Lionetti starts with sounds from the Game Boy, and the rest of Cheap Dinosaurs fills it out with real instruments. The band members, the big fish in the genre's small pond, include Joey Mariano--also known as Animal Style--and Paul Weinstein, aka Chipocrite.
Chip music can be hacked out of any gaming console, but Lionetti prefers the Game Boy because it's portable. He does a lot of his sequencing while riding the subway.
"There are tons of other programs, but I feel like the Game Boy is the one that is the most like a musical instrument, the same as a guitar," said Lionetti. "Strap it on you back, take it out, and you can play. Other things mean you need to sit in front of a computer and put the programmed music on a cartridge. That doesn't have the same appeal to me." - NPR