Dot.AY
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Dot.AY

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"Ceratopian Society EP Review"

Brisbane-based electronic producer Alex Yabsley has been making chipmusic using obsolete computers and retro game consoles for the last four years as Dot.AY, with this latest self-released five track EP ‘Ceratopian Society’ following on the heels of his 2009 debut self-titled album and an appearance on last year’s ‘New Weird Australia Volume Five’ compilation. With an emphasis on heaviness and distortion, the five tracks gathered here see Yabsley continuing to push a range of sonics (not to mention bass) that he seemingly shouldn’t be able to extract out of his retro gear, with this collection managing to traverse some quite divergent moods and atmospheres. One thing’s for sure, Yabsley’s clearly not aiming his music towards the faint of heart. Opening track ‘Bambiraptor’ lifts the curtain on a virtual battleground of laser-gun pulse blasts and rumbling distortion, before a relentless mechanical beats anchors the track at its centre, juddering snares and kicks somehow remaining in place while a firestorm of distorted noise bursts and overdriven synth squeals chaotically howl around them, while the aptly-named ‘Thumpasaur’ sees blipping Nintendo synth flourishes being dragged down into a veritable inferno of blocky 8-bit breakcore rhythms and precariously pitch-shifted bass tones, the entire track barely staying intact as it tics and stutters to a timestretch-heavy finale.

Elsewhere, ‘Dayglodocus’ shows that it’s not all ruffneck destruction on show, taking things off on an introspective downbeat wander that sees blippy Nintendo synths bouncing off a backdrop of spooky Castlevania-esque bass synths and crawling, stripped-down drum rhythms, before ‘Dandyceratops’ sees Yabsley squeezing tinny, piezo-synth riffs out over a juddering backdrop of clattering, off-centre drum bursts as glassy-sounding arcade game zaps dart like snakes through the entire precariously rattling mix. While occasionally the sense of groove gets lost amidst all of the furious manipulation, ‘Ceratopian Society’ sees Yabsley squeezing some staggering sounds out of his gear, with the some of the most downright ferocious chipmusic sounds I’ve heard to date. You can get ‘Ceratopian Society’ as a name-your-price download.
- Cyclic Defrost


"Ceratopian Society EP Review"

Brisbane-based electronic producer Alex Yabsley has been making chipmusic using obsolete computers and retro game consoles for the last four years as Dot.AY, with this latest self-released five track EP ‘Ceratopian Society’ following on the heels of his 2009 debut self-titled album and an appearance on last year’s ‘New Weird Australia Volume Five’ compilation. With an emphasis on heaviness and distortion, the five tracks gathered here see Yabsley continuing to push a range of sonics (not to mention bass) that he seemingly shouldn’t be able to extract out of his retro gear, with this collection managing to traverse some quite divergent moods and atmospheres. One thing’s for sure, Yabsley’s clearly not aiming his music towards the faint of heart. Opening track ‘Bambiraptor’ lifts the curtain on a virtual battleground of laser-gun pulse blasts and rumbling distortion, before a relentless mechanical beats anchors the track at its centre, juddering snares and kicks somehow remaining in place while a firestorm of distorted noise bursts and overdriven synth squeals chaotically howl around them, while the aptly-named ‘Thumpasaur’ sees blipping Nintendo synth flourishes being dragged down into a veritable inferno of blocky 8-bit breakcore rhythms and precariously pitch-shifted bass tones, the entire track barely staying intact as it tics and stutters to a timestretch-heavy finale.

Elsewhere, ‘Dayglodocus’ shows that it’s not all ruffneck destruction on show, taking things off on an introspective downbeat wander that sees blippy Nintendo synths bouncing off a backdrop of spooky Castlevania-esque bass synths and crawling, stripped-down drum rhythms, before ‘Dandyceratops’ sees Yabsley squeezing tinny, piezo-synth riffs out over a juddering backdrop of clattering, off-centre drum bursts as glassy-sounding arcade game zaps dart like snakes through the entire precariously rattling mix. While occasionally the sense of groove gets lost amidst all of the furious manipulation, ‘Ceratopian Society’ sees Yabsley squeezing some staggering sounds out of his gear, with the some of the most downright ferocious chipmusic sounds I’ve heard to date. You can get ‘Ceratopian Society’ as a name-your-price download.
- Cyclic Defrost


"Ceratopian Society EP Review"

Brisbane-based electronic producer Alex Yabsley has been making chipmusic using obsolete computers and retro game consoles for the last four years as Dot.AY, with this latest self-released five track EP ‘Ceratopian Society’ following on the heels of his 2009 debut self-titled album and an appearance on last year’s ‘New Weird Australia Volume Five’ compilation. With an emphasis on heaviness and distortion, the five tracks gathered here see Yabsley continuing to push a range of sonics (not to mention bass) that he seemingly shouldn’t be able to extract out of his retro gear, with this collection managing to traverse some quite divergent moods and atmospheres. One thing’s for sure, Yabsley’s clearly not aiming his music towards the faint of heart. Opening track ‘Bambiraptor’ lifts the curtain on a virtual battleground of laser-gun pulse blasts and rumbling distortion, before a relentless mechanical beats anchors the track at its centre, juddering snares and kicks somehow remaining in place while a firestorm of distorted noise bursts and overdriven synth squeals chaotically howl around them, while the aptly-named ‘Thumpasaur’ sees blipping Nintendo synth flourishes being dragged down into a veritable inferno of blocky 8-bit breakcore rhythms and precariously pitch-shifted bass tones, the entire track barely staying intact as it tics and stutters to a timestretch-heavy finale.

Elsewhere, ‘Dayglodocus’ shows that it’s not all ruffneck destruction on show, taking things off on an introspective downbeat wander that sees blippy Nintendo synths bouncing off a backdrop of spooky Castlevania-esque bass synths and crawling, stripped-down drum rhythms, before ‘Dandyceratops’ sees Yabsley squeezing tinny, piezo-synth riffs out over a juddering backdrop of clattering, off-centre drum bursts as glassy-sounding arcade game zaps dart like snakes through the entire precariously rattling mix. While occasionally the sense of groove gets lost amidst all of the furious manipulation, ‘Ceratopian Society’ sees Yabsley squeezing some staggering sounds out of his gear, with the some of the most downright ferocious chipmusic sounds I’ve heard to date. You can get ‘Ceratopian Society’ as a name-your-price download.
- Cyclic Defrost


Discography

Ceratopian Society EP 2011
Dot.AY Self Titled Album 2009

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Bio

Alex Yabsley (Dot.AY) is a performing electronic musician who specialises in new and experimental forms of electronic music performance and composition. In 2007 he completed a Bachelor of Music Technology with Honours at the Queensland Conservatorium. The dissertation completed for his Honours year was entitled “The Sound of Playing: A study into the Music and Culture of Chiptunes”, Chipmusic is an electronic music form focussing on pushing archaic computer hardware to create music, namely videogame consoles. Since this time Alex has dedicated his creative career to the performance, promotion and development of Chip Music. In regards to performance Alex has played extensively around Brisbane as well as in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and played the afterparties of both Blip Festival Tokyo and New York City.

He has supported international artists Crystal Castles, Girl Talk, Glomag and Dan Deacon and was featured on the ABC TV program Good Game. He is regularly played on 4zzzFM radio and has been featured on Triple J show Sound Lab. On top of this he has conducted workshops, performed at showcases and artist presentations at Sound Summit and Electrofringe in Newcastle. Beyond the world of chipmusic Alex has worked as a DJ, Sound Designer, Sonic Artist and Installation artists. Also recently Alex has taken on the role of event promoter for Monthly Brisbane chipmusic night Pocket Music. In Summary Alex is an Event Promoter, DJ, Performing Artist, Sound Designer, Sonic Artist, Installation Designer, Workshop presenter and all round nice guy.