a very 8-bit christmas by lowercase t doesn’t have a lot to do with the romantic period. Perhaps you’ve heard of the romantic period? In short, it was a monumental period in european cultural history in which music, and the arts generally, were redefined to prioritise emotions. Prior to this age, we’d had periods like baroque where music was not music for music’s sake, but an artform with a job to do. It’s a rarity in our modern age, but a very 8-bit christmas by lowercase t is one of a minority of musical works with a function to perform.
How can 8-bit be baroque?
It’s not just having a function that a very 8-bit christmas has in common with the baroque period, which, by the way, was where our European tastes were at during the 17th and 18th centuries. The computer-generated Christmas covers EP literally borrows some of its material from baroque composers. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing was written in 1739 and God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen has its roots in the 1650s.
The renditions of these on a very 8-bit christmas emulate that same mechanically marching harpsichord that frankly highlights an absurdity; that the baroque period has the same degree of groove as MIDI piano roll music. Baroque is typified by it’s rhythmic precision and the same precision comes when you input MIDI notes into a sequencer.
By saying a piece of music has a function, I mean that it has a job to do. For music of the baroque period, music was typically used to accompany posh people dancing. Another example is Muzak’s function to stop dull, monotonous places like lifts and waiting rooms from becoming too eerie.
a very 8-bit christmas’s function is to give gen-x computer game partisans Christmas music that they can listen to on Jesus’s birthday. I don’t know how much music is being produced with the Bomberman-die-hards in mind. At least for them, lowercase t has finally given them a Christmas album to enjoy.
a very 8-bit christmas by lowercase t is cyberpunk too
Just last week I reviewed an awesome piece of music that boasted of its videogame-like credentials. I acknowledged this but bemoaned that surely this claim truly belongs to the 8-bitters. They even described their style as Cyberpunk Jazz. I acknowledged this too, but I’ve read my William Gibson books and I’ve seen how this logically led to The Matrix.
So when lowercase t prefaces their YouTube output with Neuromancer-adjacent visuals and instructs you to ‘let the digital rain wash over you’, I think it’s safe to say this scratched a little itch I was feeling after last week’s listening.
I can’t say for sure how many more times 8-bit music, let alone Christmas music, will feature in this blog. But there’s something to be said for springing an album on me at just the right time. a very 8-bit christmas by lowercase t could find itself in a lonely category on this blog.
lowercase t’s cyberpunk graphics straight from William Gibson’s cyberspace
Essentially, lowercase t is setting out an 8-bit stall and is doing it with authenticity. I approve of this. Putting Christmas carols through an 8-bit lens may feel more like a technical exercise than some deep artistic yearning. But I still approve of this.
I particularly admire the percussive drum sounds that are like a time capsule of what 8-bit should be like. It’s not uncommon to hear bitcrushed drum machines holding down the rhythm in music like this. Synthesised drum sounds didn’t take too long to become a thing, but hearing this even older technique is really fun.
We’ve only got a small chunk of time each year to appreciate this, so I suggest you take it if you like 8-bit with glitchsome authenticity, oh and Christmas, a very 8-bit christmas by lowercase t well worth your attention.