I wasn't going to post one of these, feeling reassured that my Quote Fest was sufficient. Turns out, I am, BY LAW, required to make a post about my year. Might be a bit sloppy, but I feel rushed, I got partying to do!
Man, where do I even begin? GM4A's first full calendar year of work! I'm only 1/3 of the GM4A Crew, but I am going to give my perspective on what has happened this year.
One major change is that we started covering the amazing musicians in the nerdcore community this year. There is an endless pool of talent from these guys, and I am ever waiting for more amazing albums. We have also made some fairly strong inroads with the community and made some great friends with nerdcore rappers from Seattle to the UK and back again.
As always we have continued to cover all the amazing things that come from the Chiptune, and VG Rock communities. Things like The Blip Festival and MAGfest, tons of bands touring, and putting on bunches of smaller shows. Releases upon releases from chiptunists and video game music cover bands. A lot of older bands have continued to become bigger, badder forces, along with newer bands and artists coming into their own this year. It's been an amazing year for the bands involved in VG Rock/remixing, and chiptunes, and has been quite exciting for me to cover on this website.
GM4A held it's first concert this year. Which we feel was a success, and we hope helps the community reach out to ever more people. The concert brought in a fair amount of people and all attending had a great time. The bands were amazing, and very nice people. The concert also saw the release of our first compilation, which we have been able to move quite well around our local of Los Angeles, California.
We have been able to journey out into the wide world and cover game conventions like PAX for you fine people.
This is starting to sound like a PR list of accomplishments though. Let's get into what I as an individual saw and felt in this community while working on this blog.
I have seen things like the OneUps auctioning off tons of amazing stuff for charity, not to mention their fans heading the call and bidding on all this amazing stuff. I've found nothing but endless support from friends and fans of the site, and from every VGIM inspired community there is. I have been thrilled and amazed to meet people who are doing the same thing GM4A is doing, such as Hipster, Please!, Nerdapalooza, VG Frequency, The VGM List, VORC, 8bit collective, and The Videogame Music Preservation Foundation. I feel like every person we have met, be it in person, or merely online, has contributed to all these burgeoning genres through their enthusiasm, love, hard work, and support. Not just musicians, artists, and vocalists, but fans, who have stepped up and helped spread the word about each and every respective genre.
I think us bloggers have done a great job spreading the word as well. I met Z because of a project I was working on a long while back about VGIM promotion. Turns out he had a little blog and podcast going, which was doing the very same thing GM4A was doing, but with a nerdcore slant. Also, turns out his "little blog" is far more popular than GM4A. Since then I've kind of seen him as sort of my nerd music blogging mentor. He's a great friend, a great writer, and a hard working guy. Without his help and support I probably wouldn't be working so hard on my site. If not for Z and his work on Hipster, Please!, I also would have never heard some of my favorite bands and albums this year, and I assume he can say the same of our little blog here. =D
A lot of the same can be said for Hex and his work with Nerdapalooza. First off, I want to post the same exact message Hex sent to me on March 23, 2007
"Dear Game Music 4 All-
I am trying to construct a Northern California Nerdy Music Festival called Nerdapalooza. I am currently messaging all the bands that fall under the categories of "nerdy" and "awesome" to pool interest.
The festival would be in early September of this year and in the Eureka area. Please let me know if you are interested in this idea.
~John "Hex Warrior"
Haha! How formal. Lucky for him I was interested, In retrospect I wonder how funny it would be to slap him with a big fat NO. Lucky for me too, since if not for him I might not be nearly as versed and knowledgeable in nerdcore as I now am. I'd also have one less outlet for whatever ridiculous ideas pop into my head. Also, Fun DMC would never exist, and the world would be slightly darker for it.
I met people from all over the globe. Namely, one is Australian native Dot.AY who has written some of the best chiptune interviews I have ever read. Not to mention his insanely in-depth study of chiptunes and their culture. I can't wait to see what he writes and creates in the coming year!
Also, 2007 saw friends do even more since meeting them in '06. Jephso has been an amazing asset to this website, and to the chiptune movement in general. With his work in Spheres of Chaos, working on the Gamewave Podcast, providing everyone with news through his blog, as well as this one. Probably one of the hardest working folks in chiptunes. Kerri as well, who writes for 8 Bit Hero, and is also a UK native who I have much respect for as a writer. Next year we'll also see if Kerri is a respectable Smash Bros. Brawl player. Rob from Coin-Op TV has become a major force in the video game world, with his amazing Coin-Op's not to mention his live show he busts out every Sunday!
I myself have experienced some amazing things I never thought possible. Such as interviewing the legend that is Shawn Phase. Trading Wii friend codes with Shael Riley, being thanked in Videogame Orchestra's Christmas video. Getting to trade emails with Mustin, not to mention receiving great tracks from him, and the Chico Ray album!
Not everything was sunshine in 2007 sadly. There are a few things we lost this year. Player Two, Betamod, VGM Megacast, ElectroStaticDischarge, Toploader, 8-Bit Revenge, Rainbow Family Podcast, Chromelodeon, NintenDOOM; I MISS YOU ALL!
We've made tons of other great internet friends and since this is getting long. I am just going to toss them out quick like! Thank you to Kate the Game Dame, LA By Word of Mouth, the folks at Gamer Studio, Mr. Magfest and the Magfest crew, everyone who works so hard on the amazing footage from 2 Player Productions, all the fine folks at OCRemix, people with Dataage, the CIA which hosted Level Up!, the peeps at Norhtwest Nerdcore, Game Music Radio, guys from The Takeover and Bossfights, Scrub Club Records, the Nerdapalooza, and Nerdapalooza UK crews, Sqish Squash Squad, Future:Komp, all our lovely affiliates, EVERY SINGLE MUSICIAN WE HAVE MET, TALKED TO, OR DONATED A TRACK TO US OR IS DONATING A TRACK TO OUR COMPILATIONS, THEY ARE WAY TOO NUMEROUS TO COUNT!. More thanks to every other band or musician who has released music this year thanks to you I have not had to walk into a store to find amazing music in months! Also, thank you to every person who has linked to us from their sites, and forums, and/or posted our banners all around the net, or placed us in their top friends on the myspace. I hope I didn't miss anyone, but that's what editing is for =D
And finally, Jake and Corey of course, who keep this GM4A ship sailing. Without them, not only would this site have crashed and burned long ago, but it probably would have never even started! Plus without them, massive undertakings like Level Up! would never be possible. thank you as well to all my other friends who put up with me and keep me from going insane.