Celebrating Black Chiptune Artists for Black History Month
Friday February 2nd, 2024 is the only Bandcamp Friday during Black History Month. We are a collection of chiptune lovers that wanted to celebrate and highlight Black chiptune artists.Bandcamp Friday is a special day where independent artists hosting their music on Bandcamp can sell their work and Bandcamp will waive its processing fees in favor of the artists. Your financial support on Bandcamp pays artists more than thousands of plays on Spotify could. If you have the funds, please consider buying some music and ensuring independent artists still make original music, especially black chiptune artists.This is not meant to be an exhaustive list as chiptune artists aren't all necessarily on Bandcamp and we're more than happy to add more artists.
D&D Sluggers
Based out of Wilmington, South Carolina, Tim White (aka Soultron)'s one man band D&D Sluggers, hits you with beautiful singing along with his chiptune tracking and guitar playing. Something for the pop garage band lovers.
Cassidini
Aaqil Abdullah (He/They), working under the name Cassidini, is a composer, a musician, and above all an artist working through the medium of sound. He equally enjoys finding the limits of what sounds instruments can naturally produce and splicing together field recordings to make something entirely new. He is always looking forward to the next collaborative opportunity to bring any film, game, or other form of media to life.
ThatAndyGuy
Andy (he/him) is a digital fusion artist with a focus on KORG Gadget from Alabama that also does speed runs.
Sen-Pi
Musician, artist, mathematician, Sen-Pi does it all. She performs with panties on her head. She offers the use of her music for free with credit to her YouTube.
Dinaari
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dinaari (they/she) is a video game composer, cartoonist, performer, advocate, cook, Pokémon trainer, creature lover, and film enthusiast who is available for to be commissioned to make music!
Fyütch
Fyütch is Grammy-Nominated music and social justice artist, educator and content creator promoting racial equity and liberation.
Auxcide
Auxcide is a chiptune artist residing in Carlisle, PA who uses two Gameboy SPs running LSDJ as well as various synthesizers, drum machines, samplers, and effects processors controlled by a 3rd Gameboy SP.
SYLCMYK
SYLCMYK (or Sylvester Draggon Jr.) is currently living in Kyoto, Japan and is still releasing music.
Photo by Marjorie Becker aka Chiptographer
Storm Blooper
Based out of Philadelphia, Storm Blooper aka Chris De Pew (they/them) composes lo-fi music with old hardware deemed "useless." Harnessing nothing more than a few Gameboys, they slap down hard grooves and generate addicting melodies everyone can sing along to.
Rekcahdam
Splitting time between Virginia and Japan, Rekcadam is a composer, game maker, and hacker.
Zantilla
Adrian Shegstad, aka Zantilla (he/they) is a digital fusion composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and music educator.
amateurLSDJ
From the Bronx, amateurLSDJ (he/him) performs on portable devices such as his trusty Gameboy and m8 trackers. He's looking to release his next album, Tabula Rising, this year but already has a catalog worth checking out up on his Bandcamp.
Dauragon
From the District of Columbia, Dauragon is an electronic musician using the simple, small sounds of old hardware to create large, banging, melancholy soundscapes meant to wrap around you like the ghostly warmth of a long forgotten memory. Dauragon aims to create music that rattles your heart along with your bones. Dauragon is gonna crush this rotten world with his own two hands
SkittlesBeats
SkittlesBeats (he/they) is a story writer, music maker, journalist, video game player, and supporter of others via editing, event planning, and being a source of strength to friends in need.
Aramis616
Aramis616 is a hip-hop recording artist hailing from Grand Rapids, MI. He got into music at a young age, but had no idea he would eventually become an artist himself until he reached middle school. What started off as a simple hobby, ended up turning into a deep passion that he could not let go of.
Apsychalypse
From Boston, Apsychalypse describes himself as, "a lone, one-man wizard of an electronic composer who has emerged from nothingness to provide an all-new viewpoint on musical greatness unlike anything one’s ever experienced and/or witnessed."
Crezno
Crezno may have dropped off the radar, but there's no denying he has an extensive body of work in chip tunes and loved his high quality rips.
s0nlxaftrsh0ck
From New York, Sonix is a gamer/husband/father that loves to tinker around with music, programming, DIY projects, and system admin stuff at home.
Mega Flare
Mega Flare began as a chiptune composer in 2011 and has gone on to explore different types of music.
Deathro
Deathro is a young musician and programmer that thinks about music theory the way other people breathe. No Bandcamp could be found at this time, but check out his Soundcloud!
Zenkomani
Houston Texas based chiptuner. No Bandcamp could be found at this time, but check out his Soundcloud!
All photos by Ami Moregore unless otherwise credited but that's not the important part. Please support these musicians!