We would like to welcome Mads Aasvik aka Kartmaze!

Born in the countryside just south of Oslo, Norway, his first musical encounter was in elementary school where he played the baritone horn in a marching band. When Mads was 16, he started to play guitar and began to record simple power metal songs. During high school he discovered progressive music, which became his true passion. Bands like Dream Theater, Symphony X, Transatlantic, Circus Maximus, Shadow Gallery, Pain of Salvation and Ayreon became Mads’s biggest influences. Later, in 2006 he was introduced to MIDI and VSTs. He also played the guitar in a student prog band for a while where he also did most of the composing.

Never attending proper guitar lessons or some sort of serious musical education, being absolutely self taught both as a guitar player and a composer, Mads has became used to not follow any musical rules except the ones he has made for himself. Musically, the love of odd time signatures, sweeping arpeggios, complex rhythms and unorthodox song structures led him to choose his own direction to take the listener out on a musical adventure with lots of different themes and melodies.

Mads got into chipmusic sound last christmas when his friend challenged him to create a chiptune and post it on Reddit. He reworked some of old material that was lying around and made "Brownout", which got very positive feedback. Continuing the creation a series of songs during the winter and spring finally culminated in Seven Journeys to a New Home, a full-lenght album that will be released via Ubiktune on June 20th. As has become traditional, TrueStar will be hosting a pre-release Noise Channel party for the album.

We would like to share with you a song from the album titled “Dr. Wolf's Secret Laboratory”, as well as the original artwork, drawn by Nikolai Lockertsen.

Follow Kartmaze via Facebook or Twitter.

Inspired by his passion for and taste in video game soundtracks, Dave's debut "Triptunes" is a marriage of NES/Famicom chiptunes and audio production, particularly celebrating time-honoured FM and retro sounds. He invites you on an expedition through colourful harmonies, vibrant rhythms and shimmering crystalline veneer, playing with themes of surprise, joy, wonder, peace, and a spiritual twist for those who look beyond the mask...

Blitz Lunar's highly anticipated debut album "Triptunes" to be released on June 6th. Inspired by his passion for and taste in video game soundtracks, Dave's "Triptunes" is a marriage of NES/Famicom chiptunes and audio production, particularly celebrating time-honoured FM and retro sounds. He invites you on an expedition through colourful harmonies, vibrant rhythms and shimmering crystalline veneer, playing with themes of surprise, joy, wonder, peace, and a spiritual twist for those who look beyond the mask...

The psychedelic artwork was created by Daniel Garrido (aka ui).

Traditionally, TrueStar will be hosting a pre-release Noise Channel party for the album. The listeners will get to listen to the album before it goes on sale, and after that it will be available to download. Stay tuned!

The song that we would like to present to you today is titled “Hidden Heaven”, and even though it appeared as a part of Noisechan & Nugget's compilation, Dave has prepared an edited version for "Triptunes".

Simon Stålenhag (of SOUNDSHOCK MADDNESS and TERRROR fame) and Tommy Salomonsson are about to release their new old school game — Ripple Dot Zero.

Ripple Dot Zero is a classic action platformer heavily influenced by the aesthetics of 16-bit era of the early 90′s. The game features 20 levels of running, bouncing, slashing and Gyro-Blade-throwing, set to the slick beats of an original FM-funk soundtrack, including the sound effects made with FM-synthesis to give the game that sharp sting of early 90's gaming.

Ripple Dot Zero will be released for free on June 28th over at rippledotzero.com.

"Diad" will guide you through the spiritual graveyard, transcending both time and space. Set in the 1930s, Dimension-Reversing Dualities takes you on a journey within the life of a depressed suicidal housewife and the outcome of her untimely death.

We’re glad to announce a new upcoming self-titled album from the united forces of Diad — a duo of Heosphoros and Tadpole (pictured below).

Heophoros aka François Martin is from Moncton, New-Brunswick, Canada. He is already known for his parts in Ubiktune compilation albums, such as “Up” and “Noisechan & Nugget: Adventures in Chiptunes”. Being a fan of various genres, he focuses on progressive and metal elements in his compositions. Heosphoros has been composing NES music for over 8 years for now and “Diad” is his third album effort, continuing the path of previously released original “Embered Recollections” and collection of covers on “Beneath The Skin”.

Tadpole is Joel Barker, from Bellevue, Washington, USA. He has been composing chipmusic over the last 10 years, that is fully available to download from his website — tadpolemusic.us. Known for his trademark clear, relaxing and very detailed sound, Tadpole was able to branch out and unite it with shaking metal-inspired elements, provided by Heosphoros. This project is his first dedicated-album release to date.

Having been a long work in progress, “Diad” will guide you through the spiritual graveyard, transcending both time and space. Set in the 1930s, Dimension-Reversing Dualities takes you on a journey within the life of a depressed suicidal housewife and the outcome of her untimely death.

The first song from the album that we would like to present for you is titled “Merciless”:

“Diad” will be available to download on May 9th. Stay tuned!

(Heosphoros)

(Tadpole)

As Monomer's first ever full release, "Quite Operational" comes from a fascination with the sound and aesthetic of 80s electronic music and science fiction, combined with a healthy love of chipmusic and old video game sounds. The 8 track album took about 7 months of hard work by nights and weekends. With "Quite Operational", Gavin opens up new soundscapes with a symbiosis between chipmusic and synthesizers, while still keeping that Monomer brand sound.

Ubiktune & Noise Channel join forces once again to bring you a listening party for Monomer's "Quite Operational" album on April 18th!

Tune in by going to areciboradio.com. Join us on Noise Channel as we celebrate Monomer's latest album! After the listening party, "Quite Operational" will be available to the public for download. If you're not sure when this is happening in your part of the world, click here to find out. Right now, the album is available to pre-order from Bandcamp for the price of $5 (or more).

In addition, today we would like to share with you another one song from "Quite Operational" titled "Night Drive".

This is what lies behind it in a words of Monomer himself:

"Night Drive was one of the first tracks I wrote to completion on the album, and probably remains my favorite song. It's slower, softer and more whimsical than the rest of the album, and uses a lot more delay effects to try and get a mode wide-open, atmospheric sound, but it's also one of the simplest songs on the album. When I sit down to write, I always try to get a central theme for a track and re-use it as many different ways as possible, and I felt like that really worked on Night Drive.

The melody doesn't change a whole lot but it is presented in a different way each time you hear it: it uses a different instrument, it's in a different octave, there's different instruments accompanying it, etc. My feeling is that if you can write less material and still have the whole song be interesting, then you're doing something right in terms of composition, and I (hopefully) achieved that to some extent with Night Drive. It also happens to be the only song on the album that doesn't contain a key change!"

Feel free to join the official Facebook event page and see you on Arecibo Radio at April 18th!

The first episode of "The Beat Presents..." featuring Max Coburn aka Maxo.