Tongue & Groove - Sat Nov 15

In the cramped, noisy dark under the Tongue & Groove we’ve gathered to hear some of Australia’s chiptune practitioners making music that sounds like Game Boys battling in a gladiatorial arena. Collapsicon has brought a laptop along to play his beats on, twiddling at knobs on the mixing desk to make everything sound like it’s underwater, possibly being played by whales who’ve learned the drums, at random intervals. The volume is punishing –  these speakers could kill a man at five paces.

Sydney’s 10K Free Men is energetic, jumping around shouting nonsense into the microphone. He specialises in wonky remixes that tap into your nostalgia gland with Nintendo samples – is that sound from Alex Kidd or Mario? Maybe a bit of Final Fantasy? Whatever it is, my inner eight-year-old likes it.

It’s nice to hear someone apologise for their rapping like Dot.AY does. He’s proving one of his tracks, rejected by a collaborator, isn’t too weird to rap over. It’s a manful try and when he misses a verse he nicely explains the Sandman reference we missed out on. When not holding the mic he clutches his Game Boy and thrashes like someone stuck on the same level for an hour, then jumps around with a guitar from Guitar Hero activating his star power. Bringing out a Dance Dance Revolution mat so the crowd can participate is an inspired move, with people triggering samples by jumping while he shouts, “Down, down, left, right!”

Emergency! Emergency! earns the exclamation marks by sampling his shouts and replaying them over his tracks with the volume so high I see a couple in the crowd clutching the ears. It’s too much for me as well and I call it a night early, though a successful one overall. Game over.

JODY MACGREGOR

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