Pushing the Boundaries of Jazz -- Kind of Bloop

Tonight, as a part of my research, I'd like to explore a unique rendition of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue album that challenges established standards of producing jazz music.

Commissioned by blogger and tech entrepreneur Andy Baio, the album Kind of Bloop explores a rather odd question: what would the masterful sounds of Miles Davis and other great jazz musicians sound like if they were played using the quirky mediums associated with "chiptune" music? Using the website Kickstarter.com (an online platform allowing users to post ideas and pledge money to fund creative projects, which Baio helped create), Andy set out to legally release this tribute album with the talents of five chiptune artists.

But first, what are "chiptunes"? A relatively recent phenomenon, chiptunes could be seen as a strange fusion of computer programming, video game nostalgia, and synthesized electronic music. Artists in this genre enjoy the "blips" and "bloops" that can be produced through manipulation of the sound chips of older game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System or the Commodore 64. The results vary depending on the exact hardware used, but in general, this medium creates a very raw, unpolished electronic sound that nevertheless has a certain appeal to those familiar with tunes such as those from classic games like Super Mario Brothers or The Legend of Zelda.

For Kind of Bloop, the artists were given three months and a decent amount of liberty with interpreting each track of the album; however, I would imagine that this was still a very difficult task given the inherent problems of the medium. Chiptune music is created by using computer code to manipulate the pulse wave generators and other sound generators found within the sound hardware of the outdated gaming equipment. Because of this, artists can struggle to produce the sounds they want not only because of their own programming limitations, but also because these chips had a limited number of sound channels to work with.

Kind of Bloop's reception when it was released on the internet in August of 2009 was... mixed. Some hardcore jazz fans complained that using chiptunes to re-create the sounds of this masterful album was gimmicky, crude, and even insulting. Others, however, defended this tribute by pointing out that the greatest jazz artists were always experimenting with new and unusual techniques and styles.

(ast0r's cover of "So What," off of the Kind of Bloop album. Here's the official website.)

An Article from TIME Magazine's site.

Andy Baio's Blog Post on Kind of Bloop.