| Pixelh8 | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Matthew Carl Applegate |
| Origin | Ipswich, England |
| Genres | Electronica, Alternative, Video Game Music, Chip Tune |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter, programmer, software designer, lecturer, tutor |
| Instruments | Game Boy, NES, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro |
| Years active | 199?–present |
| Labels | Hidden Youth Records (2005–present) |
| Website | pixelh8.co.uk |
| Notable instruments | |
| Game Boy, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro | |
Pixelh8 (pronounced "pixel hate") is the stage name for Matthew Applegate, a British chiptune composer.
Contents |
Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse enginereed to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually children's toys like Speak & Spells and Game Boys.[1] Pixelh8 started off relatively unknown on Myspace and was widely discovered after winning a competition to open for Imogen Heap on her UK tour in 2006[2] and performing at Apple's iTunes Office in California.[3] Pixelh8 also won Sound On Sound.[4] Playback Album of the month in March 2008 with his second album "The Boy With The Digital Heart". Pixelh8 continues to release music on the record label Hidden Youth Records.
Pixelh8 has also designed music software such as Music Tech[5] for the Nintendo Game Boy and the Pro Performer[6] for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS which turn both machines into real time synthesizers and is currently developing software for other machines. Pixelh8 Music Tech software has been mentioned several times by Imogen Heap and is said to be used in an upcoming track called Tidal.[7]
Pixelh8 was the first headliner to the Nerdapalooza 2007 festival in California, other notable performances include performing for Huw Stephens on the BBC Introducing show December 2007 as well as Assembly 2008[8] in Helsinki, Finland.
December 10, 2008 saw Pixelh8 perform at Maida Vale Studios for the BBC[9] the session was aired on BBC Radio 1 on December 18, 2008 in which he dedicated part of his performance to the Radiophonic Workshop and cited them as an influence on his work.
January 23, 2009 The National Museum of Computing released a press statement [10] saying that Pixelh8 would be composing and performing an entirely new piece of music for the museum, using some of the "earliest and rarest" machines such as Colossus computer and the Elliott 803 entitled "Obsolete?".[11] [12]
April 15, 2009 Pixelh8 released Pixelh8 Music Tech V2.0, Pro Performer, Drum Tech and Death Ray software free for download[13] from his official website.[14]
May 25, 2009 Pixelh8 provided BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1Xtra with some of the backing tracks for their Big Gaming Weekend.[15]
May 26, 2009 Pixelh8 re-wrote the theme tune for BBC World Service's Digital Planet the special version of the theme tune was made available from The Open University [16][17] website for free.
Pixelh8's music has also been featured on and done interviews with BBC Radio 1 Rob Da Bank, Zane Lowe[18] and Huw Stephens' [9] shows, BBC Radio 6 Tom Robinsons,[19] Nemones [20] and Music Weeks [21] shows, BBC Radio 4,[22] BBC Radio 1 Wales, BBC Radio Foyle, BBC Radio Suffolk,[23] BBC Radio Three Counties, BBC Radio Norfolk,[24] and on BBC News 24 E24,[25] Ipswich Community Radio's Martin & Lewis Show, BBC Look East[11] and BBC South Today.[26]
His second album, 'The Boy With The Digital Heart,' is currently playing on loop in the under-construction 'History of Computing' room at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park.
In 2011, Pixelh8 retired from writing chip music.