Guitars, keyboards and the familiar sounds of classic videogame consoles herald the return of New York’s Blip Festival, the world’s largest annual celebration of 8-bit music and art. Every year, Blip Festival assembles musicians, visual artists and fans from across the globe for three days of concerts, panels and workshops that celebrate and explore the art of contemporary chiptune music.

Started in the late 90’s by a small handful of intrepid programmers, chipmusic involves the practice of creating and performing music using the sound chips found in obsolete videogame and computer hardware. From its humble beginnings, chipmusic has catapulted itself out of basements and onto the stage, with hundreds of artists now incorporating 8-bit hardware into live musical performances. Now in its 4th year, Blip Fest is at the forefront of this movement, presenting an incredible lineup of 32 international performers for this year’s Fest. And thanks to nearly 100 devoted supporters, this year’s Blip Festival has been fully funded through a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, exceeding their $5,000 goal within a matter of days.

This is the one event that truly encapsulates what chipmusic is all about. Whether you’re a veteran of the scene or just discovering what chipmusic is by reading this post, it’s definitely worth your while to journey to The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY on December 17th–19th and see what all the fuss is about. Check BlipFestival.org to find more info and buy tickets.