Live Shows: Boston Bitdown Day 4, Bit Bar, Salem, MA 3/8/26
Sunday was the fourth and final day of this year's Boston Bitdown. It was originally scheduled to take place at Moon Base One, but was moved fairly last minute to Bit Bar after Moon Base One's licensing issues. As much as I love the original venue, a video game music festival taking place in an arcade just makes sense. Also, it gave everyone something to do between bands, as much of the stage area cleared out so attendees could play arcade games and pinball. Here's what I saw Sunday afternoon!
Opening the day was +LET'S DISINFECT+. Out of Philadelphia, this is a one man band horror punk meets chiptune artist. It was a set of kick ass punk songs about Predator, Night of the Living Dead, and the Saw series... just with video game sounds within the songs. Horror and video games have always gone hand in hand, and this was a perfect pairing that helped set the tone for the day. Plus, songs about horror movies are always going to be a hit in Salem, especially considering we were literally around the block from the Salem Witch Trials Memorial and Charter Street Cemetery.
Up next was The Way Up, a one man artist combining synthwave and chiptune. This was another absurdly fun set that gave off some serious 80's vibes. It's extremely synth-heavy music that sounds like it belongs in a film soundtrack... but with video game music spliced in. It wasn't horror themed at all, but the closest comparison I can make are John Carpenter's music and the soundtrack to It Follows. The only difference is that The Way Up was ultra-chill but quite danceable.
Speaking of danceable music, !@#$% was up next. Pronounced "expletive," the artist was one person sitting at a laptop with a modulator. She ended up being my favorite artist I saw at Boston Bitdown, with a sound that reminded me of my late 90's club days during the electronic music explosion. Picture artists like The Chemical Brothers and Aphex Twin mixed with video game music. It was extremely engaging music that got the majority of the crowd moving, and ended with explosive applause when her set was done. Only complaint is that an artist named !@#$% or Expletive is very hard to find on socials.
Muzak Efron was next. Despite having a great name, it was an example of the different sounds chiptune can include. Hailing from Ohio, this was a chaotic and crazy set that mixed noisy rock and chiptune. Some songs sounded more rock based, others were almost pure electronic noise. Out of any artist I saw over the weekend, Muzak Efron are the hardest to describe. Their tags on Bandcamp are "electronic," "chiptune," "emo," and "indie rock." I am going to say yes and no to all of those, but they're well worth checking out.
The last artist I saw on Sunday (apologies to Petriform and Balefire!) was Baron Von Future. They are a party waiting to happen, and play a fusion of chiptune and space age disco rock. They had the crowd going more nuts than anyone else I saw over the weekend, with good reason. It had a vintage sound, but it's impossible to tell exactly what era they sounded like. It was a mix of 80's and 90's video games with that 70's futuristic sound. A great time was had by all, and it was a great end to my musical weekend.
