Chip-tastic: 99 Letters

Osaka’s 99 Letters doesn’t quite make chiptune music – sure, his songs overflow with video game bloop-bleeps and nearly every promotional photo of him features an old-school Game Boy. This stuffs on the same “loaded with Nintendo sounds but not defined by it” bender Crystal Castle downed en route to success. 99 Letters hits even harder – the Game Boy beats are blanketed by electro-fuzz, and check the black hole beat “BOOON!” that absolutely manhandles the song. His latest work, currently called “NEW DEMO PREVIEW,” mixes what sounds like a distorted vocal sample into a clattering mess of electronics before powering up the Game Boy and letting loose.

If you got nothing else to do on Sunday night (it’s a holiday the next day, so you don’t), check out 99 Letters and a slew of other artists at Club Vijon in Osaka.