56KBPS Records celebrates its 5th anniversary with Format.DF, a compilation album where we present music from the first edition of Format DF, the biggest Chiptune festival to date in Latin America, that took place in Mexico City in November 2013, plus many tracks from our friends in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Spain.
“Almost two years ago, two or three chip musicians and a couple of Chiptune backers/aficionados met in a small apartment located in the heart of Mexico City thinking over what the future of the Mexican scene would be like. Gecko, one of the veterans, came up with this phrase: “It’s 8bit time!” Someone else muttered: “Chido-Chip”*. Almost two and a half years ago I received an email from Chema Padilla, founder of 56kbps Records, whom I met sometime later in a pizza place. He described his record label, he talked about an international art collective: “Chipotle Collective”. “We almost have no activity in the real world” he concluded. Almost a year ago, inside a room decorated with books and old consoles, five members of Chipotle Collective were worried to death. Long-distance calls. -“Are you coming then Alex Powrs?” -“Sure thing”. Plane ticket money, the list with the names of the musicians, savings… Suddenly, organizing a festival didn`t seem like something completely impossible: “FORMAT DF”. Almost ten years ago (ten years ago!) I used to stick my cassette tape recorder to the TV speakers hoping to capture a fragment of the soundtrack of Megaman III. The end result was less than good but I listened to it anyway. Some time ago, said time ago, Numbers, names, images, dates… The memory (and a hyperlink) remains with us so we can keep going.”
