In the second part of this two-part series we speak to Kevy Martinez, an LA-based musician, promoter and organizer whose musical project Wizwars was well known throughout the SoCal chiptune scene. We go into the rise of the Freq.Fest festival series as well as 8BitLA's increasing role in the LA chiptune scene, and discuss the triumphs and difficulties of running such a prolific festival in both LA and the Bay Area. We also discuss the titular question - what happened to chiptune for Kevy and also what happened to chiptune in LA?
Music in order of appearance:
Space Town - What Happened to Chiptune Theme
Wizwars - Right Back To You
Reference:
Blip Festival, formerly an annual festival centered around chiptune held in NYC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip_Festival
Survey of the LA Chiptune scene and 8BitLA/Freq.Fest in particular: https://www.vice.com/en/article/gvqwk7/las-chiptune-scene-is-more-than-just-nerds-with-game-boys