Interview with Chipzel

Recently, I've been addicted to the iPod Touch game Super Hexagon. The game itself is deceptively and devilishly difficult: you play as a little arrow rotating around a hexagon (or pentagon, or square) trying to dodge the incoming waves of lines trying to cut you off. It sucks you in for minutes at a time and doesn't let you out because you just want to go a little farther, you're sure you can do it this time (for a video of some iPod game reviewers failing miserably at the game, look here). The game itself isn't all that makes up the experience, though: the game's soundtrack is a fantastic little slab of chiptune that caught my attention immediately thanks to its high energy and the way it fits perfectly with the game.

Chipzel, the producer behind the soundtrack, has created a masterful 3-track accompaniment here. She essentially takes on a lot of the popular elements in today's electro (especially electro house) and reworks them through a chunky 8-bit lens. Chiptune wobbles are expertly meshed with more melodic sounds, and all that laid over a standard 8-bit beat that works wonders for the songs. The amount of complexity in the deceptively simple songs is staggering, especially in "Otis," the soundtrack for the "Hexagoner" and "Hyper Hexagoner" game modes in Super Hexagon. The way sections flow into each other feels entirely natural, and Chipzel avoids the common trap of sounding too repetitive as she develops each part with special care to create a fantastic tune.

I recently caught up with Chipzel in an interview following the release of her Super Hexagon EP (out now on Bandcamp). The interview went as follows: