Following a twelve month break, Melbourne’s long-running, chiptune and retrotechnology festival, Square Sounds has announced the final line-up for its relaunch.

Chiptune; music created with or replicating videogame soundchips, showcases a variety of consoles and synthesizers, varies in style with something to appeal to all tastes. Audiences should come expecting not simply evolution of video game soundtracks, but modern bass music created from unusual instruments.

The ‘second coming’ appropriately taking place from the 20/2/2020 t0 23/2/2020, will feature artists from as far afield as Italy, UK, Japan and the US, some of whom are coming out of retirement in order to perform and many of whom are performing in the APAC region for the first time. From the folk-ethnic inspired sounds of Japan’s Breezesquad, through to funky prog from UKs Fearofdark, the musical artists playing the festival will perform alongside some of Melbourne’s leading VJ’s, coming together for an audiovisual feast for the senses.

This year’s Square Sounds Melbourne is the 15th show in the series (along with the sister show, Square Sounds Tokyo) making it the longest running of an exclusive club of chiptune festivals, something that might be considered of little surprise, when you consider that the oldest music making computer, CSIRAC is housed at the Melbourne museum and is something of a pilgrimage for visiting artists.

The festival will also be an opportunity for up and coming artists to showcase their talent at an open mic, while those who feel inspired by the sights and sounds of the proceeding days will have the opportunity to learn to make their own chip sounds with hands on workshops from artists playing both this year and previous years festivals.

Thursday 20/2 @ Bar 303: Open Mic

Friday 21/2 and Saturday 22/2 @ 24 Moons: Main nights with 19 international artists

Sunday 23/2 @ Bar SK: DJ sets and workshops

Artists : A Comic Book Villain / Breezesquad (JP) / Cyanide Dansen (FR) / Classic Mistake Vs Tom Foolery & the Family Jewellery / Derris-Kharlan / Dweeb City / Exile Faker (US) / Fearofdark (UK) / Hedonist / Kataplexia / Kenobit (IT) / little-scale / Modern Chair (NZ) / .mpegasus (UK) / Neon Merkin / Radlib (US) / Ravestabber / Saitone (JP) / Scraps