Fresh out of Ubiktune, classic tracker composer Chris J. Hampton has just released a new album just in time for Valentine’s Day. Also known by his alternate moniker beek, this 8-bit veteran has appeared in various Ubiktune releases such as Around Past and Wintertunes for a while now. beek’s 7bit date: robot love sacrilegiously pushes the chiptune genre over the edge, in a frenzied flurry of chip sounds that manages to make our ears happy. Marked by retro influences from the ’80s and ’90s, beek’s work is a total blast to the past, actively transporting the listener to a time when chiptunes were prioritized as primary sources of composition and arrangement.

Describing 7bit date: robot love as a  “a varied collection of chippy goodness”, beek relates his own experiences with the album with special attention to resisting traditional chip sounds:

7bit date: robot love is a collection of chips I began tracking in 2008, with one song reaching as far back as 1998. In 2008, having recently graduated from university, I reexamined my chiptune past and decided to get back in the game. Life carried on, and years later, I remembered my original goal of a new chipdisk release.. Here we are today, 2012!

For 7bit date, I didn’t limit myself to traditional chip sounds. I make use of Amiga ST-XX samples in a few tracks — a process which rekindled some of my imagination, as I remembered this or that MOD from back in the day with each Amiga sample I came across. Another characteristic of my chips is to use no external/post-processing effects, just some occasional Schism filters, so the original .IT files will reproduce pretty close to the MP3.

While 7 bit date: robot love is available on beek’s Bandcamp, we’ve also included a few tracks to preview for you below. Go and get some chiptune lovin’ today!