Pixelh8

Matthew Carl Applegate (born March 1977), better known by the stage name Pixelh8 (pronounced "pixel hate"), is a British chiptune composer, educator and screen actor.

Career

Music Pixelh8 combines the sounds of video games and electronic toys, often those that have been reverse engineered to avoid either copyright infringement or plagiarism to form original compositions, usually children's toys like Speak & Spells and Game Boys.This Month's Soundtrack, Electronic Musician. Published March 1, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2008. Pixelh8 started off relatively unknown on Myspace and was widely discovered after winning a competition to open for Imogen Heap on her UK tour in 200660 SECONDS: Imogen Heap, Metro. Published October 23, 2006. Retrieved April 4, 2008. and performing at Apple's iTunes Office in California.'Chip Tunes' strike right note, CNN. Published February 27, 2008. Retrieved April 4, 2008. Pixelh8 also won Sound on Sound.Playback March 2008 , Sound on Sound.

Pixelh8 has also designed music software such as Music TechAlbum on NES Cartridge, Synth on GameBoy , Create Digital Music Published July 4, 2007. for the Nintendo Game Boy and the Pro PerformerPixelh8 Music Tech Pro Performer Brings Live Performance to Game Boy , Create Digital Music. Published March 24, 2008. for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS which turn both machines into real time synthesizers and is currently developing software for other machines. Pixelh8 Music Tech software has been mentioned several times by Imogen Heap and was used in a track called "Tidal" on her "Ellipse" album.Imogen Heap vBlog#27, Imogen Heap. Published July 29, 2008.

Pixelh8 was the first headliner to the Nerdapalooza 2007 festival in California, other notable performances include performing for Huw Stephens on the BBC Introducing show December 2007 as well as Assembly 2008.Assembly 2008 Press Release, Digitoday. Published July 28, 2008.

December 10, 2008 saw Pixelh8 perform at Maida Vale Studios for the BBCHuw Stephens Introducing Tracklisting Archive, BBC Radio 1. Published Dec 18, 2008.

January 23, 2009 The National Museum of Computing released a press statement The National Museum of Computing News, TNMOC. Published Jan 23, 2009. saying that Pixelh8 would be composing and performing an entirely new piece of music for the museum, using some of the "earliest and rarest" machines such as Colossus computer and the Elliott 803 entitled "Obsolete?".BBC News Look East, BBC News. Published Feb 17, 2009.New Scientist, New Scientist. Published Mar 11, 2009.

April 15, 2009 Pixelh8 released Pixelh8 Music Tech V2.0, Pro Performer, Drum Tech and Death Ray software free for downloadwww.pixelh8.co.uk , Pixelh8. Published Apr 15, 2009. from his official website.www.pixelh8.co.uk , Pixelh8. Published Apr 15, 2009.

May 25, 2009 Pixelh8 provided BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra with some of the backing tracks for their Big Gaming Weekend.www.bbc.co.uk/radio1, BBC Radio 1 Published May 25, 2009.

May 26, 2009 Pixelh8 re-wrote the theme tune for BBC World Service's Digital Planet the special version of the theme tune was made available from The Open University.Digital Planet Theme Tune, The Open University, Published May 26, 2009.www.pixelh8.co.uk, Pixelh8, Published May 26, 2009.

Pixelh8's music has also been featured on and done interviews with BBC Radio 1 Rob Da Bank, Zane LoweBBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1. Published Apr 9, 2009. and Huw Stephens' shows, BBC Radio 6 Tom Robinsons,, BBC Radio 6. Published Mar 16, 2009. Nemones BBC 6 Nemone, BBC Radio 6. Published Mar 26, 2009. and Music Weeks BBC 6 Music Week, BBC Radio 6. Published Feb 1, 2009. shows, BBC Radio 4,BBC 4 Click On, BBC Radio 4. Published Mar 16, 2009. BBC Radio 1 Wales, BBC Radio Foyle, BBC Radio Suffolk,BBC Radio Suffolk Introducing, BBC Radio Suffolk. Published Jan 9, 2009. BBC Radio Three Counties, BBC Radio Norfolk,BBC Norfolk Introducing, BBC Radio Norfolk. Published Jan 25, 2008. and on BBC News 24 E24,BBC News 24 E24, BBC News 24. Published Feb 14, 2009. Ipswich Community Radio's Martin & Lewis Show, BBC Look East and BBC South Today.BBC News South Today, BBC News. Published Mar 25, 2009.

On November 28, 2023, in an interview Pixelh8 announced a return to music after restoring a hard drive that was hit by lightning 12 years earlier. The new album "Hard Reset" was released on March 11, 2024. On the 2nd of July, 2024 it was revealed the album "Hard Reset" was nominated for the Mercury Prize, but was not successful at being shortlisted. He now has performed as the closing act of the ‘Ipswich Music Day’ on the 6th of July 2024.

On May 15, 2025 Pixelh8 announced the creation of a record label called "Hidden Youth Records" moving it from an imprint status to a formally incorporated company with an aim to train up musicians to understand how the music industry works.

Education

Academic Research In 2011 Pixelh8 became a published author with his research into chiptune instruments, his first article "Cultural perceptions, ownership and interaction with re-purposed musical instruments" was published in the Journal of Music, Technology & Education, Volume 3, Issue 2–3, 2011. His follow up research "Re-designing the familiar: How effective are directional control pads in developing musicianship in 8 – 12 year old children?" became Chapter 7 in the 2016 "Music, Technology, and Education Critical Perspectives" published by Routledge. Pixelh8 has also been heavily featured and interviewed in a number of academic texts including Pamela Burnard' s "Musical Creativities in Practice" Chapter 8 "Interactive audio design" published by Oxford University Press and Kenneth B. McAlpine's 2018 "Bits and Pieces A History of Chiptunes".

Teaching

In 2012 Pixelh8 retired from music to set up an Alternative Provision technology school in Ipswich, Suffolk for 8 to 16-year-olds. The school won the Generation Code Hub of the Year 2018 award from Microsoft through UK Youth and Matthew C. Applegate won the Young Game Designer Mentor Award in 2019 from British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

On October 24, 2023, Matthew C. Applegate visited Number 10 Downing Street and met with the Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education and Tom Hunt MP to be honoured as a Skills Champion at a special reception. Tom Hunt MP is quoted in saying "I would like to thank Matthew for taking the time to come to London. The work Creative Computing Club do is outstanding, and it is clear how committed they are to ensuring young people succeed in their chosen path. I know Matthew will continue the work he is so passionate about, helping children in Suffolk thrive.”

Film In 2023 Matthew C. Applegate featured as a priest in the Telugu cinema film Gandeevadhari Arjuna.

Discography Video Games Ruined My Life (2006) The Boy with the Digital Heart (2007) Obsolete? (2009) And The Revolution (2010) Observations (2010) OCARBOT (2011) Cross Side (2012) Automatic Repeat Request (2023) Hard Reset (2024)

Pixelh8

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