Computer Savvy

Download this album for free at http://www.8bitpeoples.com

Computer Savvy is the second EP by Canadian indie rock/pop and chiptune musician Dan McLay (under the name The J. Arthur Keenes Band), released by 8bitpeoples on May 31, 2011. It was the project’s first album release since 2009’s debut Pamplemousse, not counting the three short 48 Hour EPs released via the ChipMusic.org forums in September 2010.

Of Computer Savvy’s seven tracks, only two (“Water2 (Wetter)” and “Spaniard”) were new at the time of its release; early demos of the other five songs had been released individually on now-defunct chipmusic community 8bitcollective prior to the release of Pamplemousse. Faster-paced versions of “Low Tide” and “The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down” were originally posted in 2009; “Cluck” and a radically different, loop-based “Foe Paw” instrumental came out in 2008; and a demo of “Expelling Bee”—sans the reversed-guitar coda—was one of McLay’s first uploads to the site in 2007. These songs were all extensively reworked and re-recorded for Computer Savvy, with the EP versions often bearing little resemblance to the originals.

Over a year and a half after its release, the EP received a massive spike in popularity in late 2012/early 2013 when famous Minecraft player Coestar used several of its songs in his YouTube videos.


The EP’s official 8bitpeoples press release: