Syphus is a chiptune and demoscene musician who has been composing and performing for most of his life. He is commander-in-chief of heart wrenching melodies and, when he's not creating with Up Rough or BDSE or making music for games, takes his Amiga around the world to shove 8-bit beats up your face. BOOM!
Syphus (Brendan Ratliff) started playing piano, violin and Commodore Amiga in 1989, at the age of 6. After growing up with the demoscene, trackers and chipmusic, he eventually started to release his tracked music in chipdisks and demos with the likes of CoolPhat, BDSE and Swedish megastars Up Rough.
Y'all are going to have to excuse me over the next few days/weeks/forevers while I gush endlessly about the brilliant chip music of Mr. Ratliff. Maybe it's the pure sound of simple Amiga tunes that I dig, or maybe it's Syphus' aforementioned mastery of melodies that seem to rain into one's ears like a pleasant summer hailstorm. Whatever the case, I've been barely able to listen to/do anything else the last few days.
"Fuelship" was sadly not included on the tracklist of his 2011, 17-track "debut" album pro.tect (streaming now on bandcamp) but has been a mainstay at live performances for quite sometime since it was written in 2007. The lead seesaws between soaring violin-like runs and salvos of relentlessly staccato, harpsichord-esque anarchy that summons images of white guys in wigs, hunched over keyboards, rocking out hard--an appropriately inspiring mental picture for chiptune enthusiasts, I would think. His music nails exactly what I find alluring about the style. Can't beat that Amiga sweetness.