8bit Project is made up of four well-known musicians in the Japanese music industry: Ito Shunji, Saito Hisashi, Hironori Shoji, and Kinoshita Yosuke. Shunji Ito is mainly known in Japan for his sound production for the PlayStation TV Commercial sound logo. Hisashi Saito is a veteran in the Japanese electronic scene; also known as Jokyoju in Yellow Magic Orchestra-homage unit called Y-Setsu-O. Hideki Matsutake, who helps the quartet as a supervisor, is known as the "fourth member of YMO" and the chairman at Japan Synthesizer Programmer Association.
8bit Project is unique for releasing exclusive mobile download-only tracks instead of offering them as computer downloads. The group's Disney covers, which mark their debut, have been downloaded over 300,000 times in Japan. The songs, available under the name Disney@8bit Project, have received important national promotion on Chaku-Uta®, a download service for mobile phones that offers full-length songs. After the songs were first offered for download on Chaku-Uta® in December 2006, they were later made available on more platforms in August 2008.
Thanks to their high quality remixes, 8bit Project was able to participate in different projects in 2008. One of the projects they partook in was a compilation of Lantis Records, who specializes in anime and game music. Another was a remix of Nakagawa Shoko's song Sorairo Days, which was released on her Tsuzuku Sekai single.
In 2009, the group released the cover album SPICY INNOVATOR VS SUPERIOR MARIONETTE, which contains their own chip-tune take on songs by Perfume, Michael Jackson, Utada Hikaru, Ai Otsuka, Coldplay, Yellow Magic Orchestra and more. They also teamed up with international site HearJapan to make their unique tracks available for purchase overseas, too.
From May 2009, one of their tracks has been used as an opening theme song for the TV show "Shooting Game Koryaku Gundan Sanjo! (Here comes shooting game capturers!)" on Mondo 21 channel.
8bit Project is a unique Japanese band who work within an interesting genre. With official covers and remixes, they’re definitely an artist worth taking a listen to.
