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. founded march 12, 1995 _| : _____ t r a x w e e k l y # 43 ______________ |___| _ _______/ /\___________________________ / ____________/ /\__\ _ _______/____/_____________________________ / / _________ \/__/ ______\ \_____________________________ / / / `_ . .~ \____\/ _ __ ___ / / / _____ . _ \ __ ___ _/__/\ / / / / /\ _ The Music Scene Newsletter __ __\__\/ _/__/ / ____/ /__\_________________________________ _____ ___ _ / /\/ /___ __________ _ ______ _ ___ \/ /\ / / /____/ \ \ / /\ / __/\ / /\ \ \ / \ /____/ / / \ / \/ /_ \___/___/ \ \_/___/ / \_/ / / \ ___\ / /_/ /______/\/ \ /______/\/ \ /_____/ // \ \ / / / \ / / \ \ \ \_\ \ \ \_\ \ //____/\____\/ / / / / / \______\/ \______\/ \_____\/ \ \ \ \ / / / / \____\/\____\ / / / / _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ / / / /__/ w /\___/ /\___/ e /\___/ /\__ / l /\___/ /\____/ / / __/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/____/________/ / __\ \____\ e \____\ \____\ k \ ___\ \____\ y \__________/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/ \____\/WW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - | TraxWeekly Issue #43 | Release date: 01-18-96 | Subscribers: 488 | - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ _ _________________ /_\ \__ / ____ ______ \____ ____/____________ ______ _/ \ _/ \ \ww_/ \ _/ ________/_/ _ \ __/ \/ \ \/ \/ \ / | \__ ___ ___ _______ _/ \\ \ \\ \\ | \\/ | \_ ___ __ __ ____ /___________\__\_______\________\____|______\____________\ \__\ Welcome to the 43rd issue of TraxWeekly! We're slowly approaching the 500 subscriber mark, so keep pushing for new readers! This week, we feature a long awaited interview with *Pariah of VSL!* Master of Darkness, Atlantic, DennisC, and Zinc have been interviewing like mad, and they've effectively brought back Faces in the Crowd. Applause goes to Atlantic for doing double duty with music reviews, and Deus Ex as well... Light of Kosmic expresses some of his (hostile =) feelings about ratings, rating systems, and why people complain about them. SceneWeb features an extremely popular scene related WWW site, Flood Myth's Superunknown. Enjoy! -psib gwie@owl.csusm.edu /-[Contents]---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ ________ _________________________________________________________________ / ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/_ < \____\ \ \\ \ \\____ __/ __/_\ \ \\____ \_____ \__ \ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \_ _\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\ Letters and Feedback 1. Music Styles: Where?.............................Michael Dorn General Articles 2. New Music Reviews................................Atlantic and DeusEx 3. Ratings Aren't Everything........................Light 4. SceneWeb.........................................Psibelius Faces in the Crowd 5. Interview with Pariah............................Master of Darkness Group Columns 6. Epinicion Productions 7. Explizit 8. Rippen' Artistic Talent Closing Distribution Subscription/Contribution Information TraxWeekly Staff Sheet /-[Letters and Feedback]---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[1. Song Styles: Where?]----------------------------------[Michael Dorn]-- From dorn@rzaix340.rz.uni-leipzig.deWed Jan 17 17:34:08 1996 Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 22:03:03 +0000 From: Michael Dorn <dorn@rzaix340.rz.uni-leipzig.de> To: gwie@mailhost2.csusm.edu Subject: feedback on TRAX-WEEKLY Hi, my name is Michael and I'm a not-tracking student at the university of Leipzig, Germany (passive demo viewer/mods listener). I think I've read quite a number of TRAX-WEEKLY issues and because I really enjoyed reading no. 46 I thought it was time to give you some mental support. Most of all I liked the interview between zinc and balrog because it was very amusing and didn't get too deep except the philosophic stuff (just kidding). Something I was missing was a short list of representative masterpieces of balrog in order to get an idea of his style (including the *.zip filenames). Talking about filenames: your list of the best tracked tunes is nice but without filenames it is hard to find them let's say at ftp.cdrom.com. You know how hard it is to find good music on cdrom.com between all these >first releases< which sound like what they are. I do not know whether you are responsible for cdrom.com but somehow I would prefer an other order besides the alphabetical one. See, I want to get some nice trance tunes and manage to get onto cdrom.com. Where is the right place to start? The ratings within the index-files are OK, but can't help me in finding trance -style music. Btw I like releases of RadicalRhythms but most of them are rated average. Maybe it would be prctical to sort the tunes by style. What do you think? Go on with trax weekly the way you did up to now. I am really looking forward to your next issue. See, I am only one of the anonymous crowd of readers (hm, 478 can be called crowd:) but I think the rest agrees with me. Greetings to you and the rest of the trax weekly team (Hope my english was not too bad/understandable/worth reading!) Michael Dorn e_mail: dorn@rzaix340.rz.uni-leipzig.de www: http://rzaix340.rz.uni-leipzig.de/~dorn s_mail: Michael Dorn Koebisstr. 9 04317 Leipzig, Germany phone/fax: 0341 / 26 13 550 fax: 0341 / 6 88 46 29 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks for the comments Mike. TraxWeekly doesn't improve or change unless readers like yourself seend in the occasional comment, critique, or gripe. I will forward your request for filenames along with the song names in future music reviews to our current review team, Atlantic and Deus Ex. If you want to send a comment to the maintainers of the HORNET archive, the best way is to email Snowman at r3cgm@uakron.edu. -psib ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[General Articles]-------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[2. New Music Reviews]----------------------------------------[Atlantic]-- Well exams are just about upon me right now, but I hate studying, and thought I deserved a break. =) Deus Ex took a break this week. Things to mention this week. Hmm. Don't think I have anything to apologize for this time, so that's good. Perhaps I'm getting better. One thing I wanted to note. The marks that I give, and the marks that Deus Ex give should not be compared. We are both looking at tracked tunes in a different light. In addition, I don't really want people to put much stress on comparing my marks for one tune with my marks for another, or even from week to week. Just look at the song as an individual entity, and try and figure out why I gave you the mark I did, and how it can be improved, if at all. Special note to Spyder and Squidgalator II - I didn't have time to give your songs an adequate listen, I'll have you're tunes in here next week for sure. I may even have a full internet account soon. I'm switching providers and so far the people at the new one have just ignored me. What can you do. And here's the standard pitch: Remember, if you know of a musician who deserves to be heard, pick a song by that musician. If they aren't into composing anymore that's alright, although I -strongly- prefer musicians who are active. Attach the song to me in email (as566@torfree.net) in MIME format (not UUencode: that stuff drives me wild), or send it to me on #trax where I can usually be found around 4-7 PM EST. It is important to include the following info: - Artist's Alias and Affiliations - Date of Release (If not known, approximate) - Where it can be found (ftp site & directory, website, person on #trax) - Artist's E-mail Address (Very important!) Reviews for Week of January 11th - January 18th ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Artist......... Tom Klepl Song Title..... "Follow Me" [followme.s3m] DOR............ December 15, 1995. Email Addy: None Found: The Black Adder BBS (get an internet account Tom!) 1-416-222-8366 Composition: 70% Sound Quality: 80% Originality: 65% Reviewed By: Atlantic. Comments: This one was sent to me by Typhoon/Mazurka. I've never talked to Tom, even though he's into the local Toronto scene, and it's too bad, because if this tune is an indication, he's a pretty talented tracker. "Follow Me" reminds me very much in style of "Behind that Mask" by HMW. Kind of mellow, with patient and clear percussion and a persistent chord progression. I did like the progression, but the fact that it didn't change for the whole song hurt the mark significantly. Even having said that, there is still enough varitation in it to maintain the listeners interest. About halfway through, before you could get bored of it, the tempo doubles, and everything picks up in mood and feel - nicely placed variation there. A couple things stand out at me. Firstly, the echo on the lead is too delayed for the volume it is at and for the level it is mixed into the song at. One can hear the echo hitting 2 or 3 rows after the initial hit. It would do good to either lower the volume of the echo, or reduce the delay for it. I also didn't like the choice of sample that plays the theme in the latter part of the tune.. it has a strange plucky beginning, and doesn't feel "smooth" enough to fit in... I really did like the tune though, keep up the good work Tom. Artist......... Griffin / FTS Song Title..... "Some of Dat Ol' Fonk" [gf-olfnk.s3m] DOR............ July 14th, 1995. Email Addy: redhaze@student.adelaide.edu.au Found: ftp.cdrom.com (.21/demos/music/incoming/songs/s3m/gf-olfnk.zip) Composition: 50% Sound Quality: %75 Originality: 45% Reviewed By: Atlantic. Comments: "Some of Dat Ol' Fonk" was the 3rd place 4chan tune at Algorithm '95 and was mailed to me by its author, Griffin. I'm afraid my marks aren't too kind, but I'll justify them. Griffin has some good ideas with this song, but just fell short of achieving them in my opinion. To begin with, the samples are a combination (I think) of those used in "Bud Rap" and "Elekfunk" both by Moby. I have no probs with this, but I thought that the "sorry Moby, but those *guitar* samples were too tempting" was a little underdone for the degree of credit that the composition owes to Moby. My main problem with regards to originality is that those guitar sams are very distinctive, and "Moby" just flashes off in my mind when I hear them. Same with the percussion, and the lead apart from the sinerish sample. I suppose the thing that hurt it the most in the composition category was the out-of-tune piano sample that forms lead early in the song. It's a little better when played within Scream Tracker, but when played in Cubic say, it sounds quite a bit off. The 3-piano-sample-1-track lead in "Elekfunk" by Moby still stands today as my favorite 1-track lead, and perhaps I was a little offended that someone would try and duplicate it so closely. =) I didn't like the siner synth in the song at all, it ruined the attempt at a realistic feel. Another thing which could be improved was the panning.. 4track music is inherently thin, so you have to fill it out with every means possible in my opinion. The L R L R config doesn't really cut it, especially when listening with headphones, as I usually do when I review. On the postive side, I liked the percussion, the fills were quite nice. The structure was pretty good as well, with appropriate variation. I don't want to discourage Griffin with this review, because he does show ability with the song, it's just too much of a rip-off. Create your own style dude. =) Artist......... Screw Driver Song Title..... "Summer Mourning" [mourning.s3m] DOR............ Unknown Email Addy: 3ag9zjk6@praline.net Found: Dcc'd by Sd on AnotherNet #trax. Composition: 40% Sound Quality: 60% Originality: 70% Reviewed By: Atlantic. Comments: Okay Sd, I finally got to you. This song has been sitting on my Hd for over a month now, and I suppose Sd is getting impatient. I've got some stiff criticism for your song. First, let me establish that this tune was Sd's attempt at doing "bagpipe music", and bagpipes don't grease the wheels of very many people. I didn't give it a very good composition mark for several reasons. The most significant of these is probably the fact that it is quite simple, using only 2 similar samples. Considering its bagpipe music, perhaps I can understand that. However, this song doesn't sound like bagpipe music. I don't know a lot about the ins and outs of traditional scottish folkmusic, so I can't give you a very full analysis here. One thing I do know though is that in bagpipe music there is a sustaining note/chord that hangs in the background steadily, and doesn't hit over and over like it does in this tune. Another mark against it is the briefness - there are only 8 orders, and 3 of the patterns repeat within those 8 orders. Strange thing is, despite the lashing I've given this tune, I do like the main melody. It does have a bagpipish feel to it, it just needs to be elaborated upon, taken further. Again, I don't wish to discourage, despite the %40 I wouldn't call it a total failure, it just needs some more work. Btw, Sd is looking for a group. =) Artist......... Q / Aim Higher ong Title..... "The Proxima Mission" [proxima.s3m] DOR............ December 20th, 1995. Email Addy: None. Found: ftp.cdrom.com (/.21/demos/music/songs/1995/s3m/p/proxima.zip) Composition: 65% Sound Quality: 65% Originality: 70% Reviewed By: Atlantic. Comments: This song is Q's debut Aim Higher tune, and is quite well done. It has a nice groove to it, and show some sophisticated use of effects to enhance the quality of the tune, like the notecutting in the background to give that sample some extra punch. I like the chord progression of the song, and it was augmented with the chorded piano which danced around the chords and kept the groove at the same time. My main problem with it was the massive repetition. There are far too many patterns with the same progression. It's nice, but grows real tired after about 48 patterns. I did like the way it varied when it finally did though. Another problem was the bassness of it. If you look at this one in the spectrum analyzer, the real frequencies of the instruments are all below the halfway point if using the cubic analyzer. Without looking into this though, I could tell that it was a concern. It's something to pay attention to, because that total lowness can become irritating. To me anyway, perhaps I'm alone. =) Good song tho, keep em coming Q. Artist......... Chris Jarvis ong Title..... "Pale Dreams" [chris17b.it] DOR............ December 20th, 1995. Email Addy: VIA pulse@smug.student.adelaide.edu.au Found: ftp.cdrom.com (/.21/demos/incoming/programs/it101.zip) Composition: 85% Sound Quality: 80% Originality: 80% Reviewed By: Atlantic. Comments: If you've picked up the Impulse Tracker by now (and if you havn't, you should), you've probably heard this tune by Chris Jarvis. It's an epic sounding orchestral/new age sort of piece with great chording and with a powerful feel. Chris is apparently an old amiga musician, who isn't very well known. His experience, however, really shows through in this one. This song shows an advanced use of panning to fill out the sound, and really strong percussion to carry the slow groove. It was unique sounding, so the originality was high even though Chris didn't name the people who made the samples. My only beef would probably be the repetition again, as it didn't seem to vary quite enough for me over its length. Overall an excellent song, look forward to hearing more from this talented tracker. Thanks to pulse for submitting it, and for coding that kewlio editor. Take care, Atlantic [as566@torfree.net] and Deus Ex [deusex@io.org] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[3. Ratings Aren't Everything]-----------------------------------[Light]-- [Now I'm no musician. I'm an artist, and I listen to things happening, and I might not know how to express myself very well, and I may structure my sentences like shit, but after observing some of this junk I thought I'd put something down in text about the way I feel. Everyone is always listening to the higher-authorities and that's how they make their own judgements, but I don't care. Some of you may think that I'm a goob, but I feel a lot, and this is my serious side. - Light ] Funny thing happened to me the other day, I was sitting in #trax at 5:00 in the morning or something, and I saw two people, who I admire and get along with really well, start fighting and bickering over the cdrom ratings. Well, things got pretty bad, and one ended up saying "To hell with you" and leaving. Well, Now, I'm not musician, and I don't really care about ratings and ego's, but, this strikes me as odd. This isn't the way things are supposed to be. People aren't supposed to let an issue as trivial as 'ratings' come between them (And these are people that frequent #Trax regularly). I'd like to express my opinions about the US scene pretty quick here, as I've been in the Net Music/Demo scene for about 6 months now, and the BBS Music/Demo scene for about 3-4 years. I've witnessed many things, the Warez Scene, the Ansi Scene, the Hacking/Phreaking Scene, The Virus Scene, etc. None have struck me as odd as this one has. The whole problem here, I believe is this rut we've all fell into. We see excellent musicians, who are very talented, and may in-fact become REAL musicians making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, make these incredible tunes. There's one thing that sets these guys apart from the rest however, and that's five little stars in a weekly publication and in 00index files. We see some of these musicians, lets call them, CrackHead, NecroPhiliac, and Murple Lotion ( no resemblence to persons living or dead ), and they get into different groups. Well, these groups, put out really, REALLY good music, and ALWAYS get the cherished 5 little stars, well, some of the other musicians look at this and say "why can't I make good music like this, I can't do anything right, why in God's name do I even try?". Or they say, "I don't have 5 stars like they do, yet, I like what kind of music I write, or I wouldn't release it." It's the whole system folx, something has to be changed, or we're gonna wind up like the rest of AmeriKKKa. Look at all the slime that live in our ghetto's. They don't think they can go anywhere in life, because a guy on TV has a brand new Jaguar and a beautiful wife and a house with 3 kids and good clothes. If we use this 'rating system' much longer, it's only gonna make it worse, we have made up this un-definable chart of requirements to what makes good music, and we stick to it, even though some people make a VALIANT effort to try and do something they think people will enjoy (And yet, somehow, we don't because it doesn't fit the rules). Yet, these 'little guys' are doing something that makes them happy, but at the same time, are getting knocked down because they don't have the right samples or something. AT LEAST THEY F---ING TRIED. AT LEAST THEY'RE MAKING AN EFFORT TO TRY AND DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE INSTEAD OF SITTING BACK, DOING NOTHING, AND MAKING THE 'SCENE' A HORRIBLE PLACE TO BE. The whole scene has gone to sh-- because of this crap. People's self esteems are getting low, and nerves are on end. I don't want to see this crap. I think we should realize that even though it may not be a five star tune, it can still be a 5 star effort. MOTHERF--- the ratings. I'm sorry, but I don't want to see people arguing and fighting like two roosters in a cage when it comes to a trivial question such as 'his tune is better than mine because he got **** and I got **'. Fuck that. I want people to be happy with each other (and maybe get naked or something and pose for me, but who knows. :) Much of what I've said is a collection of thoughts as I sit here pondering about what is wrong. I don't have the best solution, (Get rid of the ratings and just tell people about the tune. What it's like, what stye of music, tell em what happens.. like a plot-line or something jesus christ), but people shouldn't be judged by how many points they gather in a publication either. If you don't like my opinions, then voice yourself. It's the first step to making it better. ... and remember kiddo's, F--- THE VOTE. Light / Kosmic ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[4. SceneWeb]------------------------------------------------[Psibelius]-- This week in SceneWeb, we check out one of the most popular sites among scene artists and musicians alike: The SuperUnknown, run by Jordan Snodgrass, better known as Flood Myth of ACiD Productions and Epinicion. The Superunknown * http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/fm Total hits to date (of article): 3,719 The first thing you are presented with when you visit SU is the front door. Here you are informed of the requirements for viewing the page. Since the page implements many advanced HTML 3.0 features, you MUST be running Netscape 2.0b1 or later. The large graphics and heavy design on SU are better views in 800x600 screen resolution, and a 28.8 modem connect or faster is preferred. That said, click on "5. Superunknown" and enter! The opening screen is very detailed, with lots of color and excellent design. You have over twelve choices to make from the main matrix, ranging from a scene "catalog" to information on new releases from various groups, as well as personal info for FloodMyth. The centerpiece of SuperUnknown is it's scene directory. Here, you will found a comprehensive listing of most of the major known groups in the scene today. The music scene listing is a tad out of date (a few of the groups don't exist anymore), but is still well rounded. Links to the Virtual Music Page, Kosmic Free Music Foundation, even DMK and Pure are found here. Since the page is also geared for artists as well, you will also find tons and tons of ansi/vga groups. =) Then there are links to tons of awesome graphics, publishing, and HTML sites. FloodMyth has asked me to request from you readers to visit his page and help him update his music section! SU is very popular with ansi/vga artists, but the musicians section is quite neglected...so please be sure to add SU as a bookmark in your WWW browser. Also, ALL of the graphics currently on the page are being reworked. Some of the art is still left over from Superunknown's early lynx/text days, and is making a final transition into a total graphic interface... And a little tidbit for all of you: find the secret! Fans of 'The Net' starring Sandra Bullock should know what to look for. =) Gene Wie (Psibelius) gwie@owl.csusm.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Faces in the Crowd]------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[5. Interview with Pariah]--------------------------[Master of Darkness]-- Interviewer: <Mdark> = Master of Darkness / Aim Higher <> maz@io.org Interviewee: <Ender> = Pariah / VSL <> Edwin.Vega@realm.tor250.org ............................................................................ = Interview conducted on Sat Dec 28 @ 9:00 PM EST ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- <Mdark> Welcome to a (long-awaited) comeback of FITC. Due to my wonderful internet account being totally screwed I am forced to bring you in the next couple of weeks the wonderful world of my local scene - the Toronto scene. You might not know much about it right now, but you will soon come to learn about it in 1996 :). Today we have Pariah, a bright young composer, who's probably one of the best around IMHO. Ok pariah.. the usual.. groups/affils, name, age (if ya want) and how long ya been composin for'. <Pariah> Ok, first off thanx to mdark fer bringing me in here. Ok, well, my name is Edwin de la Vega, 19 this coming January, and I've been composing fer almost a year now. I started off in a small grp called DDT, what's it stand for... Digital Dream Tyrants, ahhh, I dunno, anyway it didn't last that long and soon after it died I was asked to join V.S.L, a Toronto based Dance Music group. So that's where I am now. <Mdark> Well I sorta remember DDT... and I remember Vicious, and Imagix (now paganus) and a bit of yourself with those damn ansis. But enough about that... So I guess your first group experience wasn't that all enlightening then we can take it? <Pariah> Heck no, I didn't know anyone in that grp! No communication, so that's what was missing. <Mdark> ahh so would you agree that there are alot (maybe too many) smaller groups out there that just don't amount to anything? I.E. would you much rather be in a larger group than something small trying to make a name for itself? <Pariah> Hmmm, well basically V.S.L started off small, then we grew rapidly and we learned a lot along the way, and gathered a few other ppl with talent. So I'd rather start with a small grp, instead of a larger one. Mostly because a person faces a lot of pressure from the other members. <Mdark> I guess that's true so then you don't mind these groups? Because believe me there ARE a tonne of them out there. I guess everybody has to start somewhere. It's too bad their aren't more groups willing to allow newbies in eh? I mean from what you've told me IN THE PAST about DDT even though you were in the group they didn't really allow you to release anything. So within a small group you'd have to have people with a common goal then right? <Pariah> Right, a common goal has to be set. Umm, I really don't mind these other groups in the scene, I actually like to see them since they help make the scene seem more welcoming to newbies, and they also help give a better chance for the pc music scene to be introduced to the general public. <Mdark> So more aware of them I see. Yeah i guess that makes sense. For me personally while AIM Higher's music isn't greatly flaunted by many the thing it stands for makes alot of people grab it who normally wouldn't :). NEhow... you said you were a part of a 'dance' group. Now this would seem to go against the 'norm' of the 'top' music as dictated by the scene today. Do you have any views on the state of dance style music in the scene today? <Pariah> Ooh, dance music in the scene is looked at differently. I mean, I've encountered discussions here and there saying that it takes no talent to make dance music, but that's not true... People say it takes no talent to make dance music because it's so easy to make in FT2 or whatever. I've seen some good dance music tracks out there, and uhh... <Mdark> Heh ok sorry to interrupt but maybe my theory of what's gone on recently might help you to explain. The theory is that over the past few years Future Crew and Renaissance have made demo music the thing to do. The thing to make. The thing to accomplish. In my opinion their 'technoey dancey' songs are what I'd call demo. But that's a whole other argument. Point is that over the past few years there was no real precedence for dance music. Kosmic had it sure but that was it. Even some of Maelcum's tunes I didn't particularily like tho because they weren't a style to my liking. So with the whole scene pointed towards demo music, dance music was put on the backburner so to speak. And if it was produced - other than the odd tune - it was given bad reviews or 'demonews' ratings. Now that FT2 has made the gift of tracking and sound quality that much better, there are a great deal of people out there making trance/ambient/dance/rave type tunes. Some are good and some are not. Unfortunately the ones who are not - and this is from personal experience - have been giving dance a bad name. Because of the past prejudices against dance people THINK they can compose by putting a beat, a hi-hat, and some wierd sounding samples at different intervals inbetween. They stick a group name on it and call it music. THAT'S what's giving dance a bad name. My point is since it's been getting a bad name, even with all the good music emerging from that particular style, it's still being ignored because of what has progressed. But fortunately the future dictates a change in attitude. Is this something like (except in a little more detail) you were gonna say? :) <Pariah> Very much (nice speech btw). Yeah, there still are some trackers out there, some newbies and some others, but they don't use their musical ear to make dance music, like you said, they just enter notes here and there, that's not music. <Mdark> In doing Demonews reviews the past few months I've realize how much 'bad' stuff there was out there. Then I noticed that I wasn't doing any better. I won't say I'm a devoted demo freak or anything like that but I've had to stiffen up. When people like deus ex of Chill begin to complain that their stuff is getting marked unfairly, what they have to keep in mind is that what they view as good music isn't necessarily good in other people's views. I think that to take demonews ratings overly serious is rediculous. As a demonews reviewer I might've possibly marked the VSL stuff 1/2 mark higher at least, because I admire your work more than others. But just because the other reviewer gave it lower doesn't mean he's wrong or biased against dance. where was I going with this again? I seemed to have lost my train of though :)... Oh yeah... I think that it's a rumor spread also that dance is bad. It's not necessarily what people think but a conglomeration of thoughts that get spewed into one big garbage pool. Instead of looking at the good they look at the bad. When a good tune comes out that's dance they say 'oh but that's a fluke look at all the OTHER crap that comes out with dance'. IT'S NOT THE STYLE. IT'S THE COMPOSER. :). There. All that mumbling and babbling and incomplete sentence fragmentation and there's my point. :) <Pariah> Woah, you do write a lot heheh, looks like it's YOUR interview =). Ahh, ok well I didn't take Demonews' VSL rating, or any other song's rating seriously, cuz I know that it's all just a rating from ONE person. True? Ok. I learned another important point in my whole 'musical life' and that is that "There's no such thing as BAD music. Only music that some people aren't too FOND about." I got a lot of feedback about that statement, but that's what I believe. <Mdark> And if they don't like it 'screw 'em' you are here to have fun and to compose for the hell of it. Not to impress anybody. I've gone over it with everybody I've interviewed and they agree. It should only be for fun. Now we are running short of time so we should move on. What are you trying to accomplish through your composing exploits? <Pariah> Basically, I'm composing for fun yes, but i'm also composing to please the ear of other people as well. I'm not trying to make myself known as a GOD or anything, if it does come to that point. oh well. I won't boast. I also want to help bring a better insight to the dance music scene, as I said earlier. <Mdark> so with all of this stuff about dance going around which is supposedly 'easy to do and you don't need any musical background to do it' it leads me to the question of just what experience you have? <Pariah> Well, I have over 10 years of musical experience. That's some theory, a lot of piano, bass & guitar, drums, ahh trumpet... recorder hheheheh. Oh yeah, and I also play in a various other live bands. <Mdark> heh. Wow I never knew all of that. That sure kills that theory. So do you usually incorporate this into your songs? <Pariah> Yep, well my musical instructors are now proud of me and don't slap me around anymore, but I really do use my musical ear when composing my songs. Check some of them out, and you'll see. <Mdark> Well I must admit that some of the first songs from you that i heard didn't fit in with musical theory as it were, but I think you've matured into a good composer not just a tracker as it were :). Uhmm.. is there anything in particular that you can suggest to some of the newbies out there that might be able to help them without forking out large $$$? <Pariah> Well, to all the newbies, if you have some cash to spare, take up some piano or guitar lessons, if you have no cash find a group like AIM HIGHER or EPI, and if you're too lazy...examine other peoples' songs, but don't rip em. <Mdark> hey a plug without me doing it :). Uhmm I think you brought up a really important thing there at the end. You know alot of people think that using other people's BASIC ideas is wrong. There's NOTHING wrong with it. You can't be creative like necros or basehead or someone of that calibre all of the time day in and day out, sometimes you need to find ideas/inspiration from other areas, and examining a skaven song to see how he manipulates certain instruments to make them sound right certainly isn't bad. NEhow I think that works. <pariah> basics like chord progression's, some can get away w/ripping, like this basic chord progression which's been round fer the longest time. C+,F+,G+...a lotta ppl use it, but don't carbon copy the WHOLE song. <Mdark> yeah ripping samples is one thing, but I've seen too many purple motion ripoffs (gee I'm really name-dropping for some reason) in the past little while to make me realize that this isn't the way to go everytime :)... <Mdark> Ok well keeping that in mind. Is there anything you'd like to say as a final word on the dance scene, or on the interview, or the scene as a whole, or your pet lizard perhaps? <Pariah> Nothing much really, but I hope that with the hard work of everyone composing for a real purpose, we get the pc music scene known to the public. <Mdark> i'm sure there's more of 'us' out there so here's hoping that we can bring unity in 1996. It's been great talking with ya. we should do it again sometime. :). I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours both in composing music and aiding with it. <Pariah> Thanks, and I'd also like to say Happy New Year to everyone. Let's make it a good one. <Mdark> You can do greets if ya want to :) <Pariah> Aww hell, ok all of the VSL members, you, Radical Rhythms (where are you guys), and everyone else I know... <Mdark> kewlio (they just released chapter 8 disk in the wee hours of yesterday morning so they are around). Well that's all for this week. Join us again next week for... well another Toronto person :) So long pariah! <Pariah> Peace out. <*> Where You Can Get Pariah's Tunes <*> Pariah is currently in a Toronto Dance Group Called V.S.L. His songs can be found on the HORNET archive ftp.cdrom.com and its mirrors or locally in toronto from Da Club BBS. Some of his releases are: /pub/demos/incoming/music/music/disks/vsl-xmas.zip /pub/demos/music/songs/1995/mtm/v/v-hybrid.zip /pub/demos/music/songs/1995/mtm/v/v-moverr.zip /pub/demos/music/songs/1995/mtm/v/v-ncpush.zip He also has a collection of songs in the VSL DJ's Dream Disk: /pub/demos/music/disks/1995/v/vsl-dj-1.zip /pub/demos/music/disks/1995/v/vsl-dj-2.zip /pub/demos/music/disks/1995/v/vsl-dj-3.zip /pub/demos/music/disks/1995/v/vsl-dj-4.zip /pub/demos/music/disks/1995/v/vsl-dj-5.zip ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Group Columns]----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ --[6. Epinicion Productions]------------------------------------------------ ___ _______ _____________ ______ ______ _______ ______ _______ ___________ | // \\ \\_____) \\_____) \\_____) \\ \\ | : / o \ o \ \ \ \ \ \ o \ \: // _____// / \ : / \ _____/ \ / : \. \\_______/ _//______\\_|__//______\\_____//______\\_____//____| /: : \\____\\ ______________________________ oT /___//| |________________________// e p i n i c i o n \\________________| Be on the lookout for a new musicdisk from Kxmode very soon! Group Restructuring: Please be patient. All information for the new group regulations will be sent out before the end of January. ALL of Epinicion's 1995 and 1996 releases can be found through ftp at: kosmic.wit.com /kosmic/epinicion Epinicion's revised webpage can be found at the following address: http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/gwie/epi.html. The page has gone under many changes, and we will have a complete listing of all songs available for download along with reviews by summer! Psibelius (Gene Wie) Epinicion Founder gwie@owl.csusm.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[7. Explizit]------------------------------------------------------------- .____. .....______________.____________________________________________| |__... :::::\__ _____ | ______ \ \______) \_____)_ _____/::: :::::::/ __>/\/ . __/| __/ / /__ \_____ \ \| |:::::: ::::::/ | / \ : \| \_____/ / \ \_ _____/ \ |:::::: :::::/ \__| \_ :::\ / / / | \ / |:::::: :::::\__________/::|______/____|:::\_______/_____/________/_____/___::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::[sYNOPTiC]::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Explizit TraxWeekly column issue #6 - january 18, 1995 . . .' yeh `. `...........' Hi there! This'll be a short one, 'coz i don't have too much time at the moment, we all don't as a matter of fact.... If you want to receive the explizit releases MIME-encoded to your mailbox, send a message to explizit@dds.nl with SUBSCRIBE in the title of the message. If you're subscribed, you will receive an acknowledgment. So remember, if you have not received an ack, you have not been subscribed to the list. Also, note that the adress has changed. I've lost a great deal of my internet access, i can only email as a matter of fact. Don't worry, i'll FTP at a friend's place. Now you wish you were subscribed to our mailing-list! =] See y'all next week. Bye! Ch:ilm explizit . . .' explizit membaz `. `.......................' Ch:ilm staff chilm@quazar.idn.nl Phonc(ie) music,staff W.Langenhuizen@nl.cis.philips.com Batjo music tgcpaw@stud.tue.nl Jay music - none - Paranoid Man code - dunno - LightWing senior code pflick@xmission.com . . .' news `. `..........' Coming up (last half of january) - the deadline to our diskmag EXPLORATiON. . . .' releases `. `...............' E-DAT.RAR Jan-10 Jay Dudes Are Trancing S3M Trance, what more is there to say? ;-) Offcourse it sounds awesome.... grin. E-RAON.RAR Jan-14 Phonc(ie) Rave On! Typical German rave in the style of Westbam/Marusha. A sax, pianos, chords, it's all there. :) . . .' end `. `...........' Thank you for reading, you can ftp all our releases from: ftp://ftp.uniserve.com/pub/gamesnet/EXPLiZiT/ (does anyone know of an other FAST and RELIABLE site?) For feedback, info and a wreal kewl homepage: http://www.netland.nl/~outlandm/explizit.html (since my beatiful hack was discovered they'll nuke this site within a couple of days. Enjoy while you can! :) Ch:ilm/Explizit explizit@dds.nl ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --[8. Rippen' Artistic Talent]---------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ _________________________ | ====== === ======= .== .= ======.=====. | RAT.NFO - Your friendly | | == == ==== `== ==== == == == == | ^^^^^^^ RaT update! | | =====< ==_== == == == == ==== == == | Brought to you from | | == `== == == == == ==== == == == | sunny Renton, WA by | | == ==== == == .> =' ==' == `=====' | Dude & Catspaw, RaT | `-----------------------------------------------^-------------------------' -About RaT- RaT stands for Rippen' Artistic Talent. Founded in 1993 by Dude and a young group of poets, artists, and musicians, the initial point of RaT was actually a joke--intended to mock all the the elitist k-rad kiddies that were starting to infest the local Seattle BBS scene. :) Over time, members came and went, and those of us who remained came to realize that we had something here--a group of people who all knew each other in person within the local area, shared a passion for their art or poetry, and were tired of all the bigotry, prejudice, elitism, and internal bickering that so many national and international art teams were ridden with. RaT came to symbolize a rare quality: local friendship within art. -Where to find us- Our support board, Rat City, is currently down pending a complete reworking of the software. It should be back up by early March. As always, the latest team releases can be found on ftp.cdrom.com, in the usual song upload areas. Every few months we also release a music disk on no particular schedule. Individual song releases will usually (but not always) be found with the filename RAT_*.ZIP. Currently, Catspaw is handling internet feedback and distribution for the art team. You can reach RaT through him for comments or specific file requests at catspaw.eskimo.com or on IRC #trax. -Recent Releases- RaT 1995 Seasoning Pack Yes, you too can add basil to your life! Why, just a dash of this Winter pack will add sound, music, and picture to your life... and it stays crunchy even in milk! Not a demo, but a showcase of different people from our art team, of varying talent and experience, collaborating to merge their art styles and do impressions of each other's works. Featuring VGA art, animations, music, and poetry from many of our members. Available: ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/demos/incoming/music/disks/rat_p1.arj Dude Music Pack 13 For two years, the leader of RaT has periodically released packs of his latest music to the local Seattle area. Now, for the first time, his locally-famous music packs are being released to the tracking community at large. Featuring an opening animation by Coolman, front-end program by Catspaw, and music by Dude! Plus countless inside jokes that nobody will get, and hidden songs--collect all 10! Available: ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/demos/incoming/music/disks/dude13-1.zip /pub/demos/incoming/music/disks/dude13-2.zip Thanks for listening! Enjoy! ..Dudie and Catsy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- /-[Closing]----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ TraxWeekly is available via FTP from: ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos/incoming/news (new issues) ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos/info/traxw/ (back issues) TraxWeekly is also available via WWW from: http://kosmic.wit.com/~kosmic/traxweek http://www.partek.fi/traxweek To subscribe, send mail to: listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za and put in the message body: subscribe trax-weekly [name] (NOT address) To unsubscribe, mail same and: unsubscribe trax-weekly (in message body) Contributions for TraxWeekly must be formatted for *76* columns, must have a space preceding each line, and must be readable and understandable. NO HIGH ASCII IS ALLOWED. Different country code pages cause major problems in international distribution, so we must stay with regular text. Profanities and other derogatory subjects should be avoided if possible. Contributions should be mailed as plain ascii text or filemailed (MIME/UUE only) to: gwie@owl.csusm.edu before 6:00pm EST (North America) every Wednesday. TraxWeekly does not discriminate based on age, gender, race, political preferences, religious preferences, or eliteness. For questions and comments, you can contact the TraxWeekly staff at: Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie).................gwie@owl.csusm.edu Columnists: Atlantic (Barry Freeman).............as566@torfree.net DennisC (Dennis Courtney)............dennisc@community.net Deus Ex (...)........................deusex@io.org Master of Darkness (Todd Andlar).....maz@io.org Mhoram (John Niespodzianski).........niespodj@neonramp.com Trifixion (Tyler Vagle)..............trifix@northernnet.com Zinc (Justin Ray)....................ray@direct.ca Reporter: Island of Reil (Jesse Rothenberg)....jroth@owl.csusm.edu Graphics: White Wizard (...)...................aac348@agora.ulaval.ca WWW Page: Dragunov (Nicholas St-Pierre)........dragunov@info.polymtl.ca TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation. Copyright (c)1995,1996 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved. /-[END]--------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------/ . :: ::: : . ..... ..............................:::.................:.... ::: : :::: : .::::. .:::::.:::. ..:::: :::: : :: :: ::: .:: :: :: WW:::: : ::. :: ::: .:: :: .:: :::: : :::.::. ::: .:: .:: .:::::... :: :::.. ... ..: ... ..:::::::::::::::: .:: .::::::: :::::::: ::::::.. ::: ::: ::: : until next week! (= .. ... .. ....... ............... .................:..... .. . :