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TraxWeekly Issue 031
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|___|asciidoneby:WW/RZM\___| |___| Issue Number: #31
| | : | Release Date: 10/19/1995
| : t r a x w e e k l y . : Current Subscribers: 382
| . the music scene newsletter |
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/-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------
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/_\ \__ / (stoney askee)
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"Bonjour, et bienvenue!" Hello, and welcome to TraxWeekly #31!
This week, Trixter of Hornet brings to light a few important topics
we've failed to discuss in the past, especially where the origins of the
music scene are concerned. Currently, we are searching for a columnist
that is involved in and can write about the Amiga. If you or someone else
can fill that position, please contact us.
Faces in the Crowd features interviews with Luv Kohli, Vicious, and
Fred. Joining FITC temporarily this week helping with interviews is
Dynamic Harmony.
As requested by a number of people, TraxWeekly will not publish any
more articles concerning conficts between people, groups, on IRC, etc. As
pointed out, "...TraxWeekly is a music mag." There is no need to publicly
air arguments and comments that should be best left to private email.
Please be patient with us. The new staff here at TraxWeekly is in the
process of restructuring the newsletter for YOUR benefit. Suggestions and
the like are welcome.
Please encourage your friends to subscribe to TraxWeekly! This little
newsletter is developing nicely, but we would *love* to see the kind of
spread Hornet's other excellent newsletter, DemoNews gets. =)
Psibelius [TW]
gwie@owl.csusm.edu
/-[Contents]----------------------------------------------------------------
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/ ____/_/ __/ \ __/ / _____/ \ __/ __/ ___/_
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\ \ \ \\ \ \ww\ \\ \\ \ \ \ \ \_
_\________\________\\___\____\ \_____\\_______\\___\____\ \_____\_______\
Letters and Feedback
Letter to the Editor.................................Trixter
Letter to the Editor.................................Nestor Matas
General Articles
1. Demo Music or Real Music?.........................Skarlet Shrike
2. TraxNet...........................................SoftLord
Faces in the Crowd
Interview with Luv Kohli.............................DennisC
Vicious...............................Master of Darkness
Fred..................................Dynamic Harmony
Group Columns
1. Aim Higher
2. Epinicion Productions
3. eXtreme Terror Corps
Closing
Distribution
Subscription/Contribution Information
TraxWeekly Staff Sheet
/-[Letters and Feedback]----------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------/
--[Letter to the Editor]-----------------------------------------[Trixter]--
From trixter@mcs.comFri Oct 13 16:23:36 1995
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 00:46:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: Trixter / Hornet <trixter@mcs.com>
To: Gene Wie <gwie@mailhost2.csusm.edu>
Subject: Re: TW letters?
Dear Editor:
I always enjoy reading TraxWeekly; it continues, to paraphrase
Basehead, a facet of "one of the last bastions of hobbiest
programming", and I always find it entertaining and informative.
I certainly hope that your task as new editor only gets harder, as
it means better issues for the reader.
However, I have noticed a limited view in two recent articles by
Mhoram ("Exploring the Past") and Vector ("Vector's World"); I also
have a comment on the whole Popcorn/IOR reponses. Forgive this if
it sounds like nitpicking, but I felt I had to write.
The first issue I have is probably due to the young history of the
PC music scene, but Mhoram's article fails to reach back far enough
for truly great music. His oldest song listed is Fruit of the Loom
(1992), but many great tunes existed before that. Also, he
mentioned Adlib ROL files as a possible starting point for modern
scene music, but that really isn't true; Norman Lin's MODEdit was
really the starting point in 1991. Again, it is probably due to
the youth of the PC music scene (it has only been in existance for
4 years).
I also have some notes for some of the choices he made:
- BODY BLOWS wasn't a KLF release, it is the title tune
ripped from the Amiga fighting game "Body Blows". :) Much
of their music is done by By0rn Lynne (also known as Dr.
Awesome), but I don't know if that particular tune was
composed by him.
- Bombastic Jazz is, if I remember correctly, a tune from
Nuke when he was with Anarchy. Nuke is another Amiga
musician; straight Protracker. I don't think he's active
anymore (I lost track of him when he switched groups), but
he has also easily produced over 40 works, and most of
them are inspired, like JORDANJA.MOD (Jordan Jazz).
- Troubled Journey is by core design ltd, and they (he? I
never found out) have done some other excellent tunes; all
less than 100K, and all worth downloading.
Also, I'd like to add VDL.MOD to his list. I don't know who composed
it, but the musical ideas are just as stunning as how well
(technically) the tune is tracked. I will send this mod to anyone
who wants it, I love it that much. :) I just hope someone can
tell me the name of the composer...
Moving on: Vector's World is a fun column to read, but I noticed
an alarming trend in his article "10 most meaningful tunes of all
time": They are all *PC scene musicians* (with the possible
exception of "heartbeat"; I think he meant to write "heatbeat",
who's tracked well over 40 tunes). While #trax and TraxWeekly are
mainly populated by PC 'scener's, they wouldn't exist at all (or
would be warped, like MIDI or something) if it weren't for the
Amiga. Many talented people slaved away with a basic set of 20
instruments (no home user had a sampler in 1987) for over three
years, learning to make do with 4 tracks, and they did so in Europe,
and on an Amiga. So, I guess I'm saying, "don't exclude Euro
musicians from your thoughts." They were the real pioneers.
Finally, I am slightly frustrated about the whole Popcorn/IOR
situation. While it directly relates to the management of #trax
and the magazine, it does not belong in the magazine itself. Do
the petty differences and technical details of who has access to
an IRC channel belong here? I could be wrong, but I thought
TraxWeekly was a magazine about *music*.
Despite these differences, I look forward to every issue of
TraxWeekly, so keep up the excellent work. And hey, you didn't
celebrate your own 30th issue anniversary, so happy anniversary. :)
--
Jim Leonard (Trixter / Hornet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--[Letter to the Editor]------------------------------------[Nestor Matas]--
From nestor@peloncho.fis.ucm.esTue Oct 17 19:30:39 1995
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 95 23:19:44 -0500
From: Nestor Matas <nestor@peloncho.fis.ucm.es>
To: Gene Wie <gwie@mailhost2.csusm.edu>
Subject: Some trax weekly feedback :)
-- [ From: Nestor Matas * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
Hi Psibelius!
I want to congratulate you for your work with the trax weekly
publication. I've been reading it for two months now and I've learnt a
great amount of stuff about the scene and its stars, but (here come the
inevitable 'but') I miss one thing that was what really made me look for
trax-weekly even under the stones when I hadn't Inet access... that was the
tracking tips section thing... coz trax-weekly should support that kind of
things... teaching newbies how to track better would improve the level of
the computer tracked songs in general, and there's no doubt that's a good
thing. It will be nice to see that amazing tips again, and sure I'm not the
only one.
POTXOKI
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/-[Articles]----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------/
--[1. Demo Music or Real Music?]--------------------------[Skarlet Shrike]--
Demo Music OR REAL MUSIC!?! Part 1 Weekly Reviews on Demo Music or Real
Music.
Well, I have been around a while, And I now Write REAL music for Marching
Band and for Concert band With a company called Rubank Inc./Hal Leonard
Publishing Corperation. It is a Simple little thing called, They wouldn't
accept my tracked music, so I told them that I would have 3 songs ready in
a week.. They liked them and it was that easy.
But my concern now is... Should I devote my time to making Demo Music
or Real Music.
Demo Music is only good if you are on the scene. Oooohh.. Aaaaah..
You are ereet! woO0Oow!
Real Music is only good if you want "money" and "popularity".
Hrm.. I don't know what to choose.. But I would like some1 to
point out more suggestions for my next article on
"demo Music Or REAL MUSIC?!?"
Send Comments or questions to Skarlet.Shrike@dcn.com
Skarlet Shrike
Dark/Daskmig/Epi
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--[2. TraxNet]--------------------------------------------------[SoftLord]--
Hi. It's me, SoftLord. Some of you may know me from #trax, or perhaps
the official MC3 and ASM95 pages (http://kosmic.wit.com/~kosmic/mc3/ and
http://kosmic.wit.com/~asm95/, respectively).
The reason I'm writing this article, besides introducing myself, is to let
y'all know about an idea i had.
It's called TraxNet.
TraxNet started a couple of months ago when i decided that it would be nice
for the music scene to have a home on the Internet. Not only just for the
large groups (KFMF, Epinicion), but for smaller groups and artists (FITC
kind of people). So, being a go-getter (yah right ;) ), i went ahead and
registered traxnet.com. I mentioned it on #trax, and people seemed excited
about the idea.
Well, here we are, 2 or 3 months later, and it's just sitting there. Doing
nothing. I have space for web stuff, and some ftp stuff (though i was
planning basically to link to cdrom.com and luth.se for the files if they
were on there). I just don't seem to have the time, the energy, or the
initiative to get the thing started.
That's where you people come in.
I need Artists, HTML programmers, and representatives from groups who would
like to take part in this to contact me with their information. I wanna
see this thing flourish, but I'm working on other projects as well. Time
for you to help!
Of course, I'll have final say in who gets in and who doesn't, but I'm
pretty lenient and it'll mainly go by how much space i have left :).
I guess you need an Internet account previously, because traxnet.com isn't
set up for giving out e-mail addresses.
I will be busy with school and all, but I'll try to work on this in my
non-existent free time.
E-mail me at softlord@traxnet.com for more information or if you wanna get
your group online! I'll probably get flooded with messages, but hopefully
I'll get back to each and every one of y'all.
See ya on #trax (I'm on as SoftLord (duh))
--SoftLord
http://www.lightning.net/~softlord/
Founder, TraxNet
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/-[Faces in the Crowd]------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------/
[NEW ASCII LOGO BY WHITE WIZARD NEXT WEEK]
News .................................. Staff
Interview ............................. DennisC with Luv Kohli
Interview ............................. Mdark with Vicious
Interview ............................. Dharmony with Fred
Reviews ............................... Mdark
-===================================================================-
N E W S
-===================================================================-
Well the big news, or rather the big question this week is:
WHERE IS JTOWN?
The unfortunate demise of his computer has apparently gotten
worse and thus the rest of the staff has had to put everything
together this week.
Also Dynamic Harmony, a former interviewee of FITC, took
over Atlantic's place as an interviewer for JUST this week, and we
would like to send our thanks to him. He may also be joining the
staff, and thus increasing the amount of interviews weekly.
As for the Reviews this week, due to a combination of not
enough quality AND quantity of uploads to ftp AND the recent
busyness (is that a word?) of Mdark, we could not meet our quota
of about four songs per week.
We hope you enjoy this weeks FITC interviews, and hopefully
(once again) things will be back to normal next week.
- Staff
-===================================================================-
I N T E R V I E W S
-===================================================================-
---====[ Faces In The Crowd <> Interview #10 ]====---
Interviewer:
{DennisC} = DennisC / FITC <> dennisc@community.net
Interviewee:
{LuvK} = Luv Kohli / Empyrean <> ???
.............................................................................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DennisC - For starters, what is your name/handle/affiliation if
any?
LuvK - Ok. Well, my name is Luv Kohli (real name), and I don't
have an alias. I am a co-founder of the group Empyrean,
which currently consists of only two members, the two original
co-founders. :)
DennisC - Luv? Sorry, I bet you get that a lot :)... who's the
other founder?
LuvK - Actually, I do get that a lot. :) The other founder is my
brother, Manu.
DennisC - cool... how long have you been tracking?
LuvK - I have been tracking for about a year now. Actually, I started
earlier than that, but only started releasing about a year ago.
DennisC - wow... what sort of styles do you do? (ugh I know music
is hard to classify but... :)
LuvK - It is relatively difficult to say what style I track, since
I try to vary my style often. I am simply trying to expand my
horizons and experience all possibilities. Generally, however,
my music tends to be of a sorrowful nature.
DennisC - do you have a "real" music background? any non-tracked
influences you'd like to mention?
LuvK - I have no experience playing any musical instruments (unless
you count the recorder from elementary school <g>). Regarding
non-tracked influences, I suppose I like groups like Metallica,
Rush, and several others depending on my mood at any given time.
:)
LuvK - However, the styles of those groups do not necessarily appear
in my music.
DennisC - wow... who are your tracked influences?
LuvK - Hmm.... Tracked influences.... There are so many that it is
impossible to list them. I suppose I could list the standard
"Necros, Purple Motion, Skaven, C.C.Catch, Ryan Cramer, etc."
bit. :) Of course, they have influenced me, but generally
every piece of tracked music I hear influences me in some way
or another.
DennisC - what do you consider to be your strengths? (ie percussion,
chord progs, etc)
LuvK - Definitely not chords.... :) I seem to be getting better with
drums, though. My melodies, unfortunately, seem to be relatively
nonexistant. My music usually tends to sound more like
background music.
DennisC - cool... welll, onto other things, what do you think of
the #trax scene?
LuvK - There's not really much that I can say about it. I suppose I
find it interesting to see how trackers develop, etc. Not sure
what to say. I'm still kind of new to #trax.
DennisC - what is your first impression... I know my first experiences
left me thinking, "*these* people track the music I know and
love?" :)
LuvK - That was exactly my first impression. Actually, I used to use
AOL (have a new provider now), so initially I hated everyone that
had anything to do with #trax, mainly because I was banned. I
still think that many people on #trax can be hasty in their
actions, and not think things through completely. The people in
#trax usually don't talk about tracking, it seems. It's more of
a place to hang out.
DennisC - true... what do you think about the music scene in general?
or even the American music scene? is it as bad as some people
thing?
DennisC - think even ? :)
LuvK - No, I don't think that it is as bad as people think. It all
depends on the different tastes that people have. Lately it
seems that music is being geared more toward one direction, so
that it does not encompass everyone's views on music.
DennisC - hmm... are you into the demo scene as well? if so, what
are your views on that?
LuvK - Yes, I'm into the demo scene. I think that it was better a few
years ago, when FC and other groups released demos that actually
fit in with the music perfectly. Now, demos seem to lack design
(many may argue against this), and can get repetitive. The
demo scene is still interesting, though.
DennisC - when you first started releasing, did you feel the scene was
very welcoming to new 'faces in the crowd,' as it were? :)
LuvK - Well, when I first started releasing, there was no way for me
to tell, since I didn't have any real means of finding out. The
only people that I could get reactions from were those that I knew
locally and were not part of the demo scene "elites."
DennisC - do you think the scene has gotten worse since then?
LuvK - It has improved and worsened at the same time, in my opinion.
For example, the tracking scene seems to allow more "new faces"
these days, with the invention of groups like Epinicion and
AIM Higher. However, as I mentioned before, the demo scene seems
to be getting less involved with design, and more with the display
of routines.
DennisC - hmm... back to tracking, how did you get your start with
a tracker?
LuvK - Actually, I don't really remember. One day I must have figured
out what a .MOD file was and played it in a modplayer, and then
found MODEdit v2.00. :) I then went up the ranks of trackers
with MODEdit v3.00, Whacker Tracker, the original FastTracker,
and now ScreamTracker v3.21. I might try FastTracker II some
time, but I just need to get used to the interface.
LuvK - I think I just thought it would be interesting to try making
some music, so that pushed me in this direction.
DennisC - when you start a new tune, what is the first thing you do? do
you do it pattern by pattern, or start with the beat, or...
LuvK - I can't really say, since I seem to start differently each time.
Sometimes I try to have a melody in my head beforehand, but then
I lose it. I suppose I try to put down some sort of beat, but
not sure.... <g>
DennisC - where would one find your releases?
LuvK - Unfortunately, there is no official distro on the internet.
Empyrean's main distribution site is location in Virginia, USA.
The BBS is called The Dream City, and its phone number is
(703) 914-9131. All Empyrean releases can also be found on Ryan
Cramer's board (Data Connection <not exactly sure what the name
is now :)>). Other releases may be scattered about here and there. I know for
a fact that at least one of them was recently put on ftp.cdrom.com
DennisC - have you gotten any feedback from people who like your music?
a common complaint is that people are unwilling to listen to
something unless it's by a big name or gets ******* in
demonews... :)
LuvK - I've gotten some feedback on my songs, but mostly from people
in my local area. For the song that was put on ftp.cdrom.com,
Beyond Chaos (BEYONDCH.ZIP), I received email from someone that
I did not know complimenting me on my song, but I never got
another reply from him after I responded. :( That's about all
of the feedback that I've gotten, though.
DennisC - if you could change something about the music scene, what
would it be?
LuvK - Hmm.... I would probably make it so that no one "rejected"
another from the scene simply because they thought a certain piece
of music wasn't good. Everyone should be able to accept that
people have to start learning somewhere. :)
DennisC - well, just on the generic topics, what are your positions
on (a) sample ripping, (b) ST3 vs FT2, and (c) the OJ verdict? :)
LuvK - (a) I think sample ripping is ok, as long as the person it is
ripped from does not mind and a good effort is made to credit them.
For example, I have a lot of samples, but I do not know where
most of them came from (a mistake that I made earlier). From now
on, I will try to keep a record of the people that the samples
came from, etc.
(b) I find ST3 easier to use, for me. However, FT2 has some
superior features, and has really nice sound quality. I simply
can't get myself to use FT2 at this point.
(c) The OJ verdict again? <g> Well, I knew that the jury would
not say that he was guilty. As to the truth of the verdict,
I cannot say. :)
DennisC - neat... well, any other random comments to shout at the
scene?
LuvK - not really. :)
LuvK - how original. <g>
DennisC - well, I guess that's it... :)
LuvK - ok, thanks for the interview. :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
---====[ Faces In The Crowd <> Interview #11 ]====---
Interviewer:
{Mdark = Master of Darkness / AIM Higher <> maz@io.org
Interviewee:
{Vicious} = Vicious / VSL / AIM Higher <> mike.kameka@realm.tor250.org
.............................................................................
= Interview conducted on Wed Oct 18 @ 7:30 PM EST
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
mdark - ok, this week we'll be interviewing a local guy from T.O, and well...
I'll let him introduce himself...
vicious - Hey there kidies .. The name's Vicious and i have a small Toronto
based dance group by the name of V.S.L . Weve been around since
like april 95 but were just starting to get some recognition.
mdark - hmm. a small dance group you say. and how many people would that be
about 5? 10? are they any other notable musicians that we might
wish to know for future reference :)
vicious - Well there's currently 14 members in V.S.L .. I have rookies
comming to me everyday wanting to join so the group is growing at
a high rate. All of the V.S.L members are fairly good trackers but
of cource we have our veterans like Pariah , E , d.j. XL .. These
guys are among the best i've ever seen .
mdark - so you appreciate the works of the other members of the group, which
is always important. BTW that is quite a LARGE group believe it or
not. Most of the people I've talked to only have three or four
members in their group, in fact ender my last interviewee was the
sole composer in his group. Now, you are the founder of V.S.L are
you not? So could you explain to us what the symbolism of V.S.L is?
vicious - We'll it's pretty simple actually . We all compose different
styles of music . Variety is our main goal and bassically V.S.L
stands for Variety's the Spice of Life . Simple but it works.
The group is large but i would say that only 4-5 of us make
commercial quality tracks.
mdark - I see. So you have your main core of musicians then, and your
developping ones :).. As for the name, I'm curious. I know you are
a dance group, but when you say variety is your main goal, it makes
me wonder if it's possible that you'll ever have a 'demoish' type
composer in the group?
vicious - Very unlikely that will ever happen . When i say variety i mean a
large variety of dance styles . From euro dance to hard core
hip-hop . We cover the whole dance flava .
mdark - I see. Fair enough. Now, I take it you compose mostly... what
type of dance?
vicious - We'll i play around with euro dance alot but my background is
HOUSE. I am currently working on a disk which will be all house
based. Not that commercial crap people call house but the true
underground house sound. Simple ,repititious, but you can dance
yer ass off to it .
mdark - yeah kind of like rave music (for me personally). Ok jut one more
quick comment on the demo music. While you don't compose it, you
do accept it as another style right? You don't 'shun' demo music
like alot of people shun your style of music in favor of demo?
vicious - Hell no , demo is a unique style of music and i do appreciate GOOd
demo . Demo is much harder to create that dance but my final goal
is to go commercial and well demo music wont get me a record deal.
mdark - Some would beg to differ, but I'm more curious about why you are here
in faces of the crowd. Did you hear about it from somebody, read it
in traxweekly, or do you have something to say to everybody in the
scene out there? Something that you've felt either good or bad for
awhile now perhaps about the scene?
vicious - Well actually i do have a few thoughts that i must say . !'st of
i dont understand why people make such a great deal about sample
ripping. Did the original sampler of the sample not steal it from
a keyboard? Do you think Korg or Roland would be happy to find out
we stoled the instruments from there machine's . Hell no , they
spent alot of money creating there own sounds and we steal them so
how can we get pissed whan someone steals one of our samples.
House music was born from stealing. It all started out as old
disco trax redone with a faster harder digital beat . Sample
ripping is and will always be a major part of the dance scene.
Take it as a compliment when someone 'borrows' one of yer samples.
It must have been pretty good if it's worth stealing .
mdark - you bring up a very good point, and I don't think I've quite looked
at it from that perspective - mostly because of the people I've
learned to compose from always say 'rip this' but DON'T 'rip that'.
In other words if it's a big-named person don't rip it. I don't
agree with this philosophy. Taking everything you've said into
account, the one thing that I'd have to say is i'd expect you to
somehow give credit to the person who's sample it is. When
possible. It just shows a sign of respect. In some instances of
course this is nearly impossible to do because you might get them
in a sample pack or something or off of a CD (in which case they'd
sorta be yours anyways). The second thing is i think if somebody's
used a REALLY reconizable sample (i.e. Skaven's BLAST in the 2nd
reality song) in the EXACT SAME FASHION, i personally believe that's
wrong. Finally, i think that there's TOO much of a big deal about
ripping. I say WHO REALLY CARES. I mean we are all in this to make
the best damn music we can, and lets face it some of us JUST DON"T
have the ability to sample our own sounds, so how else are we going
to get stuff to compose with? :)
vicious - I agree with you exactly . Originality is the key , if you use a
sample from a popular track than use it in a unique way . Be
creative with the tools you have . I my self can't create my own
sample's since my GUs ACE can't sample , it has no recording
abilities . But i have purchased sample cd's in the past and i
will continue to do so because im not usually happy with other
people's sample's anyways . I prefer 16 bit 44khz sample's. There
much cleaner.
mdark - WHen ripping you do seem to always (unexplainably) lose some
fine-tuning and quality for some reason. Now I haven't even asked
how long it has been you've been composin or if this is even your
first group :)
vicious - We'll ive been composing fro about a year now and i started out in
MAZURkA , they let me go because they said i was holding the group
back so i joined a small Toronto based group by the name of DDT.
This group never went very far and it bassically went under . Then
i was gonna go back to MAZ but i have different idea's about the
scene and i decided to start my own group. I had a small collection
of musicians back then and 90% of the releases were mine . Like 28
mine and 2 from the other 2 members . Then people started
E-mailing me wanting in V.S.L and it seems there's alot of good
talent out there that we just dont notice .
mdark - yeah from personal experience (i.e downloading everything for the
reviews of FITC ) I've noticed that to be true. Just because you
are on #trax doesn't mean you are the only musician on the world
who is good :)...
And of course being from AIM Higher, I see and hear new stuff
everyday anyways from my members :). now is V.S.L the only group
you are in right now? Or perhaps you do projects on the side?
vicious - Well im currently a member of AIM Higher and i intend to make a
few less comercial tracks under that label . I do like to compose
mellow pieces and "shhh dont tell anyone but i have a couple demo
tracks in the works also" This is where i can release the other
style's of music i like .
mdark - ahh I see. I think (and I've done this recently as well) that when
you broaden your horizons to other styles of music, you can only
learn from the experience. Even if what you do isn't the best out
there, you learn what's what about that particular style. I've
done everything from just fooling around with percussion, to house
(recently) to dance, to some stupid guitar solo, and now I'm mostly
trying ambient/demo. So I'm used to and indeed LIKE everything :).
And I think that's what being in two groups is about. I mean I
don't understand some of these guys who are in 4 or 5 groups. My
question is WHAT'S THE POINT? I mean sure I might one day say like
to join VSL, but that'd only be if I want to release my dance stuff
with you. Not if I just wanna join for the fun ot if. So what you
are doing is very admirable, and I think it's something that the
scene should see more of. ANd heck if you compose alot of music,
why not? :) So with all this music stuff in mind, and all your
ideas and views, what exactly ever inspired you to start composing?
vicious - We'll it's all due to MOBY of Anasthasia . I love this guys music
and i used to E-Mail this guy to death . Bassically brown nosing
him . One day he said " Why don't you give it a try " . At first
i was thinking " what the hell do i know about music but " But
then i started to listen to music in a different way . I found my
self studying it and learning from it . I then put what i had
learned to work and well i keep improving every day . I dont
consider myself all that great , when i compose i compose for
myself and i dont really care what others think . I'm my biggest
fan . the though of someone else liking one of my tune's is a
bonus.
mdark - hah. That's the same way I felt. Which actually brings me to my
next question oddly enough. I've noticed some HONOURABLE soul has
recently started uploading mass quantities of your music to the
internet. Now I'm curious if you have gotten and response or if
not from anybody outside of toronto, from people INSIDE toronto.
vicious - Well my net account has run out so i havent had the chance to see
what people think en quite a good response from the Toronto scene.
I actually had some guy offer to pay for a high quality cassette
of the disk. People seem to like our stuff so we'll continue to
release music and keep our little gathering of fans happy . Even
if we do some day go commercial i wont forget my roots , i will
always be in the P.C. music sceene . This is where i started and
i cant just ditch the people who have supported us for a little
cash ..
mdark - Well I think that is a pretty good note to end on. Now i must thank
you for your time here tonight. I must admit, you taught me a few
things - or at least new ways of looking at them. I hope your words
of wisdom spread across the continents :)... Is there any final
comment you wish to make... shout outs to da crew perhaps? :)
vicious - Well bassically i want to tell all the young trackers out there .
DONT give up on yer dreams . If you do that they dont have a
chance of happening , but keep working hard and hey who know's ..
Maybe one day the prez of sony records will call you up and say
" hey man you music is awsome , come down to my office and let's
talk" . It could happen . Remember to keep dreaming and it may
come true , you never know .
mdark - the future. What a scary concept :). Ok, thank you once more for
your time, and best of luck with all your musical endeavours, and
especially with the possibility of getting your stuff released some
day on a CD.
vicious - Thanx for having me , and dont worry bout the CD thing . I wont
stop till my dream comes true .
mdark - how fitting. a DJ's dream :). Ok folks that's all she wrote.
Until next time, same bat station, same bat channel :)
<*> Where You Can Get Vicious' Tunes <*>
Vicious releases through VSL and AIM Higher. These releases can be
found on the HORNET archive ftp.cdrom.com and its mirrors.
Unfortunately until recently not of VSL's or vicious' music had made
it to FTP. Most of these songs will be in the following directory
/demos/incoming/music/songs/xm/
If they are not, they will soon be uploaded. All of VSL's and vicious'
music is released with the prefix V-filename. Also look at the recent
vsl-dj disks for Vicious' songs.
Here is a list of SOME of vicious' releases:
V-DOKTOR1.ZIP "Witch Doktor: Moveit Mix" - XM
V-DOKTOR2.ZIP "Witch Doktor: YourBody Mix" - XM
V-TNIGHT.ZIP "Tonight - Lyric Test" - XM
V-BREAK.ZIP "Breaking Free" - S3M
V-CANYOU.ZIP "Can You Feel My Love" - XM
V-DAWN.ZIP "At The Break Of Dawn" - XM
V-DREAM.ZIP "Day Dreaming" - XM
V-ESCAPE.ZIP "Escape from Ya Brain" - XM
V-EURO.ZIP "Da Euro-Grooves" - XM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---====[ Faces In The Crowd <> Interview #12 ]====---
Interviewer:
{D} = Dynamic Harmony / Mazurka / AIM Higher <> dharmony@io.org
Interviewee:
{F} = Fred / Ink <>
.............................................................................
= Interview conducted on Tue Oct 17 @ 5:30 PM EST
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
D> Hey everyone out in trax-reader land, I'm here with fred doing a quickie
interview.
F> heya heya
D> So fred, tell us a little about yourself... Name, affils...
F> welp, name's fred (of course) and right now i'm in a little group
called iNK (we just came out with our first pack a couple days ago!)...
D> congrats :)
F> thanks...
D> Umm, where is INK? or are they a spread out group? Where are you from?
F> well, iNK is a group outta Kansas, they're mainly an artist group, but
they wanted to start doing demos, needed musicians, listened to my stuff,
liked it, etc etc...i live in Hampton, Virginia...
D> Hmm... What was the song that got you in with them?
F> well, it was the song that i get the most compliments from, "Bawal"...
D> Ooh, ahh :) I've heard that one :) But I didn't receive it right...
D> Only static.
D> Okay... Umm... What was your first mod?
F> My first one that i really wanna admit to was one called "Funkbeat", i
remember writing that thing at a friend of mine Progenitor's house. I
was runnin back and forth between his room and the living room yelling
"is it cool?? huh? is it? is it??" he said it was like i was on a
crack...:)
D> Hehe :)
D> Umm, what was the MOD that inspired you to trak? How did you start?
F> i think the first mod i ever heard was one called "godzilla", don't
remember the author (not the moby one)...i think that along with a few
others i downloaded on my Tandy Sensation were the ones that inspire me,
i didn't know that you could track, because the only thing that'd run on
my sensation was mod4win, so i couldn't see what was going on. Then
progenitor showed me Scream Tracker and i went crazy from there...:)
D> When exactly did you start tracking? And when did you produce your first
"Decent" mod?
F> well, i started tracking exactly in March of 1994. My first "decent"
mod would probably be one called "Relax at Ion Plus". That was the first
time i got "good" compliments on a tune...
D> when did you produce "funkbeat" and "Relax at Ion Plus" ?
F> well, i'd say funkbeat was done around May of 1994 and ion plus about
November of 94...i sort of slacked off at the beginning of 1995...
D> What kind of musical background do you have? Do you think it helps?
F> i was a music major in a local college (Christopher Newport
University) for about 2 semesters, dropped out (lack of fundage)...plus
i've been playing piano since i was six, learned other instruments on my
own, and played drums in high school. I do think it helps out a lot,
although there ARE a lot of "naturals" out there that just amaze me...
D> I know that when I compare my first MODs to other firsts, I find them
more... Lets say "on key"... :) What were your firsts like?
F> my first one tunes were absolutely horrible. I hated them all, but i
still have them on my machine for some strange reason. I'd say my
first ones were more experimenting with the tracker then anything
"musical"... Before funkbeat, i was writing these piddly little things
that were completely embarassing, but after that and the "semi-decent"
compliments i got, i went crazy. I was pumping out about 1-2 tunes
per day. I think that was my nickname for a while...
D> Yeah, I still have "DAN-1.s3m" on my HD. :)
F> :)
D> When did you start getting more global with all the #trax and stuff?
F> just recently actually...about a month ago, i sort of tentatively
joined #trax to see what was going on. Then about 2 weeks ago, i
distributed my first tune ("Bawal") and it sorta went uphill from
there...:)
D> Wow, so you're relatively new to the decent-tracker-level :)
F> basically, yea, I think it was just a recent development of my style
to actually slow down and work on my tunes then crank them out just
to please myself into thinking that i'm putting out a whole bunch of
tunes.
D> Its not quantity, its quality :)
F> most definately...:)
D> What kind of music do you like to track?
F> well, my style has changed a lot over the past year, it used to be the
fast "demo-ish" style, but has changed within the last few months to a
slower style...
D> Do you find people like the slower stuff more than your demoey stuff?
F> i think it all depends on the individual's taste. The two tunes i
released "net-wide" are "Bawal" and "Farewell"...bawal is the
neo-classical/demo-ish tune and farewell is a slowed piano type tune.
I get compliments from both sides...:)
D> What kind of artists influence you in and outside of the tracking scene?
F> inside the scene, there are a lot of them. I always listen to as many
tunes as i can comin out of it (not to say there's not a lot of crap out
there...:), but i'd have to say my biggest influences were and are skaven
and necros. Love they're styles. As far as outside, i listen to the
radio CONSTANTLY, so i'm always getting ideas from that whenever i drive
around...my biggest influnce outside would have to be U2, they're my
favorite...:)
D> Okay, lets get into more simple, irrelavent Qs. (To ease my thinkload) :)
F> :)
D> If a tree falls in the forest, and no ones around to hear it, could you
sample it?
F> i can't sample crap. I've tried and tried. I'm no good at it..:)
plus the fact i don't have anything to sample with, so i mainly rely on
ripping (which is harsh, but at least i credit the samplers)...:)
D> Oooh! What do you think is the line between ccheesy-ripping and ripping?
F> the most obvious would be when you've got these dummies out there that
leave the original sample name in their sample list. I couldn't believe
it when i saw this once guy's tune that still had "purple motion" in the
sample name. Unbelievable, i mean, yea, i guess that's a credit, but i
prefer leaving a sample credit list. And using UNIQUE samples is a
little cheezy...
D> Hehe, that pisses me off... You see it there and it says "For The EGG3
Music Disk" Or something like that :)
F> exactly!
D> What exactly do you mean by unique?
F> well, you've got those samples out there, like, Purple Motion's looped
techno beat, that get overused. I think i've heard that one in at least
30 different tunes. it's a unique sample that everyone and their brother
knows the origin of...
D> Haha :) Okay enough about sampling :)
F> :) ok...
D> What music/noise is playing in your background?
F> right now, there's a commercial on the radio...:) but, i'm listening
to a classic/new rock station here in the area...FM99 WNOR...:)
D> I love classic rock... Queen, Zepplin... But also the new stuff :)
(NIN...) How about you?
F> same here, i'll listen to anything!! that is, of course, except
country, i just can't stand that stuff...:)
D> Hey whaddya know... A match :) I like everything but country :)
F> cool, that stuff just isn't considered music to me. Bunch of twangy
nasal musicians, complaining about life, but, i digress...
D> :) Over here right now, the Pulp Fiction Soundtrack is playing.
F> i love that stuff, Pulp Fiction is a favorite of mine, along with the
soundtrack...
D> Kewl..
D> I think we've wasted enough space... Wanna say anything?
F> :)
F> well, just wanna say hi to everyone i know and have met in #trax,
benzel, spotz, pfister, kmg, smeghead, basehead, leviathan, dodger,
mercure, etc, etc...and to my local friends primetime, roo, and witch
doctor...hey everybody!!!
D> Well thats it! Bye everyone!
F> thanx...
D> Bye :)
You can find fred's latest stuff at:
ftp.cdrom.com .21/demos/music/songs/s3m/1995/f/fred-bwl.zip
ftp.cdrom.com .21/demos/music/songs/s3m/1995/f/fred-fwl.zip
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-===================================================================-
S O N G R E V I E W S
-===================================================================-
In this section we will suggest some songs available on
ftp.cdrom.com that might otherwise be ignored or perhaps lost due to
the lack of regonition of the composer.
Remember these are the sole opinions of the staff of the
FITC publication and are of course a matter of personal taste.
Thus we will not actually rate the songs, but suggest the ones
we think you'd like to hear most.
We listen to most new music uploads to ftp.cdrom.com. Keep
in mind, we can only download as much as time permits. If you feel
that your song was worthy of being mentioned in this publication, by
all means mail one of us and bitch. We'll justify our selections
a little, but again, it's primarily personal taste.
"Timeless Lullaby" by Mozart of Continuum
Email: jreardon@cygnus.rsabbs.com
Style: Demo/Orchestral Format: S3M
Found: /demos/incoming/music/songs/s3m/timignif.zip
Released: 10-06-95
"Tranquility Within" by Vicious of VSL
Email: mike.kameka@realm.tor250.org
Style: Dance/Ambient Format: XM
Found: /demos/incoming/music/songs/xm/v-trnqil.zip
Released: 08-07-95
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/-[Group Columns]-----------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------/
--[1. Aim Higher]-----------------------------------------------------------
More Unification
----------------
Unification, our second disk, has been out for a week now, and we've
gotten some positive feedback on it thus far. Check it out if you havn't,
it's on ftp.cdrom.com in the \demos\incoming\music\disks\ directory.
We're already working on our next disk, which will be Unification: Volume
2. The aim with this disk is to have the music top the first volume by
helping our members progress. So far things are going quite well. The
player which we intended on releasing in volume 1 should be included
in this upcoming disk.
Several trackers have already volunteered their efforts towards doing
guest songs. If you'd like to contribute in this way, send some email
to either mdark (maz@io.org) or myself (as566@torfree.net).. you don't
have to be an experienced musician, you merely need some recognizable tad
of ability (so that you're music isn't blatently painful). We would
certainly appreciate anything you could do.
We've had one release since the disk - "Tranquility Within" by Vicious
of V.S.L. Vicious is a dance/techno composer who has not yet gained a lot
of noteriety, but who's music has an excellent commercial quality of sound.
Vicious has joined our roster, and we hope to help him develop his music
however we can.
- atlantic [neophyte, aim higher, traxweekly]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--[2. Epinicion Column]-----------------------------------------------------
___ _______ _____________ ______ ______ _______ ______ _______ ___________
| // \\ \\_____) \\_____) \\_____) \\ \\ |
: / o \ o \ \ \ \ \ \ o \ \:
// _____// / \ : / \ _____/ \ / : \.
\\_______/ _//______\\_|__//______\\_____//______\\_____//____| /:
: \\____\\ ______________________________ oT /___//|
|________________________// e p i n i c i o n \\________________|
New songs this week include "Schwa (Soul Traveller)" by Szalemandre.
Epinicion released it's sixth music disk, "BLT" earlier this week,
featuring 42 songs by countless numbers of excellent musicians. You can
find "BLT" on our ftp site, listed below.
Preparations for the Epinicion annual Holiday Music Disk are under way.
Members and guests alike, please submit your holiday tunes to Psibelius
at gwie@owl.csusm.edu (mime or uue), or via IRC-dcc.
NOTICES:
ALL of Epinicion's 1995 releases can be found through ftp at:
kosmic.wit.com /kosmic/epinicion.
The Web Page is now up! http://www.csusm.edu/public/guests/gwie/epi.html
New interface, new graphics, a new look.
Psibelius (Gene Wie)
Epinicion Founder
gwie@owl.csusm.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--[3. eXtreme Terror Corps]-------------------------------------------------
-= X . T . C =-
eXtreme Terror Column
[we still need a cewl ascii ;]
Hi!
And welcome to the second edition of the extreme terror column, i am your
host Ch:ilm, welcome .. ;-) (late show or tonight show? mail me! :-).
About This
==========
Extreme Terror Corps is a Dutch techno group. We release stuff from
Hardcore to Techno, from Rave to Ambient. We're rather new to the
international scene, but we're coming on strong .. :).
What i would like is lotsa email from you. Please drop me a note to
say what you think of me, my group, TW, internet or this column.
I really need feedback cause that's the only way to improve stuff and
keep in touch with YOU. So if you want to write me please do,
there's only a few things i like better than a full mailbox! ;-)
(and programming isn't one of them).
Rumours
=======
there have been rumours that we are about to change the name of the group,
well, all i can say is that i cannot deny nor acknowledge that .. ;-) so
i guess you're gonna have to draw your own conclusion ...
maybe y'all will know more in a couple of months.
New Stuff
=========
DANOIZE
I've heard work of a (beginning) hardcore composer called DANOIZE, you
can leech his work from ftp.cdrom.com in the XM directory. Two of his
files are called DANOIZE.ZIP and DANOIZE2.ZIP. He is rather good, so if
there is anyone out there wanting to support him, leech the files and
mail him: danoize@iaehv.nl
Check out #rave and #gabber on IRC ... he's there all the time.
(And mention my name or he won't know what's happening to him :-).
SPIRITUAL MINDWORKS
is the name of the most talked-about remixproject right now, 12 composers
have remixed i like to move it and the disk is currently being packed.
Only 50% of the songs have been finished but we hope to release it some-
where next week, say before november 1st.
If you want more info you can mail me, or download the file
ftp.cdrom.com/.21/demos/incoming/music/info/smx-inf2.zip.
SMX-INF2.ZIP contains English info also (opposed to smx-inf1 which
contained only dutch info). The info in the files has also been updated
so if you want to belong leech it (now! :-).
EXTREME TERROR DISTRO-SITES
===========================
We search HQ's in all non-european countries exept Brazil. If you're
interested leave mail to outlandm@netland.nl so we can contact you.
Other HQ's are (distro's not listed):
WHQ: dATURa Demoralize +31-77-3872195 {World HQ}
DHQ: EOH XtreeMaN +31-2159-37816 {Dutch HQ}
SHQ: APOCALYPSE SkuNK +41-93317171 {Swiss HQ}
GHQ: GOLDEN IMAGE BriAn +49-603945756 {German HQ}
BHQ: AYRES BOARD AyrEs +55-2143-92170 {Brazil HQ}
http://www.netland.nl/~outlandm/xtc.html (under construction!)
ftp://ftp.uniserve.com/pub/gamesnet/xtc (may not be up yet)
My board is
SL1210 Ch:ilm +31-43-363 8243 and +31-43-363 1724
Sorry for the adds here but it had to be done .. ;-)
Greetz
======
Much respect goes to PRaNCe, PHoNC(ie), Deniax, Extasia & danoize.
And my dear friends Sascha & Arno (packet: cb0sas@bb8bbs.lb.nld.eu).
U2 fans out there be sure to connect my dear friend JINX's homepage:
http://www.iaehv.nl/users/jinx/
He has had over 50,000 hits in a couple of months and is voted
Yahoo best site!! If you dig U2 you dig this one!
Closing words
=============
If you wanna talk to me about anything, DO write me: outlandm@netland.nl
I wanna thank the TW staff, all downloaders of our files and YOU!
May the music be with you.
Ch:ilm/XTC^dBd signing off...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/-[Closing]-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------/
TraxWeekly is available via ftp from
ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos/incoming/news (new issues)
ftp.cdrom.com /pub/demos/news/traxw/ (back issues)
TraxWeekly is also available via WWW from
http://kosmic.wit.com/~kosmic/traxweek
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To subscribe, send mail to: listserver@unseen.aztec.co.za
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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. 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:
TW Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie).................gwie@owl.csusm.edu
Columnists: Island of Reil (Jesse Rothenberg)....jroth@owl.csusm.edu
Mhoram (John Niespodzianski).........niespodj@neonramp.com
Graphics: White Wizard (...)...................aac348@agora.ulaval.ca
WWW Page: Dragunov (Nicholas St-Pierre)........dragunov@info.polymtl.ca
FITC: Atlantic (Barry Freeman).............as566@torfree.net
FITC: DennisC (Dennis Courtney)............dennisc@community.net
FITC Editor: Jtown (Kal Zakath)...................jtownsen@scscva.esc.edu
FITC: Master of Darkness (Todd Andlar).....maz@io.org
TraxWeekly is a HORNET affiliation.
Copyright (c)1995 TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
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