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TraxWeekly Issue 095
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founded march 12, 1995 _| : _____ t r a x w e e k l y # 95
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| TraxWeekly Issue #95 | Release date: 17 Apr 1997 | Subscribers: 908 |
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/-[Introduction]------------------------------------------------------------
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Welcome to TraxWeekly #95.
Well, I've cleared out all of the bounced subscribers again, which now
brings us to a fairly accurate count: around 900 readers. Also, many of
you have probably noticed that TraxWeekly has been appearing on a bi-
weekly basis instead of weekly. Fear not, that isn't permanent. As a
side effect of my university's quarter system, I'm hopping left and right
to finish zillions of problems that surface here and there, and I'm
sufficiently tied down that sometimes the newsletter isn't released.
My apologies...
Our feature article this week comes from Atlantic, one of our few
remaining staff writers. His piece entitled "Synergy in the Music Scene"
is directed at the concept of groups, understanding the cohesion of musical
organizations, and some of the misconceptions about them. I am currently
working on an overview of Nemesis of Cataclysm (formerly of Renaissance)'s
music disk. Hopefully, after clearing out a math midterm this Friday, I'll
be able to get it together for next week's issue. It's coming, nem! =)
Gene Wie (Psibelius)
TraxWeekly Publishing
gwie@csusm.edu
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Letters and Feedback
1. Letter from Evan Korzon
General Articles
2. Synergy in the Music Scene....................Atlantic
Group Columns
3. TMX
Advertisements
Key Legacy
N.O.I.S.E.
Closing
Distribution
Subscription/Contribution Information
TraxWeekly Staff Sheet
/-[Letters and Feedback]----------------------------------------------------
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--[1. Letter from Evan Korzon]----------------------------------------------
A funny thing happened one day while chatting with the #trax'ers...
I noticed the topic saying something about those demo music awards, so
I went to their page (http://www.il.ft.hse.nl/~stefand/dma96fs.html)
and took a look at the winner of the "Best Demo 1996" and "Best 1996,"
which were the same song..."Sweet Dreams" by Elwood. I'm sure you
have heard it. Well, I hadn't heard it before, and when I played it I
noticed that it sounded strangely familiar. I loaded up my trusty FT2
and started up the 5th place winner of ASM96 32ch called "Beyond The
Stars" by ToalNkor and Scarfman (which had been on my hard drive for
some time.) Sure enough the two songs went hand in hand. They are
different in some ways, but not enough not to notice the many many
similarities. I am not quite sure on the actual dates of when the
songs were written..but my songs show "Sweet Dreams" saved on 4/21/96
and "Beyond The Stars" on 7/16/96. Since dates can be easily set and
re-set on a computer, this may not be a valid argument. So, I invite
you to make your own opinions as to the nature of their similarities.
I have no explanation as to why the songs sound like they do. I'd like
for you to have a look yourself.
Here are their locations:
ftp://ftp.fm.org/asm96/32ch/Beystars.zip - "Beyond The Stars"
ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/music/songs/1996/e/elw-swee.zip
- "Sweet Dreams"
I hope you can see what I am talking about. Thanks.
EgLFalcn (SoundGod) - Evan Korzon
eglflcn@goodnet.com
PS: I think it's funny how ToalNkor and Scarfman greet Elwood in their
songtext <g>.
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/-[General Articles]--------------------------------------------------------
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--[2. Synergy in the Music Scene]-------------------------------[Atlantic]--
"Synergy. n. The possibility that merging two individuals can produce
a combined operation of greater ability and strength."
The idea of the "group" in the music scene is well on the way to
dissolving into the depths of complete meaninglessness. And there's
a question that has been driving me crazy: Why? Why are there so
many cheesy, useless, unheard of, sloppy music groups around?
Why do we form music groups? Do we seek approval? Do we seek to control
or to be controlled? Do we simply think, as a friend of mine recently
said, "there's strength in numbers"? If we leave with nothing more than
what we joined with, why do we bother? Is it all just for distribution?
These issues are interconnected, but let's try to consider them
seperately.
I'll be the first to admit that I once only tracked because I wanted to
be respected and admired by those who weren't as good as I was. It's
that simple. Years ago that goal was easily attained. Ie. It's not
difficult being in the top three when there are only two of you. But
as time wore on, that changed. More people came. More talented people
came. Somewhere along the line, somebody said "Hey, if I joined together
with other people, I could be more important." What's more impressive:
Billybob, or Billybob of Skull-Eater Productions? Well, that's a pretty
hurting name, but you get the point. Thus the Imperialist groups
were formed. And believe me, there were lots of them. It's hard for
me to tell exactly how they behaved in other parts of the world, but
I know here in Toronto it was war for a while. "Our group is better
than yours," "You couldn't compose your way out of a wet-paper-bag," etc.
No, that doesn't make sense, but that's the point. This amounted to
survival of the fittest, and there was little or no co-operation
or "synergy" involved.
I could name boatloads of imperialist groups. They characteristically
have a group "leader", the dictator figure, who is always gleefully
announcing the latest member from Outer Mongolia. In their heads they
equate "More Members" with "Popularity" and "Success". Most of the
members probably know pretty much nothing about the others. These days,
they are often spread all over the globe. The group has some unsaid
goal like: "World Domination through the tracking of PC music". Nothing
to be gained here, because there's no communication between people.
Strike one.
Maybe your group just exists because the "leader" has some keen
desire to control others. Somebody thinks it's kewl to have "President"
beside their name in some unread textfile. This sounds trite, but
think about it. I know of at least 2 or 3 local groups that only exist
because some overpowering Dooch got on the phone harping people about
joining his 'leet clan. Give these guys a couple months, and WhAmp,
they're a full-fledged Empire, seeking new lands to conquer. Strike
Two.
I guess the most basic function of a group is distribution, but that
raises a whole seperate issue. Personally, I don't give a rats ass
who hears my music anymore. I just released a disk which I had been
working on for no less than 8 months, but I'm not going to cram it down
anybody's throat. I'll let my friends know where it is, but besides that,
I figure that the people who *want* to get it will seek it out. And if
it's good enough, they will tell their friends, and everything will be
happy and bright and shiny.
But even if you do happen to care about distributing your music, how
much of a difference does a group make? Am I more likely to pick
up Billybob's latest release if it is a "Skull-Eater Productions"
release? Probably not, because that is a brutally bad name. Now this
is where people will likely jump up and say "But what if Billybob
releases his song with the Five Musicians!" Yes, people will be more
likely to pick it up then.
But open your brain a little. Trackers like Necros, Basehead, Jak,
etc, are not popular because they release their music with a "FM-"
prefix. They are liked because they are talented freak'n trackers.
Ask Basehead if he ever *needed* FM (or any other group) to refine
his skills. Strike Three.
And just recently, my eyes were opened to what is probably the real
essence of the matter.
I help to run the Toronto-based group Aim Higher, which was recreated
recently. It was originally conceived to counter-balance all the
sillyness which I'm trying to point out here. The focus in the group
was to be almost entirely on process rather than finished product.
The seniors of the group were to offer musical and technical support
and feedback constantly. Ideally, we have just been aiming to mean
something. The members interract to help each other improve their
skills.
But it wasn't going well at all. The problem was this: nobody was
*taking the time*. Nobody was putting any extra effort in. Nobody
wanted to help anybody else, and nobody really wanted to do the extra
editing work that is crucial to the process of improving music. The
seniors realized that the group was itself dissolving into the air. So
we put our heads together and decided on a more strict policy. Whereas
before the members had no obligation to do anything, they now have a
responsibility to be an active participant in the process. They have
to give some feedback, and they have to listen to the feedback of others.
It's unfortunate, but unless we make it *necessary* for people to help
each other, they won't bother. And they haven't been.
In a word, it is laziness that we are fighting. People track largely
as a hobby - a side interest - whilst they go about their daily affairs.
This is fine and great. People can compose for what ever reason they
want to, and get whatever they want out of it. People can compose
on their touch tone phones for all I care.
But in trying to explain why people would bother to glob together into
music groups, I can't imagine any other explanation other than to
*help one another*. This is an awesome thing when it works, but if
you're not willing to make that *extra effort*, then there's no point
in pretending. What I am getting at, and I'll forgive you if you missed
it, is that you don't need a group to be good.
You need to be good to be good.
___
atlantic, aka b.a.freeman (as566@torfree.net)
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/-[Group Columns]-----------------------------------------------------------
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--[3. TMX - The Music Of A Generation]--------------------------------------
TMX is a music group dedicated to producing high quality dance music using
tracker programs. Since formation in October 1996, we have grown to
18 members, who are:
Admin:
------
KoCaine - kocaine@hotmail.com
Morph - u09is@abdn.ac.uk
RubZ - u05rjf@abdn.ac.uk
Other Members:
--------------
Awakened
Claudio S.M.
DJ Baze
DJ Pioneer
DJ pubert
Ewok
HenriX
Invisible
Kanna
Kentris
MC Dreamer
Martian
Mr Jackass
Sidewinder
sOuP
We're always on the lookout for talented musicians/trackers, so if you
want to join, or want more info on joining, either email one of the admin
mentioned above, or see the group FAQ, presently at
www.abdn.ac.uk/~u05rjf/tmx
At present, we have several songs waiting in the sidelines, ready (or
almost ready) to be released (watch this space) all at once into PD. We're
also about to record a DAT to distribute round several record companies
in the UK, US and Germany, with the aim of getting a CD (or stuff on
vinyl) out before the end of this year. Again, watch this space.
There are occasional rumblings on the group bulletin board and mailing
list about getting together a demo, but so far nobody has had time to
co-ordinate efforts on this front. If anybody out there in reader-land
has experience of programming high quality demos and would like to
join/collaborate with TMX, please get in touch.
Hope to hear from you, and happy tracking,
---
RuBz (u05rjf@abdn.ac.uk) - Admin/Musician of TMX
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~u05rjf
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/-[Advertisements]----------------------------------------------------------
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KEY LEGACY - Online Magazine for the PC Music Scene
"Your Key to the PC Music Scene"
Note: The Magazine will be available ONLINE on the NET, and
in a downloadable version.
Greetings, Young Legacy (www.ipoline.com/~bswmui/yl) is putting
together an Online Magazine for the PC Music Scene. We are hoping it will
provide up to date information about the PC Music Scene. It will be
designed for both the people in the scene and the ones who have no idea
what the scene is. Each issue will contain articles about the scene,
updates on groups, and notification of special events.
Articles: - general topics about the scene (ex. .IT versus .XM)
- interviews
Updates on Groups: - Up to date information on who is doing what
- what each group is planning on doing in the future
Special Events: - notification of any special events happening in the
scene (ex. compo, party)
- general information about the event, who to contact,
and a link to the event's homepage (if applicable).
If you are interested in publishing an article, providing updates
about groups, or want to notify people about a special event please email
Ice Cool either on The Virtual Warehouse BBS if you are in the Toronto area,
or at icecool@ipoline.com on the Internet.
NOTE: if you are planning on publishing an article please submit
your topic for approval. This is to avoid having more than
one article for a topic.
The first issue of Key Legacy is scheduled to be placed online at
the end of April 1997. It is not determined yet whether the magazine will
be bi-monthly or quarterly, it all depends on the response we receive for
this first issue. However, updates about groups will be put online as soon
as we receive them so that people can stay informed. As the magazine
grows, we hope to eventually have Top 10 Charts, compo's, and any other
things that we think people will like.
NOTE: If you would like to get your name on our mailing list.
Please send e-mail to icecool@ipoline.com.
Young Legacy hopes that this magazine will help set the standard for
any online magazines that come after it.
- Young Legacy
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+========[ www.noisemusic.org ]=========+
| New Objectives In Sound Exploration |
+--------------=[ NOISE ]=--------------+
|.......................................|
|.....we are one of the best music......|
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|.....::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......|
|.....!new music disk released by!......|
|.....!stereoman on April 25 1997!......|
|.....::::::::::::::::::::::::::::......|
+---------------------------------------+
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The staff can be reached at the following:
Editor: Psibelius (Gene Wie)..............gwie@csusm.edu
Staff: Atlantic (Barry Freeman)..........as566@torfree.net
Mage (Glen Dwayne Warner).........gdwarner@rocochet.net
Friend: Zinc (Justin Ray).................rays@direct.ca
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Cruel Creator, Stezotehic, Squidgalator2, White Wizard
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Copyright (c)1995,1996,1997 - TraxWeekly Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
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