Chipmusic • Demoscene • Releases • Retro Gods

Firing Up by Maniacs of Noise

Firing Up by Maniacs of Noise

Firing Up” is a international collaboration featuring 4 members of “Maniacs of Noise”: Jeroen Tel (NL), Mick Rippon (AU), Thomas Mogensen (DK) and Thomas Egeskov Petersen (DK).

Feel the energy of vintage retro game music combined with the precision of modern production values. A scene-inspired journey of Epic proportions.

via Firing Up by Maniacs of Noise on SoundCloud

Amiga • C64 • Music Artists

Chris Hülsbeck’s “Symphonic Shades” reprint

 

symphonic_shades_artworkOne of my favourite composers of the C64 and Amiga eras, creator of marvelous soundtracks like the one for the game Giana Sisters, the amazing Turrican series soundtracks  and the guy who made the first computer sequencer we all call “tracker” (so you owe him a damn lot), has released his record “Symphonic Shades” some time ago, to a mass of hungry fans who got it on “sold out” status sooner than you can identify yet another boring Game Boy square wave. The tracks are rearranged by legend demoscener Mr. Purple Motion as well so this is something worth giving a listen. How would compositions made with chipmusic or chiptune techniques change when performed on “legacy” instruments? Is the composition really that good or does the gimmick of chipmusic give it its only appeal? You should find the answers to these questions checking out this CD (while you make them too about your music).

So, now on reprint, here’s your chance to grab this record. Let’s read the blurb:

With its transparent standard-tray the new edition is lower priced 17.95 instead of 22.00 Euro than the first edition. All other details incl. CD content and the extensive booklet with interview, photos and artwork are identical.

The CD presents all songs of the concert performed in August 2008 in Cologne, which was a world-premiere: Minimalist homecomputer sounds turned into arrangements for 120 musicians of orchestra and choir – a complete symphonic concert dedicated to the works of one video game musician exclusively. The name of this person is Chris Huelsbeck, whos regarded as legend among enthusiasts for his music in game classics of the C64- and Amiga-homecomputer era such as “Giana Sisters” or “Turrican”. The songs were rearranged by demoscene legend Jonne Valtonen aka Purple Motion / Future Crew, director was Grammy-winning artist Arnold Roth.

My friend The C-Men has a similar project with Jeroen Tel, the C64 Orchestra, where they have repurposed Jeroen and Rob Hubbard’s tunes using an orchestral arrangement. You should check that one out too

 

Head over to MAZ SOUNDS to preview and purchase this CD. 

via C64,sk.

C64 • Visual Artists

The X’2008 demoparty: All releases online!

Booze Design raises the bar for tech achievement on a C64 demo.

So, another X party has finished! This milestone of the C64 scene has delivered some of the best productions of the last years, as always. Let’s have some of the official blurb:

“13 years of X parties, 10 years at the farm, the 9th X in total and still going strong. Who would’ve thought.

The biannual c64-only event in rural Netherlands has been one of its kind in 8-bit partyland. Not only do you get brilliant demo/graphics/music competitions, but you also get a nice bed, hot showers, proper food, breakfast and all the beer, soft drinks, tea and coffee you can drink.
For the competitions and performances you can count on a high quality big screen and audio equipment to keep the cows awake.”

The stream of releases is BIG, as always the C64 scene proves to be one of the most productive in the demoscene, and the quality bar is usually quite high. This party has seen the release of the tech-groundbreaking demo “Edge of Disgrace” by Booze Design, which has raised the bar for C64 demo tech quality very, very high. I can’t wait for X’2010 when this demo should be surpassed by a new one :)

Other personal favourites are Pearls for Pigs from Xenon, and My Beauty from Fairlight (featuring music by mr. Goto80)

On the music side, I can recommend to give a listen to the tunes by Randall and Fanta.

All the info comes thanks to the Commodore Scene Database!
Here are the final listings with CSDb rankings and links to vote/comment/download the prods:
Continue reading The X’2008 demoparty: All releases online!