http://c64mags.untergrund.net/wiki/index.php?title=Domination_08_Demo_Reviews_2&feed=atom&action=historyDomination 08 Demo Reviews 2 - Revision history2024-03-28T12:41:40ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.19.0http://c64mags.untergrund.net/wiki/index.php?title=Domination_08_Demo_Reviews_2&diff=5414&oldid=prevYmgve at 20:18, 8 June 20102010-06-08T20:18:41Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div><pre>---------------------------------------<br />
* Demo reviews 2 *<br />
---------------------------------------<br />
Presenting once again the reviews section on the<br />
scenes legal releases.<br />
This time hosted by Metal/Vibrants/Camelot.<br />
Since the death of Skyhigh I didn't think I would do any<br />
more articles - but, then out of the blue came Jazzcat<br />
and asked me to conduct some reviews for the<br />
Domination magazine.<br />
As I like Domination and regard it as the only competitor<br />
for Relax magazine (Hi Timo!), I had no long thoughts<br />
about starting to write articles.<br />
<br />
Enough about that - I'm back and here's what this is all<br />
about - on with the reviews!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Review of the music demo:<br />
BONDAGE<br />
by<br />
CREST<br />
<br />
Featuring music from Mitch + Dane of HYPE! and Crest.<br />
Reviewed by Metal of Vibrants.<br />
<br />
The music-compilation was created mainly by Mitch and<br />
Dane and was released in Autumn of 1996, thus it's<br />
about time someone bothered to review this darn thing.<br />
<br />
The demo starts with the by now wellknown sticky-man<br />
which signatures that this is indeed a Crest production<br />
Anyway, you get to choose between the demo itself and<br />
an included note. Well, I'm most interested in the lurking<br />
contents of the demo, so I hit the '1' key. Some chords<br />
turn up and I get a little feeling of some 80's<br />
instrumentation (a bit Rob'ish actually) - quite moody.<br />
Shortly after a powerful bass hits and takes over the<br />
action, which carries over into some classical chords<br />
with a typical Jeroen Tel lead. I later found out that<br />
this was actually the beginning of the first tune<br />
"Maine".<br />
The screen shifts to the main screen which is rather<br />
boring to look at, even though the colorcycling plasma<br />
or whatever it is (coding is not for me!) looks ok.<br />
Anyway, the "plasma" runs in a regtagular square, and<br />
on top is written the titlesof each of the 5 tunes.<br />
The tune currently playing is highlighted.<br />
Anyway - on with the review - even though I think I<br />
should remark that this review is based on the fact<br />
that Mitch+Dane are perhaps the best team composing<br />
on the C64 these days, so instead of praising their<br />
music I've focused on what could have been different<br />
to add that 4th dimension to the music.<br />
On with the show..<br />
<br />
"MAINE" is the first tune, and as I said before it's kind<br />
of a classical tune with a touch of Jeroen Tel (the lead)<br />
The tune itself is very well composed, but I think the<br />
lead has a few soft spots which I think doesn't suit it<br />
very well. As a point the lead makes a little squeak off<br />
like a blues-lead, which I really think should have been<br />
left out. Oh well, besides that little thing I think it's a<br />
good tune! Using my own little review-system, which I<br />
also used while writing for Skyhigh, I will give this<br />
tune:<br />
Style: 90/100 - Skills: 85/100 - Sounds: 90/100<br />
Overall: 88 1/3 of 100.<br />
<br />
"Drown me in love" is the next tune. I had heard some of<br />
this tune before, as Mitch usually sends me lots of<br />
worktunes - and knowing Mitch+Dane's work as I do,<br />
I think this tune is very typical for the 2 of them.<br />
It's because of a funky tune which has some really<br />
catchy chords and a fairly good lead. I'm ofcourse<br />
here to do some critics, so I'll do that.<br />
I think the lead instrument is way to squeaky - and<br />
together with the echos it sounds quite annoying really<br />
The bass sometimes shifts filter-settings, which in<br />
some cases sounds ok, but as with most things you<br />
have to know when it sounds good and when it doesn't -<br />
unfortunately this tune has a few of those shifts<br />
which doesn't sound that good. The lead itself has some<br />
parts which I think is too messy, but still I think that<br />
this tune requires these ratings:<br />
Style: 90/100 - Skills: 80/100 - Sound: 80/100<br />
Overall: 83 1/3 of 100.<br />
<br />
"Miranda" is up next - and here we have a genuine<br />
lovesong ;) Anyway, this is a very well composed tune,<br />
which has a kind of pop'ed jazz style. The rhythm and<br />
the chords make a fine harmony, which at first may<br />
sound a bit strange for the usual techno-listener, but<br />
as we all know - listen and learn is the thing to do.<br />
The lead is also very relaxed and you can almost<br />
imagine some fancy fake-that singer singing the lead<br />
while the crowd of 14 year old girls scream in the<br />
background... hmm.. well, seriously this is a tune, which<br />
could easily be converted to real-life, even though I<br />
would probably have made those breaks differently:<br />
Style: 85/100 - Skills: 85/100 - Sound: 85/100<br />
Overall: 85/100.<br />
"Liptoman" is next. This tune is quite funky and reminds<br />
me of some old danish tv-series called: "En by i<br />
provinsen" - it has some of that mellow feeling that<br />
characterises a detective in his hard work trying to<br />
break the next case with the help of a whiskey bottle.<br />
Anyway, I think the title is a bit off, as I don't really<br />
imagine myself sipping to a cup of Lipton-tea and<br />
feeling like this tune. Oh well, I'm a coffee addict, so I<br />
might be a bit prejudistic about that, so let's get on<br />
with the tune. I think this is the best tune of the bunch<br />
it's close to being perfect performed. The lead is not<br />
too exagerated at any point in time, which both Drax<br />
and Jeroen Tel tend to do on the PC these days (my<br />
opinion). It also has something very important IMO -<br />
namely an easily recognised theme which is so<br />
important in the more mainstream funk-music, which<br />
Mitch+Dane stands for. The funk-style is not rarely<br />
seen, even though techno takes over more and more,<br />
so my ratings are these:<br />
Style: 90/100 - Skills: 95/100 - Sounds: 85/100<br />
Overall: 90/100.<br />
"Winona" - last tune in the pack. My first thoughts<br />
were: "Oh? Did they convert a Laxity tune?", because<br />
it sounded a lot like a tune Laxity would have done.<br />
Hell, even the instruments were the same - perhaps<br />
not the lead, but still. The tune is a very laid back pop<br />
tune with an emotional feeling.<br />
I'd say that this is a very good performed tune - in<br />
almost every way. As in some of the other tunes, I think<br />
the lead is a bit too squeaky, which I think is a matter<br />
of taste.. so, these are the ratings:<br />
Style: 85/100 - Skills: 90/100 - Sound: 95/100<br />
Overall: 90/100.<br />
<br />
This concludes the review of the main part of Bondage<br />
but as there was note included in the demo, we should<br />
also take a look at that. We reload the demo again, and<br />
press "2" for the note..<br />
The note looks unlike most other notes included in<br />
various demos and such. It's good to see that people<br />
still bother to do a nice designed noter for their<br />
productions instead ofjust using some of the noters<br />
available everywhere. The tune playing here is<br />
Mitch+Dane's conversion of Drax's adlib tune "Bus",<br />
and if I may say this tune is very very good, not only<br />
because Drax did it, but because Mitch+Dane<br />
converted it so well, that it sounds better than the<br />
original! I know Drax also liked this c64 version alot,<br />
so I see no other reason than to give this a total of:<br />
Style: 90/100 - Skills: 90/100 - Sound: 100/100<br />
Overall: 93 1/3 of 100.<br />
<br />
In the note Mitch+Dane write their own ratings to each<br />
tune - these ratings are:<br />
<br />
"Maine" 4.3 / 5 - 86 percent<br />
"Drown me in love" 3.5 / 5 - 70 percent<br />
"Miranda" 4.0 / 5 - 80 percent<br />
"Liptonman" 4.6 / 5 - 92 percent<br />
"Winona" 3.8 / 5 - 76 percent<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
My rating:<br />
"Maine" 88 1/3 percent + 2 1/3<br />
"Drown me in love" 83 1/3 percent + 13 1/<br />
"Miranda" 85 percent + 5 percent<br />
"Liptonman" 90 percent - 2 percent<br />
"Winona" 90 percent + 14 percent<br />
<br />
Hmm, it seems as if I have rated the tunes somewhat<br />
higher than they themselves did. Oh well, the composer<br />
is always the worst critic ;) That concludes this review.<br />
If you haven't checked this music-demo out yet - go<br />
and do so immediately!<br />
<br />
Review of the music from the music-competition at:<br />
<br />
THE PARTY 6<br />
<br />
Reviewed by Metal of Vibrants<br />
<br />
First of all I'd like to say that each review of the music<br />
that participated at The Party 6 was written while<br />
listening to that particular tune.<br />
<br />
"ANAL'OGUE" by Jeff/HYPE!/Camelot<br />
Another quadro-speed hardboiled techno-tune from<br />
Jeff. It's only fair to say that Jeff is the man behind<br />
the absolute best techno-music produced on a c64!<br />
This tune is no exception from the usual stuff Jeff<br />
makes - it's very pulsating and has a lot of great<br />
analogue effects, including a hard 303-like base and<br />
new plings and noises I have never heard on a C64.<br />
The tune itself is simple as with all other techno, but<br />
it's actually quite varied as the beat is not just<br />
stomping away - the snare-markings are heavily<br />
influenced by the jungle-style and I believe that Jeff<br />
used some shuffling in his tune, judging from the beat.<br />
I must say I find it very hard to believe that this tune<br />
only came 4th in the competition..<br />
Style: 80/100 - Skills: 95/100 - Sound: 100/100<br />
Overall: 91 2/3 of 100.<br />
<br />
<br />
"GLORIA" by Mitch+Dane/HYPE!/Crest<br />
The first sequences of this tune are converted from<br />
the pc-tune "stranglehold", which Jeroen Tel made<br />
using only sinus-samples.<br />
I think the conversion together with the rest of the<br />
tune, which btw, is also kind of a conversion as Mitch<br />
had done some sequences of the tune on PC before<br />
doing this tune with Dane. However, the finished result<br />
sounds a lot better on the C64 than the PC version did<br />
I found it a bit too odd even though it's very Jarre'ish<br />
(not the lead!). The tune has a lot of nice melodic<br />
passages which I guess is also why it won the compo -<br />
it's also somewhat inspired by Jeroen Tel I think,<br />
expecially the way the chords play the melody and the<br />
echo on the lead in the breaks must have been some<br />
what inspired by the tune Jeroen Tel did for the intro<br />
in Blackmail's demo "Dutch Breeze". However, I think<br />
that if Jeroen had made a similar tune, this one would<br />
be better, as it's really quite good!<br />
Style: 90/100 - Skills: 90/100 - Sound: 90/100<br />
Overall: 90/100.<br />
"SLAPPED BASS" by Fuben/Oxyron<br />
Another Drax like tune from Fuben. The tune is in the<br />
style, which Drax usually makes his funky stuff -<br />
Fuben tries to copy this and I can quickly conclude that<br />
he's not even close to the real thing. Even though<br />
Fuben has made some nice chords and breaks - not to<br />
mention a very jazzy lead, he's made one huge mistake,<br />
and that's to add some air in between all the solos!<br />
Also some more variation in the sequences is needed -<br />
the same chords simply play for much too long.. and<br />
with that lead just jumping around on those blue notes<br />
it gets kinda messy. I must say however, that<br />
comparing to the Drax like tune Fuben competed with at<br />
The Party 5, this tune is way better. So, Fuben - you've<br />
come a bit closer, but still you're far away.. why not<br />
try to create something that is really 'you' - develop<br />
yourself and you'll find that you might want to do stuff<br />
different from what Drax would do. It sounds like you<br />
have the potential and the "ear" to go further!<br />
Style: 80/100 - Skills: 80/100 - Sound: 80/100<br />
Overall: 80/100.<br />
"FRUIT FEST DONE" by Simple/Role<br />
The intention was to make a funny and happy tune, and<br />
that was partly achieved, but geez.. those chords!!<br />
Argh... they play way off the melody! I have no further<br />
words than.. go find a music-theory book ASAP!<br />
Style: 60/100 - Skills: 30/100 - Sound: 60/100<br />
Overall: 50/100.<br />
<br />
"COMPOTUNE 1" by Eco/Excess<br />
This tune starts off very icely with some sinus-like<br />
plings carrying a nice tune, but ofcourse he had to<br />
ruin it with a false chord. Anyway, I though this was<br />
going to be very atmospheric tune, and then that<br />
terrible kick-drum sets in.. well, euro-techno it is, and<br />
besides a few errors it sounds fairly ok - the snare<br />
drum sounds rather interesting. Well, as it turns out I<br />
was right about the tune being atmospheric after all -<br />
the tune would suit a magazine or demo quite well I think<br />
Actually I like it more after a few times. You did ok, Eco.<br />
Style: 70/100 - Skills: 65/100 - Sound: 80/100<br />
Overall: 71 2/3 of 100.<br />
"SPACE DREAM" by Idefix/Smash Design<br />
Errr... techno-music sounding like it was made in<br />
Future Composer. This is total crap. Full of annoying<br />
shifts and erros... geez... I can't even hear this to the<br />
end.<br />
Style: 50/100 - Skills: 25/100 - Sound: 10/100<br />
Overall: 28 1/3 of 100.<br />
<br />
"FIVE PEOPLE IN A FORD FIESTA" by Bordeaux/Acrise<br />
Considering Bordeaux had help from Eco/Ecess, I<br />
still think this tune is helplessly annoying! I know<br />
Bordeaux likes PVCF's music a lot, but comparing this<br />
to any of the work PVCF did, I prefer PVCF's techno<br />
over this, and bear in mind how much I can't stand PVCF<br />
music.. puke.. When I first saw the results from TP6<br />
and saw that Bordeaux came 2nd I wondered if perhaps<br />
he had done something new and innovative (coz I<br />
actually DO like techno and trance - even the hard<br />
stuff!), but then Mitch tells me about a certain guy<br />
fixing a lot of votes and thereby secure himself a high<br />
position. Well, Bordeaux, those tricks might work at a<br />
party, but it sure as hell won't affect my review -<br />
this tune is nothing special, and infact if someone<br />
cared to do a conversion of this and turn it into a<br />
real song I find it hard to believe that it would sound<br />
good...<br />
Style: 50/100 - Skills: 40/100 - Style: 40/100<br />
Overall: 43 1/3 of 100.<br />
<br />
"SVERIGE" by Cyberbrain/No Name<br />
A load of hardcore samples put together in order to<br />
create a tune.. well, they DID make a tune, and it sounds<br />
ok too, but come on.. this is not the PC - samples suck<br />
on a C64, but someone still hasn't figured that out.<br />
I admit that the sample quality is good, but still I think<br />
that this is not at all what C64 music competition is all<br />
about.. since this tune is all samples, I find no use for<br />
the ratings.<br />
Overall: n/a.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"NITRO" by Soney/Smash Design<br />
Another techno-like tune which sounds like it was made<br />
with Future Composer... what's with those Smash-guys?<br />
Well, this tune is no exception from the other Smash<br />
tune - it's full of harmonic errors which make it hard<br />
to listen to without feeling that ache in your stomach..<br />
burp..<br />
Style: 50/100 - Skills: 50/100 - Sound: 50/100<br />
Overall: 50/100.<br />
<br />
This concludes the reviews of the music from TP6.<br />
As usual I end this by putting up a table which shows the<br />
tune's position in the original TP6 results - and besides<br />
that I put the positions compiled from my overall<br />
ratings. Usually I get a totally different result than the<br />
original, but then again - this is just my opinion..<br />
<br />
On the next page is the chart, with the number in the<br />
brackets showing the results from TP6.<br />
<br />
<br />
1. (4) "Anal'ogue" by Jeff/HYPE/Cml - 91 2/3 perc.<br />
2. (1) "Gloria" by Mitch+Dane/HYPE/Crest - 90 perc.<br />
3. (3) "Slapped Bass" by Fuben/Oxyron - 80 perc.<br />
4. (7) "Compo tune 1" by Eco/Excess - 71 2/3 perc.<br />
5. (14) "Fruit Fest Done" by Simple/Role - 50 perc.<br />
(12) "Nitro" by Soney/Smash Design -50 perc.<br />
6. (2) "F.p.i.a.f.f." by Bordeaux/Acrise - 43 1/3 perc.<br />
7. (15) "Space Dream" by Idefix/Smash - 28 1/3 perc.<br />
n/a (11) "Sverige" by Cyberbrain/NoName - n/a.<br />
<br />
It seems I pushed Mitch+Dane off the number 1 spot -<br />
I think it was caused by the score I gave Jeff for his<br />
sound, but his sound his really quite unique. I think we<br />
all know why Bordeaux ended up at 7.. If we look at the<br />
rest of the tunes I think the positions are approx. the<br />
same.<br />
<br />
Yours;<br />
Torben<br />
Metal/Vibrants<br />
<br />
</pre></div>Ymgve