subi, formerly known as subculture, an english demo-scener through and through, is probably
best known for his fiercely cultish breakbeat .MOD releases on mono and monotonik and his early work for eoc1999, as well as later releases in desire and axis. nowadays, he works as a video-game coder
in the UK.
MODs In Memoriam is proud to present a
complete subi .MOD-ography, commented on by the man himself. omissions and comments to subi at subi@gameart.com.
[NB - don't want to click to download each of these tunes individually? click HERE
to grab every single .MOD on this page in one ZIP (9.02mb).]
| "Wannabe (Spiceman remix)" |
| 01/04/97 [04:33] |
Released by No'Mo on the "Lost In Spice" EP, credited to the name Isub.
Also released as an MP3 on "The Rave-O-Lution Has Been Terrorised". |
|
A remix of the Spice Girls classic (?), this was originally written as part of a remix project that was h0l's idea of celebrating Mono's first birthday. In the end, only two tracks (this and Dharma's remix of "Two Become One") appeared, so h0l put them out under No'Mo (who you knew was us, didn't you? ;). A take-off of the Chemical Brothers, this has all the melody and chord sequences of "Wannabe", just played in a different style. And this version has a different sample at the end to the one that was released (you coward h0l! ;).
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| Wannabe (Spiceman remix) (ZIP) |
| "My Favourite Song" |
| ??/??/96-98 [05:18] |
Not previously released. |
|
TECHNOHEAD! ;) A Gabba tune I started a good year before the date I finished it. I never sent this one to h0l, it's just not a mono211 tune, but I love it. Not so much Dutch Gabba, more the variant which evolved in the UK, particularly Scotland. Mindless fun using Ren & Stimpy samples and the same chord samples I used in "Nuurswaashoo", which was on the mono211 "End Of An Era" LP.
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| My Favourite Song (ZIP) |
| "Schrike" |
| 22/04/96 [08:15] |
Edited version released as an MP3 on "The Rave-O-Lution Has Been Terrorised". |
|
The only tune of mine ever to be actually rejected by h0l for Mono (the other unreleased tunes I wrote during this period I never intended for Mono). Proto-Drum & Bass/Trancecore, it's the longest tune I've even written, and the length of the intro was what h0l says made him reject it (Mono was a lot less breakbeat orientated in those
days, h0l released anything he considered to be "dance music" that he thought was good). The weird effects that play in the background are from a Doctor Who sounds effects LP, the deep noise with bells being from "The Sisterhood Of Karn" and the series of high pinging noises is from "Masque Of Mandagora". I can't believe I can remember that. ;)
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| Schrike (ZIP) |
| "500Dethztomp" |
| ??/01-03/96 [06:14] |
Not previously released. |
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This was one I wrote just before h0l told me he was forming Mono (as it was back then), and was a candidate for release under that label. However, sanity prevailed, which at least allowed me to reuse the bass guitar samples (taken from Urban Dance Squad's "Demagogue") in "Sikm'skaalikik", and the whooshing effect at the start of "Uthfkisubi". The title, fairly obviously, is one of my first expressions of the death of the A500 as a viable format. I've not got much else to say about this tune, I didn't even leave any messages in the sampletext, hence the vagueness of the date.
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| 500Dethztomp (ZIP) |
| "Seven Year Kitch" |
| 06/01/96 [05:04] |
Not previously released. |
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Okay, I know I spelt "Kitsch" wrong, okay? The title is a reference to the band Seven Year Bitch, and the fact that I was writing a somewhat traditional Amiga tune seven years after I first started writing music. I'm famous for my slow workrate (averaging about 10 tunes a year), but this takes the prize. I actually started it some time in 92 and only finished it four years later. I can't remember where I got the original idea from, but this version is inspired by
"Loops Of Infinity" by Cosmic Baby. I had a brief flirtation with the Sven Vath style of playing Jarre-esque music at about twice the speed with heavy drums behind it, and this is the result. This was probably a candidate for Mono's initial releases, but I can't remember. The "Yip-Man" reference in the sampletext is just me playing with the idea of having multiple personalities for writing in different styles. Not something I stayed with. ;)
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| Seven Year Kitch (ZIP) |
| "I'm The Limit" |
| ??/??/95-96 [06:13] |
Not previously released. |
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This is another written during my short time in Axis (after Desire all but fell apart - they're back again now though ;), and another candidate for release by Mono. h0l's always said he likes my Happy Hardcore tunes, but just doesn't feel they fit into Mono's style. As it happens, I agree with him on this point. And he DID release UPW002-A as "Space Junkie". The speech in this one, and the bassline under it, are from a Force Mass Motion tune called "Listen Up", and this is the final (so far ;) use of THOSE piano samples...
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| I'm The Limit (ZIP) |
| "UPW001-A" |
| ??/??/94-95 [05:38] |
Not previously released. |
| "UPW001-B" |
| ??/??/94-95 [05:46] |
Not previously released. |
| "UPW002-A" |
| 05/01/95 [05:58] |
Released as "Space Junkie" by Mono (release #9). |
| "UPW002-B" |
| ??/??/95 [06:04] |
Not previously released. |
| "UPW003-A" |
| ??/??/95 [06:31] |
Not previously released. |
| "UPW003-B" |
| ??/??/95 [06:08] |
Not previously released. |
| "UPW005-B" |
| ??/??/95 [06:11] |
Not previously released. |
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Apologies, I can't be bothered to write the same thing seven times, so one explanation is all you're getting. ;) These seven tunes are part of a project of mine I proposed to Desire, and later to Axis, called "Uplift War" (originally known as "Space Junkie", which was actually one of my original handles). UPW was to be a series of musicdisks, kind of like the "Nix Miz Mee" series, with two tracks to
a disk (hence the comparatively huge size of the modules). Once the first was coded, the idea was to change the graphics and reuse the code for the next one, essentially a demopack for modules which foreshadowed the emergence of module-only music groups on the PC (h0l formed Mono to be the first Amiga module-crew after being in Kosmic).
The original idea for the project came from the Naughty Naughty series of bootlegs that were incredibly popular on the Happy Hardcore scene, which took well-known early 90s classics, sped them up and stuck a breakbeat behind them. The complete list of samples I used goes like this:
|
UPW001-A: "High" - Hyper-Go-Go
UPW001-B: "Pressure Us" - Sunscream
UPW002-A: "Neebro" - Mukkaa & "Feel The Fury" - NRG
UPW002-B: "Liberation" - Liberation & "Nush (Nosh not Nush mix)" - Nush
UPW003-A: "Insanity" & "Controlling Me" - Oceanic
UPW003-B: "Ride On Time" - Black Box
UPW005-B: "Thank Ya" - Sweet D
|
|
(UPW004-A to UPW005-A were never completed) In the end, the project never occurred (what happened Nik? ;), despite h0l's enthusiasm, although UPW002-A was released 18 months later by Mono under the name "Space Junkie". I was surprised when he did, as none of these are exactly what you'd call original. But he once described UPW002-A as "the greatest dance module ever written", so who am I to argue? ;)
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| UPW001-A (ZIP) |
| UPW001-B (ZIP) |
| UPW002-A (ZIP) |
| UPW002-B (ZIP) |
| UPW003-A (ZIP) |
| UPW003-B (ZIP) |
| UPW005-B (ZIP) |
| "Hysterisis" |
| 19/09/94 [04:30] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
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WHY this didn't get released I have no idea, but it's entirely my fault. Christine de la Queen had asked me for a tune for the Trance edition of the "Sound" series of musicdisks that Spoon were putting out at the time (I'd previously sent her "Phukstapozishun", but she thought it didn't really fit). I wrote the tune, and then I DIDN'T SEND IT! WHY NOT?! ARRGH! I guess it was just one of those bouts of laziness that hits me now and again. Shame, because this is a nice little Trance tune, and under 80K, which was VERY unusual for me, as by this time I'd started ignoring size limits in favour of using better samples. Ironic when much of my popularity in mono211 stemmed from the fact that I was lo-fi!
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| Hysterisis (ZIP) |
| "Spaedophilia" |
| 29-30/08/94 [05:24] |
Not previous released. |
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Dodgy title I will admit. Lord knows what I was thinking at the time. In my defence, I will state that I spent much of my childhood in hospitals, not because there was anything wrong with me, but because my mother's a children's nurse. A paediatric one in other words, and THAT'S where the title comes from. It's just a word. Anyone trying to make a link to the fact that I like Anime is just
asking to have the shit beaten out of them. In retrospect I should've called this tune "SpaedIATRIC". I like this one, which I originally wrote for a trackmo Nik was coding. Happy tune, it almost foreshadowed what Happy Hardcore turned into in 95. The main sample is from the intro to the Pet Shop Boy's "Opportunities".
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| Spaedophilia (ZIP) |
| "Sukcorperatdik" |
| 12/08/94 [04:57] |
Released as an MP3 on "The Rave-O-Lution Has Been Terrorised". |
|
Another one I've just had to fix in FastTracker because of the problem with the 9XX command. Tongue firmly in cheek on this track, with me paying homage to Gabba labels such as Roughneck and Knorr with their seminal tracks such as "Don't Fuck With A Roughneck", "Fuck You", "Fuck Up" and "I'm The Fuck You Man". Most of Roughneck and Knorr's output was written by one man, who usually went under the
pseudonym Juggernaut. I can't remember his real name. I've always had a soft spot for Gabba, although I was never comfortable with the racist accusations levelled against the whole genre. At least Mokum Records used to put "United Gabbas AGAINST racism & fascism" on all their covers, and there were several black artists writing Gabba so they can't all've been bad.
h0l called this "original", and there certainly weren't many modules like this being written in 94. ;) I remember also dedicating this track to Twilight, who was the first in our little circle to get a job in computer games. ;) The "Satan's Cock" speech is from one of Bill Hick's stand-up routines, and there's a fair bit of influence from the Joey Beltram remix of Therapy?'s "Trigger Inside". The breakbeat (unusual in a Gabba track) is actually from Espiritu's "Francisca", played at about twice the speed. ;)
Point of interest: Paul Elstak (one of Rotterdam Records' main players) used to take tracks from UK Happy Hardcore labels, replace the breakbeats with a 4/4, speed them up a bit and release them as his own work. Bastard. This led to Kniteforce and Remix Records putting the phrase "No unauthorised thievery (including you Mr Elstak)" on all their releases...
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| Sukcorperatdik (ZIP) |
| "Elsewhere" |
| 18/04/94 [03:41] |
Not previously released. |
|
THIS was cool, despite THOSE piano samples again. To my knowledge I was one of the first Amiga musicians to start really using vocals as a part of the tune, rather than just as effects. Not a common practice back then, due to the huge amount of memory decent-quality samples took up. The vocals are sung by Penny Ford, from the B-side
of a Snap single. I think the tune was called "See The Light" or something. And the bloke is Tom Baker, as Doctor Who, from "Genesis Of The Daleks". The tune is very Moby (circa "Next Is The E" - renamed as "I Feel It" in the UK) influenced, pop-techno, and I was, and still am, pleased with it. I kept going back to the use of large swathes of vocals, particularly after joining Mono ("Gravity Chick", "Wyrchyk" et al).
|
| Elsewhere (ZIP) |
| "Castlemorten" |
| 17-18/04/94 [04:31] |
Not previously released. |
|
HAAARDCOOORE! This is one of h0l's favourite tunes of mine, and still is as far as I know. NEARLY got released by Mono in its early days, I'd actually written it two years before that. About the time the criminal charges of "noise pollution" against Spiral Tribe and the other sound systems involved in the huge unauthorised rave at Castlemorten in '92 were finally dropped. Sadly this didn't stop the Criminal Justice Bill though. And it uses the same piano sample as just about every piano tune I've ever written. Yes, THOSE.
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| Castlemorten (ZIP) |
| "Nostalgia" |
| 15-16/04/94 [05:31] |
Not previously released. |
|
I've just gone through this tune in FastTracker, fixing the use of the 9XX command, which even SurfSmurf's Oldsk00l plugin doesn't handle (you may have noticed that "Sikm'skaalikik" and "Uthfkisubi" have the same problem). Written just before "Castlemorten", and one of Giz's favourite tunes of mine, this is a slightly less fierce track, following the old Hardcore tradition of taking a riff from a
tune and sticking a breakbeat behind it (the same one as "Nasty Buzzy Noise" to be exact). The tune I chose in this case was New Order's "Regret", an odd choice, but the tune suited my mood at the time. Then, like now, I'd been looking back at my old modules and the line "It's nothing I regret" pretty much summed things up.
That was five years ago, exactly half-way between now and the start of my module-writing career, and I'm doing the same thing, looking back at the tunes I've written, whilst transferring them over to my PC. This tune seems far more relevant today as I write this, and
it's a far sadder occasion because I've got a horrible feeling that I'll never write another module again. I can't help feeling a certain sadness as I review the 100 or so I've written over the last 10 years, much the same feeling I got when I wrote "Tirminaitzhir" for Squee just after mono211 stopped releasing modules.
I've just stopped WinAMP and put "Regret" on (on vinyl - how oldsk00l is that? ;). It's still got the same power, the same meaning for me. New Order are a band I've liked for a long time, for longer than I've been writing modules. And I've got that prickling sensation behind my eyes.
Shit, sorry.
|
| Nostalgia (ZIP) |
| "Fridge Bastard" |
| 18/09/93 [03:05] |
Released as an MP3 on "The Rave-O-Lution Has Been Terrorised". |
|
Heh heh. This one is pure fun, and one of my dabblings with Gabba. The entire tune is pretty much "Verrotted" by Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo with the speech sample replaced. Got some good phasing effects on the breakbeats though, which is done by playing the samples on two opposite tracks (left and right) at a slightly
different pitch. This doesn't come across as well on most PC players, so beware. The vocals are from one of Ben Elton's stand-up routines, and are about the fact that every communal living space has one bastard who nicks other peoples food from the fridge. I dedicated this one to h0l, who was just starting university. Wonder if he got the joke? ;)
|
| Fridge Bastard (ZIP) |
| "Var 4Rom Earf" |
| 23/08/93 [02:35] |
Released as an MP3 on "The Rave-O-Lution Has Been Terrorised". |
|
Fortunately this dates the Destiny party for me (see "DAAamn Fine Acid" and "Fuck you ALL"). I'd been playing around with the main riff for this one for ages, it surfaced again in pseudo chip form as "Yipman", and I did a (fairly crap) three channel version of this for a game Nik wrote. Originally inspired by Force Mass Motion, I was going to enter this under a different name at the Destiny copy-party
in 93 (we all decided to enter several tracks under different names for some reason), but in the end I didn't bother. The speech at the end is from an episode of "Hancock's Half Hour", which I put in as a reaction to the opinions I got for this track. Very unique, and not that popular, although I still like it. ;)
|
| Var 4Rom Earf (ZIP) |
| "DAAamn Fine Acid (extended)" |
| ??/08/93 [5:29] |
Entered in the music compo at the Destiny party in '93 |
|
This is an extension of a reworking of "Fazed Dreamer", which I did for a copy-party music competition. The only thing I really remember about it was that the party was VERY badly organised, the music-comp was the only one to be held, h0l (then Hollywood), Twilight and myself took over the running of the comp when the Destiny guys gave
up, and either Twilight or me won. We never found out for sure. ;) The title is a reference to the famous line from "Twin Peaks", and the entire song is an effort by me to write a "normal" demo-tune. Failed, natch. I was too far gone by then.
|
| DAAamn Fine Acid (extended) (ZIP) |
| "Nasty Buzzy Noise" |
| 18/07/93 [05:16] |
Not previously released. |
|
Another Nuskool Euro-Acid monster, a lot faster than "Manicandustrial", which uses breakbeats instead of a 4/4. By this point I really didn't give a shit what anybody else thought. Although people still liked them, nobody was using my tunes in demos. I was pissed off and the result was a lot of angry distorted music. Listening to the Aphex Twin did not improve the situation... ;)
Also the first tune I wrote under the handle Subi (I was previously known as Subculture - the name of a New Order Track). Any track dated before this point with the name "Subi" in the sampletext is just a result of me going back and changing the text later. I changed my handle for two reasons: One, I'd found a record by a band called Subculture (a good one too) and I wanted my handle to be unique. And two, everyone called me "Subby" anyway, but I wasn't
about to go with the normal spelling. ;) The uniqueness argument somewhat fell down when I discovered that "Subi" is an actual forename in some languages, is an actual word in many others (French, Spanish, etc...) and is am Assembly Language instruction (SUBtract Integer). But by then I was reasonably famous in Mono, so I decided to leave it. :P
|
| Nasty Buzzy Noise (ZIP) |
| "Fuck You ALL" |
| 17&18/05/93 [03:32] |
Not previously released. |
|
I THINK I wrote this one for the party I actually entered "DAAamn Fine Acid" at. Maybe not. I was getting angry that Techno was still being ignored by a lot of Amiga musicians, and a Techno tune had never won a music-comp. Early pioneers like Static were being ignored. What REALLY pissed me off was the comment from Tip & Mantronix that said Techno was just "a passing fad". Oh yeah, and
the prog-rock wank you guys were peddling was still the thing, was it? I've liked a few of T&M's tunes (the music to Razor 1911's "Voyage" and Phenomena's "Emigma" was great), but I've always resented sweeping dismissals like that one. I was listening to a lot of American Industrial music at the time (NIN, Ministry, MLWTTKK et al), Hence the Al Jourgenson samples and pseudo-guitar noises.
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| Fuck You ALL (ZIP) |
| "Phukstapozishun" |
| ??/??/93 [02:42] |
Not previously released. |
|
I'm not sure of the date, but I KNOW I wrote this after "Manicandustrial" and before "DAAamn Fine Acid", mainly because it uses the same long acid sample as they do. Contrary to what Christine de la Queen thought, the title is not a new Polish swearword. It's just a word I came up with after reading the title
of a book called "Juxtaposition". It's another angry tune, I'd just watched a dance music competition on television where the judges had rejected all the Hardcore tunes in favour of a crappy pop-soul effort which one of them had produced for the band in question. Eventually I sent it to Christine for Spoon's "Sound" series of musicdisks, and she asked me to write something less nasty. The result was "Hysterisis".
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| Phukstapozishun (ZIP) |
| "Amiga Sex Garden" |
| 01/04/93 [04:40] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
Very Utah Saints, yeah? This was my take on their "Something Good", using Opus III's "It's A Fine Day" instead of Kate Bush, along with THOSE piano samples YET AGAIN. Early 90's rave music, and still one I like. The name is a mickey take of the band Miranda Sex Garden.
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| Amiga Sex Garden (ZIP) |
| "Not An Act Of Love" |
| 17/03/93 and 05/04/93 [06:27] |
Not previously released. |
|
A month after "Abuser Friendly" I came up with this. Shock horror! A different piano sample! Actually, this isn't really a piano tune at all, more an example of Dark, the genre Hardcore mutated into as a precursor to Jungle and Drum & Bass. This is the VBlank version for
Duel Crew's "Sonic Attack" (see "Mother (Earth) 2" for an explanation). Sort of straddles the line between Happy and Dark, which is what the whole Hardcore scene was going through at the time. The speech samples are mostly from the album "I See Good Spirits, I See Bad Spirits" by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.
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| Not An Act Of Love (ZIP) |
| "Vworp" |
| 14/03/93 [05:23] |
Not previously released. |
|
Er. ;) Completely mental track this one, probably a result of my liking for Hardcore AND Euro-Acid. I love the main acid riff that surfaces from the mess a couple of times, and I think I wrote this over a period of several days, trying to combine the success of "Manicandustrial" with a Happy Hardcore feel. The speech from "Blackadder The Third" ("I think we'll be very lucky if she doesn't just come out and vomit over us") was added last, after I sat back
and listened to the result... ;) Ah, what the hell, I still like this one. I even started a follow-up called "Zwarp" (I saw the word "Vworp" in a Doctor Who comic, it was the best the letterer could come up with for the noise the TARDIS makes when it dematerialises ;) but never finished it. The speech at the beginning is the mice from the original radio version of "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy".
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| Vworp (ZIP) |
| "Abuser Friendly" |
| 28/02/93 [05:27] |
Not previously released. |
|
Also known by its original title "Substance Abuse", I still like this one, although as Dom, a friend of mine from Uni, pointed out, it does nick the beepy line from "Help Me" by Sly T & Ollie J, at least to start with. At this point I'd firmly decided to go in a UK Hardcore
direction, and this, along with "Not An Act Of Love" was among the first results. The "Trip" sample is from "Mantra" by Orthodox, although they sampled it from somewhere else, and the "filthy" speech is from "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again", a 60's BBC Radio comedy series. And THOSE piano samples. Again.
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| Abuser Friendly (ZIP) |
| "Life's A Loop" |
| 08/02/93 [05:31] |
Not previously released. |
|
First recorded use of THOSE piano samples, which actually come from Bassheads' "Is Anybody Out There?". I said in the sampletext of "UV Girls Kick A Hole In The Speaker" that I'd never write another "clubby" tune (I was really getting into hardcore at that point), but I returned to the Rave scene with this one a year or so later. This one works really well, and prompted one person who wrote to me (we
still swapped disks by mail back then) to comment that I wrote tunes that sounded "real" rather than "Amiga". I was flattered. ;) This one is also probably responsible for h0l thinking I have an obsession with the band Eskimo's And Egypt, which is NOT true, although they provide ONE of the speech samples in this one. The comment in the sampletext ACTAULLY refers to the fact that I'd seen them live the day I completed this tune... ;)
|
|
| "Manicindustrial" |
| 03/02/93 [07:51] |
Edited version released as an MP3 on "The Rave-O-Lution Has Been Terrorised". |
|
Fierce Nuskool Euro-Acid track, this was written after hearing Hardfloor's "Hardtrance Acperience". One of the few tunes I'm really pleased with, this is something of a "grower". EVERYONE hated it when they first heard it, but ended up loving it. A candidate for more than one demo, none of which ever materialised. I was particularly pleased with the mad portmento on the chords about halfway though.
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| Manicindustrial (ZIP) |
| "Mother (Earth) 2" |
| 17&18/01/93 and 06/04/93 [05:02] |
Not previously released. |
|
A tune which I eventually sent for inclusion on Duel Crew's "Sonic Attack", along with "Not An Act Of Love". Neither were used. The reason for the slight changes in this version are that ProTracker had just been released and musicians were taking advantage of the fact that, for the first time, they could use tempos that WEREN'T tied to the vertical blanking interrupt. However, most coders hadn't written
replay routines to take advantage of this facility yet, so I altered this to use the old VBlank tempo before sending it. Tom Baker samples, again from "Genesis Of The Daleks", and some Aphex Twin squelches are used to make a tune reminiscent of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult's first album. "Mother (Earth) 1", an Orb-style tune, was started, but never finished.
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| Mother (Earth) 2 (ZIP) |
| "Serendipity City (Trancefusion mix)" |
| ??/01-03/93 [05:41] |
Released in a Lunatics UK BBSTro. |
|
Killer tune this, a remix of the tune that got me onto the scene (see "Serendipity City" for the whole story). Still one of my most popular tunes, I actually did this remix to send off to a few record labels, but I never got round to posting it. The original was inspired by 808 State's "Pacific", but this version has a bit of just about everything in it, including a speech sample from Human
Resource's "Dominator". I'm particularly fond of the bit at the end, when the bassline and the chords just go mental with portmento, which had become something of a trademark for me (as in "Charlemagne"). The acid noises are ripped from a tune by Jester, he's used them in a lot of his tunes, but I think I got these out of a Sanity demo, "Cthulu" I think it was called, something Lovecraftian anyway.
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| Serendipity City (Trancefusion mix) (ZIP) |
| "Sterilize (OhhhHHHH JAMES! Mix)" |
| 17/08/92 [04:14] |
Not previously released AFAIK, might be in an intro somewhere. |
|
A remix of the original, with, as I thought at the time, marginally more success. Changing the rhythm and the addition of some acid riffs give the tune a smoother feel, along with some chord use I'm actually quite pleased with. The "wall of sound" principle of using chords to play the melody as well as the harmony again. Oddly enough, the original, with it's rough 808 State/Hip-Hop feel, is
actually a far better representation of my music today. ;) I was probably trying to please other people rather than myself again... :P The reason I'm not sure if it was ever used was that, although it arrived too late for the intro it was intended for, Woody said he intended using it in another one, but I never saw the result.
|
| Sterilize (OhhhHHHH JAMES! Mix) |
| "Sterilize" |
| 15/08/92 [03:01] |
Not previously released. |
|
Another spelling mistake. ;) I was REALLY unhappy with this one when I first finished it, and almost immediately remixed it. Written in response to a request from Woody of Lunatics Australia for a tune for an intro with a "James Bond" feel to it, that explains the
bassline at the start. I eventually sent him the remix, but it arrived too late to be used in the intro. Listening to it now it's growing on me, my first attempt to use Hip-Hop style rhythms, and I think I got the general idea for the thing from 808 State's "Timebomb".
|
| Sterilize (ZIP) |
| "Mindbreak" |
| ??/??/92 [03:59] |
Not previously released. |
|
The only tune I wrote for the A Bit On The Side PD library that they didn't use. I like to think that the reason for this was that it was also the first tune I used NoiseTracker's new "tuning" function on
some of the samples, and their replayer couldn't handle it. The only other explanation is that they thought it was shit. Something of a mental tune, I admit. I was probably trying to be 808 State-ish again. The title says it all... ;)
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| Mindbreak (ZIP) |
| "Seduce" |
| ??/??/92 [03:06] (intro, then loops) |
Released on an A Bit On The Side PD library catalogue disk. |
|
The sampletext for this one is a total lie. Jo and I never were, but I was being pathetic at the time. The heavy breathing was, in fact, ripped out of a Dr Awesome tune. The idea for the track itself came from an advert for Nivia (a face cream) would you believe, with a bit of Lil' Louis' "French Kiss" thrown in. A very calm tune, (aside from that bit in the middle) and very unlike anything else I wrote for a long time after.
|
| Seduce (ZIP) |
| "The Fly" |
| ??/??/92 [02:46] |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
This is a cover of the theme music to the film of the same name. I was asked to do a version of it by Mr Kipp for his Horror Megademo for EOC1999. He sent me a tape of it, and I spent HOURS getting it right, only realising that the entire tune went up a semitone TWICE after listening many times. I was VERY pleased with the result,
despite what I wrote in the samepletext, considering how hard it was to get a real orchestral feel from four channels. Everyone else was surprised at how good they thought it sounded too. I didn't sample any of the original, the only long sample is the orchestral hit which I actually found on a New Order track. ;) Real shame the demo never happened...
|
| The Fly (ZIP) |
| "Love Your Money" |
| ??/??/92 [02:30] |
Older vesion released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
Odd choice for a cover version, but I loved the guitar line from the original by Daisy Chainsaw. I even managed to interview them for
Grapevine (seriously). This is a version I fiddled about with later, whilst in Desire, so I could give it to Christine de la Queen for "Sound" (see "Hysterisis"). I was probably inspired to do this by the music from the "Moon On Water" (not the real name) demo by Complex.
|
| Love Your Money (ZIP) |
| "UV Girls Kick A Hole In The Speaker" |
| ??/??/92 [05:43] |
Released on the only Substance trackmo (credits section). |
|
From the sampletext: "The last clubby tune I will ever write". Yeah, right. ;) The first Rave piano tune I've done, written after a night spent listening to acts like Dream Frequency and The Time Frequency. Actually doesn't use THOSE piano samples (the ones here are from Pop Will Eat Itself's "92 Degrees"), this is pretty
successful, it sounds uplifting at least! ;) The vocals are from "So Real" by Love Decade and Shades Of Rhythm's "Sweet Sensation", and the title is ACTUALLY from a line in another track which went "Techno boys and UV girls go one, two, three, PREGO!". Weird. The only tune of mine ever used in a trackmo, and its use prompted me to write "Life's A Loop".
|
| UV Girls Kick A Hole In The Speaker (ZIP) |
| "Shaft" |
| ??/??/92 [03:32] |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
I alternately like and loathe this one. It's different at least. Despite the Pop Will Eat Itself quotes in the sampletext, this one was inspired by some early Jesus Jones tracks (in particular "Info Freako"). Very odd, it uses samples from just about every type of music I was into at the time, Hardcore, Indie, Techno, Rave, etc... which makes for either an inspired crossover or a horrible soundclash. I really can't decide... ;)
|
| Shaft (ZIP) |
| "Vagueodrome" |
| ??/??/92 [06:42] |
Not previously released (thank fuck). |
|
Almost as bad as "A Night In Bed With Cathy Dennis" (which was written later), and in the same style, this has SOME redeeming features. Written after hearing Utah Saint's "What Can You Do For Me?", this uses Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" to reasonable effect (although I screwed up the sample cutting a bit), and combines them with an Italian House beat & riffs and some Altern-8 & Prodigy speech
samples less sucessfully. Like ANIBWCD I played around with this one for weeks, eventually forcing myself to finish it, no matter how bad it turned out. The title is a reference to "Welcome To The Terradome" by Public Enemy. Oddly enough, it doesn't make me want to throw up right now, though I'm still cringing. Maybe I'm mellowing... ;)
|
| Vagueodrome (ZIP) - if you must ;) |
| "A Night In Bed With Cathy Dennis" |
| ??/??/92 [06:03] |
Not previously released (thank fuck). |
|
Absolutely PATHETIC. I must've been going through some serious crisis when I wrote this one. A plodding piece of Amiga House with not one single redeeming feature, and that TITLE! EAGH! The girl's voice, incidentally, is Kim Basinger, not Cathy Dennis, and the "Posse" speech is from Urban Shakedown's "Some Justice".
|
| A Night In Bed With Cathy Dennis (ZIP) - if you must ;) |
| "Non-Biological Action" |
| ??/??/92 [05:50] |
Not previously released, |
|
A perfectly serviceable Amiga-House track (MUCH better than "A Night In Bed With Cathy Dennis") which I wrote for a trackmo design I'd come up with. THOSE piano samples rear their head in the second half of this one. The trackmo itself was, as the fashion in demos at the
time was leaning towards lots of swirly effects, based around the cycle of a washing machine (complete with the credits at the end being written on clothes on a washing line). I thought I was being clever and surreal. The rest of Lunatics thought I'd gone mad. 'Nuf said. ;) Vocals, of course, from Primal Scream's "Loaded".
|
| Non-Biological Action (ZIP) |
| "Somebody" |
| ??/??/92 [03:47] |
Not previously released AFAIK, might be in a cracktro somewhere. |
|
Okay, time to come clean on this one. I didn't sit for hours listening to Depeche Mode's original, I borrowed the sheet music for it and banged it in in about half an hour. ;) SOME skill was required to get it to fit into four channels, but not much. My favourite Martin Gore track, and one I keep playing every time I feel lonely. h0l supplied the piano samples.
|
| Somebody (ZIP) |
| "Eat The Ballbearing" |
| ??/02/91 [04:01] (intro, then loops) |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
Written for a game (see also "Time Is Bunk"), a Speedball clone, which Fractal/Digitalis (Ben Thompson) and Ramesh were coding. He sold his Amiga before finishing it. Oh well. Got some good chord
sequences in it this one, and it fitted the game perfectly. The February 91 date is an utter guess, and probably wrong (I'm sure it's earlier). I put it in there when I was sorting out tunes I wanted released on "Infinite Dreams".
Retrospectively I dedicate this one to Ramesh, a good friend of Ben and I, and of a lot of other people. A fellow hanger-about in the computer room at college, he was killed in a car crash during Christmas 1997. We miss you.
|
| Eat The Ballbearing (ZIP) |
| "Speedtrash" |
| ??/??/91 [04:11] |
Not previously released. |
|
The tune that got Devastator liking Heavy Metal! ;) When I wrote this, me and four mates at college were in a band playing metal covers (hello Neil, James, John and Gary). One of us took it seriously, the rest of us just mucked about. Laughably OTT, and an obvious rip of the seminal "Ace Of Spades" by Motorhead, this is still different at least. ;)
|
| Speedtrash (ZIP) |
| "Relief" |
| ??/??/91 [02:52] |
Released on an A Bit On The Side PD library catalogue disk. |
|
ABOTS may have used it, but I originally wrote this for an intro for Comic Relief that Fractal/Digitalis and I came up with which we didn't finish. This is an unashamedly mindlessly cheerful little tune. I got the idea from the music to the Anthrox FART intro, which
slagged off both FAST (the Federation Against Software Theft and something of a joke to the cracking scene in general - they were crap at their job) and the demo crew The Hacking Relation. Ironic, as Fender/THR (hi Andy!) was my main source of demos at that time, and, indeed, had given me the pack that that intro was on.
Point in question: We all had our addresses in an awful lot of cracktros, which FAST definitely saw, so why the hell didn't they come round and arrest us?! ;)
|
| Relief (ZIP) |
| "This Is Not A Rave Song" |
| ??/??/91 [04:15] |
Not previously released AFAIK, might be in an intro somewhere. |
|
The first tune I explicitly wrote for EOC1999, and the first little misunderstanding Devastator and I had over musical styles. He asked me for a House track, meaning Chicago stuff like Steve "Silk" Hurley and Jamie Priciple. I, on the other hand, although aware of the Chicago stuff, always took House to mean its more Hip-Hip-based UK cousin, like Bomb The Bass and Beatmasters. The day he got this
track Devastator was STRAIGHT on the phone to me, and said that, while he liked the track, it wasn't what he was expecting, and was I a DJ or something? I confirmed that I was (I'd started mucking about with two old hi-fi systems in 88, when I was 15, although I wouldn't really start it seriously until 90-91 and the advent of Rave and Hardcore). He said that explained EVERYTHING. ;) I'm sure you can guess that the title is a take on Public Image Limited's "This Is Not A Love Song", so I won't mention it...
|
| This Is Not A Rave Song (ZIP) |
| "Tetramagnetic" |
| ??/??/91 [04:21] (intro, then loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
What "Charlemagne" was in the beginning. I wrote this in response to Devastator's request for an "atmospheric" track. What the FUCK was I thinking?! Although the bit in the middle sounds trippy enough. His rejection of it would lead to the writing of "Stratospheric City". I still like this one, and I remember being pleased with it at the
time, particularly the mad bassline and, again, the use of chords almost as a melody instead of harmony. The Bomb The Bass-style proto-breakbeat's good as well. Also the fact that I'd crammed every track in every pattern as full as I could, leading to something complex and many-layered. Oh hell, I just like everything, even the brief take on Oceanic's "Insanity". Wall of sound! ;)
|
| Tetramagnetic (ZIP) |
| "Stratospheric City" |
| ??/??/91 [04:49] (loops) |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
Another tune for the never-finished EOC1999 megademo, and the solution to another little disagreement Devastator and I had about musical styles. ;) This tune was written to be as "atmospheric" as possible after he'd rejected "Tetramagnetic" for a copper demo. I
was affronted (heh) and this explains the two-minute intro to this one... Oddly enough, it's probably the best ordinary demo-style tune I've ever written. The "Oooh" sound is from a Liza Minnelli track, from the album she did with the Pet Shop Boys.
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| Stratospheric City (ZIP) |
| "Flight" |
| ??/??/91 [04:33] |
Not previously released, but see "Flight (Sleepy mix)". |
|
A classic early Subculture (as I was know back then) tune, this one was written after hearing Orbital's "Satan". Described by Simon/EOC1999 as a "really cool tune", it's another example of me trying to be popular by being different rather than by being any
good. Never used in any productions, I almost immediately remixed this tune into the (comparatively!) more well-known "Sleepy mix". The beeps are, of course, R2D2, and guarantee me getting my arse sued off by Lucasfilm if they ever find out about this one.
|
| Flight (ZIP) |
| "Flight (Sleepy mix)" |
| ??/??/91 [04:13] |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
A remix of "Flight", which I made due to dissatisfaction with the way the original turned out. A fair bit faster than its parent, this one works better IMHO. No major sample changes, it's just quicker, and the chord sequences more layered.
|
| Flight (Sleepy mix) (ZIP) |
| "Float" |
| ??/??/91 [04:33] |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
I REALLY like this one, and I've considered reworking it many times. But on the few occasions I've tried, the result just doesn't have the same effect as the original (unlike my more successful attempts with "Serendipity City"). Written along with "Flight" for a musicdisk
Stryx and I were planning as a follow-up for "Dynamite Beats #5", the project was dumped when we both joined EOC1999. Looking back now, the difference between these tunes and the ones I wrote for "Dynamite Beats #5" is quite marked. This seems to be where I really found my direction. I'm glad it and "Flight" eventually got released.
|
| Float (ZIP) |
| "Charlemange" |
| ??/??/91 [05:22] (intro, then loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
In revenge for Devastator refusing "Tetramagnetic" on the grounds that it "didn't fit the demo", I reworked it into this monster when he later asked me for a tune for an acid demo (like Rebel's "Coma"). He spotted my cunning subterfuge instantly, but didn't seem to mind. The demo was to be part of an EOC1999 megademo, which we always
seemed to be working towards, but never actually produced. I LOVE this tune, it's got a real "wall of sound" feel to it, and is just uniquely mine, particularly the violent portmento on the chords at the end. It sounds really bigheaded, but only I could've written this one. ;)
|
| Charlemange (ZIP) |
| "Cosmic how much?" |
| ??/??/91 [4:13] (loops) |
Released on "Infinite Dreams" (musicdisk) by Lunatics. |
|
Embarrassingly, this title is a line spoken by Tegan Jovanka in "Doctor Who - The Five Doctors". It may have been released by Lunatics, but I wrote it whilst I was in EOC1999, at least a year before. I heard Devastator also used it in an EOC1999 pack-intro, but I'm not sure. we weren't talking by then. This tune has a certain charm.
|
| Cosmic how much? (ZIP) |
| "Manic Trip City" |
| ??/??/91 [03:04] |
Released on an A Bit On The Side PD library catalogue disk. |
|
Fairly ordinary demo-style tune I wrote in a hurry. EOC1999 had an agreement with the public domain library (remember them from before the Internet? ;) A Bit On The Side to provide tunes for their catalogue disks. You recognise the drums, right? They're from one of the finest modules ever written, the theme to Scoopex's "Mental Hangover" by Uncle Tom. That demo was the first trackmo, coded by Slayer, GFXed by Reward and was stunning.
|
| Manic Trip City (ZIP) |
| "Ultra-Vivid Dream" |
| ??/??/91 [01:59] (intro, then loops) |
Released on an A Bit On The Side PD library catalogue disk. |
|
I can't remember why I wrote this one, probably specifically for ABOTS whilst I was in EOC1999, but I DO remember that it was meant to be in the style of early Jarre, about the time of his albums "Oxygene" and "Equinoxe". Succeeds, I think, at least as much as it could back then. This was also the only tune of mine that a guy at Uni who was forming an Amiga users society of mine liked (he was a
bit traditional). He came round after I mentioned at the inaugural meeting that I was in a demo crew, and we spent hours watching demos. I showed some of them at the next meeting on a projector TV (none of the others had seen Scoopex's "Mental Hangover" - poor them! ;), but the society broke up soon afterwards. The title is a reference to the name of the band Ultra-Vivid Scene.
|
| Ultra-Vivid Dream (ZIP) |
| "Speedwork" |
| ??/??/90 [03:27] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
One of the first tunes I wrote in a tracker, a reworking of this would eventually appear on "Dynamite Beats #5". A weird "builder", vaguely inspired by Adamski & Seal's "Killer", again using only the samples on the ST-02 disk (buying a sampler took a while ;), and virtually no effect commands whatsoever. I was convinced that all this needed to make it good was some better samples...
|
| Speedwork (ZIP) |
| "Ariadniphobia" |
| ??/??/90 [04:01] |
Not previously released. |
|
Ignore the date in the sampletext, I'm certain this is earlier, and I must've written that text much later, during one of my trips through my old disks. And I'm sure you can tell that the title should've been "Arachnophobia". One of the first tunes I wrote with
NoiseTracker 1.2, this would eventually mutate into "Bytten Down". AND it uses nothing but the samples that came on the famous ST-XX disks. Has its moments, and generally kept up with most of the proto-dance mods that were beginning to be used in demos back then. Check out some of Static's stuff if you want to know what I was TRYING to sound like...
|
| Ariadniphobia (ZIP) |
| "Autobahn-Subculture" |
| ??/??/90 [05:14] |
Not previously released. |
|
It was common practice to cover 70's electronic music in 89-90, particularly when you were first learning how to use a tracker. No-one had done Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" before (to my knowledge), although I balked at doing the entire 27 minutes (SoundTracker
wouldn't've been able to do a song that long at this speed anyway). I also did a version of "Pulstar" just after this one. Uses only samples from ST-02, one of the standard disks provided with SoundTracker.
|
| Autobahn-Subculture (ZIP) |
| "Pulstar-Subculture" |
| ??/??/90 [03:19] |
Not previously released. |
|
This and my version of "Autobahn" are what I used to teach me how to use a tracker program. Uses only samples from the ST-02 disk. I think it's a perfectly decent version for its day, I've certainly heard worse. The original is one of my favourite instrumental
pieces, until I discovered House in 88 and Hardcore in 91. Very definitely dates back to before I had my own musical identity, and it was the first tune to drive my mother crazy as I spent hours getting it right. Also about the time I started using headphones... ;)
|
| Pulstar-Subculture (ZIP) |
| "Mental In My State Of Mind" |
| ??/??/90 [02:56] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
I actually had some lyrics to go with this one, but I've long forgotten them. Another very early tune, I wrote this one before I had an Amiga, and this uses only samples from ST-02. It's crap, but I can't hate it, it was one of the first modules I ever wrote, and it has its moments.
|
| Mental In My State Of Mind (ZIP) |
| "Introchaser" |
| ??/??/90 [01:16] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
Oh fuck [cringes]. Okay, ready for this? Waaay back when I was desperate for fame I wrote this in response to a request in the diskmag "Rampage". This wasn't a scene diskmag, this was one that you bought in a newsagent. They never wrote back and the mag died a
death shortly afterwards. Just as well really, the scene-produced ones were actually more professional, and I would write the odd article for Grapevine later on.
|
| Introchaser (ZIP) |
| "Subculture's Theme 2" |
| ??/??/90 [04:09] (intro, then loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
About nine months after writing the original (see below), and after I'd discovered sample ripping, I went back to the original tune and made it sound (comparatively) a good deal better. However, it does seem that I hadn't quite grasped the principles of sample looping by this
point. ;) Right now I'm cringing at the sheer obviousness of the ripped samples in this one, Jammer/Cult provided the bass and the lead, Danko/Fairlight the effects, and Uncle Tom/Scoopex the guitar and drums. Good job I never sent this to anyone, I'd've been lynched.
|
| Subculture's Theme 2 (ZIP) |
| "Serendipity City" |
| ??/??/90 [03:56] |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #4" (musicdisk) by various. |
|
A tune I originally came up with before I even had an Amiga, this is the one. The tune that got me noticed. Shame it got me noticed by a complete bastard. Yes, Stryx. Despite being the one who gave me my break in the demo scene (by subsequently getting us both into EOC1999), he very nearly ripped me off and I wouldn't've known a thing about it. In fact, I probably wouldn't've got onto the scene at all.
You're wondering what I'm talking about aren't you? Well, to begin with Stryx and I were great friends after I replied to his advert looking for musicians (he had a different handle then), and we produced Dynamite Beats #5 together. However, after we joined EOC1999, the first seeds of my suspicion were sown by an email from Fleg (another coder in EOC1999) who said that the music in DB#5 was great, but if Stryx was such a brilliant coder, why was it all made with Red Sector Demomaker? Okay, I thought, Styrx lied
about his coding ability. Fair enough, it was hard for a beginner to get on the scene back then (unlike now, thank fuck - you don't know how easy you've got it ;) and he probably intended bluffing his way into a demo crew and learning the secrets from the other coders. Fast forward to few years later. I've left EOC1999 and am enjoying slightly more success in Lunatics UK. Stryx and I have lost touch due to him taking Devastator's side in the dispute that split EOC1999 apart. An attack of a virus, but I manage to rescue all of my modules except "Serendipity City". ARRGH! I think, DISASTER! Then I realise I can just rip it out of my copy of DB#4. I do so, and to my horror I find that the version of the module on that musicdisk has
Stryx claiming he wrote it in the sampletext! He'd also changed the title and cut off a bit of the lead sample (which I've replaced). He was going to steal my tune! Something had changed his mind at the last minute, I don't know what, probably because he wanted me to write the music for DB#5. I bet it wasn't guilt. Ironically enough Stryx wrote to me a month or so after this discovery, wanting to get back in touch after hearing the remix of "Serendipity City" in a Lunatics BBSTro. Well, you double-dealing bastard, if you're reading this, now you know why I didn't reply. Fuck you.
A couple of points of interest: This track was inspired by 808 State's "Pacific", and the title is an expression of good fortune taken from the first volume of the 2000AD comic "Halo Jones" by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson.
|
| Serendipity City (ZIP) |
| "Air On A CZ" |
| ??/??/90 [05:26] |
Not previously released. |
|
HAHAHAHAHAH! Oh bloody hell... this is where my past REALLY comes back to haunt me. I wrote this before really getting onto the demo scene, and indeed, this was on the first disks I sent out to demo crews to persuade them to let me join (the others were "Fazed
Dreamer" and the original mix of "Serendipity City"). The best way I can think of this is as instrumental Pet Shop Boys, although I was actually trying to sound like 4-Mat, one of the greats from the early days. But doesn't the bit at the start sound like a bunch of mice being trodden on? ;)
|
| Air On A CZ (ZIP) |
| "Fazed Dreamer" |
| ??/??/90 [04:13] |
Not previously released. |
|
The partner of "Air On A CZ", this is slightly less embarrassing, as it doesn't have the "mice" noises in it. ;) Another Pet Shop Boys/4-Mat-type track, I liked the melody enough to rework it into "DAAamn Fine Acid". Some of the samples in this track are ripped from the 4-Mat tune used in Anarchy's "Phantasmagoria" demo, coded by Kreator.
|
| Fazed Dreamer (ZIP) |
| "Time Is Bunk" |
| ??/??/90 [05:24] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
Another one written for another, earlier, game Fractal/Digitalis was coding (see "Eat The Ballbearing"), and I still have the design I came up with for it. I've just reread it, and it was a Xenon II clone (without question THE finest 2D shoot-'em-up EVER). Everybody accused me of ripping off 808 State's "In Yer Face", but really it's only the famous bass noise that I used. As this was specifically
written for a game it's a bit bland in places, and was designed to sound okay when the rhythm channel was being used for the sound effects (again like the music in Xenon II). Doesn't really stand up on its own, but isn't too offensive, and the Farley/Heller-style drums (taken from a track on Janet Jackson's "1814" album) are reasonably cool IMHO.
|
| Time Is Bunk (ZIP) |
| "Son Of Serendipity" |
| ??/10/90 [02:06] |
Not previously released (thank fuck). |
|
A kind of sequel to "Serendipity City", this was my entry into a competition run by Zero, the greatest games magazine ever to publish (apart from the last four issues). I can only assume that I was rushed to get it in the post on time, because this is pure DRIVEL, an obvious and uninspired rehash of its parent. The speech is from Baby Ford's "Children Of The Revolution".
|
| Son Of Serendipity (ZIP) |
| "Accelerator" |
| ??/??/90 [05:12] |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
This is one of the most "Amiga" tunes I've written, very early on (the Oldsk00l player for WinAMP says it's in NoiseTracker 1.2 format - probably right, although it could be SoundTracker 2.5). Very Jarre-esque, like a lot of early demo tunes. And I still like the way I used a chord to play the lead line, gives it a very "travelling" feel.
|
| Accelerator (ZIP) |
| "Bytten Down" |
| ??/??/90 [04:13] |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
A reworking of "Ariadniphobia", this must've been written about the time 808 State released "The Only Rhyme That Bites", because that's where the electric tom sounds come from. And YES, those toms are the same samples I used in "21212121211" and "Tirminaitzhir". I'm still
very strongly influenced by 808 State, are you sure I've progressed h0l? ;) Needless to say, I still like this one, and it pretty much epitomises me finding my own style at last, rather than trying to imitate other Amiga musicians.
|
| Bytten Down (ZIP) |
| "Electrick" |
| ??/??/90 [03:54] |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
I think this was inspired by a Romeo Knight tune which was used in the first Crack UK intro. I DO like this one, it uses the old Moog samples from the old ST-XX disks to good effect, and it's got a really cool bassdrum.
|
| Electrick (ZIP) |
| "Speedwork (remix)" |
| ??/??/90 [04:48] |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
Incorrectly titled as "Speed Works" on DB#5 (more evidence that Stryx didn't code the damn thing, he was probably dictating the tiles down the phone to guy he was getting to code the menu for him - see "Serendipity City"). This reworking ALMOST proved my thought that all the original needed was decent samples. It, like many of my early tunes, has its moments, and I still find it listenable.
|
| Speedwork (remix) (ZIP) |
| "Trier" |
| ??/??/90 [03:48] |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
About my most successful attempt to write a tune that SOUNDED like "Serendipity City", but wasn't just a remix, and, I think, one of the last tunes I wrote for DB#5. Much better than the disastrous "Son Of Serendipity", this is different enough to exist in its own right, no matter how much it based on its parent. One of my first successes with interesting harmony/melody combinations (the ones in 'Serendipity City" were a bit normal), particularly in the last bit. And the bleepy riff on its own at the end is actually the tones of my phone number at the time, although nobody ever deciphered it... ;)
|
| Trier (ZIP) |
| "Scroll This" |
| ??/??/90 [03:15] (loops) |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
Bizarre Trancey effort that was never intended to be a tune in its own right, it was meant to play over the credits scroller for DB#5 - hence it's the only one on there that loops, apart from the intro tune. But the design got changed and every tune had a scroller on it. Oh well. Still works best as incidental music really, it's just not interesting enough.
|
| Scroll This (ZIP) |
| "Intromaimer" |
| ??/??/90 [01:35] (intro, then loops) |
Released on "Dynamite Beats #5" (musicdisk) by Stryx & Subculture. |
|
Not really a whole tune, but the intro music from DB#5. This unashamedly nicks the beginning of 808 State's "The Only Rhyme That Bites", mainly because I'd got the idea for the original "Serendipity City" from "Pacific". 808 State played a snatch of "Pacific" at the beginning of "The Only Rhyme That Bites", so I put a bit of "Serendipity City" at the start of this one! There's also a blatant plagiarism of the Magic Roundabout theme in there as well, which I would also use in the pseudo-chip tune "2nd Summer Of Magic".
|
| Intromaimer (ZIP) |
| "Subculture's Theme" |
| ??/??/89-90 [03:50] (loops) |
Not previously released. |
|
I definitely remember writing this one before I even had an Amiga, which means it's one I originally made by recording each line onto tape, then playing it back whilst playing the next line on my synth and recording them both on the other tape deck and so on... A very crude form of multitracking. ;) As it was amongst the first I wrote in SoundTracker it uses only samples from ST-02, and I remember getting the idea after hearing the music to the arcade version of SWIV. ;)
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