Remedy Music Reviews

Written by Makke

The disappointment because I couldn't be at Remedy '99 myself has now left my body, and I can sit back in my computer chair and enjoy the productions which were released. The quality of the multichannel-compo promised to be good, as the Swedish elite amongst trackers were about to show what they can do, and there was no given winner. There's only a seven point difference between the first place and the fourth.

Let's take a look at the different tracks, shall we?

Texas Ranger 3 by beek & radix

I almost jumped out of my pants when I saw that radix had made a song for Remedy this year. That's why I was a little disappointed when it was just a "joke"-entry. It just contained some sampled country music and nothing special at all. It's only 4 channels, and I'm actually wondering WHY it even made it to the actual compo, as quite a few were considered better than this one. I don't want to accuse anyone of "name"-picking amongst the songs which were about to be played at the compo, but I think the names beek and radix are the only reason for this one qualifying. [Ended up 14th]

Moving a Mountain by Boomerang

Slow synthish song. Sounds like a ballad that a rave/happy hardcore group would do. Seems to be a little JMJ inspired, but is quite short (only 2:32, which has to be considered short for a ballad).

In my opinion a little boring and unpolished. Could do with a few more hours work... [Ended up 8th]

Circles of Water by Cyanid of Total

Very well made and professional sounding track. One of my favourites from Remedy. Soft "strings-bass-piano"-dream music song, with a touch of acid. Varied piano themes, chords and the right volumes for all instruments make this song feel very relaxing and well mixed. [Ended up 4th]

Stoned on Monkey Island 2000 by Daemon / Zymosis

Imagine a stoned tango-band from Helsinki, trying to express their hallucinations by improvising like crazy, and you have Stoned on Monkey Island 2000. I can't see where Monkey Island comes into the picture, more than that the samples used sounds like the ones used in Monkey Island 2.

In other words, this song shouldn't be taken too seriously. I have no idea how, but this song [Ended up 5th]

You & Me by Discofrillorna

The winner of the multichannel compo. Pure 80's disco-synth … la Laser Dance. Can you hate this kind of music?

Extremely well tracked, except for some unnecessary samples which are probably only there due to laziness(?). Ah, well. I shouldn't complain so much. Besides this there's nothing to complain about. Not that I've encountered anyway... [Ended up 1st]

Method of Wickednezz by Domino

Techno/dance song that, strangely, ended up last with only 9 points. This song is pretty good, if you ask me, and there's no other circumstance that I've found that makes it deserve to end up last...

Oh well. Well tracked and pretty imaginative themes in the song make it one of the better mixed songs of the compo. [Ended up 15th]

Ken Ishii's Vaterbased Prodrome by Gazman / Hypercube

Gazman makes really weird songs, and uses samples in very cool ways. His "Nej har mamma sagt!" is actually very popular amongst my non-scene friends. But this song lacks imagination. It sounds rather flat and never grabs the listener. The only thing that actually happens in this song is when some Asian voice sample is played. Though it isn't one of Gazman's better songs it's still quite interesting to listen to. [Ended up 13th]

Hillbilly Billybob by Loonie

Funny song that has all that a real hillbilly song should have. Banjos, harmonicas... even a "spoons-solo". The only thing I really miss in the song is a real redneck "YEEEEEEHAAAAA!".

Loonie also shows that he knows how to use a tracker, and has as far as I've seen no unnecessary sample bytes at all... hm... the file size is exactly 1000000 bytes. Coincidence?

"You & Me" won with just three points over this one. [Ended up 2nd]

Millenium Runner by Marwin / Noice

This Star Wars inspired track contains close combat sounds from the Millenium Falcon and a Tie-fighter, plus some heavy breathing from the Lord of Sith, Darth Vader himself. This song sounds like a true demo-song, but is a little thing as a stand-alone song. The monotonous ReBirth 303 riff builds up the main part of the song, which makes it slightly boring after a while. Nonetheless it's very well tracked, and there's nothing wrong with the mixing at all. Still, this song's real place should be in a demo, in my opinion that is... [Ended up 3rd]

Raping a Monkey by Nighthawk

Nighthawk is one of my favourite Swedish trackers, and the Nighthawk sound is displayed once more in this song, which is, in Nighthawk's own words, highly experimental. And the style of this song is quite hard to define. It sounds rather chaotic from time to time, but raping a monkey can probably be chaotic as well.

It's not the usual Nighthawk we hear in this song, but it's absolutely worth a listen, though I think I prefer the "usual" Nighthawk style. [Ended up 10th]

Anxiety by Norfair & Hunz

"Funky music is a must!" The opening phrase, and message of this song I guess. And yes, funky music is a must. At least if they're as funky and well made as Anxiety is. And it's no wonder. Hunz is the king of funky XMs, and Norfair isn't far behind. If you know the Hunz or Norfair funk style you know both the sound and the quality of this song. [Ended up 6th, together with 'Return']

Yeah yeah wow wow by Silke

Last year's winner of the Remedy multichannel-compo, Silke is know to track weird songs. Last years "Jackpot" may not have been as weird as some of his other songs, but he makes that up this year with Yeah yeah wow wow. Toss in a "wild west saloon pianist", a jazz-drummer and a bass-player in one room. Then get a stoned organ player to throw in a solo, and there you have it. Weird. Nonetheless Silke is a great tracker, and this song is not bad or low-quality at all. This weird style rather shows Silke's multiplicity as a musician... or what ever. [Ended up 9th]

The Taste of Life by Steffo / Cryonics

Steffo's songs are never "bad" as such. But this song doesn't sound as well made as some of his other songs. Still, it's not bad. Steffo's too good to make a bad song. It's just not varied enough, and doesn't give you the same audio-experience as I'd like to get. [Ended up 11th, together with Delicious]

Delicious by zipp & ragoon

This song is the usual zipp (a.k.a. djzip) & ragoon funk style. Well-tracked module with high quality samples, but it offers few surprises and has no nailed down lead-theme. That, however, makes this song extremely relaxing and smooth. Easy listening in its purest form. And, yes. Funky music IS a must. [Ended up 11th, together with The Taste of Life]

- Makke/Visuale/Hugi/Trebel

[NOTE: About two hours after finishing this article I accidentally deleted the wrong folder on my HD, and all the Remedy songs were erased (together with a few of my own that I, unfortunately, hadn't made back-ups of).]