PIC:barclip2.ilbm

CL9:        The Underrated Groups
PIC:barclip2.ilbm

CL4:            By Zerox/Gods

CL7:INTRODUCTION

CL1:As I always try to write some articles
concerning  the  parties, productions,
persons  and groups, this issue of the
EuroChart can't be any exception.  But
during  the  last  years  I've  nearly
written  about every single group left
in  this  scene of ours.  So this time
I've  decided  to  mention five groups
which   you   don't  read  much  about
anywhere.   It's  time  to write about
some  rather  underrated  groups; some
who are very active and release a lot,
and  some who release productions more
seldomly  but  always deliver quality.
This   time   you'll   get  some  more
information   concerning   low-profile
groups   such   as   Apathy,  Contraz,
Creative Minds, Kangoroo and Nature.

CL9:THE GROUPS

CL8:APATHY:

CL7:THE FIRST YEARS

CL1:This  is a norwegian based group  that
got    founded    at    the   end   of
1994/beginning  of 1995, but it wasn't
offically  founded before early 1995 I
guess.

CL0:It  didn't  take very long before this
group   started  to  throw out various
productions, from intros and demos, to
musicdisks and packs.  So far the flow
of productions hasn't stopped.

CL7:THE HIGHLIGHTS

CL1:Even though not many of all the Apathy
productions  released  are famous, I'm
sure  quite  many  people  have  heard
about  productions  such  as Feedback,
Dreams, Implant and Digital Chips.  As
you  know,  most  of these productions
were musicpacks.

CL0:If  I'm  not  very much mistaken, from
the  start  in  1996,  there have been
released  7  issues  of  Feedback,  26
issues  of  Dreams,  2  or 3 issues of
Implant  (the  code was later improved
and  released  as  the  mag  Retro  by
Instinct), but now I guess there won't
be more issues of these packs out.

CL1:Digital  Chips  however, is still very
much  alive, and the last issue so far
is  number  31  released in July 2002.
Issue   31   got   improved  code  and
therefore this musicpack also included
a  good  magpart.   Digital  Chips was
originally released by Eltech/Massive,
but  turned  into an Apathy production
around 1997 (from issue 21).

CL0:Other  more  famous Apathy productions
got  to  be  the  Aha  intro that  got
released  at  the Mekka-Symposium 2000
and did very well, and managed to come
second  in  the  intro  compo  at  the
Gathering   party  in  2001  with  the
Aha-remix intro.

CL7:100 % ACTIVE

CL1:When looking at my harddisk I've found
lots  of  Apathy productions, and some
of   you  have  probably  heard  about
productions  such as Wormhole, Klimat,
SBS,    Bfftro,   Very   Best   Demo,
XXXVideo,  4K  Is  Too  Much, Assfart,
Astrosyn    4k,   Attention,   Doddle,
Hiusten,  Jointro,  Just4Fun, Nothing,
Pretty  Fly, Punisher Advertro, Rebel,
Silvahball,  Stop  Bombing, The Byout,
Vote Now and others.

CL0:Even  though some of these productions
aren't exactly great, it's amazing how
many  productions  Apathy have managed
to  release  during  these  years.   I
would  say  that  quite  many  of  the
Apathy    productions   reveal   great
humour.

CL7:THIS YEAR

CL1:In  2003  Apathy released an 64k intro
in   coop   with   Up   Rough  at  the
Kindergarden  party.   The  intro  was
called  Hakon  and  came second in the
compo.

CL7:THE FUTURE

CL1:It's  hard  to  predict  the future of
this crew, but the organizer and coder
Strife    is   quite   busy   nowadays
programming  at  his  work.   But  I'm
certain  more  issues of Digital Chips
will   be   out  neverthwless, as  the
musician Maze is still the most active
chip-musician  around.   So far he has
composed   more  than  500  chip-mods.
Before  we  know  it,  another  Apathy
productions will be out.

CL0:Even though Apathy is a big group with
around  20 members, they've managed to
stay  together through good organizing
and   amazingly   12   Apathy  members
managed  to  vote in the last issue of
EuroChart.

CL1:I  guess  the  most  famous members of
this  group  are Strife, Maze, Accede,
Chriz and Leia.

CL0:As  a  curiousity  I  can mention that
Accede  is  working  on  a game called
Civtarion, but under another label.

CL8:CONTRAZ:

CL1:Contraz  or  Contras  as the group was
called  in  the beginning, is a result
of  two  groups joining forces back in
the   beginning  of  the  90s.   Those
groups  were Black Spiders and No Shit
Software  (later  Computer  Arts), but
they  never  managed  to make anything
good   as  both  groups  were  lacking
enough talented members.  When joining
forces,   they   got  what  they  both
lacked.   And  many  of the members in
the start, are actually still members,
like;  Dran (before Mr.Mouse), Drifter
(Synchronizer),     Enex,    Pinocchio
(Maniac) and Zelow (Aztech).  But some
are  not, like Arator and Wolzoc.  The
new group was first named Anathema (do
not   confuse   it  with  the  English
Anathema).   Since  there  was another
group with the same name, they decided
to rename to Damage Incorporated.  But
there  was also a group called Damage.
After  a  while  the  name  Contras or
Contraz appeared, and some new members
like  Skjeggspir,  Brekke  and Whisper
joined.  In the beginning all releases
were done in AMOS, but now some of the
new  coders  also did some asm-coding.
And so it all began...

CL7:THE FIRST ATTENTION

CL1:The  Gathering 1995 was the first time
I  ever  noticed Contraz, and probably
also  the  same  time  when most other
norwegian     sceners     saw    their
productions.   Contraz  came  up  with
quite  much,  a 64k intro, a 4k intro,
and  contributions  to  the 4-channel,
picture   and  animation-competitions.
The  4k  intro was quite special as it
had   music,  something  which  wasn't
usual  back  then.   Infact, 4k intros
weren't usual either. One contribution
was   coded   in   amos,  and  one  in
assembler I think.

CL0:In  1995 Contraz also got a PC-section
with the group called Mercurite.  Some
members  left,  and  new  ones joined,
like  Phlaton,  Micro and Nirvana.  At
the  Hell-party in Oslo/Norway Contraz
released  a  64k-intro  called  Forces
From  Hell.  At the Kindergarden party
they  released  their first demo coded
in asm.  It was called Legs.

CL7:THE VICTORY

CL1:The year after, at The Gathering 1996,
Contraz   released  a  PC-demo  called
Green  Cake Going Insane.  At the same
party they also released an Amiga demo
named Mystiq, and it actually came 4th
in  the  competition.  Contraz won the
wildcompo with the anim Aircombat.

CL0:At  the Kindergarden party Contraz met
a new member & coder called Niteraver.
He  released a fast demo called Buying
Time,  but  under  the  label  of Crap
'Ohoy.   Anyway, Contraz also released
a   demo  called  Domination  done  by
Skjeggspir,  Brekke,  Zelow  and  Enex
(code),  the music was done by Drifter
and  gfx  by  Mr.  Figaro, Nirvana and
Dran.   For  the  first  time, Contraz
managed    to   win   a   real   amiga
demo-competition!  And as a bonus, the
coder   Chauple   joined   them  as  a
doublemember.

CL7:THE FALL?

CL1:After  the  Kindergarden party Contraz
went  silent, until The Gathering 1997
where  they  released  the demo Plong.
It  didn't  get a very good ranking at
all,   and   some   members  got  very
disappointed and demotivated.  It took
them  about a half year before another
demo project was planned.  They worked
on  a demo with the name Sands Of Time
for   The  Gathering  1998,  but  they
failed  and  the project got cancelled
afterwards.   Previously a coder named
Accede  had  joined from Donut Fetish,
and  surprisinly he managed to come up
with  a  64k-intro  named  A Very Long
Precalc,   and  it  came  5th  in  the
competition.

CL0:After  the  Gathering  party  more and
more  Contraz  members  were  becoming
demotivated.   But at the Kindergarden
party  1998  Skjeggspir came up with a
demo more or less on his own, with the
help  of external graphicians.  It was
called Retrospectacular, and won!

CL1:This  could have given a boost to many
members, but that didn't really happen
even  though  Dran  made an attempt to
make  an  intro for the Gathering 1999
but  failed  due  to  various reasons.
Contraz became very silent.

CL7:ONE MAN GANG

CL1:Dran  didn't  give  up on his project,
and  at  the  Mekka  Symposium 2000 he
released  the  intro  called Radianze.
Even  though  the  intro got some very
nice  design  and  more, it got a very
bad  ranking in the competition.  Dran
also  made  an  intro called WWWebster
which competed in the demo-competition
at The Gathering at the same time, and
it got ranked third.

CL0:At the Assembly party Contraz competed
in  the oldskool democompo with a demo
called  TimeTunnel.   It came 6 out of
12, and was again done by Dran.

CL1:Late in 2000, Contraz arranged another
Kindergarden  party  and Dran made the
invitation intro for that also.

CL0:Now  it was more or less apparent that
Contraz  had  been reduced to one very
active  coder,  and  it  was Dran.  It
seemed  like  all  the other coders in
Contraz had become inactive.

CL1:In   2001   Contraz  released  another
production,  it  was yet another intro
done by Dran and named 1 Week.  It got
released  at the Mekka-Symposium party
where  it got an extremely bad ranking
to  be  such  a  cool intro.  It has a
very nice design and idea, in addition
to several cool effects.

CL0:Another  Kindergarden  party  was held
late  that  year  also, and again Dran
made the invitationintro for it.  This
time also a java-version was made.  It
was  looking  exactly  the same as the
Amiga-version,  but  also  Enex helped
coding this one.

CL1:In 2002 Contraz released the demo Snop
at  the  Gathering  party, and it came
second  in  the  competition.   It was
quite a good demo.

CL7:THIS YEAR

CL1:So  far this year Contraz has released
another  flash  intro to promote their
Kindergarden  party  which was held in
late  February.   They also released a
wild  demo  called  Penh  King at this
party, and it won.

CL0:At  the  Gathering 2003 party Dran and
Contraz released the demo Micromonster
in  the  combined  Amiga/PC compo.  It
only  got ranked as nr.  14 despite of
good effects and good design.

     PIC:z6








CL7:THE FUTURE

CL1:Lately  some  rumours  are  indicating
that  certain old Contraz members will
become  more  active  again  and  make
another   comeback,   like  the  coder
Skjeggspir for instance.

CL0:Contraz  will  as  always  arrange the
Kindergarden     party,     and    the
Kindergarden  2004  called KGb will be
held in September.

CL8:CREATIVE MINDS:

CL7:THE BEGINNING

CL1:This   is  a  very  small  group  with
members  only  from  Germany.   Unlike
many   other  scene  groups,  Creative
Minds   aren't  very  active  at  all.
However,   when   they  first  release
something, we know it's quality.

CL0:The group got founded back in 1999, so
it's  a  rather  new scene group.  And
after my information, there are only 3
members;   Spirit   (coder),  iNFiNiTY
(3d-modeller) and tentacle (musician &
designer).   Even though it's a rather
new   group,  the  members  have  been
sceners far longer.

CL7:THE PRODUCTIONS

CL1:Quite  many sceners got surprised when
the  first  Creative  Minds production
got  released at the Mekka & Symposium
party  2000.   It  was  a  demo called
First  Awakening, and it came third in
the competition.

CL0:The year after, Creative Minds came up
with  another  demo  at  the  Mekka  &
Symposium   party.    It   was  called
Velocity and came six in a rather hard
competition.

CL1:The  last  demo from Creative Minds so
far,  was  released  at  the  Mekka  &
Symposium  party  2002.   It's  called
Demoskope and is really great.

CL0:Even  though Creative Minds are making
PPC-demos, I would say they make demos
which   also   attract   old  sceners.
Especially  their latest demo offers a
nice  variety.   It  get most watchers
into a good atmosphere.

CL7:FUTURE

CL1:We   haven't   seen   any  demos  from
Creative  Minds  in  2003.   I did see
representatives  from the group at the
Breakpoint  party  this  eastern,  but
according  to  rumours  the  group was
working  on  a demo there which didn't
get finished in time.

CL0:As  all  the members of Creative Minds
are  working as software developers, I
guess    they're   all   quite   busy.
Nevertheless,   I   wouldn't  be  very
surprised   if   the   group  releases
another  great  demo at the Breakpoint
party next eastern.

CL1:Until  then  I  guess  it will be very
silent from these sceners as the group
is having quite a low profile.

CL8:KANGOROO:

CL7:THE FIRST YEARS

CL1:Kangoroo  is  something  so  rare as a
Hungarian group.  The crew got founded
in the summer of 1997, but the members
had  already  been working together in
their   previous  group  Impulse  from
1995.   Impulse  by  the way, released
two  great  demos  back in 1996; Storm
and  Muscles.  Muscles is still one of
my all-time favourite demos.

CL7:THE PRODUCTIONS

CL1:The   first   production   under   the
Kangoroo  label  was released in 1998,
it   was   the  invitation  intro  for
Amiganica Hungarica'98.

CL0:The  year  after  the group managed to
release  a 64k-intro named B.us at the
Assembly'99  party, and it came 5th in
the   competition.    The   same  year
Kangoroo  also  released the 64k-intro
United,  which  came  1st at the Antiq
party.  This was also the last release
of  the  fantastic  coder  EFT so far,
perhaps  the last production ever from
him?

CL1:In  the  year  2000 some more talented
members joined Kangoroo, and the first
result  of  this  was  Flow.  This PPC
64k-intro  got  released at the Fuckya
2000 party and won.

CL0:The  year  after  the  64k-intro  Late
Night   Trip   got  released,  and  it
managed  to get the third place in the
combined compo at the Euskal party.

CL1:The   last   production  so  far  from
Kangoroo,  is  the  64k-intro  Back To
Planet Earth which got ranked third at
the Mekka & Symposium party 2002.

CL7:THE FUTURE

CL1:This   year   we   haven't   seen  any
productions   from  Kangoroo,  but  we
definately  hope  this  talented  gang
will  strike  back again.  Even though
the  new  members have done the latest
productions,  we  always hope that EFT
will  manage  sometime  to  finish his
long-awaited demo also.  This group is
certainly    underrated,   just   like
Impulse was in the past.

CL8:NATURE

CL7:THE BEGINNING

CL1:Nature  is  a  Swedish  group  that is
known  to release a good intro now and
then.

CL0:I'm  not  sure  when  this  group  got
founded,  but probably around mid' 90s
or so.  It's also hard to say how many
productions  this group has  released,
as  Nature themselves only mention the
better productions.  So far I've never
seen  any of their 4k-intros mentioned
anywhere, even though they've released
some  4k-intros  at  least  the latest
years,  like  at the Mekka & Symposium
and TRSAC.

CL7:THE PRODUCTIONS

CL1:Nature  has  released some programs in
the  past,  like  FlowerAssign back in
1997.   They also released a slideshow
with The Party pictures back in 1998.

CL0:Not  many  people are aware of this or
could  mention  any  demo from Nature,
but  the  group  has actually released
quite    many   demos   during   their
existence.    The   first   demo   was
probably  Eccentric  Bass, followed by
Standard  Raise  and Standard Raise 2,
until  Wannabe  got  released  at  the
Icing party in 1997.

CL1:The  year  after their Kicker demo got
released,  and  the same did the demos
Goya  released  at  the  LCP party and
Automatic   released   at  the  Remedy
party.  Automatic is quite ok.  Nature
didn't  release  a  demo  again  until
2001.  Then they released the oldskool
demo Dentisty at the Underscore party.
Even though some of the demos could be
described  as  ok,  just  the  same as
their  4k-intros  and  other releases,
Nature  are  much  better  in creating
normal intros.

CL0:Did  I  say  Nature  are  better doing
intros?  Well, Nature are making great
intros!   The  first intro from Nature
got  released at the Mekka & Symposium
party  1999, it's called Grid and won!
The  year after Grid 2 got released at
the  Party  2000,  and it also won the
intro  competition.  Really cool.  The
intro  Zeon  released  at  the Mekka &
Symposium  party  2001 is really good,
but  it "only" got ranked second.  The
last production from Nature so far, is
the   intro   One,   which   won   the
Underscore party this year.  It got to
be   one   of  the  very  best  intros
released in 2003.

CL7:THE FUTURE

CL1:The  latest years Nature have become a
bit  more  inactive, but still they're
able  to come up with stunning intros.
We're  all hoping they'll come up with
some  more  productions soon.  Rumours
are  at  least  indicating that Nature
will   release   a  4k  intro  at  the
Breakpoint party next year.

CL9:CONCLUSION

CL1:Now  I've just mentioned 5 groups that
we don't hear much about.  There's not
much  more  to  tell  about either the
active  forces  of Apathy nor Contraz,
or   the  underrated  groups  Creative
Minds, Kangoroo and Nature.  But we do
hope to see many more productions from
these   low-profiled   crews   in  the
future.
