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CL9:     In the Background With Chromag
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CL4:                By Kam_

CL6:"Doing diskmag music was easy, because
it  had to be background music without
anything    happening."   Chromag   in
"Eurochart" 44.

CL1:Every  author,  at  least  in  theory,
should  strike  out in opposite to the
tastes      of      his      recivers.
Unfortunately,  in  practice  it often
ends  up differently.  The above quote
is  proof of this.  Every scener knows
who  Chromag  is, and knows at least a
few  of  his modules.  The second part
of  his  sentence (from "it had") is a
gross oversimplification.

CL0:I  must  say:  I like music very much!
Music   influences   my  thoughts  and
feelings.    Therefore   it   is   the
determining   factor  of  quality  and
exceptionality  of  scene  productions
for  me.   A demo can have good design
and  interesting  effects,  but if the
music is only background music, I will
soon  forget  even  the  title  of the
production.

CL1:And  unfortunately  -  in the scene of
today  we don't have composers.  There
are     only    backgrounders.     The
irritating thing is that the huge heap
of demo soundtracks are very similar -
without   expression   and  character.
Their task is just:  to be.  But music
must   live   with   its   own   life!
Concentrate  now!   Think  -  with how
many  modules from demos and intros in
the  last three or four years have you
been  impressed?   For  me it was with
one  tune  (!).  I'm talking about the
soundtrack  from  "Melba" by Appendix.
The  intro  itself  is  not brilliant.
Yes  -  it has nice effects and really
good design, but, well, it is a simple
production.  The music turns this into
great  stuff!   This  is a THX tune by
JazzCat   called:   "Enchanted  Friday
Nights".   How  many  times have I run
"Melba"   just   to   listen  to  this
beautiful chiptune?  And I'm sure that
without this piece of music, the intro
would be only one out of many for me.

CL0:Another    example    is    the   demo
"Extension"  by  Pygmy  Projects.  The
production  is not very complicated in
itself, it is almost without graphics.
There are great effects, and also good
fx's.    But  "Cyberride"  by  Jester,
which  was  used  in  this  demo  is a
module   classic!   Outstanding  tune!
Therefore  "Extension"  is  one  of my
favourite  demoscene  productions (and
it was the first demo I've ever seen -
at   my   friends   home   on  A600...
Sniff...).    The  same  goes  for  my
favourite   diskmag   -   The   polish
"Silesia"  issue 13.  Articles were at
average  level (today I know it, a few
years  ago  I  was enchanted by them),
but the panels by Lazur and the module
I   truly   love   -  "Confederat"  by
Timer...  Again those memories...  (By
the  way.   People  can change for the
worse  and at the same time think they
are   very   professional.   You  will
understand  this  if you listen to the
musicdisk "Sonikk").

CL1:The   words   of   Chromag   are   not
professional.   Simplicity  of  making
diskmag  music  is  a relative matter.
However,  I  will  not  agree with his
opinion  that this must be music where
nothing is happening.  Ofcourse - it's
easy!  But not ambitious.  Doubtless a
diskmag  should  contain  a background
soundtrack,  but  it must have its own
style,  expression!   I'll  give you a
polish example - Taboo #2.  Adamsoft's
module is not a great one, but "Living
In  The  Past"  by  JazzCat is a great
module,  full of variance, really very
good,  and  simultaneously  it's ideal
diskmag  music  (if you don't download
polish  magazines,  you can hear it in
"Kiss  My  Jazz").   The  situation is
similar  with "Looking For Changes" by
Maxym  from  Taboo  #3,  although this
module  is  not  as  good as JazzCat's
"Looking...".   Conclusion - the words
of  Chromag  are  striking.  He treats
the  writing  of  music  like a manual
laborers work.

CL0:We  come  then  to  the  certain,  sad
conclusion.   This  situation  is  not
alarming  for the scene.  Sceners even
like  shitty  goa,  techno  and  d'n'b
which  is  spreading through the heads
of  the  musicians.   People!   Do you
realize  how  few  musicans  use  real
snares in modules?  That's terrifying!
It  is  not  difficult  to make boring
monsters  in  the  style  of  xxxxxxx,
xxxx,  or xxxxxxx (autocensure; author
doesn't  want  to  give  out handles).
But  try to compose a more complicated
arrangement  -  what's  up,  problems?
And there is the reasons why there are
mostly  XM's  at  parties (for example
Symphony)  in  the  chip  compo.   Too
dificult to compose THX?

CL1:The  bad  thing  - nothing points to a
change of the situation.  I don't know
where  the  good  musicians are.  Last
good  module  I heard, was written two
years  ago  (!).  There are only a few
musicians   doing   music   with  DIGI
Booster  Pro.   Other  people  compose
only   mp3   tracks,  and  it  is  not
difficult  to hear that they use other
software than trackers.  And, my God!,
there   are   guys   that  compose  on
Protracker!   In  2003!  So, I see the
future   in  dark  colours.   A  small
number   of   productions,   and  they
contain   uninteresting   music.   For
example:   "Planet  Potion" - the best
intro on earth.  But the music is pure
background.   Skip  is  a proffesional
musician,   but   he  composes,  well,
boring  music.  Moreover - his modules
are  VERY  similar to eachother (sorry
Skip, ze tak mowie o tobie, ale tak mi
sie  jakos  nawinales).  And the music
in   Mawi   demos?   Boredom,  nothing
original.   Well  other demogroups are
no better.

CL0:So  what should we do, fellow sceners?
Do  what  you want - of course!  There
is  no  individuality  in music in the
scene, and no one can kick us out from
certain  stagnation.   That's  why you
should  do  what  you can the best, as
long  as you enjoy it.  And everything
will be O.K.  Only I will be sad.



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