Thursday, May 5, 2011

Overstated Satisfaction

Saturday's 2DC was not so such announced as it was growled; when someone asked if the round would occur, Dyne replied with a "RAAAAAA! YES".* The theme that night dealt with the recent suspension of the PlayStation Network, and offered less-than-truthful "CAKE". Dyne showed off his multitasking skill as he played through Portal 2 while the compo went on. The turnout was a small triumph with two entries: By his own description, Draconiator rescued the 2DC from "non-participation" and composed a dance track with voice clips courtesy of Aperture Science. liquidwind put up a chippy, piano-infused piece after returning from hiatus. Concurrently I was away attending a Pulsewave show with musician friends, discussing the viability of weekend compos.

The end of April marked the closure of the Dwelling of Duels voting period. The "Japan" theme for the month also tied into current events, acknowledging the disaster that hit the region. tibone's Bare Knuckle arrangement "Special Kickass Unit" starts with a Law and Order voice clip over sparse strumming, then opens up with the addition of drums and lead guitar. Cursed Lemon's remix of Blaster Master evokes a bygone age with a mixture of rock riffs, synth tones, murmured speaking and echo-drenched snare. Harjawaldar took on Chrono Trigger with "By the Old Mill", an acoustic guitar-centric track that picks up steam halfway through by introducing organ sounds. Kidd Cabbage gave Castlevania 3 the metal treatment with somewhat unintelligible vocals.

Ryan8bit's rendition of a Daikaijuu Deburas tune snuck in 3-4-5-1-8 and flaring of brass amongst the shreddage. DragnBreth submitted a Final Fantasy VII entry featuring mellow, solitary twanging before adding distorted fuzz and eventually percussion. Daniel Alm approached his The Goonies II source with samples of The Goonies film submerged in power chords. Axe grinding is also prevalent in Greg's Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts remix "Save Yourself or Die", which people in the listening party isolated as being the definitive DoD entry. Hoha's Shatterhand arrangement "To Japan, With Love" opens with a distinctly Asian selection of instruments, and jump-cuts to rock covered in koto lines and woodwinds.

CarboHydroM covered Thunder Force V and VI with slapped bass (not picked bass, as he clarified) supporting a rolling track accompanied by church organ. M-H's Tales of Symphonia entry crashes into existence with energetic drums, horns and rhythmic chugging followed by a choir-filled breakdown and keyboard solo. Aleph paid tribute to Ys with "Darm's Funky Death Jam" including acoustic guitaring hidden under prominent electric. Finally DragnBreth offered a Final Fantasy IX rock-orchestral arrangement as his alternate entry for the round.

On Tuesday, JHC featured another interpretive theme with "The Split". Its broadness brought in a varied selection of approaches, but caused at least one entrant to leave out of frustration. OCRE took the theme and made "Separation Anxiety", a diminutive entry featuring subdued electronic and repeating piano stabs. Jacob underwent "Groovy Cell Mitosis", which stayed true to its name despite an overall quiet mastering volume. At the extreme opposite in terms of sound level is "Line in the Sand", B-Type's interpretation of division with incisive rapping.

Separation was also taken to mean the "Sound of a Broken Heart" as Dash composed a gloomy strings-only piece. Kelintray's atmospheric "Drifting Apart" breaks into a percussive section and arpeggios until the "slapped [on]" ending. Listeners noted the use strong words in mv's description ("When trust is raped, all that remains is separation") for his piano and violin-heavy "Intimalice". irrelevnt wrote a meta-song about his attempts to avoid the A minor chord. At the end of the party, chunter wondered "Will We Be Together?" creating an amalgam of synth, keys, flute and drums.

ThaSauce reached its sixth birthday with a round of OHC on Thursday. The "Revolution" theme was accompanied by various examples how to interpret it, and I expanded that description with my "Revolutionary Intro" soliloquy. cyrilthewolf joined the fray with a one-take guitar and vocal recording. OCRE's "Dance Dance Revulsion" runs a little over half a minute, sprinting its way across a bevy of synthesizers. Jakesnke17's compressed drums supported his "Happy Jolly" track along with chip elements. Tomapella blamed finals, alcohol and declining sanity for his avant garde submission. Draconiator brought in the pulsing "ChipStuff" initially containing a pitch error that took many attempts to resolve. Fusion2004 made an effort to outshine my entry with a monologue of his own.

sci characteristically undersold his pounding dance tune sampling my voice and Trololo, among other things. jarski tossed up NES funk that brought up comparisons to Earthbound and ToeJam & Earl in the listening party. CJthemusicdude tried to channel DDRKirbyISQ's signature square wave and put in glitch effects for good measure. Usabell visited his private orchestra for a majestic, sweeping tune. Arcana chose the electronic route combining acoustic instruments and an unusual rhythmic pattern. cfx suffered technical issues in uploading, but got in his programmed "standard walk". mv's "Genetic Revolution" fills the aural canvas with drum-propelled strings and synth. MickRip used 15 minutes to produce his acoustic guitar and scat singing. DDRKirby(ISQ)'s moody "Reversion" carried along chopped-up drumming and and a lo-bit interlude. The night ended with Suzumebachi bringing out his e-orchestra and using non-accepted text formatting in his description.

I think my creative life has gone full circle. Before going into music production as a hobby, one of my major creative outlets was editing a school newspaper. I organized a publication for a bright community on subjects I cared about. With my blog, I'm right back where I left off.

*"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! YES"

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