Confused and Dazed

People Remix Competition 205 had an unusual choice of source material for participants to tackle. The game Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is perhaps better known for its psychological horror and dense storyline than for any hummable tunes. Nevertheless the sweeping source is more than fitting in context of the climactic moments of the game. Follow a deadline extension, sggod89 managed to put out an arrangement for the round; he wished to use a real bass guitar for his track, but settled on an all-synth excursion with a rockified middle section. As he was the only entrant, he obtained first place by default and was awarded with “infinity points”.

JHCompo on Tuesday featured “River Rapids” as theme, which led to a rush of entries. RAMPKORV suffered several issues due to a software upgrade, and composed a quick tune without being able to hear it. Alestance’s first JHCompo entry “rapid decline” showed a fast increase in electro stylings making use of VOPM and FL Studio's 3xOSC. coda threw a bone into the river presumably to continue his ongoing dog theme, this time to the tune of dance chords. dusthillguy submitted a brief, soft foray into nostalgic electronics with both the title and description of “snos”. mu’s piano-centric work is punctuated by bright bursts of synth and doses of rhythmic pew-pew. FLD brought along a “River canoe and a keg of beer” as well as lo-bit electro to make up for the problems he went through last week. Jarski also represented the r00t3d collective by presenting spiky untz and a fake-out ending.

Clockwerk floated through a mechanized jungle, careful to avoid the jutting rocks of distortion. Zerothemaster drowned in bass frequencies and chaos, but not before inserting a field recording of flowing water and a number of polyrhythms. mv stepped into the “Rapid Water” for a foray into trip hop centered around a eerie tone and eventually strings. braket uploaded a combination of text-to-speech and subdued drum beats with chippy blurbs. nysnamovois went for a verbose song title complimented by his narrow soundscape of effective e-harmonics. StatusD’s “River Trip” lasted nearly seven minutes and goes through several permutations before finally crashing into an expletive. SonicThHedgog tore up the listening party with electric guitar licks lasting about forty-five seconds. Finally a load of Maraki show that rivers and waterfalls are the natural extension of orchestral brass and pads. 

Thursday’s OHC was cloudy, incoherent, and obscured, and that was just the theme for the night. Zovi subsequently fell into a daze amongst the wildlife, with a kazoo in his mouth. Obtuse resumed his chiptune phase with a rush of white noise and culminating in a dance pulse. natsukashi posted a tribal piece complete with unusual harmonies and scales. Interrobang Pie initially broke his entry by using a lengthy title, but reuploaded his 8-bit prance that apparently ends with Mario going to hell. StatusD worked some magic using triplets and his Korg Electribe EMX-1, ending in a wash of delay. jarski brought in his Game Boy for more music and to observe the "colourful sky" in shades of grey. HarryNilsson'sGhost paid tribute to a breed of dog and laid down an off-kilter selection of drum patterns. Bren's signature chord progressions show even when constrained to 15 minutes, wondering whether to go with "Gloomy Haze" or hazy gloom.

sci entered a "German Dream Factory" prompted by utterances in the language via multiple repeated clips. General Mumble repeated a bad word and smash a shovel into the ears of the listening party with breakbeats and searing synth. Sadsic slid deftly into a hip hop groove making use of the stereo spectrum leading to mellower sections. ShrackAttack's life flashed before his eyes as orchestral elements set the somber moments before his passing. DDRKirby(ISQ)'s ambiance exemplifies the sensation of being disoriented with no previous recollection, though this picks with a bit of electro. munchi was slapped for having a potty mouth, and explained that he was preoccupied during the compo. SupaSpeedStrut sent a long and introspective lead couple with low end growl and reverb-drenched drums to boot. Finally, Dr. Arcana sent along a "March of the Dizzy" topped with bells and strings that danced into the night.