The Long Year

This past Monday marked the one-year anniversary of My Compo Life. What began as a journal of my activity in music competitions went on to become a general wrap up of the compo communities. Also dealing with a milestone was OLRmageddon LVII, with its “over 18” theme: participants could remix music from games that were released eighteen years ago or more. Brunzolaitis became the default winner of that round and recorded a monologue in an Austrian accent about Super Metroid. Dwelling of Duels seemed to bring in a smaller-than-usual turnout, as suggested in Paragon’s comment: “Gonna be a small month.” DoD’s theme that month invited entrants to arrange music from the Kunio franchise of games; titles such as River City Ransom, Nintendo World Cup and Downtown Smash Dodgeball could be covered. SDCompo reached its 64th round with six entries, one of which was disqualified for using sounds not included in the provided sample pack. Perhaps most significant in compo news, OCRE won the cookie compo on IRC by creating circular “Catch-Me-If-You-Can” gingerbread cookies. 

LLCompo: Battle 6 dealt with the impending disaster of a “Volcanoes” theme. The night’s introduction came from Kay Faraday narrated by WVI, who greeted the Luelinks community and damned it one swoop. Smooth Suck made use of a deepened voice pointing out the existence of a volcano under glass before getting into some funk. Delphinus’s melancholy piano set the mood for a series of eruptions and a bit of hip hop. MKC reasoned that the volcano is a final boss and thus set his chip music to the appropriate tension level. Ananth Ram sent the listening party to the next level with his pounding filter house, declaring “Angels are born from Volcanos”. Saif sent along his signature metal stylings, this time with lyrics about a sacrificial offering to the lava chasm. sonicmax’s track consists of a soft growl and tinkling on the ivories thereby solving the equation “Piano + DSP = ?” 

Maxximum called General Pepper, who alert Fox McCloud on the dangers of the volcano planet. Run DMZ peered at “Vesuvius” with the aid of trip hop material that led to a brick wall of compression. Raj Flow let the horns roar and spit his rhymes to extinguish the magma. Bipolarbear hired Microsoft Sam to read a soliloquy regarding the night’s theme, backed with irregular rhythms. Chase Irwin woke up late for the compo, but nevertheless cooked up a song and some guitar strumming. PowerFail’s entry begins with a guttural “I AM POMPEII” and chants verses over a distorted rock backing. Jerkwater used a heavy dose of low end to symbolize the volcanic eruption via disco. Rounding out the entries was incorporator who worked his drum machine while LD bared his soul with voice and acoustic guitar. 

JHCompo on Tuesday was under siege from aliens who ordered Earth to “Evacuate the Planet”.  Following my reading of the theme, dusthillguy put one up of his own as a result of 200000000 hours in MS Paint. skyndileg chronicled the “Fall of the Empire” with a wide swatch of synths and dramatic voice acting. will90 wondered “What the hell we're going to do” in the midst of bouncy brass, strings and rolling timpani. Shadix started with a bang and cooled off until shreddage resumed. Beigh’s usual composition confused even him, and perhaps this was fitting considering the chaos of leaving the globe. SonicThHedgog grinded his axe to his namesake, noodling a Sonic the Hedgehog tune with a dramatic pause halfway through. irrelevnt made his plea to have the Earth spared and murmured a stirring set of lines to that effect with bass guitar. Finally mu marveled at the “two suns” and pushed his electro to the limits, then took a breather with a downtempo electronic piece. 

Thursday’s OHC began its theme with a response: "No, in fact, you can't", and the participants were free to interpret the "Stand Your Ground" theme however they wished. Brandon Strader pulled two entries out of his hat for the night: as Oinkness he uploaded a vocal narration, and as BrandonS he recorded his own parody of the song “Honolulu Baby” based on the Duosis version. Afterward dusthillguy sampled my voice once more for his tribute to Deven Gallo. Roseweave created an intro narration from scratch, ending with the cry of a thousand nightmares. Fusion2004 rode on tupleted bass with sprinkles of Billy Mays to make his blue notes white. Garian revealed his lack of imagination and unfurled a monologue over a serviceable beat. Hapi-San Again stood his ground against a wall of Nyan Cat doo-wop for a "brief interlude". Acuity took the opportunity to test out some electronics and glitch, thus excusing the listening party for it. Forty-Two's arpeggio meshed with the pads and sweeps making up the soundscape. CJthemusicdude settled on a waltz ping-ponging between its various harmonic elements. Trancient melded solo piano into a trip hop number and urged the audience to "Bring It".  

MandraSigma pitched a sample to create a chord progression, and then slammed down on it with accompaniment and hints of theremin. sci similar achieved a staccato effect with its sample and included an 808 drum machine. DDRKirby(ISQ) elected to chill for his compo session and delivered his usual dense composition in a slow tempo. Misael.K provided inspiring words for his entry featuring strings, guitar and rock percussion. A-zu-ra fired up his chips and found "The Will to Persist" among the lo-bit harmonies. Bren defied his claim of not being a Bren song by sending along distant chugs that support searing leads and ear-catching chords. OMGitslewis made his first entry and held his ground from those more experienced. Torzelan fitted his motivating quotes into a cartridge for 8-bit action. Arcana went through his orchestral collection and called the troops to maintain the "Steel Lines". In a burst of speed IXI made his best shot as a newcomer to the compo with frantic dance music. Destroid rocked the drum machines and boasted of a longtime commitment to techno beats. At the end of the round Hapi-San checked his watch whilst tilting to a laid-back tune, followed by munchi who waded in and out of low-pass filters.