In a creepy case of parallelism, I was given a link to the Instant City music construction device right after thinking of something similar (but in software) last night. Did I mention that generative music is pretty neat?
instant city
101 free games #3: multihero
Attention anyone who played 8 bit or 16-bit games: You pretty much have to try this one out. Mutlihero is an old-school action game remix that plays, in mutliplayer, much like Super Smash Brothers – except you’re playing as Ryu, the Battletoads, the Double Dragon brothers, and so on. A hell of a concept and a hell of an execution.
tdpl18: Limbo – Junk
Sometimes I do so much promo I forget to post stuff here:
Tide Pool is delighted to welcome back Central Canada’s finest for his gargantuan second release. Junk is a torrential & dangerous tech-stomp masterpiece, complete with soaring acid lines, pads like clouds, and an arrangement that just won’t quit. There’s a package of parts and loops as well, and the loveable tool version for those who thrive on happy endings. Currently #28 on Balance, you can listen to it here, and purchase it here. Tide Pool loves you.
the end of the arms race
One of the underrated affects of the “digital revolution” in DJing is that it has broken the arms race for new music. That is to say, there is no longer any point in playing The Newest And Most Exclusive Tunes because they’re not exclusive any more.
To make the point, here’s how things used to work, in the days of vinyl. Someone like Breeder would write a huge track and give it to a few select DJs – Sasha, John Digweed, etc. Those DJs would play the track out for some period of time, usually several months, after which the track would be released on the back of the hype generated from its DJ play.
Then, your local record store might only order two copies – only you and someone else might be able to get a copy. The track might never get pressed again, leaving anyone who missed out to forage on HTFR and eBay for a used copy…and by then the track’s been played out 100 times by the people who bought it.
The upshot of all that is that there used to be a distinct benefit to sourcing the newest music as fast as you could, because it used to be in highly, highly limited supply. But not any more. Here’s an example of how things work now:
When “Waters Of Nazareth”, by Justice, started floating around, I could not for the life of me find a way to buy it, on vinyl or on digital. And I had a Halloween gig coming up that the track would be perfect for. What to do, what to do? Answer: pull it off of Soulseek, play it at the show, and ask my local record store to order it for me.
Another example is the James Holden remix of Madonna’s ‘Get Together’ – they were coming out on a hard-to-order CD with a ton of remixes I didn’t want at all. Solution? Download the remix, buy a digital copy of A Break In The Clouds from the Border Community website, and then delete A Break In The Clouds. I ended up giving Holden and his label about $5.00, more than they would have made from a sale of the remix, AND I got the track sooner.
Essentially, music is no longer constricted by time. If you’ve heard it, you can probably find it. This means that you don’t have to worry about the flavor of the month, or about that hot new joint that you’re only buying because it’s new. You can find and play what you really, really love, and nothing else.
(I should add that piracy sucks – if you grab stuff from SoulSeek or torrents or whatever, it is your responsibility to pay the artist, promptly. If you don’t, you’re pretty much a horrible person.)
it moves closer
Part 2 has been delivered to me. I am super-duper stoked to start in on Part 3.
101 Free Games Part 2: Nanozoa
…continued from Part 1 of a look at 1up’s 101 Best Free Games
This is a classic example of a great design idea / tweak that really doesn’t pan out once you get down to playing it. The game is basically Asteroids, with a few extra weapons, baddies of different sizes, and a wonderful inside-the-body medical theme. However, the gameplay is hamstrung by the art. The fact that everything is in black and white is gorgeous, and the backgrounds and sprites are lovely, but it’s really hard to see. Add the fact that enemies phase into place on the field of play, and things can get really inconvenient really, really fast. Pros are great art, great presentation, great concept. Cons are the art & concept overwhelming gameplay concerns. Not really recommended.
Tide Pool Is Love #2
For those of you who rock with Proton, you can now get round 2 of Tide Pool Is Love on demand. This show features a stupendous live laptop jam from Russian Linesman, the second edition of Jetsam, featuring Limbo, Antiguru, and myself, and ‘Discocsid’, a set I did a while back.
it burns when i music
Just a burnt CD tracklisting-dump. Continue to go about your day.
Bent – The Waters Deep (AFK Cascadia Subduction Remix) [Tide Pool]
Made Of Leaves – Karate Robot (Russian Linesman Remix) [Tide Pool]
Differnet – Caring Arms (Jesse Somfay Remix) [Kupei Musika]
Alexander Koning – Back to the Oldskool (Jesse Somfay Remix) [TBA]
Klmnt + Yann DL – Intensive (Limbo Remix) [Audio Invaders]
Neon Tetra – Upset [Tide Pool]
Neon Tetra – Surroundings [Tide Pool]
Viking 2 – Shroud Jettison [Unsigned]
Viking 2 – Centaur Deflection [Unsigned]
Viking 2 – Space Flight (305 – 355 Days) [Unsigned]
Viking 2 – Lander Sience Data [Unsigned]
UP – UP [Unsigned]
Micah – Microcosm (Austin Azua Ambient Shlubble) [Ruhn Song]
Led Zepplin – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You (PQM Melbourn Pass) [Abducted]
Gary Jules – Mad World (Stefan Anion Remix) [Proton]
CPM – Takeaway (His Boy Elroy Remix) [Proton]
CPM – Iobec Magic (Jaytech & Matt Rowan Remix) [Proton]
Stuart McKeown – Meet Me On The Corner Of Raven Hill [Proton]
One Trick Pony – Knuckles To The Floor (Fractal’s Knuckles On The Keys Version) [Guilt Records]
101 Free Games Part 1: Ray Hound and Harmotion
The ever-loving 1up posted this article on The Best 101 Free Games. As such, I figured I should play the interesting looking ones. Duhh.
This is by the same genius who did Warning Forever, and it shows. It’s an addictive, mathematical shooter, where your teeny little spaceship gets to bounce, reflect, and redirect the baddies rays back at them. Pros are the masterful design, control, and art. Cons are no sound, no way to save your progress (yeah yeah, classic shooter, blah blah blah.), and potential repetitive stress injury from waving your mouse hand around. Recommended, but it’s very much not a long term thing.
A stupidly simple twist on a shooter: You’re under attack by big fucking bubbles, and you have to shoot them and suck in the power-points to get to the next level. But three quick, genius twists make this a great game.
1: To suck things towards, you have to hold down the shoot button, so you can’t shoot.
2: Vacuuming up power-points also draws the big bubbles towards you. Hello tension-in-design.
3: Make it MULTIPLAYER. Wow. Suddenly an average, quirky little shooter becomes just a blast. Between avoiding bubbles, your opponent’s fire, absorbing power, and absorbing the one-shot powerups, you’ll never run out of things to do. Really, really, really well done.
Pros: Super graceful design, multiplayer is a blast, the four different ships play just differently enough, multiplayer is a blast. Cons: Kinda laggy. For a game that brags about “interactive music”, the music and sonic interactvity is just fucking awful. There’s also no easy, fast way to get back into an online game short of restarting and picking up the first “radar” power-up, which acts as a matchmaker. Why should it take me ages to get back to the best part of the game? With that said, this one is highly recommended, highly addictive, and *much* deeper than it looks.
an obligatory remix (work in progress)
ANOTHER CLIP UPDATE – the mix isn’t a total embarrassment and the choirs are as close to on time. HOWEVER, i had the drum FX turned off when I bounced it out. How you suffer.
With the full knowledge that it’s a massive cliche, and that it will be very, very tough to top the Adam Freeland version, I started a remix of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ tonight. But! I am using the amazing yet slightly ridiculous Scala Youth Choir vocal + piano version as the main hook.
I also reserve the right to use the Tori Amos version, and maybe even find someone with an acoustic guitar to play me the riff. We shall see. Also, thanks are in order to Leenie for sending me the YouTube clip of the choir’s performance.