Makke's new CD "Its Binary Baby"

[Chris Abbott]

A well-informed source tells me Makke will soon be known to thousands of unsuspecting videogamers as "The Popstar"...

And I'll just say right here, that it was _nothing_ to do with me...

"The Pioneer"

[Makke]

A well-informed source tells me Makke will soon be known to thousands of unsuspecting videogamers as "The Popstar"...

Hahaha... Well, we'll see about that.

And even if I was a popstar I'd feel rather uncomfortable being called "The Popstar". Sounds like something Prince would call himself.

[Chris Abbott]

A well-informed source tells me Makke will soon be known to thousands of unsuspecting videogamers as "The Popstar"...

Hahaha... Well, we'll see about that.

And even if I was a popstar I'd feel rather uncomfortable being called "The Popstar". Sounds like something Prince would call himself.

The Makke formerly known as "Poppy Prince Pop, the Poppy Popster of Poptown"

Chris

[Makke]

The Makke formerly known as "Poppy Prince Pop, the Poppy Popster of Poptown"

Also known as "The Mighty Poopster".

[Slick2097]

Makke, Great album mate, can't stop singing the Glider rider song to myself.

The i'm a database song tickled me as well, as I work with databases and sql

Fantasic album, looking forward to the next one.

Ste.

[tomsk]

Makke - I wanted to email you with this review, but couldn't find your mail address. Anyway, here goes..................


Intro : Very funny, I really liked all those lush SID sounds and the vocal. Quite an appropriate start.
8

Cauldron 2-005 : An excellent kick off to the album. Addictive bassline and great vocals
8

Sacred Armour of Antiriad : The first proper outing for Makke’s vocal talent. Although the lyrics are game based they still sound quite good. Not too fond of the lead instrument, but it fits, so I’ll leave it there.
7

I am a database : Fantastic track – all the hallmarkings of class. Great lead, and addictive bassline. Then the lyric kicks in – and that’s when you know you’ll just love this song forever. I could mention Kraftwerk – but the comment about it being better than Pocket Calculator are so close to how I feel I’ll not (hang on I just did!!)
10

Glider Rider :
Is the opening supposed to sound like Turrican ? Anyway, not being a big trance fan I wasn’t so keen at first. However, the smooth layered arps flying around really made me love this.
9

Last Ninja:
Sweet version with perfect drums – really mellow and nice to listen to.
8

Sanxion
Ha ! Makke’s sense of humour and spectacular originality really shine in this track. You’ll not hear Sanxion like this – smashing !
8

Lazy Jones
I think this is the weakest lyric on the full album – the words are good, but some of the low range vocals are not too suited to Makke’s vocal talents. But, the great way the whole thing is mixed together still makes this a really good track. Very cleverly, Makke manages to seamlessly insert as many of the sub tunes as possible without detracting from the song.
7

Thanatos
Wow – this just sounds so pro. How hard can it be to make a SID tune into a fully fledged song about the environment? A credit to Makke that this sounds like Thanatos, but much more like a real song. My favorite SID based song of the album, and an excellent chorus to boot.
9

Hardware and Hubbard
Chill out man – I’m just gonna run a few numbers past you that you might recognize. As a stand alone remix this wouldn’t shine as much, but as a mellow section of Binary Baby it really suits.
7

Compilations III
Tremendous! I loved this the second I heard it. And don’t tell me the origins of this don’t lie in Noise tracker. It does sound so much like an old school tracker tune, but with fantastic production. Another infuriatingly catchy chorus – damn you Makke – where are the answers!!!!
10

Corporation
A nice tune – with some original SID chucked in there just to remind everyone this is Makke’s vision
7

Binary Baby
Kraf…Kr..Kraft….Aargh .I have to say it ………KRAFTWERK. And I’m sure our German friends would have been more than happy with the title track of this album. This would sit very happily on Electric Café.
8

Bonus Tracks
Personal Jesus
This is some bonus mate! A brilliant song, with excellent lyrics and vocals. My only gripe is that the high pitched backing to the lyric would have been a sounded sweeter if sung by a female – but as it stands Makke has done a grand job. An excellent song.
10

Bitch
Okay – it’s the best track on the album IMHO. Makke’s course voice is unrecognizable and suits the tone of the ‘bitter’ lyrics. Great thumping bass, excellent lead and the main theme is damn catchy. Can I sum it up with….An amazing song…..yes ?
Am I sooo glad these bonus tracks were featured !
10

Artura
Beautifully executed Irish folk version of this SID. Clever use of instruments and a bit of the old irish accent could fool anyone into believing this was a trad. Irish arrangent.
8

Madballs
Why oh why ? A space filler and, after all a bonus track, so I can’t complain too much. A shame there wasn’t enough room to put Forbidden Forest in there.
5

Overall

If this is Makke vision – I want to see and hear more. A tremendous effort, and well worth the 4 hard years of work. This has truly paid off, and has been a permanent attachment to my car CD player since BIT Lite. Thanks
8.5

[Makke]

Cheers for the review, Tomsk! It's the first full review I've had so far, and I'm honoured you took the time to write it!

Very glad you liked the album.

Putting Madballs on there was a bit of a gamble. It's a love it or hate it kind of track. Personally, I love it and liked the idea of having it as a bonus track.

It had to be the last track though, so people who hate it can just hammer on the STOP-butten when it's up.

[tomsk]

Hey Makke - no problem. If you can spend 4 years on this I can spend a little time reviewing it.

By the way, just out of interest did you notice that my favorite tracks (All 4 10 pointers) were not SID based remixes, but infact originals (at least as far as I'm aware). Far be it from me to steer you away from the C64 scene but that's some coincidence.

Anyway, I'd like to know which was your personel favorite ? Other than Madballs that is...

Tomsk

[Makke]

Anyway, I'd like to know which was your personel favorite ?

Close call between Cauldron 2-005 and I Am A Database.

Cauldron 2-005 because I'm flabbergasted I managed to get such a cool vocoder sound without making it impossible to hear the lyrics.

I Am A Database because it's a track I wrote myself that's not completely shit.

The groove in H&H isn't bad either.

[Chris Abbott]

Anyway, I'd like to know which was your personel favorite ?

Close call between Cauldron 2-005 and I Am A Database.

Cauldron 2-005 because I'm flabbergasted I managed to get such a cool vocoder sound without making it impossible to hear the lyrics.

Yeah, how DID you do that? Spill the beans, ya marvel!

Chris

[Makke]

Yeah, how DID you do that? Spill the beans, ya marvel!

AKAI Vocoder VST-effect with a 303 as carrier...and a bit of tweaking.

[Makke]

Just in case anyone cares to read it, here's a review from Swedish music magazine Groove:

... <snippet of text from Thanatos> ... This, my dear friends, and other smart rhyming couch politics is part of the message that Makke supplies on his fantastic It's Binary, Baby! Sometimes it's about sex. Sometimes it's about computers. Covers are hailing from everywhere, among others from Last Ninja III, Depeche Modes Personal Jesus and Bitch by Apoptygma Berzerk. I feel like a living question-mark - why has Makke written own texts for so many of them? I don't understand much of it. But I understand enough to know I don't like what I hear. It's Binary, Baby! is the definition of dumb-synth.

It seems that everyone who's not quite understanding what the album is hates it. It seems like a lot of people is taking it a bit too serious. I guess this just proves that synth (or maybe music in general) has to be pretentious and solemn for "people who know" to be able to appreciate it.

At the risk of sounding bitter, I think it's a rather shitty written review. Would you sum the album up in the words "politics", "sex" and "computers"? I know I wouldn't. I'm getting the feeling the guy who wrote the review didn't give it a fair chance. He even managed to be sarcastic when saying the album was fantastic when he obviously hates it. But I'm not taking the review too seriously on a personal level. The audience this album was aimed at (i.e. the Commodore-community) seem to like it. That's good enough for me.

[Chris Abbott]

Just in case anyone cares to read it, here's a review from Swedish music magazine Groove:

... <snippet of text from Thanatos> ... This, my dear friends, and other smart rhyming couch politics is part of the message that Makke supplies on his fantastic It's Binary, Baby! Sometimes it's about sex. Sometimes it's about computers. Covers are hailing from everywhere, among others from Last Ninja III, Depeche Modes Personal Jesus and Bitch by Apoptygma Berzerk. I feel like a living question-mark - why has Makke written own texts for so many of them? I don't understand much of it. But I understand enough to know I don't like what I hear. It's Binary, Baby! is the definition of dumb-synth.

It seems that everyone who's not quite understanding what the album is hates it. It seems like a lot of people is taking it a bit too serious. I guess this just proves that synth (or maybe music in general) has to be pretentious and solemn for "people who know" to be able to appreciate it.

At the risk of sounding bitter, I think it's a rather shitty written review. Would you sum the album up in the words "politics", "sex" and "computers"? I know I wouldn't. I'm getting the feeling the guy who wrote the review didn't give it a fair chance. He even managed to be sarcastic when saying the album was fantastic when he obviously hates it. But I'm not taking the review too seriously on a personal level. The audience this album was aimed at (i.e. the Commodore-community) seem to like it. That's good enough for me.

You know, you're not the one who sounds bitter, but he certainly does. And it's been psychologically shown that incompetent people are not able to judge competence in other people, or the incompetence in themselves.

It says nothing about the music, but everything about a set of ill-considered prejudices of the reviewer.

Maybe it is a "Love it or hate it" album: when you appear to put yourself on the line with actual words, you take a risk: especially with the pompous miserable old gits who appear to inhabit this genre, and who wouldn't understand tongue-in-cheek if someone stuffed a tongue extender right through their cheek

They shouldn't be let near a pen, but don't let it ruin your Xmas. For what it's worth, I've had similarly snipey reviews for a lot of my stuff.

It's worth remembering that reviewers are not paid to review, per se. They're paid to write "entertainingly" and fill space. If this can be done while thinking up cutting put-downs and sarcasm so that a knowing audience can appreciate his cleverness, then all the better. That's why they review CDs: not to build up the artist, but to either entertain, look clever or both at the expense of the people with the talent.

Chris

[Chris Abbott]

It's fitting, of course, that an album called "It's Binary, Baby" has elicited such a binary response

Chris

[Makke]

They shouldn't be let near a pen, but don't let it ruin your Xmas.

I won't let it ruin my Christmas, because the more I think about how utterly shite the review is, the less I care.

He's asking why I've written own words for so many of the covers, but I've not written any own words for any of the ones he mentions. He makes it seem like I wrote my own lyrics for Personal Jesus and Bitch. Which I didn't.

It seems he doesn't get that it's remixes of old Commodore 64 tunes, which is why the music is written by others. On the other hand, why should he care? It's not more strange than having a songwriter write the music, and then write lyrics for that. It's a common thing.

He states himself that he doesn't get much of it, and he hasn't made an effort to do so either. So he remains just as stupid when he's finished writing as he was when he started.

I've emailed the reviewer and thanked him for the review anyway. And said that it was unfortunate that he didn't understand much of it. And then I told him that most of the songs are remixes of Commodore 64 tunes, and thus are instrumental. So, part of my interpretation of them was to write my own lyrics for them.

I didn't yell at him for being a shitty critic though. I didn't see the point. And even if there was one, I'm sure he'd miss it.