Your favourite contemporary c64-composers/songs?

[bizzi]

Hello!
(I hope it's the right place here to put this question. Also I couldn't find a similar question)
I listen to c64-sids very often. But I need some new food . While there are some "my-favourite-sids"-lists out there, they often only contain old heroes like galway/hubbard/hülsbeck and the like. Almost 10 years ago there was a "Best of Various"-List ( see http://dhp.com/~shark/BOV/ ) with many good tunes.

But time has passed and I need something new. I'd like to hear some suggestions (composers or tunes) from you. Only condition: The composer has to have released at least 5 tunes in the last 10 years.

My favourites in this category are:

• DRAX: easy target, I know. Has been active from the beginning up to now. My favourite recent releases are: "Break Up", "Winter Bird" and "Star Flake"
• Fanta: "Bombs over Dresden", "Soapbox Opera"
• Glen Rune Gallefoss: This man is a genius! "Evil within me" or "Huffa Meg" are sick and brilliant at the same time. Some not-so-new-but-still-awesome releases are "Hickup" or "Scimitars" or the inventive "GRG in Cyberspace". I promise: One day I'll do a remix of one of his tunes!
• Owen Crowley / CRD / Conrad: I admire the dark/cool mood in some of his tunes: "City Noises", "Croaker", "A load of Tap"
• Stellan Anderson / Dane: "Chronicles", "Arctic Circles", "Edge of Disgrace" are unbeatable. I consider "Eskimonika" as a perfect candidate for a Melodic-Death-Metal-Remix... someday I'll do it..
• Sascha Zeidler/Linus: "8580 People": music in 9/8-time! "Casting Vertigo upon the land": 26seconds pure madness
• Martin Evald (Radiantx): "Reactor Stage One" or "Opal"
• Soren Lund (Jeff): "6581 Doped Cows" or "Ode to c64"

Some individual gems are for me: Marcin Romanowski / Sidder: "Krakow" , fieserWolF: "Waitress on Rollerskates", Jan D. Arent Harries (rambones): "25 Years Into the SIDwave"

Thank you for your attention. - Bizarro

[Razmo]

Daf
CreaMD

springs to mind...

[Analog-X64]

I would say go through the forum where artists post their W.I.Ps. Some have links to SoundCloud pages and some have their own hosted songs. All produce very good quality tracks.

[bizzi]

Daf
CreaMD

Yes, CreaMD is a good hint. Daf is not too "contemporary" (his last tune is from 2001)

I would say go through the forum where artists post their W.I.Ps. Some have links to SoundCloud pages and some have their own hosted songs. All produce very good quality tracks.

Sounds like you talk about remix-artists, not about the SID-composers (which i was referring to). Or am I wrong?

[AndyUK]

Drax for me. That guy has.. soul..

[Vosla]

Drax for me. That guy has.. soul..

If the music wasn't by Mikkel 'Encore' Hastrup, i would have come up with the pun... Soulless.

[NecroPolo]

Lots and plentiful, here are just some that came to my mind:


Jammer - He is one of the most mindful, musical and awesome/improbably cool sounding contemporary jawropping SID musicians. Period.

Kjell Nordboe - He left behind one of the most multi-dimensional SID heritages ever. You can find every possible and some of the most impossible SIDs there. He passed in 2005.

DRAX - If there will ever be an album called "aesthetics and SID", his music would be 80% of it. An awesome composer in any aspect.

Fanta - I would be surprised if uncle Fanty was unknown to you. His releases tend to set the bar higher every time.

Intensity - With one foot in trance and the other in rock, his heritage contains some of the catchiest post-2000 SIDs. Sadly, his lifework is unfinished due to his unfortunate death in 2011.

Randall - He is a man of catchy melodies and experimentation. The two usually don't go well but check his tunes to see this mixture is working fine.

Wackee/Waczek - If you're into non-compromising ambient and heavy music, he is the man as he is a master of movie theme-like super-pressing atmospheres.

Ne7 - He has a partly avantgarde, partly minimalist stlye that work awesome in concept demos. Check the music collection "Manifold" to get into the feel.

Hermit - Mixing elements of jazz and funk, he is an open minden melodist as well as a master of SID because he is also the coder of the newest native SID tracker, SIDwizard. It has MIDI converter, fluent workflow and distinct AMISH colour mode - what else are you waiting for? Go composing SIDs!
http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=112716

Conrad - One of my personal favs and an another jawdropping composer for me who never fails to amaze.

G6G - Glenn is a perfectionist. Elgance and always the best sounds. Also, with Geir, he is the developer of one of the most powerful SID tools, SDI (Sid Duzz It)

Geir Tjelta - the brother-in-arms of G6R. Unfortunately now'days he composes relatively few SIDs but if you check his contribution to Richard Joseph's tribute C64 demo, it's one of the most amazingly constructed SIDs of the last decade.

Linus - A true melodist, he is a cross between old super-catchy style and modern sounds, causing some of the most memorable SID moments of the last era, making him one of the most appreciated SID musicians around.

Taxim - We have one thing in common, mixing guitar riffs and SIDs. Taxim often uses samples to add some extra raw edge. He is also one of the pioneering SID remixers ever.

Richard - Mr Bayliss is a man of trance and a creator of hundreds and hundreds of SIDs. If you're into the stlye you'll find a lot of great tracks among his tunes for sure.

SIDwave - Jan was one of those who started HVSC. An awesome composer with his own distinctive style and sound

Fredrik - Influenced by medieval music, Fredrik is probably the closest to a '80s classic game composer in the present scene. I'd recommend to check his 2010+ music as his entry year was mostly about spreading his wings.


I'm off typing now but really, there are so many awesome ones now'days. Just check the latest "Highscore Power Ballad Compo" and listen.

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/event/?id=2028

[bizzi]

Wow! Thank you for this elaborat reply! There's definitely some stuff I've never heard of.

[NecroPolo]

You're welcome and man, you must check Goto80 as well. Avantgarde / experimental mayhem, amazing stuff and supercool guy. SounDemon for making impossible and amazing sound on C64 as a next evolution step of SID. Mahoney for programming Cubase 64, running realtime FX on a native C64 stream music player (yes that's real). Ed's experiments for testing your mind, too. Cadaver for those clean melodic metal riffs and check his remix here, he is a helluva guitarist as well and a stellar coder. Dane for pushing his melodies and the JCH driver to the max. Psycho8580 for some really open-minded music. Prosonix guys and Flex for elegance. Adam Morton, Nata, Stainless Steel, Radiantx, dalezy, Booker, pvcf, G-Fellow... And how the hell could I forget Hein Holt? He had the biggest impact on me when I re-started composing SIDs after 15 years of aebsence, in 2009.

The list is endless you see