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_\\__T_A_T_I_C___L_I_N_E_____________________________________ September, 1999
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\\//__ Monthly Music E-Zine __________________________________ 73 Subscribers
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  Table Of Contents
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     Opening:
           Message From the Editor
           Letters From Our Readers
     Columns:
           In Tune -- The Year in Tracked Music
           The Zen of Tracking -- Anchors Up
           Screen Lit Vertigo -- Seven's Top 10 Demos of 1999
           Crackhead Trackhead -- Like the Sands of the Hourglass, so
              are the Days of Archives
     Features:
     Closing:
           Credits

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  Message From the Editor
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  It's still January, and the Year is already taking off.  This issue is
  finally completed, and I hope that the website will get up tonight (if
  at least in part).  I think my life is getting organized again, so it
  shouldn't be too much longer before you'll recognize me again.  =)

  Anyhow, we got a good full issue this month.  Of course, you got the
  Best of 1999 articles lined up.  Both Setec and I did our own lists for
  tracked music, read In Tune for that segment.  Seven brings us a very
  good collection of the Best of 1999 in Demos, see Screen Lit Vertigo.
  Then we have Dilvish's latest ponderings dealing with the things that
  hold you back:  Figurative Anchors, read Zen of Tracking for that
  article.  Finally, we got Virt back to give us his input on the age old
  topic of oldskool vs. new school (sort of).  Call to Keyboards will not
  be published this month, due to the amount of time it has taken me to
  get this far.  However, a response from Smash will be published in the
  Letters from the Readers.

  Now's the time to get on our staff.  If you have ideas for columns, let
  me know.  Lets start the year with a fresh new beginning.

  Cheers,

                --Coplan
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  Letters From Our Readers
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  -=- Letter from Smash -=-
     Keep it in the family or spread the word? Whatever. My opinion is,
  just make the best productions you possibly can. The thing that attracts
  people to the scene is not what format you save your music in, or how
  much you shout at your neighbours about it. It's the quality of the
  things that are released. How many people came into the scene because of
  something like Second Reality? Or started coding because of a c64
  cracktro? Because what they saw on their screens was so much better than
  what they had ever seen on it before when they started up a demo they
  had found somehow, be it on a magazine coverdisk or a website or a BBS
  or a friend or whatever. If we make amazing things, the world will
  notice. If all we make is crap, only those in the scene already will
  ever be bothered to see it. So, make the best demos, music, graphics
  etc. that you can, enter party compos, etc. Don't just go over what
  people have already done for years, use old effects and no originality,
  but try to break some new ground. If you can amaze people with something
  they have never seen on their computer and never believed could be done,
  then maybe a lot of people will become interested in joining the scene
  to imitate you, and you will have made it a bit bigger than it was
  before. Lead by example. Surely this is what it should be about.

     Sorry for not actually answering the question. =) What I am saying is,
  if we make something good, people will come to us, we won't have to go
  around trying to drag people into the scene.

                --Smash
                  smaash@yahoo.com


--=--=--
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  In Tune
    The Year in Tracked Music
  By:  Coplan and Setec
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  -=- Introduction -=-
     It's a tradition.  The end of the year (or the beginning of a new
  year  in this case) yields to lists.  The best of the year, the worst of
  the  year, the most memorable, and "do you remember this?"  Well, we're
  just  one group in the long tradition that will help to carry it out.
  What  can I say?  It's tradition.

     Well, you are now reading our list.  Setec and I each did our own
  list  of songs that are deserving of the year-end recognition.  Use it
  as a  guideline to find some new tunes, or perhaps to review old ones.
  There  will not be a regular review this month, but instead you get 22
  short  reviews.  Enjoy!

  -=- Coplan -=-
     When I sat down to write this article, I must say that I was rather
  surprised to see what I came up with.  I have downloaded a whole lot of
  music this year, and I tossed them all into one directory to make things
  easier.  I downloaded 481 songs this year, excluding songs of my own and
  of my group.  I hope my guys will understand -- but I have not included
  any songs from my group in this list.  I have an unfair biased towards
  anything with the name of my affiliates on it.

     Well, I'm going to rank my songs in reverse order.  I think that
  everyone should keep in mind that even though I downloaded 481 songs
  this year, there is still a lot that I have missed.

  Honorable Mention:
  "Blackjack" by El Blanco -- This one is for all of those die-hard
  old skoolers out there.  El Blanco has made a fairly successful attempt
  at re-creating the old skool sound.  Impressive baselines and leads and
  a very tight song structure.  Needless to say, this is a good song for
  grooving around.

  Honorable Mention:
  "The Affectionate" by Caesar -- A ballad with a very well
  orchestrated structure.  The only drawback to this song is the fact that
  the horn sample, the lead instrument, isn't as good as it could be.
  Nevertheless, it is a peice that has resided on my hard drive as a
  relaxing and mind clearing tune.  Not for the sleepy.

  10.  "In My Live, My Mind" by Wave -- At first thought, one might think
  this to be right out of a cheezy '80s movie about babes from the planet
  Pudron picking up men on Earth.  Listen longer.  This song is yet
  another re-creation of the classic old skool style, and a good one at
  that.  But Wave has been around for a while, so one could consider him a
  master.

  9.  "Spider to the Fly" by Smash -- This is a tune that was reviewed by
  Setec for Static Line a couple of months ago.  I regretfully wasn't able
  to offer my two cents that month.  It's up here, so I guess you can
  guess at my opinion.  Meanwhile, the song shows some incredible talent
  from Smash as he rips out some original sample techniques and pulls us
  deeper into the song.  We aren't done with Smash yet, so I'll move on.

  8.  "One of a Kind" by Acumen -- Acumen has many songs out there, but
  this is by far his best (in my opinion).  Excellent sample work,
  skillful orchestration and generally a good tune to listen to.  After
  many discussions with Acumen, I must say he's one of the more
  interesting and approachable trackers I've dealt with.

  7.  "Star Girl" by Smash -- Smash is slowly becoming one of my favorite
  trackers, and this is one of the songs that did it.  This has a very
  characteristic style that I think could very closely be associated with
  the popular group Jamiroquai.  It's funky, unique and definately worth a
  listen.

  6.  "Tranquil Winds" by Trax.no (I think!  It could be Paladin, but I'm
  a bit confused by the credit information.  Please e-mail and correct
  me).  -- Anyhow, this is a very hard-core trance / rave tune.  If this
  song doesn't have you dancing, then you might be on crack.  This is a
  very fast paced song of a very difficult style to track (skeptics,
  proove me wrong).  I admire the talent and effort that went into the
  creation of this song.

  5.  "Outer Visions" by Tourach -- Tourach is one of the more original
  trackers out there (at least when it comes to tracking styles).  I've
  never heard anything quite like this song, even stylistically.  Some key
  points to this song is the percussion, the base line and support
  instruments.  The song is dynamic, and demonstrates Tourach's skill not
  only as a tracker, but as a music writer in general.

  4.  "The Great Revolt" by Virt -- This is in fact one of my all time
  favorite tunes.  But in all fairness, the sample quality has pulled this
  down a little from the top this year.  Regardless, it is one of the most
  skillfully orchestrated tunes I have ever heard.  Virt has been honored
  this year as one of the Trackers of the Month for the Trax In Space
  website.  Well deserved, if you ask me.

  3.  "Secret Service" by Wayfinder -- It's unusual, it's fun and it's
  incredibly catchy.  Not since Chuck Biscut's "Mendelian Miscarriage"
  have I heard a song like it.  Don't listen to it...you have to move to
  it.  Get out of your chair and dance around.  It's a requirement to
  enjoy this song (and any of this genre, for that matter).  This was the
  first Wayfinder song that I downloaded, ever, but it will not be my
  last.

  2.  "Mila Ae" by El Blanco -- A very ecclectic song that takes you back
  (it seems) to the early days of classic guitar and full sized orchestras
  of the middle ages.  There are three parts to this song.  The middle
  part (as was explained to me by the artist himself) was originally a
  separate song, but he managed to hammer it together with the rest of
  this song.  I am so incredibly impressed the transitions in this song,
  and his use of support instruments such as chimes, the choir and the
  guitar.  Some of the samples leave something to be desired, but as a
  whole, the song is incredible.

  1.  "From the Root" by El Blanco -- It may seem as though I have a
  biased towards El Blanco this year, but he is well worthy of having
  three songs mentioned in this list.  I don't know what genre one would
  place this song in, it is almost orchestral, but almost rock.
  Meanwhile, the samples are clean, crips and accurate.  The tune is
  haunting and soothing.  It is tight...quite nearly flawless.  A few
  months ago, Dilvish wrote a column about simplicity -- a concept that
  few can grasp.  Well, El Blanco demonstrates the power of simplicity in
  this song.  A sure winner this year.

     So...that the year in music, in my mind.  If you don't have any of
  these  tunes, go find them.  I will gladly help anyone looking for any
  of these  tunes as per request.  Now...lets get started on this year.

             --Coplan


  -=- Setec -=-
     So, Coplan asked me to point out my top 10 tracked tunes of 1999.
  This proved - as expected - to be a pretty tough task. I have never been
  very good at choosing what I like the best, since I tend to like some
  elements of almost all tunes. But anyway, I have compiled this list of
  my favourite tracks from 1999. They are listed alphabetically, since I
  could never rate them compared to eachother. They're just to damn nice
  tunes all of 'em. =)


  "Asimilate me" - Hunz
     Well, I have always loved almost all stuff that Hans puts out and
  this no exception. Clean, crisp, lovely lovely samples. Inventive
  grooves and awesome transitions makes this one of my favourite tracks of
  all times. It is one of those tunes that are extremely hard to place in
  any speci- fic category of music. Overall, it is just plain awesome. And
  the sound and mixing of the thing is top notch. This is album stuff.

  "c.." - Mellow-D
     This is a track from Jak's marvellous musicdisk "Appelsap", which
  should be in everybody's module collection by now. This is - in my
  opinion - the best of the bunch. A very weird sound throughout it, with
  some truly strange and funky beat samples. Almost like they've been
  processed via a wahwah pedal or something similar. It is a very unique
  sound. And of course, all those short mellow-d trademark samples that
  build up what must be the groove of the year. This is indeed funky. And
  as always there is that mysterious atmosphere to the whole piece. One
  thing that I have always enjoyed in Mellow-d pieces. And by the way, the
  filename is Appel5.xm. :)

  "Eleventeen" - Beek
     Well. I just HAD to include this one, even if it is a 20 second chip
  tune. I sometimes find myself playing it looped in fifteen minuttes or
  more, just for the pure enjoyment and happy feel of it. I am not sure if
  Beek has released it for real, but ask him to send it to you. It is sure
  to keep you smiling and feeling joyful for hours and hours. One of the
  best leads I have heard yet, as far as catchy happy leads go.

  "Haunted Forrest II" - Wonder
     This is - besides the rather lame title - a nearly flawless track.
  This is orchestral music at its best. Straight out of some thriller
  movie. I have always been a sucker for film music, and when it is
  crafted as well as this, well...I love it. And this guy completely threw
  me off, I had never heard of him before and then he sends me this
  absolutely mar- velous piece of music. If you like orchestral music even
  the slightest then be sure to grab this piece as well as anything else
  Wonder may decide to share with the rest of us.

  "Laugh" - Hunz
     Ah, yes. Another Hunz piece. This one with the nearly obligatory great
  vocals. I am sure a lot of people will dislike this piece, I just find
  the entire feel of the track appealing. It experiments, it challenges
  and surprises the listener, and it breaks so many basic structural rules
  that I just have to love it. :) As with "Asimilate me" this is a piece
  of extremely high technical skill. The samples seem to be of another
  world, they are awesome. And if you manage to look beyond the obvious
  experimental feel of the track, there are some really good musical
  content in here as well. The chorus at the end is wonderful, with some
  really lovely vocals.

  "Light" - The Fear / Dafear
     The first tune from The Fear in a long, long time. A wonderful
  melodic drum and bass track, with some really nifty chord progressions
  and a basic groove that just lifts you up and makes you wanna spin
  around your room. Nothing much to say about it really, it is just plain
  enjoyable. And I love them congas in the intro. =)

  "Spider to the fly" - Smash
     I reviewed and praised this piece in issue #13 of Static Line and
  well, nothing has changed since. I still love the leads, the chorus, the
  bass, the beats, ...If I had to choose my number one "melodic" favourite
  tune of all times, this would probably be it.

  "Squeak" - Kenny Beltrey
     And now to something completely different. This is a piece that I
  cannot really explain why I like so much. It just appeals to me somehow.
  It is inventive, the beats are truly awesome and I really like the rough
  and sudden transitions throughout the piece. This is experimental stuff,
  so it may not appeal to everyone. I know Coplan for one didn't really
  think to high of it, but I myself really felt inspired after hearing it.
  It is something different, fresh. And I always like that.

  "Subterraneous" - SiN
     Production skill! The mixing and sound of this piece is really
  awesome.  It is a slowmoving, ambient piece that slowly morphs through
  various different parts. It is really calming, soothing. And the ideas
  that are brought forth in some parts are really great. This is not just
  your usual boring "bring in one 303 line after the other"-type ambient.
  This is melodic, atmospheric, inventive...and great! Don't play it in
  Sonique though, it messes up the bass entirely.

  "There goes the neighbourhood" - Smash
     Okay, so I know this is supposed to be a top 10 of my favourite tunes
  of  all time, but I just had to include this entire musicdisk. It is by
  far the best disk I have ever downloaded, and I loved the fact that
  Smash decided to bring back the good old days where musicdisks had
  actual interfaces, and weren't just a bunch of tunes compiled in a
  single zip. I cannot find a single track that I do not love entirely on
  this disk. Burn it to an audio cd and it is (almost:) my album of the
  year as well.

                --Setec


     "In Tune" is a regular column dedicated to the review of original and
  singular works by fellow trackers.  It is to be used as a tool to expand
  your listening and writing horizons, but should not be used as a general
  rating system.  Coplan's and Setec's opinions are not the opinions of
  the Static Line Staff.

     If you have heard a song you would like to recommend (either your own,
  or another person's), We can be contacted through e-mail useing the
  addresses found in the closing notes.  Please do not send files attached
  to e-mail without first contacting us.  Thank you!


--=--=--
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  The Zen of Tracking
     Anchors Up
  By:  Dilvish
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     It's the end of a millennium.  Looking back, it seems that a lot has
  changed in the world.  Nations have come and gone.  Wars have flared and
  died.  Heros and legends have risen, and fallen.  Billions of people
  have been born, and died, but all these are not the changes that really
  interest me much.  The most important changes are the ideas of what
  human beings are capable of.

     Only recently, we were locked on the ground and the oceans for
  transportation - now there are daily concords spanning the Atlantic, and
  even space shuttles and space stations high above the world.  We broke
  through the outer limits of our imagination.

     Limits are temporary.  Imagination is limitless. Anything we can
  imagine, we can achieve.  However, there are a few stumbling blocks
  placed in our way.  I call these things anchors, and the only way to fly
  higher is to cut them loose.

     Anchors come in many colorful shapes and sizes. Everything you own is
  an anchor.  Your home is an anchor.  Even your family and friends - even
  husbands and wives are potential anchors.  I don't mean that you should
  burn your house down, leave your wife, and abandon your friends.  I mean
  that you should come to the understanding that all of these things are
  temporary.  Spouses die or leave.  Friends move away and lose touch.
  Things often break down and refuse to work again.  Houses burn down all
  by themselves.

     Your life and happiness are completely independent of all of these
  things.  It's important to maintain a positive attitude, through all of
  life's changes. When we place too much emphasis on any specific aspect
  of our lives - a wife, a house, a great pair of shoes, we tend to feel
  discouraged, and have a hard time focusing on the present, rather than
  dwelling on losses when something doesn't go as planned.

     In relationships, it's very important to cut the anchors.  Don't let
  anybody hold you back from where you want to be.  Of course, if you
  really want to be making music, but you have to work to pay the rent,
  it's important to establish a good balance.  If your spouse is nagging
  you cause you've spent the last 48 hours bent over your guitar, and your
  boss just called to tell you not to bother coming back, you might
  consider your music obsession as another anchor in itself.  Finding a
  good balance is a key to spiritual enlightenment and creativity.  When
  your life is out of balance, you tend to feel stressed out, and
  unfocused.

     What I mean when I say you should cut the anchors to your friends and
  loved ones is that you should not worry about what they think you should
  be doing.  If you have a good idea of what you want, and how to get it -
  and have a solid plan to back it up, you should go for it.  Don't let
  your wife or your mom, or your dog, Ralph tell you that it's a pipe
  dream.

     If you let people hold you back, you don't help the relationship, you
  only add strain to it, and you begin to resent them.  Just make sure you
  can provide some sense of security for them.  Cutting people loose is
  not a sign that you don't care about them - it's a sign that you care
  enough to let them choose - fly with you, or go their own way, it's
  their choice, but either way, you aren't going to hate or resent them
  for it, and you yourself will be happier because you're doing what you
  need to do, and that is important.  Remember to give people time to get
  used to your ideas.  Get busy on it, and prove to them that you are
  steering in the right direction.

     It's probably not a good idea to say, "I'm gonna work on my music full
  time, and you're gonna work 3 jobs to support us until I'm a billboard
  chart topper, and if you don't like it, get lost."  Not only will they
  get lost, so will you.  Your choices should be as self-supporting as
  they are fulfilling.  If they're not, you should examine your strategy a
  bit better.

     Sharing is important - sharing work, sharing money, sharing love, and
  sharing support are all essential, but make sure you're carrying your
  weight all the time - in fact, if you go out of your way to carry a
  little bit more, you'll feel good about yourself, your loved ones will
  feel good about you and your choices, and you might just find that there
  is still a little sanity in life.

     Remember, everything in this life is in a very temporary and fragile
  state.  Even the knowledge you gain can be easily forgotten.  The things
  you really need to concentrate on are happiness, love, and freedom - not
  just freedom to do what you want, but freedom from the destructive agony
  of losses, freedom from self-loathing, freedom from everything that
  drags a person down.  Do not submit to your anchors - cut them loose and
  fly.

                --Dilvish

--=--=--
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  Screen Lit Vertigo
    Seven's Top 10 Demos of 1999
  By:  Seven
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     First, let me tell you that I don't like rating demos. A demo is a
  very complex mix of effects, music, graphics, 3D-models, design,
  optimization tricks and sometimes a story, and it's rare that one demo
  outperforms another on every single aspect.

     But some time ago Psychic Symphony, the editor of DemoJournal, asked
  if I could add ratings to all my 1999 demo reviews. He was making a
  special diskmag called Sunray, with reviews of as much 1999 demos and
  intros as possible, plus charts, party reports etc. I was impressed by
  this ambitious plan (I don't dare to imagine how much work this takes),
  and adding ratings didn't take THAT much time, so I complied.

     The result of this was that when Coplan asked me to do a "Best Demos
  of 1999", I had done most of the work already. Of course these are not
  "THE best 1999 demos", they are MY favorites :) If you want less
  subjective results, check the charts in Sunray, over 100 people have
  voted for them so that should guarantee some objectivity. Sunray will
  have been released by the time you read this, I believe at 22 December.

  Some more remarks for a better understanding (= to cover my ass :))
     - I've no 3D card, so there are no accelerated demos in here.
     - I've made this before The Party 9, so demos released there are
       obviously not included.
     - I did not include the ratings (evil me :>), but they all reach
       between 17 and 20 on 20.
     - All demos can be found on www.scene.org, just follow the right
       party-link.
     - If Static Line is your only window at the demoscene, you may
       wonder why I didn't review all of these demos. In fact I did, but
       mostly for DemoJournal.

     DJ is a weekly newsletter, so I've to make 4 reviews for it each
  month, and a lot of party winners are already reviewed before the Static
  Line deadline approaches. If you really think you've missed something
  (hmm, unlikely :)) you can find them all in Sunray.

     OK, enough plugs, on with the show!

  * Nr 10: Event Horizon/Smash Design. 1st at Mekka&Symposium'99
     A great 3D-demo, especially the dancing alien rules. Life-like 3D
  motion is  something you take for granted, until you realize how rare it
  is in demos. The flares are a bit overused and chunky, the rest is OK.
  The symphonic/rock music fits well, also the funky semi-chiptune at the
  ending is very enjoyable.

  * Nr 9: Past/Orange Juice. 1st at Volcanic 5
     A heavy 3D-demo without a story, but still it has a lot of feeling.
  Mainly due to the music that follows the scenes so well. The framerate
  is a bit slow, but hey, it's high-res 3D with no 3D-card required, so
  I'm happy with it :) The mellow tune at the end makes you really sorry
  the demo is over. Wish we had more big cooperations like this...

  * Nr 8: Pyy/Doomsday+Koma+Pyy. 4th at Assembly'99
     The weirdo in this list. Very strange music, short and
  rapidly-changing effects that make the coder in me sit down and wonder,
  and almost no 3D except a few cubes (but those cubes are less boring
  than some complete 3D-worlds). I admit that I don't watch it very often,
  but I'm always surprised how good this is when I watch it again.

  * Nr 7: Mindstammer/Razor 1911. 1st at Dreamhack'99
     I'm not 100 % sure about it's ranking here, as it is a very recent
  demo, so it had no occasion to burn in or burn out. But I like the high
  resolution which gives most old effects a new, crisp feel, and of course
  the real-time raytracing is absolutely amazing with it. I hope this
  becomes a trendsetter. And the classic upscroll at the end is also nice,
  with music that reminds me of Past/Orange Juice. A nice comeback from
  the demo-division of this old cracking-group.

  * Nr 6: Mind's Evolution/Popsy team. 3rd at Volcanic 5
     Very much variation in a long demo. Also one of the few demos with
  some bits of humor in it (well, few if we disregard the tons of
  zero-quality joke-demos). The final stonehenge-scene is really wowing me
  with the particles-metaballs combination, and also the start, being
  "only" a parody on Eden/Bomb, is very nice. Popsy team has made other
  demos later in 1999, but they can't beat this :)

  * Nr 5: Goatage/Noice. 1st at Remedy'99
     Damn fine demo. Again no real theme, just lots of those good-looking
  parts. A bit of humor (in the year of our Goat), lots of original
  2D-effects like that strange plasma/radial blur combination,... The 3D
  is very good, and even manages to cause feelings without using a story
  (the metro-tunnels made me feel slightly claustrophobic :)) The music
  (symphonic/rock) rules, especially the end-tune. Strange that I like the
  end-music with a scroller almost more than the music in the demo itself
  :)

  * Nr 4: Myth of Orion/Anaconda. 1st at Euskal 7
     A demo from a rather unknown group, but this is really very good. To
  start, it's one of the longest demos from 1999, with a kind of
  alien/space/pyramids theme that is followed all through the demo, but it
  is never boring. There are lots of different parts that are linked with
  excellent transitions, something that I really miss in most of today's
  demos (even in this list). The music is perfectly synced with the
  transitions, and the code is really impressive. Granted, the raytracing
  (RT) looks extremely crude compared to the pixel-sharp hi-res RT in
  Mindstammer, but the scenes are the most complex I've ever seen (for RT,
  that is).

  * Nr 3: Zilog/Sunflower. 2nd at Gravity'99
     I know, everyone with a 3D card says that Wonder/Sunflower (1st at
  Gravity'99) is better, but I've no 3D-card... So I can only be
  frustrated and wonder how good Wonder must be, because this is already a
  gem of a demo. It has a special style, almost every effect has to do
  with a form of light: flares, merging, radial blur, anti-aliasing,...
  very good transitions too, some of them are easy to code but still very
  good-looking. The 3D-objects are very weird, almost organic... Listing
  all good points would take too long, because Sunflower is formed by very
  experienced demo-makers, and they made this demo so seamless that it is
  hard to point out any specific good point. I really look forward seeing
  more Sunflower productions next year.

  * Nr 2: III(live tomorrow)/The Lost Souls. 1st at The Gathering'99
     This one has really great music, I always higher the volume before I
  start it up :) Especially that slower part with the bells, splitting the
  rock/metal tune... just great! Of course the effects are also excellent,
  I still haven't seen a similar spiral-effect in any other demo, and the
  water streaming down a tube in a sewer is also special. The design
  rocks, I miss real transitions but the idea of showing a very short
  preview of the next effect works well. And besides, a fast-paced
  rock-style demo can't use the subtle transitions of Sunflower, right?
  The code is a bit slow, the high-res modes are probably aimed at future
  CPU's (Pentium IV? :)), but that's OK cause I'm sure this demo will
  stand strong for a long time.

  And finally...

  * Nr 1: Moral Hard Candy/Blasphemy. 1st at the Summer Encounter'99
     I think that most people, once they've decided which styles they
  like, will always judge a production at least partly based on the style
  it belongs to. It really takes something exceptional to make you change
  your opinion about what you like/dislike. Well, I disliked hi-res
  minimalistic demos, and Moral Hard Candy was the exceptional demo that
  made me change my mind. The high resolution is no longer an excuse for
  showing 5-year old effects, but is used instead to show effects I've
  never seen before. The stream of blue triangles, the massive
  light-beams, the wireframe net/tunnel with the overkill of scrolling
  pictures over it... really great. I learned to appreciate the
  minimalistic design, even in other demos, with the simple circles and
  lines and such... The music is exceptional, it sounds a bit weird the
  first time you hear it but the more I hear it the better I like it.

     Really, I still like the average classic low-res demo better than the
  average hi-res design-demo, but there is no 1999 killer demo for the
  classical style as Moral Hard Candy is for the high-res style.
  Recommended for everyone. Also I'd like to give you my best wishes for
  the next year, and I hope the year 2000 will bring us many excellent
  demos...to be reviewed in a Static Line near you ;)

                --Seven


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Crackhead Trackhead
    "Like the Sands of the Hourglass, so are the Days of Archives" (ouch)
  By:  Virt
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- Watch Virt Rant -=-
     Okay. (cracks knuckles) Several hundred million people manage to type
  out editorials on the "death of the Scene" every day - to the degree
  that I envision the whole affair as something of a daytime soap opera.
  Hornet laying on its hospital deathbed, breathing through a respirator,
  while the proponents of scene.org stand beside, weeping and holding its
  hand while it dies. Outside, a throng of EVIL NONCHALANT TRAXINSPACE
  NEWBIES swell and scream, holding flaming picket signs with nefarious
  messages like "IT SUX0RZ!!1" and "DOWN W/SCENE" scrawled in crayon. And
  they're all holding Diamond Rio Players filled to the brim with Happy
  Hardcore MP3s. And they're all little kids who can't appreciate
  anything.

     Come on, guys, back the truck up. Hasn't it occured to *anyone* yet
  that the globalization of the internet will also bring about the
  globalization of the demo-and-tracking-scene? And obviously, when a
  population grows exponentially like this, so will the proportion of
  people who think with their gonads! Why, then, are we spending all of
  our waking life criticizing? There's a LOT of good stuff out there
  recently.

     Yeah, much of traxinspace is populated by laughably bad musicians.
  I'd much rather volunteer for dental surgery than listen to half of the
  top- ranked artists. But, and this is a gigantic, jiggly but, there are
  a fair number of really slick and talented people there! Honestly, to
  automatically assume that inexperience means indifference is not only
  very pompous and snooty, but also completely false. Henceforth, any
  assertion to the contrary will be met by a prompt raspberry and fingers
  in ears.

     I'm not naming villains. I'd be wrong if I attempted to label all
  sceners as closed minds with no tolerance for inexperience (although
  with a few exceptions, everyone on Radix's "friends" page is
  horrifically ugly, especially that science-experiment-gone-wrong,
  Norfair.) BUT I will name examples of good. To anyone who feels
  oppressed by veterans, and that they are all burnt-out legends who are
  Holier Than Thou, check out the Return to Stage Nine musicdisk, and look
  who's serving it up. Just as not every newbie fits their common
  stereotype, neither does everyone who's been around a while.

     The fact stands that there are more people active in the demoscene
  and all its facets than any of us can count, and in the absence of any
  possibility of labeling them all, I prefer to just sit back, smoke some
  herb, and ENJOY THE ART.

     Obviously, as technology advances, certain things will be lost and
  others gained. The idiotic debate over "MP3 Versus MOD" is only carried
  on by people inexperienced with the concepts. These people are the same
  folks who insist that "MIDI SOUNDS BAD CUZ IT ONLY HAS 128 INSTURMENTS!"
  To anyone who still doesn't `get it,' please proceed to Hunz's release
  page and note that almost every release is dually formatted. This is the
  proper way to do it, especially if you're concerned about alienating
  either party.

       I really like ranting on when I'm well-rested, but this is not one
  of those times, so I'm going to end it. Just remember, you can't
  complain and listen at the same time, so many of you are missing some
  really incredible stuff. I wouldn't know, however, because presently
  screw.mod is playing and I'm having a blast.

     /me sings along with Ice-T, and old ladies outside collapse from
     aneurysms.

                --Virt


--=--=--
--=--=------=--=------=--=----
  Call to Keyboards
    Wrapup Topic
    New Topic
  By: Coplan
----=--=------=--=------=--=--
  -=- Introduction -=-

  -=- Wrap Up: ??? -=-

  ???'s Reply:

             --???

  -=- New Topic:  ??? -=-

     You're opinions here, please.

             --Coplan

--=--=--
----=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------=--=------
  Editor:             Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com
  Assistant Editor:   Subliminal / Matt Friedly / sub@plazma.net
  Web Manager:        Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
  Columnists:         Coplan / D. Travis North / coplan.ic@rcn.com
                       Dilvish / Eric Hamilton / dilvie@yahoo.com
                       Seven / Stefaan / Stefaan.VanNieuwenhuyze@rug.ac.be
                       Virt / virt@bellsouth.net
  Staff Writers:      Louis Gorenfeld / gorenfeld@vrone.net
                       Setec / Jesper Pederson / jesped@post.tele.dk
                       SiN / Ian Haskin / sin@netcom.ca
  Technical Support:  Draggy / Nicolas St. Pierre / draggy@kosmic.org
                       Jim / Jim Nicholson / jim@kosmic.org

  Static Line on the Web:  http://www.ic.l7.net/statline
                           ftp://flerp.scene.hu/scene/DiskMag/StaticLine

     To subscribe to the Static Line mailing list, send an e-mail message
  to "majordomo@kosmic.org" with "subscribe static_line <your e-mail>" in
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     To unsubscribe from the mailing list, send an e-mail message to
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  (coplan.ic@rcn.com).

     See you next month!

-eof---=------=--=------=--=--
