Use this area to post your track lists, commentaries, manic ravings, comics, or whatever for CD Swap #3 Group 2.

My track listing is as follows:

Kenji Kawai - Reincarnation
Tool - Lateralus
Gary Jules - Mad World
Stone Temple Pilots - Lounge Fly
3x3 Eyes - Love Theme
Coldplay - The Scientist
Enigma - Gravity of Love
Jewel - Foolish Games
Rammstein - Du Hast
Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt"
Karl Jenkins - Palladio
Nine Inch Nails - Ruiner (Version)
Oliver Shanti - Sacral Nirvana
The Coral - Pass It On
Moby - Hymn
Classical Chinese - Sword Dance
Boards of Canada - Kaini Industries
U2 - Unforgettable Fire
Eagles - Desperado

I've got one copy burnt so far, but since I insist on burning all music CDs at 1x speed to avoid any glitches or skips, I can't say yet when I'll have them all sent off. But, just so's there's no favouritism, I'll wait until all are burnt before I send them out (though, obviously TheGovernor will get his first, being a Brit).

It's actually my preference for people to hear the music first without having access to a tracklist, but I'll supply one in each of the CD cases regardless. The first one to recieve their disc can feel free to post it, or if nobody does after a few people recieve theirs, I'll post it myself.

All I will tell you right now is that the theme is "music that should be in a video game."

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It's actually my preference for people to hear the music first without having access to a tracklist

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I guess that last part really belongs in my own group's thread and not here. Oh well. I'm pretty tired. Give me a break. Anyway, I just wanted to support Drexle's preference there.

Someone agrees! Victory is mine!

By the way, this is hardly to be considered a full soundtrack. There's just no way to fit that many songs onto the mix. I'll supply little tags denoting what scene the track brings to my mind. You can tell me if I'm smoking crack after you hear it.

Well, I posted off my CDs today, so expect them within a week or so, you lucky lucky people.

Incidentally, I will be away on holiday for a week as of tomorrow, so should any of you receive your CD in that time, you will have to postpone your awe praisegiving until my return...

Well I got mine today; bless the British Postal service for being rather good for once; I'll hold back any comment I have till you return, but needless to say its brilliant, love the oriental vibe running through, and its peppered with some great rock tunes; Having looked through some of the entries for the last CD swap, maybe you'd like to give a bit more detail about why you chose certain tracks, etc, but I guess that also can wait till ya get back, happy hol.

I got mine today, Chi -- haven't had a chance to listen to it. It looks very professional, and the lyric sheet is a nice touch.

I'm going to try to borrow my friend's CD burner on Wednesday -- and if all works out, the CDs should be posted by Friday. Here's hoping.

Also, you'll forgive me if my CD cover looks a little bit like hastily scrawled magic marker. You don't know how many hours in Photoshop it takes to get that effect!

Chi's disc - Recieved. Listening in progress.

I've gotten mine, too. I'll be listening to it during the day.

As for my own CDs... working on them has had to be a low priority for a bit, but I hope to finally be able to finish them this weekend.

For some reason, my car won't play burned CDs, so I haven't been able to listen yet, either.

I've just burned everyone a copy of my CD, though. Do y'all want me to post some spoilers or should I keep the track list until I actually send the discs?

Hello, I return! Glad to see the British Postal Service cut the mustard for once - I will post more about certain individual tracks later on, but I'm pleased to have had positive feedback thus far...

Sorry it's taken me so long to write anything, but school has been eating up a lot of my writing time (not to mention listening time).

I was imediately struck by the first track, because I swear I've heard it in Ghost in the Shell. I like this song a lot better here in the context of a CD than I did when it was just playing and playing and playing over just background scenery shots in the movie.

So far, I think I enjoy the instrumental tracks the most. See, to me lyrics are secondary and if I don't like them the just get in the way of enjoying an otherwise great piece of music. This is why I like so many songs with incomprehensible lyrics, I suppose. I espeically enjoyed Reincarnation and Sword Dance.

I'm also pleasently surprised to hear the Johnny Cash version of "Hurt." He really did that song justice, I say. I like it better than Reznor's version. I was a bit skeptical when I heard he was going to do this, because I've heard Cash's version of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage," and it was pretty bad.

Why did you chose this version of Ruiner for the CD, Chi? I prefer the other one I've heard (though for the life of me I don't remember which album it was on).

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I was imediately struck by the first track, because I swear I've heard it in Ghost in the Shell. I like this song a lot better here in the context of a CD than I did when it was just playing and playing and playing over just background scenery shots in the movie.

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I swapped with Chi "on the side"

It stikes me how much that compilations become a microcosm of our own personalities. My first one was just that - a tiny bundle of my life expressed through tunes I like. Umfumdisi said of mine "It was just like he took bits of himself and shook them around and put 'em on CD"

That's how Chi's CD comes across - like an audio after-image of the man himself - the recurring Oriental themes being balanced perfectly by the full-on rock and the introspective melancholy.

"Mad World" by Gary Jules (was that a cover or the original?) was haunting.

Other tunes I knew like the Boards of Canada and Coldplay just served to reinforce the whole thing more. The greatest compliment I can pay any CD swapper is that I will be playing this again and again. And I will be doing just that.

Thanks Chi.

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It stikes me how much that compilations become a microcosm of our own personalities. My first one was just that - a tiny bundle of my life expressed through tunes I like. Umfumdisi said of mine "It was just like he took bits of himself and shook them around and put 'em on CD"

That's how Chi's CD comes across - like an audio after-image of the man himself - the recurring Oriental themes being balanced perfectly by the full-on rock and the introspective melancholy.

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Wow. All this heartfelt reviewing just doesn't seem complete without some brutally honest kvetching.

WARNING! If you don't care about my opinion, don't read this post, because that's about all it contains

Reincarnation -- I thought anime BGM! It sounded familiar. As an individual piece it was very interesting. I really enjoyed the singing
Lateralus -- intro was great, after that it sucked
Mad World -- not bad, as far as maudlin folk-rock goes
Lounge Fly -- A bit generic, but fun to listen to. I liked it
Love Theme -- You got lucky with Reincarnation, but here's the sad truth: anime BGM is awful stuff
The Scientist -- Only women should be allowed to whine musically
Gravity of Love -- I like the sound of this one a lot. Deep sounding without actually having to be deep; enjoyable rhythms
Foolish Games -- Jewel? Jesus Christ
Du Hast -- Who can not like guitar techno with artificially deepened German lyrics? This one was great!
Hurt -- there's no reason I should like this song, and yet, sometimes when I hear one like this, I can't help it. This is the kind of song I wouldn't consciously choose to listen to, but if it came on the radio I wouldn't be able to turn it off.
Palladio -- I have this CD, too. Aside from the three movements of "Diamond Music," it's just so-so. But the track you selected was great.
Ruiner -- Can't go wrong with NIN. I'm only familiar with their (much) older stuff; this was almost as good as the old stuff I love
Sacral Nirvana -- A bit hippy new-agey for me, but overall a pleasant listen
Pass It On -- There's no reason I should like this song, and I don't.
Hymn -- ambient and Moby-esque
Sword Dance -- When it comes to classical Chinese music, I'm not very refined; it all sounds the same to me. (I don't dislike it; it just all sounds the same.)
Kalni Industries -- This was a fun track. It was like eavesdropping on someone playing a maze game on the original Nintendo.
Unforgettable Fire -- When it comes to U2, I'm not very refined; it all sounds the same to me. (And unlike classical Chinese music, I heartily dislike it.)
Desperado -- It was only so-so before it was played to death; now it's inexcusable

SAN-BAN

That's the title of my CD. Chi should appreciate it, if no one else does: it's Japanese for "third" or "number three."

You US kids should've gotten my CDs by now. I'd like to say that the tracks aren't listed because I read Drexle's suggestion and thought it was great. Actually, I didn't even read the back posts to this thread until after I shipped. I actually left them blank because no matter what your handwriting is like, it's got to be better than mine. AND I don't have a CD label maker.

I was planning on posting a track list here, but I actually did like Drexle's suggestion, so I'll let y'all listen and see for yourselves, and I'll post the list after the Brits have gotten their packages. But I did want to warn you about some crappy things about my CD:

• There are no labels, as I explained
  
• The CDs themselves are not labeled, for the same reason
  
• The volume levels are screwed up between tracks. I copied these tracks (Yes! Off actual CDs that I paid for and legally own!) at my friend's house because his CD burner works whereas mine doesn't. However, he lives in a 1500 sq. foot house with EIGHT dogs the average size of an Irish setter, and the entire bottom floor is under construction. Also, he has no A/C. So instead of making the tracks all nice and volume-consistent, they're all the volume levels they were at originally, because it was faster. I especially wanted to fix #11, whose volume drops in the middle for no apprent reason. (It's like that on the master, too.)
  
• The track names on the CD are screwed up, also because I wanted to get out of that house as soon as possible
  
• The pauses between tracks are too short, again because of the copy location
  

I tried to put the tracks in an order I thought would provide for an interesting shift between genres without anything too sudden, but I found that if I listen to it on random it's actually better. Oh, well.

Enjoy, kids. I look forward to more from y'all.

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Wow. All this heartfelt reviewing just doesn't seem complete without some brutally honest kvetching.

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Got mine today sycess, listening in progress

Got mine today too, Scyess - first off, I really liked the minimalist feel of the cover. It was actually rather fun listening to a CD without any track listing at all. Here's my thoughts...

Track One: My immediate reaction to this was dislike, but I have to admit that on a second listening, the music was good. The vocals still grated, as I have animosity towards anything even so much as approaching rap, but overall it wasn't too bad.

Track Two: This one appealed to me, and I was left wondering what its origin was. At first I thought Middle Eastern, then East European, but there again perhaps even Russian. I couldn't decide, and it'll probably turn out to be none of them, but either way, I did like it, and it got better once the "tra la la la-ing" started too.

Track Three: This one puzzled me, but its strangely dischordant nature did work. I thought the talkover was reminiscent of UNKLE, and whilst the occasional screams were off putting, overall it worked well.

Track Four: The distorted vocals on this Neo-Hymnal piece were good, and I enjoyed it. It put me in mind of a Church Service in some warped Sci-Fi futuristic vision with a 1950s theatre organ.

Track Five: "One Of These Days" by Cop Shoot Cop, an acceptable rock song that I'd not heard before but nevertheless enjoyed.

Track Six: A French folk/country song, which probably has meaningful lyrics as well as accordion playing, but for me it was a case of take it or leave it.

Track Seven: "I Ain't Drunk" by Albert Collins, had a certain feel-good factor to it and was fun to listen to.

Track Eight: A nice piano piece with intriguing stringy sounds in the background; rhythmic and thoughtful, my only misgiving was that it didn't go on for long enough. A very good piece which I enjoyed a lot.

Track Nine: A pleasant rendition of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in which you can actually make out the lyrics. I don't recognise the singer, but she sounded like Sarah McLachlan to me (surprising, given your hostility to all things Jewel, Scyess!) and was overall pretty good.

Track Ten: The intro promised a lot, but then the lead singer opened her mouth and in my opinion all was lost. As with track one, I felt the vocals let this one down, which is a pity, because instrumentally I liked it.

Track Eleven: This amusing "Pop Goes The Weasel" instrumental number was fun, I felt. Nice!

Track Twelve: When this one began I thought it was about to burst into Freddie Mercury singing "We Will Rock You" but it transformed into a rather more warbly piece with drums. On the whole, ok.

Track Thirteen: I liked this one a lot - it had a Celtic feel to it, even if it wasn't meant to. It had that "get up and dance" sensation to it as well which was good.

Track Fourteen: This piece perplexed me, in a good way. It began with eerie chanting that reminded me of Perfect Blue, and the cymbal clatters were atmospheric. However, it then began to change, and by the end it sounded like someone had recorded the noise of a man being killed with a circular saw! For its general weirdness, I score this one highly, and will be listening to it many times over.

Track Fifteen: I'm sure this is a famous classical piece which I should know the name of along with its composer, but I do not. Suffice to say, it was rousing and good, solid stuff. A nice end to the compilation, I felt.

Overall Chi-score, 7/10

Wow, great thread guys. I just wanted Drexle to know that I shipped his "swap on the side" CDs out today.

I'm just now listening to Scyess's disc as well. I'm only three tracks in so far. I have to say I really like track 2. I believe it's Northern European, isn't it?

I'm not so fond of track 1, and track 3 is listenable though not so much my thing so far.

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The Scientist -- Only women should be allowed to whine musically

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Virtually all music is a whine of some sort or other ("oh I love her"/"oh how my heart hurts" yadda yadda). When it comes to stuff like metal, for example, I'd say a lot of that is whining - it's just louder and less obvious. However, I realise most people either love or hate Coldplay so fair enough.

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Track One: My immediate reaction to this was dislike, but I have to admit that on a second listening, the music was good. The vocals still grated, as I have animosity towards anything even so much as approaching rap, but overall it wasn't too bad.

Track Two: This one appealed to me, and I was left wondering what its origin was. At first I thought Middle Eastern, then East European, but there again perhaps even Russian. I couldn't decide, and it'll probably turn out to be none of them, but either way, I did like it, and it got better once the "tra la la la-ing" started too.

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I knew I'd heard track 4 before somewhere, but it didn't occur to me it was in a movie until you revealed the spoiler.

Track 5 is one of those songs that is kind of the opposite of the phenomenon I mentioned earlier. This is one where I like the lyrics but just don't care for the song at all. It helps at least that I can understand what he's saying, but it's not a track I'd come back to in particular.

Track 6 is a lot more my flavor. I couldn't pick out the language, but it that was okay. Once again, it's not something I'd pick out on purpose but I'd at least enjoy it if it pops up randomly. Track 8 on the other hand was a great piece with a lot of draw. This is the one I really keep coming back to over and over. What is that stringish sounding instrument? I have to agree that it's a bit short though.

I enjoy things like track 11. Weird takes on old standards are a quick way to my heart when well done.

Track 14 has a certain charm to it that I can't place my finger on. I think I prefer the opening as opposed to the end, though. Chi should hear one of the songs I have where it sounds like you the listener are being killed with a circular saw while demons play with jack-in-the-boxes. I don't listen to it often, though.

Nothing else on the CD really left a strong enough impression on me to comment on. I don't think I really hated anything, though I wasn't particularly fond of track 1, or the cover of Teen Spirit... which is sad because I would have loved the piano piece by itself if it weren't for the fact that it's put to those lyrics.

Okay folks, I'm putting the finishing touches on the effects and volume levels of my CD. First, a bit of explanation as to what I'm going for here. You see, I've been a video game junkie for my entire adolescence, and about half of my adult life. It is such that whenever I hear music, I ask myself "Can I see this song in a video game? If so, where does it fit?" Those of you who have recieved music from me before may also have found video game music included directly on your disc as well, as testament to how much games have colored cultural experience. Now that I've told you this, here's what I tried to do with this CD...

I went through my collection of music and selected a number of tracks that I find particularly evocative of scenes from video games and tried to make a console RPG soundtrack from them. I think the hardest part of this task was deciding what kinds of scenes to include, and which scenes to cut. Sadly, this disc does not tell a complete story. What it does, in my opinion, is offer excellent fodder for envisioning scenes that could very well be related in a game.

Here's a teaser for all of you out there in the form of an impressions list (as opposed to a tracklist).

1. The story begins
2. A small town in a snowswept valley
3. Danger looms over the mountain range...
4. Quickly, to battle! Defend the gates!
5. Travel the lands (overworld map theme)
6. The dance of the forest Trolls
7. The Elder Troll tells of a legend
8. Set sail on the high seas!
9. Pathway through the dreams of the ancients / lost cavern
10. Somber Revelation
11. Love, Loss, and Demonic Assault in the high society
12. Hurry, Catch Them Before It's Too Late!
13. Through the Tower of the Warlock
14. A Meeting with the Devil
15. Strangness abounds... what is this eerie feeling?
16. Sucked into a world of madness / The Clocktower at the end of time
17. The Final Encounter
18. End theme

Just in case I wasn't clear, there is no actual game music on this CD. It's all music that I think *should* be in a game, though.

*umfumdisi whips out his "headphones of invisibility" in anticipation

I liked your cd sycess, to be honest I think the order you've got the tracks in works well, theres no need to shuffle it.

Track 1 is good, and I agree with chi the first time I heard it I wasnt as keen but it sort of grows on you the more you listen to it, and it kicks off the CD nicely.

Well I know its been said before by others, but the best compliment I can pay is that both yours and chi's cds are getting played alot, and will probably continue to do so in the future. Thank you.

Im still working on the shortlist for my CD, although Ive got a general track order sorted, there are one or two tracks Im not wholey sure whether I want to include, and a couple on the subs bench that I may promote to the first team(so to speak). But as soon as Im happy with it I'll get them burned and popped in the post to yas.

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Track 1 is good, and I agree with chi the first time I heard it I wasnt as keen but it sort of grows on you the more you listen to it, and it kicks off the CD nicely.

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Nope.

Our internet connection has been unreliable since hurricane Isabel so I just haven't been here much even to lurk. Plus, it has caused me to get behind on a number of things I needed to work on this week.

Anyway, I've also gotten a CD from Scyess now. Assuming my connection doesn't go back down, I'll make some kind of comment on the CDs I've gotten after listening to them once more.

I'm sorry that my CDs haven't been mailed yet. Shortly before reading this thread, I had decided I wasn't satisfied with my tracklist. So I've been doing a little rearranging. The good(?) thing is that I really, really don't feel like doing any of the "real" work that I should be doing today. Working on the CDs will be more fun, anyway.

It's done. I'm mailing it Wednesday.

Woohoo! CD Swaps are like British buses. You wait for ages and then two turn up at once...

I received Drexle's and eponine's today, I will post my critical appreciation later on when I've had a proper listen.

Yup got Eponines in the post today also, I guess drexle's is on its way shortly aswell. Ive listened to it all the way through, but I havent got much time to comment on it properly at the moment, but its bloody brilliant. Kudos on the Muppet Show, thats such a cool way to kick off a CD, and the jazz number that followed, tank is great.

As for mine, well Im in London at the weekend, and aside from the burning (Ive leant my writer to a friend at the moment) Im ready to go, so as soon as I get back on Monday I'll get it finished and popped into the post to you all

People should mostly have the packages by now. If you don't, then consider this to be your tracklist spoiler.

Click here for the tracklist

Appologies for the wait guys, heres the status;

Envelopes written and ready to post, Ive found Nero has a rather cheeky CD box designer so Im giving it a quick spin, The CD is ready to be burned and is currently sitting on my hard-drive, and Im lugging my pc to my mates at the weekend to finish the job, so Id expect I will have them in the post on Monday. I'll save commenting on drexles and eponines till I get mine away, and I also want to give more detailed opinions on Chi's and Sycess's aswell so next week should be fun. I am going to include the track list with the CD, however Ive decided I'll seal it in an envelope for you to open when you want, it'll also be the back cover of the CD so you can place it in there afterwards if you like.

I'm slowly going through the mix CDs that people sent me (despite not participating, yay!) and Chi's up first:

Favorite tracks: #2, #3, #4, #6 is the saddest song in the world, #10 (hurt) is good, but I don't quite understand why everyone's so jazzed about the Johnny Cash version. Hurt was pretty much perfect in its NIN form in my humble opinion, this one just has more Johnny Cash in it. #12 (ruiner) - back when I was all about the NIN, this was one of the ultimate remixes that circulated off the Downward Spiral. #14 is nice and fun.

There were other tracks on there that I enjoyed but didn't necessarily stand out to me. Very cool, Chi! Thanks!

Right; I hate computers; and printers especially. I would have had the CDs in the post yesterday had it not been for a number of problems. First I dont have a printer on my PC so I needed to use my mums, however when I came to transfer the nero cover file to her PC I found it wouldnt fit on a disk. So I tried to email it to her, which didnt show up, in the end I had to post it to my webspace and download it from her PC. Then after installing Nero again on her PC Her Printer decided to run out of ink at precisely the wrong moment, consequentally I managed to get only one colour copy of the cover out of it before it packed up. So I had to take this to the library and make photocopies of it for the covers and track lists (bah! I really wanted to give you guys a colour version although it hasnt turned out too badly, just a shame really) Not only that, but when I was burning my cds on Sunday one of the tracks mysteriously jumped out of formation and is now the last track (admittedly it doesnt sound bad as the last track, and I think it actually helps the CD, but thats not the point) But anyway, you'll be happy to know that they are in the post now, and baring some other unforseen disaster (which Im not discounting) should be with you soon. Also I didnt have time to hide the Track list, so if you dont want to know whats on the CD while listening to it, dont look at the back of the box, or keep your eyes closed for the duration of the CD.

Received Drexle's Swap box a couple of days ago. I'm still winding my way through the halls of the mountain kings, but I did listen to the disc one last night:

1. The story begins
2. A small town in a snowswept valley
3. Danger looms over the mountain range...
4. Quickly, to battle! Defend the gates!
5. Travel the lands (overworld map theme)
6. The dance of the forest Trolls
7. The Elder Troll tells of a legend
8. Set sail on the high seas!
9. Pathway through the dreams of the ancients / lost cavern
10. Somber Revelation
11. Love, Loss, and Demonic Assault in the high society
12. Hurry, Catch Them Before It's Too Late!
13. Through the Tower of the Warlock
14. A Meeting with the Devil
15. Strangness abounds... what is this eerie feeling?
16. Sucked into a world of madness / The Clocktower at the end of time
17. The Final Encounter
18. End theme

It's sort of hard to keep up with the tracks because I can't see the track number on my portable CD player from where I sit at my computer, but this is more of an overall impression thing.

First, if this disc was the soundtrack for a video game, I would be playing that game right now. I can't say that I enjoyed all of the tracks individually. However, collectively, they are awesome, and Drexle's above descriptions are quite apt. Some of these tracks could be soundscapes for my dreams.

These tracks struck me positively upon first listen:
1.
3-5.
7-9.
13-18.
Okay, that's most of the tracks, and it's pretty lame to do that, so I'll give more detail after a closer listening session. I mostly wanted to say that this is a GREAT MIX. Thanks Drexle.

Cool, I'm glad to hear some response about it and doubly glad that you liked it. I await more detailed opinions.

I recieved ep's CD a while back, and I listen to it in my car quite a bit. The tracks are kind of hit or miss for me indivudually, but I'm more pleased than not. I too will say more in detail about it later. Promise.

In the meantime, I await more commentary on my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this compilation, and after two listenings on separate occasions, I now bring you the definitive Chi-tique

Track One - Works very well as an introductory song and has a nice quasi-Celtic twang; I liked the musical refrain, and also the rolling sound of the language used (what is it?)

Track Two - This has a beautiful instrumental start and sits well with the previous track; a favourite track for me, I enjoyed it very much.

Track Three - The beginning for me is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIII style music (which is a good thing, by the way) and has that "impending battle" feel to it, too, which I liked.

Track Four - On its own, this is pretty standard Teutonic anger-rock, but in the context used, it works well for a game soundtrack, I think.

Track Five - I like the strings in this one; the vocals were a bit irritating in places, but the underlying melody was pleasant and the rhythmic see-saw-like effect was very atmospheric, too.

Track Six - If I summed this up in two words, they would be "ploddingly jolly"; I liked the jingly bits at the start and the singing really does sound troll-like, too! This track began the "boing-boing" motif that continues throughout the CD in certain tracks, and I like it.

Track Seven - The opening horn and chanting is good; the "boing-boing" motif follows on from the previous track well; very "My Lady D'Abonville" with the strings, I felt; rhythmical and quite beautiful, along with some nice chanting, too - this one earnt the status of a favourite track.

Track Eight - A welcome break from the CD's previous styles of music, and this time I did like the singing and vocals - this one works well as a "slightly different from the rest" track

Track Nine - This had a very languid, sleepy and dreamlike quality, and the title suited it well; I enjoyed this very much indeed and once again pronounce it a favourite track.

Track Ten - I liked this one a lot, although I didn't think it especially fitted into the game soundtrack theme; this is a track that can be appreciated on its own, and I think works best on its own, too - once again, a favourite track (I'm beginning to feel a bit like umfumdisi now...)

Track Eleven - The chanting is good - I like that kind of thing; the background music ruins it a little, I think; I like to imagine the singing in abstraction from the other elements (any sound gurus out there know how to do this?)

Track Twelve - Good strings at the start, though a slightly strange mix of chanting and electric guitars; never the less, there is a good sense of panic, which is what I think the purpose of this track is.

Track Thirteen - Quite repetitive; not keen on this track, though it is still very much within its intended genre

Track Fourteen - Liked the gutteral devilish voice; this track was a little too short, I think the CD would've benefitted from some more of this

Track Fifteen - Follows on well from the previous track - very game music-esque at this stage, like the quiet vocals in the background under the main melody

Track Sixteen - Best-named track, the music suits it very well (or the name suits the music very well, whichever way around you think) and it has a sort of sluggish, 'air has turned to fudge' feel to it - my only criticism would be perhaps it goes on for a little longer than it need do

Track Seventeen - Good, ominous start; fast-paced music for the "end boss" moment, good throatily angry singing, well positioned on the compilation - overall, I liked it.

Track Eighteen - Delicate and beautiful - a nice close to the CD, and with a sense of "tragedy averted", too; contrasts well with the previous track and continues the "boing-boing" theme from earlier; good as a track in its own right, also, and I think I liked this one most of all - a definite favourite.

Overall, this compilation was very good indeed. The theme was adhered to faithfully throughout, and it worked, too. I think the track names Drexle gave were entirely appropriate, and I am glad I read them instead of seeing what the "real" tracks were called.

Chi-score: 8/10

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I thoroughly enjoyed this compilation, and after two listenings on separate occasions, I now bring you the definitive Chi-tique

Track One - Works very well as an introductory song and has a nice quasi-Celtic twang; I liked the musical refrain, and also the rolling sound of the language used (what is it?)

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The language on this track is Swedish. Specifically, it's a really old dialect of northern Swedish that not many people understand. I've also heard that he often makes up words that fit what he's trying to convey. The band has two albums, both of which are really folksy like this.

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Track Two - This has a beautiful instrumental start and sits well with the previous track; a favourite track for me, I enjoyed it very much.

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The keyboardist for this band has been quoted as saying he'd love to make video game music. I specifically had a lot of music that he's been involved with in mind for this mix. I didn't use as much as I could have just because it would have been too easy to dominate the CD with stuff from the two bands he's in.

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Track Three - The beginning for me is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIII style music (which is a good thing, by the way) and has that "impending battle" feel to it, too, which I liked.

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You know, when I finished burning the disc, I almost thought this should be track 1... but I was running so far behind that I figured I'd send it out and let it stand as it is. I think it works.

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Track Six - If I summed this up in two words, they would be "ploddingly jolly"; I liked the jingly bits at the start and the singing really does sound troll-like, too! This track began the "boing-boing" motif that continues throughout the CD in certain tracks, and I like it.

Track Seven - The opening horn and chanting is good; the "boing-boing" motif follows on from the previous track well; very "My Lady D'Abonville" with the strings, I felt; rhythmical and quite beautiful, along with some nice chanting, too - this one earnt the status of a favourite track.

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This band also features the keyboardist I mentioned earlier. So does the very last track on the CD. You might do well to check out some of their albums given your reaction to these tracks in particular. I'd definitely say to check out the entirity of Finntroll's "Visor Om Slutet." The other two albums are a lot different and you may or may not like them as much. As for Moonsorrow, I will go out on a limb and suggest the album "Kivenkantaja," though I prefer a couple of the others just slightly more.

These two tracks were also in Swedish, but the band is Finnish. Apparently the vocalists are from the Swedish speaking minority.

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Track Eight - A welcome break from the CD's previous styles of music, and this time I did like the singing and vocals - this one works well as a "slightly different from the rest" track

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I always like to have a strong theme in a CD that is broken only occasionally by something more or less off the wall compared to the rest. As you guessed, this is it. There were two contenders for the title of this song, but I ultimately chose this one for its differentness.

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Track Nine - This had a very languid, sleepy and dreamlike quality, and the title suited it well; I enjoyed this very much indeed and once again pronounce it a favourite track.

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I don't know a lot about this band. I have no idea why I never tried to download or otherwise hear much of their music. I like most of what I've heard by them, but just never took a huge interest in persuing it. This is one of my two most favorite tracks by Lycia precicely because it's so evocative of a dreamlike temple.

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(I'm beginning to feel a bit like umfumdisi now...)

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Track Eleven - The chanting is good - I like that kind of thing; the background music ruins it a little, I think; I like to imagine the singing in abstraction from the other elements (any sound gurus out there know how to do this?)

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I was expecting a slightly more positive response to this one as opposed to some of the others. I included this one because to me, especially the second part of the song, it screamed out to be in the FFVI Opera House fight scene. It sounds like final fantasy battle music almost to a tee.

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Track Fourteen - Liked the gutteral devilish voice; this track was a little too short, I think the CD would've benefitted from some more of this

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And this is the track I thought would be the most hated. It's reeeeally hard for me to find and successfully download much from this band. This is by far the most unique song I've heard from them. Most of the rest of their stuff sounds a little typical, but the totally incongruous elements of evil singing combined with just the solo piano really make me smile.

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Track Sixteen - Best-named track, the music suits it very well (or the name suits the music very well, whichever way around you think) and it has a sort of sluggish, 'air has turned to fudge' feel to it - my only criticism would be perhaps it goes on for a little longer than it need do

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This is actually kind of the average length of that band's songs. Usually they're within a minute or two of this mark. I was slightly apprehensive about adding it because of the length, but it was the best fit for the mood I wanted to convey. Given the commentary, I think it was successful.

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Track Seventeen - Good, ominous start; fast-paced music for the "end boss" moment, good throatily angry singing, well positioned on the compilation - overall, I liked it.

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If I were making your typical RPG, I agree that this is good for the end boss, which is naturally the reason it was chosen... however, if I were actually making a game, I'd have an end boss that this wouldn't fit well with, and I'd have some much more disturbing music accompanying it... like a child's music box interspersed with ghostly giggling and chainsaws or sanders scraping against corrugated metal. The boss would of course be appropriate to such a bizzare mix of instruments.

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Track Eighteen - Delicate and beautiful - a nice close to the CD, and with a sense of "tragedy averted", too; contrasts well with the previous track and continues the "boing-boing" theme from earlier; good as a track in its own right, also, and I think I liked this one most of all - a definite favourite.

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As I said, I think this man's compositions really sound video gamey and many songs he's involved in are perfect for them. This time, the very sparse vocals are in Finnish, if you even noticed them... I know they're kind of deep in the background and easy to miss.

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I am glad I read them instead of seeing what the "real" tracks were called.

Chi-score: 8/10

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Yeah. I think that presentation and packaging are important to a work of art. I can't claim any real artistic credit beyond the mix and the presentation, but I think the whole mix works better if you can visualize the context that I visualized when I chose the tracks. Also, I think that for some people a lot of artist and song names in foreign languages sometimes make their eyes glaze over. I was trying to avoid that with the re-titling of the songs in the visible list.

Drexles CD;

Ive tried in a small way to give an impression of the sort of game Id probably like to hear the music in, or that I think it would be most suited, although overall the CD could easily be the soundtrack to a Warcraftesque RTS game or even a RPG. Also Im sticking with your impressions list as I want to give an “If I were a gamer designer” perspective as well as a track value.

Track 1; The Story Begins; Really like this track, game wise I was thinking Settlers or similar would fit this track in really well.

Track 2; A small town in a snowswept valley; As with Chi, this is probably one of my favourite tracks on the CD, game wise it reminded me of Age of Empires for some reason, or if they would make an update to Fantasy world Dizzy then this would be the music.

Track 3; Danger looms over the mountain range; To me this could really be a game loading track, truly gets you in the spirit for track 4; where you are ready to commence battle, again a cannon fodder/ warcraft game comes to mind.

Track 4; Quickly, to battle! Defend the gates; Another favourite, love the strong guitar which holds the track perfectly, not really a fan of that type of grinding vocals but its sort of moderate which benfits the track I think. Again easily a RTS track or even a Two Towersesque Action platform game.

Track 5; Travel the lands (overworld map theme); Actually I think this would work really well as an overworld track, but there is a better one on the cd that I think could suit that role which is track 18. Musically though It wouldn’t be out of place as loading music on a FIFA game, which isn’t an insult just an observation of the way that EA sports games have been going, but I do also believe that in an RPG environment it would be well suited also, perhaps as an instrumental though as I fear Bjorks vocals may get in the way a little.

Track 6; The dance of the forest Trolls; I like this track, I think it could easily apply to an adventure game, and sort of has a jolly pirate feel to it, certainly wouldn’t be out of place on a lucasarts adventure, but I also feel it would work well as an early track for an ogre race on an RTS, a build up your army/ resources get your plebs working song.

Track 7; The Elder Troll tells of a legend; I can see your thinking behind this one, a sort of mid-game cutscene that describes a hero that will come to the aid of you later, or something like that. A nice track that fits the mould perfectly.

Track 8; Set sail on the high seas!; Actually this could work both as a travelling track or as a racial track in a similar use to track 6 for an RTS for say a race of elves or similar.

Track 9; Pathway through the dreams of the ancients; Definate RPG music; wonderful track, another favourite, you do get the feeling of travelling through say a cavern type maze or searching for a lost artifact in a dungeon.

Track 10; Somber Revelation; Hard one to pin down, certainly as a cutscene it would have its uses or loading music, or even as menu screen music.

Track 11. Love, Loss, and Demonic Assault in the high society; I like this track, I think another use for it would be as flying music on a Space Combat sim, although in RPG adventure terms it could be used as an arrival song to a village which is then attacked (the change in the middle of the track to a high tempo’d guitar heavy piece would work well in this respect so I think you are pretty much on the money with your description)

Track 12. Hurry, Catch Them Before It's Too Late!; I agree with Chi, the sense of panic is evident, and so your description is perfect; it’s the sort of music you’d hear if you had to catch someone before the time ran out or had to complete a certain task in a given time.

Track 13. Through the Tower of the Warlock; I think side scrolling platformer would be well suited to this music, the sort of music you might here in say a castle or end boss stage.

Track 14. A Meeting with the Devil; I started out with the impression that this track would be ideal for entering a lair of some creature in an RPG adventure, but when the piano kicks in I wasn’t as sure, but then by the end you have the feeling that it would work superbly in this respect as it would fit in with a boss-type encounter with the creature.

Track15. Strangness abounds... what is this eerie feeling?; I feel this one has command & conquerness about it, it certainly wouldn’t be out of place in an RTS, But I think it could also be used as another boss-encounter type music in an RPG. I liked this track.

Track 16. Sucked into a world of madness / The Clocktower at the end of time;
I did get a feeling that you could be playing an eerie level on a platformer to this music. I think your description is quite accurate as well.

Track 17. The Final Encounter; The build up is impressive the sort you may expect if you were about to face the final boss, then when it finally hits you know that this is ideally suited to that purpose.

Track 18. End theme; Actually I think this could be used as an overworld theme; but it does fit in so well with track 2 so Im not surprised to find its by the same band. I really liked this track. I think it does round off the CD well. And was very enjoyable. If I were to pick an alternate as an End Credits Theme I would probably pick track 8, but again this is all down to what you do with the tracks or what kind of game you’d make.

Overall I really enjoyed this CD alot, You can usually tell a good game by its music, and were this the soundtrack to a real game I think it would probably be a must-buy. Also I think it’s a brilliant idea and theme for a swap CD, so kudos for that also.

Drexle's soundtrack to the world's coolest (yet still undeveloped) video game:

01. A nice, rollicking start. Introduces the spirit of the tracks to follow. Nice music for creating a character.

02. This one almost sounded seaswept rather than snowswept, but I liked the mystical quality.

03. Foreboding, as seems the intent of Drexle's title.

04. A-ha! Now we're fighting, killing, and mashing entrails in our teeths. Rarrrrrrgh! This track has an epic feel to it, yet it's mostly aggressive. Excellent.

05. Now, time to rejuvenate after the battle. Let's view the map and plot our next course of action. What ho? Everyone board the Icelandic broad!

06. Dance of the Forum Trolls? The troll voices crack me up at first, but the dance turns heavy near the end.

07. A legend imparted. Stirring of the soul. Desire for the quest begins.

08. The churning sounds evoke thoughts of sailing. A vaguely Hindu subtext echoes the call of foreign land.

09. I like this track, but I also don't like it. It could have been shorter while still conveying the same feeling.

10. Uh, somber. And good.

Sorry, fell asleep!
Will finish off the tracklist tomorrow.

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Sorry, fell asleep!
Will finish off the tracklist tomorrow.

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Has everyone in this group sent out their CDs? I'm prodding you cattle along in case you didn't notice. I'll probably start a new swap mid-late January, so try to finish up before the New Year.

Thanks, umfum.

Drexle:

I listened to the "Doomy" CD you sent some time ago. I couldn't really get into it because I wasn't in a doomy mood (<--hey, a palindrome) considering the impending birth of my son. I'm still pretty giddy from that, but I will check it out again soon.

With my boy here, I also haven't had time to listen to the "Viking" CD, but I'm pretty sure I'll like it. I'll post commentaries here when I get a good chance to listen.