Saturday 29 February 2020

Kyprian's Circle – Noitatulen Vartija (MCD 1999)


Country: Finland

Tracklist
Ikiyön Liekit 01:06
Kun Puhui Myrskyn Henki 06:27
Noitatulen Vartija 04:51
Helvetin Pajassa On Miekkamme Taottu 03:15
Kuolemasi Minä Olen 03:05

Kyprian Nurmi formed Kyprian's Circle around 1994.
Until 1993 he was playing for another band but he always wanted to make his own music.
During the period 1995-1996 he created 5 tracks in which some riffs of his past years were used.
Around the same time he recorded a demo of two songs for his other project Strigoi Mort that was released in winter 1996.
The aforementioned 5 tracks were recorded in 1996 and mixed at Sound Ateljee studios

for the first Kyprian's Circle demo entitled "In The Mystique Of The Moonbeams" using a drum machine.
Soon after the release Kyprian began gathering material for the next demo.
Four songs were completed with the style of music being now more mature and the tempo having slowed down a bit.
This time he wanted to use a real drummer, so Abyssin joined in as well a bass player,

whereas Shatraug (Horna) and Nazgul (Horna, Pest) took over the vocal duties.
With this line up in the beginning of 1997 the second demo entitled "The Nightwind Tunes"

was recorded again in Sound Ateljee studios.
A year later the third demo "Käärmeenkantaja" was released

with Vsondar handling this time the vocals and Unknown taking over the drums.
For the next release Kyprian used once again Abyssin for the drums and Nazgul of Horna as a vocalist

while the synths were handled by Toni Raehalme and the bass by Sammy Roiha.
Five tracks were recorded in early 1999 for the MCD "Noitatulen Vartija"

that was released in spring of 1999 by the Finnish label Silverhorn Production.
The two first tracks on this release were re-aranged versions of older tracks taken from the demos.
A full-length album was in the future plans to be released on Woodcut Records but this unfortunately was never happened.

 "Noitatulen Vartija" was re-released in 2018 on CD format and, for the first time ever, on 12" vinyl by Werewolf Records.

Saturday 22 February 2020

Tempest 2000 – The Soundtrack (1994)


Composers: Alastair Lindsay, Ian Howe, Julian Hodgson, Kevin Saville

Tracklist
1. Thermal Resolution 03:59
2. Mind's Eye 04:52
3. T2K 05:23
4. Ease Yourself 07:52
5. Tracking Depth 05:04
6. Constructive Demolition 04:05
7. Future Tense 05:54
8. Digital Terror 05:07
9. Hyper Prism 04:26
10. Glide Control 05:12
11. Ultra Yak 04:00
12. 2000 Dub 07:31

"Tempest 2000" is a tube shooter video game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation 
for the Atari Jaguar in North America on 13 April, 1994, later released in Europe on 27 June of the same year
and finally in Japan on 15 December of the same year as well.
"Tempest 2000" was critically acclaimed with critics praising the graphics, gameplay and soundtrack. 
It is often considered as one of the best games released for the Jaguar and as of 1 April 1995, the Jaguar version
has sold more than 30,000 copies during its lifetime, making it one of the best selling games for the system.
The original Atari Jaguar version's music was created by Ian Howe, Alastair Lindsay, Kevin Saville and Julian Hodgson 
of Imagitec Design (a.k.a. Dream Weavers), who also created the music for "Defender 2000" on the Jaguar as well.
The music was composed in the Commodore Amiga MOD file format,
although non-Jaguar releases of the game played music from a CD.
At the time of its release, the music soundtrack could also be purchased on CD directly from Atari
The CD was also bundled with the Atari Jaguar CD to demonstrate the system's Virtual Light Machine music visualizer.
It became the basis for the audio for all conversions of the game to come including the PC, PlayStation and Saturn versions.
Several tracks, however, were not used in the Jaguar version due to cartridge space constraints.
The video game picked up an award for the "Best In-game Music" at the 1994 CES show.

Tuesday 18 February 2020

Lech Jankowski – Institute Benjamenta (1998)


Composer: Lech Jankowski

Tracklist
1. Canone Non Infinitone 05:26
2. A Very Old Mexican Dance 01:07
3. Finale 05:59
4. Con-Trapuncto 01:00
5. Lullaby/Waltz 09:25
6. Introdukja Liliowa 01:11
7. Mazurek 06:48
8. Kolysanka Wg. Erika S. 01:17
9. Marsz 02:48
10. Menuet I 03:01
11. Maly Cmentarz Harf 01:55
12. Waltz Z.K. Minor 03:06
13. Zym-Zym 02:42
14. Melodia Na Piec: (Part I,II,III) 03:20
15. Minuet With Hydrocephalus 01:01
16. Pavana Zza Parawana No. 5 01:16
17. (Repeat) Kolysanka Wg. Erika S. 01:17
18. Aria. Contrapuncto 02:14
19. Hymn. Coda. Choral 04:18
20. Melodia Na Piec: (Part III) 01:03

Lech Jankowski (born April 1, 1956 in Leszno ) is a Polish composer for theater and film music, painter and ethnologist.
His performances combine instruments and music theater as well as elements of visual art.
As a composer he has worked with various theater directors, mainly in Poland.
His paintings, which features elements of magical realism, have been presented in several exhibitions 
and are parts of private collections in Poland and abroad.
Jankowski has composed music for several short films by influential stop-motion animators Stephen and Timothy Quay,
aka the Brothers Quay, and also for their first live-action feature-length film
"Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life", released in 1996.
The film is based on the novel "Jakob Von Gunten" (1909), written by Swiss writer Robert Walser.
The plot follows Jakob (Mark Rylance), a young man who enters a training school for servants,
run by brother and sister Johannes (Gottfried John) and Lisa Benjamenta (Alice Krige).
Though the film follows the same basic structure as the novel, its plot is more limited.
The Quays have characterized the film as a parallel universe of the novel.
The film has been described as thematically similar to a fairy tale, a fantasy or a dream world
and has been compared to Eraserhead due to its unconventional narrative and black-and-white filming style.
Parallels have also been drawn between the film and Expressionist films of the 1920s.