An Encore for Pete - The Journey of Encore500 v2 - Part 2
The second and final part of my article about the making of Encore500 Volume 2 , including interviews I've conducted with the musicians featured on the album is now online.
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An Encore for Pete - The Journey of Encore500 v2 - Part 1
Over the past 15 months I’ve had the privilege of watching the Encore500 Volume 2 album take shape from the inside - witnessing musicians pour sweat and heart into every sound and every note. When the project began, none of us imagined that Pete wouldn’t be here to see the finished work…
My two-part article traces the album’s journey, with all its highs and lows, and includes conversations with the talented musicians who brought it to life. Part 1 is out now, and Part 2 will be published soon.
Matt Gray: The Last Ninja (Reformation 5)
The first disc
of the Reformation 5 campaign is now available at Bandcamp in which Matt Gray created brand new fresh remixes of all 11 tunes of The Last Ninja soundtrack. It has been a long and difficult road since Matt launched his Reformation 5 Kickstarter exactly 4 years ago, almost to the day, but I think we can all agree the wait was well worth it. Those who have backed the project should've already received their private download links. The original campaign promised a total of 3 albums, so more is yet to come from Matt!
Encore500 Volume 2 Now Out!
The latest remix album titled Encore500 Volume 2
is now out! This is the 4th album in the Encore series and their second album containing nothing but Amiga remixes. All 16 tracks of the album are available for free on AmigaRemix.com, featuring remixes from Bass Cadet, Barry Leitch, Jogeir Liljedahl, LMan, Firefox, Tim Forsyth, Turbo Knight, Romeo Knight, Mattias Brian, Xiny6581 (DeeS), Martin Wall, and ziona.
Follow the link below to the album's info page right here on Remix64.com where you can also listen to all the tracks via AmigaRemix.com and also vote on them.
Encore500 v2 Release Party on SLAY Radio
On Thursday, March 19, 2026 SLAY Radio will host a Release Party for the second edition of Encore500, a remix album chock full of brand new Amiga remixes. Special guests will include Jogeir Liljedahl, Barry Leitch, Tim Forsyth, Bass Cadet, Mantronix and perhaps Romeo Knight
who will be joining Slaygon and ziona to chat about the album, their tracks, and hopefully share some insight into their process of creating them.
Questions for the team are most welcome on SLAY Radio's Discord channel. SLAY Radio programs are broadcast on YouTube, Twich, Facebook, and via audio streams available on their website.
New Remix Album: Nepawaganza
There's a new remix album available by a Finnish duo called Nepawaganza. Their eponymous CD album is now available for order at their website. They also released a 5-track digital maxi of the album on Bandcamp where fans can preview what the full 11-track album is about.
Nepawaganza consists of Greippi on electric cello and Arttu Raami on electric bass. Their debut album also features German trumpeter Sobrasson on several tracks. Nepawaganza has been around for 6 years now, they've played at about 20 gigs, including demoscene events such as Zoo and Jumalauta. This is their first C64 remix album - check it out, and if you like what you hear, order their CD (and soon: cassette tape!) at their website.
Mastertronic C64 Remixes - Part 4
The 4th and last part in the article series about Mastertronic C64 remixes is now available. In it Waz takes a look at tracks from commercially released albums that remixed tunes from games that were re-released by Mastertronic. If that all sounds a bit complicated, that's probably my fault - just go read the article (in which Waz also provided handy links where you can listen to the remixes he mentions), and it'll all be clear.
Rainbows
by Chris Hülsbeck
Rainbows is the 5th Chris Huelsbeck Album. Originally released in 1994, it was concentrating on game soundtracks from his Rainbow Arts era.
credits
Released October 15, 1994
© 1994, 2013 Chris Huelsbeck Productions. Track 1, 3, 6-9 composed and arranged by Chris Huelsbeck; Track 2, 4 composed by Chris Huelsbeck, arranged by Juergen Frosch; Track 5 composed and arranged by Rudolf Stember; Track 10 composed by Chris Huelsbeck, Lyrics by Chris Huelsbeck & Dwayne Cevis, Vocals by Prinzess & D'Imperial, arranged by Pseudo D.; Track 11-15 composed by D. Laurent, arranged by Pseudo D. ; Track 12 Vocals by Raquel; Track 13 Rap & Lyrics by Eric Gould; Track 14 Vocals & Lyrics by Juana Terry; Track 15 composed and arranged by Joerg Schwiezer; Track 16-19 assembled by Chris Huelsbeck, D. Laurent & R. Stember. Tracks 16-19 are only meant for personal non-profit use! If you wish to use any samples in your commercial productions, you are required to obtain clearance by contacting Chris Huelsbeck Productions: www.huelsbeck.com/contact/
license
all rights reserved
SweetArranged by Marcel Donné
Second, I have to admit that for personal reasons I hold Sweet very close to my heart (one could say it hit my sweetspot, heh-heh). From the first time I've heard it I thought that it is one of the (if not THE) most emotional original tunes ever created on the C64. Many times when I was depressed or just sad, I listened to this tune with my eyes closed and by the time the tune was over I had tears on my face…
So, any cover of this tune has to pass my very high expectations. And I'm pleased to say that Marcel has done it.
The previous two remixes of Sweet that I heard were both lacking the emotion and the sadness of the original. Marcel delivers both thanks to the soul of the famed Yamaha CS-80, the same synth that provided that signature Vangelis sound up until the 90's (and Vangelis happens to be one of my favorite composers, too).
What do I like here:
- The opening arpeggios and the entire opening itself.
- The wonderfully emotional lead provided by the CS-80 (and Marcel's playing).
- The introduction of the drums at 0:37.
- The shadow lead starting at 1:17. What a nice touch!
- Those a la Zoolook Jarre-esque noise-effects at 1:48 instead of the original's sweeping double-noise. What a great enhancement over the original!
- The bridge being played on a guitar. (Or guitar-like sound.)
- The introduction of the very Vangelis-like bell-like pad at 2:26 - it really enhances the melody!
- The very cool ending.
- The fact that not only Marcel sticks to the original closely, but he also managed to enhance it!
What do I think could've been done better:
- The trills in the lead do not quite come through with the CS-80 brass, they seem to disappear into the rest of the tune. This is basically due to the limitation of the sound itself, but I wonder if it could've been enhanced somehow.
- The guitar could've used a lote more vibrato at 3:02, 3:10, 3:18 and 3:25 (i. e. on the low notes). In fact, short slides would've been better here than just a vibrato, because that's pretty much what the original SID does, too.
But these are the relatively minor gripes of an obsessive perfectionist. Plus look at it: 9 pluses versus 2 not-so-pluses. That ain't bad at all!
The bottom line is, I have a new tune to cry to…
Review by LaLa
Arranged by SHEN LON
Review by PhotonMan
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