This is actually the first track that I ever wrote on the computer. This was back in 1999-2000, some time in there. I was using an application called Noteworthy Composer. It was actually software for writing sheet-music to be printed on paper, but there was also a midi playback feature so that you could preview what you were writing.
Built-in midi play-back on computers is always terrible, but back then it was amazing just to be able to write music using a computer. Flash forward to 2017 and now I decided to transcribe the piece in to FL studio and make it a little more presentable. Call it a remix, I guess.
There once was a band called Men of Science. It was comprised of two childhood friends, and they made many albums. Their music brimmed with youthful enthusiasm, humor and occasionally a rueful longing for seasons past and galaxies far away. They weren't afraid to take artistic chances. They were the opposite of self-conscious.
I had the pleasure to meet them when I was in college. I was taking a machine learning class when I met GC, who was one half of the duo. My memories of GC and KG, their music, the scene that had emerged around them, and the people I met because of them are priceless.
They played this song at a house party back in May 2006. It was around the week of final exams, and I walked in to see the festivities beginning. When GC threw a party, it wasn't a traditional party: it was an evening of talent and spectacle. Performer after performer would give the audience gifts plucked from the realm of the imagination. Violin playing, absurdist poetry, algorithmic art, musical theatre, assorted nonsense. It was all fair game.
After some opening acts, the duo began their set, being introduced as a "glam rock band from Chicago". In actuality, it was just two dudes with a keyboard and Fruity Loops playing a backing track. The song they opened with was "It's Alright". It has since become one of my favorite Men of Science songs.
After jamming to it the other day, I decided to record a version of it (with some lyrical elaborations). Peace be with you GC and KG.
In some of the video games similar to the one I'm working on (Faxanadu, Zelda II, Wanderers from the Ys) there are little towns spread out across the land, always consisting of five or six little houses. The residents always give you helpful advise and encouragement when you barge in uninvited.
There 's always some "inside the house" music that's warm-sounding and soothing. So here's my version of that. Two version's actually:
Your fellow elfs have such useful hints as "You must save our land." or "Don't try too hard." This track has a generous helping of the fairy sparkles that I'm trying to work in to the soundtrack (sort of a theme really).
As lauded as Elfin craftsmanship is, the best equipment can only be bought by shady goblin in the corner (the one with the eye patch and the cigar). Where does he get it? Oh, he's not at liberty to reveal his sources.
