"If Music be the food of love, then praise The Pipe for supplying the scones." - Budgie
June 01, 2006
Ping Pong
Posted by Budgie at June 1, 2006 08:31 PM
Techno Table Tennis?
After getting over the shock that the infamous Rockstar Games decided to ditch their brand of the old ultra-violence in favour of Table Tennis, the next shock coming was the tracklisting...
Not that I would have had any fears over a Rockstar Games soundtrack, as they have proven time and time again to get it right. It was just the fact that they had licensed so many Techno and Tech House tracks.
Techno and Table Tennis?
The disappointment did come when I discovered that you only heard brief snippets of the tracks on the menus or when you managed to get a decent rally going - the house lights dim and the music seeps through the atmosphere, adding to the intensity, only for you to fluff a shot under the pressure - Why put in all those tracks when you don't get enough time to enjoy them?
My disappointment turned to joy when I discovered that once you started to unlock other places to play in the game, especially the more intimate Room settings, you got to hear these deep slices of music in their entirety.
Hoorah!
Anyway, it's a devilishly addictive game and the music is superb. Nuff said.
Words like "genius" and "innovator" are never far away when Derrick May's name gets mentioned. I tried not to use them, but it's very difficult. The guy deserves them. I won't bore you if you don't know about him, but I will mention the fact that he, along with two friends, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, changed dance music forever. They were the pioneers of Detroit Techno.
This tune is not that far off from being 20 years old now and shows that the blueprint he and his cohorts drew up back then is still far from old. At a time when people labelled dance music as being emotionless, he proved them all wrong...
More Detroit stylings. And the credentials are equally as good on this one. Released on Detroit Techno legend Mad Mike Banks' Submerge label, Los Hermanos are made up of various members of the notorious Underground Resistance group. "Resurrection" is from their excellent 2004 album "On Another Level", a great collection of deep, funky, techy grooves that the compilers of the game must have loved as they plundered it twice... Their "Birth Of 3000" track also appears on the soundtrack.
Ah, a repost. I had this one up on The Pipe back in April of last year. Go here if you want to know what I said about it...
Alex Smoke is signed to Soma Recordings, a Glasgow label that have been keeping the Techno spirit alive in all its forms for over 15 tears now. Again the compilers must love the label as tracks by Envoy and Vector Lovers appear in the game too.
