Audiophonik - Music For The Scene Generation is a professionally produced CD, holding compositions by 12 respected, well-known and skilled musicians from the (Amiga/PC) demo- and game-scene. The participants include household-names, such as Moby, Bjorn Lynne, Skorpik, Lizardking and Jogeir. My first impression of the CD was its outer appearance: the artwork contains high-quality computer-graphics and tastefully chosen colours. It looks very homogenic. Also, there are profiles, comments and pictures of each of the musicians involved which I think is a nice idea for a compilation.
How about the music? Well, all of the pieces are carefully crafted, they're differentiated and clean in sound. No doubt all of the people who donated music for Audiophonik know a thing or two about using instruments to a striking effect. Most of the composers have decided on a rather electronic sound - something you'd expect from computer musicians, no? To my surprise, some of the tunes were done with trackers like Buzz which I would not have guessed when listening to the music. Others are based on proper MIDI gear.The compositions are as diverse as the ones who created them. To my mind (and let's not forget that's down to personal taste), the most outstanding contributions are those by Moby, Vic, Zodiak and Skorpik.
Moby's "Flow" is kind of remarkable because it's a break from his classic rock tunes - totally electronic with elements building up, disappearing, recombining and, well, flowing. Vic's "nr24" would fit in well on any given Future Sound of London or a more harmonious Aphex Twin album. The flanged drums and the modulated melody manage to create a mood-mix of euphoria and mystique which I'd classify as rather psychedelic. Zodiak introduces some mellow guitar bits, combined with a laid-back beat. The mood reminds me of stuff done by the English electronica-act Plaid without their typical breaks and distortions - very relaxed, positive, dreamy and chilled-out. Finally, there's my fave tune of them all: "Cocoon" by Skorpik. Very ambient stuff that starts off with odd and mystic sounds floating around, slowly building up to an organic whole. Moodwise it's like stepping through a strange but not too intimidating dream. Sound and composition work together for mutual benefit.
What these four songs have plenty of, some of the others are lacking, though. Sometimes I'm not really sure what the mood of the tunes actually is. It sounds like the composers weren't aware of what they wanted to get across to the listener. As well as all of the tunes are done technically, some of them have too little atmosphere.
All in all, this CD is a must-have for anybody considering himself a "scener". It's a good example of the amount of creativity and diversity that there is in the scene. Also, there's no major record-company behind it but people who have raised their own money and put forward an effort to show others what they are so enthusiastic about. It has been done by sceners for sceners. And what's more, Audiophonik demonstrates really well that the scene is an underground-culture with its own styles and ideas, that has managed to evolve somewhere beyond the lure of money and mainstream. Personally, I'm looking forward to hearing Audiophonik 2.
Volker Tripp (aka Jester aka Oddjob). | 
Audiophonik Cover
01 - Flow
by Moby
02 - Nr24
by Vic
03 - Spectral Vision
by Rez
04 - The giving tree
by Siren
05 - Overture
by Jogeir
06 - Little monkey
by Lizardking
07 - Gate 99 (last call)
by Zodiak
08 - Pulse
by Necros
09 - Third millenium
by Lluvia
10 - Ephemeral Wanderer
by C.C. Catch
11 - Space Deliria
by Bjorn Lynne
12 - Cocoon
by Scorpik
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