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Post by thekeeper on May 14, 2020 23:10:23 GMT -5
As of right now, it appears that the "Middle Ages" tape by Caduceus is actually a small collection of demoscene tracker songs that were downloaded and made into a bootleg tape. Our fellow member and tracker wizard Khand found some tracks on Modarchive.org titled "Middle Ages" and upon comparing them to the Caduceus Middle Ages rip online, they're the exact same tracks. We had to do a bit of detective work to confirm whether these tracker uploads were from the original artist or if someone had ripped Caduceus songs or vice versa. The main three middle ages tracks are here: I - modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=63686II - modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=145079III - modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=145080The notes attached to these tracks state that the artist is Mateus from Czech Republic and is a member of the group "Torture of Music". These were apparently made in June of 95, uploaded to this website in particular in the mid 00s (though the original files from 95 were made available at the time). Most know that Caduceus is from Lithuania as stated on Discogs, so it struck me as odd that these tracks said they were from the CR considering Caduceus is pretty patriotic about Lithuania. Trying to give the benefit of the doubt, I guessed that maybe Caduceus (real name Gėrimo Namai) was young and living in CR at the time. However, after some digging into this Mateus guy and the group Torture of Music, it's pretty clear that the Caduceus tracks are rip offs. The Demozoo website has profiles on Mateus and other member of Torture of Music, and on the group's profile page is a wayback machine link to their old website. On their site is a lit of all the song they've made, and in this list includes the Middle Ages tracks, which are stated to have been made for a game. Not sure if this game ever came out, but they released the tracker files publically at the time in 95. This would confirm that the Middle Ages tracks here are indeed originals, which would mean the Caduceus tracks (of the exact same names) are just rip-offs. It would appear that the tracks were ripped and bootlegged the same year the were made public. But wait, couldn't it be that the Caduceus guy is actually this Mateus guy somehow? Possible, I suppose. However, we have pictures of each of them, and we have Mateus' real name (Ondrej Matejka). This guy does not look like this guy. So, it's pretty doubtful. But what about the intro and outro tracks? Could those be originals? Nope! They're also ripped tracker songs with the exact same names. Different artists for these, though. Here's the intro: modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=73684And the outro: modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=74143So there we have it. All tracks from this Caduceus tape are original european demoscene songs made on trackers. Of course this doesn't mean the music isn't great and I'm still going to continue to listen to it, but it's definitely a crazy thing. I guess the best thing we have out of this is original crystal clear version of all the tracks, haha. Wonder if any other classic DS stuff is ripped. |
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Post by ancientmeadow on May 14, 2020 23:26:27 GMT -5
I found a YouTube video of Andrej Matejka and it is definitely not "Lord Caduceus": www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff7eQn1QfE It appears Andrej Matejka has had a fruitful career scoring video games and some films. I sent an email asking Caduceus about it. I am sadly going to have to cancel this re-issue now. |
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Post by arillius on May 15, 2020 0:49:42 GMT -5
So, this was a very sad discovery in same ways, but yet fascinating at the same time. I understand this release is revered by some, and rightfully so.
But I stumbled across the source files on ModArchive on a whim because they had the same exact name as the tracks on the tape release/stream.
For those that don't know, back in the early to mid 90s (well even into late 90s and early 2000s), tracked music was at its peak and was birthed out of the demoscene: a term now used to describe visual, audio, and programming demos where the artists/musicians/programmers would display their work in competitions. Needless to say, a lot of tracked music was never used for the demoscene stuff, and was just made by as any other musician would make a song: at home in their free time. Anyways, it turns out that these tracks were indeed made in 1995, but by a Czech tracker by the name of Mateus, as mentioned above.
Why these songs were ripped off and used in this release is beyond me. Back in 1995, it was a lot easier to get away with this kind of stuff I suppose. There were no search engines like there are today, and the internet was pretty primitive. Though Dungeon Synth as a term didn't exist yet, its spirit did and as we all know, 95 falls into the old school/classic era of DS. My guess is that the typical blackmetal / DS person in 1995 usually did not run in the same circles as the computer nerds in the tracking and demo scenes. Obviously that is somewhat of a postulation but my guess would be he thought he could get away with releasing this as his own.
At the end of the day I do feel sad for stumbling across the obscure truth of this release, but at the same time I am happy about this. I tend to talk about my adoration for trackers quite a bit, and how I believe their usage to create music could open up some dusty, old locked doors with DS. This is just a funny example of how both the tracking and DS scenes can be semi-related in some way; unfortunately it is now an obscure footnote.
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Post by crystallogic13 on May 15, 2020 3:05:49 GMT -5
I'm in awe not of the actual expose of Caduceus (what a pathetic miserable thing to do, speaks for himself..), but the hard task of actually uncovering it, good great catch Arilius!! Indeed many people might think in the pre internet era (who could have imagined) that he could get away with it (even today people do it really but sooner or later..).. But eventually everything comes together people...
I appreciate endlessly anything Demoscene related btw, my biggest shock ever was when late in 2000 i saw the then new and still AWESOME the.produkt 64k demo by faurbraush and after that there's no way back, demoscene is maybe one of the more artistic things to do combining audio and visual (along of course with miracle coding usually)...
Thanx for letting us now and good job on AM not re-releasing this theft.. And actually maybe the guy who originally wrote it should be contacted so that he knows his work is appreciated +..
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Post by theswordthatsang on May 15, 2020 3:31:19 GMT -5
This is one solid investigation, and sadly with a saddening outcome.
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Post by ancientmeadow on May 15, 2020 7:22:25 GMT -5
Thanx for letting us now and good job on AM not re-releasing this theft.. And actually maybe the guy who originally wrote it should be contacted so that he knows his work is appreciated +.. Yes, I am quite sad. I have been talking to him (Caduceus) for roughly 10 months about the reissue. We were getting close to starting production, though I am now somewhat relieved that this truth has been uncovered before I proceeded with the reissue. It is a good idea to contact the original artist. I was able to find his contact information fairly easily. I would hazard a guess that he would be very surprised to learn about this unknown history of his old work. |
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Post by crystallogic13 on May 15, 2020 7:53:30 GMT -5
Well if you ever try to reach him (hopefully) please keep us informed, I'd really like to know what his response to this whole story would be, surprise of course, but has he maybe ever heard of DS ? Etc.
Glad you missed that hot potato mr. Ancient Meadow, and even more for the truth to be uncovered, again respect to Arilius for picking it up!! Please keep us informed of any further info..
p.s. Ancient Meadow, what Caduceus has said about it ? I guess no reply ? ...
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Post by windgeist on May 15, 2020 8:29:09 GMT -5
A bizzare story indeed...
Unfortunately I'm too new to this genre to know about this album and its importance to the community. It seems to be important to some people in this forum at least.
I'd only like to say, that an actual re-release, in cooperation with the real artists, would be a very cool outcome to all of this.  |
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Post by Lord Tetrarch on May 15, 2020 8:38:26 GMT -5
I found a YouTube video of Andrej Matejka and it is definitely not "Lord Caduceus": www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff7eQn1QfE It appears Andrej Matejka has had a fruitful career scoring video games and some films. I sent an email asking Caduceus about it. I am sadly going to have to cancel this re-issue now. Very simple solution - get in touch with Andrej Matejka, and see if he would like his original "Middle Ages" music published to tape. The songs are still enjoyable, and the ridiculous story to go with it is pretty amazing. For all we know, he may still have access to even more of this stuff he tracked way back when. |
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Post by ancientmeadow on May 15, 2020 13:11:53 GMT -5
I have been mulling it over and that's what I think I will do, though obviously it will all depend on Mr. Matejka and if he is even interested. It would be great to really give the music a proper revival now that the truth has been uncovered. I found a YouTube video of Andrej Matejka and it is definitely not "Lord Caduceus": www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ff7eQn1QfE It appears Andrej Matejka has had a fruitful career scoring video games and some films. I sent an email asking Caduceus about it. I am sadly going to have to cancel this re-issue now. Very simple solution - get in touch with Andrej Matejka, and see if he would like his original "Middle Ages" music published to tape. The songs are still enjoyable, and the ridiculous story to go with it is pretty amazing. For all we know, he may still have access to even more of this stuff he tracked way back when. |
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Post by thekeeper on May 15, 2020 14:03:11 GMT -5
I have been mulling it over and that's what I think I will do, though obviously it will all depend on Mr. Matejka and if he is even interested. It would be great to really give the music a proper revival now that the truth has been uncovered. Very simple solution - get in touch with Andrej Matejka, and see if he would like his original "Middle Ages" music published to tape. The songs are still enjoyable, and the ridiculous story to go with it is pretty amazing. For all we know, he may still have access to even more of this stuff he tracked way back when. Don't forget that the intro and outro tracks are from entirely different artists. Haven't looked real far into who the other two are, but it's not Mateus' tracks. The modarchive links above have some info on them and they might also be on demozoo. Would have to contact them as well if you're looking to reissue the proper whole tape-worth of tracks. Alternatively, it might be kool to see if Matejka had any other tracks in the same style to put on the tape as bonuses, almost like "unreleased Caduceus content", ha. |
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Post by arillius on May 18, 2020 12:27:42 GMT -5
Nothing really important to add to this other than I'm still laughing that the original songs were written by the composer who went on to do music for the ARMA game series and the Euro Truck Simulator games, which are on my Steam Wishlist. This whole thing still strikes me as a bit odd.
Another thing to add is I've been going through some old tracked songs from back in the day and have found a series of songs written buy a Russian tracker in the early 2000s that are really good and could easily be released today. I've somehow found his contact and am talking to him now. I don't think he knows what DS is.
Edit: I guess I'm not surprised he's doing game music. After all, the tracking demoscene was closely related to that stuff. Some of the most notable trackers went on to do music for games.
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Post by Båvingr on May 27, 2020 9:49:05 GMT -5
Nothing really important to add to this other than I'm still laughing that the original songs were written by the composer who went on to do music for the ARMA game series and the Euro Truck Simulator games, which are on my Steam Wishlist. This whole thing still strikes me as a bit odd. Sidebar: Euro Truck Simulator is AMAZING... buy it! |
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Post by arillius on Aug 20, 2020 17:19:16 GMT -5
Update:
I'm in contact with 'Mateus' and told him about this. He had a good laugh. He also followed Dungeon Synth Archives.
I asked if he had any similar music to this and he's going to 'look in his archives.'
Fun stuff!
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Post by crystallogic13 on Aug 21, 2020 15:11:44 GMT -5
Thanx for the update Arilius, nice to see he eventually was informed about the trip of his music down the years  Keep us updated if he finds anything in his chests!! p.s. Any update on the hopeless dude that riped them ? Did he get ashamed of himself or dug a hole to get into ? |
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Keep us updated if he finds anything in his chests!!
i'm a newbie here, thanks for the approval!