Make sure you’re sitting down before you open this link, as seeing this many tracks at once might be too much for a lot of Alek Szahala fans. After all the recent requests for old material, Alek has put together an amazingly comprehensive list of releases from the earliest tracker days to current work-in-progress tunes. I can’t imagine how much time this must have taken – all we can do is thank him for making such an effort.
I’m a big fan of his old Goa style, so I’ve been checking a lot of that out, as well as listening to his older trancy .xm tunes. As you’d expect, there are also some real gems in the freeform section, with tracks like Phobos, Jinnaya and Luna online for the first time, and his truly amazing edit of Vengeance is up there too. Talking of Vengeance, check out Glacier Queen for a lovely jazz lounge version of the piano melody. The one main regret is that Freezing Clouds has been lost, as that was really a special tune…
Congratulations to Alek too for the release of Crystal Thunder on the Spacesynth Revolution compilation. It’s got a really nice MOD feel to it, and from the preview it sounds like there are some other good tunes on the CD.
I actually went to Alek’s homepage first and saw this. Then I quickly went on to load your page to see if you’d written something about it. And ofcourse you have. 🙂
Regarding the extensive Alek Szahala discography, I’m speechless.
Yep a lot of work indeed! I’ve heard really low quality clip of Phobos in a much better condition and he may have some plans with it. I also noticed that the track from “KONEFESTARI 2008” video is the one from “Hasted 190bpm” rave mix. But the one in the mix was in early stages. Defenetly some great tracks coming from him in the future! 🙂
I have now had a quick listening through the “Alek Szahala” part. I am currently jumping around in my chair listening to Acend To The Stars while writing this. Freaky acid in the end of that sample! Can’t stop smiling. Realy excited to hear more of this! 🙂
Like you mentioned Plasmadancer the Vengence 2007 edit sounds absolutely brilliant. No extra information is given for that tune in there so I can only hope that this isn’t one of the lost tunes and that there is more to come out of this since what is linked is only a sample.
More of my favourites include but are far from limited to the 2006 version of Aurinko, the Jazz the Jackrabbit theme (haha remember playing this game a long time ago. Nostalgia.) Luna and Jinnaya as you mentioned.
Lastly, please tell me that the version of Phobos linked here is not the only version that still exists. The info says “Master files lost?”.
I had to listen to that youtube clip from Konemetsä 2009 again now just to hear the version of Phobos played there. I can’t get enough of it. If that is not a masterpiece then masterpieces does not exist in this world.
Sorry for the tripple comments but I just have to thank Alek for all these amazing pieces of art. I checked out the youtube channel where some of the .mod-files are posted the other day and fell in love with Paokala – Camelopardalis. Makes me think back and remember the old days when me and a friend of mine played around with Fasttracker II and Cubic player. I didn’t participate much activly in making the music, but I enjoyed watching and listening to it a lot. Also the remix of the Pinball Illusions theme brings back more memories of that time.
With this compilation of old and new works one can get an idea of the progress during the years and the amount of work that must have been put into all these songs that inspire us all and the growth of the unique artist that is Alek Száhala. Thank you!
wow!
this absolutely made my day! XD
Amazing…
I still haven’t listened to all of them, but my oh my this is awesome! A million thanks for all of this, Alek!
Have to say I was absolutely astonished with some of those never-released tracks. Aurinko 2006, Vengeance 2007, Dryad Machine with Sunray’s melody (!!), and on, and on, and on! I’m getting hyped for his 2010 releases!
Going to keep dl’ing for now!
(and these comments need more exclamation marks!)
!!
This is just fucking unbelievable – I’m speechless.
O_O
Maybe I have something real to say later.. now just, oh ….
Thanks for the warning, I nearly passed out.
Am still lost with all these tunes.
Aurinko 2006 is brilliant. I still can’t hold smiling when the breakdown comes in. It’s again one of those musical moments that bring you back to all those good moments lived in the past.
I was actually impressed with Glaciar Queen. I happen to like Jazzy music and this one actually sounded very nice.
Jazz the Jackrabbit was awesome, too! It’s crazy and I loved it. :3
Ihkuplur is another great one and somehow feels like a chill-out Hardcore track. Makes you loose yourself in your thoughts.
Then the awe-inducing ‘weird edit’ of Dryad Machine comes. I have to say the name really caught my attention, but hearing Sunray’s melody there was without a doubt a classic moment. Fits the atmosphere so well!
Now Phobos. As Nisse said, I think Alek is probably doing something with it at the moment. Otherwise he wouldn’t use it in Konemetsa, right? It’s definitely a nice track it would be a shame to see it go to waste.
The ‘Weird stuff’ was interesting and a nice listen, no doubt. It’s always good to know where the hell Iron Squid came from, too. :p
Jinnaya’s next. I need to hear it a tad more. I guess that kind of melody is not really my type, though. Was expecting something different to be honest, but I guess the problem is me since everyone is liking it a lot. D;
Now Luna, luna, luna. This track is going to be fucking awesome if Alek ever decides to properly finish it! (is swearing allowed in TYFTH plasma? :p) But really! Just listen to that damn breakdown… if the track sounds this good now, imagine when it’s done and done.
Vengeance 2007 is another amazing piece of Hardcore music! I’m curious, though. Was this the live edit that Alek played in NRGetic Romancer some years ago?
But yeah, the part that Alek added is hardcore. I guess Alek never really managed to repeat the rage that was Anmitzcuacah, but damn. This is infuriating however you put it! Obviously in a good way.
Crystal Thunder is a nice track too. Sounds retro. But future retro. If that makes sense. D;
Also, the remix of Ducktales is plain fun. And I absolutely love fun music. :3
On to his 2010 material. Starcrossed is looking really good. Really good indeed. Won’t anyone agree with me that the melody sounds Betwixt & Between-like? I mean the actual sound. I’m sure Btw uses sounds very similiar to those.
But yeah, Starcrossed has everything to be terrific. Really hyped for it. :3
Can’t say the same for Ascending Stars, though. :/
Even though I never thought I’d say this about an Alek’s track, I hate the melody. :/ Looks like the track gets much better near the end, but I don’t like the melody, eh.
Also, I’m patiently awaiting the mysterious Machuahuitl. I have a feeling it will be amazing.
And just before I finally end this post, I have to say that Maeva’s melody totally reminded me of the added melody in Supriya’s live edit. They’re similar, but I still think the one in Supriya’s edit is superior. It’s like I said earlier; one of those melodies where you can’t stop smiling.
And with this I leave. This post ended up being too freaking big, even if there’s still lot’s of stuff left to listen to. (D:)
All in all, this comprehensive discography only proved that Alek really is capable of outstanding music. Not sure what the definition of ‘art’ is these days, but he must be a superb artist.
Looking at the number of comments, this blog obviously has the right name 🙂
This version of Phobos is already sounding more advanced than Jinnaya, so hopefully Aryx is right and a finished version might be on the way sometime…
As Nisse was saying, it’s really worth going through them all to see how Alek has developed as an artist (which is what he undoubtedly is). As well as Pinball Illusions, it’s worth checking his Gianna Sisters high score remake – it might be a pretty simple looping melody, but I love it. Enchiuridi has been one of my most-listened to tunes this year, believe it or not, so nice to see it was well-received back in 2000, too.
BerN
Well remembered re. the Vengeance edit! It is the tune he played at Romancer in 2008…it really was mind-bending when that melody came out of nowhere, an amazing feeling.
Great comments on the other tunes too, and I partly agree about Jinnaya – but it must surely be a very work in progress tune, there seem to be quite a few gaps to fill in yet. Luna is just a fantastic track, it could be my favourite of the previously unheard batch, the melodies are great and there are some lovely little touches in the structure. And swearing’s the only possible response to some of these tunes, so no problem there 😉
Now I listen to Starcrossed again the melodies are very Betwixt-like, and even the sounds themselves seem similar. Shaping up to be a brilliant track, whatever 🙂
You can find Alek’s Freezing Clouds in DJ Rx’s Bassoradio Live 2006, which can be downloaded from FINRG’s Media. It starts @ ~26min. Such an excellent track to say the least!
DJ Inline
Welcome to the site 🙂
I think that’s probably where most people first heard the tune, but thanks for the comment – there are bound to be a lot of people looking for it now that it’s never going to be released…
Hey is there anywhere i can download all these amazing ‘Szahala tunes these days as the link is now down :'(