Hello again.

I have gathered up some thoughts for the MD23 idea I announced in my previous blog post. As stated, it's going to be a remix album of the earliest of the featured music tracks in the Madness Combat series, up until MC4 and including Madness Interactive. For a working title for the album, I'm thinking of something like "Madness Traxx & Combat Beatz, Vol. 1" as a nod to both early 2000s naming conventions and the footwork genre which is going to be heavily incorporated in these remixes.

Currently, the tracklist should look something like this:

1. Marsh-Mellow Juke (Elfentanz)
2. Infiltration
3. Sheriff Traxx
4. Splitmek
5. Monks
6. Look Down
7. Calliope
8. Refraction
9. Club M
10. Chicken Dance

Tracks 4-8 will use the original track titles given by mmodule and Cheshyre, but possibly with humorous remix names in parenthesis (for example, "Split-Skull Remix" for Splitmek) for the sake of differentiating them from the originals. The MC4 main theme was never given a proper title so "Club M" is the current working title. The Chicken Dance remix (which I have placed at the end of the tracklist rather than at the more chronological beginning as it is an uplifting finish) may or may not be renamed.

Track 1, as implied, will be a remix of "Elfentanz" by David Popper which was featured in the very first Madness animation, Marsh-Mellow Madness. Krinkels used a recording by Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin for the animation. That recording is probably copyrighted, and as Rodulgin is a literal Russian oligarch, a close ally of Putin and unabashed supporter of the invasion of Ukraine, I've got plenty of good reasons to not use that recording. The composition itself is in the public domain and I can easily find other recordings that I can legally (and ethically) sample.

Track 2, "Infiltration", will be a mostly original track sampling the "Ambient Metal" loop used in the beginning of Redeemer. I might also sample some of those unused tracks for that animation but those are probably copyrighted so we'll see.

Track 3 will be a remix of "Sheriff Town" or "Fancy Fiddle" by Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, which was used in the form of a short loop for most of Redeemer. The sample may be copyrighted but it also appears to come from a library music record intended for use in films/TV so it may actually be more or less fine to sample it. I'll consult with the AP admins, but worst case scenario this one will just end up SoundCloud/Bandcamp.

John-Paul Walton or mmodule's "Splitmek" was used briefly in Avenger and also for the main menu of Madness Interactive. "Monks" and "Look Down" only appeared in Madness Interactive, while "Refraction" (my personal favorite mmodule track) was only known for its use in Maximum Ninja 2 and will as such be the only "non-canon" remix. I could try to contact JPW to get permission but considering that these tracks were only ever released for free on his website back in the early 2000s, it may not be strictly necessary.

Then there are the two Cheshyre remixes, "Calliope" from Avenger and the Apotheosis main theme, which should be straight-forward to obtain permission for.

Finally, the Chicken Dance. The Chicken Dance remix that was used in MC1 and MC4 has been perhaps wrongly attributed to a DJ Birdy. However, it appears to have been released in 2000 by a DJ Ducky Duck. The composition is technically copyrighted (composed by Werner Thomas in the 50s), but is now more or less part of the folk music pantheon with a mind-numbing amount of covers made over the years. I'm probably not gonna directly sample DJ Duck's remix, and instead recreate the supersaw synth lead used for the melody and throw my own beats on top. I may end up sampling an accordion performance of it, though.

I am still conflicted on whether I'm going to include a remix of "Heaven In A Wild Flower" by Bill Douglas, also known as the "sad song" that was used for Hank's death scenes in MC3 and 4. It could work with a slow trap beat but I doubt I could get permission for it. Maybe that one can be another SC/BC-exclusive bonus track.