The 2024 remix of my 1997 XM module, originally made for Mekka/Symposium multichannel competition.

WaterBeat 2024

A heartfelt homage to the demoscene legends Purple Motion and Lizardking, this track blends nostalgic melodies and rhythms to evoke the spirit of the 90s demoscene era. It's a tribute to the golden age of digital creativity, where pioneering artists left an indelible mark on the scene. Their timeless influence continues to inspire and captivate audiences to this day.

Purpurra Dreams

You Tak

Alternate Identity - You Tak (Bassmaster Edit)

Alternate Identity - You Tak

The unholy lovechild of procrastination and music theory, conceived by two sonic tinkerers locked in an arms race of bad decisions and surplus leisure during a contest to see who could waste time the loudest.

Malfunction

Machine Intelligence

The Relativity of Time

Stealth - Ride (Cassetter Remix)

Pulsing like a dot-matrix beat, dancing straight out of the '80s.

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PAULA IS DEAD... or is she? And what really happened during her final night on Earth?

This J-Pop remix of Stefano Palmonari’s retrowave epic PAULA IS DEAD (https://soundcloud.com/stefanopalmonari/paula-is-dead) reimagines the final flicker of Paula’s story through shimmering synths, nostalgic heartbreak, and Tokyo twilight. It’s a tribute to the collision of two sonic worlds: the melancholic pulse of Retrowave and the euphoric clarity of classic J-Pop. 
For fans of Perfume, Kavinsky, and the bittersweet beauty of endings that sound like beginnings.

LYRICS
Kirameku gaitō no shita de  
Warai goe ga yozora o mitasu  
Himitsu no omoi kakushita mama  
Anata no yokogao o oikakeru 
  
Jikan wa mō tomaranai  
Kodō dake ga kotae o shitteru  
Asu e tsuzuku tobira no mae de  
Tsutaetai yo, tatta hitotsu dake 

Pōra no saigo no yoru ni  
Hoshi yori tsuyoku negau yo  
Kono te o hanasanaide  
Uchū o koetemo (ai wa kienai)  
Namida ja owarenai kara  
Hikari no mukō de mata aeru  
Paula’s last night, shining forever 

Nagareru toki o kakiatsumete  
Minna no egao o mune ni kizamu  
Anata ni ienai kotobatachi  
Yoake made ni maiagare 

Shizuka na yami no naka de  
Anata no namae yonde mita  
Koe wa kaze ni toketemo  
Kokoro wa tsunagatteru 

Pōra no saigo no yoru ni  
Inochi yori tsuyoku chikau yo  
Kono sora o wataru tabi ni  
Omoi wa towa ni (ai wa kienai)  
Kodoku o dakishimenagara  
Mirai no chikyū o mamoru kara  
Paula’s last night, shining forever 

Pōra no yoru ga aketemo  
Kitto anata o omotteru  
Ai o sukū sono hi made  
Wasurenaide (Paula’s last night)

Paula’s Last Night (PAULA IS DEAD J-Pop Remix)

Chiptune inspired by Tao/Cream's songs.

Got second place in the Sommarhack 2015 Music compo.

Shinobi - Drop Zoner

I was born in Ferrara on September 7, 1973. I’ve always been instinctively drawn to electronic music, but in the ‘80s, musical instruments and keyboards weren’t easily accessible to me due to my humble origins. However, with significant sacrifices, my parents gifted me a Commodore 64 as a reward for moving up to middle school. At that time, I didn’t yet realize it housed what was likely the most advanced lowcost sound chip of the era. But I discovered it soon enough through three unforgettable moments in my childhood.

The first was the music from the game Penetrator, created by Andrian Pertout. For various reasons, that music has stuck with me for 40 years; in fact, you can find a modern version of it on my SoundCloud. The second was the music of International Karate by Rob Hubbard; saying it impressed me doesn’t fully capture a moment that has stayed with me ever since. The third was an interview in Zzap! magazine in September 1986, featuring Ben Daglish (RIP), Rob Hubbard, David Whittaker, and Anthony Crowther. That interview gave me the drive and inspiration to start programming music on the C64. It took about three years before I could produce something listenable, and that demo became a sample I sent to Simulmondo, a software house in Bologna, which contacted me to start a collaboration. This was the beginning of my dream to create music for video games on the Commodore 64.

Over the years, I also collaborated with Ubisoft and Playstos Entertainment. I was known in the PC demo scene by the nickname DustBin, especially as part of the independent, non profit label Charlie Brown Records. With simple searches, you can find almost all my music from that period on Modarchive and similar sites. The demo scene allowed me to form connections and friendships that last to this day, over 20 years later.

From 2009 to 2014, I was the lead singer of one of the most representative bands of the Italian metal scene, Crying Steel, and from 2015 to 2017, I was the frontman of Blindrage, a Power Metal band with a self-titled album that was very well received by critics and fans.

Recently, I’ve decided to revive my SoundCloud page, which had been inactive for several years. I’ll aim to publish everything I’ve composed but never released over the past five years, along with remastered versions from my archive of .XM modules—a popular music format in the demoscene of the ’90s and 2000s.
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Stefano Palmonari a.k.a. DustBin