REMEDY Generalities


The 1996 edition of the Remedy party was held in Stockholm, in the area of SOLNA. 400 visitors, showed up, mostly sceners from the Stockholm area, apart from the TBL gang - that is a few dozen attenders more than Icing. Still both parties seem to be in the same league when it comes to pure attendance. Organiser Skutt comments; 
"Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much sceners left in Sweden apart from TBL"


An adequate party area and a BIG sleeping hall made a good impression on the masses. This year, Remedy has been mainly organised by three groups; Limited Edition, who took care of the Amiga competitions, The PC group Candela, which turned out to be very useful helpers by taking 2 hours to make a sound-card work, and DCS Graphics, represented by Snuskis, the one who did most of the brain-waving work.

Incredibly enough, the Remedy party can be summoned in just one word; Smooth - banal as it might seem, this young Swedish event had all the entertainment every other party can only promise: unfailing electricity, funny organisers, various extra-curricular competitions, and more importantly for some, the drinking of alcohol was even allowed INSIDE the main hall. Most sceners drank some beers, and even looked happier than before. It's quite abnormal to see that Icing partly failed in this respect, whilst the Remedy organisers handled everything as if by magic - or luck, as some put it. 
"We have an unwritten rule that allows everyone to drink a couple of beers as long as no one gets totally out of control. This is because Remedy is a scene party and not a booze party", says Snuskis, one of the main organisers.

When asked about the lack of power failures, Snuskis starts to laugh, and tells us that he missed them too. 
"Maybe some might think that Remedy was no real scene party, because there were no power cuts during the whole event", he adds!

Yet, when ROM investigated, not everyone seemed very satisfied by the outcome of the event. 
"I wasn't impressed at all. If this party was supposed to be one of the major parties in Sweden this year, the scene must have lost a whole bunch of members", says Celebrandil of Phenomena.

One liked feature was the 10 SEK discount any Remedy visitors received, when dining at the nearby Mc Donald's! This is a good move that should be emulated by other parties.
Demo Competition Results


1. Darkside by The Black Lotus with 211 votes
2. Kolor Remix by C-Lous with 176 votes
3. Hata livet by Millennium with 127 votes
4. Radar by Vector with 61 votes
5. Bath by Tulou with 31 votes
6. Your Astral Pilot by Johan Alpmar with 19 votes

40K Competition Results


1. Tractorbeam by The Black Lotus with 291 votes
2. Wipe by Session with 191 votes
3. Sagbab by Rage with 119 votes

Unlike the Icing which offered monetary rewards to the winners, the Remedy organisers could only afford sponsored prizes, like monitors, modems, OS/2 T-shirts, caps and similar paraphrenia. As one of the Remedy team suggested, this was due to the expensive costs of hiring such a big building. C-lous must have been the most disappointed group, when representors Some 1 & Morrow, received 8 porno CDs as a reward for the first place in the music contest, and the second in the demo one!
Party Highlights


- The delay of the WILD contest, was no normal delay at all, since most attenders laughed over the antics of organiser SKUTT.


- The brave Swedish organisers wanted to set everyone in the right atmosphere for the forthcoming Euro 96, by arranging a football match! TBL seemed to be willing to shine in all events, when they obtained some very good results with the aid of some big Finns, which looked more like American football players, and were quite hard to get by!


- A "tips round" contest was held on the outside. All participants were asked questions related to the demo scene. The special aspects? One had to search and locate all the questions from the surrounding scenery!


- The Candela organisers were very professional with the setting up of the party network, which featured a superb Internet connection via two 28.8 modems!


The Confrontation


Duffe himself didn't attend the Remedy party but he knows what happened there. 
"The expectations everyone had for Icing 96 were much bigger than on Remedy. I must admit that I was a bit jealous when I was told that they had no power breaks during the whole party"


Limited Edition and Candela were present at Icing, but all they wanted to comment was the fact that they enjoyed the event, and nothing more.

Whilst both parties offered good and less-good scening, it is quite difficult to choose between Icing, with it's good releases and money-prizes, or Remedy, with it's electricity integrity and bigger hall. The idea of merging the two events into a better one might sound ideal for many, but geographical problems would surely arise, turning this last possibility into an impossible feat.

ICING vs REMEDY: THE GRAPHICS COMPO


The picture contest at Icing was mainly a long-drawn out match between the first contender, Newt of Subspace (one of the organizers) and the second, Tudor of TBL (the objects-man of the team). For only two points, organizer Newt kept home the prize, he had probably prepared by himself! "Deep Forest" is quite a good picture, showing a suggestive framing of a beautiful sunset in a Swedish forest. The way how Newt handled that intriguing game of lights in the picture, has surely been the decisive factor of his unexpected success. "Real", a ray-traced picture by Tudor only came second for a few less points. It features a very classic motif but carried out with a good deal of competence: an A1200 keyboard with a monitor from which extends a sort of virtual hand. Despite the very good attention to details, the author seems to have curiously forgotten a little particular: in fact, while the Hard Disk LED is on, the Power led is inexplicably off! "Bu bo bu bo" is the very original name of the third placer by MRK of Jewels and Subspace. A multi-coloured screech-owl is the subject of this very nice picture, by the winner of the past Icing graphics contest.

Compared to the Icing, Remedy's picture competition has not much to offer; Except maybe for the first three or four pictures in the rankings. Here, once again, the "organiser wins competition" syndrome was quite apparent too! Our attention fell on Les Love, a picture by Deone, that illustrates 2 females in a very close pose; maybe not the perfect motif for a graphics competition, yet the technique used is worth a zoom or two. The rest are just a good encouragement for who believes "not to be a good graphician". We really wonder where many sceners find the courage to enter a competition with pictures that, frankly enough, our grandfather could be able to draw better with the latest version of his Protracker! Sceners should start to think twice before using the save option in Deluxe Paint!

Remedy Graphics Results


1. Tubterror by Skutt of Limited Edition (182 points)
2. Irda Kashiba by Jam Sam (141 points)
3. Skull of Heinrich of NH (52 points)
4. Les Love by Deone of Finesse (49 points)
5. Virgin Witch by Pad of SSP (47 points)
6. Magic Moment by Flood (39 points)
7. Colorize by Primal Rage of Xeed (32 points)
8. Enigmatic by Phantom (30 points)
9. Deep Blue by Joker of Tulon (27 points)
10. 3 Dots by Shape of Candela (9 points)

ICING vs REMEDY: THE MUSIC COMPOS


Focusing our eye towards both 4 channel events, we have to admit how the Icing competition was not bad at all. Someone could say that most of the modules were a photocopy of each other, and actually it would not be a nonsense affirmation. "Hexagon" by Wasp of Powerline accidentally won the first prize of a competition, where we are convinced that most of the tunes were exactly on the very same level. Almost all entries were pseudo-techno influenced except two or three tunes breaking the trend: "Saltfattig Kost" by Coma of Three Little Elks and "Funk Bee" by Fender & Jazz of Smok, are both typical examples of this against-tendency. The first is a classic demo tune a la Jester (in fact it was included in the winner demo by 3le) with an intensive use of chords and a very catchy melody, while the second is another funk-the-party-people tune; in few words, one of those modules you remember to have heard more than ten times before. Regarding the Remedy contest, Some1 & Morrow of C-Lous got a well-deserved success in a competition dominated by the "we make modules for fun" syndrome. It is sad to say, but dear Robert Ling (Tip) and Martin Wall (Mantronix), where are you?

Remedy Music Results


1. Bistro 2001 by Some1 & Morrow of C-Lous (77 points)
2. Shypnosis by Elixir of DFX (62 points)
3. Interactive Reality by Lilja of Domino (55 points)
4. The Avengers by Indie of Groove^Finesse (46 points)
5. Missin' Link by  JamSam & Deetroy (45 points)
6. Flottar-karlek! by A's of Sway (42 points)
7. U Make Me Feel So... by Poison of Goto10 & Thor of Gash (41 points)
8. Bubble.Mood by Qen of Sunshine Productions (35 points)
9. Wiqulidish by Odie of Wrath Designs (33 points)
10. Smor o' Sirap by Epsilon of Divine (30 points)