

                         Upward in Descension
                    ------------------------------

          Hello, This is basically my alternative to writing a 
       huge message in the xm itself. I haven't been writing alot
       for a good reason. I've been at college since August and
       can't afford a computer of my own yet. Once I do, I'll 
       promise everyone a lot more tracking, and less waiting!
          Okay, first off, this is going to be quite big, so  
       I'll do my best to organize it, so you only have to read    
       the parts you want to. Should be pretty interesting to 
       most of you though. Secondly, this isn't just about this
       new xm, but includes stuff about Simple Concept, Me, and 
       how to contact us. So, here we go...

       About the song:
          Well, the motivation for the song was my faster mother-
       board. I bought my tracking pal, Fumar's, old 486. Also,
       I promised to write my girlfriend a song (more on that
       later). "Upward in Descension" was named because at the 
       time I began writing it, I was observing a 2nd grade class
       (it was a prerequisite for a college music course). 
       Basically, it means, I'm learning (Upward) from little kids
       (descension), half of which are just learning how to read!
       "Upward in Descension" is a techno, dance type composition,
       but has an almost cathedral-like piano part. Pretty good 
       for not writing for 4 months!

       About Simple Concept:
          Since this is the first attempt at getting a newsletter
       about Simple Concept, this part will probably have a lot of
       information many of our listeners have known for months now.
       I guess it started with "modedit", a crappy 4 channel 
       tracker. Once we got "FastTracker" and "Cubic", we really
       started writing some quality tunes. We still stand by the
       tracker and player, and we still haven't found anything 
       better! Fumar and I (Bert) have been best friends for quite
       a while, and the idea of starting a tracking group was a 
       cool idea for the two of us. Our friend, Splat, also helped
       with getting us software, samples, and even some titles! 
       Since Fumar and I don't have easy access to the internet,
       getting our xms distibuted is difficult. Most of them are
       uploaded to a local BBS called Euphoria (more on that later).

       About Bert:
          Well, I know this doesn't sound fair, but I'm writing it, 
       so I'm gonna tell you about myself! I'm 18 years old, and 
       enrolled at Mansfield University (in PA, *not* Ohio). I'm
       planning on graduating in May of 2000 with a bachelor's 
       degree in music education. I play oboe, cello, clarinet, 
       bass, piano, voice, etc. My girlfriend is also a music 
       major, playing clarinet. Since we started going out, she's 
       been asking me to write a song for her, so I did. Hopefully, 
       I'll be able to afford a nice pentium laptop soon, so I can 
       still track as much as I'd like to. Sigh...soon.

       How To Contact Simple Concept:
          Last, but not least, if anyone wants to leave us a message
       about tracking, college, music software, or anything else,
       we all have email addresses. I'm currently working on getting 
       a home email address (the one below will only be answered
       when I'm at college). We only do mail-runs occasionally, so
       don't give up if we don't reply to a message right away! 
       We're all nice people, I promise! Also, if you decide to call
       our "home" BBS, the number is also below! Well, here goes!

       Bert's - rower@mnsfld.edu
       Fumar's - fumar@juno.com
       Splat's - splat@mr-potatohead.com
       Euphoria BBS - (215)576-0365 (based in Abington, PA)

       Enjoy the new song, hope you like it!
                    Bert/Simple Concept

