Music of Youth

Besides being the stunningly mature and elaborate work of a young prodigy, Music of Youth by The Melchiades Estrada Band constitutes also a historical point of reference for digitally composed music, since the medium used for the creation of these tracks (Protracker on an Amiga) is now obsolete. But the artistic value of this work is undeniable as well, demonstrating the composer's absolute mastery of his material and means.

There is a kind of abstract beauty in the impeccable organisation and architecture of the melodies, perturbed here and there by almost imperceptible manoeuvres, swift bursts of energy that create concentric circles on the illusively reassuring order of the surface. It's a magical puzzle completed piece by piece - a spiral wrapped around itself, while at the same time unfolding right ahead and transmuting itself into fluctuating shapes, returning echoes in fragments of melody, multiple reflections of light in the pieces of a broken mirror.

The titles of the tracks tell stories of their own, others mysterious and intriguing like The Eclipse, Jesus & Co, Marilyn, O.N.S. or Exodia, and others, like the Level and Symbiose series, making potential allusions to the universe of a futuristic video game. The joyful animosity of Energia reopens the circle of the afterglow mellowness in Orgasmopolis (which brings to mind an audacious amalgam of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Fellini's City of Women) and the volatile, almost sarcastic moodiness of Rest in Peace, while the exquisite atmospheric melody of Seaphony complements the brilliant word blend in the title of the ending track.

One of the richest and most original albums I ever had the chance to listen to.

These tracks took me back to my youth and the wonder of seeing the demo's on my old Amiga.

Really awesome!!!!

Thanks for the memories

Bravo Melchiades, cet album est un pur bijou. Pureté des sons, pureté des mélodies, douceur, tendresse, mélancolie, tout y est réuni pour faire passer un moment de bonheur inoubliable.
Toutes ces merveilleuses mélodies nous transportent vers d'autres mondes. Mondes réels, mondes imaginaires où l'on retrouve toujours ces sons cristallins qui éblouissent et font rêver.
Des paillettes de tendresse, de nostalgie, qui brillent et éclaboussent tout sur leur passage et qui font chaud au coeur.
Cet album est un hymne à la beauté, à la paix : paix du coeur, paix de l'âme.
On ferme les yeux et on se laisse bercer. C'est doux, c'est beau, c'est divin, un véritable feu d'artifices de poésie

Peu d'artistes arrivent à faire passer toute cette douceur. Toi, tu y as réussi au délà de toute espérance.
Avec le peu de moyens que tu avais à l'époque et toute la patience que cela a du te demander, c'est un merveilleux cadeau que tu nous as fait. Merci à toi de nous faire partager ces moments de bonheur.

I've been playing the game Atari Karts since a long time, and more than a year ago I - after recording the games' music and burning it to a CD - started wondering who composed the music, since no composer was listed in the credits. I e-mailed one of the game's programmers and found out Fabrice/Arpegiator/Melki made it.

I started searching and found the game's, and a couple of other mods. Listening those, and later finding ~35 more, I became really addicted to the music. I began searching for more information about the artist but didn't find a thing. It seemed he had disappeared off the face of Earth.

Luckily, after placing a message on an Amiga site, he contacted me and after e-mailing a bit we were able to save ~150 mods from his Amiga. Those mods again included a lot of great songs.

The music is mainly based around catchy melodies (that get stuck in my head way too often ;) and is mostly combined with 80's synth sounds. I'm serious, give me a title of any of the many tunes and I'll hum it right away. The melodies are very solid, and this is the biggest strength of all the music.

Although I like many Protracker mods in general, I rarely hear this much dedication. So much effects, tricks to get more out of one channel and a lot of different samples used every time. This probably is as good as it gets.

I'm doing my best to review this properly, but it doesn't do my thoughts I have about the songs much justice. Just take it from me that by listening his music since I was much younger I now have a kind of emotional bond with it, and I just want to say thanks to him for making so many incredible songs.

Mind you, this isn't a pick-up-and-listen album. Take your time to listen carefully. I hope you'll enjoy it just as much as I do.