hpf3s3c04caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaf b b b f1An open accusal against Sonik for f3b b f1having faked at the Assembly'96 f3b b b daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaae f1c01 SOMETHING AT ASSEMBLY'96 WAS STRANGE c02 by Trauma/Royal&Phuture 303 c04 touched by RokDaZone c03Reading the latest issues of the most respected diskmags around means wondering what a big success the Assembly 96 was. Great releases, more than 5000 people visiting its wide opened gates, people were amazed! Editors try to express their feelings in various reportages, throwing their sweet words upon us. Bollocks next time! We all have heard the rumours already. We all have noticed that f2something f1strange happened, that f2something f1is behind the success - hidden within the fog. I had the bad feeling since I first saw the results from the Assembly 96 as well as I saw the productions themselves. Something was not good. I have not ever seen anything as crappy as f4c02"Pure" c03f1from c02Sonik c03really is (my subjective opinion). What a pile of rushed and totally unfinished stuff! Ugly design (if there is anything like that at all) and some simple and stupid effects. Is it a result of one afternoon? Do not try to say that it is just a matter of style. It is not. The intro is boring, it is stupid and I still wonder where did the Soniks take the idea of releasing this?! Well, there is nothing strange upon releasing something under average but there is one thing left which is strange, definitely. The Sonik Clique's intro won the whole competition with twice as many points as the rest of the productions. In my opinion, there were productions much better than the winning one. So what happened? Was it just due for the famous name? Maybe, but maybe not! Several days after, I noticed that the Soniks took a part in the jury of the competition! This is what I call doublestrange. c01 A BITTER AFTERTASTE c03Some another days or weeks later, I received the brilliant c02Ram Jamc03's c02f4"MKC" f1c03demo and asked myself why was it not released in some competition as it really is worth it? When one checks out the included scroller and realized that Ram Jammers put their demo into the Assembly 96 competition but were disqualified mainly due intervention by c02Eye-Q/Sonik c03for reasons that appear to be at least doubtful. The official explaination dealt with the lacking standard of visual attraction. c04Read: The organisers felt that the demo itself was expelled due its embarrasing appearance. c03Now it is commonly known that the Italian bunch has a very abstract point of view when it comes to design. It takes a special humour to actually find all their plays enjoyable. So much is true. Many party attendents feel embarrased to be confronted with pointless, socalled f4'funreleases'f1. The open preselection by an objective jury therefore is a wanted phenomenon. c04Remains the question if the organisers right to intervene in what is brought to the audience can go that far? c03The major problem here lays within the unlucky choice to have people in the jury who can by no means be called objective. Ram Jam is a group of a certain talent much like Sonik is. When now people from Sonik can use their forces to expell challengers at a competition, can the Scene believe in their maybe welldeserved first price? Sonik now have to live by the accusation for having faked. Wether they actually deserve the first place then plays no significant role anymore. Some more sensitive considerations surely would not have harmed the process really.