Rez

rez is:

to dream of delta-v and sunlit roses in the summer sun with the chill on the nape of your neck reminding you of the steam-drenched alley behind the club, when after spilling from the doors you meet the cold dry air of fall.

It is a nine-minute-plus exploration of the inner dreamer, with pads and faux drums and no vocals at all that are recognizable as such.

-brief five-femtosecond hit of arpeggio and groove-

rez is the pathway to the soul

especially when you're packed into the crowd on the dance floor and the music is causing everyone to wave their hands up in the air and all you can think of is the waving hands, and each set a person with a different view of reality

all those realities being shaken out from the tissue paper that holds them neat and unwrinkled in the dress box of the mind, skeins of being and of place issuing forth to flutter gently in the notes

...and the evening creeps in on the sounds of the Fairlight and the 909 to lightly kiss the back of your neck in reminder of the evening air outside on the sweat of your dancing

-is rez is-

October 1999(?)
Avalon
Boston, Massachusetts

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Rez is an off-album track by the classic EDM techno act Underworld. Originally published on a vinyl B-side in the 1990s, it went on to become one of the most widely recognized and celebrated anthems of the EDM club scene, a key component of the album dubnobasswithmyheadman as a part of the dual-song track 'Rez/Cowgirl.' To this day you can energize an entire venue full of ravers, rockers, old fucks, or dance-curious by playing one repetition of its famous loop. As an example, here's a gig I attended in 20-fucking-17 when they lit this shit up.

Short for reservation, as in Indian reservation.

Where white people go to buy cheap cigarettes and gamble. Where native people live and try to maintain what's left of their heritage.

Not a terribly light hearted place.

A very cool video game created by United Game Artists and published by Sega for both the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast. The Dreamcast version was released in Europe and Japan, while the Playstation 2 version was released in all markets.

You take the role of a computer hacker making your way through the worldwide network to save an AI, known as Eden. Eden, orginally merely a portion of "Project-K", became self-aware and shut herself up inside the system as she quickly slipped into depression.

The game's main theme is synesthesia. Everything visual has an accompanying sound and vice versa. It combines beatmania game and rail shooter into an incredible feast for the senses with visual, aural, and tactile feedback. As the bass pulses, so does your controller. As the enemies are destroyed, they pling and chime to the music. As the music jumps, so does the landscape.

Levels

Your quest to save Eden takes you through 5 levels until you reach the system's core. The first 4 levels represent locales of ancient civilizations.

Level 01 - Ancient Egypt
Level 02 - Indus River Valley
Level 03 - Mesopotamia
Level 04 - Yellow River Civilization

The last level is the Central Mainframe of the system where Eden has shut herself in. You traverse the history of the Earth as life starts from nothing and climbs its way up the evolutionary ladder.

As you progress, you gain power and evolve through 6 different forms by collecting schematic items. Each form has its own sounds and higher level forms attack faster and with more power. Injury forces you back to a previous form.

Playing through various parts of the game or reaching a certain performance level unlocks a slew of extra features ranging from additional areas to a score attack mode.

Music

The in-game music was been created by a variety of artists, Japanese and otherwise.

Level 01 - Keiichi Sugiyama - Buggy Running Beeps
Level 02 - Mist - Protocol Rain
Level 03 - Ken Ishii - Creation The State of Art
Level 04 - Joujouka - Rock Is Sponge
Level 05 - Adam Freeland - Fear
Last Boss - Coldcut and Tim Bran - Boss Attacks
Lost Area - Ebz - F6 G5
Trancemission - Oval - P-project

Bonus Tracks on soundtrack (Rez: Gamer's Guide to...)
Oval - Octaeder 01
Ken Ishii - Creative State

Note: The 5th track of the CD is a remix of Fear and not the music that appears in the game.

DC or PS2?

If you live in the US, the PS2 version is easier to buy. The PS2 also has slightly looser control, making the game a little easier, and the controllers have built in vibration. The DC version has crisper graphics (especially when using the VGA box) and slightly better sound, but you need to find a jump pack to fully experience the game and buying the import version can be a little expensive.

Random Trivia:
The original title of the game was Project-K.
The K from "Project-K" is for Kandinsky, an artist/musician who painted many works that were meant to be visual representations of his music

In Japan, a special PS2 version ("Special Package") comes with a "Trance Vibrator" accessory. This is a palm-sized jump pack that plugs into a USB port and comes with a washable cloth cover. Its reason for existence is left to your imagination.