OSMusic.Net - Reviews

by CAB
Review by roncli

An interesting, and for the most part entertaining, acoustic song, featuring simply a guitar and a voice. While the guitar work is solid, the vocalist does not seem to be committed to the piece in some spots, and that can make this song difficult to fully enjoy.

The guitar in this is excellent, transitioning seemlessly from playing melodies to strumming chords and back. The chords in this are not your standard "same three chords" either, the artist uses a good variety to give this song an almost haunting sound at times, especially during the verses. The stereo chorus effect on it is nice as well, it gives the guitar a good thickness in its sound.

The structure of the song itself is the typical pop/alternative assortment of verse, hook, and interlude, so you're not going to find any real surprises here. The hook of this song, "you don't really want to know the truth" is driven home in the final chorus, and has the potential to stick around.

The weak link in this one is, unfortunately, the vocalist. The main issues are lack of comprehension of the lyrics and little to no support in the voice, causing the voice to be slightly off-key at times. The result is a sloppy-sounding vocal performance, and is the number one area of the song that is in need of serious improvement. If it weren't for the guitar, this song wouldn't be very interesting to listen to at all.

The only other production flaw found is the fact that you can hear the metronome in the quieter parts of the song, especially in the verses where a single note is hanging in the air.

Overall, you have what could be the makings of a really good acoustical performance. The guitar and song writing is excellent, but the vocalist really needs to improve upon his performance before this can rise above the average.

Nibiru

by ST ARTS
Review by roncli

An entertaining synthpop tune, ST ARTS puts together a catchy, melodic piece that shows that sometimes simple is the way to go. A good amount of well-planned distortion puts some spice into what could otherwise be a flat tune.

The song begins with a sweeping synth and an audible popping noise that at first makes you think you're listening to a badly looped sample. But as it sweeps in, one discovers it's actually the bass drum keeping beat for the opening 41 seconds. The tune is really simple, with all of 4 notes in the melody, and a counter-melody coming after the first two runs. The instruments are simply synthetic pads, with a bass stab that uses a healthy bit of distortion to spice up the area.

After this, the song gets into the main part of the melody with a distorted synth that is joined by the same bass stab as mentioned above. From this point on, the artist plays over this distorted melody with pads at times, keeping this main melody as the song's theme. Throughout this, in the background, there are nice little synth noise elements thrown in that functions as percussion along with the bass and the other clearly synthetic drums.

The first variation to the main line hits at 1:32, when the melody changes a bit, leading into a really nice chorus at 1:52 that includes a voice-like synth, allowing the song to have a bit of atmosphere and personality. It recurrs at 2:48 after a long section featuring the song's main melody, and is then followed by the ending at 3:12.

The ending has a nice open song that revists the song's intro, but this time does not have the sweeping effect over it, and you can easily get a relaxing feeling before the melody gets one last hurrah at 3:53.

The only real complaint about this tune that I have is that the melody seems to go on and on at times, especially between 2:07 and 2:48, where it is played for an extended period of time. The pads make an attempt to detract attention to this by playing a melody of their own, but they are not strong enough to really do anything more than compliment the melody in their own way. In a way, this is the nature and strength of this song, however. By keeping things simple, there's never a main lead to deal with. It's as if you are focused in on the arrangement the whole time, because the artist chose never to take the focus off of it, and in this song, I think that strength outweighs the lack of a strong lead, and allows this song to be easily enjoyed. Perhaps through nit-picking we could suggest that the song is over-distorted in places, but at no point does that ruin the flow of the song.

Overall, you have a refreshing change with this tune that doesn't try to do too much, and finds itself with a simple arrangement, simple changes, and nothing but enjoyment.

F-14 Tomcat [3 stars]

by Abdelmoumen1
Review by roncli

A well-layered piece of slow, ambient and electronic music with a good collection of sounds that relax the listener.

There's not a whole lot to this song, as it's the same chord scheme through 4 bars repeated throughout the entire piece. They say that the devil is the details, and that is the one shining point of this song, it seems that each set of 4 bars does something different, never repeating more than once, if at all. Instead of varying the structure, the artist layers bits and pieces in and out, and as a result the song gradually builds up and lets down.

Despite this, there's not much here to attract the listener's interest, but again the song is a slow, relaxing song, so catching too much attention is to be avoided. Still, the lack of any substantial variation in the chord scheme leaves much to be desired here. The melodies aren't overly memorable, and I found myself getting into the bassline a lot more than any melodic part.

The sound quality here is nice, synthetic pads and stabs contributing to a good-sounding, percussionless tune. The artist uses the right amount of short, bouncy synths to keep time, mixed in with the right amount of pads and leads to give this song its relaxing feeling.

In the end, I struggled between 3 and 4 songs, largely because the sound quality is really nice, and the atmosphere the artist likely aimed for was hit spot on. I settled on 3 stars because I felt that there is more to an enjoyable song than layering parts in and out like this one does. Much more could have been done to this while maintaining its relaxing sound. Still, though, a very nice download, and a change of pace from the faster and louder pieces.

Lost Souls (Asia Quake) [4 stars]

by Cdnalsi
Review by roncli

A beautiful tribute to the Christmas day quake and tsunami of 2004. Lovely piano playing meets beautiful string pads to convey a strong sense of loss, and some rather stunning piano effects at the beginning and end put the whole piece into perspective.

The song starts out with a low pad and a low, rumbling piano, clearly mimicing the earth movement event that led to the ensuing disaster. After about half a minute, the rumbling backs off and the beginnings of an emotionally-played piano come in from the high end. The piano is very thoughtful and reflective of itself, with frequent pauses that only add to the solemn feeling the artist conveys.

The pads are well in the background, but don't discount their importance in this piece. The pads are the emotional foundation that the piano works from, giving a strong low end that really drives the power of this piece home.

The only complaint I would have is that some of the more strongly played notes have a distinct twanging sound to them. Given the nature of this piece, I felt that these notes distracted a tiny bit from the overall feeling of the song. Otherwise, the production in this piece is near perfect.

The rumbling makes a brief return around 2:25, and the piece ends with a slow, decending melody that puts the listener at piece.

This is a highly recommended download for anyone, especially those that were hit hardest by this tragedy. The quality of this piece is top notch.

Friday

by Cdnalsi
Review by roncli

A fun jazz tune with near-professional sound quality, great balance, and an excellent arrangement that keeps the listener interested.

It is unfortunate that the song has to start with what I consider to be the low point of the song - the saxophone. It is very mechanical sounding compared to the other instruments, you can tell the first two riffs are identical, there is absolutely no variation. Perhaps this is intended, but if they were played live, they would sound quite different.

The part beginning at 0:33, however, indicates that this song is going to have a good bit of variation behind it. A piano solo follows this shortly thereafter which sounds really good, even though there are slight errors (all double key hits in the faster parts) in the playing. The errors, though, give the human touch The piano solo seems to go on for some time, starting at 0:55 and ending at 2:25. This is quite a long time for a piano solo like this, but the fact the same saxophone riff follows it, one almost wishes the piano solo continued.

The second bagpipe bit is really well done, and this instrument in general gives a real atmospheric feeling, and is the standout instrument in this tune. It conveys much emotion and sounds great.

The song ends with the saxophone and bagpipes trading off, going from mechanical to emotional and back again. It is a really odd sensation, and is definitely a point of improvement for this tune. The percussion is well-produced, and is varied well, especially during the long piano solo where it does its best to keep a listener expecting more from the song.

Overall, a well-produced piece with an overly-mechanical saxophone. I almost feel as though the saxophone got about a quarter of the attention the piano solo did, and that is quite a shame knowing this song could be that much better. Still, a highly recommended download and listen, there are some good musical ideas in here, and the sound quality is something most of us can only hope to achieve.

Track Won

by Speak Easy
Review by roncli

An instrumental electric guitar piece with good structure and for the most part good sound quality, but for the most part is just repeated riffs with little in the way of new ideas being thrown into the song as it moves along.

The song starts off with a nice and easy electric guitar rhythm with some cymbols played, and after a short 17 second intro, the song gets underway. It reminded me a lot of the slow tune from the game Crimsonland, very relaxed and quiet. For the most part this is good, the song has a very close and private feeling to it, as if you're listening to a performance in a small room.

The problem with this song is that after the introduction, the song doesn't really do much. The electric guitar rhythms keep going, the percussion continues with some slight variation, the bass plays its melody... very little is added to the arrangement as the song goes by, and when something does change, such as the bit starting at 2:17, it doesn't really add anything to the track. It's the guitar, the percussion, and the bass, playing at nearly the same levels with the same relaxed energy. If it were not for the fact that the track has been relaxing up to this point, this would be a real concern.

At 3:10, however, a real concern arises. The song takes a somewhat heavier turn, and I'm not sure if it's for the best. You can tell the guitar is now being played an octave up, and it does not sound in tune at all. This is the only spot in the song where sound quality is lacking. The distortion doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the song. Only the percussion flows well into this part.

For the most part, you have a relaxing track that doesn't do much to disturb the listener until the ending bit. Some more care with the heavier guitars would improve this track greatly, and a bit more variance throughout wouldn't hurt either. Overall, still enjoyable.

Misty Mountains [3 stars]

by Lord Michal I.
Review by roncli

An interesting and relaxing song, Misty Mountains suffers from not enough attention to the details that separate the okay songs from the good songs. Most of the time, the music is played at maximum volume and shows no emotion, leading to a song that lacks character.

Sample quality is suspect in spots, including right at the beginning where the rain sounds more like processed static, and the wind a far off siren. This all gives way to a short orchestral bit with a male choir sample that is played far too low for their poor voices. There is a synth lead in this that really gives this pieces a digitzed sound.

Guitars come in, supported by backing strings every so often shortly thereafter. The guitar is at its best in the higher ranges, but the artist does not separate the melody on the guitar from the rhythm being played in its lower end. As a result, the instrument clashes with itself sometimes. No attempt at any kind of separation, either through EQing or via panning, was made. In fact, little is done to the guitar other than just placing the notes into the sequencer, giving the song a very impersonal feeling.

At 2:15, some noisy drums lead up to a second orchestral section, this one more full than the first. The flute that comes in suffers from the same problem the guitar does in terms of lacking emotion. Doing more to make the instruments sound natural is very important, and one way to do this is by adjusting the volume on each individual note. You can also incorporate panning, EQ, chorus, or a wide variety of other effects to achieve a better sound. This cannot be understated: production of the sound goes a long way towards creating an enjoyable piece of work. Arrangement is not enough.

Which is unfortunate, because the arrangement is great. Despite only using a few chords throughout, the song flows very well, with a distinct beginning, climax, and ending. The melodies work well, and the backing guitar provides a nice base to work from.

The nice arrangement is nearly lost in the static-sounding production, where much attention is needed. While still somewhat enjoyable, this piece can be so much more.

Fever

by Darken
Review by roncli

A beginner's attempt at trance, which falls well short of the mark. Low quality samples are used poorly throughout the song, and untimely vocal clips make this song very difficult to listen to. Only the percussion and a good attempt at an arrangement give this song something positive.

The main problem with the song is that the artist appears to be using pads, meant to back songs such as this, as leads, resulting in a sound that is far too manufactured to be enjoyable. A different selection of musical samples would have helped this piece out greatly.

The arrangement is not completely bad. There are some good ideas that, given better samples, may have worked rather well. Despite the bad sound, this song flows remarkably well. Some of the melodies are a bit strange, and I can't really tell if that's because of the sample quality, or if there are flaws in the musical structure. A good example of this is the run that starts at 0:48. It seems to me that the melody in this bit could be brought down a half step and fit a lot better with everything else that's playing. There are a number of spots just like this.

One of the few positives this piece has is the percussion. The artist uses clear samples that are a cut above everything else used in this piece, and they are arranged in a logical way that actually gives this song some direction. Unfortunately, it's the only direction the song has.

Overall, an attempt at trance that needs a lot of polishing work. Samples used like this only make the song unpleasant, much better can be done. I really think that an increase in sample quality could go a long way for this song.

One and True [2 stars]

by slammy & roncli
Review by vizion

A small tune of cute vibes. Of what i can understand, used as an ode of love, which is very audible in the song. I am not sure who did what in this coop, so i'm just going to rate it as if it was made by just one artist ( less complicated ).

Walkthrough:
Starts off with dreamy guitar and synth and after a few introduces a subtle breakbeaty/trancy beat. The main guitar melody seems to come back a lot in the track as a sort of instrumental chorus twice in the beginning and at the end. The middle part is made of a piano solo over swooshing synths and pads.

Composition:
For some reason, the melody didn’t quite grab me as i thought it would, being the love song that it is. I find the main melody almost awkward and sterile. It does get on you after a while, or maybe because its been on repeat for 30 minutes. There are even parts where the melody turns from happy happy joy joy and suddenly twists very darkly, which would be cool if there was a theme attached to that transition, but in a cutesy love song i dunno what it brings except ' uhm ?'. ( 0:58, 2:00)
The gliding synth appregiator is cool and adds a sort of flowness to the track, and i must say i like the high pitched piano that come in from time to time.
The theme itself is ordinary but the duo do a good job of bringing it back accurately and following it, but i feel sometimes the melody is bound by that theme.
I feel the breakdown at 1:33 is very nice, except the first few moments of piano are a bit awkward, they seem to not fill any space ( maybe just an instrument release problem ) but it quickly picks up into a cute piano part.
The beatwork feels like it was made quite rapidly, and has no outstanding moments. It feels as if it's always going to start but never does.
I like the instrument at the end that sounds like a synthesized harmonica, it adds good depth to that more upbeat reprise of the chorus and effectively brings a bit more excitement to the main theme.

Technical:
hmm, where to start. The instruments are not well chosen in my opinion. The guitar sounds very very very fake and cheap, and maybe that's one of the primary reasons why this track doesn’t work for me. All the instruments feel muddy and airy, as if they were overfiltered or there were too much reverb. The drumkit is sadly less-than ordinary and does not carry the song, it sounds more like a week pillar for the track to stand on, on the verge of collapse.
The mix needs work also. There needs to be some separation between instruments to have a proper feeling that you are trying to emulate. The basshits are much too far in the mix to make any difference and the drum is too muffled and tiny in dynamic. The pads should be uplifting but there seems to be a problem with their high end.

Conclusion :
Not a bad track, but, i must say i did not enjoy it. There is great place for improvement, especially in the quality. If the quality were better maybe the emotion would go through better. The song is respectful of the style but tends to show no high peak, again, mostly due to the bad choice in instrument ( in my opinion). My advice is to work more on the atmosphere and maybe the song will develop its own path.

Time Squared [3 stars]

by Cdnalsi
Review by vizion

A nice little jazzy funky tune that transcends many different parts all the while keeping a cool, laid back feel and theme. First and for most enjoyable with maybe a bit too much of a monotonous feel. Reminiscent of anime jazz tracks.

Walkthrough :
Starts off with a very horrid drum bridge and in the first 20-something seconds i actually almost pressed stop but then the demoscene-cliché lead came in and i'm a sucker for that [wink]

. The track is pretty much separated into parts where the only audible difference is the change of lead instrument. Synth to trumpet to piano to trumpet to synth again, all transitioned by a very standard tom roll. Ends simply with a fadeout.

Composition :
Cdnalsi seems to have mastered much musical theory. I can't say that he has any flaws in his melodies. Everything sounds great in this department, especially when the piano is lead. Great use of a recurring theme and mood. Nothing spectacular though, nothing different, just basically a jazz theme like every other one.

I must say my main problem in this aspect was when the tune actually finished, you don't feel as though anything is worth going back to. While being well done, it leaves no impression. It is cold and remarkably transparent with no contrast between any part except for the lead instrument. I would've enjoyed some breakdowns, maybe a slower part, to accentuate emotional response or maybe just to make it exciting.

Also, the drum work and bass work is nicely done, but again, very boring, staying in stylistic boundaries that are not needed to make this tune interesting. Remember that jazz is first and foremost an improvisational style, and all instruments are equally important. He seems to have just put normal drum and bass with few variations and when there are, they are overly cliché.

Technical :
I wonder if its any important to have high quality instruments with this sort of trackerscene-styled tune since it works well technically only within those boundaries. If you search for quality with this track, there is much change that is needed to attain it. The drumkit is horrible, with a snare that is much too electronic and harsh and acutely boring hats and toms. The overuse of the splash here is diminished more because of its low quality.
The bass is ok, i can somewhat hear the chords being slapped. good samples. The rest of the samples work, but really lack that certain something to make them believable. Not enough of high end to make it sound ' alive '.
I can't seem to hear a problem with the mixing.

What i'd do (grain of salt please! ) :
I'd work a lot more on more exciting changes of pace within the tune and woudl totally change the drum from a to z. I'd have parts where there are no leads, cuz a good bass riff in a jazz tune is always welcomed, and now its under the radar due to constant lead wankerism.

Conclusion :
Besides all this, this tune is not bad at all and required some talent to do. A lot of people try this style ( especially in the tracker scene ) and most often never get to do it this nicely. I think it would be a perfect background track if you had to give it no special attention. My last advice to the artist is to think outside of the standards, and come up with your own ways of doing transitions, tomrolls and leads. Keep the theoric 'safe' stuff out of it.

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