Cryptowen Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I'm not a professional writer guy or music understandarian or anything, but I like giving long winded opinions about music & stuff, so if you want someone to give long winded opinions about your music & stuff and you're sad because no one does, post a link to your album or EP or whatever (I like albums & EPs) & I'll write some reviewing type paragraphs about it eventually (might be a bit because I like to listen to things a few times before I form an opinion). sorry if this is a bad thread idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braintree Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I've got one coming out next month. I'll look up the thread again if you're still interested by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted June 4, 2011 Author Share Posted June 4, 2011 ^Probably will be. I sometimes go away hitchhiking & junk for a few weeks at a time & don't get on the internet much, so there's a chance of delay, but if someone posts something here I'll try to do an in depth look at it eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chassis Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I'll hit you up when I have summit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futureimage Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Go on then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sprigg Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Nice. I'll post my album if I ever get the time to master it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tontonz1 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Cryptowen is the bomb diggity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted June 4, 2011 Author Share Posted June 4, 2011 Woooo Listening to futureimage's now. Going to give it a few goes & write something up in the next day or two hopefully. Then Tontonz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Member Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 do me please, or don't http://www.mediafire.com/?0j1sy20qz3mk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tamas Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 I'll have a video EP for you to review soon!! :D That's really nice of you btw I'll definitely reciprocate by listening to one of your's and giving you my thoughts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Okay, first up futureimage. I figure the best way to do this is to just go track by track, giving my feelings on each, followed by an overall look at the album. So, uh, here goes... Light Gate - my first thought was that this definitely felt like an album opening track. Actually it also felt like it could be an album closing track. Enough of a dramatic feel for either. Anyway, the harmonies here are all very nice, the buildup fits nicely, and so does the change-up in the last third. I did feel, however, that the melodies became a bit repetitive. The constant addition of layers helps a lot, but the individual lines are all quite short & the main groove doesn't really get shook up too much. I felt myself wanting to hear some more transitions (maybe a few precursors hinting at the big change around 2:00) or one longer melodic line. All in all, though, a good track to start out with. The Greenwich Fog - I very much enjoyed the atmosphere on this track. The low bubbling synth sounds, the reverbed metallic sounds in the background, and the echoing guitar lead all contribute to the sense of momentum. Like the first track, I sort of felt that the main melodic line was a touch too short to carry the piece on its own, but strangely enough the slightly sparser feel here helped, making me focus more on the background details & ambient sounds which mutated throughout. Another good track. I thought it was a bit long on first listen, but with subsequent playthroughs I got into the groove more & didn't notice. Half Light - I've always wanted to do a mostly voice based track like this. The lack of obvious processing on the vocals gives it a nice spontaneous sort of feel. Your(?) singing voice seems like the right balance between singer & regular electronic music producer guy. I admit, I didn't pay a lot of attention to the lyrics, but it usually takes me a bunch of listens before I can move past music & focus on the words to a song. I usually don't care for the fuzzy sort of bass sound on display here. In this track it fit well enough but I sort of wonder what a vocal bassline would have been like (perhaps that would have pushed it towards gimmick country, I dunno). Diocese - to be honest, I did not really care for this one. The violin-like sounds early on are nice, but the track feels directionless to me, with no real hook or interesting atmosphere to carry it. During the last couple of minutes, when it turns into that repeating two chord phrase, I found myself losing interest. This is probably my least favourite track on the album. The violin sound is worth experimenting further with, though. Motorcade - It's probably some sort of music review taboo to draw comparisons to multi-platinum artists, but this track reminded me of Nine Inch Nails circa 1999. Actually, the whole album reminds me a bit of The Fragile, probably in the use of fuzzed out guitars & modular synthesizers. But anyway, this track was pretty good, not as good as the first three but better than number four. For some reason I kept waiting for a crazy breakcore beat to come in. Not VSnares crazy or anything, just something raw & aggressive sounding. When the actual beat comes in in the last minute it feels a bit understated to me. West Desert - I very much enjoyed this track. Probably my favourite at the moment. It doesn't seem that much more melodically developed than the others, but the way everything comes together so well keeps my interest up throughout. The lead strikes a very nice balance between the overt opening three tracks & the more understated 4-7. Something about the way it just sort of bops along reminds me of Bomberman. Tracks like this one always remind me of Bomberman if they are good ones. This is not helping the stereotype of electronic music fans being Asperger's at all. Anyway, this one's a definite keeper. Pulse - Pulse, to me, sounds like an interesting experiment with modules, but not really a memorable song. Elements of it could no doubt be incorporated into a great track, but on its own it doesn't really hold up. I imagine it would be very interesting to see this sort of sound being created live, but four minutes on a thirty three(ish) minute album seems like a lot to dedicate to it. Might work better in a different context. Fractured Words, Broken Lies - a nice closing track. Again, I didn't really focus on the lyrics, which probably hurts my perception because this one seems even more vocally based than track 3. I don't really have a lot to say about this one, not because I don't like it, but because it shares the overall sound of the other tracks, and I can't think of much new to say about it (without going back to reexamine the words a few times). Overall, I enjoyed this release. My main issue was that some of the melodies felt like they could have been developed further, but for something done in a month this is surprisingly well along. Cut out some of the weaker tracks (4, 7, maybe 5) and it's a nice EP length. I could see most of the stuff on here easily being tidied up for something. I will probably check out the rest of your stuff when I get a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adam Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futureimage Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Nice one man! That was a helpful read :) And critique-wise I pretty much agree with everything you said hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Promo Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Here ya go dude. http://soundcloud.com/thebro/mia-galang-the-bro-remix http://soundcloud.com/thebro/the-bro-shimmy-and-shuffle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 Tontonz - I was originally planning on getting yours reviewed today, but unfortunately Archive.org is often unresponsive for me, so it's been a slow process getting your tracks downloaded and/or streamed (I actually finally managed to get them downloaded just now so hopefully I'll be able to give them a few listens soon & do something tomorrow). Gocab - that link just takes me to the Mediafire homepage. Is the url messed up, maybe? Promo - I guess you're next! I'm assuming you just wanted me to do those two tracks, right? Anyway... MIA remix - first off, going into this I had not heard the original. I've heard a few MIA songs & have a vague idea of her sound, but decided to treat this like a standalone track...That being said, the mix/production/whathaveyou sounded pretty professional to my ears. I liked the bassline, and the groove is maintained throughout, but in a way it almost felt too confined to that one groove. Obviously some new elements drift in & out of the mix (in a rather subtle fashion), but aside from the vocals (which aren't really a lead here so much as just another element) it sounds like mostly repetition throughout. This is alleviated somewhat in the second half when the vocals fall out, but I can't help but feel that the track would be stronger with some sort of distinct second "part" to interplay with. A chorus, buildup, etc. You know, that sort of stuff. But other than that, this doesn't sound bad to me and seems like something that wouldn't be out of place on a remix disk. Work in progress track - that bongo-like rhythm is an interesting choice, but on its own it felt a bit too simple. A more complex bongo pattern would probably help, but I think for this particular track it might be interesting to experiment with more (relatively) simple patterns using other distinct rhythmic sounds. I like the airy descending pad sound, and the synth elements that take over around 1:15. You could probably get a fair bit of mileage adding on to those. Maybe a harmonic line in a higher register, or slight variations being played on other synths. Useful for lengthening out the track (which I'm guessing is what you're planning with the way the current version ends so abruptly). So, Tontonz next, then Gocab once I get his stuff, then whoever else wants some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest arbee Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 well, I do have a few things in production that will most likely come out during this summer... but since I don't really know when, you might already be bored of doing those reviews by then.... and you have some interesting thoughts on other's music so I guess I'll shoot mine. here it is: http://arbee.bandcamp.com/album/alt-rations an ambient-downtempo album I did last december. hope you like at least few bits of that shit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sprigg Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 A short sketch of a track I did this morning: http://soundcloud.com/metaphysical-endeavour/tricycle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahrk Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 This sounds super rad. Here's number two. And number one revamped will be here in 9 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Member Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 do me please, or don't http://www.mediafire.com/?0j1sy20qz3m Oh shit, does this work now? I'm so stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 ^That works for me, Gocab, so you're back up next. But right now, time to review Tontonz/Deltatones... This one was bit more difficult for me to review, because I don't have a great deal of experience with this sort of experimental noise music (I hope noise music isn't a negative term for you). I mean, I have heard a few Merzbow albums but generally I have to be in the mood to listen to it. Because this album feels (to me) like one long experience as opposed to a collection of tracks, I've decided to examine it as a whole instead of breaking it down piece by piece. Actually, about that - this album has a rather distinct sound, quickly building up a strong sound environment it maintains throughout (a sort of damp, cavernous, and at times mechanical one). I feel in some ways this helps the album, and in other ways limits its listenability. On one hand, I've always valued music that can create a unique world (to use an old electronic music cliche), and this certainly does. Listening to this was one of those increasingly rare times where I could not quickly figure out how the tracks might have been developed, which is always nice. But on the other hand, the seemingly singular vision going on here, accompanied with a lack of traditional musical hooks, results in few memorable moments. Instead I am left with a sort of homogenized recollection of the album as a whole. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but because of this it ends up being the kind of thing I wouldn't think to play very often. An album with a ton of distinct atmospheres or song elements is more likely to keep me coming back on a regular basis. But here, I would have to be in the mood for one specific tone. For that reason, the parts that stick with me the most are the ones that lean more towards traditional music. The bitcrushed beats that drift in every so often, for example, or the harmonic drones that pop up a few times in the first third of the album. My initial feeling is that the final three tracks are the strongest, because they maintain the unique character present on the rest of the album while introducing definite melodic elements that make them stand out. I do get the feeling that with further listens I could notice far more detail, and have greater appreciation for other, less obvious tracks. Generally that is how it works for me in regards to certain types of "untraditional" music (see Jandek & Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, though neither one sounds much at all like your music or like each other). This strikes me as the sort of album that requires some degree of dedication from the listener to really be appreciated. Looking at it from a technical standpoint - I felt the bass drowned out the high end on a few tracks (I found myself tempted to adjust my subwoofer volume at points). Some of the distortions used add nicely to the overall sound texture (the aforementioned bitcrushed rhythms), others felt a bit flat to me (there were a few cases early on that sounded like some fairly intense clipping to me, but I may be wrong there). I can't quite put my finger on why, but for some reason the mix didn't quite feel as deep as it could of. Perhaps it had something to do with panning, or reverbs not feeling full enough. I'm not really an expert on compression or EQing so I'm not totally sure. Overall, this seems like an album that achieves what it sets out to do, but also one that seems destined to get light play from me. But while it probably won't get much casual play, this would certainly be somewhere I'd turn when I'm in the mood to really pick apart some sound textures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tamas Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Here's that album that I released as a video: YouTube Playlist or on Vimeo as one sequence! I hope you enjoy!! =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Member Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Oh wow, nice review. Thank you so much! I'm glad you sort of liked it, and it's cool you reviewed it as a whole, as it was created as a singular piece and cut into seperate tracks for convenience after the fact.I don't think there's any unintentional crushing going on though, it's been mastered with a bit of headroom left, maybe I should've uploaded a flac as it sounds much/a bit better. Anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Member Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 lmao, that wasn't my album, I thought the noise reference was a bit weird... I go kill myself now, ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adam Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oyster Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 lol you must have the tiniest little penis in existence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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