Oct-Nov '06 Songwriting Competition Voting Thread

[MetalOz]

PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE FIRST POST BEFORE POSTING. READ THESE RULES AND MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THEM. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, ASK THEM IN THIS THREAD AND I WILL ANSWER THEM. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE RULES WILL RESULT IN YOUR VOTES BEING IGNORED.

Fourteen corageous MXers have labored over these musical creations, these are the entries you will be voting on:

01. Attack of the Rabid Badger Drones
02. Lemon Tea'n
03. Rawk N Lol
04. Downcast
05. Weight of the Wind
06. Song 2 Final v4.0.7.0
07. Nautilus
08. Transience
09. I Saw Me
10. For You
11. John Zorn is a Witch: Reprise
12. A Winter's Day
13. Thunderstorm
14. A Dance Through Sundown

This month's theme is:
ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC

THE WINNER OF THE COMPETITION GETS TO PICK THE THEME FOR THE NEXT ONE!

HOW TO VOTE:
STEP 1: GO TO THE SOUNDCLICK THAT IS HOSTING THE SONGS:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=628204

STEP 2: EITHER A) DOWNLOAD OR B) STREAM (blue circle = hi-fi, grey circle = low-fi) EACH SONG FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN. IT IS MANDATORY THAT YOU LISTEN TO EACH USER'S ENTRY. YOUR VOTE WILL BE IGNORED IF YOU DO NOT VOTE FOR EACH SONG, AND BOBO WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR ABILITY TO WALK.

STEP 3: LIST EVERY SINGLE (yes, this means you have to listen to EACH SONG, if you haven't picked up on this by now) AND WRITE A SENTENCE OR TWO EACH ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKED ABOUT IT, WHAT YOU DISLIKED ABOUT IT, AND ANY OTHER GENERAL COMMENTARY. HELL, IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR PARAGRAPH IN OUTLINE FORM, I WON'T COMPLAIN.

An example of the outline:

1. I liked [this this this].
2. I didn't like [this this this].
3. Overall, I give you a x/10.

REMEMBER TO GIVE THE USER'S SONG A SCORE RANKING OUT OF 10 FOR EACH ENTRY.

NOTE: YOU CANNOT VOTE FOR YOURSELF. HOWEVER, IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED THIS MONTH VOTES FOR THE OTHER CONTRIBUTORS TO SHOW GOOD FAITH (AMONG OTHER THINGS).

SOME GENERAL LOGISTICS OF THIS MONTH'S COMPETITION:
I. THE PERSON WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SCORE WINS THE COMPETITION. I CALCULATE AND POST THIS IN THE RESULTS THREAD.

II. SONG QUALITY IS NOT, AND I REPEAT, NOT AN ISSUE. DO NOT GIVE A USER A LOW SCORE BECAUSE HIS RECORDING SOFTWARE IS NOT AMAZING. IF I SEE A VOTE THAT TRASHES THE QUALITY OF A RECORDING, YOUR VOTE WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. THIS CANNOT BE EMPHASIZED ENOUGH.

EXAMPLE OF HOW YOU ARE TO VOTE (if you elect to not do outline format):

EXAMPLE:

1. Thor's entry:

I liked this, this, and this, blah blah blah, and some more blah blah blah. I didn't like your blah blah bling bling bloobly. Overall, I think blee blue bloo blah bling blang.

Score: 8/10

2. ATC's entry:

I liked bingo bango bongo, you people better be getting the idea of this by now. I didn't like eenie meenie miney moe, you people better be getting the idea of this by now. Overall, if you people don't get the idea of this by now, please unplug your Internets.

Score: 9/10

DO THIS FOR EVERY SINGLE SUBMISSION, PLEASE, OR I WILL ASK YOU TO STICK A PAIR OF SCISSORS AND/OR KNIVES INTO AN ELECTRICAL SOCKET. IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE EVERY SONG IN YOUR POST (other than your own entry), YOUR VOTE WILL NOT COUNT!

SOME ADDITONAL RULES:

1. NO SPAM IN THIS THREAD, PLEASE.
2. YOU MUST FOLLOW VOTING GUIDELINES. SEE ABOVE. AND REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE SCORING THE OVERALL COMPOSITION AND IT'S RELATION TO THIS MONTH's THEME.
3. DO NOT ASK WHAT THE NEXT COMPETITON WILL BE, IT IS UP TO THE WINNER.
4. VOTING WILL END MONDAY, DEC 4TH, at 11:59:59PM.
5. READ THE RULES. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE ASK THEM IN THIS THREAD, AND I'LL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE PARTICIPANTS! THANK YOU FOR SUBMISSIONS AND PARTICIPATION!

Since there are 14 songs to critique and MX will log you out after 20 minutes of inactivity, I suggest doing your reviews in a text editor and then logging into MX and posting them.
HAPPY VOTING! :)

[the2stranger]

Hey Oz.
I just want to say that you misspelled the tread title. :)

Good luck all!

[paranoid923]

Attack of the Rabid Badger Drones
That'd be me.

Lemon Tea'n
Woah, this is very different. The odd guitar(?) noises are cool but seem a bit overdone. Awesome eerie atmosphere and guitar solo. The horns are a nice touch. Some of the parts seem to fit together oddly, but it seems to strengthen the atmosphere of the song rather than diminish it.
8.5/10

Rock N Lol
Really great atmosphere here. The drums are very well done. Love the piano work especially at the end. Nothing extremely exciting but its a solid song with a great atmosphere. It also seems a bit mechanical to me.
8/10

Downcast
The guitar tone in the intro is great. The synths sometimes don't seem to quite fit with the guitar. The song starts to get a bit boring until the faster riff comes in. I really like the solo although it starts a bit suddenly. Overall, its well done but I think maybe if it were shorter it would have been better.
7.5/10

Weight of the Wind
Very nice voice but it seems overdone. The acoustic part goes on for too long. The song picks up a bit near the end but I'm not sure whats going on with the very last part and the computer noises, they seems out of place.
5/10

Song 2 Final v4.0.7.0
Cool first part of the song, I really like the atmosphere. The part with the new drums and synths doesn't seem to fit. Something about it just loses what the beginning had going. The distorted section is odd but I like the fade out.
5.5/10

Nautilus
For some reason all the intros seem to be very good :). Cool riff and I really like the drums. The slap bass seems to come out of nowhere but is good. I think this could been longer and a bit smoother maybe.
7.5/10

Transience
I like the main riff but it keeps going on for too long. The synths are cool but more change is needed. The ending could be interesting, but the riff is getting boring.
6/10

I Saw Me
Some really cool albeit repetitive guitar work. The vocals are way to loud. Awesome bridge with some really cool layering and drumming. Wow, more great guitar work in the breakdown... but the vocals are just annoying.
6/10

For You
The noises background noises seem to fit at first but get more out of place as the song goes on. It ends up being like 2 oddly mashed up songs. The buildup at the end is very cool, however.
7/10

John Zorn is a Witch: Reprise
Industrial and Native American (?) music put together? It works surprisingly well. It didn't seem to go anywhere particularly but it certainly had atmosphere. I would have liked to see this developed further or lengthened because it seems almost unfinished to me.
6.5/10

A Winter's Day
I like the keyboard and the way everything is arranged. Excellent synth work all around and great piano parts. The drums are a bit loud and seem to take a bit away from the rest at times. However, overall this is very well done.
8.5/10

Thunderstorm
I'm really not sure what going on here. It seems like a bunch of songs oddly stuck together. A couple of the riffs were good but this just doesn't make sense to me.
3/10

A Dance Through Sundown
The chord progression is good at first but just keeps going and going without adding to much. The drums also seem to be pretty much the same. There were some interesting parts but it was to long and didn't really go anywhere.
5.5/10

[La Revolucion]

Attack Of The Rabid Badger Drones

Really nice chord progression in this one, though it gets slightly repetitive until the synth line comes in. I really like the bass line that's played over the synth progression, and I also like the way it builds into the "rock-out" section. The last section gets old fairly fast, and didn't neccesarily have to go on for that long, but the song as a whole is pretty good.

7/10

Lemon Tea'n

That little noodly computer instrument needs to go. The chords under it are sort of haunting, which is something I always like in a song. God that thing is annoying. Now a guitar line that sounds sort of improvised and out of time is coming in, I'm not too keen on that. Jazz flute, alright. I dig that. Sloppy guitar solo, not too great, but I like the tone. It's a little bit too ridiculously avant-garde for my tastes, a song that I would like needs to have a little bit more of a hook than that.

4/10

Rawk N Lol

I'm getting a really scary feeling from this one so far, what with the intense reverb and stomping noise, so that's cool. Nice piano line. The electronic drums are really what's making the song for me right now, they're the best part. Wow, that tom beat under the piano sounds really great. Classical piano is always a plus in my book. Lots of stuff going on, pretty complex arrangement. Nice job!

8/10

Downcast

The intro is quite tastefully done. I LOVE the guitar tone. I'm not too big on the ultra distorted chords going on in the background, but the lead lines in the front are nicely done. It's getting too boring now that the metal riff is the only thing going on, but the lead guitar really saves the day when it comes in. Ooh, now that it changed and that new riff is in I'm liking it more. Really cleanly picked guitar parts, I'm impressed. Overall, pretty well done. It gets repetitive, but I like it for the most part.

6/10

Weight Of The Wind

Nice, relaxing intro. I think there's too many vocals going on at once here, the delay doesn't sound too good. Your voice is good, though. I could hear this on a soft-rock radio station easily. Feels like I'm on the beach or something like that. It's even sort of catchy. The electric guitar seems sort of out of place, so maybe ditch that for a future version of the song. Now the song is just getting kind of dull, maybe bring in new instruments or melodies to make it more exciting. OK, towards the end you do. Just do it earlier.

6/10

Song 2 Final v4.0.7.0

I'm getting a Kid A era Radiohead vibe here. Sort of eerie, but not enough to be off-putting. The arpeggiated synthesizer or whatever that is fits perfectly with the song. I like the sounds low in the background too, they add to the feel. Hm, not a huge fan of the new drums and synth line, but it's OK. The two chord-progression with distorted synth is pretty cool. The sudden guitar explosion there at the end is definitely not something I like. I do like how it fades back to the intro at the end. Pretty good song.

7/10

Nautilus

Relaxing, pretty intro. Sounds like the soundtrack to the underwater level of some old video game. Specifically Donkey Kong. It's nice and relaxing, though somewhat dull. Ugh, don't like that bass at the end. Doesn't really fit at all. OK song, kind of boring.

5/10

Transience

Nice intro. The piano and ambient synths sound great together. As the song changes and adds drums and things, I think the piano riff should change too, or harmonies should be added or something. It's getting obnoxious. Alright, now it's just dull. Not even that ending can save it. Good try, there's some promise in here, but just change things up more.

5/10

I Saw Me

Intro already makes the song seem cheesy. Woah, with the distorted thing in there it just sounds like a mess. Why did you put screaming in the background? Makes it even worse. OK bridge, but then back to screaming distorted mess. The little breakdown after that part is nice. But then it gets back to the bad thing again. It's enough to bring the whole song down quite a few notches.

3/10

For You

Interesting intro, with the noises and all. I'm getting an Indian vibe. Now the noises are just sounding ridiculous. Wow that went on for way way way too long. Once the piano comes in the song gets much better, but sounds slightly like a bunch of different instruments playing unrelated things. The ending works, just get rid of that whole first few minutes of noise and guitar.

6/10

John Zorn Is A Witch: Reprise

Intro sounds almost industrial, but I'm not a big fan of the Native American sounding keyboard line. And...the song never changes. Bring in more things! Do more with the song! I can barely even rate this, it's just the same thing for 2 minutes.

2/10

A Winter's Day

Hey that's me.

Thunderstorm

Creepy intro, sounds OK so far. Needs a better transition than sudden thunderstorm sounds. Now it sounds like a really generic metal song....wait what? It just went Hawaiian on me. You need better transitions! Now it's getting weird harpsichordy type style...This song doesn't have a real structure, does it? Seriously, the rest of it is just a jumbled mess of different, completely incoherent parts. It sounds like 10 different songs. Make something continue through all of them, like a lead line or something. In it's current state, it's awful.

2/10

A Dance Through Sundown

Extremely repetitive so far, adding the distorted guitar in the background is helping that at all. The piano sounds nice and U2-ey, but still, change the chord progression! Unless a song that uses one chord progression is so freakishly moving that it justifies its length, there's no real reason to not change the song. Change up the beat a little, or something. As it stands, it would be OK background music, but isn't too special as a song.

3/10

[MetalOz]

Hey Oz.
I just want to say that you misspelled the tread title. :)

Good luck all!

What is spelled wrong? Did it say tread? :confused:

[the2stranger]

What is spelled wrong? Did it say tread? :confused:

The title says: 'Competiton'.

[MetalOz]

I didn't see that, thanks. Hopefully a mod will fix it for me :)

[Shattered_Future]

Meh, nobody gives a damn about spelling errors.

Attack Of The Rabid Badger Drones
This song sounds vaguely familiar...:p. I love the really chill feel of the song, yet it still has that sense of urgency. As I said before, though, I think it would be better without the drums in the intro. The bass solo drags on a bit too long, but it's kinda cool. There's some good ideas there. Absolutely unnecessary drum fill, and outro follows, in the same pattern as the intro: riff upon riff upon riff. An extra layer of polish is needed to make this excellent, but as it stands, it's a neat song. 7.5/10

Lemon Tea'n
Horns are pretty freaking cool, but that thing under it (sounds like sliding around on guitar strings) irritates me to no avail. I like the guitar riffs and the feel. It sounds like something you'd hear in a lounge, or maybe a 50s slasher flick. The synths in the background add a nice feel to it. Flute lead is, admittedly, pretty sweet. All those little fluttering guitar things, though, you could REALLY do without. They seem to serve no sense of purpose. I like the distorted guitar lead though. Towards the end, the song completely devolves into a mass of different noises, yet still manages to keep its feel, a sign of a good composer. Again, a little bit more polish would help the song, as well as gettting rid of those irritating guitar noises. 8/10

Rawk N Lol
Menacing synth intro. Niiice. This sounds like something that could be ripped out of Infected Mushroom's playbook, which is ALWAYS a good thing. I like the piano lead quite a bit. It's very soulful. Coupled with the string thing that comes in later, it balances that line between ominous and melancholic. The one thing I wish, though, is that the drums would break out into that classic trance DOOP DOOP DOOP beat. It never really feels like the song gets going. The pianowork through is top notch though. 8/10

Downcast
Sucks balls.

Weight Of The Wind
The vocals are good, aside from being a bit loud, but dude. The guitars need to be fixed a ton. Horribly sloppy. The vocals wouldn't be out of place on an album by The Gathering, which is a good thing. The added distorted, far away guitar adds a little bit, but it still doesn't really fix the fact that the acoustic work needs a ton of fine tuning. I do like the last minute or so of the song. If you shaved this down to about 3 minutes or so (including the last minute) and rerecorded the acoustics, this would be a killer song. It's amazing how the vocals save the song from being absolutely terrible. Keep your vocalist...you'll go far with her in a group. 6/10

Song 2 Final blahbady
Nice spacey intro. The loud keyboard that comes in, even though it's only 2 notes, manages to proclaim a feeling of doom. The drum loops are a bit too loud...they drown out the synths a bit. The end would be awesome if the mixing was a bit better. The static thing needs to go WAAAAAY down. Some good ideas here, but overall it doesn't really go anywhere. 5.5/10

Nautilus
I've gotta find a new way to say "I like the intro". There appear to be two riffs in this song: the intro, and this slap bass part. Both are really cool, and just long enough. Just as the intro riff starts to get boring, you switch it up with the bass riff. I wanted to hear more of that...this may be one time where I say the song is too short. I wanted more out of the bass. As is, you had an idea in mind, and you pulled it off brilliantly. 8.5/10

Transience
Heavily sustained piano kicks us off here. I like (goddammit there it is again). Some atmospheric synths add a nice touch, but I find the main riff repeats a bit too much. Whereas the above song had enough going on to contemplate the main riff, this one focuses sorely on the main riff. The little extra synth parts are rather cool though, as well as the second piano part that comes in. Your outro saves you a bit. The riff is still there, but you managed to inject it with enough to save it. 6/10

I Saw Me
Ok, this one is bizarre. You used some interesting musical knowledge in this one. The vocals smash this into the ground though. I can't tell what the hell the voice is saying, they overpower everything, there's way too much reverb and distortion, and they are just plain apocalyptic. After the horrid vocal part, I do like this guitar part. The layering is well done. The song repeats parts for too long though, and there isn't enough going on to make it ok. At the outset of this song, I'm left with two feelings: the guitarwork, while repetitive, is interesting, and the vocals are an abomination to man. Sadly, the vocals override the guitar in this one. 5.5/10

For You
The intro is boring, simply put. It doesn't feel like it goes anywhere. The distorted vocals would be a nice touch on a different song, but here they seem out of place. The regular vocals are decent enough. A little over halfway through, the song picks up a bit, but this one bored me. It doesn't amount to anything much, and it takes way too long to get there. 5/10

John Zorn Is A Witch: Reprise
Uuumm...what is this? It's got a cool vibe, but almost nothing in terms of songwriting structure. It did create an atmosphere, I will admit, but it doesn't have any substance to it. 3.5/10

A Winter's Day
Sad pianos and strings are always good. I like the way this is layered...it's complex without seeming muddled. Drums could be a hair softer, but they don't completely drown out the instruments. Excellent piano programming throughout this piece. They're beautiful. Again, though, I never really get the feeling of this piece taking off. It just builds and builds to nothing. However, your pianowork is what is front and center here, and that couldn't have been better. 8.5/10

Thunderstorm
Guitar intro has some interesting parts going on in it, but it doesn't transition very well. The chorded part just doesn't work, and your pacing is kinda bad. Switches immediately into something completely different, but still suffers from pacing issues. I liked the part at about 1:30 though. Tis very spacey. This song would have benefited greatly from the addition of drums. Not only do they serve to spice things up a bit, they would hide your pacing problems a bit. Overall, there were a few good things, but it was just put together poorly. 4/10

A Dance Through Sundown
I like the synth progression. Simple, yet good. The progression repeats way too much though, and there's not enough going on to hide that fact. A new drumbeat would benefit the song as well. Again, there are some good ideas here, but there's no variation whatsoever. The same drumbeat looped for almost 9 minutes is boring, and the chord progressions aren't atmospheric enough to achieve what you were going for. 4/10

Ok, done. Well done to everyone. Even though some ideas came together better than others, everyone had parts of their respective songs that I enjoyed. Best of luck to you all.

[Nick]

I'll hopefully be rating in the next day or so; almost done a prelim listen now, and I'll give it a night before listening again and typing some review

Lemon Tea'n
Horns are pretty freaking cool, but that thing under it (sounds like sliding around on guitar strings) irritates me to no avail.
with a test tube, actually. not much thought went into that, but I liked it enough to keep. whatever.
I like the guitar riffs and the feel. It sounds like something you'd hear in a lounge, or maybe a 50s slasher flick. The synths in the background add a nice feel to it. Flute lead is, admittedly, pretty sweet. All those little fluttering guitar things, though, you could REALLY do without. They seem to serve no sense of purpose. I like the distorted guitar lead though. Towards the end, the song completely devolves into a mass of different noises, yet still manages to keep its feel, a sign of a good composer.
Again, a little bit more polish would help the song, as well as getting rid of those irritating guitar noises, but this one was much better than your last, Kage. 8/10
It was definately better than my last, but

I guess I should feel flattered...?

[Shattered_Future]

Goddammit I thought I could pick out people by what they recorded...

Guess not. Still a good song though.

[Nick]

heh thanks

I'm definately on my way to a new personal best here

[Pete]

I have ADD so I naturally get bored with pieces that are below 180bpm and don't switch things up all the time :p Just so you all know, this means my median score will probably be lower than 5.

Attack of the Rabid Badger Drones
I like how it builds up, and the melody is quite nice. The break with the strings is cool (even if the bass is mixed stupidly loud), but the jamming sorta goes nowhere. The "fast" part sounds like a high school band playing video games music, and I'm not too fond of it, despite nice layering.
6/10


Lemon Tea'n
For some reason getting a film noir vibe from the melody of it (although the spacey instrumentation contradicts that). The start is jazzy in a pretty cool way, the guitar solo not so much. It gets a bit much with the oddities as it buils up.
4/10


Rawk N Lol
Very soundtracky beginning, could fit a fantasy film, before it turns trip-hop. I see you like your reverbs cavey. Things harmonize quite well, but the tribal drum part just seems off. I like the piano, even though it sounds digital, almost midi. Nothing really happened here.
4/10


Downcast
Again with the fantasy sounding synths :p Finally some "hard rock" though, which is nice. Has a power metal (slowed down x100) to it. This really allows for vocals, which I think would've added to it. Some good riffage though, I would've liked to hear it faster, and I like the fast part the best. Sweet soling, as well. I like. One point deducted for not being awfully atmospheric, and for being extremely long.
7/10


Weight of the Wind
Okay, so the total lack of vocals up until this point was a good thing, I guess. This is pretty horrible, what kinda atmosphere is this supposed to bring? Sounds like an off-beat hymn or something. I don't wanna resort to ignoramus statements like "HIPPY SH!T", but seriously...
2/10


Song 2 Final v4.0.7.0
Hmm, I didn't quite get the intro voice. Bleep bloop. The only thing this has is a bleepy melody that is added on, and I'm not too fond of it. The general spacey feel is quite cool though, but the static noises kinda ruin it.
3.5/10


Nautilus
I like that this is pretty much to the point (read: not overly long) and it is indeed atmospheric. The funk bass adds needed variety, and this is just a nice piece. Nothing overly awesome, but an enjoyable listen.
6/10


Transience
I'm getting a little sick of the whole spacey trip-hop thing by now (I won't let that affect my score on this though), seriously, is that the only kind of atmosphere there is? I would've liked to see this rely more on the piano and expand on the piano part, which is basically pretty repetative. Some dynamics and catharsis added with the drums and distortion at the end, but it's a bit too melodically static.
5/10


I Saw Me
Awesome. Just awesome.


For You
I see I'm not the only one to utilize distorted screaming :p I like those better than the actual vocals though. And the Beatles-sounding piano melody drags like crazy, although it gets added on later. Another tom drum pattern I find hard to enjoy, I don't see its purpose here. The build-up work although it doesn't really amount to anything. This was okay, could've been better, I think.
4.5/10


John Zorn is a Witch: Reprise
Whoa reverby and Native American-sounding. What's with hiding the whole thing behind reverb? Sure, atmosphere, but also an actual song would be nice. This is pretty short and yet pretty repetative.
2/10


A Winter's Day
Another song I think would've benefited from going in the orchestral direction rather than the trip-hop direction. The piano and the strings play well together, but I'm not crazy about the drums. Speeding it up into this arpeggiated breakbeat mess would also not be my choice, it's not atmospheric or particularly good (imo). Intro and outro = cool. Middle = not so much.
3.5/10


Thunderstorm
Sloppy and choppy guitar playing intro, and it seems slightly off melodically, at least to me. The distorted bits are way offbeat, and the progressions between them and the clean bits are anything but natural. This still fails to find a solid beat, and isn't atmospherical at all because of its back-and-forhtyness (new word) and amelodicality (not even a word).
1.5/10


A Dance Through Sundown
Bestest song title in the comp. Yet more of this space pop, though. Kinda stale and seems pretty done (sorry, won't let that sway me). But it's too eventless. The subtle layering is just that - too subtle. Also, it's excruciatingly long. I mean, it's physically painful, and totally uncalled for. I feel like you've wronged me.
2.5/10

[Kage]

Attack of the Rabid Badger Drones

The opening arpeggio is painfully simple. The "lead" works really well with it, though, and I like how you kind of bury it in there, whether you meant to or not. Once the song moves into the new section, I think you lose all the momentum you had building up, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but then when it just keeps droning as the new section, one wonders if this isn't two songs stuck together. The second section is entirely too stagnant to really compliment the first, especially given that there was no clever change of key or anything of this nature. The ending distorted section loses its epicness, because it feels as if you're trying to pick up the momentum you left off with the first section, but with the stagnant section in there, it just doesn't work. What I would do is actually have some sort of "pay-off" from the first section--or at least a hint of one and then it wouldn't feel like one song that had an ambient section stuck in the middle.

6/10


Lemon Tea'n

Oh, I like this. Really quirky, kind of eerie, but doesn't take itself seriously enough to be pretentious. I like the weird noises you're making, and the jazzy beat it goes into is fantastic. The song moves along nicely, with elements being added. The atonal kind of high-pitched noise is GREAT, but I would make it less constant, if you get my meaning, and it would have a much greater effect if it was used a little bit more sparsely. The guitar lead that comes in is great, awesome key to compliment what is going on underneath. The horns come back in, menacing. Haha, this is ****ing awesome. Props. I have nothing bad to say, but I think it could have built up to something a bit different, a bit stranger perhaps rather than simply decaying like you've done. Excellent work, though.

9/10


Rawk N Lol

This is very cliche honestly. Everything fits together, everything works, but I feel like I've heard it in ten million movies or something. Sounds very cold, distant, not very much "feel" to it, no personality. It sounds like a score was written and then performed by computers. The score is good, mind you, very professional in arrangement but somewhat robotic. The atmosphere feels fabricated and ingenuine.

4/10

Downcast

From the start, this could go either way. It teeters on the edge of cliche, and it could jump into the safety of routine or go amiss into exciting waters. Unfortunately I think it does the former. It's well written, well performed, I just find it to be achingly cliche. I feel like I've heard this song before from several different bands. Nothing melds together well for me. The guitars are kind of up front doing their thing, and the strings are back there somewhere doing something else. They go together well, and the arrangements are swell, but it is intensely generic and has no personality.

5/10


The Weight of Wind

To be honest, it's okay, but I really don't know what effect you're going for here. That's the problem. This reminds me of a tune a kindergarten teacher might sing as her pupils sit around her in a circle and sing along. I dunno. And it's fairly stagnant the entire time, until the unfortunately reverbed guitar comes in and kind of adds that nice element of cliche in there. Makes it feel like a song you might hear on the radio, only far less well-produced and suffering from inferior writing. After a few seconds of the distorted guitar, it pretty much just manages to sit in the background as white noise/static, which I wouldn't complain about if it was used effectively. The computer effects are just a big faux pa. Avoid them next time, please. Especially don't have them repeat on every measure, for godsake. The drums make it even more predictable. I'll agree it needed a pep-up, but this thing is just a mess through and through. Again, I wouldn't complain about that if that was intended, but I really don't think it was.

3/10

[Pete]

Woah, with the distorted thing in there it just sounds like a mess. Why did you put screaming in the background? /.../ back to screaming distorted mess.

I can't tell what the hell the voice is saying, they overpower everything, there's way too much reverb and distortion, and they are just plain apocalyptic. After the horrid vocal part /.../Sadly, the vocals override the guitar in this one.

I just wanted to adress this, because it seems like you think I did a bad job recording/mixing the vocals. While the whole mix may be a tad on the loud side (because little time was spent mastering it), the actual sound of the vocals is very intentional. In keeping with the "atmospheric" theme, I went for plain unpleasant sounding vocals, wanting a sound reminiscent of someone crying on an old tape, that was then played back at too high a speed, with the volume turned up to 11, inside a metal tank. I fiddled around with a lot of settings on effects and the sound itself, and the distortion and general "apocalyptic" bad sound of the vocals is for an effect. They're not supposed to sound "good".

Not trying to make you change your opinion on it, just thought I'd make it clear that the atrocious sound of the vocals isn't a n00b thing or a mistake, but very intentional. It took me a while to get used to the sound of them too :p

[Kage]

Jake you screwed me over on this one. :p

[La Revolucion]

just thought I'd make it clear that the atrocious sound of the vocals isn't a n00b thing or a mistake
OK, cool. I'd hoped no one had ears bad enough to think that the sound was pleasant. It's still not to my liking, however.

[Shattered_Future]

I like that you tried something different. Problem was it just didn't turn out very well.

[Pete]

OK, cool. I'd hoped no one had ears bad enough to think that the sound was pleasant. It's still not to my liking, however.

Yeah, not mine either, really, but I guess my ears got used to it in the process of fiddling with it. I think it sounds unpleasant, almost inhuman, and that's what I was going for.I like that you tried something different. Problem was it just didn't turn out very well.

Yeah, obviously not :p

[ATC]

Attack of the rabid badger - Sweet mother, that's a strange title that has nothing to do with the music. Heh. It's a decent intro that looked like it was going to build into something awesome but it died and went into a synth part. The lead type thing is really cool and really works. That was a weird drum lead-in to the next section, which could have used vocals. I can't seem to unify the three sections without the aid of vocals, I'm afraid.

Lemon Tea'n - The beginning mildly annoyed me, like something out of a arty movie. The next section is neat but there's like weird computer blips in there which detract from it when they're clearly audible. The guitar lead is not very cool and takes me out of the jazzy place you were before. I was expecting the song to build rather than stagnate though because what you were doing was interesting enough to make me want to see the next step.

Rawk n Lol- Wow. I'm really liking this. It's got a great atmosphere. The piano really makes this work and adds some heft to the menace and complexity of this. Really neat.

Downcast - This is alright. Its not doing anything new for me. Vocals could make this work. Its not strong enough to be an instrumental. I'm not big on the guitar tone but beef it up some and the part at 4:10 could be High on Fire or something. The synths are a wee bit overused.

Song 2 - I'm iffy on the opening though I find it growing on me. The addition of the effect at around the minute mark and then the drums really complement the simple melody.

To be continued.

[MetalOz]

^Don't forget to score each song _ out of 10 points!

[LF96]

Hell, why not.:)

Attack of the Rabid Badger Drones I'm a fan of the title. The music builds pretty nicely but the theme does get repeated a bit too much. I like how you broke it down without reaching a climax, but I think you're stretching the synth-part a bit too long. When it finally gets to the climax it's not very satisfying though, I expected it to completely explode but it never did. It might have worked better to work out the first theme after the synth-part. Also, I don't think this was that atmospheric as a whole. The synth part was but the other two parts didn't really have something atmospheric. Overall, pretty nice song though.6.5/10

Lemon Tea'n I don't like the sounds you have on this in the beginning at all. After that it gets better though. Very experimental and psychedelic, which I like. Sounds a bit like King Crimson. The biggest problem is that this doesn't sound cohesive at all and the guitar solo didn't always match well with the theme. I give you props for doing such experimental stuff though. 5.5/10

Rawk N Lol Hmm, in a way I don't like the beginning at all, but on the other hand I do like it. Strange. I didn't really like what you did after the intro. The piano playing is a bit too simple to really grab my attention. The tribal drumming is pretty interesting, you could've done a lot more with that, some massive drum solo on top of the theme or something. The piano gets better after this and it does grab my attention at this point. Song doesn't reach anything as a whole however, and it doesn't really make me want to listen to it again. 4/10

Downcast The synth-sounds you have on this in the beginning are a bit too over the top and cheesy, but I see how it matches with the song. Not really my type of thing, but I can dig it. Not the biggest fan of the chord progression, and the modulating you do by using one certain chord is not to my liking at all. You definitely did make it atmospheric though. The slower part lasts for too long and when it finally reaches the fast part it's a bit too late. Overall the song is way too long as well, after a few minutes it already lost my full attention. 3.5/10

Weight of the Wind 18 seconds of silence is a bit too much before starting, but I’ll don’t keep count of it. When it starts it's pretty nice, but (I don't know if it's because of the recording quality) I hear a lot of notes that are out of tune. You or your singer have a nice voice and I like the harmonization. The song doesn't really go anywhere though and I already started to get bored by the 3 minute mark. It's already way too late when the drums finally kick in and the electronic sounds that then come in are not really good either. 3/10

Song 2 Final v4.0.7.0 Original title, I must say. I like the sounds you have in the beginning here, but the composition is something I like less. After that it does get better, but it takes way too long for the drums to kick in. When they do, however, it sounds pretty nice, but I would still change a lot about the composition. The little breakdown is pretty nice but I don’t like the ending with those distorted sounds, the drums are overpowered by the distortion and it loses the ‘groove’ a bit. Pretty nice song though. 6/10

Nautilus Hmm, fairly nice, but it’s a bit too laidback and not too much interesting happens during the song. There’s no real melody that really captures my attention. When the bass kicks in, I’m however really digging it. The ending is underdeveloped, you could have done a lot more with it, I think. 6.5/10

Transience The piano melody is a bit too simple to really stick out, and the synths didn’t really do anything interesting either. I don’t like the drums on this at all. I did like the ending though, it’s a welcome change from the laidback vibe of the rest of the track. 4/10

I Saw Me This isn’t my thing at all. I’m not a fan of the chord progression and overall it fails to really grab my attention. The screaming (or screaming sounds) were awful. You did have a part where there was some harmonization between the guitars that could’ve been developed into something pretty nice. From about 3.40 I like the guitars, but the drums are boring and the loud part is just uninteresting as a whole. For the whole track, I say, some good parts but mostly just uninteresting jamming. 3.5/10

For You Damn, those noises are awful, it really doesn’t add anything to the track. The melody is also just way too simple and uninteresting as a whole. After the irritating noises it does get more interesting and it develops into a pretty nice song, but it doesn’t really reach a point where everything comes together. Sounds like an improvisation jam or something. 5/10

John Zorn is a Witch: Reprise Wow, this is boring. You basically just put that melodic line on repeat and never really added something to it. This could’ve worked as a short intro to another track, but on it’s own it’s basically worthless. Not a fan. 2.5/10

A Winter’s Day The intro is already the best thing I’ve heard in all of these songs. The main piano line is really simple, but the other sounds add so much to it that it gets interesting. Hmm, the drums are not really that good, but they build up pretty nicely, but not entirely to my liking. I can definitely tell the focus is on the piano. From about 2 minutes it gets really nice, that fast piano line is beautiful, and the other ones add to the song being highly interesting. The ending is very nice as well, very atmospheric, although I would’ve chosen another ending chord. Best track up till now, good work. 8.5/10

Thunderstorm There’s some strange things happening to your guitar tone in the beginning. I don’t like the main riff at all. The third riff sounds awfully out of tune and the guitar solo is hopefully bad (and out of tune) as well. Try to make more cohesive songs, you have already changed the riff 4 times in not even 2 minutes and they actually don’t have a lot to do with each other. I also don’t see what is so atmospheric about this song. Basically this sounds to me like some dude warming up, playing some riffs and some boring solo’s. Sorry, I can’t get myself to like this at all. 1.5/10

A Dance Through Sundown Pretty nice vibe to this, very triphop-sounding. Try to add more to the song however and definitely try to have some sort of dynamic to the song, like a change in the drumbeat for instance. This is just way too long for it’s own good, you don’t have enough interesting to bring to the table to keep an 8 minute song interesting. 3/10

Damn, I expected to find some more interesting stuff in here...

[adamstartin]

Maybe the voting should end early, there doesnt seem to be much more activity . . . and could the next theme be a xmas theme plz haha

[nightbringer]

Never! The voting shall never end!

I will vote here.

[MetalOz]

Thank you La Revolucion, Shattered Future, and LF96 for voting!!

paranoid923, Kage, and ATC, please finish up so that your votes count!!

Everyone else, come on and vote! A lot of work went into creating these musical materpieces so give your fellow MXers some feedback!

[blueyxd]

voting space...

when is this due? I will be away from sunday - wedensday

[MetalOz]

4. VOTING WILL END MONDAY, DEC 4TH, at 11:59:59PM.

I figured it would be hard to get people to vote with so many entries... :(

[blueyxd]

Ahh I looked all through that post and didnt see it, I think my eyes must filter out ALLCAPS

[Nick]

Attack of the Rabid Badger Drones

I like the beginning, especially the crash, but the drums (hihat?) that come in seem obnoxiously fake, with perfect time and constant dynamic. giutar riff is simple, but good. builds up, releases. I like. The swells are cool, as well as the sort ofanalog tape sounds. Melodic bass playing; I like this, very mellow. This would sound really cool on a fretless. I'm wishing now that the string swells where a bit faster, more organic. eww those toms are awful in this context. what's this bit? it sounds like a guitarpro tab of a pop punk song. I really don't like this part. I wish you'd just ended it after the mellow bit. I like the end chord bit though. 6/10

Rawk N Lol

I like the sounds you acheive here, but the string part could be a bit more interesting. I like the panning drum bits. the next bit is really chill with the ethnic sounding drums, but would have been way cooler if you had a part underneath that actually reflected the music they're from. drum exit and re-entry is too abrupt here, imo, and I don't like the new beat. Those offbeat strings are getting really annoying now, they just won't stop . Don't much like the ending, to abrupt, and sort of cliche. I like the texture you create here but not what you do with it. 5/10

Downcast

Synth strings; nothing special. I don't much like the phrasing you used, it seemed strained, and just seemed like a novelty. Synth tone coming kind of detracts from whatever ambience you have. Wow this is more rocky than I expected from this contest. I think the song is just a bit to slow for the heavy guitars to sound right, it also sounds a bit too much like a backing track, to be sung over. I like your transitions between sections though, at least. I'm bored at this point, though, there hasn't been anything new for a little while, and it's not slow enough for that to be ironic. This part's different, a little better, but I'm waiting out the end by now. Oh, here we go. Doesn't get fast enough to sound serious, and then you go right back to the old. Guitar solo is nice and melodic, a little low in the mix for my tastes, but I am aguitarist myself.... Oh don't like the triplet arp thing you do, sounds a little too contrived. That bit again? is this done yet? I've been listening for 6 minutes! the next part here is cool....wait, is it just fading out while the riff plays? I can't stand when that's done. some fade-outs are for effect, but whenever someone just fades out a repeated riff, I get the sense they couldn't figure out how to end it. There was a lot of repeated bits, and you probably could have cut this a lot shorter. Some vocals probably would help too. 5/10

Weight of the Wind

Does this song start? ohh, there it goes. Vocal at the beginning, real cool, but the acoustic guitar entry grabs it where I thought it was going and takes it somewhere else. I don't really like the vocals now, this is getting really annoying, and fast. I can imagine this as the type of song that one would have a special memory of due to it being linked o some event, but I don't really want to listen to it much more. The layered vocals are a bit interesting, admittedly, but gah it's annoying. And that's what it comes down to, really. 4/10

Song 2 Final v4.0.7.0

sampled clips..whoa cool sounds. this is creeping me out. Oh I like very subtle, sort of feedbackingy. ha that beat is so cheese, really lightens this up. It's now a wierd mix of creepy noise, and a sort of hiphoppy beat. cool. theres a change. didn't think the drum entry was quite smooth enough, seemed to almost come in late. Still has me wondering where this is going...whoa that caught me by surprise. side to side pan would be cheese, maybe it still is. drums in, and out. this is really unpredictable, I like that. I love the sounds here, the crackling electric snarl. the sounds are quite perfectly placed. denoument, pulled off quite perefctly. My favourite so far 8.5/10

Nautilus

Cool riff; bit that comes in reminds me of mario for some reason. wow, mad beatz (that's all I get from that beat) INow I'm wondering if you're taking this somewhere else. This is definately giving me this huge "video game level x" vibe, which I suppose fits the atmospheric label quite well. wait - that's it? I thought that was the intro... short and sweet, for sure. must have been a short level. 7.5/10

Transcience

I don't quite like the piano riff; it's a bit bland, as well as the piano doesn't sound quite right (it's programmed probably, nothing you can do about that, can't expect you to mic up a grand in a special room). I like the pad noise here, drums are a little futuristic, which would probably complement the piano sound more if it was more synthy, but it still gives off a sci-fi feel, especially with the noises overtop. break, and then back. hmm just as the piano riff gets boring there's a bit more too it. It's breaking up a little now. Going baqck to the piano again doesn't work for me anymore, I'm sick of the riff now. What? you did almost the same thing as in the first song! annoying programmed drum fill, to midi sounding hard-rock groove. Gah! Synth on the keys now, a bit more interesting; at least it ends pretty well. 6/10

I Saw Me

Hmm that riff is kind of really poppy and boring. the backing gives it an edgy, aggressive feel though. The spoken bit would be more effect if it didn't follow the rhythm, I think. And what is up with the distorted vocals? they ruin it for me. I can sort of hear what you where trying to get, but instead it just sounds like kkhjkjgh kjhgk to me. Tension rising in this section; Still don't like the sort of leady thing, it seems obnoxious with it's constant straight rhythms and repeated notes. This isn't really working. Oh this is better now, mellow, much more interesting. reeks of being an interlude though...how did I see that re-entry coming? Not much else to say to this, really. I like that end though. 4.5/10

For You

The keys sound almost harpsichordisch, which is a sound I really don't like, but it's very elegant in it's simplicity. I don't think you realaly pull of the grating intense vocals (neither did the above) but they're not quite as obtrusive and I'm enjoying the sound. Those clean(er) vocals don't really do it for me though; it sounds like you used effects to cover up your lack of confidence in your voice. I do like the keys and pads. and I really like when the bass comes in and it starts moving. this bit is really great. I like the drums, and the feel. This bit definately makes up for the vocals. Drums don't quite sound natural, but they manage that sort of contradictory intensely feel. Those constant crashes are annoying now though, and the transition to the jangly guitar taking over the riff is not my thing, but the bass stays good. Fade works pretty well in this case. 7/10

John Zorn is a Witch: Reprise

This fade in is quite effective. It has a movie like ambience, like in the intro or something, where it's dark and we have to strain to catch fleeting shadows and figure out what's going on. I like it; it fits together really well. I think it would have been cool to have some really massive rumbling bass in there too. the louder drum sounds might sound cooler with more of a deep tymp sound. Oh theres some bass.. and it's done. Quite short, but I really liked it. 8/10

continued...

[Nick]

A Winter's Day

I don't quite like the play between the strings and the keys at the beginning. but that bell bit that comes in ties them better, as well as the bass, and it's started to sound quite complete. using those drums here is risky, but they're not too out of place. the layers here have me listening closely, they're quite well done. whoa cool it's in perfect time with my water heater. those drums now a bit too loud, but the piano bit is really cool. and it gets cooler. wow, the sync with my hot water heater is really freaking me out. they keys are great though, they suit well. this is nice, a real great piano song. Where the piano's taking it now conflicts with the drums a bit though. A real solid listen though. I really liked it. 8/10

Thunderstorm

Beginning doesn't sound confident; it lacks the assertiveness it needs to pull that off. Thunder noises and some good ol' rawk. how quiant.... naw I actually like that, it's nice and greasy hehe. Oh man that transition back to clean was rather awful, and the lead line was pretty weak (both and playing and the mix..) oh but now these noise are really cool. That is quite awesome. The guitar tone reminds me of the RHPS. Oooh hit that low note... Clean part; chords aren't too bad, but those leads nead re-doing. It has a really lo-fi feel to the guitar, which I'm digging, but you need to work on your leads, which destroy that feel and just make it sound amateur. And what's with the ending (or lack of one)? 6/10

A Dance Through Sundown

My first impression was hmm this is fairly cliched, and it hasn't gotten better yet, although I hope it develops from here...waiting...This sounds like a backing track, and not an interesting one. Something else has come in now, added someinterest, but only for a bit. Still sounds like a backing. That drum beat is beyond annoying by now, and it hasn't been that long. changing..leading up... starting to feel a bit better, even though the drum beat carries over some fo the previous monotony. Still feel like it needs something over it though, and it's now lost what it's gained. Stranely enough, I'm actually starting to feel it after listening to it for a while, sort of absorbed the rhythm, and find it rather calming. And the backwork is getting a bit neater. This would be really neat in the context of just about anything but straight listening. Hey cool gong-y sounds, some tensions...maybe that could have come earlier? I was considring turning this off because I figured the rest would be the same. Now that I'm in with the beat, this part is kind of neat. cooler than I thought once I had listened to the whole thing. 6/10


whoooooooooooooo that took a long time

[MetalOz]

paranoid923, Kage, and ATC, please finish up so that your votes count!!

This is over tonight at midnight...

[La Revolucion]

So...what's going on with this?

[MetalOz]

Sorry so late but the results are in:
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504436