by

Mika Wanderer
(Wanderer)

The introduction of this song was very nicely done with exception to the low quality of the samples used. It generated a nice moody background. After the introduction though, I got the feeling that the artist lost direction they wanted their song to take and seemed to search for anything to fill the "middle" gap. The one thing this song was sorely missing was a theme. At order 12, it would have been a good place to introduce one that would have sustained the song and given the listener something to follow and remember. (Think of it this way; when you like a song so much that you can whistle it.. it's not the chord progression you whistle.. it's the theme.) Cleaner samples could've help out as well.

Now this song I enjoyed listining to. One thing that is interesting though, is that you turned this song in before I even started working on mine. That is a very good work habit, turning the song in early (that's my major flaw with my entry, 5 hours before the deadline :). The song was very good, especially at the end (starting at pattern 22). Not too many complaints on this one. Except that 1st: Try and stay away from repeating tracks. I noticed that you used this pattern (ABAC). "A" being the first 4 measures of an idea, "B" being the second 4 measures of an idea, and "C", same thing as "B" but with a different ending. 2nd: I also noticed a technique that I used in my music a long time ago... I call it "adding". Basically this is how it works... "I come up with one idea, simple drum beat (to set the mood). Then on the next 2 patterns, I add more drums, to add a more complex and powerful feel to it. Next 2 patterns, I add some synthy basses, and add a mechanical feel to the song, and then some other stuff... like an electronic guitar." And so on. Now when I did this, I came up with a small 4-8 pattern peice of music. At the end of those patterns my song STOPPED, because I couldn't add anything more to the song. This song is an exception however... this song did go from one idea to the other, but the technique, "adding", only applies to the introduction, in this song. You had one part, and just added on top of it to the songs main idea. With this song, it wasn't a bad thing, but it is just something you need to be aware of. It ruined many of my earlier songs. 3rd: The song should have been longer. I REALLY liked it! Other than that... this was a very good song and it was a pleasure judging it. (As if you don't already do this), listen to some of Necros' songs. I can tell his music inspired yours (it has inspired mine too, compare "Hypercontrol" with my veteran entry after MC6). In fact, some of the instruments you used came from "Martian Lovesong". Anyway... Good job!

originality: a darker, complex, well layered song. unfortunatly VERY short.. it has a professional, deep sound to it. nice chord changes. nice lead. form: your sound is spacy and almost industrial, but well connected. interesting transitions. i wish you would have extended the length though, you could have broadened the sound SO much had you used more than 2:30. i mean, come on! technique: your samples weave in and out of each other, creating a dense musical landscape. your tracking skills are very good. nice panning choices. samples: excellent! "you make good use of distorted samples". hee hee.. overall, i loved this song.

This song has a lot of samples which were taken from Necros's mc5 song so you will lose quite a bit of score on sample and possibly the originality category, although this song does have very a different feel to it. The same chord has been used continuously since I started the song, so perhaps some more creativity was needed there. I like the sample 41 echoing as you've used it starting in order 21, and finally I'm hearing some variety in the chord progression. Whoa! The end. Well it was abrupt. In musical form I really can't mark this song too high, though I do like your use of the samples, so I would mark you high in the tech area. Not a half-bad song, but it only has about two different chord progressions. Not much of a melody here, unless you count the reso sample (41) and the strings towards the end of the song.

The sample set sounds like it was taken directly from Tangerine Fascination by Necros(m4v-fasc.it). If you ignore that, it's a pretty good song....Volume and panning controls are used well, although not spectacularly; volume gets alternated some, which created some neat effects, but not frequently enough to smooth the sound out to put it up in the high range of songs....This song is different, yet the same; different, because the way the samples are used is different from what I've generally heard, the same, because the samples sound familiar, which makes the song feel the same as many of the entries in the past years of this competition.

This song flows smoothly, and it was tracked well, but it really has no memorable parts. Although the strings sound different starting with pattern 22, the rythm never really changes and the song comes off as a little boring. Good atmosphere and panning though, good for background music. Again, this song's strong point is how smoothly it all fits together and flows, but changing it up a bit would really help its score.