october ordeal ... GOSSIP

[slartibartfast]

I'm struggling this month. Aargh.

I was too. Keep at it. Inspiration didn't strike me until I found some sections of sample that I could turn into something melodic (which ended up being the intro to my submission this month) as well as finding the vocal samples that I used.

As has previously been noted, some of the weird sonic manipulation tools, such as the Ohmforce range, distortion tools, etc can be your friends. Other things to try are reversing, time stretching and pitch shifting samples. Using granular techniques can also give some interesting sonic textures.

I hope we will see your submission soon!

[slartibartfast]

Cheers for the review Slartibartfast!

I assumed that this competition was due to Halloween this month, and sweets play a part , unless I missed a trick ?

Very punny!

[slartibartfast]

Slartibartfast -- Sweet Screams: This is like a sonic trip through a fright house. Interesting how the tension in this can be built so well in so short a time . . . the end of the track seems unnaturally cut off though?

The sharp cut off at the end was deliberately done - seemed like a good idea at the time Thanks for your kind review.

[Wopelka]

few yet cool reviews this month:

Wopelka - One of the harder parts of this months contests is while using other's sounds to still maintain your own sound. You succeeded cum laude. Even the cat is scarily looking round the room where these sounds are coming from.

cheers Mark! does it mean your cat is always scared when hearing my own sound?

Wopelks -- Don't Talk To The Walking Deadmen, Mary!: Well, it's certainly a very disturbing piece. This reminds me of some twisted cross between free jazz and musique concrete. To be honest, the first few times I listened to this it felt very random and undirected. However, with repeated listens, the madness behind the mayhem became apparent. The wind-up to the ending is also particularly effective, something that seems fairly hard for people to do with a song so short.

there's always a part of randomness in my compositional process, but i want my track to be structured, not necessarily on a traditional harmony/melody kind of way, tho. thanks for your review, i think you got the track very well.

Wopelka - Walking Deadmen
Suitably weird and disjointed. I like the fact that you have been able to get some melodic elements in this, rather than making this a general soundscape/sound effect type of track.

i'm glad you like it, thx.

wopelka - a group of dead musicians, once quite brilliant on their instruments, joins for an apres-life improv and makes joyful grim reaper music rising to an epiphanal high C (for corpse).

! now YOU scare me!


cheers

[slartibartfast]

nikp2000 - Terror Cell
This is perhaps not quite as terrifying as the title might have you believe, but is definitely spooky. Great sound mangling - I would have never recognised the vocal if you hadn't said where it originated. Perhaps a little more development and some alternative sounds introduced part way through the track might have created a little more variety and tension.

[slartibartfast]

Caco - Frinkenhedron
The baleful violin gives this a wonderfully threatening edge. I like the evil laugh towards the end also. This is very well constructed, although the mix is a little bass-heavy to my ears.

[Beardedone]

Beardedone wrote:
Quote:
Beardedone -- Grave Fruit: Impressive work. I kind see this one as a companion piece to my work. The sax solo links them, but your piece is more ominous and dangerous. My track might fit well after this, kind of the aftermath to the mayhem offered here. Very complex mix, wonderful selection of sound bits. Excellent work!


Wow thanks Emdot"! Glad to know that my efforts paid off.

Cheers,
Gordon


Nicely done Gordon!

Cheers Xander!

[emdot_ambient]

Catch-up time . . . more reviews:

Nikp2000 -- terror call: This has kind of a Harry Parch underpinning and the vocals remind me of some of the stranger vocal processing by Laurie Anderson. There's also an interesting atmospheric quality to it. Not particularly scary or terrifying . . . a bit creepy perhaps. Nice work!

Caco -- Frinkenhendon: Well at least you've captured the nail-biting tenseness of something truly scary . . . kind of a vignette in Hell Raiser or something. OMG, Pinhead's coming! Grungy and dark and nasty. Great stuff!

WoJ -- Spooky Groovy: Electronic forest sounds through a sepia-colored filter, backed by a brief funked-up beat. Nice intro to an ambient dub piece . . . more groovy than spooky. But I like it!

[rachmiel]

slartibartfast, sweet screams - after luring them in with a kruger lullaby, mr. bartfast subjects his listeners to an aural melange of hoovered shrieks and insektoid crepitations. and then ... just when you think you're safe ... armageddon coda.

nikp2000, terror cell - ghostly voices warble reverberantly to the squamous groove of a broken clockwork. spooky and sensual.

caco, frinkenhedron - a lovely folk tune from planet GruuvMelvma, played on authentic GruuvMelvmian instruments by live GruuvMelvmans (though the concepts of live and not live do not really exist on GruuvMelvma), following the traditional GruuvMelvmian song form of t'Volmnvmianus's('s).

woj, spooky groovy - after wandering out of a resonant subway one encounters a krinkly groove in search of a horribly disfigured (and possibly catatonic) rapper.

rachMiel

[slartibartfast]

slartibartfast, sweet screams - after luring them in with a kruger lullaby, mr. bartfast subjects his listeners to an aural melange of hoovered shrieks and insektoid crepitations. and then ... just when you think you're safe ... armageddon coda.

By George, I think you got it! Thanks for the review.

[Caco]

caco, frinkenhedron - a lovely folk tune from planet GruuvMelvma, played on authentic GruuvMelvmian instruments by live GruuvMelvmans (though the concepts of live and not live do not really exist on GruuvMelvma), following the traditional GruuvMelvmian song form of t'Volmnvmianus's('s).

Which was the exact vibe I was going for

[Markleford]

Can someone give me a mirror of bitshift's tune? Looks like his domain name has lapsed!

- m

[farlukar]

>> mirror <<

[slartibartfast]

More reviews....

WoJ - SpookyGroovy
Wonderfully atmospheric and eerie beginning and ending, worthy of a sci-fi horror movie. However, for me, the drum loop tended to detract from, rather than enhance, the tension that you created so well at the start of the track.

Hovmod - GROOVEYARD
At first, I thought that this was going to be just another "happy little dance-floor filling mashup number", but as the track progresses, the tension and volume builds nicely to a well constructed crescendo. Perhaps a gradual fadeout of the drum groove might have added some additional discomfiture.

Krakatau - Une Marseillaise d' enfer !
This is a very cleverly constructed track, although not particularly spooky and creepy. Was this constructed only from samples from previous KVR competition entries, as indicated in the rules?

Markleford - The Denied
There are some wonderfully created, ominous sounds in this track. There is a great sense of swelling foreboding in this track, particularly in the first half of the track. The tension dissipates slightly in the second half, as we become familiar with the unchanging rhythm and tonal progression. Good track, overall, though.

[slartibartfast]

Unfocused - FrankenS(am)Time
Great track, with well constructed and integrated sweeps and swells, which creates an image in my mind of a highway in space, somewhere far away. Certainly atmospheric, slightly industrial and eerie, without being pants-splatteringly frightening.