November Contest: Gossip

[rp314]

What happens if I use an entry I did not give points to?

Imagine how great it would be if folks chose one of those entries which, despite the love and devotion that went into it, ended up with no, or hardly any, votes?

Maybe this is one of those rare opportunities for Contest participants to get a bit more perspective on some of the previous month's entries, regardless of how they voted.

One small thought that might be worth considering is what happens if most people end up choosing the same entry, or a small number of them. You really wanna listen to 30 different takes on one of our great masterpieces?

Although one's strongly against more rules, it might not be such a bad idea for folks to announce what entry they are working on.

[robogone]

What happens if I use an entry I did not give points to?

Imagine how great it would be if folks chose one of those entries which, despite the love and devotion that went into it, ended up with no, or hardly any, votes?

I already have one in mind I'd like to use that is sadly not garnering many votes. I'm not going to base my choice on votes, just on what I think I can work with.

[GMoneh]

The difficulty this month was to create a percussive track that somehow would stand on its own, feel like a complete piece, rather than the beginning of something else. An important Litmus test for me in deciding my rankings was: will I be listening to this track after the contest is over? If the answer was yes, then it ranked higher (unless there were overriding factors such as violation of the theme itself). Groove is important, but variation is too.
Given that there are several new people participating, I'll repeat myself here: the reviews only express my humble and uneducated opinion, please don't take it personally if I didn't like your song. And if you'd rather have me not write my opinion of your songs ever again, just send me a PM.

Shangsean - Firelight: Like the groove at the start, but if that were all, it would have been very boring indeed. Fortunately, it becomes plenty interesting as it develops. Like the whole ambience and the different percussive sounds. Really listenable track.

kryptonaut - ICBM: What a complex piece… It never stays the same, and that makes it very interesting. The long reverb of the bass drums muddies a little bit in the more complex parts, but that's a nitpick, and you could argue that it's on purpose. Good work.

Doc Jon - Rhythm Method: Gets a good rhythm going since the beginning with enough percussive accents to prevent it from being "just a groove" kind of track. Not a big fan of all the glitching, though, although I can see how that adds spice to the track in its own way.

nikp2000 - beat12: I like the fresh sounding ambience and the tropical-feeling groove. There's a syncopation in the bongoes that feels that it's almost getting out of the rhythm, but not quite. In all, enjoyable.

evo2slo - The Adventures of Gourdman: Very interesting track. Not two sections are alike, and the whole track evolves telling a story with just drums… not easy to do.

sp0rk - Titans Awake: Among the tracks that went for a more "epic" route, this is the one I enjoyed the most. The Damage sounds combined with the ambience give the track its own unique flavor.

Clarago - Kiss Kiss Bing Bong: Good combination of electronic sounds and effects. It starts feeling a bit repetitive towards the end of the 3 minutes, however.

bzur - Ogre Battle: An epic sounding track with a story telling element to it. The sound effects offer an almost visual quality to the story.

forw - 5 Little Warriors: Another track with an "epic" flavor to it. Overall enjoyable.

Emerald Tablet - Pace: A good electronic groove. Here we start getting into the territory of tracks that would be better in the context of a full song rather than standing on its own.

robojam - Project Complications: Groovy and glitchy and all that good stuff, but again, I feel it more as part of something bigger.

JJ Biener - Temple Of Chaos: I can appreciate what you tried to achieve there. And you did. I do enjoy ambient music and I enjoyed this one.

D.H.Miltz - Take Three: Relaxing and calm, if somewhat minimalistic. The limited set of sounds work in its favor, preventing it from becoming too busy.

farlukar - Hss: I like the drum jam, not sure if it passes my litmus test… more like the start of a really cool swing piece.

gigue07 - Tea Cheese: Feels good, sound good. Not enough in there to maintain interest (even though is very short) and make it stand on its own.

liquidgreg - Jungle Triad: Cut short just when I thought it was really gonna get going.

rp314 - mU: I like what you achieved there, it's thoroughly listenable despite forgoing a real groove. Nice collection of percussive sounds.

peppy197 - Perk Symfonia: I like it, but a little too much chromatic content (you can easily identify a melody line there) disqualifies it in my interpretation of the theme rules.

angelremington - Drums Allowed: Dance club material. Good for a workout, but would work better in the context of a full track.

Key88 - Perc But No Coffee: Interesting if unconventional rhythm. Missing a little bit of extra spice to push it to the top, though, more like the rhythmic bed for a full song.

beanpole - Drum n Coke: Like the rhythm and the sounds, but it feels like the rhythm track of a more complete song.

RuediRena - Deadly Drummer Boy: Screaming to become part of a full track.

Laguna Rising - The Wicked Helix: Electronic Mayhem, but with a groove to it that gets your head moving. A little too hot for my speakers...

mellotronaut - Boats Talk: Good use of the whole panorama. I keep trying to guess where the next hit is going to come from. A bit short.

Zombie Queen - Pirates of the Polar Highways: Interesting artistic approach with the engine. For my taste, the piece would have totally worked without it, though. In fact, I thought the engine filled the role of an atonal pad or a drone during the whole song, really masking out all the other sounds and grooves that can be heard almost in the background.

Mister Natural - Thinking Out Loud: The really slow pace prevents it from achieving a groove, and therefore makes it a bit less engaging.

vurt - Melody and Harmony Stayed Home Today: The opposite critique: a little too frantic to get a groove going.

jovexli - Frame by Frame: Too abstract for my taste… Couldn't get into it.

rachmiel - It's Alive!: Sorry… I tried...

[rp314]

whether a running engine is a percussive instrument, I still do not know

It would be interesting to see what other would say, I reckon an explosion is a percussive event, and an engine does a lot of boom.

How about automotive parts in general?



The tradition probably goes back to at least the Futurists and the Dadaists, no?

[ClaRago]

whether a running engine is a percussive instrument, I still do not know

It would be interesting to see what other would say, I reckon an explosion is a percussive event, and an engine does a lot of boom.

How about automotive parts in general?

Percussive; windscreen wipers, yes- L/R indicators, yes-car horns ,no.
I concede for the engine, you can tune an engine but you can also tune a drum.

[vurt]

and a fish.

[ClaRago]

Clarago - Kiss Kiss Bing Bong: Good combination of electronic sounds and effects. It starts feeling a bit repetitive towards the end of the 3 minutes, however.

I agree, I should have used my cutting tool a bit more. Thanks for your vote.
By the way it's 4/4 & 120bpm.

[D.H. Miltz]

Thanks, GMoneh.

[RuediRena]

RuediRena - Deadly Drummer Boy: Screaming to become part of a full track.

Oh no, no, no.

To our simple minimalistic minds this clearly says "I'm complete!".

You might take it though to add some superfluous national hymny thingy if you are more of the baroque type.

Even we might consider to make some pirate hymn to accompany Zombie Queen's Volvo on its adventures.

Thanks to ClaRago for two points and to Laguna Rising for mentioning us honorably.

[kryptonaut]

kryptonaut - ICBM: What a complex piece… It never stays the same, and that makes it very interesting. The long reverb of the bass drums muddies a little bit in the more complex parts, but that's a nitpick, and you could argue that it's on purpose. Good work.

phasey, but controlled multi-kulti workshop.

Thanks for the reviews, they are very much appreciated!

[forw]

Doc Jon, thanks alot for your no.1 vote!

[jovexli]

and a fish.

and a salad.

[rp314]

Thank you Mello and kryptonauts, ClaRago, Laguna Rising and Zombie Queen for the votes.

And thanks, as always, to those who put in the effort to write reviews.

I've got some family matters to tend to during the next six weeks which will pretty much keep me away from the MIDI setup but plan to check in to hear what crazy stuff comes out of the next contest.

[mellotronaut]

a passionate salad hug for Robonaut and the Emeralds and The Biener Boys
an impactable big hug to Bzur
and a panoramic review hug Geh and the Moneys

[vurt]

for someone who rarely uses percussive elements, im doing quite well this month
thanks for the votes so far everyone