june contest - GOSSIP

[Glooper]

"Captain Starman" Glooper
This is such a great theme that I don't know where to begin. It sums up everything about the subject albeit in an inscrutable corny but memorable anthem. Its got chops and it's fun but best of all - it's got a heart. Many of the entries this month seem either too serious or too silly to me. This walks a fine line but doesn't step afoul the 'pretentious' or 'yuk' threshold. I think that's a feat well deserving of the galactic gold medal. Sure there's a few technical things I'd probably have done differently, but I'll save that for when my band does a cover of this as a hidden track on our next album.

... ... Wowwww ... Thanks You ... You've made my day!...

Glooper Captain Starman
What I liked most - Catchy tune
What I liked least - The serious singing style seemed at odds with the corny lyrics - could have been better if done as a p*ss-take?

Cheers for the review... Of course I was singing seriously. I'm singing about a serious subject. I really felt for Captain Starman and his pleight against the evil bug eyed aliens. The conviction in my voice is there to portray the emotions I feel about his lonely battle torn life. I mean, come on, this guys saves the entire universe... How can I not sing with passion!.























... serious singing, my arse, , I was cracking up after each take! (and so were the neighbours!)... ... I probably just have one of those voices, that sound mellodramatic whatever!

Ben

[plunge]

This contest wouldn't be half as fun without the feedback - both pos and neg. (And Plunge you still owe me one )

Earthtones:
I hate voting without hearing all the entries, but time dictates sometimes when I have limited access to a computer where I can dl mp3's. I can't dl mp3's at work and I did all my reviews at an internet cafe in town that costs $4/hour. If you send me an email I can get the file that way and I'd be glad to post a review today!

And I promise to listen to all the entries before voting next time.

[pepelogu]

First oh all a BIG thank you to Farlukar, Ixox, Sandy Dunn (especially, a No.1 wow ), Armadillo and Scuzzput for voting for me, really appreciated!

Also big, big thanks for everyone taking their time to review the submissions. I don't want to be worse myself so here are a few reviews:

Blaster78: Nice "big" athmospheric sound, excellent drums! Very nice synthsounds after 1:23. Overall a pleasant song. Only minus for not being very sci-fi.

Bitstreem: Excellent production! Superb sounds and nice drums. My favourite song overall, again only minus for, to me anyway, not being very sci-fi.

Earthtones: Cool swirley sounds, love the rough and gritty beats later on. I could easily see this in a action sci-fi flick.

Second skin: Nice chords and synths. Like the chorus in the end. Ends a little abruptedly (that can't be spelled right ) and it seems to dist just slightly...

Sleekmonth: Stunning production, love the basslines, drums, singing (especially that) well everything apart from the sync-lead sound, it just sound out of place to my ears.

Softegg: Very sci-fi i think, like the chord-progression, fx-sounds and pads. Very dramatic! Good fadeout. Raises my puls everytime i hear it.

Andreas E: Wierd but wonderful song. Nice chords, athmospheric sound. Uplifting in a wierd way. Like it better everytime i hear it!

Emerald Tablet: I just love the singing/talking in this song. Sounds almost oriental in some parts (in a good way of course). Great singing voice! Great athmospheric song.

7zark7: Slick drums and beats. Cool samples/voices. Very good production. Nice to hear the 303 still lives!

Sandy Dunn: A bit of "5th element" voices which i like. Sounds most like a sci-fi theme of all the contributions i think. And a good laugh at the end. Excellent.

Thats it for now maybe more tomorrow if i have the time...

[Wopelka]

wow already five votes ! thanks a lot my voters, there are so many great entries this month i am shocked, glad and honoured to appear in your top ten...

and cheers to all the reviewers. that's great to read comments from other listeners, and not only when it's about your own track.


Scuzzphut,

just a question, you voted for 'Space'... i suppose you meant MArmstrong ???

[scuzzphut]

Hhihi, no2 vote from the boy Alan Rough! Nice one Scotty!

(through gritted teeth) You're welcome, my friend




Wopelka - You're absoluely right - MArmstrong it is - will change it for the sake of clarity

[t-willy]

61 damn entries, hours of listening



the vote is in

lates

t-willy

[Beardedone]

Dor-X, YouTM, T-willy and Armadillo! Thanks so much for the votes guys.


And YouTM thanks for the insightful review. Your ears are finely tuned, dude.

Cheers,
Gordon

[mystahr]

Amazingly 6 votes allready this month

Thanks dor-x/farlukar/plunge/warbug/secondskin/wopelka
and thanks Tancos for the HM

I still have 20 tunes left to make into 10

[ahriakin]

Many thanks Bitstreem, Bastien and You. Glad ya liked it . Actually I already redid the mix since and made some of the changes suggested, great minds thinking alike . I'll pop up a link to that version when the comp.s done if you want (not that it's the center of your lives or anything ).
Again many thanks for the votes guys.

Also of course thanks to Mystahr and sdun110 for the comments, always appreciated.

Working on my own reviews atm so hopefully I can give something back in a day or so.

[slartibartfast]

As promised, the final batch of uneducated personally biased comments ....

Freeztar The Final Funktier
What I liked most - The atonal weirdness
What I liked least - The drums seem somewhat out of place

liqih Cozmetics
What I liked most - The dream-like background sounds
What I liked least - No real clear theme or mood created - lots of seemingly random janglings

UniCon Fragments of the Soul
What I liked most - Good rhythms and an evocative theme
What I liked least - A little slow to get going

infektedm SkyTown2
What I liked most - Great opening plucked sound and rhythm....
What I liked least - ...but fails to develop further on these

choochcat systems fink
What I liked most - The jazz-feel bass and drums rhythms contrasting with the spacy synth sounds
What I liked least - A somewhat confusing overall "feel"

bastien fsufussfusufufsusf
What I liked most - Volume changes hold attention throughout
What I liked least - Didn't really create an emotional response for me - particularly the noisy crackles

Nuisances Sonores Wrong System
What I liked most - Interesting sounds - especially the radio "static" sample
What I liked least - While it was technically and intellectually interesting, it didn't really generate an emotional response (for me anyway)

Armadillo T4 theme
What I liked most - Interesting spoken vocals and a great mix
What I liked least - The opening chord progression became somewhat repetitive

Sepheritoh Bio Nickles
What I liked most - An interesting variety of musical themes and sounds - great to see someone putting music to a video
What I liked least - The mood of the music didn't seem to capture the mood of the video - a little too laid-back

vurt day of the hyacynth
What I liked most - Minimalist approach
What I liked least - Plenty of noise, not much music

Sciche Drugs_Orgies_Viruses
What I liked most - Created an overall violent feel
What I liked least - Didn't quite hang together as a single piece of music

Sason Do you want to JAZZ?
What I liked most - Great jazz feel and great piano work. I really liked the vocoder work.
What I liked least - Took a little while to get started, and I'm not sure whether this really fits the "sci-fi" theme.

Sleek Month Intergalactic Eye
What I liked most - A great "tap the foot" feel, excellent mix of drum guitar and vocals
What I liked least - Some of the stereo panning was perhaps a little too wide, and therefore distracting

AndreasE Spaceship Tragedy
What I liked most - Uplifting organ theme
What I liked least - The "explosion" was overdone - went on too long

Beardedone The Test
What I liked most - Interesting orchestral tones
What I liked least - A bit disjointed?

Eric Bourne cometshine
What I liked most - Parts of this had a great combination of piano and synth sounds....
What I liked least - ....but the parts that didn't failed to hold my attention

hues love theme for robots
What I liked most - An interesting theme - once we got to it
What I liked least - The constant underlying buzzing sound, and the intro was too long

jax Atmosfera
What I liked most - The strings in a minor key created a strong anchor for this track and generated a melancholy feeling
What I liked least - The "fade out" ending

Ixox Evil Walk
What I liked most - A great theme, lovely woodwind sounds and great dream-like background sounds
What I liked least - The overall feel wasn't really "sci-fi", but would have been great as a theme for something like a TV murder mystery series

duncanparsons The Amoeba Variations
What I liked most - Great "penny whistle" sound and theme
What I liked least - the Rez sweeps and stereo field "ping pong" effects

mffs The day after
What I liked most - The whistling wind-like sound
What I liked least - The percussive clicks

Bl1tz Shebhar Vision
What I liked most - The synths, strings and bells create quite an eerie atmosphere
What I liked least - No overall theme or development

donkey tugger things
What I liked most - The driving guitar work
What I liked least - The vocal "aahs" needed more movement to generate interest

ianweb123 The Build
What I liked most - Nice "industrial" feel
What I liked least - Needed a little more work to avoid being repetitive

warbug BLEAK FUTURE
What I liked most - Great choice of movie samples, and the music and mix gives them space to be properly heard
What I liked least - The section from 1:17 on didn't seem connected to the first section

[Bitstreem]

@donkeytugger: Sci-fi needs more geetaargh, methinks. Your entry is a big step in the right direction. All bow down to the KVR God of Rawk!

@pepelogu, Armadillo, t-willy: Wow, thanks for the votes guys, much appreciated!

@pepelogu: Thank you very much for the review, glad you liked the tune!

@sdunn1110: Ogg-playing problem noted, I'll make sure to have both mp3- and ogg-format files available next time.

Well, since two different people now have pointed out the "lack of sci-fi in" my tune, I swear I'll break out my most cliched Theremin sounds and huge collection of Star Trek dialog outtake samples the next time there's a sci-fi-themed competition here. You want sci-fi? I'll give ya friggin' sci-fi!

Right, I'm off to spend another hot and sunny Sunday checking out apartments (I'm buying one this Summer), wish me luck...

Cheers,

Arne S.

[scuzzphut]

many fanx to T-William for the vote

[You™]

You™ SHADO Control
What I liked most - Interesting sci-fi intro
What I liked least - The clean guitar and organ made it sound more like a 1970's TV theme than a Sci-Fi theme - reminded me of Hawaii 5-0

First, thanks for taking the time to write a review for me. Second, I deliberately tried to sound like a 1970's TV theme! A 1970 sci-fi* theme to be exact. It's not as easy as you might think. Of course, it's probably not worth doing for most people but... The clean guitar and organ were pretty darn hard for me but not as difficult as trying to work out horn sections and all that interplay of the instruments. My normal mode of creating music is vastly different in approach and texture than this but I tried to pull it all together in the end with the editing and final instrumentation so that it sounded "me." And by 'me' I mean "You™!"

*And by sci-fi, I'm talking about a hip futuristic police force that protects Earth from criminally-minded extra-terrestrials. Not too different from "Hawaii 5-0" or "Mission Impossible."

[Beardedone]

Beardedone The Test
What I liked most - Interesting orchestral tones
What I liked least - A bit disjointed?

Thanks sdunn1110,

Disjointed yup - It's a Sci-Fi patent examiner theme so it's hard to follow, see?

Cheers,
Gordon

[bastien]

thanks for the comments sdunn1110. I must admit it was a bit of a tryout at putting together stuff that wasn't at all musical in a vague structure.

I was aiming for something a bit like the soundtrack to 'My Little Eye' (by far the best thing about that film, I may add!) - obviously I missed the mark a bit, but I hope that sheds some light...

I'll try and do something with a nice tune next month, assuming the theme isn't 'horrid racket'.

Cheers!