july contest ... GOSSIP

[Ixox]

IXOX: Briliant. Smooth. You've got shitloads of class. Shortlisted

Ixox - Un tout dernier tango - very theatrical, very cool.

Thanks a lot Techbot and Ugo for your reviews and for the nice words....

Ixox/Un tout dernier tango - The tango master returns. Somehow, the French language seems a natural fit for this kind of romantically charged dance. I like the sound of the Sam trumpet. On the nitpick front: the brushed cymbals seem a bit erratic and out of time in the intro, and I'm not too sure about that snare sound. The violin (Kirk Hunter?) does an admirable job; some of the higher passages bring the artificiality to notice, but it's probably as good as you can expect without a live player. In a perfect world, every home studio would come with a pet string quartet. If you didn't need them for a track, you could have them retile the roof or something. But these are small complaints; this is a proud, confident tango, well arranged. And "my wife (breathing)" on your gear list made me laugh.

Thanks Barnadine for this long review.
Now that you said, the hithat in the the intro sounds weird.. And i agree about the the snare sound. The kit is a cheap one from wizoosounds. Maybe too cheap.
Thanks for the words that follows these little problems.

Ixox: Un tout dernier tango. Very nice work. Love it when the vocals kick in. Good call singing on this one!

I didn't want to sing at first but that came easely so i kept it. I'm glad you like it.

ixox - Un tout dernier tango -
Another tango, hmm. Violins fairly convincing. The cello in the left channel isn't however, and it makes me listen harder to the violins. Minus points for fade-out.

Thanks for your reviews and remarks. I don't like fade out either when but i found this one with a big change before was OK.


Thanks again for all these reviews...

[Glooper]

Unqualified reviews for July as Glooper's download tool puts them on my machine. Not going into great detail here, PM me if you want explanations. I feel it's my duty if I've entered to do reviews. So, without further delay....

It was actually Garret that made this download tool..

Glooper - DiscoMission
Where are those vocals from? Excellent break at 1:12, I love it.

Cheers mate...

I'll leave the original source of the vocals a mystry for a while..... and see if anyone can find them in their original songs (Which I haven't actually heard either!)

Ben

[aldred]

Aldred - Twinkletoes

Aptly named. I'd love to hear compositions like this played by a live orchestra. Do you ever get a chance to have this happen?

No, never. You know one daft enough? I'm just saving up for Cubase+Miroslav so I can go mad. Thanks!

aldred-twinkle toes-holy shit man!!! i give up!!! i'm putting an end to my hobby as a crappy musician. awesome work.

One down another few million to go!:lol: Thanks!

mark

[Barnadine]

Barnadine channels Knockman for July, with an equally haunting set of instrumentation. Real nylon string guitar or sampled? Tango anyone?

Thanks, rockstar_not.

That's me on a real nylon string (as you can tell by the sloppy timing ). My favourite guitar.

The knockman comparison's a nice one. It does have a bit of that theatrical quality he does so well. Does me good to write from a fictional perspective every once in a while.

I tried singing it in normal Australian first, but it didn't quite fit. So I poshed it up a notch. Bam.

[rockstar_not]

Barnadine channels Knockman for July, with an equally haunting set of instrumentation. Real nylon string guitar or sampled? Tango anyone?

Thanks, rockstar_not.

That's me on a real nylon string (as you can tell by the sloppy timing ). My favourite guitar.

My impression was the opposite - I thought it was fairly clean timing and therefore led me to believe that perhaps it was programmed, but with care to make it sound natural. I'm listening to it again right now - I wouldn't call that sloppy at all, very nice playing. How about the other instruments, all acoustic as well (accordian and piano?)

-Scott

[Barnadine]

Cheers, Scott. Everything else is genuinely fake. Omnisynth for the accordion and piano.

Thanks for listening.

[Wopelka]

By a famous composer...

NAME THAT TUNE!

J.Strauss - Blue Danube

nice one (the name shift, too).

[Col.G]

What afterparties were you at? Yeah they cut up but it was all in good fun, what did you look like? maybe i saw you. I had a press pass courtesy of an NBC cameraman.

My cousin Kristyn is a producer for CNN out of their New York News Bureau and she asked me if I wanted to go to Jazzy Jeffs afterparty. I said no so she took my sister. They told me it was packed and kind of a pain in the ass and JJ wasn't coming on till late so they went to the Kimmel.

[Col.G]

Col G - MC Loser
If the muppet show was still on TV, I can picture this with Animal doing the rap. Very entertaining. Here's what I would like to hear on this song - if you know Adrian Belew, have him show up with his fretless 6 string. Very 'Twang Bar King' kind of material, and that's a plus in my book.

I love the Muppets. I watched Sesame Street when I was a kid. Those damn Muppets taught me more about reading than I learned in school.
I was gonna add some of the exact kind of guitar you mentioned. But I figured you guys were sick of hearing my weird guitar playing so I kept it clean.
Next month more bizarre guitar, I promise.
Thanks for listening and for you cool review RockNot

[Diek]

I've just uploaded my entry.

Still Hot!

I ever liked the mixture of very pleasent music and compromised lyrics that's in reggae (not pretendig to be in the height of the masters ) while making you dance .

This track gave me a lot of work, so I hope you like it.

PEACE

LOVE and

RESPECT

[respirator]

Markleford, rioazul: Very enjoyable. The contrast between the latin-ish stuff and the distorted guitar first and last and slapped bass in between I’m not so sure about – but without them I would probably call this cheesy. So good effort! And danceable.

Softegg, passage: I like this. Some at least. The elements are kind off set in stone throughout. Not much development or air. But they work beautifully. Not so danceable, but some.

Thomekk, lalala: Another fine track. The guitar is a bit crude and the voice is discretely unsettling. Up-to-date rock (nice to hear instead of the out-of-date stuff that seems to flourish here). Not so danceable, but ok.

Tuz, Eyenipplevoidoid: Madness, which is fun. I wouldn’t dance to this, but then I don’t do drugs. Very entertaining piece. Some production issues perhaps, but who cares. This got attitude.

PepeLogu, Kvr: Nicely done, but to my strange ears not so exciting.

Kaze, Jinro and other spirits: 3/4 elegance. Love the ambience this creates. Very well done!

Col.G., MC Loser: He, funky. Muppet show meets James Brown. Good fun. Even cowbells.

Warbug, Doa: Not exactly my genre. But this seems well done, good production. I could see people dance to this. Musical.

Glooper, Disco Mission: This track accomplishes sounding pretty contemporary and very commercial and at the same time reaches back to earlier times. Top production. Not my kind off music, but danceable and impeccable.

Scamme, It’s all synthetic: It is indeed. Not my cup of tea. I have a nightmarish vision of someone dancing to this at my high school in the late 80’s. In pastels and horrible hairdos.

Mystahr, Summersbreeze: Hm. Sounds are good. Mood is nice. But I feel something’s missing. The sound from about 1:07 helps. Perhaps a solid percussion element to make this rather funky and catchy track danceable. But top piece as always.

Techbot, Ballam de nana Heydum De: Party track! Love it. Great fun. I dance even though I’m sitting well-behaved at my office. It looses some momentum as the start of the track is absolutely outstanding.

Nikp2000, the Bollywood Hillbillies: I appreciate the concept and it’s almost there. It misses somehow the final touch that could make this truly great, but a favourite so far.

Joence: No dl.

MattG: No dl.

Barnadine, Man Of Grace: You could fill in the space of the great Peter Skellern, easily. You just need a big orchestra. You’ve got it! Top piece. Not so much dance, perhaps. But who cares. The theatrical qualities of this is almost too good to be wasted on a KvR monthly.

Andy., Summer on The Sea: Sea samples and a nice if somewhat bland track. Very summer-ish.

Kovacs, What I Want To Do: The intro-guitar reminds me of some major hit. Arrgggh. Can’t remember. Never mind. This is quite good. The vocal could be produces differently and melted better with the backing. But it shows definite potential. Like it.

You, Feedback and Oscillate: The title promised some sort of sonic experimenting and there is some. But it melds nicely into a more main stream track that is very toe-tapping. Enjoyed it mucho!

Mchlwlsn, Seeker: Hm. Good production. Doesn’t grab me.

Freeztar, So Danco Samba: Very aggressive production (ear buds). Edgy and piercing. Doesn’t suite the track I think. The track it self is well done, but doesn’t really move me (literally as well as metaphorically).

Ixox, Un Tout Dernier Tango: Some of the sampled strings almost work, despite my dislike of such. The track is not as coherent as some of you best works, but it keeps me interested throughout. Even if I don’t understand a word. Could see some French people dance to this. The fade out is cheap.

Herodotus, Frog don’t dance: Interlude-ish (?!?). Or suspense-keeping. Anyway. Like it a lot. Very fragile and listenable.

Jaidy, Zisorzat: This is sort of a mess to me. Some early technopop elements and a lot of other stuff. Incoherent. But with some good elements.

Beardedone, Spinner Fall: Now if you could play this live and get a great band you could be a serious contender to mr. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy himself. You just need the funny hat. Another leap forward for the jazz Meastro of KvR. Good, good stuff.

Scarabaues, The return of Fonk’n’stein: Some funk elements, but I’m not convinced. Good style exercise.

Rsmus7, Poddies Dance: What are poddies? (… google, google, google …) ah! Nice track. Not jumping at you with originality, but some very good elements and fine overall coherence and production. Good luck with getting on them pods.

Ugo, Bonfire: A good track that somehow fails to move me (or I fail to be moved by it). No apparent flaws though. Good stuff.

Aieda_cin, Forrage: I have really enjoyed some of your vocal stuff in the past. This is very good also, but not as… As Ugo’s track it’s without flaws and really well produced.

Vurt, Dance Or Die It’s your choice: Mr. Vurt, you’re a most welcome addition to these contests. This is great. Some could even dance to this, I bet. I don’t care if this is “accidental” or “improvised” or done very quickly (or slowly for that matter). I like it.

Respirator: Hmm.

Khepira, Ikt Hut Eit: I like the attitude. The rest need some grit and less synthesizer shine IMO. But well done track, good economy. Good production. Danceable.

GregJazz, All I want to do is Dance: Obvious pastiche. I used to like this kind of music (+15 years ago). This is very well done (and then some). But honestly. Not in 2005. Or is it just me?

Pheleep, Make Music For Fun: Amen to that. And good piece too!

Wilkoryte, Slowdance: When you want to do something cheesy then do it with a vengeance! Yeah. Perfect slow dance tune. The lovers are so into one another that they need some non-intrusive easy listening. Nailed that without a flaw. Nice, contained guitar playing.

Astanine, Halothane: Bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling. BLING! You could probably dance to this, but to much bling.

Aldred, Twinkle Toes: Riverdance?! I didn’t get that either. Is this an ironic tune? If it is, thumbs up. If not, sorry! (Nice production, though).

AndreasE, Dance of the Animals: I’ve not been too kind to your entries in the past, I think. Let me remedy that: This is awesome. I’m still laughing. And at the same time I have strange farm images on my mind (don’t ask). Cool!

Knockman, Harimogura: Well the soft spoken Knockman sounds like a scary ninja or something in his native tongue. Intriguing, would like to hear you sing more in Japanese. Not so sure about the sampled brass. But otherwise top, top piece as always. Dance? Nah.

Bitcrusher, My First Guru: Some nice synth-work. Seem a bit anonymous to me. Sorry.

Rockstar_not, Dance song Serial no. 1: Grooves nicely. Would have been a good backing to some vocal. As an instrumental it’s a bit lacking. But very well put together.

Ja.x, Toast Yourself: Strange: This’ fascinating. Very off in a good way. I like this. It’s weird.

Patrick9, Konversation: Massive. It’s almost overwhelming. But it’s very well done. Not my style, but nevertheless.

Katanaman, Dance: I tapped my foot. Though I’m not sure, where you want to go with this. A bit anonymous for an instrumental track.

Shuhzen, Epic Shapes Elapse: Again a very well done piece, that doesn’t move me. Flawless production, good sounds and elements. Even got a groove going. Though the dancing I see for myself when listening to this is very frantic.

Hovmod, Last Farewell Tango: This is a more Norwegian than Argentinean Tango. Very sad, but with a Nordic lightness. I’m not so fond of sampled instrument – this would have been great with real musicians, perhaps you could interest Jan Garbarek? I like it. Good composition, nice and ligh production (a welcome change in this contest).

Farlukar, Batium: Bum, bum, bum, de-da-da. Nice track. The distortion takes away the risk of cheese. Enjoyable.

Scuzzphut, Screamer: I like this! It got some edge. And a nice groove. Cool track.

Damstraversaz, Final Pépé au Bal: I don’t know what a pépé is, but it sure sounds interesting. Highly original take on the theme. Top piece. Love it.

TristezaOrange, BipolarBear: (I read bipolar beer at first – it’s summer and I’m stuck in an office). Fun track. The disparate elements tells an intriguing story. I’m sure of it, though I don’t quite get the story.

Mully, U Belong 2 Me: Interesting, “silky” production. The guitar in the intro works very well. Very commercial. Good hook. Good details. Top piece.

Armadillo, Panther: Another very well put together track. I like the vocal, very entertaining track. Definitely danceable.

Liqih, Tip Tap Stomp: This goes to prove that you can come along way with very simple tools. Perhaps the best track this month according to the theme. Top piece. Love the economy of this.

Richiebee, Dance To This: Impeccable but dated to my ears. The baritone sax sample is awful. The rest is well done.

Wopelka, The Cave Hall Electro Menuet: Interesting (and good) take on a 3/4 rhythm. The cello sticks out (not in a good way). The rest is reassuringly chaotic.

JamesB, MooShoo: Easy listening from yesteryear. You can do better (obvious talent on display).

Lady J, Jump And Wind: OMG commercial fatigue after 10 secs. Who could possibly dance to this, let alone enjoy it. As always a production that sounds very commercial (professional) in comparison with most stuff in here.

[aldred]

Aldred, Twinkle Toes: Riverdance?! I didn’t get that either. Is this an ironic tune? If it is, thumbs up. If not, sorry! (Nice production, though).

Riverdance ? Please someone kill me if I ever give anybody that impression again. Nope, it's not ironic - just a jig. Thanks!

Here's some irony (stolen from Viz TopTips)....
"Give your child Riverdance practice by cellotaping their arms to their sides and sending them out on an icy morning."

mark

[respirator]

Aldred, Twinkle Toes: Riverdance?! I didn’t get that either. Is this an ironic tune? If it is, thumbs up. If not, sorry! (Nice production, though).

Riverdance ? Please someone kill me if I ever give anybody that impression again. Nope, it's not ironic - just a jig. Thanks!

Here's some irony (stolen from Viz TopTips)....
"Give your child Riverdance practice by cellotaping their arms to their sides and sending them out on an icy morning."

mark

I'm truly sorry then. Ascribe it to my ignorance. Do they dance riverdance to jigs, then?

[j_T]

Scarabaeus, The return of Fonk’n’stein: Some funk elements, but I’m not convinced. Good style exercise.

Thanks for the review

Regards,

Tommy

[aldred]

Aldred, Twinkle Toes: Riverdance?! I didn’t get that either. Is this an ironic tune? If it is, thumbs up. If not, sorry! (Nice production, though).

Riverdance ? Please someone kill me if I ever give anybody that impression again. Nope, it's not ironic - just a jig. Thanks!

Here's some irony (stolen from Viz TopTips)....
"Give your child Riverdance practice by cellotaping their arms to their sides and sending them out on an icy morning."

mark

I'm truly sorry then. Ascribe it to my ignorance. Do they dance riverdance to jigs, then?

God knows. I suppose it must be jig-type music. Then again, I'm not exactly clear on what a jig is myself.

Keep them coming! It's interesting to find out how people hear your music.

mark