Random-storykeeper's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Livriut (AIM 2023)]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

I'm glad you were able to get a lot of music out of having a cold, even down to sampling wiping your nose. Hopefully you have recovered and gotten plenty of rest since then.

Everything in this track feels very hushed and loopy, which definitely fits the concept of dealing with a cold. For me, when it gets bad, everything feels stuffed and it feels like I can't do anything else besides lie down and wait for it to go away, and I think this piece really captures this down to the core. The counterpoint and softer textures are quite cozy and I like that a lot.

There's a cuteness to the art inspiration that I feel like the melody and its instruments manage to convey. It's interesting to hear this interpretation of the art, given that its focus was more on a powerful sneeze rather than a cold. If I had to give a generous interpretation, I'd say this piece could fit in with the aftermath of the explosion from the character, where everything seems to be still and floaty shortly after the moment of impact.

Overall, I like that there's a calmness underneath all the stuffiness. It feels like music I can put on to help me fall asleep nice and soundly. The part at 3:41 was especially nice; I love the melody that plays against the long held chords and how the recurring continuum is played at a softer, lower octave with the higher chords as accompaniment. I also enjoyed how the tempo starts picking up at 4:22 - it felt like a very seamless sort of shift in the track.

[AIM - Cadaver Household]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

What stands out most to me about this entry is its structure. There's two main metal sections that are prefaced with these synthy, news reel-style chords. I think the hard cut to the guitars works well given the art inspiration. The juxtaposition of these two contrasting styles is a great approach to the contrast between the news scene and the super unsettling figure in the mirror. There is no buildup; it's just exactly what you suspect and the composition captures this appropriately.

There's a couple of issues here that come to mind. The most prevalent one is the production - this entry stands in a weird place where it feels like it's so in-your-face but also doesn't hit hard enough, particularly in the percussion. That snare feels way too soft and doesn't go with the guitars at all and this mismatch makes the creepier composition feel like it's missing that extra sort of kick to get the emotion across thoroughly. Secondly, when the second "news" section comes up again at 1:58, it feels like the extended part is looping at 2:03 and I wish it were less obvious that these parts were copied and pasted next to one another.

Overall, this entry is quite difficult to get into because of how dissonant and weird it is, however, I believe there is a good semblance of the composition and sound design to the art inspiration. There does seem to be a flow to how the metal part progresses through its sections and I do like the wild guitar solo that is played on top of the already intense second main section. I wish there was more of a conclusion rather than a fadeout, but I think the setup in terms of drawing inspiration from the art and putting it into music made for a strange and terrifying listening experience.

[AIM - Delusion]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

What I love most about this entry is its interpretation of the art. I think the music is very good at capturing this sense of elevation and freedom simultaneously. The lyrics are powerful - I wish they had some more clarity so the lyrics can be heard without having to look at the description, but their placement in the track was absolutely satisfying. I also love the buildup and the general arc. The piece is always evolving and takes me along for the ride every step of the way.

Despite my love for the compositional ideas in this track, I feel like its strengths are also its weakness. To me, this entry feels like the abridged version of a track that is double its current length and given that this song is only about 3.5 minutes, I think there was way more room to spend more time really developing some of these ideas that come up briefly before shifting to other ideas. For instance, at 0:54 we're already going through a big sweep that feels like should have come at least in the midpoint of the track but it's not even a minute through. Everything is constantly coming and going and I wonder if that was done to convey memories flashing back rapidly, but in the end, it doesn't make the track that impactful for me after it finishes. It's hard to get behind the mix of emotions when everything feels rushed.

Overall, I love the ideas and the approach to the art. This entry really captures the elevation and the feeling of losing yourself in the lights, but in an escapist way. It's an entry that is very easy to enjoy the second it starts playing. I just wish I had a more well-rounded experience coming out of it, because every section was on point.

[Beneath (AIM 2023)]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

It's awesome that you made a lot of sounds in this track from scratch and I think that helps give the piece more of a distinct identity. I love the way the atmosphere is conveyed in this entry - there's an unsettling tension but almost everything is hushed and quiet. I feel like I'm underwater with this creature and it's terrifying and beautiful, all at the same time. Hearing the sound designs made for this track on your SoundCloud before they were added was super interesting, especially hearing how loud some of these sounds were before they went into the track.

Almost every sound in this entry has just the right blend for this atmosphere. The only part that really stuck out and didn't feel like it quite fit in was the string that comes up at the beginning and the end. I think it worked well when it was first introduced, but I felt like at the end where it feels like we are moving deeper into the abyss, that the sound of that string instrument would have also evolved or been a little more subtle in the way it is played rather than being so upfront. But aside from that, I think everything, especially the sounds made from scratch, worked perfectly.

Overall, it felt like there was a strong understanding of how to draw inspiration from the art and evoke the emotion, atmosphere and scale through the music. I love this entry and its attention to detail is superb. By far, the rhythmic "Underwater Atmosphere" and the haunting "horror radio choir.wav" were my favourite sounds in the entire piece. I'd love to hear or see more about the process it took to create these sounds. Fantastic work!

JazzDew responds:

tysm for the review !! :D i'll try working on a sort of breakdown video of it sometime in the future !
speaking of the intro's and the ending i will admit im kinda still a newbie when it comes to introducing a track and ending it, but i will try my best to learn how to get better at them ! :D

but overall thank you for the review on my submission ! this was something i did out of boredom and as a way to experiment to see if i still have the skill from my old track 'strike against god' ! :D

[AIM 2023 - Psychedelic Landscape]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

As far as interpreting the general sort of emotion one could get from this art, I think this entry hits that spot well enough. Those repeating two notes that make up the bulk of this piece are nicely placed and I like being able to focus on them as the throughline while the pads and piano sort of shift underneath it. You mentioned getting a calmness from the art and I think that comes across in the music quite well.

With the chosen art inspiration being abstract, I feel like there was more of an opportunity to explore that more in the music. There are these three main colours of varying shades splayed throughout the canvas and with the simple setup of the composition, there could have been a lot more showcasing of timbral changes, shifting in and out of certain sounds and instruments and really playing around with phrasing, filtering, phrasing, etc. Right now, this entry is very straightforward and uniform in its presentation and while it is very calming and the interpretation of the emotions from the art makes sense, I think having that extra touch to the sound design and effects could have created a more interesting and dynamic sort of listening experience.

As it is, this entry is fine - the composition flows well through the sections and I like how spread out the lower end feels with the piano. I also enjoyed the quieter section with the resonant chiptune melody at 1:37.

[Contrasts. (AIM 2023)]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

I find this entry to be incredibly well crafted and moving. There's something so heartbreaking about the description and its interpretation of the art, and I feel like this piece manages to capture the journey into the daydream and out of it. For me, the dream concept here feels like it's used as a form of escapism for temporary satisfaction and comfort before going back to the hardships of life. That fleeting moment of happiness gone in a moment's notice is what drives the emotion here for me.

What really shines through in this piece is the piano. I love the way it starts with a sort of heavily reverbed melancholy tone and flows into this slow-building section where the piano is mostly just repeating a single note with slight inflections here and there. This repetition what makes everything fall into place. It's like you're walking through this dreamland and all these pads and strings shifting in and out are like the environment being formed around you as you move forward.

I love that hard cut after all the buildup at 2:51 where the softer pads linger for a few seconds - still hanging onto a dream as long as your state of mind allows. The piano at the end almost sounds a bit out-of-tune and a little distorted at times (though I can't tell if that's just vinyl scratch fx) and it's absolutely heart-wrenching, makes reality sound so miserable.

If I had to point out an issue, I was having trouble understanding the use of sound effects at the beginning of this piece. I think the intro was supposed to be like a tape recorder, or was it a page turning? It was confusing to understand the role these sounds serve to getting the listener immersed in this dream-like environment. I wonder if the daydream concept would be more effectively conveyed if the recorded sounds were taken out entirely and the "close your eyes" part (which I assume these sfx were supposed to portray) were showcased more in the music itself.

Other than that, I wasn't super into this entry the first time I listened to it, but the more it comes up, the more the emotional weight it carried finally got to me. It's really the journey and the buildup in the middle section that finally got to me.

[AIM - Routed Cerebrum]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

What this piece excels at is capturing the overstimulation of the bright, busy city lights from the art which also seems to be the artist's intention with this character. There's also this sense of disorientation as the track is not being pushed forward by melodies or chords but by sounds and rhythms creating this lively and bustling texture. It's all presented in an intriguing way where I really feel like I am that character in the art, getting disoriented taking in the city.

There's so many interesting sounds in the layers that warrant many replays. The pacing is also impeccable - the way the track moves through sections, lingering and changing through ideas feels natural and nothing overstays its welcome or moves too quickly. While the sounds are more percussive and non-melodic, I think the few bits of melody are fantastic. When I start to familiarize myself with AIM entries, I normally like to play all of them in the playlist in one go without looking at the titles, and 1:41 instantly jumped out at me on my first listen through the playlist. There's something so bright and elevated about the melody and the way it feels like it kind of rises above the rest of the sounds.

Overall, I think this entry is sublime. I don't know if it feels like too different from your compositional style, at least in AIM. I do think the "noise" elements are executed more stylistically in a way that captures the scene in the art and the sensation of experiencing said scene and that makes for a more interesting listen. It's definitely my favourite entry you've done for AIM since "Twin Cities Under Blue Sky".

[Optimus Primal [Art Inspired Music 2023]]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

The art has a very striking image of a transformer with gorilla fur and hands, and I think this track approaches this appropriately, combining jungle-esque rhythms with a melodic, robotic loop. It was wild to hear the first time I put this track on (pun intended) - that robot sound that dominates the beginning and end is captivating and its repetition gets that "cog in the machine" concept across. I like the idea of interpreting this art as a means of reaching into your inner beast and fighting for your own individuality rather than just living by the machine alone.

While the machine concept is executed well in the music, I'm not really sure if I get the conclusion. If you're marching to the beat of your own drum, why is the ending section nearly identical to the beginning? Is this supposed to be you surrounded by the other cogs? But if so, then why does the perspective of the musical narrative shift from being your perspective to what's in the surroundings? I would think marching to the beat of your own drum would entail playing around with the rhythm of the main melody, perhaps adding a little extra counterpoint or something instead of it being very much an echo of the beginning.

Overall, I think this entry has a neat concept and a catchy sort of recurring loop. Personally I wish the arc were conveyed more prominently at the conclusion, but I enjoyed the general flow, especially the part with the piano melody and the high synths carrying that same melody at 3:20. The way that whole section builds up is top-notch.

Trackers responds:

Thanks RSK!

Is this supposed to be you surrounded by the other cogs?

Yes, that's right. The reality is noone will notice you. The melody is internal thought and awakening. Ultimately though, you continue as a cog, different, but still a cog. It's a bit grim heh. Thanks for the detail, really appreciate it 😀

[AIM - My oasis]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

The violin and flute seem like they are being used to characterize the two people in the inspiration by having these two instruments exchange the same melody and play counterpoint to one another, and I think that was a great approach to connecting the music to the art. It was a nice touch having one instrument be a bit quieter, and I think reflects the perspective of both individuals quite well.

The main melody has a lot of heartache and longing to it and the flute handles this so beautifully, especially when it jumps to the lower octave at 1:55. I wish the violin sounded more humanized - it just sounded too synthetic, which is strange because the flute sounds fine. It might be the absence of vibrato in the long held notes of the violin, which are more present in the flute. As a result, I feel like the emotional weight is a bit lost when the violin is playing. The last notes also cut off too cleanly and I believe it would have been more ideal to let the tail ends naturally fade out on their own to really drive that sense of longing right to the end of the track.

That being said, I'll give a shoutout to this entry for incorporating a key change that doesn't sound clunky and out-of-place. Overall, great setup with the instruments and reflecting emotion and perspective that feel strongly connected to the art.

IndexatioN responds:

Thanks for the review! Actually, you're not the first one to point out the syntheticness(?) of the violin, and thanks for telling me the cause of it :)

[AIM - Horizon]

AIM 2023 Judge Review

This is an absolutely gorgeous entry that nails the sense of scope and perspective reflective of the tiny subject in the bottom-right corner of the art. I love every instrumental choice made here, from the chord progression to those beautiful pads that support the softer bells playing that continuum from the beginning. Every layer fits so effortlessly to create an atmosphere that feels very tall and wide.

Where I find this piece starts to lose me is in the percussion, which is probably very weird to say given that this is categorized as a D&B track. I keep going back and forth as to whether the fast drums actually fit into these beautiful melodic sounds. Some days, the drums seem fine. Other times, they come off as a huge distraction. I noted, at one point while listening, that the snare feels like it's competing with some of the instruments in the mix. I do think the fast percussion is a risky move to capture a breathtaking and otherwise ambient sort of scene. The melodic elements definitely give room for this faster composition - I just wonder if there was a way to introduce the percussion in a way that a listener would more easily acclimate to its presence.

Other than that, I really love the work you've done here really building out the progression of the track. I also noticed you used Sunvox to create this, which is awesome. I didn't realize Sunvox had piano sounds, or was that from a sample?

OVERSCORE responds:

Thank you for all the compliments and feedback! I wanted the percussion to drive the song but in a soft, subtle way. But my lack of mixing expertise has foiled my plans yet again! What a shame.
Yeah, SunVox does have a few piano sounds. A lot actually, they’re all pretty good.