Score: 8

"Curious..."

submission: SMG - Ghostly Galaxy -

date: December 16, 2009

Definitely a song for the intellectual minded. It makes excellent background noise for thinking or working on something.

The waltz like style was very cool, and something that seemed very unique to me. The two piano parts was also very nice, and the bass line added something else unique to it that made it just modern enough, without being "too revolutionary". The strings were also nice when they came in and were very fitting.

However, it was not perfect (this in no way means its bad!). The main melody was familiar. Whether you changed a famous classical song, copied, or came up with your own melody entirely it sounds EXTREMELY familiar. This makes the song predictable to the point where it ruins the song after a while. Well - not ruins. But makes its re-listen-ability less. This is something no musician in the right mind should want.

Some mix ups in the melody, and maybe a brief part with electronic drums and a tempo speedup (drums and tempo change at the same time of course) would perfect the song. Again, the melody is not bad. But it is predictable. And this makes the song boring after awhile. But other than that there's not much else to say about it.

Well Done.

Score: 0

"Seriously....?"

submission: Wyze - Tribute to Mickeymao

date: December 15, 2009

The jokes aren't funny. They're pathetic. The song is annoying. The voice is irritating. And the constant repetition of the synthesizers caused my head great discomfort.

All in all its pretty awful. Honestly. This is not being harsh or overly critical. You putting this song on newgrounds was an insult to the good music that is uploaded.

This song (if you can call it that) reminds one of a kidney stone. Painful and disgusting, but it brings sweet relief once its finally over.

Score: 8

"Just DANCE!"

submission: Booming Track- RAV3N! RMX

date: December 15, 2009

I can't honestly say that it was revolutionary or shockingly original, but I'll be damned I enjoyed it.

Its happy. It has a thudding base. It changes enough to stop from being ridiculously boring. Its good. You should be proud of this.

If I had to criticize anything it would be just this song is extremely similar to other songs in its genre (dance/techno). The fuzzy synths and thudding base are in no way a new thing to electronic music. That being said, there is a reason that they're used so often.

One last thing worth mentioning. The brief rap segment was great. That's what pushed it into "top 5 worthiness". That IS something I haven't heard too often in this genre. The rest of the song may be common place but that one brief moment wasn't; and it amazing.

Score: 6

"Definition of Average."

submission: Out of Options

date: December 15, 2009

Its not great. Its not bad. Its not good, but its not annoying. Its in that strange limbo in between that we call "average".

The introduction to the song was fantastic. It felt like it was really shaping up. The strings, while fitting, didn't seem to "sound right". Maybe its some chord mishaps or just my ears mishearing things but to me the strings seemed, while appropriate to the piece, seemed to just sound odd. Also, the woodblock-like noise, or xylophone, or whatever the instrument was, was incredibly out of place for this song. This piece is very melodic and dark, but that sound makes it sound almost comical with its sharp and ugly contrast. I would advise using either a violin or some sort of wind for that part other than that "woodblock".

The middle of the piece, as is the introduction, was very nice. It helped break up the song from being too repetitive while still seeming to fit its place. However, while I can notice the changes in the song, the entire thing still sounds very similar to the rest of it. I don't know why this is, but I think its most likely the repeats of the chords.

This song has great potential. It would probably go up another whole number grade or two if it didn't have annoying woodblock which is my main criticism. However, even without that, it would still be very average, and not very memorable. This is probably because of the huge amount of songs similar to this.

This genre (piano/strings with hip-hop drums) and trance/techno seem to plaguing newgrounds lately with their presence that they're becoming commonplace and unoriginal.

Score: 9

"Sublime"

submission: Colour My World

date: December 10, 2009

I have always had a soft spot for pianos. Ballads probably getting the largest and softest section of the spot.

This is good. Very good. Extremely relaxing, and yet somehow it carries a hint of sadness. Thoroughly enjoyable.

My one criticism is that I think that if the song was to have a jazz style drum set playing softly in the background (with brushes of course) than this song would of reached absolute perfection for what it is. Its simply grand.

This last thing is too petty to be a criticism. I liked it so much I wish it was longer.

Score: 3

"Perfect for an 8-bit song"

submission: Acid Paradox - B.B.B.

date: December 10, 2009

As I said, for an 8-bit song its perfectly fine. But there in itself is the problem. I will explain this in my review, but if you disagree, dear reader, than you probably won't care for my justifications.

Yes, back in the day 8-bit games were great. They were better than great. They were simple, yet challenging, and most importantly fun. However, I feel differently about their music. Their music wasn't great, it was good. And that good is conditional. It was good....for the time. It was the best that could of been made with the then-modern technology. But we've evolved past that for digital music. It can have higher quality, and make much more pleasant, and complex, songs.

That brings me to the review score. I find the creation of 8-bit songs far too eclectic, for almost all are inspired from some old video game, and not from one's own creativity. I find the 8-bit noises annoying and irritating. I do not care for entire songs made of these sounds. Normally, I would not bother to write a review about one. Especially since, as proven by the other review scores, not many other people will care for my personal opinion. However, your song was fortunate enough to make best of the week. And yours is not the only song of this style to accomplish that. I feel like these songs are all far too common, and do not deserve the huge amount of gratitude and appreciation that they're getting. I felt that, since I AM allowed to write a review of my personal opinion, then I should. And while doing so that I should mention what I think is a growing degradation towards the art of electronic music.

That being said, this particular 8-bit song does not seem as bad to me as others. There's just something a little..."different" about it. That's what got it the score it did. If you were to make a more "modern" song that wasn't so heavily influenced upon the works of others I think you could do quite well in composing your own works.

Score: 9

"Change is Gospel"

submission: Arkeny Skyliner

date: December 10, 2009

This song excels at what it does. It is a very well made ambient chill out song that is repetitive enough to allow someone to "zone-out" while putting in the right changes discretely, or obviously, at just the right times to keep it interesting and from stopping it from becoming annoying.

Its nothing groundbreaking. But its good. Plus, when I want to chill out, this is what I like. If it was ground breaking or just...different, it would distract me, and it probably wouldn't of been as good in that case.

Personally, I like the "boom" of the bass when it first enters. That part was done very well and when it occurs again and again it always sent a little pleasant "thrum" through me.

Score: 8

"I like I like"

submission: Hip-hop orchestral beat

date: December 10, 2009

I absolutely love fusions of hip-hop with classical music. Or classical music combine with any genre really. And this is good. Better than good compared to many other entries.

It is, however, anything I haven't heard before. The drum beat is repetitive and the horns/string parts are simplistic and unexciting. Some lyrics would improve the song, but variety in general would make up for it.

Its good. Not great. Its enjoyable. But not life changing or amazing. It makes great background noise, but doesn't deserve my full attenston as a listener.

Variety seems to be the key to most songs in unlocking their full potential. This is no exception.

Score: 7

"*Tinkle Tinkle*"

submission: never give up{DJ-Ce}

date: December 10, 2009

This song probably has one of the best and original intros that I've heard on newgrounds in some time. The piano part was also very good, very "bouncy", which I don't usually like but here it seemed alright.

However, although the distortion was good, the song was very long for what material there was. It was extremely repetitive in other words. There was basically two parts (an A and B) and then a combination of the two, so I suppose a C-part as well. Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing. However, since the song seemed to just go on and on with this idea for about 5 minutes it was just too much.

I think that maybe if the piano part was changed to a more "synthesizer" like part and given a little solo deal in the middle of the song it would break up the tedium of the piece. And all around shortening of the song would help.

That being said the song is in no way bad. It would be perfectly fine...if it didn't go on to the point of being irritating. But its irritating the way a small cute child can be. It gets on your nerves...but for some reason you still like it.

Score: 5

"Apparently I'm not the only one who likes Kirby."

submission: Battle Theme #43 *NEW!*

date: December 10, 2009

Reminds me a great deal of the epic boss fights in Kirby combined with the soundtrack of BlazBlue...

Enough of the fantasies. The song needs a huge volume boast in the treble section. The only parts I can hear easily are the bass and drums. And, from hearing the guitars and other parts in the background, I can tell that they're good. But I can't hear them...at least not well. Therefore, I don't count the song as being that "well".

Lastly, and this part is petty I'll admit, the ending accented notes would lead perfectly into a breakdown followed by the opening melody, and then the ending. I think if the song had a structure more like that it would improve greatly (along with the enhancements in your volume distribution.)