Battle of the beats 2005 - II: reviews by Contayjen
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 16:36.
Thsi is the best of the lot. The style and the quality of this track seem to point to our reigning champ Crank, using Reason, but thats just a guess. There is a lot of attention to the beats and I like the mellow feel. The oriental-feel chimes go really well and this stand out with the best production and attention to the structure. It flows along very nicely, everything in the right place and a very nice feel, which clearly makes it the best track in my opinion. Who ever this is, great track man.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 16:42.
This track takes 2nd place to me. It sounds like it could be Guano from the style with the glitchy beats, and the production quality on this is superb. There is a huge amount of attention to detail in the percussion and wierd sounds that it makes me jealous but the track lacks a certain catchyness that I like in my listening tunes. Still, the overall effect is very impressive and the musical ideas are presented with exceptional clarity.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 16:47.
This oneis my 3rd place selection. The production lacks sheen but the emotion and energy in this track is very infectious..certainly danceable. The vocals go very well, though maybe repeated a few too many times without variation..maybe some fx would help to give some extra variation. The overall groove is really bouncy, although the bass riff is simple it carries it all along nicely. The cheesy stop-start beat DJ effects were maybe a bit unneccessary but didnt bring it down at all. While there could be some more sparkle to the mix, it is very tight and solid with plenty of bass. I have no idea who this is, but I like this one a lot. Nice groove man.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 16:52.
The sounds in this track are great and its the roughest one of the lot. The intro 'screaming angel' type sound sets the scene nicely and that bass kicks fucken ass. Do I hear a couple of Ed Rush scratch samples in there? The power in this track is amazing, this comes form the bass which is really heavily distorted, maybe slightly too much, which makes it muddy at times. Whatever man, it sounds the bomb and this track would get me on the floor everytime. The structure is good for a dance track, I enjoyed this one a lot. Good work fella.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 17:04.
A great intro to this track, and some tasty breaks too. The trancey-bleepy synth and the acid riff are both cool but maybe more break-beat focused than hard-ass jungely-dnb which is what the rest of the track is. The slow-down bit is a bit of gimmick that would spoil my flow on the dancefloor, I dont thnk it fits. There is a lot of good stuff in this tune but I think it lacks the variety to be up their with the best. Most of the track is very danceable, it has heaps of power and strong beats, which is a good thing for a dnb tune in my opinion.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 17:42.
Nice crunchy throbbing synth in this, which I like, and the tight rolling beats too. Overall though the track lacks direction and flow. Nice filters on the drums, I like that effect, dont use it enough myself. The stop-start beats before the 2nd drop dont seem to fit in. A snare ramp or something might make the drop heavier instead. Another synth/instrument in this would this track help it out loads I reckon, it seems there is space for it.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 17:37.
Great ambience for the intro, but I didnt like the cheesy detuned synth. The ambience overall is really nice, good 3D backdrop. The beat is tight but not hard enough for my liking, and the track lacks variety after 1:30 or so. I think the bass riff is used too much. Overall i think, the dark ambience is fantastic but the bass riff is too repetitive and I dont like that detuned synth which brings it down a bit. Some great ideas in here though, real Doom-style backdrop.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 17:32.
Lots of good things about this track, but its let down by the structuer/arrangement. Good variation, some phat sounds, some interesting sounds and samples too. The beats could have been stronger in my opinion and it could have gelled better together in the mix. It often lacks direction and flow, though lots of good riffs and detailed beats.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 22:52.
Some good ideas in here, the bass is phat and the main synth riff is cool, but this track relies on these ideas too much. The beats are detailed but could be a bit heavier. I think there is room for more sounds.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 22:59.
This track has a laid back quality, but the bass seems a bit random at times, the beats are too quiet or muffled. While there is structure, there isn't enough going on for 7 minutes. There is some clipping around 4:52 and while the section around this time is interesting musically, the beats are too freaky for dnb, its quite experimental in its feel. Room for improvement, or for changing it to a completely different style, maybe more downtempo.
Submitted by Contayjen on Wed, 2005-08-17 23:06.
Nice pads, nice glitches in the drums, I like those, but there is far too much reverb on the drums which gives it that 'empty club' sound, which I dont like. Plenty distortions roughs it up, and the drum work is hard and glitchy, but there isn't much else going on. The same bass melody gets tedious. It has a surreal feel overall. I think is room for more stuff to be going on and there is some clipping in the last 20s.
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