Quarl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[where i should have zagged]

Love those breaks, kit sounds like it was put together by a goddess of drums, praise Àyàn! Not the "biggest" sound compared to what them bass music people are making but def a romantic IDM jam, honors the feel good spirit of the classic Flim, the only IDM song ever written as far as some people are concerned. One day IDM artists will escape living under the thumb of Flim, CURSE YOU FLIM D:<

[NINJAz]

Came for the sick breaks and stayed for the clean instrumentations. Radical jungle sounds <3

[Head Up High]

It sucks I keep hitting your music when I'm on my tablet, I've been wanting to say how much I loved that dnb you did a while ago, time passed, here we are today. Sick track, awesome work. I'll listen to it again later when I have a better sound get-up but I'm not missing an opportunity this time to say "fuck yeah, shit is tight."

ADR3-N responds:

If it sounds good on the tablet, that's good enough for me! After all, that's what mastering is for. Now, if it's actually good enough to go out and get the proper sound system going, that warms my friggin heart

Also, I just wanted to say that before I was any good at this music biz, I always looked up to you for insight. You've inspired me a lot through the years. Poke me with a track would ya?

[SCREAM LOUDER! - Wilieu & Synami -]

Love hearing fresh ideas. Suppose plenty of artists have achieved similar sounds in past decades, my generation was all Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. Suppose the bass music scene borrowed alot of Avant garde ideas applying this kind of industrial sound to rhythm but you've re-deconstructed the music into a mish-mash of industrial noise.

I fuckin love it.

[Wilieu & Synami - SCREAM LOUDER! [Ives' Eccentric Abstraction RMX]]

Clean, loud, inventive... I'll have to check out the source material later but I love the rhythmic irrelevance vs momentary moments of music and fluxist nonsense. Very creative remix!

[Maximum Power]

If I ever like something without dropping a review it's because you already know how cool your music is, stop showing off. Write something bad for once :p

[The Devil's Slide / New Life]

It's painful to admit, I skipped around at first to get my bearings. I'm attention deficit but when I read "...these pieces are dear to me, so more than technical feedback I would love to hear how they make you feel..." I felt compelled to really give this a full listen from start to end. Art is an experience after all...

Wouldn't say I heard complex textures or patches but I love the simplicity. Good minimalism is beautiful, that build up in track one was magic. That climax gets grating with high frequencies though, I'd have pushed the sub bass more to counter it. I can hear a bass, wave shape looks like your compressing to a certain degree but there is so much room in the spectrum to hit further tones. Mix isn't always easy, no recipe works every time but I notice so many sound artists pick weird limits that quiet the tune too much, which is especially noticeable on certain apparatus.

I don't check my tunes on PA monitors, just pointing out that I have hypocritical blind spots in regards to mastering...

The second piece is beautiful, I'm really noticing an over limited/compressed mix though. I'm at max volume, totally unbothered by this small sound, while knowing the track could be bigger, shinier, tastier. The tones are beautiful, rhythm bouncy, melodies peaceful. I'm curious how big this might get with the master-out fidelity tools bypassed...

The last section is a wonderfully contemplative track. I used to live on an island, I'm reminded of the way the waves would feel attacking my feet, moving soft wet sand across skin. It's missing presence in the same way the other tracks do but you don't really care about that, the emotions and feelings are very inspired.

There's a lot to like about these songs, they are indeed very special. They convey feelings beautifully, feelings I often lack when writing. Track one would make a great morning alarm, track two steadily progresses the rhythm of the day, and track three is the return to dream world. Almost had a seamless loop with that water sample making a return towards the end. I know these tracks come from some older project but a small fade out towards the end could have kept me in the water. Instead I felt a sad longing for whatever that voice/string pad was, that patch sounded lovely. Oh well, you got your reasons :3

It's nice to see that you put soul into the work, thanks for pointing out that the work is dear to you. Too many people aren't willing to pour their feelings into the track descriptions but it's an important element, many genres and sounds are an acquired taste. Peers know all the complex feelings and emotions that come with making music but the average listener has no idea a person even exists on the other side of the screen. Artists are often just digital commodities, faceless web pages, and free downloads but our feelings give it all a reason.

This was a long distraction in my morning but I'm glad I took it. Thanks for coming back to Newgrounds, you're a talent :)

SHE-RE responds:

Wow, I really appreciate you taking the time, both to listen and to write all this! There's a lot of technical ideas here, a few of which have occurred to me and many of which haven't. I don't have a lot to add there besides that I'm absolutely going to be thinking of them as I work on my next projects. I have to say I'm more interested in responding to the commentary on the artistic choices. :)

First— I'm so happy that you heard magic in the buildup in The Devil's Slide. That's one of the defining moments of these two pieces for me. Though I can't say I was going for alarm clock with that piece, but if that's what you heard that's what you heard lol? That climax definitely bursts open loud and sudden like one, anyway!

I also love that the image of an island came to you in the third part, because that's almost exactly what I was going for, and that tells me that I did something right there! I grew up on the west coast of the US, and so I got to see the sun setting into the ocean fairly often, and that was what I was going for there — my mental image was of standing on a sandy beach as you described, watching the sun set, a picture full of bright golds and oranges. Not unlike my current profile picture lol. I'll also say the cutoff at the end was an intentional artistic choice, but I think I hear what you mean about keeping you in the water and now I feel a little torn about it? I don't know if I'm going to change it but I do hear how that would work.

It's definitely really special when emotions and experiences can inspire music the way it happened for this piece, and for some of my best past music, and for much of my favorite music in general. It's something I've been trying to tap into more, and to me it's so nice for it to be seen when it works out.

Thanks again. :)

[weap0ns of 4ss destructi0n]

This track destroyed my 4ss. Sick tune Solaraloe :3

[Nukage Plant]

Girl, calm down. I have a hard enough time explaining my own music to my husband. I'm in my studio space, headphones on like "great, another thing I can't share with him."

Found it a little too loud at first but it grew on me the more it grinded on. Not easily accessible but I love it. Brave choices, really embraces the raw grinding noise genre. I've been looping this for a while now, bops when you find the right volume level xD

[AGNOSIA SHATTERED]

100% less glitches? Awwwwww, put them back D':

Just kidding, I went and gave the old version a listen, gabber section is cut. Looks like there's a fair number of difference between the two versions, I love remixing my older tunes. Track grooves something nice :D

Rombit responds:

yo thanks a lot! the uptempo section in the original was specifically made for a GD level, but I just felt like I could do so much more with the first part, and that's how the shattered version was made. the original also got a small remaster with this version. im very glad you liked it, have a great day! cheers!