Quarl AIM 2022 Review
Composition/Structure (0-10), Production (0-10), Emotion (0-10), Relevance to Artwork (0-10)
TheSWOLEST, Reunion - Pico vs BF FNF Song: 5,6,1,5 (17/40)
I never played FnF but I spent a fair amount if time listening to kawaiisprite so I'm aware of what to expect from that genre of sound. I'm sorry to open up by saying that the art you choose was weak (I'm sorry because apparently you two are friends and I don't like being hurtful or meanspirited). The image was uploaded sideways and I can see the Dell logo, is this literally a quick cellphone picture? This is painful to look at because I have to crick my neck 90 degrees, I'm too old for that yo. There is a ton of FnF fan art you could have chosen but you chose to represent your friend and honestly, it wasn't the best decision for a contest. Your friend needs to improve their illustrative chops. The low emotion score comes from my general annoyance that I felt by the image your trying to claim inspired you.
I quickly looked at your catalogue to try and get a better idea of your breadth or what kind of music you make and you only have three songs. I like it when artists challenge themselves by going outside their comfort zone but I have no idea what your comfort zone even is. If you stick around and get to know the audio community a little more I'll try to keep an eye out for you, but at the moment I'm not sure what to think. You got some inspired jungle sounds, the handbag melody, pitched up vocals representing kawaiisprite's style but all I'm hearing is an emulation of kawaii's music style. The production was OK but I'm not necessarily impressed by it with everything else in mind. Your panning data was very experimental, static panning was one of my biggest gripes for other contestants so great job with that. Masterful panning gives you all sorts of production boons but I'm not hearing the pay off this time. Panning a sound with a bias to the left or right can create the illusion that a sound is louder than it actually is so a sound that you pan can then be turned down a little to make room in the mix for more sounds. Panning can create the illusion of movement. All I'm hearing is some random strobing and it doesn't echo the art at all. The art you choose can inspire all sorts of musical devices or ideas and I'm just not getting a lot of inspiration from the art. I see poorly executed art (sorry again Therealskeptic) and the music just emulates kawaiisprite's eccentric music. If anything it sounds like the music from FNF inspired you more than the art did.
I hope to see some more from you in the future, I'm a big DNB nerd and I can hear all sorts of potential from you but challenge yourself next year, listen to some of the winning pieces from this contest, and read some of the other reviews to see what others did well. With some additional awareness you could become a very strong composer. I hope this review was helpful. I'm giving everyone the time and attention they deserve but I tend to write less when something makes me happy. If I'm judging this again next year aim to shut me up with flawless work. You have a good day Mr. SWOLEST and may your ambitions bear fruit from the metaphorical tree of success and love!