Well, it’s been a longer hiatus than I thought but Demo reviews are back. You guys recently sent me a shit ton more and , as the weeks pass, I’ll be getting to all of them (assuming you followed the rules). Just a reminder, DO NOT SEND ME MORE DEMOS. The flood gates are closed for the time being and I’ll certainly alert you when I need more.
As always, these reviews are just my opinions. Why should you care? You shouldn’t. I’m just a dude. I like that I like and , in general, i don’t like much.
The first part of the review is a paragraph or so where I give my thoughts and the second part is the more technical side where I give you numbers from 1-10, rating the songs according to these categories:
Originality: Obviously rating how much this differs from other music out there in a positive way. I’ll be shocked if anyone gets above a 5 out of 10 as this is a pretty tough category.
Listenability: Rating how hard/easy it was to sit through. This could go a few ways as I often find humor in music that’s extra bad so, it’s not always a compliment.
Production technique: Rating how well crafted the song was. Was it “professional”. How was it recorded and mixed.
As always, I’m not trying to hurt feelings…I’m just being honest. Welcome to the world of internet judgement. yeah, it usually sucks…
Artist: The Yours review
Song: Convertible
http://soundcloud.com/theyoursrevue/convertible-5
I think this one actually started kinda promising. I liked the “Drive” feel to it (I’m assuming this was made with the film “Drive” heavily on the mind) but, after a while all the music simplified too much and the synth sounds just felt sort of cheap. I get what the person was going for and it’s kinda interesting (not to mention gaining popularity in some places) but this simply wasn’t that interesting musically. Style over substance.
Originality: 4 out of 10
Listenability:4.5 out of 10
Production technique: 4 out of 10
Artist: Abboriginal
Song: Flyer than the moon
http://soundcloud.com/abboriginal/flyer-than-the-moon
This is lacking some serious direction. There are elements of this beat I like but it keeps darting from part to part with no sort of connection. A bunch of the instruments are not in key with one another and the transitions are a mess. i don’t love the drums either but they sound more like the producers vision than just some guy who doesn’t know how to make decent drums.
Originality: 4 out of 10
Listenability: 3.5 out of 10
Production technique: 4 out of 10
Artist: Emit
Song: Blossom
http://soundcloud.com/emitstop/blossom
This is kinda elevator music. That’s not totally a diss cause I’ve certainly heard my own music in elevators. I noticed that was described on the soundcloud page as “Chill out” music and that sounds about right. It’s not offensive but , ultimately very forgettable. Decent background music to not pay attention to but , beyond that, I never really know what to do with music like this. Maybe it’s just me…I don’t like my music to dictate how i “chill out”. That said, it’s put together decently and song has a good structure. So that’s something.
Originality: 3 out 10
listenability: 5 out of 10
Production technique:5 out of 10
Artist: Kids in Capes!
Song:The floor is lava
http://soundcloud.com/ca88/the-foor-is-lava
If I gave a shit about this kind of music I bet I’d like this a lot. Unfortunately, I don’t. It’s fine. It’s simply not something I would ever seek out for my personal listening pleasure. It’s got some cool parts and it’s well put together. The samples are actually pretty awesome. To be honest, I’m just salty cause this is the 4th instrumental tracks I’ve reviewed thus far. Who’s dick do I have to suck to get some rap to review? Don’t answer that.
Originality: 5 out 10
listenability:5 out of 10
production technique:5.5 out of 10
Artist: Cyclops
song: Too much soul (ft. Cee)
http://cyclops.bandcamp.com/track/too-much-soul-ft-cee
well, ask and you shall receive. Here’s some rap. Some very very average rap. It’s not bad…but it’s not good either. The beat is okay but the overall mix of the song takes away from everything. It sounds cluttered. Like the vocals were recorded through garage band or something. The rapper just doesn’t stick out on any level. That could partially be cause of the mix too but, honestly, I just think he’s simply not that interesting.
Originality: 3 out of 10
listenability:4 out of 10
production technique: 3 out of 10
Artist: Getulio, The Old Gorilla
Song: All day and all night
http://getuliotheoldgorilla.bandcamp.com/track/all-day-and-all-night
This is cool. Some good, hard, boom bap drums. Nice sample layering. It could definitely be edited down a little as most of it doesn’t really go anywhere in particular but the breakdown around 3:00 is cool. More stuff like that and less repeating the same thing over and over and this could be really dope. This would also benefit from a rapper on it…but, then again, most beats do.
Originality: 4 out of 10
listenability:5.5 out of 10
Production technique: 6 out of 10
Artist: Alex Ludovico
song: ?
http://soundcloud.com/alexludovicohiphop/alex-ludovico-produced-by-john
This one shows potential. This dude can rap pretty well. he can also write pretty well. I definitely see him being a rapper that, in about 5 years, is very on point. Not that the skills aren’t there right now but there is something sort of amateur about this whole thing. It could easily be the beat and the recording quality but I feel like this dude is a few steps away from really coming into his own. That’s a good thing though.
also, a name change wouldn’t hurt…I’m just saying.
Originality:5 out of 10
Listenability:5.5 out of 10
Production technique:3 out of 10
Artist: Deliciouss T
Song: Last will and testament
http://soundcloud.com/deliciouss-t/15-last-will-and-testament
This pretty much sounds exactly like random early 90’s jazzy underground rap that I used to listen to but never aged well. So, with that, I can say there is a time and place for this. I might be too old and jaded to really wanna bump this but I’m sure there are tons of younger rap fans who haven’t heard this type of shit yet. So, maybe it’s for them. The beat and rapping are both okay but, like I said, this was done before a long time ago.
Originality: 3 out of 10
listenability:5 out of 10
production technique:4 out of 10
Artist: Slack Disast
Song: Goloboie (remix)
http://soundcloud.com/the-mad-baron/goloboie-remix
This beat it really interesting. It definitely plays for WAY too long before the rapping but it’s got a nice vibe to it. A successful minimal jazzy beat is hard to pull off and this does a good job at that. The rapping is some high guy shit. I kinda want the dude to take a sip of water or something. Sounds like he’s thirsty or just woke up. Lyrically , I’m not really sold on him but , at the same time, it’s not glaringly bad so it’s possible there’s more to this rapper than this song might let off.
Originality: 4.5 out of 10
Listenability:5.5 out of 10
Production technique: 5 out of 10 (I get the feeling the whole lo fi approach is on purpose, which I like)
Artist: Aeons Elevator
Song: Bar none rough draft
http://soundcloud.com/aeons_elevator/bar-none-rough-draft
This beat is dream like in that it’s got that smooth vibe and it’s also very boring. That said, these types of beats can be very good if the right rapper is on them. Unfortunately, the curse of White voice runs deep on this track. Not to mention , his delivery feels like he’s trying to either hit on me , sell me incense or talk to a child. The lyrics aren’t bad but the topic is excruciating. Maybe it’s just me but smooth , white rap love poems are kinda the worst.
Originality: 4 out of 10
listenability:4 out of 10
production technique:5 out of 10
I dig the last one a lot. I dig dudes style. Definitely a white boy rappin, but I dig it. Deliciouss T was tight in that “feel like I’m in high school again” way. But that’s just me.
You’ll like this one…
Cool….same label as MantraKid. Dope stuff…
I can dig aeons elevator, it’s not my shit but he’s on some shit
look, i get you want to downplay the value of your opinion because you know how shitty it feels to have your music reviewed but you gotta cut the bullshit of not knowing why people would want you to talk about their music- it’s free goddamn publicity!
Huh? When have i ever denied that? My point of bringing up that point is deter people form being butthurt when I inevitably diss their art.
I’d give both nuts to have u review Dragon Lullabies. Can i get a witness..?
http://neferiu.bandcamp.com/album/dragon-lullabies
Sorry, doesn’t work like that. I’m only reviewing the songs that were submitted. Just aheads up to people putting their songs in the comments: I’m not even gonna watch them or listen to them. Nothing personal but if I start doing that this whole idea could spiral out of control. In the future, I won’t even post it when people do this.
Dragon Lullabies is sick! There is my review. Played it for some friends the other night. They got scared…they were also on drugs…glowstick drugs.
Thanks, McD. Sorry bout that Blockhead. Keep up the good work. Your shit makes my life better.
Thanks for the honest review block. It’s pretty cool of you to be doing this for your fans and it must be time consuming so yeah… Thanks again man. Also that gorilla guys beat was pretty cool he should call adult swim or something. I could easily see it in a bump in there 🙂
Alex Ludovico? It’s not that he owns it or anything, but c’mon, Clockwork Orange references will just make most hip-hop folks think of Cage..
I didn’t even catch that. That was the characters last name?
Nah, the treatment they give Alex where he has to watch all that crazy shit until he’s “sane” was the Ludovico technique.
At least I assume it was a reference and dude isn’t actually named “Alex Ludovico”….
You’re probably right. I didn’t catch the reference and , seeing as the dude didn’t name his song, I just assumed he didn’t have a real rap name either.
Thanks for the review! It was greatly appreciated.
The song is actually titled “?”. I realized now, detached from the album, it makes no sense.
And my government name is Kyle. Way worse. I am a Cage fan, but A Clockwork Orange was so profound to me, I had to pick that name. Plus how wack would a rapper named Kyle be? Thanks again Block.