Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of “Demo reviews”. This is a thing where readers submit their music for me to review. Simple really. Except I tend to kinda hate everything and have no clue why anyone would want me to tell them what to do with their art. Yet, the submissions keep coming.
Last week I opened the door to submissions and got a lot of demos so I’mma go ahead and close that door. Please do not send me your demos at this time. I’m “full” right now. When I need more, I’ll announce it for sure.
If you send me a demo after this point, I’m not even opening the email. Really this is just a test to see if people actually read this first part cause I have a feeling they don’t.
Anywaaaay, the reviews are like so: I do a brief write up the arbitrarily rate the songs from 1-10 in these categories:
Production
Vocals
Listenability
originality
This weeks bunch is instrumental heavy. Not my favorite but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers, right? Who knows, maybe you like that kinda stuff more than I do?
Let’s get on with it…
Artist:P-brain
Song: A sense of adventure
This is one of those cases where, if given better sounds and a slightly more adept sense of song structuring, I could see some potential. It just sounds kinda cheap as it is now. Also, the second part flies of rails, tone wise as that little solo synth break does not mesh well the other instruments (around the 1 minute mark). After that , everything past that point is tainted.
Production:3.5 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:3.5 out of 10
originality:4 out of 10
Artist:Mike videogames
Song: Mission critical Paradigm matrix
The name of this song is infuriating but that’s just cause I had to type it out a few times. that’s besides the point though…
This is a track that doesn’t really work as a stand alone instrumental track. It would be much better suited with some vocals over it. Even though it has changes and some nuances , it’s still pretty boring. Not bad or poorly made there just isn’t much range to what it offers.
Production:4 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:4 out of 10
originality:4 out of 10
Artist: The branches
Song:After 4AM
The Piano sample (and variations) in the beginning were awesome. I was kinda hoping that would be the building block for the entire song. Once the actual songs begin, there’s a slight tonal issue with the first horn sample. It needs to be fine tuned or something. Other than that, it’s a decent chill jazzy track. The final section is actually really nice. Definitely a song that shows a lot of potential.
Production:5.5 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:5 out of 10
originality:4.5 out of 10
Artist:Cratehead
Song:Take you there redux
This is a solid, yet fairly uneventful track. Like the Mike Videogames track, it would work much better with a rapper on it. It’s got some cool parts but it simply doesn’t go anywhere. This is a beat. Not a song. A good beat, but a beat nonetheless.
Production:4.5 out of 10
Vocals:
Listenability:4 out 10
originality:3 out of 10
Artist: Steven Roe
Song:Dopesci
I’m just happy to hear vocals…All these instrumental tracks are boring me.
The rapper sounds like a mix between Elucid and T-mo from the goodie mobb but not as good as either of those guys.
Still, he ain’t bad either.
The hook is pretty bad but the verses are decent. The beat is okay. I like parts of it but don’t like other parts. Not mad at it though. A new hook would make this song a lot better though.
Production:4.5 out of 10
Vocals:4.5 out of 10
Listenability:4.5 out of 10
originality:4.5 out of 10
Artist: Sean Woosley
Song: I hope that you find love
Hmm…so this is a rock song. At first i thought I was hearing a sample cause it’s recorded pretty lo-fi. Well, as I’ve said before, I’m not really the guy to be reviewing this kinda stuff. So, I guess this is a pretty good? Or not? I have no idea. I don’t mind it and appreciate the crunchiness of it. But, yeah, I’m not a rock guy so who the fuck knows.
Production:5.5 out of 10
Vocals:4 out of 10
Listenability:4 out of 10
originality:4 out of 10
Artist:Customer care
Song:Throwback to the weekends
I’m a lo-fi guy but this just sounds shitty. Was this recorded on a computer mike? Like the one you would skype through? Regardless, sounds bad , guys. That aside, the beat and live guitar are not working for me at all. The first rapper actually isn’t the worst…but he’s not that great either. The second is straight up bad though.
Pretty tough one to sit through for various reasons.
Production:2 out of 10
Vocals:3 out of 10
Listenability:2.5 out of 10
originality:4 out of 10
Artist: Eleven & Ormo
Song:Univision
This beat is bugged out and abrasive but I see where they’re going with it. Not mad at it. The rapper is kinda in the same vein. He’s got some good lyrics and a definite angle. I don’t love his voice and he sounds a bit preachy at times but , hey, at least he’s trying something slightly different. Overall, this isn’t really my cup of tea but it’s nothing if not interesting. A younger me woulda loved this in the late 90’s though.
Production:4.5 out of 10
Vocals:5 out of 10
Listenability:4 out of 10
originality:6 out of 10
Artist: Daixie
Song:Beggar in blue
So, the theme for this week is beats that are decent that should never have been standalone tracks. This is no different. Even with the vocal sample. This whole song is just that and a few little inconsequential switches and subtle layers. Not a bad beat at all, it just makes for a boring song.
Production:4.5 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:4 out of 10
originality:3 out of 10
Artist:Astrostais
Song:Open Air
I could see this music playing in a 3rd world country version of the movie “Drive”. It’s got the mood for sure. I just don’t love all the sound choices. That said, it’s a nice mellow track that is definitely not offensive in anyway. Good background music. As a stand alone track? Eh…not really. But, like I said, for a movie scene it would work much better.
Production:4 out of 10
Vocals:N/a
Listenability:5 out of 10
originality:4 out of 10
think you might have been had on that Longarm track “Branches” that is an established artist on a decent size german indie label Project moon circle……http://www.projectmooncircle.com/artists/81
Oh…well, how the hell am I supposed to know? You think someone not affiliated with them sent it in? I ahte when people do that.
I would think so, that album is like 2yrs old, pretty damn stupid to fake submit random peoples music.
Well Alright Good Sir. Not Mad At It. Thanks for the Review
Lol….but my shit is dope.
Ever thought of throwing one of your beats in here and pretending like it was someone else’s? See if people think it sucks/is awesome just because you say it. More of a social experiment than anything. Do most people tend to agree with how you rate them, or is it ever significantly off?
I have considered that but I simply don’t have that much extra shit to just throw around.
As for how people rate them compared to me, I’d say it’s 75%. Most of the time my favorite will get the most votes but sometimes some shit I panned wins. Although, lots of times, I think that’s just cause those people tweeted their friends about it and those people voted.
I actually thought the Sean Woosley track was pretty bad ass. It was my favorite
But I also like Taco Bell sometimes still
thanks for the review that’s about what i figured you would say. got about 70 plays out of it so im pretty happy.
Weird if Long Arm actually sent in that track himself… album’s like two years old and he’s already signed and so on. Love his music though
Yeah, I have a feeling some did it outside of his knowledge…that someone is a dipshit by the way.
hey are you goin to review any submissions for the christmas edition of obesepal? i always read the top part and i kno you’re “full” but you kno how it goes with obesity… *can’t-stop-won’t-stop
I review what’s in the queue. if a submission didn’t make it in time, it goes in the garbage.