Hi there and welcome to another edition of “Demo reviews”. Can’t say I’ve missed it much but the streets are calling. Well, that’s not ever true. The people who submitted demo’s are calling for it. I imagine the rest of you feel kinda like i do about this.
ANNNNYWAAAYYYY, this is where you guys send me demos and I review them. Why me? No clue. Probably cause I’m the only guy offering such services. The review work like so: I listen once, write a few thoughts down and then rate the songs from 1-10 in these categories:
Production
Vocals
Listenability
Originality
Those rating are pretty arbitrary so, you know, don’t read into them too much.
Okay? cool…this week is full of instrumental stuff, which I’m not crazy about in general but, hey, beggars can’t be choosers.
Artist: YY
Song: Brand new day
This is a moody little piece that would work very nicely as a film score. It’s well done but I personally don’t know what to do with music like this. It’s good but I can’t imagine ever finding a place to listen to it. Driving at night, maybe? Songs like this aren’t so much about the song itself and more about an overall mood. This certainly captures something though
Production:5.5 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:5.5 out of 10
Originality:4.5 out of 10
Artist: Corporeal
Song: Veins…
This is interesting. On one hand, I think the production is sound and the song structure is nice. It’s a well made (and mixed) song. The vocals are iffy to me cause they aren’t really rapping…more spoken word poetry type shit (which I loath). But, clearly, this isn’t meant to be a rap song so I suppose judging it on those merits isn’t fair. But the talky rap style is a bit too kitty pryde for my taste.
Production:6 out of 10
Vocals:4.5 out of 10
Listenability:5 out of 10
Originality:5.5 out of 10
Artist: WFM
Song: My Blocky head
The song title got me all sorts of “hmmm….”.
Well, this is just a beat with one extra layer. I’d say the best part is the drums. Other then that, it’s pretty uneventful and has that “forced emotional” feel to it.
Those kind of piano progressions tend to do that. Thing is, you can work with those if they’re a backbone of a song and not the featured part. I’d say, this song needs a lot more to it to be interesting.
Production:4.5
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:4.5 out of 10
Originality:4 out of 10
Artist: Dr. Apple
Song: Big bang boogie
Honestly, it’s just nice to hear a rap song finally.
This is okay. The beat is a nice loop but the drums are pretty whatever. Not terrible but they coulda been the deciding factor for a song like this.
The rapper is decent. I like his voice and he says some pretty funny shit on here. My biggest gripe would be that he makes some unfortunate choices vocally. It’s not that big a deal but sometimes what separates a decent rapper from a good rapper is the nuance.
Production:5 out of 10
Vocals:5 out of 10
Listenability:5 out of 10
Originality:4.5 out of 10
Artist: A’Daleis
Song: Mellow Feet
Good drums with a jazz loop. It’s always an efficient way to get a beat started. It’s definitely not at all original but I certainly can’t knock the hustle. Thing is, i don’t really like the main loop. It’s got a mood but there’s a weird tone to it. It’s not out of key but it feels a little dissonant. And the changes/additions don’t do much to help that case. This beat is fine though…I dunno if I’d really call it a song.
Production:4.5 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:4.5 out of 10
Originality:3 out of 10
Artist: mconan
song: Across oceans
I love mconan? Not really.
This is some electronic shit that just doesn’t appeal to me. The sounds are all kinda thin/stock sounds and musically it’s just kinda there. The drums are chaotic and don’t really match the mood of the music at all. That said, this is so out of my wheelhouse of musical interest, it could be great and i’d have no idea. It just sounds like a chaotic mess to me though.
Production:4 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:3 out of 10
Originality:4 out of 10
Artist: The shadow Factory
Song: Contend the dark
This is a beat, bro. Not a song. Sure, you threw some vocal samples on it but..it’s a beat. The fact it’s on bandcamp is actually shocking as this sounds definitively like some soundcloud shit. Thing is, it’s not even a good beat. Like, if someone was rapping on it, I’d still be like “meh”. The sample is just boring and a little lazy. So, yeah, this one isn’t working for me.
As someone who samples everything, I gotta say, if you can’t find a good sample to loop, beat making might not be for you. it’s literally the easiest part of making tracks.
Production:3 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:3.5 out of 10
Originality:3 out of 10
Artist: Beat em up
Song: Ich ban ja so high
This is one of those tracks that feels like someone with potential just starting out. It hasn’t reached it’s fully formed stage yet. The sounds are all a tiny bit thin and the structure just isn’t there yet. But, like I said, I do see potential.
Production:4 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:4.5 out of 10
Originality:4 out of 10
Artist: Deebio
Song: De L’amour
From the first note of this, I can tell that people who read this column will be all over it. Like this should win this week hands down. I don’t disagree. It’s a cool, choppy jazz loop with a drum style that’s still “in”. All that said, it’s literally just a few loops so this barely qualifies as a song. But it’s very well made…People really need to stop sending me these fucking beats and calling them songs. I WANT SONGS GODDAMNIT!
Production:6 out of 10
Vocals:n/a
Listenability:5.5 out of 10
Originality:3 out of 10
You’re no longer the only guy offering such services. Raekwon is fundraising for his purple tape documentary and for the low price of $200 he’ll review one of your tracks. Which I think is kinda bullshit but you know a lotta thirsty mafuckas are gonna pay that gladly.
You mentioned someone’s track being a soundcloud one, not a bandcamp track. What do you think the difference is? Is bandcamp more for album type shit and soundcloud is for loosies and throwaway tracks or what?
Bandcamp stuff, in general, seems more polished while sound cloud stuff can be anything from a mastered album to a loop someone made. The ceiling is generally a lot higher for bandcamp links. I’m basing this entirely on my experience writing these reviews, btw.
The first link “Brand new Day” seems to be borked.
Scratch that. Seems to be working now.
Thanks for the review man.
-Doc Ap