Daniel Eboli´s "Sapiens Ludens"

Friday, December 18, 2009

Artist: KLUGMO

Title: Hey Bartender
Genre: Country

The country genre appears to be a bit dead at the moment (at least outside USA).

Particularly, I am an admirer of the genre. I am not a exoert in the subject but I know when I see a good genre in front of me.

What is good about country music is that is very musical and it is frm the heart. You can feel that. It is undeniable.

This song is the example of a good song.

Very wel produced.

Very musical, not like the unheardable atonal crap you heard everyday in the radio.

Excellent production. Sounds great! Crisp and clear.

Vocal performance is briliant. I am not an american native but I understand 100% of what is being sung.

Guitar performances are just great.

The lyrics got a simple theme and sounds just right.

Excellent work.

5 stars!

Artist: Dissolution

Title: Kill the Prophet
Genre: Heavy Metal

This one seem to be caught up from an 80´s metal album.

The author put it under Hard rock. I do not agree. It is very oldschool heavy metal.

Reminds me my childhood :)

It is very much alike Testament songs or some of old Slayer songs.

Special mention to the acoustic guitar at 2:30. Very well performed.

Overall sound is not too good but it is heardable, could be better.

It have a nice arrangememnt for the genre.

It is a bit outdated in my opinion.

I wonder if there is airplay for the this genre in Sweden.

It is well performed but badly produced.

Need some improvement.

Artist: a blue ocean dream

Title: Retroboy
Genre: Electronica

Do you like pet shop boys?

Well, if your answer is yes this song is for you.

It is inevitable to not to remember pet shop boys listening to this song.

It is well produced with lots of cool retro synth sounds on it.

It is also very musical.

It is soft and smooth.

A nice piece of composition.

Well done.

Artist: WhoisSBE

Title: SouthWest
Genre: HipHop

It is incredible how there are so many rap artists around.

It seems to me that everyone is trying to make the same song. It is just me?

Now I will quote myself:"...where are the lyrics? I need to read it in order to understand, I am not a native american. English is not my language. I believe this is true to many listeners as well..."

I could have a better opinion about the song if I could understand 100%. I simply can´t. Perhaps this song is just for north-american nation.

The base is preety much like many beats you hear around, nothing new here.

The vocal performance is nice, I like the accent and attitude.

I have to say that the voices sounds weird to my ears, too sibilant, I don´t know.

Production here is not great but it is heardable.

Could be better.

Artist: Mi'Kalibur

Title: Dying to Live
Genre: HipHop

First of all: where are the lyrics? I need to read it in order to understand, I am not a native american. English is not my language. I believe this is true to many listeners as well. That said, I have to say I liked what I understood. It is a christian rap if I am not mistaken. Nop, I am not religious at all.

Ok, here is something a bit different from the usual rap songs.

A strong intro, I must say.

The beat is very cool in my opinion.

Special mention to the eletric piano, fits like a glove.

I think the bass could be more, humm, developed, if you know what I mean.

Overall sound is nice but a bit dull to my ears. I feel a great lack of high frequencies.

Anyway, I really liked this song.

I would like to hear it well mixed/mastered.

Well done

Artist: LOkal Motif

Title: Motive Motive
Genre: HipHop

Here a great hiphop song with an intense beat and agreat base.

The base is a bit repetitive to my taste, I would prefer more changes in the chords.

The guitar riff is nice, it has that "sweet child o´mine" vibe on it but after 1 minute uninterruptedly it begins to work like brain damage.

Perhaps it is just a matter of taste.

Most hiphop producers seem to like the repetitive bases.

I just don´t understand why.

The vocal performance is great.

I will not say again about the lyrics not posted in the page (ops!)

About the sound: It is not bad but it appears to me that it is not properly encoded (the mp3 version), could be better.

I have listened to other songs of Motif and they usually sounds very nice.

Not bad but not new.

If you like the genre it could be a nice one.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Artist: X

Title: Revenge
Genre: Hiphop

This one is a great hiphop song (something very rare to me to say).

Agressive as hell. Heavy stuff. I love it.

The beat is slow and fat. Sounds great.

There are some eletronic pads that are very well put.

Excellent choice of sounds.

It is a shame that the author did not post up the lyrics. I would like to read it to understand 100% of what he is singing.

The vocal performance is great. You can hear the confidence in the voices.

I have just one complain.

The voices are too bright for my taste. I can hear a fast delay as well. Could be a bit dryer in my opinion. Does it jeopardize the song? Nop, not at all.

The songs ending is just great, you have to listen.

A must have hiphop song.

5 stars!

Artist: nirmala07

Title: Piano Improvisation 14.12.2009
Genre: Instrumental

Nirmala is a great experimental improvisation composer. I have to say I am a fan of her unique work.

Her pieces are always fresh and unique. A rare virtude nowadays.

This song is not experimental. It reminds me some of Enya songs. Specially the left hand (tone, fifth, tone, fifth)

It is an improvisation as the title points and it shows also that the author is a good piano player as well.

I think that she could have been a bit more creative and give a name to the song. It could help to atract more listeners and give us a clue about what the song is about.

I believe that all songs is about something. I am curious about what this song could be about .

The piano sound used here is very nice in my opinion. It is a bit electronic and it is very dry, so to speak.

A nice pice that shows a great talent on improvisation by Nirmala.

Again, as usual, it is a 5 stars in my opinion.

Well done.

Artist: Biko

Title: Pertaining to the Night
Genre: Electronic experimental

The author put the song under Drum n´ bass genre.

I am not sure I can agree with him, it is a very experimental electronic piece.

It is mostly, 90%, a percussive song. Not much musical elements. You will not hear too many "notes" here.

Don´t get me wrong, it is a lovely piece, I like it a lot.

Overall sound is preety good.

Some nice electronic noises and unexpected stops.

A really nicelly done electronic work.

I can put it in the level of the dead company (without the poetry, of course) or some of the pieces by Artificial Wonders.

Very good.

5 stars!

Artist: Charly Manlove

Title: Strange World Snippet
Genre: Pop

First of all, what a weird name, hehe.

This one begins with a nice piano/strings/glokenspiel riff, very musical.

The song itself is very musical, you could say it is RnB.

The beat is strong and simple, perhaps too strong but I think it is only a matter of volume.

It is not a groundbrealing song but it is nice. At least it is musical and , nowadays, it is a great thing in my opinion.

Elements are well dosed and the sounds choice are nice.

The only thing that bothers me here is the voice. It is drowning in effects. Too much reverb for my taste.

Also the vocal performance is not particularly good. Not bad but only that: not bad.

Needs some minor technical improvements but is an "ok" song.

Too simple for my taste.

Artist: Jordan Miles

Title: Facing the Truth
Genre: Rock

Mr. Miles is the guitar player form the band Necropolis. An excellent instrumental metal project.

This one is not a totally metal song. It got some agressive riffs and raging guitar but it is much more rock than metal in my opinion.

This song is an instrumental piece wich begins with some nice smooth chords in a clean guitar.

Drum sounds here are excellent. Special mention to the hihat´s work, awesome.

At 1:40 raging guitar enters along with a nice solo.

Sudden stops, beat changes, new riffs.

Shows an excellent work in arrangememnts in composition.

Excellent piece in a great sounding tune.

Well done.

Artist: DUCOH

Title: ) DER DAY GO (RADIO EDIT
Genre: HipHop

No lyrics in the song´s page, not cool.

Apparently this song was produced by V-12, who produced (apparently) Gucci Mane, Usher, Lil Boosie & Webbie and others.

This song is well produced. Sounds crisp and clear. Sounds choice are nice. Vocals are ok.

But it did not "ring the bell" in my opinion.

It is a nice song, easy listening but not particularly fantastic.

It is another "ok" hiphop song

Not bad.

Artist: Nik Heinemann

Title: My Song 39
Genre: Instrumentals : Hip Hop ???

In the artists page Mr. Heinemann wrote:

"...My beats are very simple, as I don't really think that all the sophisticated drumlines and transitions that the other producers use are necessary to make a good beat. All the extra complex stuff that requires years of experience is cool, but, I don' t think that it really changes the song..."

Well, I have to agree with the author in some aspects. His beats are simple.

Drumlines in this song are not sophisticated and there are no transitions.

In fact it is only a 46 seconds piece, a draft.

In the interview we got this:

"...Your influences?
None, Im so good that I don't need other people's music to inspire my own music...
...Anything else...?
Just because Im not as dedicated as the other producers does not mean that I am not as good as them."

Mr. Heinemann thinks that he is a good producer. This is nice. It is the first step to actually become a good producer.

He claims that he don´t have any influences. I have to say it is not true. His "beats" sounds like many others you will find around the scene. His music is obviously "inspired" by the masses.

I have to disagree again about what he said: a good producer dont have to be dedicated.

In fact, this song shows a great lack of creativity.

Not even a name for the song?

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Artist: Ian Dadon

Title: Alone on the Moon
Genre: Acoustic

This piece reminds me a bit of some Pink Floyd songs, I don´t know why.

Perhaps is the chords used, perhaps the sounds, the hammond.

There are some minor issues about productions.

The drum sound is not there. Needs a bit of improvement.

Mr Dadon is in the right path, his songs are getting better in therms of sounding.

There is a long way to run yet, it will never end I must say.

The seek of the perfect sound is infinite.

Also the ending is too abrupt. could have a better cut in the end.

Despite the technical issues, this is, again, a great song.

Excellent lyrics, excellent voice, excellent chords progression.

Ian Dadon just need time to polish the sound of his tracks.

What you are hearing is he in his learning process.

Delightfull when the compositions are good.

Artist: E-FLO1

Title: "Git It Started"
Genre: HipHop

Another hiphop song. What can I do?

This is not a pleasant one.

The synths used here sounds like a yamaha PSR series.

The beats are often out of time.

Lyrics are about nothing

Horrible song.

I hate it

Artist: Thomas J Marchant

Title: Faith
Genre: Alternative

This one is definitely alternative.

Alternative to what?

The answer is: everything you heard before.

Thomas J. is a unique composer wich delivers deep unique songs with a particular sight of the wourld.

I have some problems when I heard his pieces for the first time. His pieces sounded to me distorded, cliped and with a lot of hiss.

I warn you, it is on purpose. You have to make a great effort in order to listen and understand Thomas J. pieces.

They are not simple pieces. In fact they are very hard to understand intherms of conception.

But achieve in what most try and fail.

He is leting his mind spek freely, you can feel that, and this is great.

This piece here begins with an acoustic guitar totaly distorted. Nop it is not pleasant. It is not suposed to be.

he voice enters singing:

"I lost may faith in humanity in the human race..."

It is only a 1minute and 20 seconds piece.

Obviously something hap´pend to Thomas and he was very angry. You can feel it in the way he plays the guitar.

It is a full of hate and passion song.

Unusual and alternative and real.

Like you never heard before.

Artist: Artificial Wonders

Title: We're Gonna Need A Bigger Gun (DoV)
Genre: Electronic : Games Soundtrack

It appears to me, by what is said in the artist page, that this is the boss theme for a game named "Dove of Valour".

It is epic and tense.

I have the impression that the strings could be better. Sounds too electronici to me. Perhaps it is just the intention of the author. I can understand that.

The theme rolls untill 44 seconds , when I assume something happens in the game. After that it became chaotic and intense. The main theme is played with a lot of detune.

It is dificult to judge a game soundtrack without knowing what the game is about.

Anyway I have to be honest here.

The piece is not fully working for me.

Perhaps it could be less repetitive.

Maybe some modulation (change of key) and some other harmonic fields added (ie. the chords progression)

Overall sound is good, clear and bright.

Nice FX also.

It could have an ending too, the fade out is just too obvious.

Anyway, it is a nice job.

Perhaps it is just a matter of taste.

Artist: the dead company

Title: fighting back ft Larry Ludwick
Genre: Experimental

TDC is a costumer here.

I am glad to have such a good artists submiting his songs at my reviews thread.

This piece is another excellent composition from Mr. Bushaway.

Prepare yourself to listen. It is a long one. 13 minutes.

It begins with an nice ambience.

Then Larry voice enters delivering this sad poetry:

"Thats my child they are burying
I wish it was me
I could have taken his place
I wanted to take his place ..."

What can I say?

I just hope it is just in the imagination of Mr. Bushaway.

I cannot imagine how could be such a loss.

Great ambiences, interesting sounds, cool beats.

Special mention to the banjo like loop, weird and effective.

A great piece from a great experimental composer.

Excellent.

Artist: henwrench

Title: I's on the Horizon
Genre: Pop??

This is a tough one to review.

I don´t know if the author is trying to be funny or too serious.

If he is trying to be too serious, well, he is not reaching his goal.

Anyway, I think he is just trying to be funny.

Yeah, it is funny but not too funny.

It is a strange song as matter of fact.

It is not working for me.

Nothing more to add.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Artist: ashadowman

Title: Too Many Mishaps
Genre: Funny

It is a funny slide show with some cool images about what is being sung.

The song itself is nothing special, it is simple. I think I would not like it very much if there is no slideshow, I have to be honest.

Ther lyrics have a message, yes.

Maybe it were not suposed to be funny but with the slideshow it is just hilarious.

A great video too sit, relax and have a good laugh.

Nice one.

Artist: Brett Howe

Title: If I Got Away
Genre: Acoustic

Excellent songwriter/singer here.

Brett Howe is just in the begining of his artistic path.

What a begining, I must say.

The guy is a natural born composer.

This is an excellent "from the bedroom" song.

It is very visual and imaginative music.

Simple and beautifull.

The voice is just great and makes you see all the images he is singing:

"...I wanna feel the Oceanside,
I wanna hear the breeze of the trees
I wanna be alright,
I wanna be at ease


I want to be at peace with this crazy world
I want to fall in love with a beautiful girl
And maybe it can all come true
If I got away..."

Mr. Howe, I hope you keep composing like that, from the heart.

Looking forward to hear more from Brett Howe.

5 stars!!

Artist: VerseIsStyle

Title: Aint Nobody Hot As Me ft. Yung Phresh
Genre: HipHop

I am not going to say, again, that I would like ot see the lyrics posted at the artists page. There, I just said it.

But I think it will not help this time.

Lyrics is about nothing as far I can understand.

The base is repetitive and boring to my taste.

It is just another hiphop songs.

And I am afraid this is not a good one.

I have to be honest. I don´t like it.

Artist: Fifth-L

Title: Runaway
Genre: HipHop

In this song I have to say that it could be a great song but the production is not helping.

Drums are too boomy. Also hihats are too shiny, too much on high frequencies.

I like the eletronic raging bass, nice riff and sound but it is too low in volume.

The voices are ok, but not spectacular. COuld be bbetter on performance and sound.

I think the author needs advice from a good experienced producer.

Overall sound is weird.

Anyway I think there are some usefull ideas and it could be a great song.

Not bad.

Artist: Necropolis JC

Title: Breaching Darkness
Genre: Metal

Another one from Necropolis

This one begins with a piano. Epic and frightening so to speak. Coiuld be easily the soundtrack of a terror movie. Excellent intro!

Soon, raging guitars enters and there you go, another great instrumental metal song, again.

Necropolis have an excellent repertoire of metal songs. compositions are solid and inspiring.

Sound is great, performance is great, riffs are great.

Creativeness is a constant here.

A must have metal piece. Excellent job!

5 stars

Artist: Ian Dadon

Title: Sane Man
Genre: Acoustic

Mr. Dadon is definitely a great composer. I like his songs very much.

This song is somewhat sad but beautifull:

"...Push yourself, above the rest
To get pulled down, again
The simple feeling, the strain
The penetrating pain
Begins to slowly scream....

They cant, treat me as I am
Im a sane, sane, sane man..."

Again, Mr Dadon shows that he knows how to sing.

His vocal performance is great. Perhaps he could learn to control a little bit more of his breeding. It could help making him an excellent top singer.

It is amazing what he can do with his voice in a instinctive way ( I am guessing here, I don´t know if he got singing lessons)

I just think that the voice sound is overprocessed. I would prefer a cleaner voice here. It is pointless to screw up the voice like that. People only do that when the singer is horrible. This is not the case. The singer is very good.

Anyway it is a great piece of composition.

Production could be better.

Artist: Kaze(US)

Title: Mighty Morphin
Genre: Experimental

When I pushed the play button, I thought the player were playing 2 songs at the same time.

The author put it under "Instrumentals / Hiphop"

I don´t agree. It is very experimental stuff.

Anyway it is not working for me.

Repetitive, boring and poluted.

It appears to be a mosiac of eletronics sounds with a beat.

It is just too much for me.

Listening to the end I realize it is really 2 songs playing at the same time...on purpose!

Artist: Saukar / Fat Daddy

Title: Drop A Jewel On Em
Genre: HipHop

This is a video.

This song is cool. It got this repetitive base but it is very well produced.

The singer appears to be very confortable, confident and happy. I like that.

This video and the song have a lot of material in an antropologic view.

The lyrics have a positive message and it says about the perspective of the life of the author and what he expect from life. Very well writen.

The video is obviously made with a low budget and is an example that you can DO good work with not much money.

An example of what to do. Of course, I will say again it is a shame that I can´t read the lyrics. Too bad.

Great vibe from the singer makes this video a must have.

5 stars!

Artist: Eddie Smotkin

Title: 5th Year Senior
Genre: HipHop

Hiphop songwriters appears to be on fire. SO many people making hiphop songs. It is difficult to make a difference when everyone seems to be doing the same song.

This song is not different from other hiphop songs.

What I can think is that it remionds me some of the rap songs for the 80´s.

Overall sound is ok.

Drums sound could be better.

Bass sound could be better.

Lyrics could be posted at the artists page (yeah , I don´t get tired to say that)

I like the timbre of the voice and the sing style of the rapper.

The lyrics means nothing to me: "...get drunk, get laid, get pot, get food..." ?? Seriously

Just another hiphop song.

Not bad.

Artist: Twisted Angel

Title: On My Grind- Feat. Jaygo and MC Gillis
Genre: HipHop

Here is a great hiphop song with some cool synths on it. I like it.

It is simple and the beat is also groovy. Groovy and simple. I like simplicity. It is not poluted.

The song is well produced, I just have some minor critics to make an improvement in my opinion.

The voice that enters at 01:05 is too low in volume. A 3 db boost could do the job nicely.

The voice that enters at 01:34 is, how can I say this in a nice way?, too weird for my taste. I don´t know what to think about it. It makes me laugh but I think the singer is trying to be very serious. It is just not convincing me. Also he is not breeding properly. I like the other voices by the way.

Anyway, a nice song.

I would like to see the lyrics posted at the artists page.

Simple and effective.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Artist: Necropolis JC

Title: Interficio Humanitus Saeculi
Genre: Metal

It is not the first song I review from Necropolis. All other reviews were positive. Now it is not different.

It is excellent again. I love the work from those guys. An excellent instrumental metal work.

Solid compositions, excellent sounding tunes, great guitar riffs, excellent performances and tons of creativity.

Special mention to the bridge at 2:00. It is kinda funny and pleasant.

Good reviews are short like this one.

Perfect job!

5 stars!

Artist: Sour E

Title: Bout Mine
Genre: HipHop

Guess what? No lyrics again. Bad, bad, bad.

OK, I will say first I did not like this song.

The drum is weak. Sonically and performed.

The organ sound is just horrible. Like those one used in churches. Nothing against churches. It sounds like a yamaha PSR 100.

Also ther are some voices with delays totally out of time.

Lead vocals are too loose for my taste. Of course I can´t understand much of it so, for the luck of the author, I can´t have a honest opinion about it.

Not working for me.

Artist: Bright Midnight

Title: Liberation
Genre: Rock

This song is a bit unusual with a rock flavour.

It is not bad. It is not good either (to my taste)

It sounds a bit boring to me.

It is kind of well produced. Despite the fact that the track is swiming in reverberation.

Drums are nice, well performed, well composed.

The lyrics are nice, not particularly excellent but nice.

The vocal perfoemance is ok too. Perhaps the key os too low for the singer. A tone or two up could help the song to have more groovy. Maybe also accelerate the BPM. Maybe less reverb could help either.

The voice, as usual, have a good timbre. I like the feeling on it. The key is too low in my opinion.

Not bad.

Artist: LOkal Motif

Title: For The Love
Genre: HipHop

I really don´t like to repeat myself so often but there is no lyrics posted at the artists page. This is very bad in my opinion.

Said that, I have to say that this kind of song is not the kind I like. I don´t understand why someone would like a song like that.

The music is repetitive, the lyrics got no message or image. I don´t know, perhaps it is just me.

I usually like the tracks from Lokal Motif. Not in this case. It is not working for me.

As usual, I am trying to be honest.

The good aspect here is that is well produced and, why not, well sung.

In fact this song is not working for me.

I like the more agressive tracks from Lokal Motif.

Why bother Do anything else??