Tokolos's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hourglass (KK Slider)]

Hourglass

Great track! So glad you decided to use 7/8 ( favourite time sig )
instead of the doef doef 4/4
You have a lot of space here with the slower bpm, I think you paced this song just right.
The atmosphere is very relaxing, but there's just a drop of sadness too, I suppose that's just my perception, the polarity of emotions, where one defines the other.
I can't believe it's 6:44 in length, it goes by so fast, and before I know it, it's back to the start again.
Great work, I'd have given you 10 if you threw in something unexpected towards the end instead of a fade out...
5/5

KKSlider60 responds:

Thanks a bunch, man!
As a personal taste, I love sad/dark themes, so to me it's normal to put some "negativity" in my tracks.
Great review, cheers,
KKS

[AA - Broken Mirrors]

Broken Mirrors

The problem with a-tonal, lingering compositions is that on 1st listens, it doesnt make sense to the listener, and only with repeated listening does the mind begin to create recognizable patterns. I'm not suggesting that your song is a-tonal per se, but maybe it should be going in that direction a bit more?
Some might argue that youre just plonking away aimlessly at the keys, but because I'm open minded I can sense the direction youre going in, and the subconcious, dream like quality youre tryng to achieve.
Now, if youre serious about your endevours, don't be surprised if most people don't like the music you make, esp if it's a bit different than most of the popular genre's. Don't take it personally, and don't tell listeners that they have bad taste, it's way too subjective a comment( just like musical tastes hey? ), and won't get you anywhere.

My advice would be for you to embrace your unique musical perception, and dig a bit deeper. To me, it seems that youre just scrathing the surface of the subconcious refinery, from where all dreams and music flows freely. Remember that the listener wants some kind of reward when they listen to music, esp if you want them to listen to a song more than once. Some music grows on you ( discovery through sheer repetition ) and some music becomes stale over time, even though it sounded great the first time you heard it.
Listen to some Angelo Badalamenti, Nicolas Lens and Penderecki for inspiration, but keep on working and perfecting your own style/

AphoticAthanasy responds:

I agree . I will try to be less harsh, I apologize everyone . I will see to it that I will gather my talent from the deeper oceans within me . Just one thing .. I don't make random notes, listen to the song ''Time Goes By'' I deliberately place these piano keys from what I love to make, which is an ambient story like structure . Thankyou for your wonderful review ..

- Aphotic Athanasy -

[A Ship to the North]

A Ship to the North

Gentle/soft & soothing song. I agree with previous reviewer that you could give the piano some more variety in dynamics, but my biggest wish would be for a time sig change towards the end, when the drums come in... just something unexpected.
5/5

Grandvision responds:

Ah, kay, surprise the viewer. I get ya. Thanks again. ^^

[Live on]

Live on - WIP

Beautiful song. The real magic starts at 00:51,
The intro could have a little more build up/mystery, but apart from that it's a success - Take away from it, add to it, the sonic foundation is set.
Percussion is just right.
Nice work.
5/5

Grandvision responds:

Thank you. This is my first proper orchestral track.

[Evaporation Disaster]

Evaporation Disaster

Great song. Hope you got your machine sorted, I have had that happen - so I know,and ffs, I hope you backed up your files.

/ if you reinforce the bass & drum section with some real instruments in post-production it would sound awesome.
It's quite complex in it's simplicity, if you were to slow down the bpm/tempo a little you could make it sound even more anticipatory.
It would be fun to play this live, esp the bass and drums, so I love it, awesome beat and catchy groove, recipe for success /
5/5

LightKeeper responds:

Thanks a lot man. :) I have all my files backed up and such but I'm currently stuck using linux as my OS. It's a real downer. I'm looking to by a new comp soon though so I can get started back up on all this stuff. I'm really glad you noticed the bass and drums btw because the composition on that stuff was intense. If I can ever get some actual instruments on this I'll do it. Thanks a lot for the awesome review. :)

[[S] Heavy Light]

Heavy Light

This reminds me of the many jam sessions I had way back, when we just wanted to make music, no preconcieved pretentious conceptual bs, just fun and all about the moment.
You might want to push your playing style for all it's worth, listen to primus, sonic youth, pavement etc. Don't be too shy with the guitar, it's the main element and it's a little too reserved imo. Just adding a little chorus will fatten it up. It would also be cool to have a slight change in the dynamics in the chorus/break.
The guitar is ever so slightly out of tune, I don't know if this is on purpose or not, but it gives it a raw charm that I think works well with the song. Just work on the tone, even do some more overdubs to reinforce the riff.
Good Work!
5/5

Screch responds:

haha, "raw charm"

really I clinch whenever I head the first notes to this song ... I have to change it but haven't brought myself to start recording yet. Thanks for the wonderful review man

[Orchestral Theme 1]

Orchestral Theme 1

The first 1:30 minutes are mesmerizing , my favourite the percussion and general ambience, driving the sound/story forward. On a tightrope/redemption ahead, and the truth slowly comes to light. Epic incidental score!

I think you could easily add more instuments if you wanted / more brass in the build-ups, and I'm not saying it sounds incomplete at all- it's completely solid ,
but you have left lots of space for more...esp melodic stuff.

For me , the mood you created can be interpreted in lots of ways, filled with suspense, mystery, but also a hint of menace.

This will probably be on my playlist for some time to come.
Great work Gravey.
5/5

Gravey responds:

Thanks bud! Good to hear from you as always. (You need to post new music soon btw!) ;-)

But getting back to this, the way you described this in your review really makes me swell my chest a bit. I'm really happy with how it turned out and to get another artist's approval whom I respect, means quite a bit more than the casual reviewer.

I agree there is space for other things within the piece, but I didn't want it to get bogged down. I wanted to try and keep it simple because the idea for this was to have it be background music for a flash game or video. Not that it was made for one specifically, but I'm trying to force myself to think more like an audio engineer rather than a freelance musician. Thus why it is not the fullest sound.

As always thanks for the review my friend. Always appreciated. :-)

-Gravey-

[Leviathian (WIP)]

Leviathian (WIP)

Great track! I like the slow build up, 01:12 onwards kinda feels like it needs more bass guit/line/riff & pity it ends just as it gets going / perfect for a loop though.
5/5 hope you expand it some more.

what's the tempo/bpm if you dont mind me asking?

SteakJohnson responds:

thanks, its pretty old tho. tempo is im guessin like 105 but I dont remember where the file is. I should definately do a remix soon or somethin.