Daamn that's a cool style!
Author Comments
My entry for the final round is here! I had an absolute blast creating this piece from beginning to end, filled with unusual mixing ideas and strange soundscapes. My goal was to blend very different themes: the sound of rock/metal, folk music, and sci-fi, of course. Some of the transitions have proven to be extremely challenging, but for some magical reason it all came together without much trouble.
I like the atmosphere at the beginning and the cool synth guitar lead at :17. The distorted vocal samples at :38 are a nice touch, and there’s a good sense of build-up into 1:07. The pacing of the middle section of the piece is a bit bizarre - there are a lot of different ideas, but none of them feel very “stable,” so it’s hard to follow the direction of the piece, if that makes sense. Also, the mix is very bottom-heavy. By the time the guitar comes in at 1:58, I was itching for some more harmonic content. That said, the ghostly melodies at 2:14 hit the piece home nicely, and the rich atmosphere and plethora of reverb there truly give that section an otherworldly feel. Maybe the astronauts have crashed on a strange planet and encountered an alien race?
Either way, the production quality is top-notch here, and I can tell you spent a lot of effort crafting some of these transitions. The arrangement is indeed very experimental, but overall you pull it off quite well. The composition could use a tad bit of fleshing out in a way - you move on from one idea to the next very quickly for a lot of this piece, and the final refrain in particular felt a bit short-lived. Still, there’s a very strong sense of storytelling with this one. Really evocative work. Thanks for coming out to the NGUAC, Sicra! ^_^
Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.75/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9/10
SicraMusic responds:
Appreciate the long review! The drop in the middle is by far the most experimental part of the song, but I somehow got used to it though while producing. It's this trap I frequently fall into where rhythmic and melodic patterns start sounding familiar when you listen to them a lot, but they still sounds weird on the first listen, you just no longer realize it.
This starts off very strongly and where it leads is very satisfying. No part seems to linger too long so it never feels too slow or draggy. In fact, it feels like a very immersive piece of music that would go absolutely perfectly with a simulator ride. I was hooked the whole track. Good luck for this year's NGUAC!
SicraMusic responds:
Yooo thanks! And massive respect for listening to each and every submission and leaving detailed reviews on them, whenever I get one like this it always makes my day :)
So unique!
The part at 01:07 tickles my brain :D
SicraMusic responds:
Thanks! I've recently listened to the legendary dubstep album 'Fractals' by Subtronics and I feel like it subconsciously had an effect on most of my creative decisions at the drop
Woah, it really feels like rocket powered carousel... I really adore originality and sound design of this piece.
You'll definitely score high in the finals, good luck!
SicraMusic responds:
Glad you liked it! This was actually my fourth attempt at making a song, I knew I wanted something experimental but I just couldn't get anything to sound right for two days straight. I feared that I won't be able to submit anything, then this weird drop idea happened and everything else came naturally after that.
Plenty more like this here!
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SicraMusic ![Sicra - Wanderers [NGUAC]](https://aicon.ngfiles.com/1156/1156446.png?f1662705673)
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