GrapheneKid's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[hop, skip, jump]

I think an event like Jamuary is very well-suited to the approach you have in mind, which is to start from a place of familiarity and build your skills while introducing new elements and trying things out of your comfort zone. It's 31 days so you are wise to want to avoid taking extreme steps that would burn you out.

This beat is good! Not super familiar with the genre but the vocals you chose fit well and the instrumentation feels very airy and bright. The mix is really clean too, everything fits in super well.

[Floating On A Beat]

Short, sweet and very jazzy, but I am so offended that I'm not allowed to smoke in the terminal building. 5 stars.

SageIsReal responds:

Thanks for the support!
And sorry bro, I don't make the rules...lol.

[3'44'']

I feel like I just debugged my brain while listening to this, so goddamn trippy

[Making Discoveries - Jamuary Day 2]

You had an image in your head when you wrote this and you captured it on so many levels. I picture an alchemist or a metallurgist, but the percussive instruments almost feel mechanical, like he's a tinkerer in his bustling workshop.

[Spooktober Forever! (JAMuary Day 2)]

Ooh, liking the unusual time signature here. Very spoopy overall. The pad melody that plays during that drop is my absolute favorite, you gave it this ghostly New Wave-type progression while still keeping that spoopy Halloween aura of despair.

I agree that there do seem to be some balancing issues. For me, the kick felt a little too loud, I'm not sure if maybe turning the high frequencies down on it would help or if there's a way you can pull it back a bit just overall, as it kind of blocks out a lot of the instruments leading up to that big drop.

GlaceonDash responds:

Aye, so I made the drums too loud and some of the bass! Will note for future Jamuary Things

[Degenerator - Jamuary 1, 2023]

It's fortunate you caught on quick to the risk of burnout with a long-term jam like this one. Jamuary feels like the perfect event for playing with your composing style and skill, kind of like a sandbox, rather than trying to come up with 31 full-fledged songs. It sounds like you had fun with this song, especially at the end. The bells kinda remind me of the type of music Maddy Thorson used to compose, very freeform and playful yet still retaining some good harmony.

[To The Death [Jamuary Day 2]]

The fusion of acoustic melodies and modern instruments/mixing techniques is extremely fascinating, it shouldn't work as well as it does (especially that WICKED drop) and yet it totally does. The whole thing just sounds so damn clean and punchy. As I've written this whole comment out I've probably replayed this about a dozen times because it just worms its way into your brain and commands your attention.

I think it's really easy to listen to works from other musicians in your sphere and get discouraged. My theory is, much like you've discovered, that it has a lot to do with specializing. Music, and the tools used to make it, have diversified a lot in just the past decade or two. It's easier than ever now to find new stimuli in places you didn't even know existed, and in those places you'll find people who have been practicing just like you have, getting amazingly good at their own thing and iterating off a completely different set of experiences and influences. You could have a person who knows EXACTLY as much about music composition and theory as you do, but if their specialty is, say, piano solos, then you would probably still feel inferior by comparison because it may not be a field you have much familiarity with. They would feel the exact same about you, for the exact same reason.

You hit the nail on the head though about why you wrote this song. You are an individual built of a completely unique mix of influences and experiences. We adapt and evolve as we take on new stimuli, but we are still wholly unique in how we express these facets of ourselves. Other people may do *their* styles of music better, but nobody does your style better than you do.

Quarl responds:

Wow, thank you so much. Very kind words and a thoughtful review. Glad you enjoyed the genre bending, I've always loved how progressive genres fuse influences. Metal in particular; you ever hear David Maxim Micic drop opera and polka in between some shredded guitar solos? Gush.

[JAMUARY 2023 - day 2]

I'm digging this one, it has an energetic depth to it that I don't really see a lot of in lofi hip-hop

arbelamram responds:

woahhhh thank you very much!!! i really like doing deep mixes! happy to hear its appricated!♥