Score: 9
"Zomg Turban Man"
date: March 31, 2009
Give praise to the three breasted goddess. The combination of organic-ish Indian vibes and electronic bits in this trk is golden :) I downloaded this yesterday and listened to it on the way to school.
The first thing that came to mind after listening to this through was the game "Timesplitters". The game is about a group of people with high tech gadgets and laser guns from the future who go back into time to collect crystals for whatever cliche reason that I cannot remember. I can picture the characters entering a dilapidated Hindi Temple of some sort, getting to the underground sector and figthing off a Hindu cyborg demon (hence the electronic influences) for the prize.
What I enjoyed a lot about this number is how you meshed both sinister and serene emotions into one environment. The textures are superb and airy, love the usage of synths in here, and the subtle intracies that work around the Hindu chant vocal, which is very beautiful and indicative of a Hindu meditating scene itself. Love that evil sounding swell that comes in every eight bars. Well executed build into the second phase of the song, except I would personally prefer maybe a tabla hit crescendo instead of a trancey snare roll. That resonant rhythmic synth theme mirrors the sinister side of the track quite well too, great inclusion in this track :) The chanty vibe and gradual automation was sick.
Beats were right on the money too, the one beat that you start out with (cant remember the name of that type of rhythm) was catchy, and I love how you build upon those themes with the dynamic tabla rhythms. Cymbal samples were great too, they sound quite authentic for what they were, well placed in the back of the track without being too upfront.
The only criticism I can think of is include another Indian based melody (maybe a countermelody to the vocal theme in the third phase of the track) with pitch bend articulations, needs a nasally string sound in here like a Sitar, I think pairing the background pads with maybe some subtle tambura resonance would augment the Hindustani atmosphere. Could be longer as well IMO, but it packs a lot of curry-punch for the two and half minutes it was worth ;)
April 1, 2009
Author's Response:
wow!!! what a nice review!! thanks for the time it took you to type all of it! <3 i was kind of going for a "dark beauty" so i'm glad that it came through a little bit. the trouble i had with vocal clips is that a lot of them are singing and chants from the Koran, and it is offensive to their religion for that to be heard anywhere but a mosque. i was having trouble finding anything else that i was sure would not offend anybody. plus i'm cheap and i refuse to pay for samples lol.
i may revisit this track. i have found a way to insert a sitar sound from my keyboard into my music so i may haev to try it!
and interesting thought on the table roll instead of the trance snare roll! it just never crossed my mind!
i'm so glad you liked it and thanks so much for the amazing review!
and curry-punch ftw! lol
<3 Kerrie
