This is an NGADM 2015 review.

So, interesting one here. Pretty solid production, nice and spacious - decent snare, kick could stand to have a little more presence. If there were any issues I had they were mostly structural/nitpicky mix-related.

The intro is nice and chill, maybe a bit simple. I really love how you did the transition! I find the chorus to be a little off mix-wise, though - mostly that the splash/crash is too high and short, the snare is too quiet in comparison to the rest of the percussion, and I'd want to bring the sax(?) up a bit simply because it clashes with the piano at its current level imo, and makes the whole thing sound a bit chaotic. Otherwise solid, everything is pretty well balanced in this section.

I feel that at 1:05 the mix is significantly better here, mostly because simpler percussion and fewer elements in general. The organ/synth is a much nicer level compared to the piano, but it does kind of drown the percussion out a bit. This is probably more a comment on the level of the piano than anything else.

So! 1:39... interesting :P it's not very telegraphed, and definitely woke me up a bit (it's 1:30am). I don't think it sounds like a completely different song, more that it makes the song sound as though it was designed as a soundtrack or something that would go along with a visual element. Were it not for the fact that you ended the song with this theme, I might have called it a cool stylistic decision; because honestly the more I hear it the more cool I am with it... but ending the song with it was just a bit aggressive, imo.

Anyway, solid song - maybe a bit quiet, some minor mix issues (though generally pretty good), and some unorthodox structural decisions, but it was interesting and fun and I enjoyed it.

I love the quirky mood and intricate rhythms at the beginning. I think the tiny pauses you have at the end of some of the mini-phrases (like at :06 and :13) sort of detract from the flow of the piece. I might’ve at least tried to fill in the gaps with some reverb. The part at :27 is catchy, if a little hard-to-follow rhythmically. I liked the (saxophone?) solo at :40, but I think it should’ve been a bit more up-front in the mix. The solos at around 1:15 are also cool. The part at 1:40 really threw me off guard, though. It sounds like a completely different song. The structure of this song was a little strange to start, but towards the end you pushed it a little too far IMO. It comes across as a bit disjointed and choppy. You might need some smoother transitions at 1:39 and 2:03, as well as some longer phrases to bridge the gap between the themes I’m hearing during 0:00 to 1:39 and 1:40 onwards. The ending felt a little rushed too. I think you need to flesh out these ideas here a lot more. It really wouldn’t hurt, especially since this piece is so short right now. Sorry this review is so negative. I like the instruments and melodies, and the production quality is quite high. The structure, transitions, and some of the rhythmic content didn’t sit well with me, tbh. It’s important to take risks as a composer and musician, but many of the ones I’m seeing here didn’t pay off for me. Sorry. I hope this review helped! I’d encourage you to keep working on this piece after the competition because, as I said, I like a lot of the isolated ideas here. Keep at it, Camoshark. ;)

7/10

This review was written for the Newgrounds Audio Death Match 2015.

What? Still no reviews?
I guess I am doomed to be the first one to admit that this is awesome, and that the listen was very enjoyable ;)

Good job, and good luck!