Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- The problem with going this abstract is that there's not really any reasonable point of comparison to use within the piece. See, the reason pieces use a scale is to provide some structure for musical ideas. It allows consonance to be contrasted with dissonance. Often music in odd meters will switch back into steady meters towards the end to provide some climax and resolution to the tension generated by that odd meter, or to bring back a normal meter and make the audience feel unsettled by it because they've gotten used to the odd rhythm as 'normal'. In this case, this track tries to be so abstract that it loses that sense of 'normalcy' for comparison. Here, for a point of comparison try listening to this track by the American artist frums: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2b7PUMeciM The initial drumbeats are absolutely insane and very difficult to hear as organized. However, in the following section, the rhythm becomes relatively regular. frums also plays quite a bit with tempo and other forms of meter, along with key signatures that are difficult to pin down. But you can compare these sections and have moments of reprieve inside the calmer bits. Another wonderful point of comparison is Floral Strobe, by False Noise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2GeYwvqPv4 Notice how there is absolute chaos that's difficult to discern the meter or rhythm for... but it's kept consistent through the use of a steady snare to 'center' the listener and provide a constant pulse of energy. Both of these methods may greatly help you out in your desire for experimentalism.

- Ah, also, let's do a quick check of the mix. It's flooded with reverb, making it a lot harder to identify individual elements. Notice how buried the drums get at times where the mix has a lot of instruments at once. Notably, your kick also lacks bass - so that point of reference doesn't exist for listeners (and also makes it more disorienting). You also don't really... provide a break for listeners to recover from the constant drums and melodies seemingly generated by a randomizer.

Compliments to the Composer:

- I think my favorite part has to be at 1:37. That pad in the background along with the toms and snare actually sounds really sick, and you could probably develop that into something really neat on its own. It reminds me of earthbound, even. Real benefit of those chords as well, is that it provides SOME framework for harmony, even if you extend outside of the specific harmony outlined by the chords.

Final score: 5.5

I'm here for odd time signatures, and chromatic parts. This was so damn creative.