I like the quirky synths at the beginning. The fade-in could’ve been a bit more creative, but those airy pads and bubbly arpeggios really mesh well together. The piece is a little slow to progress at times, and the piece started sounding a bit anticlimactic by the chord change at :55 or so. The percussion at 1:17 is a little bizarre, and I think you especially overused the hat. The kick sounds pretty weak and hollow, and the piano sample at 1:27 is a bit inauthentic. By around the 2-minute mark, I’m enjoying the quirky harmonies and the cool synth that plays those ascending arpeggios. The structure of this piece feels a bit disjointed at times, with, for example, a sudden transition at 2:14 and mini-fadeout turning into a new riff at 2:19 that doesn’t seem harmonically related to the one preceding it. I don’t think you can just use fade-ins and fade-outs as glue to hold together an otherwise choppy arrangement. I’d suggest consolidating your ideas a bit more and focusing on the depth of harmonies and sense of progression and storytelling rather than on creating a lot of variety with the different riffs, instruments, and rhythmic motifs. Many of the sound design choices in here are also questionable, like the heavy kick at 3:52 during an otherwise mellow part of the piece. Overall, I enjoyed the quirky mood, mixing, and a lot of the isolated patterns and harmonies in this piece. The composition just feels a little thrown-together here, which you can remedy with some more gradual and smooth transitions, as well as a stronger sense of overarching structure and narrative. Keep at it, Jeffbeard! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.5/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.5/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.25/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.5/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.75/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.25/1
Composite score
5.75/10

very cool intro! space age steve reich vibes. wasn't expecting the transition to sassy chromatic tribal house, to energetic electro pop, to a prog synth breakdown. i guess the title should've clued me in. i think it's cool to do this sort of thing every now and then, even when the musical ideas don't come together to form a cohesive whole. that said, i prefer a lot of the warmer, smoother sounds used here than the harsh space harpsichords and loud, brittle 808 open hats. using 808s the entire time is a brave choice, they don't really convey the sound you're trying at a lot of the time and sound a little anemic. generally the mix lacks space in terms of dynamics (a lot of the time everything is the same volume) and physicality (no reverb/delay), but the first 2 minutes work around this better than the rest of the track, which i didn't like very much. bizarre entry overall, but i respect the shot at something unique.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text