Shenanigans I tell you!
Pure genius I tell you!
This is so alive, I can feel the music.
NEVER have I EVER felt music with this much life!
The sounds have been put perfectly in, makes it even funnier.
5/5
Reviews for "Graveyard Shenanigans"
steampianist responds:
thank you so much
flaming frankfurters
The Good:
-That title is hilarious. It's perfect for what you intended.
-This has some of the most excellent composition I've heard from you. It has good ideas, the ideas flow together, they're used together and repeat throughout in varying forms which are still clear. Fantastic.
-I might have commented on this before, but whatever. I love how you use instruments which would normally be called 'lower-quality', and practically flaunt them in the face of people saying "pfft, you think these are bad? toasted trilobites, you're thick as a watermelon" by using them in such a unique and awesome way. Also your effects are awesome.
-I love some of the little details, such as about 0:43-0:52 where you use the little rattling sounds. Reminds me of skeletons. Similar detail in the pizzicatto arpeggios at 1:14-1:32.
-Loving that cool slick violin-ish sound at 1:42-2:00.
-Mixing is good.
The Not-So-Good:
-Okay, as much as I love your effects, you're using them a bit too much at this point. I hear them, you don't have to push them into my face over and over.
-Couple transitions that I feel are weaker than others and transitions you've used previously: 2:00 for the abruptness, 3:04 partially because the climax seems a bit overly drawn-out and uninspired as well as the transition being a bit weak, the ending because it's simply very weak.
Overall: Score of 9.4/10. This is excellent. I don't have much bad to say about this. The transitions are a pet peeve of mine though, and the effects are seriously used waaaay too much, they don't quite seem to work as percussively as you used them.
steampianist responds:
hehe yeah i think i made it clear that this is my signature sound :)
thanks for the review skye glad you like the violin solo of "edirol"
This is an NGADM Round 5 review.
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I'm at a loss for words here. I have the same problem here as I had with headphoamz's Round 4 track. There is almost nothing one can dislike about this track. Just freaking awesome. I knew you were excellent from the start and I expected something of this quality and style from you, but this time it's so refined and jam-packed with details and dynamic changes that it feels like you've reached the ultimate standard of quality I can expect from you (even if that may not even be the case!). This has all of the good qualities of your previous tracks combined, none of the bad ones, and we're not even in the final round yet.
I'll get the ball rolling by making some high-level, general comments. The atmosphere overall is excellent. Despite the manic and frantic pace which seemingly never stops for a breath, there's a really articulate and well-defined Halloween atmosphere here. When I think 'atmospheric' I think something ambient, slow or gradual, because it's much harder to create an atmosphere with a freak show of chaotic and fast-paced composition/instrumentation, but you pulled off exactly that like it's nothing special.
The composition is some of the best I've heard from you. I think Skyfortress - City of Diz and Mechanical Anima had some truly excellent sheer melodic value (not that the tracks after them didn't alhough those shined more in other areas), but here you've got melodies that at least equal those you had in the two tracks I mentioned quality-wise, and yet you've still got the clarity and beautiful blend of instruments that you brought to the table in your Round 2, 3 and 4 tracks. There's very little of that directionless vibe I got from some of the melodies in your Round 3 and 4 tracks (Round 4 especially). Fantastic.
The actual flow of the melody has always been one of the strongest points of your tracks. I can always expect a smooth transition from one melody to another, largely due to the fact that you very often start a new melody of yours on the upbeat, making one melody lead to the next naturally and smoothly. The structure is also sublime. You have the tried-and-true method of introducing new section after new section in the track (which wouldn't work nearly as well if you didn't have such a great flow between sections), and then introducing the A section again at the very end. And there are so many different sections! Your structure is something like ABCDEFA. Or ABCDEFGHIJA. Or just the whole alphabet before we reach A again, now that I think about it.
Now for the more specific comments. Your intro is a bit harsh and sudden, but I don't find that to be as much of an issue as it was in your Round 3 track. Your ending is simply stellar. You can't go wrong with such a smooth approach to an ending, and the perfect cadence - the most satisfying and conclusive of cadences - was just the cherry on top. You have other brilliant touches in this track that make it stand out from other tracks such as that really well-placed pause at 0:08. I also love your waltz section and your transition to it. You and ZipZipper have made me quite partial towards waltzes, I've got to say!
I also need to add that the reintroduction of the beginning section at 3:07 is freaking godly. I'm not just saying that because I'm a fan of songs that bring back certain established motifs at the end of the track before finishing it (I in fact do that a lot in my own tracks), but the way you executed it is just fantastic. You introduced the dominant chord pause you had at 0:08 right after the waltz section, and then, just like in your intro, you brought in that fast-paced section once more in a transition that felt unexpected but still felt so right. You then led wonderfully to that ending with an identical transition to the one you had 0:40, except at 0:40 you seamlessly keep the track flowing, and at 3:36, you seamlessly end the track.
I think you've played it very safe with this track. I can appreciate you sticking to what you know, because as a result you've made something that sounds very refined and professional-sounding, but I can't help but say I was still a bit disappointed to hear that this is very similar to the other stuff you've been making for the past three rounds, especially rounds 2 and 3 (including in instrumentation - I'm hearing a lot of recycled samples/sounds that you've used in previous tracks several times), even if that disappointment only lasted for a fraction of a second before I got lost in a world of dancing skeletons and zombies terrorising the neighbourhood! I won't reduce marks for that though. Just one little nitpick - I feel as though this was lacking a soft section which acts as a break from all the chaos (similar to the ending of your Round 4 track). Without such a section, the track gets quite tiring and lacking in replay value.
My favourite track from you thus far. Mind-blowingly good.
Score: 9.8/10
steampianist responds:
thanks for this.... intimidating review......... i was gonna go review other competitors work.. but for some reason after reading yours and skye i felt embarrassed....
Hello Steam!!
Great to see yet another track, Steam doing what Steam does best. I can't hear any flaws at all in the production technique. That's one thing I truly envy about you. You have such a technical ear for knowing exactly where to place each instrument, the levels, the reverb or lack of... everything that I struggle with! You're a master.
In its own right, this track is also masterful, just like you. It's like you put a part of you into every track you make. It really comes alive and that is something you cannot learn to do. You've also inspired my Halloween costume through this song! To look at things in a wider perspective, there is one thing having a niche or a personal sound that people instantly recognise as being personal to you (I'm very much that type of artist myself!). However, it can get to a point where things start to sound a bit 'samey'. I mean this in the sense that I don't really hear anything new hear that you haven't already done. That being said, what you've already done has always been executed so successfully! (I usually avoid giving personal critique on stuff such as this because it could come across as offensive, although that is far from my intention!! ;^ ^)
I'm a huge fan of your work SP, truly. I'm going to be listening to your existing and future tracks for a long while to go and I am jealous of your production techniques. Please give me some tips some time ;_;
steampianist responds:
Thanks man and its probably obvious im a big fan of your work as well.
Uhm yeah it is kinda samey and lolz cmon give me some slack its hard to think of something "new"
anyways thanks for the review and congrats for winning 3rd dude for someone who is fresh in newgrounds thats awesome
There is no freaking way I can compete with stuff like this. It's so awesome. It's like you took Real Life Absurdities and made it better (mainly by adding a longer break, I guess). Plus you hit the halloween nail on the head. The instrumentation really works to hit the theme - like that vibrato whistle at :35, but the chord progressions also do a really nice job hitting it too.
One of the things that I really enjoy about your pieces is your use of melody and counter melody. There is almost never just a single melody going at once - you always pair them up with a loud one doing one thing and then a quieter one doing something else.
The only reason I'm holding back from 10/10 is that I feel like it's a little too close to Real Life Absurdities, which was itself fairly close to Steam's Wonderful Contraptions. (And see, I'm a total hypocrite, because I didn't laud you or anything when you did She Was Picking Flowers...) I feel like the primary strength of those 3 songs is in the crazy and unique instrumentation choices rather than in the melody, which means that the novelty wears off once you hear it a lot (not that I've been putting your songs on repeat for hours... ok, perhaps I have been...) but, and this is just my opinion, the novelty of a good melody will never wear off.
So what I'm trying to say is I would really like to hear another Mechanical Anima out of you, because that's my favorite of your styles. But, like, despite all my soliloquizing about melody, I still think that this song is really freaking great. In fact I feel almost criminal docking that half star because the song is that good.
steampianist responds:
Hey man thanks for the review. Yeah it does sound a bit like RLA but note i was up against kor rune while composing this thats why i decided i had to do what i do best :)
and congrats for making it through round 5