Score: 10

"Needs moar wrenchin' [10]"

submission: Dispenser Erectin'

date: February 6, 2009

Wrenchin' being to TF2 what cowbell is to Blue Oyster Cult songs, I guess.

The intro was very excellent, and the sounds of the wrenchin' along with the various equipment building sounds was very promising, I thought perhaps you were gonna feature nothing but that sort of percussion. So it was a BIT of a letdown to hear normal beats along with all the synthy voices + TF2 char voices throughout the rest of the song, but... it was still quite excellent. I mean, come on... Portal gets so many song tributes thanks to Still Alive, it's nice to hear TF2 get some love in the fan-made song department.

Kudos.

Score: 10

"Boy am I glad I was in the portal a moment ago [9]"

submission: {Blaze}

date: December 6, 2008

Otherwise I wouldn't have happened upon your song. The flash itself was nothing special, in fact I got distracted by an IM after watching a bit of it, but thus your song continued in the background for several minutes as I IMed and browsed the web.

Great, great song. Takes me right back to the glory days of RageVI and ParagonX9 in the early days of the Audio Portal. You know, though it's a bit cleaner and simpler (not that that's a bad thing) than most techno on mp3.com (the old, original 1990s mp3.com that paid artists for their music a shitload pre-internet bubble collapse, I mean), this song would have been good enough to earn you 10,000s of $s back then (me, I earned $220 bucks back then, heh). Great stuff.

And I just realised while looking through my meager 8 audio reviews up to now (well, I've made a couple more, but some songs got deleted, bleh) that you're the same dude who made {Sunlight}, which was one of the songs that got me to start audio reviewing again after 3 years of not doing it. I should really listen to all your stuff in one go, but I actually love finding new jewels by you and others here by someone just happening to put them in a flash (no matter the quality of the flash). Great work, I should say more about the song itself, but I'll sum it up with:

Absolutely love the strings during the slowing fade-out, BTW, and some of the builds you... built. #;-}> As great as the energy level is through most of this one, I'd love to hear you do an ambient/chill-out song with some similar synths to this.

Score: 10

"Entrancing... [8.2]"

submission: ~EnV~Heaven Rd. 2 (Ng mix)

date: August 28, 2008

Love the Russian Space Programesque ping noises at the start of the song, first off. I'm sure there's a much better, shorter, and more accepted term for that type of synth, but I'm sure everyone can tell what I mean. Heh.

Reminds me of a techno artist from the old late 90s mp3.com.... PPK2000 or something like that. Also of this one song from Hooj Choons vol. 3.

ANYWHO... only even heard this because of some simple, basic maze game just submitted to the portal this past hour, but the song really spruced it up. Aside from the awesome spacey synths, I like the breakdown, especially once the hi-hat kicks in. The vocal sample is... okay, but almost used too much, especially since it's a bit too Mortal Kombatish for the song, IMO. But 80% of the time I prefer female vox in techno, so I'm prolly biased. #;-}>

Great job, lots of lush layers, plenty of stuff to listen for on re-listens... well deserving of being in 20+ flash entries!

Score: 10

"Wanted to check out another of your songs... [8]"

submission: Suzy B

date: August 15, 2008

After hearing This Way from that Clock Day 08 flash that used it.

The vocals are decent here, but I think I liked the instrumentation in This Way more because it was... well, the focus, and more impressive in itself.

That said, the synths under the chorus are nice, and the accompanying rhythm section's okay. But a bit bland/inoffensive... which I guess is the point, because this is very retro in style. Not the lyrics so much as the singing style, I mean.

The vocals really start to get really good just before the guitar solo at around 1:50, though. Nice verses. I'm gonna check out more of your stuff thanks to these two submissions. Thanks for bringing NG's audio portal some pop/rock standards to go with its million techno standards (RageVI and paragonx9 especially). You're right up with them in the quality department. Well done!

Score: 10

"I just heard this on a Clock Day 08 flash... [7]"

submission: This Way DEMO

date: August 15, 2008

And I looked over under the flash author name to see which band it was by. When I saw it was an audio portal song, I was honestly shocked. Typically, the only halfway decent stuff from the audio portal that gets used in flashes I watch on the portal is techno in some form or fashion.

This, therefore, is the first... actual... good... rock song I've heard from the audio portal. Quite excellent! Very nice synth/guitar mix, and most importantly a great driving, pulsing rhythm section. Love the hi-hat tippy-tap constantly pushing it along, the bassline is groovy, and everything is allllllllllllll right.

Had to get this song linked to in my profile and take a moment away from the Clock Day constant-protection-of-movies to come and review this and vote 5. Great job! #;-}>

Score: 10

"After 3+ months... [6]"

submission: Mass Effect

date: June 24, 2008

Your groovy track is finally being used by a submission (the new game submitted just now, today... Elliptic). Congrats on that (it's how I found the song, anyway). Oh, and I just gave it a 5 vote, which should balance out the previous reviewer's 0 (he shoulda come back the next day and hit 5 at that point to balance it himself! #;-}>)... JSYK.

I saw the title was Mass Effect over at that submission just now, so I wanted to see if it had anything to do with the game, and sure enough. I just got a new PC this month, and so I've been playing a lot of the games I missed, such as Halo and Doom 3 and Bioshock, over the past few years... I'll be getting Orange Box for my birthday next week, and finally Mass Effect is the last must-have game on my list, from what I've read about it. But since it just came out on PC like a month ago, it's still top-priced, so I'll have to wait awhile for it to drop a bit.

Still, this song being inspired by the game... serves as yet more mouth-watering anticipation-causing teasing for me in addition to all the reviews I've read. #;-}> Thanks for that.

Very nice atmospheric techno... kinda has a "slowed down drum 'n' bass" feel to it, really. I dig the beat a lot, the bass... the synths overlaid on top after many measures are decent (though the piano parts shine much more, even with everything that makes the song... dropping out to leave just the aural background + piano overlay), but it's really the beat 'n' groove that make this one... leading up to that soft ending. I'd love to hear piano like that WITH accompanying beats, in a way that "works," if that makes any sense.

Score: 10

"Bright, energetic simplicity [5]"

submission: {Sunlight}

date: June 21, 2008

Just heard this song on a new flash just submitted to the portal. The flash was crap but the song was great. When I saw it was from the audio portal, I had to come and see... er... have a listen, rather.

I haven't reviewed anything in the audio portal in years, but I don't want to lose track of this beaut, so here I am.

The title of the song, Sunlight, reminds me of Starlight by Muse, and this song's actual feel... is kinda like a techno rendition of the feel of that rock song. Upbeat, happy, but with a slight tinge of wistfulness or longing or nostalgia.

As others have said, the strings 'n' synths are great. The thumping four to the floor beat is fine, but I'd love to hear kinda a nu-skool breaks/breakbeat trance version of this. When the beats drop out and the music soars into the breakdown, I think about some Hybrid-esque beats kicking in instead... and it makes me smile (like Beachcoma by Hybrid, from their first album, Wide Angle).

So what I'm saying is, this is great, but I'd love to hear a more intricate drum version, too. #;-}> Well done. I've not heard better tone or mood from an audio portal techno song since the golden days of ParagonX9.

Score: 10

"Vocal noodling TO THE MAX"

submission: Nonsense

date: December 14, 2004

Loved it. Great stuff. SUBMIT MORE AUDIO, IOI8!

Was that a "cock-a-doodle-doo" in there before the breakdown? Heh. Greatness.

Score: 10

"Damn straight it's our favorite!"

submission: Nightfall

date: August 30, 2003

Hey man. #;-}> Been to the audio portal before, but never reviewed anything until I popped in to review TheLT earlier. Figured I'd drop by your place, too.

I love that your songs have such variety within them, and all of them are so different in terms of specifics. In Nightfall, the crystalline synths stand out as the signature sound, but the balance of all the harsher elements with them is what makes it more than just a pretty melody. Nice hard intro into the breakdown where the aforementioned synths are introduced briefly, but it's when they continue on as the drumroll brings back the bass and beat. Nice nice NICE!

Score: 9

"Found your music through a movie featuring this"

submission: A simple prog-trance loop

date: August 30, 2003

Strangely, BTW, that movie credits "Full-on trance loop," not the one it should, that being this prog-trance loop... I guess the author got the ID wrong. I've enjoyed all of your clips, though, especially this one (duh!), the aforementioned other trance loop, Astrals-13, Subways, and Arturia Modular System.

Anyway, despite this loop being only 7 seconds long, it manages to effect a really cool feel. Kinda laid-back trancey yum yum whoa, that's the best I can describe it. #;-}> The synth is just perfectly luscious, the drums are nothing too special, but they go well with the groove of the bassline. The textures all meld well, forming one hell of a snickers bar of a trance loop.

If you haven't heard it used, check out the entry that uses it (Dis-illusioned Pirate). Somehow, it just seems to perfectly fit a wacky little flash about a demented pirate who won't stop insisting a futuristic cruiseship is his pirate ship, and to hell with anyone who tells him otherwise!

You're my first audio portal review because of this tiny little 7 second loop. Whee. #;-}>