by

Yannis YanniS
(YanniS)

Samples: Very good. Not particularly notable, but very good. Good imitation of a sitar within size limits. Effects: Good repeating fade. It sounded like glissando needed to be replaced with vibrato in a few places. Almost fascistic control over every detail in this song. Composition: Interesting and unexpected cross of two styles. The Middle Eastern style was a good motif that should have been even more prominent than it was. Lead in order 58 had nothing to say. Subtlety: The harmony bounced well in and out of the melody in orders 26 and 27, and you re-integrated the funk well in order 40. Balance: Volumes were impeccably balanced, ditto the panning. Spectrum was balanced and tightly controlled. Strong points: Curious stylistic blend, very direct, eye for detail. Weak points: A bit gimmicky, VERY tired style. Could improve: Now that you've mastered tracking, try a different style.

imitation may be the highest form of flattery but if i hear another tiny trill off of a melody im gonna puke... and the fact that Baghdad is spelled incorrectly should be an automatic disqualification... but still, i certainly cant deny the fact that this tune is very well tracked and contains immense professional influences and highly developed musical ideas.. originality - beyond low for tracking style but an interesting mix for tune style... form - again, though highly influenced (if not dangerously imitated), well done.. the tune flows nicely without any breaks and musically well developed.. technique - obvious skill but the similarity to OTHER artists detracts from giving this tune its own character.. samples - synthy and gamey... appropriate for the 'style' but personally i get sick of them...(no matter what the song or who the artist) quality was fine... overall, talent and skill are prevalent but i wish they were devoted to more original concepts...

[my comments from round 1] [Man, You cannot hide your style, even though You moved to IT. It's hard not to make a comparison to Nine One One. The title and the intro showed that I will hear a persian style. In fact, this tune is far enough from those mid-east taste music. Your tune is an extremely well done crosslink between them and a new-age synth-funk (or boogie as you called)... :) Really very impressive, shows Your great technique. Clean samples, variations, rythm. Hard to find something wrong. Excellent song, thanks, I will see You in the second round, sure.]

Not bad after all. Beside the original idea behind the use of arabian funky style, this song uses the classical cliche "theme-variation-theme-pause-theme-variation...", making it prevedible. I missed a soft choir in the background, because the song tend to become static with time. This song is a good mix of technique and good ideas, and comes with a very good set of samples (apart 23, the bassdrum, which doesn't terminate clean disturbing the listener during the percussion solo section). The musician has excellent skills in tracking.

This is a very well tracked and quite impressive song. There is obviously a lot of tracking experience and musical ability at work here, and the song is quite funky, although the Maniacs of Noise influence seems quite strong in a few places. The most impressive and interesting parts of the song are probably the quieter, more "arabic" sounding sections, as the funkier sections are a bit too cliched, although skillfully done. The chords are good, and the leads are well written, if slightly unoriginal. As far as the technical side goes, I'm not going to argue here, as it is tracked in a very controlled manner indeed by someone who already probably knows as much about how to track as he needs to. However I think it gets a bit clicky in places, and it all seems to cut off very quickly with no long sustains, particularly in the backing/rhythm section. Fast attack, fast decay, throughout the whole song. It might have been nice to have a bit more variation, but it doesn't matter much. The samples seem to be a bit low quality or very cut down - probably because of the need to get it in the size limit. A few of the sounds are not as well looped as they could be. The lead samples are a bit cheesy though - it would be nice if you had used something that doesn't sound cheap and chippy, perhaps something more analogue with careful use of cut off and resonance. As it is they are very "video game"-ish, and yes, I wanted to avoid this but they are a bit too WAVE-ish. The voice and flute are nice sounds, and the drumloop isn't bad either. Really I have only two major dislikes about this song. Firstly, I think it's a bit too repetitive, and considering it's length it needed more variety than it has. The "funky" part repeats a bit too often, and although it has variations and some very well handled changes in it, by the time the song is over it's been repeated too much, and I don't think the theme is strong enough to take it. Less would have been more, in this case, and maybe if it was closer to the four minute mark it would have been better. As it is it feels like the composer's trying to drum the thing into my head. Still, it's not as repetitive as a lot of the other songs in this contest. My other problem with it is the originality thing. I wouldn't call it a WAVE clone, but it certainly borrows big time from that whole sound. There are lots and lots of people doing music like this, and while most aren't as successful at it as this song, it's getting tiresome. As for the whole arabic idea, that's been done before too, and quite successfully. Unfortunately this seems like one of those songs which just takes the cliched ingredients of the genre and sticks it in for novelty value. But while your originality mark isn't going to be enormous, I liked the song quite a lot. Nice one.

INSTRUMENTS/SAMPLES: Appropriate selection and crisp quality. The only barely noticeable defect (and probably sound card/mixing dependent) was the sharp cut off envelope (e.g. Ins 06) which caused a little bit of "static". Probably not worth worrying over unless you're writing to a WAV. -=-=-=- FORM: Stays within its refreshingly funky ethnic style. -=-=-=- ORIGINALITY: A nice blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation. -=-=-=- TECHNIQUE: Good use of the pitch sliding---not overdone and works into the style well. Used the "manual" way of making surround sound (with a sample offset), and it turned out pretty good. -=-=-=- OVERALL: A cool, unique song. :)

This is indeed some really nasty Bahgdad Boogie you've made here! Groovy beat and lots of small percussive effects. The lead in this is ofcourse arabic influenced, but in general it's pretty funky in the style, which I only know too well - the same kinda funky style, which Jeroen Tel and Drax are addicted to - only.. you add your _own_ stuff to it, so it's nowhere near a sound-a-like! That's what makes this tune stand out. There's a lot of variation and who can resist humming along with the arabian humming-sample, which I'm pretty sure, the author did himself (if I know him right). I'm giving this tune my highest ratings in this event, and you truely deserve them! This tune is the best one IMHO and there's absolutely nothing I would do differently - or change. :)

Originality: Of course you score high in this section. This isn't the kind you tune you hear every day. Very good variations and mood changes. The progression really 'tells a story'. Form: This is a very long tune, therefor it needs to variate much. You have done this to a certain point, but i think you could have done it a little better. But your mood changes are excellent. Technique: You use extremly many effects, and that in a very good way. I couldn't hear any faults. Just that you could play the rythmintruments a little louder. Samples: Nothing to complain about, but not super. Overall Appeal: Cool inde sound. You really play with the sound, and kept me interested nearly throughout the tune.

This tune shows great talent of it's composer. The melodies are great (especially the change between eastern-jewish climate and funky feeling). The percussion is great, sounds very real and knows it's place. Space used very wisely. You only could have used some synthstring chords instead of jumping ones in some places.

This one was really hard to vote on. You handle the tracker very well, but a few things show your limited knowledge of the oriental ethnic you are trying to borrow. The sitar you inadequately model (altough it must be nearly impossible with samples) doesn't quite fit in the otherwise oriental soundscape. The similiarities between the regular bluesy-scale and the oriental scale were used cleverly, but this song holds little musical value. The song has smooth flow but becomes really repetitive and boring quite soon. Put those remarkable skills of yours to use they are worthy of.

The song starts off well but takes a bit too long to get where it's going. The variation about 3minutes in is quite welcomed.

This tune is one of the best in this competition. It is outstanding in its style and idea. I saw that this handwriting seems well known!!! The other judges in round 1 also thought this could only be ... :-) Yes, I also think so. Not knowing in which group he actually is. (Perhaps in īfmī/īmonī) As always a perfect modul in all ways!!! Itīs added to my modul collection actually. At least heīs a real musician. Hope he keeps on composing in future!!! (perhaps some more experimental & harder tunes) Letīs wait and see if he will win again.