Kwing's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Monica]

It's uncanny how much this sounds like Viper the Rapper. The difference being that this is actually decent as far as that style is concerned (probably because unlike him, you aren't stretching yourself thin by putting out an entire album EVERY DAY.) Maybe you should start making vaporwave from now on, because you really do have the voice for it.

I think the biggest problem with the song is its length. Since the song is really just there to carry one joke, having the joke last almost four minutes gets old (two minutes would have been more appropriate, and comedic rappers like Pink Guy realize this all too well.) Moreover, since your greatest strength (multis) gets shoved under the rug for the sake of carrying one rhyme scheme all the way through, the joke only gets old that much faster because there isn't any substance or even a reprieve from the central theme.

Teqneek responds:

I was originally going to keep this to 2.5 minutes in length, but it stopped the "story" dead in its tracks.

Really though, how many popular 4 minute songs are there where people just repeat the same "I got money", "I got bitches" lines over and over? Plenty. At least this one has a premise, humor, and cleverness added added.

The final 2 verses are the bread and butter of this song, and in order to get to those, it needed the set up.

Anyway, this shit is at least 5x better than you two reviewers have given it credit for.

[NGHH'11 - Pigpen Vs Nimbus]

Seven years later this battle is still great. PiGPEN came a little weak with his first round but every other round is a pretty vicious back and forth with some great rebuttals. A few weaknesses here and there - Nimbus doubles his vocals too much, PiG's flow slips a couple times here and there.

Overall I give it to Nimbus since PiGPEN had a weak first. Nimbus' first did have a lot of name disses, but he started the round with some strong rebuttals. Both guys showed up though.

[FastCar/NeverChange]

Can't believe I haven't reviewed this yet, since this is hands down one of my favorites. Not even sure what to say at this point - great voice, great singing, great flow, internal rhymes for days.

It's time to make some new music, my dude.

[Fore]

The main melody is good and catchy, though I think the level of repetition brought this down a bit (in some ways it sounds more like hip hop than dubstep.) Something like this could have benefited from theme and variation, but this is closer to theme and sound filters, with a few wub sounds and drops for the sake of the genre. Introducing a B section at 1:30 would have been a good start at keeping this fresh. There's a seed of a great song here, but most of what's built on that one melody is smoke and mirrors rather than substance.

[Sea of Love Tears 「恋水の海」]

I really love the soundscape. The piano and intro are very pretty, though the crescendo at 1:00 is somewhat dampened by the repetition and an overall lack of impact. My overall impression is consistent with you saying you wanted to mess around with it but ran out of time - 1:00 and 1:55 are the only high-energy parts of the song, and based on the structure it feels like the quiet bits are meant to bring these sections into focus, but the end result feels like a beautiful pedestal with a nothing burger on top of it, which is really a shame because I feel like some relatively minor changes could make this outstanding.

Tennon responds:

Yeah you are pretty right about the lack of time. It usually takes me at least another week after I finish a song to improve it to the maximum.

[Pretentious]

Some really nice grunge singing here. It's so common to have something wrong with either the voice or the mixing, but you pulled this off really nice and it makes this sound really polished. The instruments are a bit more modest - the guitar and bass don't really harmonize that well, which isn't to say they sound awkward, but rather they just aren't attention-grabbing or groovy. The solo at the end also struck me as quite boring.

I appreciate that the lyrics have a positive message, but they ultimately don't say anything that hasn't already been said many times.

dude2312 responds:

Kwing, thanks for reviewing my song. This was fast!

I appreciate both good and bad feedback. Once again, thanks ever so much!

[Sugar High]

Kind of interesting seeing this after a bunch of people went for the epic orchestral approach for the finals. The lightheartedness is effective.

The "uhn tiss" is slightly cliche but most everything else feels pretty fresh and original, and above all the music has direction and moves forward. The biggest thing harming this piece is that the synth doesn't service the upbeat mood as much as it could. Something a bit quieter (bells, xylophone) would have made for a more heartfelt piece, whereas the tone here seems caught between dance music and something more relaxing.

ColinMuir responds:

Thanks for the review, i see how you could want bells, personally, i do that a lot often though haha. :D

[Niko - Out Of Control]

I'm digging the melodies. Interestingly enough, the main melody sounds a bit jaunty, like it might have been in a pirate movie were it played on a different instrument. Generally speaking the sounds are nice and punchy, though sometimes the way you use the samples can become too repetitive (likewise, that main melody keeps going for nearly six minutes... really dude?) The whole song would probably feel more comfortable if it were shorter.

[Miston Music - Bombs All Over The Place]

The main drum beat that plays throughout the song is overpowering and seriously hampers everything else you're trying to do. The synth is doing some interesting stuff in the background, but it's really hard to hear when it's so toned down. Moreover, what can be heard doesn't seem to have any general direction in which it's progressing. You've got a loud, punchy beat but not much else.

Miston responds:

Thank you for your comment.

[Chain Reactions]

I remember judging you in the tryout round and the quality difference between that song (which wasn't bad) and this is just astounding. I'm really glad I have a big set of speakers and subwoofer to blast this on, because I think this would sound a lot weaker coming from any small sound system (I think this might have been the case with Likwify.)

Anywho, this sounds nuts. The percussion takes center stage, but the strings have such perfect discordant melodies, and the shifting time signatures really nail the sense of uneasiness right on the head. The quiet parts actually feel like they belong, but most importantly the suspense here is off the charts and this is really a rollercoaster ride from start to finish. The only flaw I can think of right now is that some of the melodies at the end sound a bit stiff. A bit of swing might have made them sound slightly more organic.

Outstanding job though.