ShangXian's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-Wildflowers 2-]

Another great piece of music to enjoy to the fullest. I also wanted to listen to the song linked in the description to see the differences and changes made to the song. I admit that in the first song I like how it starts but I noticed a much more simplified style. There is acoustic clarity but the percussions are not so incisive in giving a more decisive rhythm. They sound thin compared to this version. The drum solo at the end of the first song add a nice andante rhythm on the end.

After re-listening to this song I can see the improvement and changes that make this song really enjoyable. I think one of its strong points is the VGM orchestral. I can see how the compression, equalizers and mixing combine together in a very harmonious and enriched sound array, congrats! Nice use of the hi-hats at 00:28 which give a nice pause between the two segments of the first half of the song and then the staccato strings at 00:30 can be fully appreciated.

Fun fact about staccato (but I think you already know): staccato has been described by theorists and has appeared in music since at least 1676.

I just love the faster attack these staccato strings give to the composition because they help to build the structure of the song and revolve around root notes. Correct me if I am wrong but at 00:57 I could hear a beautiful Sakuhachi flute. I don't know if it has been added to add colour to the sound or give a more exotic vibe. Either way I love it, since I was little I was always fascinated by this flue I discovered when listening to Enigma. I can hear the flue at 02:37 despite being very low in volume since the outro wants to give a sense of distance and separation from the place. It's not a negative feeling this separation feel, quite the opposite. It's a feeling of peace and serenity.

The whole song has a this relaxing vibe enriched with more vibrant and lively notes in the first half as if it were a flowery field. I like the passerine birds chirps that give this sense of peace and unity with nature. I also like the presence of long and continuous notes of legato strings in the second half of the song. Nice transition from note to note with no intervening silence in the legato sequence. If staccato gives me the feeling of flowers blooming in the field in such quick and rapid explosion of life, legato makes me more contemplative and relaxed. Maybe a quick fade at the end of this legato sequence would have enhanced a more dream-like vibe but it's perfectly fine this way too.

I've noticed a bit of muddy sounds where more instruments enter the mix during the first staccato sequence but then again the staccato manages to take the lead and make things a bit more homogenous in terms of mixing, at least in my opinion. Once again a hi-hat break at 01:21 and then again at 01:35 as if they were some kind of clap markers for sub-chapters of the story told in the song. This is at least what I think, I am not an expert in anything. I just like to mentally break things and see details they can offer me^^

Compared to the first song posted in the description, this one has a more strong atmospheric vibe around it. I can sense the feel of nature and this is helped by the presence of bird calls and piano notes at the end that almost sound like delicate like raindrops wetting the ground in the late afternoon after an intense hot day in summer or late spring.

I think there is still room for improvement when it comes to audio elements, hence my 4.5 star rating and not a full 5 but overall the song is very solid and enjoyable. I commend you and your improvement, keep it up. You have lots of talent!

[-Velocity-]

Ok, finally I can review this work after listening to it over and over and taking a look at the artists who inspired you and now after listening several of their works I can definitely see the inspiration and how you managed to capture the vibe of early 2000s techno sphere. When listening to a song, to me it's always important to catch the overall emotions and visual imagery a song gives.

Unlike a visual art piece where everything is crystallized in a static image whose time is more static, an audio piece is dynamic in time not only because it has a specific length but it also makes the listener spend their time into listening to it. I prefer a more active listening preceded by a more passive listening that allows me to grasp some initial features of the song. I like the mysterious vibe the song gives at the beginning, this mood is then built during the song in the first half and combines with the vibe of a journey through an unknown world. I love the aquatic vibe the drop-like sounds that can be heard in 00:11 enhance the mysterious vibe of this new world that is being discovered.

But the song is not aquatic because if we listen carefully starting from the twelfth second we can hear the future synth riff that will be fully introduced around 00:52 that adds a more windy vibe to the composition and fully embrace the idea of velocity like the title says. This synth riff reminds me of the rotor blades of a helicopter, maybe a futuristic helicopter but still a means of air transport. We can hear this riff in its power at 05:00. I like the use of this ostinato or insistence if we want to translate in English, even the drop-like sounds initially heard at 52 second gets repeated over and over.

A trait I love about techno is the use of an important rule of music theory, consonance, and its break into dissonance and repetition to make sure the sound is correct to the ear of the listener. I like how in the song the riff and combination of notes are repeated over and over again, giving the vibe we are moving fast along with the song while exploring this imaginary world. The "squelching” sounds and deep basslines of these repeated notes make the song really enjoyable and contemplative at the same time. It's almost hypnotizing especially in the last part of the song (around 06:47) where the listener feels united with the world he/she/they have experienced.

The synth at 00:52 takes a nice lead in speeding up the pace of the song and its rhythm. I think it's the part where it best shows the "velocity" element of the song. I also love the orchestral part that starts at 01:32 which enhances a slight sense of despair and hope at the same time with this transported touch. It also serves as an accompaniment that builds the backbone of the song, giving it a sweeter flavor. Yeah I sometimes describe things in terms of synesthesia because I have synesthesia, mostly visual, so don't worry if I use strange terms^^

I like the slow but constant crescendo we experience in the first half of the song where we are introduced to this world or experience. To me this song was an experience because it allowed me to see my own art under a different perspective. When I was mentally vivisecting it to break down its individual parts I noticed how visual art and music, although both organisms composed of various parts that come together harmoniously or even disharmoniously, differ in how they are structured. Music has something more in my humble opinion. Music is a pulsating organism that lives on components that breathe over time, visual art is a compact structure made of structural elements also designed to deceive the mind in giving the sense of three-dimensionality in its being a still image.

Don't get me wrong, I love both arts. I just noticed this and while I was listening to this piece, in my mind were visualizing my own draws and I structurally compared them to the aspect and external look of this piece and the techno pieces of the artists you mentioned in the description. A song breathes between crescendo, decrescendo, signatures, breaks, lead notes and this song shows all of this very well.

I've noticed a slight abrupt break at 03:39 that introduces a small break before getting into the second half of the song, I don't know if it was intentional or not but it's been interesting to notice that. It's very interesting the mid break at 03:50 because it introduces a breakdown with its minimal section that gradually build tension and a more energetic rhythm starting from 04:06 to become fully dynamic around 04:32. The individual riffs are repeated through the song, making it very enjoyable, maybe a bit of variation in the riffs but that's just a personal opinion that doesn't really matter because even this way the riffs are quite enjoyable.

The mixing is well-polished and the overall psychedelic vibe given by the more trance elements of the song (it combines three genres after all, reading the tags) makes everything very enjoyable and helps the mind to relax in a fast but not anxious pace. Overall superb job! I truly wish it gets frontpaged and when I will be supporter again I want to feature this for the Takeover Tuesday. It really deserves it, keep it up, CF24!

[Newgrounds]

Ooooohhhh wow, a song dedicated to Newgrounds! I love how it turned out. I like the mix between early 2000s and more modern tunes since they well represent what NG is: a mix of past and present while keeping going towards the future.

@MrMcMusic I can translate the lyrics for you since I am studying the language (forgive me if it's not the best translation possible, still learning a lot about it):

On Newgrounds, where creativity is on fire,
Melodies are playing, ideas are shining in me
Here, every artist, every musician,
Create masterpieces, inspire our minds.

and here the non-cursive writing for those who might have trouble reading in cursive:

На сайте Newgrounds, где творчество в огне,
Звучат мелодии, сияют идеи во мне.
Здесь каждый художник, каждый музыкант,
Создают шедевры, вдохновляют наш разум

I liked the use of the prepositional singular of о́гнь because it's a poetic/date form for the alternative ого́нь ("fire") and songs are a different type of poems, poems which are chanted and in the past poetry and songs were much more united (I think of Ancient Greece poetry or Skaldic poetry) even if it is still very present. I also like the free verse in this small poem/song and the anaphora in line 2 and 3 (the "з" in both звуча́т and здесь), they add a fluid rhythm to the song. I like the allitterative sound of the voiced alveolar fricative that alternates with the voiceless alveolar fricative (звучать, здесь, музыкант, создают and разум). This alternation of voiced and voiceless alveolar sounds creates a cadenced and dynamic progression that is very pleasant to the attentive ear. The text, although short, I think encapsulates very well what many other people feel; Newgrounds as a constant and creative experience.

This is a sentiment shared among many, including me. I really like the notes that start from 00:36, they have strong rhythm that reminds me of the stomp of feet on the ground. There is something earthy in this rhythm if we wanted to use an elemental metaphor. Personally I imagine this song being played in a disco to celebrate something related to the site. I also really like the flow of the pacing: from a very calm and serene introduction that acts as a musical base to the actual rhythm that expresses a sense of hope and gratitude (01:16).

I am very glad your work got frontpaged, it really deserved it^^ Keep it up!

[Dreamsong (Descent Mix)]

I love how all of this sounds to me like a living wall of sounds, like a breathing experience. I really like how not only the rhythm, the intonation but also the underlying tone of a dream-like trance experience or a trance-like dream is constructed.

I find very cool how the tempo repeats melodic phrases and the musical form that distinctly builds the tension and elements throughout the track often culminating in 1 to 2 "peaks" or "drops"

I like the chorus-like tune that can be heard at 00:48, 01:47, 03:35 and 08:13 because it almost seems like a tunnel that leads the listener to a new gallery of sounds through this dimension. If I had to mentally imagine the colors that this sort of choir induces in my mind, it would be a color mixed with violet, purple and blue with green hues just outlined. What I love the most about this complex song is the presence of mixed layers with distinctly foreshadowed build-up and release. mid-song climax followed by a soft breakdown disposing of beats and percussion entirely, leaving the melody or atmospherics to stand alone for an extended period before gradually building up again.

I like the first 01:47 minute as it builds up the underlying theme of the track, I've noticed it can be mentally divided into three sections, each of them works in harmony with the previous and next part to build such theme.

00:00-00:30---> this first part recalls a tapping of feet, my mind visualizes a yellow ochre desert terrain, the rhythm is dry, dry but serves as an introductory door to the second part.

00:31-01:00---> the second component instead is enriched by this more lively and vital rhythm as if in this hypothetical desert succulent plants, with vibrant green leaves and large purple flowers, were sprouting. And already in this part here we hear that angelic choir introduced that will be heard in all its calming power at minute 01:47. It is almost as if it were a foreshadowing for what will be needed in that minute to create the soft breakdown necessary to introduce the main theme.

00:01-01:46---> the last section instead is a mix of the previous ones, it is as if it were an evolution of the previous stages. After all, trance is an altered state of mind that accumulates past experiences and enriches itself with them, and this musical genre well exemplifies this state.

The mid-song climax followed by a soft breakdown disposes beats and percussion entirely, leaving the oneiric atmospherics to stand alone for an extended period before gradually building up again. The length of the track allow for such progression and has sufficiently sparse opening and closing sections to make the overall composition well paced and highly enjoyable. Even now as I'm writing this review I'm moving some parts of my body to the rhythm of the song.

Despite the apparent lively and aggressive pace, the last part (06:42) actually calms me down a lot, as if I had reached the state I was aiming for. I relistened to the song several times not only to better analyse it but also to fully experience each part and as you said it's a journey. A journey in our minds, a journey in our senses, a journey in our thoughts and feelings. A really superb track! Congratulation for the amazing job. I hope it gets frontpaged.

SHE-RE responds:

This all was so nice to read! I was definitely going for some dreamlike atmospheres, so it's nice for me hearing that those came through so well for you. Thank you!

[liquid crystal]

I've been listening to this song practically on loop because I love it so much! I love how catchy it is, it might even become my own personal Ohrwurm. I love how the electronic musical instruments

I like how the clinking sound (00:00-00:06) that opens the composition gets enriched by the dubstep accompaniment starting from the seventh second of the track. This baseline then evolves into an extremely dynamic catchy tune (00:12) that turns into a musical rhythm that makes you want to dance with all your energy. I like how the dubstep takes the place of the tinkling sound at the beginning of the first six seconds, to become itself the liquid base (like drops of water falling on the rock) of the first part of the song.

The part that starts from 00:36 is one of my favourite because synths and timbers are so well placed that my mind figures them as a walk in a street that evolves into a brisk walk at a sustained pace. The happy feeling of the song is well expressed by the offbeat rhythm of bass as rightly SHE-RE pointed out below. It's a song that is calling you to dance wildly until you run out of air and collapse but with a full, contented, feeling in the heart: leaving your emotions and energies roam freely.

It's interesting how the main theme of the composition that starts from 00:12 is then repeated in the second part of the song at 01:30, almost like a "snake" and encloses the central theme (expressed in my opinion starting from 00:12) and the reprise part at the second 00:36 which serves to build the crescendo of the second half of the song. I'm only relatively recently discovering EDM and this song is one of my favorites so much so that I plan to feature it in the next Takeover Tuesday. Congratulations indeed, it's very beautiful, sunny, rhythmic and full of joy and honestly I need audio pieces like this in this period.

Keep it up!

EDIT 28/01/2025: featured for the Takeover Tuesday :)

[Church Of The Cosmic Fuck]

This is the very first M-rated, sex-themed audio track that I ever faved and reviewed and the reason is simple: I love the underlying tone and concept behind this track! Really it's not only extremely well-executed (congrats for the FP!) but the reasons that are behind it make it deep and well thought. Gosh how I loved reading the description while listening to this song, which for the record I'm listening to over and over again while I'm writing this review. I love the conceptual combination of physics, eldritch entities and sex to make something that goes beyond the satisfaction of some horny mind who might stumble across it and simply listens to it with a superficial mind.

This track is mental porn, what do I mean? I mean it stimulates the mind to produce a combination of thoughts related to the underlying tone of the amazing singularities that are black holes. They are my favourite non-living entities and rival viruses in terms of "objects" present in this vast and for the most part unknown universe. These regions of spacetime where gravity is so strong that no matter or electromagnetic radiation, such as light, can escape it, make them extremely fascinating to study. It's extremely cool to know that objects whose gravitational fields are too strong for light to escape were first considered in the 18th century by John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace. In 1916, Karl Schwarzschild found the first modern solution of general relativity that would characterise a black hole. And because of this Schwarzschild metric is named after him.

When listening to this track some parts (for example the first one is around 00:44) reminded me of a mix of gravitational waves sound and two black holes colliding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWBkZ3bMSV0
I also like the sound of the bass in the section around 00:54 because it gradually becomes more wild, growing in intensity and always around this section I like how the delayed arp sounds, and the drums fill the tom-tom in a well-paced gait because starting from here things become even more lively (even though they have been introduced well as preliminaries in the part between 00:25 and 00:42). I love how the "fuck" voices emulate a sexual act and how they become high-pitched (the female voice while the male voice, which I heard it four times, has a much more guttural, almost feral I would say and I like it because I can feel the aggressive but not destructive passion). These sounds get fast untile we reach the 50th second and from there things assume a new form just like matter and antimatter interacting with each other.

I also admit that all this preliminary part (00:00-00:54 circa) reminded me of neutron stars that merged along with gravitational waves especially in the first half part of the video I link below here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C5Bl_hE8fM

I love how the combination of drums, bass and dubstep well convey the density (physics pun, sorry XD) of the conceptual ideas of sex, Eros and Thanatos, creation and destruction, matter and anti-matter. And I like the idea of physics used as tool to convey an idea: matter and anti-matter as tsunderes who secretly wish to fuck themselves until everything evaporates. But there's a lot of technique and talent here. I congratulate you for making this. It's a pleasure to listen to it, the ear is stimulated with these drums and dubstep. After all sex is about body stimulation as whole, not just what's between our legs.

I like the roughness of the male voice that can be heard four times, as I mentioned before, and I don't know if it's intentional or not considering that you brought the theme of tsundere in relation to matter and anti-matter interaction, because in Japanese (and Chinese) culture four is pronounced the same way as "death" so again I see Eros and Thanatos united in a cosmic dance of sex and pleasure.

Keep it up! I really enjoyed it and it's extremely rare I decide to review, vote and fave something that has a sexual tone on NG.

Quarl responds:

Lmao, thank you so much, I wasn't sure if I was over sharing but I'm thankful someone got the weird sexual influences. The imagination goes to some interesting places sometimes, and I'm not very good at conveying adult themes.

Again, thank you so much. This was emotionally stirring and very welcome <3

[Captain Chilling in 8-Bit]

Awwww, this is really a lovely tune that gives you a mix of relaxation and action. I am imagining right now a platform game full of platforms to jump on with a forest background whose protagonist wears a brown elf cap and a red jacket with a sword and shield ready to accomplish his mission.

I like how the first second seems to introduce the listener to this world, as if this music was the intro for a videogame. I love 8-bit chiptunes, I would love to make them in future. I like the sweet musical pause between 00:54 and 00:56 that introduces the second part. I've noticed a small gap at the end of the 56th second, but it doesn't affect the overall composition.

The first twelve seconds seem to serve as introduction to the musical piece which takes on a much more lively rhythm. I like how in the first part of this first lively pace keeps its tone while introducing brief high-pitched tunes that add movement to the song (I am referring to the ones that can be heard for the first time between 00:22 and 00:25, then 00:27-00:29, 00:31-00:32, 00:34-00:36 and so on). These parts makes you want to dance or move at least a part of your body.

Starting from the 57th minute the song takes on a calmer tone, as if to reiterate the underlying relaxing, chill tone and then at minute 01:14 it resumes the pace of the first part. Towards the final part (minute 01:26) the song starts to end a bit as if to symbolize that our imaginary hero has almost reached the end of his quest and I really love how it sounds around 01:36 because it seems our hero is fighting to reach this goal. The fast and steady rhythm of the last seconds gives me this feeling, and in fact the song seems to end with our hero having finished his quest.

Despite these rhythmic elements the song, as I mentioned above, has also an underlying relaxed tone, as if despite the need to complete the mission, our protagonist is not in a hurry nor anxious to complete it, on the contrary! He can even relax.

This is really a nice and lovely piece for the Pixel Day, congrats and Happy Pixel Day, Aalasteir!

[Skeleton Hills]

Congratulations for the FP, well deserved! I love the sound of the theremin that starts at 00:22. I always loved that sound which reminds me of a cello lost in a dense fog, crying because it doesn't know how to get home. The otherworldly sound of it that accompanies the entire musical composition adds a nice reminder that this is Halloween time despite the upbeat notes that make the backbone of the musical piece.

This piece gives me a mix of "hey, dance with us! It's Halloween, the holiday in which you can be good or mean!" and "be careful, danger is always round the corner" and in terms of sensory stimuli, this song makes me feel a sweet sensation in my mouth as if I am eating lots of candies.

The combination of the theremin-like sound and the upbeat notes, that almost reminds me of droplets of rain, add a cheerful yet eerie vibe to the whole song. I love it! Keep it up.

[Kt~ // vertex]

Wow, this track is truly sick. I love! Every part tells a story of its own, the beginning seems to prepare for something really cool and mysterious to happen, the middle part hypnotizes the listener with its percussion rhythm and the final part was unexpected to me: a mesmerizing, compelling experience.

If I had to depict in my mind what the initial part gives me as image it would be a cristalline marine cave similar to Blue Grotto, a cave in Anacapri with its intense blue waters and magical atmosphere.

The middle part seems to physically accompany me into an urban but serene environment of a city that struggled to reach that peaceful state of mind.

The last part with this accelerated tune reminded me of a dream that evaporates from your mind before waking up and leaves you with an uncontrollable impulse to reach again this dream.

It's too beautiful that I am re-listening to it in loop over and over while exploring NG. Thank you for this masterpiece, totally deserved the frontpage!

5 stars from my rating, but 10 stars from my heart!

KTilted responds:

Thank you for so detailed opinion! luv <3

[Aquacea Depth OST // Until I Find Safety]

I love so much how this musical composition really gives me a water vibe, it has liquid notes with the basic leitmotiv repeated as if they were the drops of water coming from the cave of a lost atoll in the middle of Pacific Ocean. I am imagining a bright vivid light blue sky being soared by sea birds while a soft, fresh wind caresses the surface of the sea.

I love that dynamics of the composition starts at slow but peaceful pace and starting from the half part of music the rhythmic cadence creates an extremely catchy tune that combined with the nice loop that is created when music ends, make all of this a hit that sums up the spirit of summer: carefreeness, liberty, relaxation, sunny days, hot temperatures but fresh water to cool you down.

The melody is very sweet and this is emphasizes by the leitmotif that repeats itself and again reminds me of water droplets. I've listened to this piece almost 20 times and I love it so much, I think I will keep it going on while I create my piece for the summer collab as I love drawing while listening to quality music. Keep it up!

Tyhond responds:

Thank you so much for the comments! :D

To be honest, I'm not very into the complicated aspect of music. I tend to make the music and think to myself "does this sound good and would I listen to this on repeat?" and if the answer is yes, then I cook xP