Mornin' all!

So battle 166 is nearly over. Props to Yon for picking the samples & setting the rules. All you gotta do is pick the right beat & don't be afraid to give a little feedback. Think about your vote, there's some serious heat here.

hahahah fuck, those colors are absolutely doing my head in and I can't even read half of them.. highlight just saved my ass

lif - love the loose chaotic feel and the intermittent breath sample
carlos - super head nods, hits hard and flows smoothly
jetson - idk man, I just am not feeling this one, the rhythm is weird and the distortion seems out of place.. sorry
l0heesh - that bass is massive. lovely lofi banger
dimxl - sorry man but the same thing with jetson, I felt the rhythm was a bit.. idk, not to my tastes, and the super distortion didn't really fit with the rest of the track
iiiii - really great, dreamy lose yourself in the vibe slithery lofi, can't put into words how much this puts me in a trance and how I feel in it... I felt the distortion bits really clashed with how buttery the track is. I didn't care for the 2nd half all that much, not because it was bad but maybe just because the first half was just pure bliss
janglesoul - hahaha I'm imagining this in a Quentin Tarantino movie for some reason, or being the backing track for cowboys walking into a shady staloon... then someone has a card up their sleeve and a table gets thrown and it's a shoot-out
kel - absolute fucking madness. no idea how you fucking did this but it is hype as fuck. the skills are real. massively energetic get the body moving shit... had the perfect word to describe this but I just forgot it. fucking mental though
ellaguru - the fucking spooky atmos/vibe and textures here are unreal. fucking evil. wasn't exactly digging the weird synth solo in the middle as I thought it broke up the vibe too much. but this thing is fucking dark as all hell! kinda reminded me of iskeletor's more noisy shit.
gomez - sorry man I wasn't feeling it all that much, the reverse trick was nice though
elhuana - a nice brooding track, I love the liberal use of the laugh. good medium between catchy flip and plain darkness
unfolding - as an overall piece it didn't really 'grab' me, I have no idea if that even makes sense... but I absolutely love the drumwork!
marco grouch - sell your SP
groktopus - I like that you went for the plucks, but overall I just didn't really feel it
og ghoul - not sure what to make of this one, pretty polarizing... however the more I listen to it, the more I'm hearing it as a cross between zelda and that old friday the 13th game. it's very weird and murky... honestly don't know what to say it's really weird... actually you know what I'd love to hear this in a game

sorry to anyone I wasn't really feeling their flip! I always feel terrible doing these for not liking people's stuff hahahaha

wait fuck I forgot to vote... think I'm gonna have to go with kel cause that shit just went off, but iiiii and l0heesh were seriously strong contenders too

Marco got my vote

Mr, 'sell your sp'

That grungy bass sample at the end of your track is some material that should be used for the next round.. I made a patch like that on the microkorg, years ago,... and forgot to save it :/.... I would like to resample your material next round, so you get my vote. plus your filters were on point

IIIII got my vote for the moody atmosphere and giving dimension to those dry samples.
Close behind were Elhuana (to me the vibe was cold and menacing) and Unfolding Machines. Thanks for da words and vote, Marco

thanks man

l i f ~ lots of rattles and shakers on the track, very eclectic all around. I CAN DIG IT

carlos~ FOOL!

jetson~ i personally enjoyed this track, COMPLETELY different than the rest. however it did get a bit repetitive in the middle. still come back listening to this simply because it's unique.

LOHEESH~ all i could think of is how this beat would sound in my friends system, heavy 808 for the m8. love the beat bass is neat

dimxl~ wasn't really digging the distortion, felt like the beat needed more "meat" to it. Which is something i have a problem with too lately.

iiiii~ not sure if i have enough "i's". Lot's of flutter, moody and passive soundscape. You know how to paint a track is what i'm mostly saying. love the turnaround at the end. i'll be listening to what you put out in the future!

janglesoul~ i dunno, drums felt underwhelming, the pattern was fine very solid however. the track didn't really go anywhere, i kept expecting something but nope.

kel~ immediately pulled me in. composition is fresh. This track comes on, you know shits going down. Only complaint is it's too damn short!

ellaguru~ I felt like i would love this if i was walking through the streets of London around midnight.

Gomez~ honestly felt completely empty. no dynamics either which is a bummer. I gave it a second listen maybe i just need it to grow on me a bit, but i just couldn't vibe with it.

elhuana~ love the warmth, the samples were handled well. MFX are a plus too.

unfolding~ i could nod my head to the track, nice work all around.

MarcoGrouch~ love the sporadic off klter sounds. Tons of weird manipulations with the samples. Zeus would be proud to listen to this track.

Groktopus~ alright, i like the shakers rhythm. DJFX, which isn't bad, just a very liberal use of the mfx, i could vibe with the track as a whole.

OGGhoul~ i want to say that i praise you for that intro. the rest of thetrack doesn't do it for me. the melody is cool i guess, lots of flutter. but i felt the track had no spine, drums were underwhelming.

voted: grouch
hope i haven't angered sp-forums. I wanted to contribute an honest opinion on every participant's track. Heard a lot of talented producers, and others still have a ways to go. peace.

headSPace:

l i f: was really happy with how this turned out, tho’ a week later, might have been good to pare it back a little… lots of layers going on with rattles and several iterations of super-stretched guitar plinks make it a little busy. Groove was solid i reckon, even in the second half where it’s some loose terrritory somewhere between 8 and 9 beats to the phrase but that hiccup in the timing at the end jarrs my ear a little too, fuckit I’ll do better next time.

oxheadalexis: queesy and super-compressed - deep-groove banger, loved it. Tight structure overall equals another plus.

Jetson: Man, i’m totally hearing “Billie Jean” ..!! When the sounds bow out at 0.39 I want to hear some new samples give us a hard drop… the end was a bit sparse imo, the track as a whole a bit of a tease,, was plenty of material available to flesh it out a bit more, maybe even play off that MJ vibe

LOHEESH: Shit falls of my desk when I play this one… 404 skank, I’ll just grab the pipe that fell on the floor...

DimXL: Really liked the opening vibe up until the distorted bass tone, then it sorta sits in one place for the duration… dig the melody-line thing and the track actually sounds better overall if you listen to it twice, but as a one-shot it was a little soporific.

iiiii: atmospheres, variations, tempos, textures… particularly love that sweet work with the closed hats; whole thing tells a story.

janglesoul: nice 70’s cop show vibe, good use of the dj effects… fade-out ending not so much: makes it feel like the track just meanders forevermore whereas an ending would have tightened the whole structure up.

Kel: This. Is. Just. Too. Baddass. Nothing more, nothing less - TIGHT.

ellaguru: Beat is ill. Just when the wind is getting a little chilly near the middle there you bring back the heat… sawtooth-shit cuts it to shreds.. good form. Did you finally find the machine’s self-destruct button

Gomez: I really like this one, kinda retro feel to the beat some odd robo-disco funk, the slight pauses here and there work real well to bring the human hand to the machiney aspect. Zipping and unzipping keys… a simple structure, but it works. Pumping up the dirt/compression levels would have made this punch above its class.

elhuana: pulled a fine dark, dirty, ominous vibe from the samples etc, but in the end it’s a pretty basic loop + dj effects.

Unfolding: Fuck, that pulsing bass doo-doo-doo… with the drums finding that sweet territory between straight and swing… dope as fuck. Unfortunately by now I’m tired of that haunted strings sample, not yr fault…


marcogrouch: the ship just plowed through the dock, killing evryone. Dig that deep wah you use, though I’ve heard it before in other tracks you’ve produced. Best bits are the rip it to pieces sounds at the beginning and end i think - you tha captain steering this beast.

Groktopus: Stoked someone was brave enough to use that bass-pluck! While you reckon the djfx were overused I actually don’t agree in this case… they’re used creatively with enough variety they actually keep the whole thing interesting - it’s kinda like saturday morning cartoons on too many sugarpuffs for breakfast.

OgGhoul: Sweet use of those major morgan sounds, downpitched and downsampled make for a nice melancholic vibe i want to hang out with for longer than one minute.. leave us wanting more, there’s something in that…

Dig the fact that ppl are taking the time to feed back - I thought this week was the tightest, hardest flips I’ve heard since joining the forum (yeh, I’ve not been here long) and i like reading evryones thoughts as much as listening to the flips, where tastes lie and all that… a friendly “hi” to veterans who have returned - much respect!! Big-ups to all the producers this week.


My vote goes to Kel with major props to LOHEESH and iiiii

l i f: This really is the beat of crawling rattlesnakes. I enjoy the second part more, when more melody is brought in. Lots of cool rhythmic details, but maybe a bit too busy for my taste.

carlos: Really lofi, bit crushed texture, I prefer the second part with more stuff happening.

jetson: Cool with a different style of rhythms, playful and with some gritty lofi texture.

L0HEESH: Dark and moody, interesting techniques. I have a hard time trying to spot which samples that you have used.

dimXL:Some nice gritty textures, but I find those lofi-gritty string sounds really grating on the ear pretty soon. Maybe my cheap iPhone earplugs.

iiiii: This one impressed me. I enjoyed the vibe atmosphere and the wide 3D-feeling I got. Really cool screaming stabs and a cool transition to the second part. Although, so many samples seem Hitchcock like this track still manages to hold something soulful.

janglesoul: Critics so far have been right - lack of variety, weak intro/outro and maybe the drums lacked punch. Tarantino/70s copshow I take as a compliment.

kel: Massive, hugh solid beat. Builds up with great weight. Really distinct melodic interludes. Almost VanHalen-tapping in that

ellaguru: Howling winds through a deserted asylum. Monster music that makes me exhausted. Cool synth interlude. Want to wash my ears with innocent children singing about flowers afterwards.

Gomez: Really like the funkiness of the basic beat. The start is great, but the riff isn't good enough to match it imho.

elhuana: Great sense of space with the drums+reverb, good punch. I like how the beat sort of twists with djfx etc. The melodic part gets a bit repetitive entering the second minute though. A second melodic sample for variety would have been good.

Unfolding: Solid beat. I liked this a lot, especially the first half with the string melody entering and the filter sweeps etc Good with a second beat at the end

MarcoGrouch: Massively dark, if not evil. What is that? A wah-wah bass? Cool!

Groktopus: Nice busy beat with lots of detail and cool fx, but I miss something melodic to grip hold of me.

OgGhoul: Really liked the aggressive start and expected the following to carry the same energy. So a bit of a let down, there's a nice melancholy to the melody but it doesn't really excite me. Great start though!


SO, I vote IIIII!!!!!!


Just the humble opinions of a SP-newbie that really is no true hiphop-head at all. I hear a lot of cool production tricks and cool rhythmic twists and get a lot of ideas of stuff to try. Listening to all the tracks in a row feels like getting buried alive. Damn, it's dark down there. Really feel like cheering myself up with Curtis Mayfield Move on up or smth. Cheers!

kel, short n sweet

Came down to kel, 5eyes, and LOHEESH
Voted kel, cuz that shit was crazy ill

Sorry I don't got time for track breakdowns. Thanks for the constructive criticism though, glad none of y'all like it haha for real though it makes me want to step my game up, been getting lazy with my shit. Peace.

Didnt have a chance to put the og box.net player up, as everybody put their music on soundcloud nowadays (without the download option!). It's all good though, just seems like I need to step my soundcloud game up a little.
My top 3 favorites:
IIIII - beautiful sound creation man, especially in the first part, damn.
Kel- you flipped this joint in an unbeliavable way, I see those hours of work in there man (unlike my lazy joint hehe)
MarcoGrouch - such a grimy joint with a slower yet thicker drum, cool vibe.
I vote 5, beautiful sounds!

IIIII got mine. Love the atmosphere and sounds all throughout. Many close seconds but that one got me.

Thanks for the constructive criticism guys. Wish I had the time to do the same, maybe tomorrow.

So I guess IIIII is the one who brought the HEAT to the 1666!

pick the samples man! maybe something that would make us use the secret Juxt's drum synthesising techniques?

Yeeeeah congrats IIIII, looking forward to the next one!