50Steaks's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Insurgent [MSB] (NGADM)]

Best parts are definitely 1:43 and the outro. That chord progression is SO JUICY and I don’t know why. Rest of the song is fine but those parts tug at the heartstrings somehow.

[Tibbles, Lord of the Untamed]

Welp, this one completely flew under my radar. Been so busy lately lol.

I’m not sure I could think of a better fit for this image. Though I’m usually one to complain about your choir sounds I think the way they’re used here make a lot of sense. I also kiiiinda figured out why I disliked them for so long: there’s no actual syllables! They’re just going ooh or ahhhh the whole time which sounds really unnatural in some of your previous works.

But here I feel like that aspect is masked really well, unlike in autumn wind. Like it just feels like it fits perfectly as is somehow. Sure, an intense staccato “deh, fah, see” repeating minor chord tonic (every 3 eighths, or whatever you call them in your amazing perfect crotchets and fucking quavers) in the choir in the intro would’ve really set the mood (just using that as an example), but it works as is. I still think you should get syllable support though. It would help make it sound so much more natural in general, even if the more “traditional” syllables are just fine here.

I LOVE the intro. The very tender, light piano gives way to an intense dark lord aesthetic that just works perfectly. Big fan of the transition out of it at 1:38 as well. Huge fan of the section following, but it feels like you were starting to get somewhere and then the piece just abruptly ends. A new idea is introduced, and then that’s it. An extension including the legendary battle of Tibbles the Untamed versus Pookie the Feral Hound for overlordship over the universe would’ve been really cool to see. 0:35 is SO JUICY I love chromaticisms. Maybe 1:06 to the end of that section can get a little repetitive. Feels like you put repeat bars and wrote repeat 4x lol with the strings crescendoing every measure like that. But that’s a minor issue tbh. I don’t hear you use bassoon much so that was really nice to hear. Honestly this piece is so good. One of my favorites from you this year to be honest.

[crispy x Solacitude - Boreal Speedway]

This certainly has a different vibe than your earlier collab. Feels like crispy has a lot more influence which is something I appreciate. I also appreciate how you didn’t quantize the piano solo as it makes it feel more natural. Although I do gotta say the soft piano mixing does stick out a bit compared to the DnB high frequency chaotic stuff coming from the other sections.

Sol made the synth at the outro? Damn. That’s one of my favorite sections and I didn’t realize he made it.

Ol teddy is there as always. Gotta have him show up at least once in your music library. Could’ve included the sample where he got shot (is there one?) for more dramatic effect. He kept talking after he got shot by the way. Interesting story behind that one lmao

Great job as always!

crispybatteryacid responds:

glad you enjoyed Mr. Steak!

[The Minimallist]

Woah I should check your page more! I’m behind 2 songs.

Jazzy, slow feel, chill mall. Honestly not sure how much this fits with the mall aesthetic but I’m liking what I’m hearing so I don’t care. Always was curious if you’d ever try making a piece like this. You did not disappoint.

With writing like this I could even see you succeeding pretty well past the 12 tone system for some reason. Or maybe I’m just mentioning that cause I’ve gotten into microtonal music again recently. So many new possibilities when you break past the 12 notes.

Honestly I don’t have any specific feedback as this is pretty much done perfectly from start to finish. Amazing job here!

Solacitude responds:

Surely this mall is closed at night so it's very calm, far from the typical action there is during the day. Trying to evoke peace of mind, calmness, in a somewhat neutral emotional way :)

I never tried to compose out of 12 TET but it might be an experience I try at some point!
So many harmonies can be reach out of this 12 tones system! Music is truly an infinity of possibilities ^^

Thank you very much for passing by, and for this review, I'm flattered :)

[understand me]

This is so interesting! I find the idea that there is no real "drop" actually a really unique concept despite the fact that it wasn't what I think you were going for. I was expecting this super intense crazy melodic drop and it never really came. I think you pulled this off really well honestly. The main melody is super catchy so that helps a lot too.

OVERSCORE responds:

The main climax was intended to be around 1:32, but I agree it isn’t super extreme. This entire song in general is meant to be pretty chill, thoughtful. Im glad you find the melody catchy, it needed to be if it was going to be the core motif throughout the entire song! Thanks for all of the compliments, 50Steaks!

[Cave Monsters]

Very unique and atonal sound! I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this new account eventually surpassed your main account though given that electronic and video game is so much more popular here.

It's funny that you did end up making a second account, meanwhile I just post whatever I feel like on mine regardless of genre. NG isn't really like YT in that sense I don't think, it's not like people will unfollow because you started posting something that isn't exactly what they were expecting. In the end it's more about engaging with the community, doing events, collabs etc. like you have been and like I have been slacking on.

Branching out to try something totally new is never a bad idea, and this proves it.

Solactro responds:

I'm glad you liked this little 8-bit loop ^^ thanks for the review!

I had internal debate about whether or not I should just publish everything I do on the same account. I felt like it would help keep consistency publishing only my piano pieces on one account and everything else on another one. I was thinking of those 2 as different projects that I would definitely separate if I get into publishing through YT and/or streaming platforms. Though for NG itself I think you're right that it wouldn't matter if I kept everything under the same name... Would probably actually help! Still debating in my mind if I'm doing the right thing or if I should remove Solactro from there. In the end I could also publish everything under Solacitude on NG, but only publish piano works when using this name outside of NG...
Gonna continue this debate a little bit then settle for a definitive path.
Thank you for passing by! :D

[NightHawk22 - Isolation (Artcore Remix)]

F O C U S

Now that that’s outta my system, this is honestly a really cool remix. I love how well the synths you chose fit into this melodic structure. You stuck very close to the original song, complete with the random key change at 2:14, which is far from a complaint because the original is also really good. But this feels like you modernized it past early 2000s techno lmao. Nice job here! Not too much else to say really. Oh I really like the ending and think it sounds cool.

[scrape]

That art is badass. Must be the album cover.
The dissonance! This has gotta be one of the more unique DnB songs I’ve seen on here. It all feels very contemporary, akin to the great 20th century composers who upended the idea of traditional harmonies and stepped forward into the use of new sounds (i.e. microtonality, atonal music). And this definitely fits the bill of atonal. It might be too wild for some listeners here to bear, but I can definitely appreciate how experimental this is. Also the percussion work is really impressive and varied. The ending might be a little abrupt, but that might be by design.

Sorry I haven’t been reviewing your tracks recently lmao. I keep telling myself to do it and then forget

vekoN responds:

thank you for the review! iirc this isn't really atonal, it's very chromatic but i believe i made everything revolve around Gm, with a picardy third ending

also i appreciate the comparison to the great 20th century composers! :)

again thank you for listening

[Twilight Symphony]

Modern take on the Dimrain style! It’s really brought home with the snare clap at 1:04. Sudden key changes are also very indicative of his style lmao. Drums at 2:32 are beyond anything he would’ve written but I like it tbh. I’ve listened to the vast majority of his music; he’s one of my favorite artists here even all these years later.

G2961 responds:

Thanks for the comment!!! Yeah, it's a slightly different take on his style, but as usual I couldn't help but add the DnB part with the hard drums at the end, lol. Yeah, he never used automation on the semitone change as far as I know, he usually raised the semitones starting from a new beat, not so abruptly.
To me he is also one of the greatest musicians and phenomena of this site, I especially like his track The Falling Mysts. It's a very cool and atmospheric Trance track.

[Expeeriemental]

A short little piece this time. It’s interesting how there’s tension and release in a whole tone piece like this, done solely through expression and nothing else. Reminds me of Ives’ whole tone pieces in that sense. And it’s cool to see you try new scales and stuff instead of sticking to major or minor. Honestly I’d love to hear your take on Phrygian or Lydian next.

Solacitude responds:

It was quite a challenge to come up with something, I was playing around improvising with this scale and ended up recording a couple somewhat "good" takes so I decided to put it here. No 5th and no semi tones makes for a bit of a difficult time, completely out of my comfort zone.

This mode gives very little opportunities to resolve or to develop ideas into something that I would deem more "easy listening". Though it's a very interesting exercise! At first I though I was playing with the mystic scale, but then figured the note A is part of it as well acting as 5th note of the scale.... Which I don't use in there. So in the end I'm not sure how to call this, maybe pentatonic whole tone scale ^^ It creates interesting sound I think that would fit quite well in some instances to evoke mystery, unsettling feeling. I might use it at some point, with parsimony, in more regular compositions too. Next time I'll try to go for a more complex and full, proper piece, with normal keys/scales.

I might explore Phrygian and Lydian modes a little bit more too! I often find myself going back to the good old Ionian/Aeolian.

Thank you for passing by and leaving a review! ^^