1. Swirling Sonder
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
2. Camana and Meistr - What a Relief
   Meistr
3. Floating Beam Particles
   DarkShadow

Usually DDRKirby's work doesn't seem to stand out to me, superb craftsmanship notwithstanding. However, this work in fives won me over.

1. Swirling Sonder
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
2. drowned
   NickC
3. adrift an empty sea -
   upd|ate!

All comments are replied to on Discord making this section irrelevant. Onto the voting!

TheVideoGamer - This track in its core is just a 4 chord sequence spanning the whole track, but the way it’s developed it’s quite unusual for me. It’s very arp heavy and full of a lot of delays of varying times, almost like a ping pong effect. The drums are 4 different breaks stacked, each filling the role of a percussion element like the kick and or clap. The track keeps on rewarding you as you listen, with the addition of some cool pad sounds, a dynamic melody, and a slightly climatic finish. The bassline is interesting, because the chords only span 4 bars, yet the bassline keeps changing, giving the impression they’re chord changes when in reality there isn’t any. It’s not complex overall, but the elements really add up to make something whole. It’s not the most polished (Mix wise) by any means but it is a really good idea nonetheless. Oh well, glad you liked it anyways!

Meistr - Liking that xylophone sound it’s kind of different for you. This one doesn’t really have a buildup as such, you immediately go straight into to the beat. To be fair this is trap music so there isn’t really any need for any buildups as such. Your vocalist is singing awesomely as usual. The auto tune here is miles better than last time, it sounds very in tune, and adds that nice robotic effect. It doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. It is a tad bit crispy and I find the 808 to be a bit too deep on the subs, however I do tend to nitpick a bit. Only real thing to say is that it ends abruptly but that’s about it. I think there is more to like than dislike here so I’ll give you this one. Well done!

DarkShadow - Ooh this is a cool sound from you. Normally you go for the sawtooth stuff, but the melody is more of a FM bell sound. The kick drum is also very  short, I’m not really used to these kinds of drums for such an intense genre. One day we’ll get a DarkShadow entry breaking the 3 minute barrier lol. This one is quite long (For a DarkShadow entry), but I do appreciate you giving me a lot of variety throughout. It’s screaming for a bass, the very short kick is the only form of low end we have in this. The growls are very cool i must say, even if a little quiet. It’s a lot of fun, even if personally it’s not my favourite from you. It’s still a lot of fun though, good job though!

LillyMeadows - I’m digging these drums, the reverb on that snare is great, and the kick is tight. There is a lot of drum variations here, super textural and fitting for an abandoned warehouse. I wasn’t expecting the chords to drop in so soon, but they’re fire. That bassline is thicc. Almost to the point it overtakes the track. Not too loud, it’s just pushing the other sounds to the side. The track really gets going at the end, but then you decide to introduce a hard stop, cutting the flow. I could have had another 20 seconds to process the sounds, but this is just me. I do feel like you could also introduce the melody ideas slowly, because it all suddenly drops in the middle (Not that it’s a bad thing, but I think it would make the track better for me). It still sounds great though, remember taste is personal. This is still a lot of fun though, so don’t be discouraged. Good job!

A2Z - Smooth chords, almost jazzy in parts. Love how you filter them in, it’s a lovely touch. Loving the synth melodies in conjunction with the beats, I get a really nice RnB vibe in the sound. Love how the kick and bass drop it’s a really lovely developed piece with a lot of great sounds getting added. The melody towards the end was very dynamic and catchy. You really know how to stretch chord progressions into full blown dynamic pieces. It could do with a bit of polish personally, I do think the kick is a bit on the quiet side for this track, especially with such a powerful sub. It's just really a bit of smoothing that i think it needs, but aside from that it's great.. Honestly i thought about this for a long time, and in the end i decided to give you this one. Well done!

DDRKirby(ISQ) - I love the foley you bring to the track, it really makes it magical. This one is very Aquatic Ambience inspired, to the point where it could easily fit an underwater stage  in a video game. I love that rimshot sound, it’s super tight and makes the groove very catchy. Those chords are insane, I love the filtering and textures added. Normally you go for a progression however in this case, it’s a very free flowing sequence. The square melodies you are famous for are awesome as well. The snare placement in this one is super unusual for a DDR track. It’s not 2 and 4, but rather 2 and 6. There’s some many in this track for 4 minutes, it’s insane. I make 6 minute tracks with as much variation as I can, but not on this level, damn it’s so varied, and yet so clean and high quality all the time. This one is just awesome, I love it. No surprise i gave you the top spot, it was theme fitting and insanely catchy, incredible work!

Koekepan - These are definitely some decayed bells. Almost got an Asian inspired feel. Whenever I think of these kinds of bell sounds I weirdly am reminded of C418, don’t ask me why lol (Especially the detune). The pad chords are a Koekepan staple, but this time we also have delayed bass sound and some white noise. It’s very calming, minus the white noise, which adds a slight epic feel to the overall sound. At times I think the wave noises get a bit too much into the track, because the rest of the elements are really nice. If the track smoothed out some of the ocean sounds, this could be awesome. Still thought it was very relaxing and a ton of fun, so don’t be discouraged. Good job!

NickC - Lots of cool distorted sounds, but played in a way that makes it sound like were in some kind of machine room. It's taking the distorted almost industrial sounds, and making it into an ambient context. I love the sort of dissonant nature in the beginning, but it then slowly morphs into something pretty tonal. Of course you had to have an Amen in their, it wouldn't be a Nick track without frantic or distorted drum programming. This is not breakcore level, because i find it a bit slow for that, however it's definately Drill and Bass. I find the very detuned sounds to be kind of weird, yet as with a lot of your tracks, the weirdness really makes the track, and that's why i love it. It's still surprisingly tonal even with the detuned and weird pitched sounds. This is at the moment probably the longest track i've made this year. It's not the longest of all time, you've easily reached 7 minutes before, it's just been a while since you've reached 4:31. The more i listen, the more i like it, so i'll give you this one, actually even better i'll give you the 2nd spot, it was soo cool. Amazing work!

Updlate - Those chimes remind me of Harry Potter i don't know why, but a lot of things do i guess. I do like the gradually fading bass, that's cool, and although not noticeable, the chimes have a bit of processing done to them. I dig the chords in this, great moody pad sounds. The melody is also tight, even if not too upfront. The drums surprised me, i heard a triplet, so i was expecting 3/4, but instead it was 4/4. The drums do make a bold statement in comparison to the rest, however they're not loud, so i can excuse them. I dig the different sections here, lots of changes going on, even if the chords are the same. Again i could do with more intense sounds to match the thick beats, but it was still great either way, and so i feel like giving you this one. I also feel like giving you the 3rd spot it was great, amazing work!

THEGREATDESTROYER22 - That sub is nice and thick, as is the electric guitar sounds. You have some great pedals on that guitar tone. The kick drum is very thick and bass heavy, it sounds like Industrial Trap as a style, except the drums aren't following the specific rhythms. It just reminds me of that style. Vocals from you are quite rare, but always such a treat. The rhythm work here is soo cool i love it, so many drum changes are happening throughout. Not really theme fitting per se, this is quite the intense tune for a relaxing theme, but i dig it a lot. Nothing sticks out to me that would be a turn off, i loved it a lot. The singing is really great in this, awesome work!

Misael.K - Pretty electric piano sounds, great playing. Feels smooth as hell. I love that delayed drum sound, it's such a Misael.K staple. The drums are so swung it's actually kind of out of time lol. If that's deliberate then i like it, otherwise i feel quantisation may be needed. You sing wonderfully, however this time if the lyrics weren't there, i wouldn't be understanding what you are saying, because you mixed it so quiet into the mix. The thing is, your voice is naturally deep from what i've heard, and when you have a very deep sound like EP it clashes with the vocals thus blurring the two. Does it make it bad? No not really, but it can affect the mix quite a bit. I do love the chords and melody a lot though, that's the saving grace in this piece. I totally feel there's room for smoothing here, it has a lot of potential it's really great. Good job!

Arcana - This is at the time of the review, the longest Arcana entry of all time lol. At least from my listens. I joined in around April 2020, so that's where it all started. Unless i'm wrong, i am convinced this is the longest. The basswork is very cool here, you are doing some serious sick modular stuff to that bassline, it's like 5 different effect pedals at once. Although i do say a lot that your voice is much better natural, i do love the voice in this one a lot, it would be very convincing as an argument to your autotune abilities, because it's really good! My god though the main melody is excruciatingly loud, which even you from looking at the comments believe so. Now this is sad, because the whole thing honestly was not only worthy of the awesome ranking, but hell i would have even voted for this, but that melody is was....just not pleasant i'll leave it at that lol. Sorry it didn't work out for you, it was still awesome though, that's all it needed, was the melody to not be so distorted and loud, and you would have had the vote. It was still a ton of fun though, good job!

Top 3 - DDRKirby(ISQ), NickC, Updlate.

THEGREATDESTROYER22 also deserves a spot on the list.

Awesome - Meistr, A2Z, DDRKirby(ISQ), NickC, updlate, THEGREATDESTROYER22.

Needs Work - DarkShadow, LillyMeadows, Koekepan, Misael.K, Arcana.

1. Swirling Sonder
   DDRKirby(ISQ)
2. Endless Array of Twinkles
   TheVideoGamer
3. drowned
   NickC

Quicklastminutevoting

awesum: A2Z, DarkShadow, DDRKirby(ISQ), NickC, THEGREATDESTROYER22, TheVideoGamer, upd|ate!.
good: Arcana, Koekepan, LillyMeadows, Meistr.