| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 8 |
| Interest | 8 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 8 |
| Lyrics | 0 |
| Enjoyment | 8 |
| Recording Quality | 8 |
| Commercial Appeal | 6 |
| Overall | 7.7 |
When offering to do these reviews, I did point out that I have little or no technical knowledge about the making of Electronica music. So when reviewing an artist who describes his own music as 'Edgy Electro Nonsense' you'd figure I'd be pretty out of my depth. And to some extent you'd be right. Luckily though (for me), this certain slice of 'Edgy Electro Nonsense' is from a genre I know quite well, at least from a listener's perspective. Videogames. Or at least it is inspired by a videogame. The game in question has the same moniker as this track, 'Loom', and I must admit, it is not a game I am familiar with.
Right from the off, this track has videogame music written all over it. With a repetitive low piano riff to the left and higher pitched piano to the right setting up a theme for the score. Panpipes then develop this theme a little before the rhythm enters. To my ear this part is the setting for a battle scene and has a good sense of atmosphere. The panpipes are reintroduced here but are a more improvised version of the original theme that to my ear miss the mark slightly timing wise in a couple of places. Not that you would notice whilst embroiled in playing a game really. In the first breakdown there is the introduction of some very Retro sounding synths, the likes of which remind me of the days of the Megadrive. The reintroduction of the bassy piano riff and the military sounding drum beats bring us back to the original theme once more and continue through to the end of the track save for a slightly menacing synth outro.
From what I have heard of Tedd-z's music in the past, production is something he really excells at. That said I don't think this would be the best example of that. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, it's just that it's not the clearest mix you will hear from this artist by a long way. For example, at around 2:24 there are 2 instruments, panned left and right playing a development of the main theme which sound slightly obscured by the strong bassline either because of sonic spacing or perhaps simply because of the choice of sounds and notes clashing with the frequencies coming from the bass end of the track. Either way, it slightly dampens the effect of the theme. (I should also point out here that my new headphones are Extremely BASS heavy and that may be distorting my perception).
Layout wise this track builds and drops nicely in the way that a good videogame soundtrack should to enhance the action on screen. I could definitely see this fitting well into the videogame environment. This of course, from a purely musical point of view, is possibly also it's biggest weakness. Without the added on screen action that a videogame provides, you are left with kind of half the experience, and without knowing the game which provided the inspiration for this piece it is hard to say whether or not it has really hit the mark.
In summary, this is a well constructed piece of music befitting the genre at which it is aimed. Outside of this genre though, it's not the sort of track that's gonna get you dancing like many of Tedd-Z's other 'Edgy Electro Nonsense' tracks will and so has very limited commercial appeal. Should Tedd-Z decide he'd like to venture into the videogame music world though (which could be a quite lucrative area with the way the games market is growing all the time) I'm sure he could do quite well.
One for videogame music fans.
Craig
To listen to the track Click Here