About the review

Title: new beirut spaceport
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Artist: 8bitstrawberry
Genre: Electronica: Trip Hop/Acid Jazz
Reviewed by: Warrior Bob on March 15, 2008 (All reviews by Warrior Bob)

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Review

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1Overall Description
It's easy to miss the point of this song. For quite a while I wrote it off as 'that song with the bells at the beginning' - good, but not captivating. Here's the thing though - there's way more depth here than I was letting myself see. This is a song about slow, ethereal transitions. And it's really well produced. I think the subtlety of this song is what makes it so good. It doesn't jump up and grab my attention; there's no real hook, and I had to listen to it many times to really get all of what is going on. Listen to this song for its structure. Listen to it while you do different things. It really, really, grew on me and now I find it showing up in more and more playlists.
 
2Creativity Description
One commenter on traxinspace described this song as "like flowing through a river of transitions." I really can't agree more. There are many repetetive elements, true, but that's the point. They are always layered against each other, and there is always something happening that is interesting. One part of the song is not the same as any other part; there's always something unique to each section. And yet, there's identity throughout: partially the bells, partially the beat, partially consistent instrumentation and careful attention to detail. I had mixed feelings at first because I felt the song just didn't have that unidentifiable quality that catches my attention, but over time it situated itself. I'm not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing, as I certainly wouldn't suggest adding a melodic hook or anything like that, so I'm just going to mention it and let you decide for yourself.
 
3Artistic License Description
I think the instruments are very well chosen and play together well. 8bitstrawberry isn't pushing genre limits here, but to be fair, that's not why you're listening, and I don't think that's what she was attempting to do. This song is here to evoke a mood, and it does that handily. It's floaty, but moving, and the transitions between sections punctuate this.
 
4Arrangement Description
This category is the song's highlight. The first time I heard it, I had no idea what was going to come next. The second time, the same was true. Eventually I learned what to expect, but as I listened to it again and again, I realized there is never a dull moment in this song: despite the relatively slow progression of ideas (which is deliberate, and works!) the song never becomes boring. And yet, despite variety, the song keeps identity. It's pretty clear 8bitstrawberry has been doing this for a while and it sounds great.
 
5Sound Quality Description
Everybody complains about the bells. They have this FM sound, and go on for like two minutes at the beginning, so they occupy a lot of space in the listener's impression of the song. The notes they hit and when they hit them I wouldn't change at all. Rather, I'd recommend trying out many different ways of producing the bell sound. Personally, I suspect that the best result would be to record some real bells, to give it that extra touch of realism that this song comes so close to. Perhaps layer them with synth bells. Besides this one instrument though, everything is fantastic. The mixing is wonderful and every instrument comes through clearly and distinctly, even the high piano notes that sort of sneak up on you.
 
6Does it work as a piece of music Description
Considering how often I listen to it now I'd say it works fantastically as a piece of music. For a long time, though, I just couldn't get into it. I like all the sounds, sure, but it just didn't click with me at first, for reasons I'm not entirely certain of. Of course, once it did click, it stuck, and now I show it to my friends all the time. This section of Traxinspace reviews has always been sort of ill-defined, but I think ultimately it comes down to this: this is a very well-made song that I enjoy very much, and I'm glad 8bitstrawberry made it, because now I get to listen to it.
 
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