About the review

Title: Thumpin
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Artist: Tyr
Genre: Electronica: Dance
Reviewed by: visceral on July 21, 2008 (All reviews by visceral)

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1Overall Description
While catchy and definitely danceable, this track is dragged down by its simplicity and repetition. The main chord progression is interesting, but it never really goes anywhere.
 
2Creativity Description
Given Tyr's self-stated goal of minimalism, I suppose this song could be counted a success. Within the constraints, he has made quite a catchy tune. However, within the first 35-40 seconds we have heard essentially all this track has to offer. A bit more variety in either the melody or instruments would be a vast improvement. The drumline also suffers from this same-ness. The snare and cymbals do break the monotony of the kick a bit, but once again we hear all of the variation within a short span of time.
 
3Sound Quality Description
Taken individually, the instruments all sound quite good. The mix as a whole, on the other hand, could use some work. The bass is much too heavy, and the kick has a tendency to drown out the snare and hats. I suppose dance as a whole is somewhat bass-heavy, but I think this track gets a bit carried away.
 
4Does it work as a piece of music Description
Considering its house/dance nature, I would have to say that it does work as a piece of music. It is very catchy, and the repetitive, pounding bassline are quite conducive to dancing. In a club this song would probably do quite well, provided the bass doesn't rupture any eardrums. I would still prefer a bit more variety, however.
 
Comments
Aug 01 2008 12:43 pm
by Spectra

This is striking to look at...because I had felt when you reviewed my track you were 90% rating on production and the other 10% criticizing it for for "little melodic variation". And, of course, I wanted to see what your view of such issues are in your own work/productions and how they compare to the average track on TIS. While I strongly disagree with this review in part (I agree the production is actually quite good), I see this track as quite repetitive vs. most of what I hear on TIS so I agree with half of it and disagree with the other half. What this is...is a good track to look at to admire and learn production skills IE smart choice of instruments and EQ. But I wouldn't say it's something to look at to learn how to make complete, progressive melodic breaks with many varied themes (the kind of thing myself and others go for: more stress on melody less on percussion). People who like highly dance-able percussion-intensive tracks that would likely be used to transfer/cross-fade between two tracks by a DJ or do turntablism, though, would likely find good use for this track. For better or worse...it appears you're aiming for a different kind of audience with this one.