About the review

Title: Agent Theme
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Artist: John Marwin
Genre: Soundtrack/Game: Soundtrack
Reviewed by: Tympanic on July 30, 2007 (All reviews by Tympanic)

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1Overall Description
This is an excellent videogame track that certainly does give the agent feeling in a unique way. Highly creative (just listen to the percussion!), fun to listen to, and never gets dull (believe me, I've listened to this one many times over :) ). Good work by a talented artist.
 
2Creativity Description
To say this piece is original is an understatement. I really enjoy listening to John Marwin's songs because they are so unique and creative, and this one is no exception! How is this song creative? The intro, well hehe, the pitch bending is fun to listen to, and it works for the song. The percussion? It definitely shines in this song. It is very interesting to listen to, with plenty of variety, nice use of breaks (1:38-1:41, 2:24-2:42) spiced up with a static-laced bass drum, fast clickity clickin' hihat, not to mention the cool retrig on the snare :). The beats at the conclusion of the song are very cool, and the fact that the artist alluded to the introduction part of the song by using the same drum sample from 0:48-52 is a nice touch indeed! How about the melodies? Also very good, and definitely give an 'agent/espionage' feel to the song, without feeling cliche. I really liked the the 'whistle' sample from 1:54 - 2:25 on top of the supporting 'bell' synths. My favorite part though is the 'dream chime' runnin' outta time finale to the song, from 3:08 to the end because it sounds good and it gives the very fitting feeling of time is running out for this agent (to diffuse the bomb of course!) Anything else? Well, there are also a number of nice touches that add character to the song. Examples: 1:27, 1:38, 2:29-2:31. I like the very subtle change in the sound of the bass sample starting at 0:39 to a more open sound for the rest of the song. Also, the final notes of the 'dream chime' sound like 'game over dude'- very appropriate!
 
3Arrangement Description
Top marks for the arrangement, as it is very good. I could not find any problems with the arrangement.
-Transitions are very good because they indicate changes in the song such that the listener expects them just before they occur and is therefore not distracted by them. For example, in the first transition to the main part of the song from the introduction, the transition is indicated by the bassline beginning to pitch bend at 0:39, along with the introduction of a thud drum from 0:48-0:52. A very fast hihat then carries the transition through with the regular beat, the bassline, as well as the 'bee' sample. The second transition occurs at 2:18, wherein the transition is indicated by the 'bell' synth lead fading out, the kicking in of the retrigged snare on top of the same underlying beat heard in 0:53-1:38 (good tie in!) until 2:24, and then the fading out of the 'whistle' sample giving the stage to the 'bee' sample, until the dropping 'lose a life' game sound comes in at 2:29-2:31. The transition is carried through by the renewing of the 'bell' synth, the drums, etc. At this point, the song begins its easy-going 'gear up for the climax' part of the song until 3:08.
-Panning : good use of panning on the percussion (e.g., snare left, hihat right). Bass is at center and is suitable there because it is the constant driving force of the song. The panning on the bell synths is really nice (1:41 - 2:18).
-The samples are well balanced, and have good volume. Nothing is overpowering, nor underrepresented here.
 
4Does it work as a piece of music Description
Of course it does :) It is an agent-theme videogame song to be sure!
 
Comments
Aug 14 2007 10:21 pm
by Tympanic replying to TwiTerror
Cool, thanks Twi.



Aug 14 2007 12:29 pm
by TwiTerror
I don't feel nearly as strongly about this song as you do, but this is a good review. Im glad to see quality reviews here.



Jul 31 2007 8:47 pm
by Tympanic
You're welcome John. My first few reviews weren't very detailed at all, and the artists let me know! So now when I do a review, I try to give as much feedback to the artist as I possibly can, otherwise I feel that I am not helping the artist out much. I want to thank you for giving me good feedback, it encourages me to keep writing thorough reviews :)



Jul 31 2007 3:05 pm
by John Marwin
Thanks alot for this review Tympanic, you've really outdone yourself with the details here, it's a staggeringly huge review by TiS standards and I hope you'll set the bar a bit higher with this review. (I've been quite lax with review details lately, I've gotta change that)