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Whirlguy

Age 34, Male

Netherlands

Joined on 10/21/03

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Appreciation Of NG Music

Posted by Whirlguy - September 10th, 2019

Holy shit there's some good music on Newgrounds. I'm sure you're already aware of this but I'm talking more than just sweet tunes. In this post I will go through some of my favorite songs and talk about some of the music theory. I will be observing time signatures and perhaps some scales. With a little luck I may discover something cool or learn something new. I will expanding on this list in the future.


This song has Nine Inch Nails written all over it, but it's so much more than an epic moody industrial metal song. The time signatures in this piece are amazing. Jumping from a 5/4 intro to a 2-step rest. Back to 5/4 for the chorus, pausing for 2 bars in a 7/4 signature ambience and moving into a 7/4 verse. After the verse there's a 6/4 switch to the bridge, a 4-step rest, a 5/4 chorus, another 2-step rest and that's where it gets even more interesting! The song continues in a steady 7/4, where it somehow re-introduces the intro (5/4) and chorus (5/4) without sounding weird at all. On top of that it's all written in the odd scale of D#-Phrygian and to top it all off the lyrics and mixing are great. Damn, this piece is nothing short of amazing.


In truth, this song is entirely in 4/4 but many of the instruments play in 3/4 compound times for almost the entire duration of the song. Especially once the breakdown hits after the first chorus (1:18) it severely confused me. One might argue the breakdown hits with a 3/4 intro, alternates between several odd time measures for 61 remaining counts from there and then gets back into the verse. It does sound that way at first, but that's not the case! What actually happens is the "3/4 intro" extends into a 4th count and delivers a kick drum which fools us into thinking we're at the start of a new bar. That being false, the song continues in 4/4 and this kick is simply premature; It hits a quarter note earlier than usual! Then at the next bar nothing happens during counts 1, 2 and at 3 there finally is the long awaited snare, exactly where it should be. This continues to repeat throughout the rest of the breakdown making for some very chill but bizarre rhythms.
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VicariousE

Oh man, gonna take a long long time to unfuck my outgoing box - maybe I should cry for help in the bbs for mod/admin to delete the whole thing

fading fast so...
At 6 minutes ago, Whirlguy wrote:

: Hey man, it was fun to see you in Jesse's stream! He's a long time friend of mine from NG. Sounds like life's been rough on your end. You still living in New Jersey? You did mention Oregon after all?

Yea still stuck in NJ, guess it came down to trusting my brother and sister w/ my parents estate, should've gotten a lawyer to oversee their actions, or lack thereof.

If all goes well, I plan on moving to north carolina, or just outside of allentown PA... I mentioned OR because a friend of mine just moved there. I've been around most of the US before 2000, and prefer the northeastern US, not gonna be happy unless I can farm

Whirlguy

Oof, so when you say you couldn't trust them with the estate, what do you mean? Did they end up making a bad deal? I don't know much about North Carolina but it sounds pretty rural to me. Next time I need some gardening tips I'm coming to you haha. So what do you typically grow on your farm land?

Cyberdevil

There really is! Been making an effort to archive as much as possible but alas, too much good stuff... you really go in deep with these though.

Whirlguy

Yeah, perhaps I should leave these people reviews. I feel kind of silly dissecting people's projects in the comment section though. I just want to observe and learn you know :)

Cyberdevil

This type of in-depth insight seems rare these days though, it's cool to see. :) I find myself just writing shorter and shorter reviews for the most part. It's become more about just partaking and affirming than really analyzing and providing feedback. Feels like you stand out amidst the stream of speedy responses in an age-inappropriate way sometimes when you go all out, as in: that's now how the youngin's use that review space these days. :P

I wonder if we'll ever get that back hmm. Different types of content seem to bring with them different crowds though. Feedback's somehow always a bit more present with games. maybe with audio too...

Hmm, I think I do too, but even more so: leave a mark. :) Observe so hard my iron gaze leaves an imprint on the very fabric of time!!!

Whirlguy

Haha the signs of our times, I must be getting old. Interesting observations all of these. If it's art and animation going without a critical audience it must be the result of Tumblr and Youtube slipping through the cracks. I doubt Newgrounds will ever go back to lengthy in-depth reviews. That stuff used to be encouraged back in the day with subcategories like "Grahics, Audio, Humor, etc." which made you think a little harder about writing proper reviews. Nowadays I'm not sure if artists appreciate seeing criticism underneath their hard work, Maybe back then people did not appreciate it either but it was at least to be expected.

Iron gaze huh? Sounds like a nice tool :)

Cyberdevil

Same age and same sign of oldness hmm, maybe ours is a generation that stands out in observation though. :) Very probably yes, and TikTok too now, all forms of response seem to be getting shorter... maybe not Twitter though, strangely. They do debate.

Right, was thinking about bringing that up too. The easier the reviewing process becomes the less likely they'll be lengthy. It's a bit like content, overall. The easier it is to submit the lower the criteria for it. The judgement phase ups our ante just like that ol' categorization used to. But that said I really do like the new form. Was kinda tedious to review that way. Or was it. As I say it I think maybe it wasn't. maybe those selections were pretty quickly done, and fun, they gave you a moment to really evaluate the elements in a very no-nonsense kind of way...

True too regarding the appreciation for critique. I wonder if I did. I realize now I can actually get a little annoyed if it's not all just high praise, when it's become such a standard. But some users do respond with a (paraphrasing) 'really appreciate actually providing some kind of helpful counsel', so it's not lost on everyone at least. Feels like you can see that with the type of content too. If they really put in work in every facet of it, even description, chances are they do appreciate people really noticing the details.

Aha it actually is a tool! XD Haven't played Destiny y'know! Was just wording! Surely more helpful than iron gauze though.

Whirlguy

An observant generation? Heh, I wonder. All I know is that I observe things in order to break them down in simple digestible steps. And I do this so I can learn/improve. It's something that benefited me greatly when it comes to music, art, animation and even writing I guess. It may just be inherent to creative communities in general but I suppose it's not something you can teach people. Especially if they're not willing to better themselves constantly.

It got a little tedious to review that way, I agree. Some sub-criteria were pretty dumb too. Humor wasn't always applicable, or interactivity. And effort is relative. I remember some people would include a list of pros and cons.

I love seeing those author responses where it's all like "That's exactly right, thanks for pointing that out!" Funny how criticism is such a rarity nowadays that it becomes a diamond in the rough. But if I'm honest, I don't think I'm on the lookout for criticism either. I trust these observation skills enough to find my own shortcomings but it's also true that people develop bad habits and get stuck in their own ways. Everyone has their blind spots and criticism can really help you look at things differently.

Haha I'm just reading up on Iron Gaze here and it appears to be a useless perk in Destiny?

Cyberdevil

*sometimes get a little annoyed

Not when it's valuable, I should note. I guess it's just rare to get good critique these days. Instantly related critique to: complaints without any notations as to what could've actually be done to improve. Anyway...

Whirlguy

I agree, there's a lot of nitpicking and personal preference going on. That's not very helpful at all.

Cyberdevil

One fueled by the ethics of the particular social community standards we grew up using maybe. :) You probably break things down more than I do though then. I like noticing details that others maybe don't. To learn and understand but not really in an all-encompassing way. Sounds useful though, the self-betterment mindset too, especially now when religion and spirituality's becoming a bit lost on us I wonder if that's not the replacement a lot of people turn to instead. Without connections beyond yourself maybe you turn towards yourself, self-betterment as a replacement for external ideals; purpose.

Probably more nostalgia looking back at the benefits of it... that's true. Didn't recall humor. Could've maybe designed that system according to categories too somehow, so any submissions in 'Comedy' get a humor category, others some alternative trait... well, effort at least was a good one IMO, it seemed to also imply that you SHOULD put effort into what you make. It's not as clear now. Without that criteria maybe people forget, or don't compare their own effort to others as easily. I imagine you imagine you spend more effort on everything when you start out, then somewhere along the line you realize your perception of what effort really is was really totally off; that you just can't make anything good in just a few minutes. But yes, effort's hard to see sometimes. The better you are the easier it is to make something look effortless... in a very paradoxical way of that word. :) Probably better like this yes. Some guides/intro to reviewing the first time you do might be good though. Encourage people to elaborate a bit more, even if it's no longer obligatory.

Yesss same here, those are the ones I live for. :D Very true. It's so easy with writing in particular to not see your own typos. Helps with an extra pair of eyes that's really looking for flaws.

Yupp. XD I thought you were referring to that! Just read up too.

Word.

Gimmick

Congrats on the UOTD!

Whirlguy

Woah, I'm user of the day? That's wild! Thanks dude :D

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