NekoMika's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Ballad of Creative Freedom]

Reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons, Plok, Rogue's level music style from Sonic Adventure 2, and Yume Nikki shorts that gobou creates using music like this.

That jazz is way too goddamn smooth. I want to say I feel something could be improved on this but I feel messing with it at all will ruin the creative flow you managed to create on this round's tune.

The art cover is also hilarious.

Fantastic work all around and best of luck to you making it to the final round. :D

[Agente.001 - Our Minds]

That intro is an interesting buildup with a track seeming to try starting and failing for a moment before the tune truly begins.

That growling bass is beautiful. Then the tune breaks into more of a chaotic melody that seems to keep jumping back and forth rather quickly in my opinion. Reminds me of Newgrounds dubstep songs circa 2010 - 2013, fun times in the audio portal. ;-;

The constant ticking later into the song that fades makes me think one is getting lost in their own mind before completely spacing out to try finding answers. One hell of a tune, would not be out of place in DOOM or DOOM Eternal.

Fantastic work~

[Immersion]

Composition:
The long drawn out synth notes seem to be the building block of this song that helps hold everything together. Kind of wish that the outro, while being long; winded down either a little slower or faster to bring the song to its conclusion.

Production:
Everything here seems to sound rather good with quality. Can't quite place my fingers on it but part of me thinks that the drums could sound slightly different to be honest. Other than that, everything else seems to sound good to me.

Structure:
The story seems to feel like you just got into space and are taking it all in and enjoying your surroundings. The melody builds up into the immersion and then encapsulates and keeps you in a feeling of weightlessness while the tune keeps going.

Replayability:
I can see myself enjoying this tune on any given day really.

Originality:
The tune has a fast space feel to it that makes you feel so zoned out as you hear it. I found it rather enjoyable and somewhat original.

[Flesh Fields Miasma]

Composition:
The tune gives a feeling of unease and as if one had just royally screwed up and wound up somewhere they wished they could have never ended up at. Normally a chaotic feeling rhythm would be something I find cacophonous and unbearable to hear but in this case, it seems like quite a structured type of chaos.

Production:
I feel like at least two seconds of silence could be clipped out from the start to be honest. Not a major thing but seems kind of weird to me for the beat to finally start after three seconds. Otherwise, holy hell does this tune get rather creepy and evil sounding as seems to be the goal of the song. That pounding bass hits so damn hard too.

Structure:
The structure seems so well done. Makes me think of a mix of Earthbound's Starman Jr. theme, DOOM, Undertale, and at times Silent Hill.

Replayability:
Not something I think I would want to rehear outside of a video game setting to be honest, this would make one hell of a boss battle theme or theme for when you just entered a really messed up level in a horror game.

Originality:
I don't hear too many horror based tunes so I feel this was a rather original tune with a lot of potential it could have gone for.

[Campfire [NGADM 2020 Round 2]]

Composition:
The piano and bass carry this song I feel with the vocals and drums being lead into the song and to bring out the full image, very damn well done too.

Production:
Not hearing any flaws here but not hearing much that I feel could be improved on either. An off-topic comment but almost wonder what this would sound like with a fast paced drum rhythm honestly.

Structure:
The structure of the song is interesting and sounds pleasant. The vocals sound professional and feels like part of an arc to a story. Would not mind hearing more tunes or whole album done with this style from you.

Replayability:
I can see myself wanting to hear this song again on a good day, makes me think back to years ago when I would rarely go to malls and walk around looking at all the stuff on sale there.

Originality:
This seems pretty well done with the a typical story of "not everything is going to be good but there will always be a place to call home if you just look." Lovely.~

GameBoyFireworks responds:

Thank you! Very kind.

[The Paths Our Heart Often Guides Us Through]

Composition:
I like how it takes roughly a minute to build into the main melody and meat of the song. The glockenspiel and synth work together and give a feeling of someone's heart aching and yet being in some state of joy of knowing time has come and gone for their heart to be intertwined with another's.

The drums add another layer of immersion and mix well with the tune. Sounds keep building over time that sound interesting. The chiptune synth is a nice touch.

Production:
Not too much more to say here that I haven't already said in Composition, I don't hear any points in that song that I feel could be considered a weak point. Each part of the melody helps cover each other and add more to the overall tone of story on this one.

Structure:
The story I seem to get from this one is that someone either fell in love or broke up or lost a loved one and they are trying to move forward over time and make peace with the past for a better tomorrow, beautiful.

Replayability:
Something I would very much listen to and space out listening to while imaging some kind of story or scenario in my mind, I like it.

Originality:
While the story idea itself is not original in my opinion, the tune feels refreshing and fun to listen to.

[Mecha Kitten Trooper X]

This is gloriously purr-fect!

LexRodent responds:

Thanks for listenyan !

[Chaotic Wish]

This sounds like a really fun boss tune, could imagine this being played for if Cirno actually got her act together and took things far more seriously in a fight. :o

[Paragon]

A song used in a Pokemon Wi-Fi battle 10 years ago... that was deleted a year or so later. That was then discovered 6 years later and a search that took an additional 4 years to re-discover this song.

Pretty amazing how the vocals and tune come off as very Julien-K like in nature, I like it.

R.I.P. NuKeMOuT, I imagine your music made a lot of people happy. :(

[Summer Dreams]

The song's buildup is wonderful and sounds inspirational, as if gaining a second wind or the courage to stand up for a friend who's been hurt badly by some isekai villain.

The main tune sounds alright. The drums at 1:06 seem a little out of place to me. If it had been a harder hitting drum piece with heavy reverb, probably would have sounded pretty nice there. Around 2:00, the sudden build back into the beat is rather sudden but not something that really puts one off from the beat too much.

The sudden overall change in tempo at 3:49 is also entirely strange and doesn't fit very well, if anything it clashes with the beat as it comes out of nowhere and the rest of the song never does anything like that again.

Overall, the tune is decent but there are definitely parts that could have been changed up or improved. Outside of the few spots I noted, I think this was a rather decent melody in and of itself.

Semicedevine responds:

duly noted, ty!