Lawnmower Man

[Timetraveler Ki]

Heeelloooooo,

I'm new to this forum, and after reading through everything, I think, it's allowed to post one of my LPs here. If I understood this wrong, please just delete the thread.

My newest one is called Lawnmower Man and you can download it here for free (just enter 0 as price):

https://timetravelerki.bandcamp.com/

As for the genre, it's Electronica, something between Downbeat/Trip-Hop and Chillout.

Would be great to hear some feedback!

Love,

Ki

[Tool Of God]

I listened through several of the tracks and wanted to give some feedback, since you invited it. I am not an expert on any of the sub-genres you tagged this album. I only produced one track of downbeat before focusing on my latest project. If you'd like to hear it for reference, here it is. http://vimeo.com/97090371

Since I come from a music background where melody is a primary tool in song composition, I am not the best resource for critiquing music in styles where melody takes a backseat to strange sounds. I do however have a pretty open mind when it comes to music appreciation, so I will tell you what I hear on the tunes on this record.

Your understanding of rhythm is great, which is funny, being that chillout music tends to not rely on solid beats for conveying its energy. However, your use of rhythms on the instruments gives an overall weight to the song's rhythm, making it more pleasing.

Unfortunately, I don't "get" strange bloops and beeps and off pitch vocals and such. So that stuff detracts from the pleasing composition in your music. I will have to accept that others enjoy the ambient sounds, otherwise why would you put them in your songs.

I must say that I listened longer than I would normally to music with so many quirky sounds, mostly because I was curious what you were going to do next. And you did evolve your songs, which was nice.

I hope I was able to convey my thoughts without sounding offensive. Take care.

[Timetraveler Ki]

Thank you sir for your feedback. I just checked out your song and it's awesome. And your feedback was everything else than offensive. I've expected alot harsher feedback!

I understand your criticism. I have tons of different influences from hip hop to jungle to chiptunes to breakbeats to deep house and so on and I try to get them all under one hat. And I always thought that mixing some glitchy sounds into a very chilly tune makes it alot more interesting. But that is just my perspective and I don't know, if people even enjoy listening to that.

However, I've been trying to mix these two (maybe unmixable) types of sounds for years. If you listen to one of my very old tracks, this one is about 5 years old and it's very badly mixed, every instrument is roguhly the same volume: https://soundcloud.com/kocha/dead-serious-arab-future-jazz

I've tried this years ago and I thought, I have become better at it. I thought, it started to come together somehow.

So, do you think, I should just give up on this idea or should I try to pursue it?

[Tool Of God]

Not that you should be trying to make music for me, Ki, but I really enjoy your Nebula EP. Expert Chill. To me, when you want to chill, you don't want a police siren going off, or a record to start skipping out of sync. These are just a couple made up examples, but I use them to illustrate the purpose of the music. With each of my music projects, I try to analyze "who is my audience, and how do I want them to feel?"

My Yes.Mustache project has an audience of gamers with a sense of humor (ideally). I want them to laugh and occasionally get energized by a track (like my Sunset Overdrive Unofficial Theme). So you are obviously a skilled musician and producer. You can create a range of emotions and sounds across multiple genres. You can bend genres and it's good to do that. But the main question you should ask is, "who is this music for?" I am just not sure there is an audience for chillout + glitch noise. There may be, and if you enjoy it, then there is probably someone else that does to.

Again, please let my comments be read without any negativity in its tone. It can get dicey when discussing art on a critical level.

[Timetraveler Ki]

Don't worry about it, I'm very gratefull for your criticism and I find it very interesting. Haven't talked to anyone about this before. So thank you very much

I understand, what you mean. I probably have to shift my mindset from: "What do I want to put in this song?" to like you said: "How do I want my audience to feel?"

Maybe I'd be able to put those glitchy noises into a chilled ambience, if I make them softer and put them further into the background.

But I get, what you mean. I'm working on a new LP right now, I have multiple new drummachines, and I will make it alot softer. I enjoy those breakbeat-style drumbreaks, so I will keep them in, but make them less "in your face" and try to fit them more into the ambience.

[Tool Of God]

I'm glad I could be a backboard for some discussion. This place isn't as lively as I hoped it would be when I signed up. I imagined a community of people making music and giving feedback and supporting each other. Instead, it's mostly a ghost town.

I look forward to hearing your new project.

[Timetraveler Ki]

I just registered about a week ago, so I'm not too sure about how active this forum is. But I'm in the mood to remix some old video game classics!