Without You /AaRD/
(aard_woya.it)

One could argue that this piece sounds like any old sappy love ballad, but there is alot to be said for structure. In fact, this one's strong point is just that, it's structure. Everything in this song fits it's genre perfectly, from the brilliant instruments to the signature drumbeat and broken guitar chords. I can certainly recognize that a considerable amount of thought was put into that. That said, this piece has it's ups and downs, which makes it really hard to rate. It starts off with strings, that in my opinion sound too discontinous, chopped up. A smooth, continous sound might have been better in this case. The same goes for the piano melody. But then the piece turns the other way, when a beautiful panflute melody comes in, and it is smooth as a baby's arse. And yes, quite beautiful. The piece alternates between two main musical ideas, the one introduced by the strings in the beginning, and the one carried by the panflute. This means, of course, that there is a fair amount of repitition involved. I don't know if I should mark too much off for this since this style is usually accompanied with lyrics. This shouldn't stop you from listenning all the way to the end, however, because the ending for this one really is superb. It's a return to the panflute theme, but it is complete with more musical answers and countermelodies. Very impressive. I'm even happier to see that it isn't a fadeout ending, and those who know me know how much I loathe fadeout endings. To wrap it up, it is a very well built ballad, though it could use just a little bit more. Keep in mind that the artist apparently didn't have much time to finish this. But if you're a fan of this genre, I strongly encourage you to download it. For the record I have to say that I enjoyed this piece. Alright, on to the technical stuff. Usually I mention structure here, but it seems I mentionned that already in my musical rantings. Well then, lets move on to the samples. All the samples are 8-bit, save two; the panflute, and another one which I honestly don't know what it is. The panflute really makes this piece, so it's fitting for it to be 16-bit. As for the other one, well, it's not that long of a sample anyway. As far as the tracking goes, I have no major complaints. 13 Channels is a reasonable number these days, and I can't find any discontinuities between patterns. Hey, look at that, there are comments in French! It's a pity these reviews have to be objective ;) Beau travail mon homme, n'arrête pas ici!

Posted by Rikimbo on Fri 12th Nov 2004