Rise of the Triad- Stairs (PRC95)

Votes (9)

Jun 02, 2007 FiremanJoe
  1. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
  2. Elevator
    Nutritious
  3. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
Pretty tough choice this time around.. all very solid entries.
I liked the arrangement of Into the Well best, Elevator has a really rich sound and Climin' Them Stairs does the Bungle-esque quite well.
Jun 02, 2007 Deductive_Dave
  1. Elevator
    Nutritious
  2. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
  3. Funky Triad Rap
    FiremanJoe
Elevator is just plain awesome.

I had a harder time with second place - they are both solid songs. Funky Triad Rap was pretty simple and repetitive without the lyrics, but Climin' them Stairs seemed a bit incoherent sometimes. I decided to go with AlexSmith because there was a lot more original material in it.
Jun 02, 2007 Chickenwarlord
  1. Elevator
    Nutritious
  2. Funky Triad Rap
    FiremanJoe
  3. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
There might have been just a bit too much swelling in Nutritious' piece. But I can't resist that live instrument. For a 'chill' piece it had a pretty active and bouncy little background. Not as varied as it could have been.

FMJ goes back to his yestercompo roots with another, improved rap. I like this one much better than your previous entry. Especially for those little stabs when your rapping stops.

Xela (I will forever call you this), I liked the majority of the ska-ish section, but directly preceding the ending was a bit of a letdown and a tad grating on the ears. Your mastering has definitely improved since your debut.

Deductive Dave: This felt like it could use even more dynamic contrast. There were some nice little trills, but overall this piece felt unfinished. It's almost as if the piece was begging to be lengthened.
Jun 02, 2007 Nutritious
  1. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
  2. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
  3. Funky Triad Rap
    FiremanJoe
I really liked some of the riffs and styles Alex came up with for the first half of the song. I wasn't as keen on the last half though. Also, something sounded a bit low-fi about it, almost like it was encoded at a low rate, but I couldn't put my finger on it specifically. Altogether enjoyable.

Deciding between second and third was hard. I just had to go with what I enjoyed listening to more I guess. The piano arrangement on Dave's piece was fairly creative, though it sounded really rigidly sequenced - which detracted from the realism of it.

The lyrics on FiremanJoe's piece were creative and comical, but I just don't dig the genre, so the song itself isn't so much to my liking.
Jun 02, 2007 bundeslang
  1. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
  2. Elevator
    Nutritious
  3. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
Deductive Dave - It's totally different from most PRC songs, not many piano solo's have entered the last rounds. It's well played and not too long. It's hard to make a song attractive with a solo, maybe some things, like a good string, should be added. The ending fits perfectly.
AlexSmith - I like the variation in the beginning. The switch around 1:05 is a bit weird, the song turns in a different style, the switch could be done better by taking more time for it in the song. The song is very lively and I really like it. The strings at the ending are a bit too long.
FiremanJoe - The bass is too loud, it's irritating. The volume of the voice is good and the samples are mixed well. Some parts with vocal are too long, the variation between the two section could be worked out better, also the ending should be more exiting. The length and switching is good.
Nutritius - Nice string and built-up. The part after the intro is a bit too long. I like the part after 1:38. The balance between the instruments is good. Ending starts too soon and the whole end is too long.
Jun 02, 2007 magicmalcolm
  1. Elevator
    Nutritious
  2. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
  3. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
Elevator: You know, this reminds me of stage music from Streets of Rage. The strings and the drum-beat seem oddly reminscent, with the Saxophone replacing the synths. It's the strings I like the most about this one, actually.

Climin' Them Stairs: Eclectic selection of genres for sure. Yet, with the rapidly changing genres, I felt I was listening to a medley of tunes rather than a remix of one song. Just when I was getting into one genre, it infuriatingly switched to another. A fun romp through different styles in the end.

Into The Well: A very nice solo Piano offering. Nothing really wrong here if you like that sort of thing. Dave summed it up best himself: Short & Straightforward. As a first offering, I'm liking the potential for more.
Jun 03, 2007 AlexSmith
  1. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
  2. Elevator
    Nutritious
  3. Funky Triad Rap
    FiremanJoe
FiremanJoe - Although I appreciate the fact you spent a while coming up with the lyrics, I didn't feel that overall there was a lot of re-interpretation of the original source material. The beat stayed the same throughout and the other instrumental parts (strings and bass) didn't change or add particular interest.

Nutritious - Nice layering of parts and a good, solid groove. However, I didn't feel the sax sounded very "chill" to be honest. I love the fact that you recorded in a live instrument, but there seemed to be a lot of staccato playing and a lack of smooth phrasing. I think you did a good job varying the melody though.

Deductive Dave - At first I wasn't sure about the mechanical sounding opening. Once the piece kicked in, though, it made sense and I really started to enjoy it. You have created great rhythms and a driving pulse that kept me interested throughout. The piano writing was really enjoyable and although this remix isn't very long, I definately think that the quality outweighs the quantity.
Jun 04, 2007 andyjayne
  1. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
  2. Elevator
    Nutritious
  3. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
Alphabetical feedback.

[AlexSmith - Climin' them Stairs]
A lot of variation here and loads of sweet arrangement. The production lets it down but for me the quality of the arrangement puts this as my personal favourite from this round.

[Deductive_Dave - Into the Well]
Stays pretty close to the original but it's pretty funky. Not really sure what I can say other than that the left hand part seems very basic.

[FiremanJoe - Funky Triad Rap]
Some good ideas (and lyrics) here but I have a personal distaste for rap, sorry. Imo, the snare doesn't suit the style as it sounds very dull. Maybe some compression with a pretty fast attack and slowish release on the snare would help.

[Nutritious - Elevator]
Another track in the chilled style. This is very cool especially the strings. Could've done with some other elements from the source but what you have here is solid although the sax seems a bit loud for my taste.
Jun 04, 2007 kylenin
  1. Elevator
    Nutritious
  2. Climin' them Stairs
    AlexSmith
  3. Into the Well
    Deductive_Dave
I like how Nutritious plays the lead instrument, so that one's first. Alex did a good job too, but I liked Nutritious' more, so that gets second. I like piano mixes, but Dave's is kind of short, so that one gets third instead of second. And as I've said in the last contest, I'm not a big fan of rap, so Fireman Joe gets last place. (Although, I did like the fact that there were references to Stargate in it.)