Challenge 1 - King Pheenix

[Lady L337]

Musicality: I still think you sound like a white, nerdy Ice Cube, which I kind of dig.

Haha I was thinking the same thing. :)

[CutterJ]

OFFICIAL JUDGE COMMENTARY - CUTTERJ

EVALUATION OF YOUR CHALLENGE 1 TRACK

The instrumental: This beat had a lot of potential but needs to be re-mixed. I would have rather heard more from the electric guitar sounds than the high synth sounds that have a bunch of pan and delay effects.

Timing: Nice, solid delivery! Nothing stood out to me as needing improvement timing wise.

Energy: You had energy to spare on this. Your voice really came out of the speakers!

Emotion: Same as energy- I didn't perceive a whole lot of emotional exploration (which wasn't really necessary, anyway) but you remained consistently intense throughout.

Musicality: With more even levels, this track could really have been set on fire.

Creativeness: I think this is the main area that needs a boost in your lyrical content. From the beginning, I got the sense that I was listening to just another battle track that only scratches the surface. Show us where that intensity really comes from!

Flow variety: A little dry, but didn't turn me off to the total package.

Vocal quality: I felt that the vocals were too loud and overpowered the beat. You maintained crisp, easily understood diction from start to finish which was a plus since there was no lyric sheet to follow. :-)




EVALUATION OF YOUR MUSIC SITE UPDATES

First impression without having to scroll or click through anything: A little basic, but not bad!

Graphical attractiveness: I liked the gray/black color scheme.

Cohesiveness: Easy to navigate.

Amount of content: You've already addressed this issue.

Overall professionalism of the sites: You're on the right track!

[hipsterplease]

OFFICIAL JUDGE COMMENTARY – Z.

EVALUATION OF YOUR CHALLENGE 1 TRACK

The instrumental: Weird, chippy and minimalist beat that builds into a creepy barnburner.

Timing: Sharp. There's a little slipping in your alliteration on the last verse, but it doesn't detract.

Energy: Not abundant energy, but there's a swagger there to which I can't help but respond positively.

Emotion: Angry, angsty, maybe a little cocky. Not a bad showing.

Musicality: The tinny hook distracts on the chorus a bit, which negatively impacts the whole composition.

Creativeness: Not exactly a ground-breaking track, but catchy enough to make me want to hear more.

Flow variety: Not a ton of variety, but you stayed on-beat and kept shit in your wheelhouse.

Vocal quality: Fine. Could do with some tweaking, but it sounded good enough.

Additional comments: For some reason I can't help but think that "The Determinator" sounds like a Bush-ism.


EVALUATION OF YOUR MUSIC SITE UPDATES

First impression without having to scroll or click through anything: Kinda dated, brother. Kinda dated.

Graphical attractiveness: Eh, not so much.

Cohesiveness: Yep. You get full marks for consistency.

Amount of content: Bio and music are good, but where are the pictures?

Overall professionalism of the sites: If you're gonna go with a vintage layout, you'll probably wanna play up the kitsch. As it sits now, professionalism is a little low.

Additional comments: Great choice of URL!

[Dr.Awkward]

OFFICIAL JUDGE COMMENTARY - AWKWARD

EVALUATION OF YOUR CHALLENGE 1 TRACK

The instrumental: It had the elements, but it just seemed like it was lacking in the end

Timing: Your timing had flaws, specifically the pausing that really takes me out of the experience. Also when your hook has pauses that is real bad.

Energy: Your energy was up there, I enjoyed it thoroughly

Emotion: See Energy

Musicality: Your hook was a real killer for me, it was twice as long as it should have been, like verse length and that really just killed the whole thing

Creativeness: Nothing jumpd out as super creative, just another track unfortunately

Flow variety: The flow was actually pretty steady throughout, and I wasn't digging it too much

Vocal quality: Good quality. No complaints

Additional comments: Eh.

[3rr0r]

I can haz lyrics sheet plox? Clarity of flow is nice, as is the timing. I'm with those who don't feel the pauses though, it's a little jolting in a few spots. A little more braggadocious and less personal than I wanted, but fitting of the early-terminator-version history you have. Nice power and drive, you mean what you say. One last nit to pick; did you record the first verse in a different booth than the later ones? I feel like I'm hearing a different room...
Website: Unlike many other commenters, I take no issue with simple HTML layouts, but: multiple vertical scrollbars... If I did that at work, I'd be staying late that day to fix it. Also, no link to LNT, poor 8-bit :.-(. Decent site, but it doesn't seem particularly scalable to new content.
Just reread my commentary... it may seem to be lacking in positive, but I do expect to see you in Rd 2.

[MadHatter]

OFFICIAL JUDGE COMMENTARY - MADHATTER

EVALUATION OF YOUR CHALLENGE 1 TRACK

The instrumental: Could have been mixed totally different. Drums are too quiet. Synths way too low. The sparky little pattern you hear right from the beginning in comparison is by far the loudest thing in the beat. I think this song would have had much more impact if it was mixed to match the roughness of your attitude. But in this case, it was just in the background, chillin.

Timing: I think the fact that the beat didn't hit nearly hard enough gave the illusion that your timing was more off than people think. Your timing actually impressed me, but people are right here, man - those long pauses in your verses and during thoe chorus take your badass presentation and turn it into awkward talent show silence moments... Filling in these spots with extra content, scratches... or just stretching your flow out instead of cutting it short and clean at the end of your lines will really help.

Energy: Plenty of energy! It's brutal, but somehow laid back at the same time. Very nice. I'm gonna label this style the "Kingpin Flow." You know, like Wilson Fisk. Trademark that.

Emotion: Right out of the gate, there's plenty of confidence, which is awesome. It keeps on through until the end of the song.

Musicality: Hell yeah, I think you shined here extremely well EXCEPT for the long pauses... argh!

Creativeness: I think there's a fair amoutn of creativity here. I just wish we could have learned more about you personally like the challenge called for. I like the title of the track itself, very fresh.

Flow variety: You changed it a few times, but not too much. But your flow is nice and unique. Just needs polishing.

Vocal quality: The quality of the vocals were a nice surprise, but you need overdubs, ones that sound a bit different than your normal flow. Especially on the chorus. You've got the power to do quality recording, now you just need proper technice to really fatten up these vocal tracks.

Additional comments: I don't know if anyone else felt this way, but this track seemed to REALLY drag on... It felt more like 6 minutes rather than four. I think it's because this was a slow beat and the chorus just stretched on way too long for me. It could have been half as long and maintained the same impact. The pauses can stretch a listener's attention span as well. Let's see you step up your game on overdubs, man, and put you on a harder hitting beat.


EVALUATION OF YOUR MUSIC SITE UPDATES

First impression without having to scroll or click through anything: Fucking oldschool! I might be the biggest oldschool net lover you know, and this shit is beautiful to me, I don't care what anyone else says, haha. But that doesn't mean a new listener would feel the same way...

Graphical attractiveness: The only graphics on the page is the background, which reminds me of Robocop vs. Terminator the comics series. This is a good thing, haha. But the site needs many more graphics to back it up. Shit, you can even get some clips from those comics, edit the words around... I dunno.

Cohesiveness: Everything makes sense, and is layed out in a very smart fashion for what it is.

Amount of content: There's not a ton, but there's more than a good chunk of your competition. My girpe is the loss of an image gallery. Definitely needs some of that. And yes, more linkage to your other projects! We need to get your ass aTwitter feed on here as well.

Overall professionalism of the sites: This shit would be mad professional in 1995. Haha, like I said above, I like it, and it's different... if you're gonna stick with it, just add a bit more to make it stylish, so you can make this simplicity outstanding.

Additional comments: No other comments, my first impression pretty much sums it up.

[NerdRockstar]

OFFICIAL JUDGE COMMENTARY - JASON ROCKSTAR

EVALUATION OF YOUR CHALLENGE 1 TRACK

The instrumental:I actually like the little tinny jingle. But it was in there WAY too much. I think the instrumental on this is detracting from what could be a monster song.

Timing: I thought you were on pretty good. Little slip, the dramtic pauses made it feel a little syncopated for no reason. Not really off beat, but awkward. And not like with an awkward flow.

Energy: Energy was on. There was swagger to this. I liked it. Could it have been more, probably. But you got me to bite right off the bat and I was in for the whole song.

Emotion: I think it was there. But in times it seemed a little fake. I didn't believe you the whole time. Let me be more specific. I STOPPED believing you after the first verse

Musicality: Overall it was a good comp

Creativeness: Ehh. Not ground breakiing, but like I said, you kept my attention which has to be worth something.

Flow variety: Good flow, but pretty static throughout.

Vocal quality: I liked it. not much more to say.

Additional comments:


EVALUATION OF YOUR MUSIC SITE UPDATES

First impression without having to scroll or click through anything: I'm a minimalist. So I liked it immediately. But then the repeating background loaded and I was thrown back to tripod 1998. I like less is more. That background seems out of place. A strong singal image on one side of your main stage would work wonders.

Graphical attractiveness: See above.

Cohesiveness: pretty solidly put together. Easy to nav.

Amount of content: Pretty good. Looks like a work in progress.

Overall professionalism of the sites: Would have won best site Tripod 1998. No love for the background.

Additional comments:

[MadHatter]

I was thrown back to tripod 1998.

That's what she said.