Assassin2's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mad World -Cayler]

Personal Favourite.

Always glad to hear your stuff. I really like the original and Jule's version even more so. Your version was pretty good but there was something in your voice that made it not as good as Jule's. I think it's how you articulate your words, was similar with your Hallelujah cover. Still really awesome, and where would one find your songs not on NG?

Cayler responds:

There are several different places where my music can be heard which can be found in my journal entry. But the one that I keep updated the most is myspace.com/kaybocorp

[Anxiety Cure - Club (A->N)]

Not bad.

Checked the original on myspace, I kinda like it more, REALLY liked These Walls too, ought to be in a film soundtrack. When I get the chance I'll have to check out these releases of yours.
Take it easy.

ApproachingNirvana responds:

Thanks again for stopping by Assassin. This song was an effort to do something very different with our original. It worked but some people may prefer one over the other.

Our new EP (Sounds of Summer) is out July 1 and it includes These Walls, Break Away (another song featuring Lira and in the same general style), Welcome to the Party (The song on our widget), and many others in the same vein. We really like the EP and will be really happy once it's live on all the digital distribution sites. You can actually preview the songs on Amazon.com if you'd like, but they won't be fully available until the release date.

As for more stuff, we're having a full 17 song orchestral album releasing mid-July and it should be available for only $10, so it's a pretty good deal :D:D. Hehe, we'll be putting some stuff up on our myspace soon to prepare for that launch, but judging by which songs of ours you've been interested in, you should definitely check out because we think you'll like it!

Anyways, enough shameless self-promotion. We'll be updating newgrounds every now and then to give something back to the community and as we transfer over to doing music full time, expect more frequent updates.

Great to hear from you!

Thanks again.

[Breaking Influence EP (A->N)]

Hehe.

Listening to this makes me realize how much I don't like the vocal treatment. It's almost the equivalent of using Microsoft Sam, it hasn't got any soul. I'd rather hear god awful singing than this electronic voice box. I honestly think (especially after hearing the last 20 odd seconds) that your music would just explode with a better sound if you didn't have the vocoding.
If you have anything like it lemmi know I'd love to hear.

ApproachingNirvana responds:

Hey Assassin! Thanks again for stopping by here. As we've mentioned before we're looking to phase out the autotune as we get better. At the time when we wrote these songs, we honestly weren't that great at singing so we sort of relied on the autotune.

Fast forward to now and Sam and I are looking at more complete, more powerful music with better vocals. The next EP (due out July 1st) is just that. It's WAY more professionally mixed, the music is more explosive and a lot more catchy, and the songs are just overall better.

That being said, we still like these songs and are planning to do FULL remakes of a couple of the songs. This will include better vocals (ie - not autotune, etc), better mixing, and better mastering.

You will be excited to know, however, that we just finished wrapping up the orchestral album. It's titled Cinematic Soundscapes Vol. 1 and includes Wrecked by Deja Vu, The Heist, From the Foreshadows, along with 14 other original orchestral compositions (some of which you may recognize from SinJim's compositions).

We are really, REALLY proud of this album and it will be a stark contrast to the current stuff we have on myspace. It's ALL instrumental and it sort of tells a story in and of itself. We're submitting it to digital distribution retailers this week and all 17 songs should be available for about $10 - a good deal if you ask us :).

Anyways, we'll definitely keep you updated! Like I mentioned in our other response, check out our widget on Myspace. Although you may not like the style, we're looking for help to win over that record deal. Also, that record deal means we get to quit our jobs and do this full time - ultimately reflecting better quality music and more music for you guys!

Thanks again so much!

[Waterfall - NG EDIT (A->N)]

Stuck in the middle.

I don't know what to think of your music. It doesn't have obvious hooks, and it's flow isn't basic for dance. I kinda liked it most when it got a phat beat, and the piano. I think it might be your minimal lyrics that make it (to me at least) be this sound that I don't want to dance to and doesn't get stuck in my head. I don't think I could be any less constructive.
I guess if I could offer any opinion it would be to be more objective with the overall sound for each song. Make it all about the killer beat, make it about the story in the killer lyrics, make it about catchy hooks and sounds that get drilled into your skull; rather than having a small bit of everything.
Always keen to hear the next.

ApproachingNirvana responds:

Thanks for the review Assassin! It's always good to see you drop by. This song was made as a NGs exclusive and this version will always stay that way. That being said, your comments are well taken and noted for the final version of the song.

As it currently stands, the structure of the song is closer to an extended intro than anything else. It's pretty good in its own right, but it doesn't feel like a complete song. So I can agree with you on that.

Hopefully you'll see that our vocals are improving! Comparing this song to our album (the preview you commented on), you can tell a pretty large difference. That's one of the areas we've received the most criticism and that we're trying to improve the most everytime.

Drop by our Myspace for some new tracks! We're also in the running for a Record deal so help us out if you can!!

Thanks again for checking the song out!

[A Voice Acting Demo?]

All that jazz.

I dunno why I listened to this but I did.
The ending was funny. You ought to learn to talk yourself up and not be negative if you want more offers.
Good luck to you.

ForNoReason responds:

lol yeah, this started out as a joke but has actually gotten me a few jobs. I am going to make a new one soon. Maybe itll be more positive =p. Thanks!

[Last Promise (Kinen Menu)]

Go the strings!

I always love to listen to this. It loses some magic a little in the middle, but that's because it starts so strong, but it picks itself up so it works out. You're getting really good at balancing sound. This shows how far you've come.

Zero123Music responds:

Thanks much assassin,

yes, in the middle it's kinda trash. Thanks about balancing sound, I try my best^^

[From the Foreshadows (A->N)]

Props for some real strings!

It sounded like MaestroRage in the middle but with some organic viola which just made this so much more sick.
You guys don't really have a style I can name. You have all kinds of elements in your music and every now and then you have a song that's just not what I quite expect.
What I liked from this is the instruments, what I'm still not used to is the application of your vocals, but that's my problem. I'll def check out you on iTunes.

ApproachingNirvana responds:

Thanks for the review Assassin! As always, it's great to see you checking out our stuff! You even got to us before we could get to sending out PMs to people lol.

We know that you like The Heist and Wrecked more than our recent stuff, but we're trying to get better on all aspects. I'm glad to hear that you went from hating the vocals to just not being used to it.

We are improving and I understand that our voices and application of them aren't really normal. We're trying to come out with stuff that's unique. At the same time, we need stuff that's going to sell (if we're going to do this professionally), so keep that in mind.

We're glad that we could surprise you and hopefully you got more into this than our recent ones :). And thanks for the mention of maestro, that's quite a complement.

Thanks again for the review! Sign up on our street team on ReverbNation (I can't remember if you have) for some ins on how to get a free copy of our album :D!

[An Innocent Heart]

Love your stuff.

You always compose well, and I like the ending of this a lot. But it didn't seem like an innocent heart in the middle, the first few seconds do, and the ending but in the middle it's just some killer piano, I think it's the sound of it that makes it less emotional, but even so, I think it might be too fast.
I'm glad you submitted something.

Dude09 responds:

Thanks a lot as always =D i try my best to compose well and i'm glad you liked it so much

[-+[Somewhere Out There-Duet]+-]

Awesome bananas!

I was always thinking you two should do a duet. It would be good to hear more harmonizing in a song with you two, because your tones combine pretty nicely.
Great singing by both of you, really impressed me.

Cayler responds:

Yeah, I know what you mean. That harmony part is just so good, there should be more of it. I love the way it turned out sounding. There will definitely be more harmony if we continue our working together.

[Gelatin Crusaders (A->N)]

Hilarious.

I actually liked this. I saw your song title and thought, Gelatin.. what are they? Gummi Bears?! Apparently so lol... Anyway, the chorus kicks ass. It'd be interesting to hear some other covers, and an acoustic (gonna keep nagging).
Melody is in my brain now.. Gonna be a fun day tomorrow.

ApproachingNirvana responds:

Hahaha, sorry for getting that melody in your head, man. It's definitely catchy as hell tho. We're going to be doing a couple more covers and I can tell you that we have plans to do some acoustic stuffs. We just need some time.

This EP is sucking the life right out of us, but we need to get it out to start getting things rolling. Obviously, this won't be on the album, it's just for fun and for the NGs contest, so yea. We'd like to put this up on YouTube to get some attention but we'll see if we can convince anyone to make a movie to this lol.

Thanks so much for the review, man. Check out our myspace for our most recent stuffs. We've got some stuff there that's more aimed towards mainstream than at the NGs crowd. So ya check it out!

Always good to see you drop by,
(A->N)