Votes:
1st: 10 – Man this beat is fun, a haunted Adele deconstruction bouncing around an N64 cartridge that never was. Top 3 bassline of the battle for me. Great arrangement and funny dialog clips. Top flight
2nd: 04 – Gonna have to pull the notebook out for this one. So many little hooks that slot together so nicely, the arrangement never lingering too long on any of them or on the home loop, the groove of the rhythm section. Nice work!
3rd: 16 – Episodic in the best way, from the showstopper psychedelic timestretching through the horn stabs, the high plucks and bleeps, and the full mix at the end. Gorgeous kick, too. Nice work!
HMs: 02, 06, 07, 08, 12
Full Notes:
Looking back, I got nit-picky with my judging. I chalking that up to the quality of this round, where I needed multiple listens to every beat just to cut down the HMs, let alone pick the top 3.
01 – I really like the silenced-pistol crack of the snare, the loose timing on the string transitions, and the way the low string part gets echoed octaves up in the second half. Kick is a little harsh for my taste, and I wish there was maybe one more non-string instrument popping in for variety.
02 – Love the flangy drums and groove. Great use of space and reverb (those bells and quick string hits!), strong arrangement, and what a tease with those gorgeous outro chords! My one knock is the heaviest timestretching, where old-school artifact grit clashes with how smooth the rest of the beat sounds
03 – Strong piano hook, and I really like the tension from the clock-tick eights, open hat, and minimal bass. I wish the second half had a bit more variety; the flutes sound lovely, but don’t change things enough for me
04 – Gonna have to pull the notebook out for this one. So many little hooks that slot together so nicely, the arrangement never lingering too long on any of them or on the home loop, the groove of the rhythm section. Nice work!
05 – Love all the brass comping and the kick/tom groove, real head-nodder. Good scratches too. I admire the kitchen sink vibe of the last 1:30, but it feels too long to me
06 – Hits that dangerous-but-alluring vibe, like Bond in Wonderland. Every layer fits like it was always meant to be that way. Love the dark horn entrance around 1:15, and the voice mixed in with the snare is a brilliant touch.
07 – Monquixote is right about the guitar, but the low double-bass also deserves praise. More generally, this beat does a great job shifting moods between calm triumph and lurking danger, real patience to achieve that.
08 – Props for the chase scene groove and how much it morphs over the beat. Top three basslines of the battle, and a good arrangement of those string stings. The fuzzy racecar synth line in the last minute doesn’t work for me, but otherwise choice beat
09 – Another top three bassline. Hypnotic groove. Love that filtered Rhodes-y sound. Blasphemy, but the kick could be a little quieter.
10 – Man this beat is fun, a haunted Adele deconstruction bouncing around an N64 cartridge that never was. Convenient that all three of my favorite basslines sit in a row like this. Great arrangement and funny dialog clips. Top flight
11 – Lovely piano loop and slick drum groove, had me smiling and bopping in my seat. The breakdown in the middle feels a little disconnected from the rest of the beat to me.
12 – This takes a second to wind up, and makes the beat drop feel like a sucker punch! And the drums are the star here, a layer cake of fm clicks, boomy kicks, and well-picked sound effects.
13 – Chipmunk soul with a raw drum groove. I really like that skipping horn hook! I am missing the high-end – I kept waiting for the moment when the LPF would fade up and let the beat shine through
14 – The lazy lope of a villain in control at their hideout. The low organ, high high string pad, and gated synth all work great building this queasy tension. The other melodic bits and the stumbling drum fill feel don’t feel as well integrated into this beat.
15 – Love the switching back and forth between trap and boom-bap drums, especially in the very trappy intro. More kudos for the orchestral hook, plus that noisy open hat! I wish there was a bit more rhythmic flow to the dialog chops, and that the kick was a little less harsh
16 – Episodic in the best way, from the showstopper psychedelic timestretching through the horn stabs, the high plucks and bleeps, and the full synthesis at the end. Gorgeous kick, too. Nice work!
