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Sunbuster:   Bad

This is definetly an interesting piece. I really like the soundscape, it sends out a somehow comforting, soothing vibe. Very chilled, something you'd listen to late at night. QBical has once again made use of his trademark, finding a somewhat special sample to build a whole tune around. And once again he's succeeded :)

But everything has a bad side also. In this case, the bad sides are more a matter of taste, than purely technical.

First of, would have liked a more definite ending, instead of the fade out. A fadeout to me somehow signals that the author didn't bother finishing things of properly.
Another thing is the part that starts at 3:04 about (pattern 15). The melody that's played with instr. 11 doesn't work very well on it's own in my opinion. I think it has something to do with the loop points selected for the sample. The sample is looped in a way that makes it sound as if there's a short echo after each note, which again makes me hear it as if it's played in a shower room or similar, while the other instruments sound much wider, more spacey. What I'd do is either select a different sample, or try to change the loop points.

But like I said, these points are more matters of taste, than definite errors, and thus they won't affect the score much.
In the end, this tune is elegant in it's seeming simplicity, and should definetly be in you bedtime playlist, if it's not there already. Keep it up, QBical!

Inge:   Bad

Qbical - Left In The Rain

I can be rather short about this one: it's a must have. Again.

Left In The Rain offers the listener an intelligent and well-chosen architecture of original samples, a diversity in melodies and a strong main theme. While trying to define the exact associations it creates in my head, I would say it's a hybrid of Red Snapper, Chemical Brothers, Royksopp, and the Qbical-alike sound.

While standing outside my room having a cigarette and listening it for the fifth time, I actually was imagining how nice it would be to have a complete album of Qbical songs that are styled in this type of soundscapes. A movie clip would also be nice. I can see an Ewok-alike character standing in a dark street, surrounded by houses of which the lights are on, but who are all closed for him. Rain is pouring down silently. Street lights giving a hard, white light on the concrete pavement. He starts walking down the street, filmed from behind. Total movie clip is being interrupted by his own memories of when he was younger and used to be part of such a household that he now sees from the outside.
Weird idea? Maybe. But the mere fact that this song can make me think things like this is already a proof of quality. There isn't much music that can do these things in my head.

There is one thing that I really miss, and that is the existence of a bridge in the shape of a changing middle part. The components (=melodies of which this song is build up) are introduced in the beginning of the song, and their appearance or absence is the only 'true' diversity. A bridge with the same instruments but with changing melodies would be very nice to keep the listener interested throughout the song. I was hoping that you would use the low synth from track 4 as the foundation of such a bridge, with a new melody (maybe made with a new sample) layered on top of that.

Furthermore, to keep the atmosphere going, you could consider not completely fading out, but to keep the drums from track 10 ongoing for another pattern or two. It would be nice to hear everything fade away except these drums, which would still be fading out later on. I love stepwise decrease in volumes and samples, instead of total decrease of the volume of everything.

Minor points about a major song: 'very good' is all that can be said about this little gem. I really feel sorry for the Ewok. Qbical, can your next song be called 'the fireplace', in which the Ewok has found his own family again and is sitting in front of a fireplace, telling what he has done the last years while traveling through the cold and harsh world? It would sooth my mind to know that he's going to be okay.