Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Song of the Week 26: 'Braincooler' by Rozovian

I'm back to posting every Wednesdays from now on again, and I plan on being more consistent with finishing my posts on time. With that being said, let's start off the review. This week's song is from Mega Man X and is entitled 'Braincooler'. I've heard a little bit about Rozovian (he's the artist for this particular track), and have even listened to a song other than this one by him. The other song from him (this has already been used as a SotW, but it's from a year ago.) was pretty good, but let's see if he does a good job on the song being reviewed now. Click here for the actual song.

The song starts off with a techno-like synth, dropping in pitch twice until 0:05. Here there is now a very high synth playing rapid 16th notes in a small pattern. At 0:07 a bass line is now added to back everything up and also to act as a harmony to the two higher synths being played. The bass will continue to grow and rise in pitch. A much lower synth (lower than the two other synths, but not the bass) will start to play at 0:14, doing exactly what the bass is doing at the moment. There is a major transition at 0:17 where a medium-pitched synth will bring some suspense by playing a very catchy rhythm. At 0:21 the bass drops, and more coolness is added when a driving percussion and bass line come in at the perfect time creating a very techno-like beat (about 0:25 to be exact). That catchy rhythm continuously repeats itself. The bass will also get higher as the song progresses; this starts at about 0:33. This entire sequence continues while another synth is added at about 0:38 to continue and improve the quality here. There's a small transition consisting of four notes at 0:52, and at 0:55 a new melody (and section) appears. This new melody is composed of a medium-low synth with electric guitar-like qualities. This gives off more of a rock feel instead of techno, but either way, it still sounds quite cool. At 1:08 another synth very similar to the other comes in, acting as a great harmony. There is a stretched note at 1:21 as a transition, and the song goes back into the first techno groove played before. The synth from 0:38 is heard again, but I can hear it better and more clearly this time around. At 1:31 there's sort of a counter-melody being played in the background (this consists of a high synth). The really catchy synth that has the loudest melody has a small change in pattern at 1:38, and it really helped get rid of the repetitiveness that was going on. At 1:50 that very high, small pattern being played at the very beginning now plays again, and that main synth is now gone for now (leaving the counter-melody, the percussion, bass, etc. behind). More drops at 2:06, which is mainly the supporting synth as well as a fraction of the percussion. At 2:10 a lot of elements seem to blend and fade away until it's completely dropped, leaving the bass playing one long note (I'm pretty sure that the note is a very low C), a synth for added effect, and a a high synth as a melody. The mood in this section is much calmer, and it makes me realize why this song is called "Braincooler". There's a smaller, lower, and less noticeable melody added at 2:21 also to add more atmosphere, by the way. There is a large crescendo between the synths at about 2:27, adding in more of those techno patterns as it progresses. It slightly dies down at 2:47, leaving mainly the background synth. There's also a short pattern played at 2:55 by a flute-like synth (it could even be an actual flute, but I'm not really sure). After this opening sequence, the song sounds exactly like the opening sequence from the very beginning to about 0:17. At 3:04 there is another transition into that catchy synth before, and at 3:12 that techno groove plays once again. The guitar-like synth comes back at 3:26, but this time it plays alongside everything else that's going on. At 3:40 there's a transition (more like a brief pause), and there's now a key change making the song feel more upbeat in my opinion. This cool, new section continues until 4:24 That section, despite the fact that it was quite repetitive, definitely was one of my favorite parts of the song. The guitar synth drops at 4:24, leaving pretty much everything else to play. The song continues, until it fades away at the end.

Pros: This was one cool and catchy song, and has already gotten stuck in my head many times. The harmonies were great, and the overall atmosphere really did make it a "braincooler". The guitar-like synth was really cool as well.

Cons: There were times where the song seemed quite repetitive (mainly the synths), and I thing the transition into the key change at 3:40 could have been better.

Overall: This was a nice song that had some good elements, as well as a great atmosphere. There were very few flaws, and it's a very cool piece to listen to.

Rating: 9.4/10

5 comments:

Rozovian said...

Wow, this is in-depth stuff, you examine it closer than I did when I made it. :D 9.4 is pretty generous, how can it be only .5 away from One Girl in All the World?

btw, you should probably post a link to these ocr song of the week things on ocr (in each reviewed remix' review thread, maybe) so the remixers have an easier time finding these things... plus it can get you readers from the site. ;)

Met said...

Thanks for the comment, it means a lot to me to see an accomplished OCR musician and an avid WIP forum poster here. I've learned a lot from reading your reviews.

I'll let Marim respond to the first paragraph. As for the second, I've been thinking about it. I'm not sure if I'll do it now considering how inactive we are at the moment, but when things pick up again I'll definitely look into it.

Anything you recommend we examine? Right now I'm making just about all our music selections and it'd be nice to hear some more variety.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Wow, I think it's pretty cool that someone from OCR would take notice of these reviews that I've been writing. To tell you the truth, this particular review that you commented on wasn't a very good one that I wrote. It really could have been better. Oh, and I really need to work on my ratings also. I do admit I'm being a little too generous, although I really do like the song. I try to make my reviews as detailed as possible, but it's just that I'm not too good at doing it.

I've been away from this site for a while, and as people can see, there hasn't been a post in about a month. However, I could possibly return if I have enough time to even write more. However, that wouldn't be for at least another two weeks.

Like Met said, do you have any recommendations? He's not making just about all of the selections, he's making every single one of them. I haven't even chosen the songs I review. That's not a bad thing though, because most of the time I like the songs that I look at. So yeah, I would like to hear some suggestions.

Met said...

I finally did it. Thanks for the suggestion Rozovian.