Phronemophobia's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Get a Squirrel (2020)]

YES, BERTN! YES!

Bertn1991 responds:

Smiles for miles ^____^

[Lovebug Virus (2012-2020)]

These Lovebug tunes are some of your bestest uploads, Bertn. That term must be your version of giving something your own seal of quality.

Bertn1991 responds:

Super thank you! I don't know about seal of quality. I would say seal of "this one is especially special to me and I hope other people also enjoy it." That's a pretty long seal I guess.

[(DK64) "DK Crew Gets Spooked!"]

I love this so much. Have you ever listened to a proper Halloween radio station, Alex? There are so many fun songs dedicated to the holiday, and it feels like they've been diminishing at a steady pace since the mid-nineties. My point, however, is that many of those songs are the same sort of goof-spooky that this brings to the ears, and I couldn't be happier.

Thank you as always, HoboKa. You really know how to bring out the best of Halloween music.

HoboKa responds:

Probably listened to it back in the day. Radio in general hahaha. Yeah, I love campy, dismal, fucked up things. If I didn't have psoriasis I'd probably make a good Goth/Emo kid. Thanks for the kind words and thoughts to things that once were.

[Soapstone Palace #SNESMusicContest]

You know, it really does sound like something I'd hear while roaming a castle for the first time in an SNES JRPG. I'd like to believe the tune would change to something more lively after your party has defeated the whom/whatever is troubling the kingdom... kinda like Camlon in the original Breath of Fire before the first boss is defeated and the town is rebuilt.

If nothing else, I hope you're recognized for your talent, Bertn. It's a lovely piece of music and you're a lovely individual for sharing it with us.

Bertn1991 responds:

Thank you 6000! Breath of Fire is a great complement in my book. Breath of Fire 3 is currently my favorite of the bunch I've played. Good memories for sure.

U #1 :-)

[Grim-Dark Temple of Yore]

It has the sound, the feel, the motherfucking flow of the holiday! Really took this track far above what I was expecting. Fantastic work, Alex! Seriously.

HoboKa responds:

Yeah, I really went all out. I'm kinda proud of it too! Thanks.

[Château de Pierre (2019)]

...but I don't want cats and spaghetti. I want dogs and lasagna (and Bertn music).

Haven't you've mentioned before about people commissioning you for your musical talents and refusing to pay? I greatly dislike being reminded that people are shit, but if the end result is being able to freely share your work, then I suppose that's better for everyone. You still deserve to be paid though.

Bertn1991 responds:

To be fair, I didn't try very hard to contact this person after the initial ghosting event. I let it go pretty quickly, so some of that is on me I suppose. Maybe something terrible happen, like a bear attack, or a dog attack, or a dog bear attack, or bear dog attack. All of those are real. Did you know bears and dogs share a common ancestor who lived fairly recently in geologic time? Who knew, right? Have you ever seen a shaved bear? It's like something out of a Guillermo del Toro film. Super monstrous.

But yeah, cats & spaghetti and dogs & lasagna seem backwards. Then again, I can only think of one cat that likes lasagna and two dogs that like spaghetti. But I appreciate you added Bertn music into this equation. So very kind. I guess it wasn't really an equation, though. Speaking of algebra, a couple years ago my teacher and classmates noticed a frowny face next to my name on the roll sheet and asked if I was okay. But a kind lot of people. They're just like you!

[Cyborg Hobo Cavemen!]

Finally, we receive the full HoboKalicious version on Newgrounds. Truly a blessing!

It sounds like the music is now closer and clearer to me. It's not as "fuzzy" as the preview. Does that make sense? Aside from that, I couldn't hear much of a difference, but I also don't have the ears for picking up on subtle changes, either.

Thank you again, Alex. I do hope your original music takes off. I love VG remixes, but I also want my favorite musicians to be appreciated for their own ideas, as well.

HoboKa responds:

Yep, because the bass to low mid range bands were not E/Q'd right. So too much clutter with frequencies. But there is still some issues...possibly because Damage Drums are difficult to isolate and E/Q right. I'm sure it's do-able. But eh.

[[Earth Worm Jim] Snotty's Groove]

I saw you describe this as "minimalist" and thought, "What the fuck is HoboKa typing about? This has everything going on. It's groovy and then some!" So, since I hadn't played Earthworm Jim in ages (unless you count Clayfighter 63 1/3), I decided to give "Snot A Problem" a listen. It's one thing to just tell myself, "Yeah, Tallarico is an excellent musician." It's another to go back and remind myself as to why I know that. Yes, your version is definitely minimal in comparison and hearing the original reminds me of how underappreciated the soundtrack is nowadays.

This is an easy five stars from me. My only complaint is seeing Super Nintendo in the tags, but not Sega Genesis or Sega CD. The music originated on the Genesis and both Sega consoles offer a significantly better listening experience by comparison. (The SNES version sounds muffled or overly compressed or something. I don't know.) Sega CD, unsurprisingly, comes with the highest sound quality, but the Special Edition version also includes the fewest "HEY!"s, which is the best part of Snot A Problem. Seriously, why did someone decide to just omit nearly every "HEY!" when porting the song to the Sega CD, Alex? I don't understand that.

HoboKa responds:

It's minimalist because it has only a bass, piano and pad. I guess the drums count as a fourth layer lol. But I suppose that isn't really minimalism. Oh well.

I omitted the Hey's too, apparently. I totally forgot they were in the source. It wasn't really about a 1:1 cover anyways. Not the intent of PRC.

True on the Sega stuff. But I played EWJ on the Snes first so, nostalgia goggles. But I do have both EWJ and EWJ2 on the Wii and they are Sega ports. The FM chip is unique for sure, but I like my muffled slightly higher-fidelity of the Snes. True, both soundchips have better iterations for other games, and I guess EWJ suffered for it. I kinda want to try out the Sega CD version.

[Morning Wood Kid (kid chamelion)]

It's the theme for the first two levels - Blue Lake Woods 1 and 2, the Whispering Woods 1 and 2, Boomerang Bosses, Woods of Despair 1 and 2... ugh, in other words, there are a handful of tracks recycled throughout the game. Reusing music is not an uncommon practice, but considering there are over a hundred stages to traverse, it's a hassle to associate each song to every area it represents. Plus, listening to the soundtrack will more likely make you want to go back and play something more popular on the Genesis, instead. For example, the original to this piece makes me want to play Sonic Spinball again, and I bet you could mod the music of Windy City/The Deadly Skyscraper into Toe Jam & Earl without most people noticing. Kid Chameleon demands a lot from first-timers without any sort of unique charm to justify it. Granted, I enjoyed it as a child, but I never finished the game, and I think it would be a tough sell to younger players who are not already big into retro.

Yeah, I would definitely go with "creative" on this one. I certainly didn't expect a gong at 2:46. If there's any technical issues, I'd have to leave that up to Seth to point out, but I thought it was excellent. Is there any hope in the distant future where you might try doing something similar with my favorite track from the game's OST, the "fantasy" theme (first heard in Skydragon Castle, I think)?

By the way, did you misspell the name of the game on purpose with your song title?

HoboKa responds:

Sure. Send me a MIDI of it if it is available and I might cook something up. Another cool look into unfamiliar videogame territory. I learned something new again lmao. Thanks for the feedback!