Ericho's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hiding The Sunset]

Here's another great submission from you. Hey, you didn't make every single one on August 3rd after all! Anyway, it was great to see how your life affected your music. It's too bad you were kicked out of your band and all this happened. I couldn't help but think you may have been referring to the band members. Whatever the intention, it's a great song.

I'm starting to recognize the standard voice that you use. It suits the themes of most of your songs well. There will always be sorrow, but we'll be able to cope with it. You have such a soft voice in comparison to some darker cartoons you've made. It really does make you think.

Affinitia responds:

My cartoons I made to cope with some messed up childhood and teenage angst so my songs are a bit different. This song was mostly just referring to my band mates and I was really upset that they kicked me out because I did so much for and put so much into that band. They were all my good friends and when they kicked me out I kinda lost them as friends too. But Karma is interesting and when the drummer and main guitarist heard this project that I call "Affinitia" they actually quit that band and played for mine for about a year. Then the drummer moved to Portland to tech music at the college and the guitarist had a baby and a wife. Now the guitarist drums for me but only for my live shows, he hasn't worked on any of the recordings with me. I like to maintain a lot of independence with my music because it is all so special and personal to me. Oh and although I am inspired by Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Margot and the Nuclear so and so's , and Bright Eyes I never try to sound like them. I will always write songs in my own style, some day this uniqueness might actually pay off! But between Radiohead and Elliott Smith I really learned how to sing. I'd just sing along with their songs until I got the confidence to sing and make my own music too. I've really been inspired a lot by them.

[No Reason/No Rhyme]

Congradulations on having such a higly rated audio submission! Granted, it only has 12 votes, but that's still something to be proud of! I really liked how you seemed to learn a lot from your previous song and didn't focus on incomprehensible stuff this time. It's nice to hear you just let it all out. I can get the feeling you really put emotion into this, which is always great to hear. Your use of the guitar seems to have improved as well.

I guess unlike the flash portal, there's no limit to how many audio submissions you can make in one day. It's nice to make songs that appeal to people on such personal appeals. I've realized that I was growing up as well. It's great that you're putting all your old songs up here now. It's nice to know we still mature.

Affinitia responds:

Thank you. I wrote this song after one of my first real nights of "partying" back in my early 20's when I was going to reckless times. I woke up in the morning/afternoon and I wrote it that same day.

[Affinitia: Allison]

I liked this song, but I felt some of it came off as a tad weak. I guess it does really fit the theme, because you intended to write a soft song. I didn't know Affinitia was another one of your nicknames, but I guess that makes sense. It's great to hear a song with such sincerity in it. You really seem to be devoted to this sort of thing. It's nice to listen to what will come out next.

The lyrics themselves are really good. It seems like I shoudl hear a lot more songs about love than just this one. I guess this website isn't like others. You seemed to have a more feminine voice in this. I guess that's what you meant by "soft".

Affinitia responds:

Yeah I call my music project/band "Affinitia" and I hope some day everyone knows that name. It's kinda weird and can be pronounced a couple of different ways. This song I wrote in February 2011 on Valentines day... "Allison" is the girl I was looking for back then. I wanted someone that I could write sincere songs for.

[Cloud Of Smoke]

I thought this was a good song, but there was one major thing that annoyed me. It seemed like the audio was a tad too loud. It just came off as a tad screechy to me. It's still a nice song, because it shows you attempting to put a new kind of emotion in your song. Addiction is a sensitive subject, so it's good to know you can write about it. I appreciate this more for its message than what it actually has.

Let me say that you are an expert on changing your voice. The guitar parts might have been a tad too loud as well. My favorite part was probably at the end when it became softer. You manage to keep a good tone at least. It's amazing how many audio submissions you put here in one day.

Affinitia responds:

I actually have to agree with you there! The guitar track wasn't balanced correctly with the vocals. That is my bad. I'm gonna upload an alternate version to the song from 2006. I make multiple recordings of all my songs and this was one from 2011. I released a lot of songs in 1 day but they took me several years to record. I use a Zoom 16 track mixer and a BOSS 8 track mixer and a lot of this has been a journey. I'm getting better every day, this has been quite the learning process. I love to sing and I'm glad that you enjoy what I can do with my voice. Thank you SO SO SO SOOO MUCH for the support!

[Cruisin Cross Country]

This is another great song, because it seems to be a bit more pleasant than some of your other ones. There's still a bit of an angry tone to it, but it is softer. The repitition works pretty well. I couldn't tell what band you were trying to emulate here. It sounds like a unique style on its own. I love how your voice does so well with range.

Hey, I just noticed the audio submissions have a new series of images for the visual portion. Well, I just wanted to say I liked it. You get the good sense that you're working hard on your instruments. This song seems more hopeful than the others. It's nice to hear it slowly get weaker at the end.

Affinitia responds:

Glad that you enjoyed this song. Thanks!

[Memorable Times]

While not as good as your first song, this was still wonderful. It's probably because I'm slowly becoming more familiar with you. It seems like each song you write is a further journey into your psyche. I don't quite understand the words to this song, but I really don't need to. What matters is that you have such a good spirit. It does kind of make you realize about how life goes.

Hopefully, everything will work out for you and everyone else. Your voice sounds so different than the other times I've heard. I guess it shows good vocal range. I wish I could be as good as you, as my only audio submission has a score of 0.51. Honestly, I'm the worst there is!

Affinitia responds:

I will listen to your audio submission pretty soon here. :)

[Affinitia: In A Ditch]

Wow, I was truly touched by this. It was amazing to review the first ever song you submitted here, seeing as how you have so many. It is so good to see someone so talented go back to some form of work. Even if you never go back to flash cartoons, you've left us with this great music. It just sounds so ambitious. It's not too dark or lighthearted or anything.

It seems like it's just something you made that emphasizes what you have on your mind. You even have a great singing voice. I seriously don't even know if I've heard your voice before, as you haven't done your own stuff before. It's so great that there's so many things going on in this song. At the same time, it isn't disorganized or cluttered. The organization is wonderful.

Affinitia responds:

Thanks! This song was written when I got really sick one time and then I recorded several versions. This was the first time I really tried to use a drum machine to make a song. I also had recently gotten out of my band "Aida" that I was in during highschool. We were very ambient and I was definitely taking what I learned from them before they kicked me out of the band and trying to apply it to my own music.

[i've got a top score]

I really enjoyed this song quite a bit! I understood that it sounded familiar, but I wasn't quite sure where it came from. Congradulations on being Tom Fulp's all time favorite audio submission! Of course, he mostly just adds whatever submission he finds to be great at the top of his list, anyway. It's just a song that has real ambition. I appreciate the extremely stylized stuff that I hear.

It seems to have a pretty funky beat overall. It's the kind of tune you can really listen to when you're having a good time. For the most part, it's a good video game tribute. I guess I just assume all great music from here is related to video games. You get that way being on the Internet too long. At two minutes, it really isn't even that short.

[-Ascend-]

I can see why Tom Fulp chose this to be his all time favorite audio submission! I have seen the Dark Knight Rises trailer and believe that this is indeed similar to the music that was used. I appreciate how well it set itself up. It was just great to hear how there was a lot going on. It really created tension and I especially liked the angelic voices. I guess we can only hope the actual movie is as good as this.

I also love how it ends on an ambigious note. It makes you realize there's still going to be tension as the movie states. Next to the Avengers one, it's the most awaited movie of the year! I can just imagine bad stuff slowly happening until it finally builds up to a great finale. Each note and sound was well done and distinct. Thank you for such a great song!

Devastus responds:

I had no idea Tom Fulp had this in his favourites. That's insane.

I have yet to see the movie but I hope I hit the right notes with this one. Thanks alot for the feedback!

[Waiting for Your Call]

I liked this song, mostly because it gave off some interesting thoughts. I'm not quite sure what the theme was, but maybe it was just up to us to decide what it was. I do think it gets a bit too repetitive. At least you were nice enough to warn us about that in the author comments. This song is kind of an acquired taste. You might have to listen to it a couple of times to get used to it.

This had sort of a technological feeling to it, especially around the 1:26 mark. It was nice to hear something that at least knew what it was about. It was a song that really stuck with what it was good at. Oh my gosh, I just realized I'm the 666th viewer! Good thing this song wasn't satanic, unless I play it backwards or something.