"Jungle Nights" is a cool, ambient track! You are using contrasts, dynamic and silence very effectively. (Brian Eno said once that "music without silence is like a painting without black and white".) I can well imaging that this music will fit in a movie or to guide a story. It's full of reflection, and it moves along slowly, stops, starts, continues - it has the elements of a story or drama without becoming overdramatic. I have composed a lot of music for television myself, and the most important lesson I learned is this (something you too have learned): It's better to tell too little than too much. Always leave something out. There will be other elements in the movie that need space and attention, and the music should always be a supplement, not a solo. - Good luck with your composing, friend!

Charlie Armour
Jungle Nights
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6786021

This is another great piece from Charlie Armour. In some ways I suspect other 20th century composers have influenced him but I can hear his own style. This track shows great use of dynamics and a range of emotions portrayed in the sound. It swings and glides from a fearful beginning, a tense development and a peaceful interlude, then a quiet drama. The percussion notes begin simply but they begin to overlap, or drift into other patterns with the false effect of complexity. For instance toward the end of track the drums sound like an odd time signature but they are actually 4/4. Then the piece seems to melt into 2/4. He manipulates rhythm, phrasing and chords with apparent ease.

The interesting part of his sound is the different levels of appreciation. Inevitably, (maybe regrettably,) some will hear just ear candy. That’s OK. Others will hear intersections of converging patterns. Some will appreciate the clarity of the recording and variety of tones. I am a fan because his stuff appeals on a simple level and a loftier one.

The mind and imagination are powerful. We like to think of progress but the world is still full of superstition and fear. The mind can invent things that don’t exist and people mix reality and imagination. The power can be good also. Ideas can grow and postive change can result. Perception can elevate ideas and tiny, harmless snowflakes in the mountains make a mighty powerful river in the spring. Charlie’s talent is being able to tap into this power and connect your sense of hearing to vivid imagery.

I wish I could get this guy a chance as conductor in front of a full orchestra doing a concert of his own material. That would be a hell of a show.

Trackin right along!

Charlie Armour (for it is he) supplied me with the prime LOL musical moment of 2006 when I reviewed his stunningly good Bebee Bubba (July 2006), a track that I saved instantly and still play to this day. Put it like this, the man just missed getting one of my tracks of the year last year and - if the competition had been less fierce - he would have deserved it. Bebee Bubba is a rare treat; a track with ideas, intelligence and a wicked sense of style. It also has the distinction of having the youngest vocalist one Soundclick: one year old Lauren, Charlie's neice. When I reviewed it I gave it a Highly Recommended rating and see no reason whatsoever to go back on that especially seeing as the track has grown more on me in the intervening few months.

Mind you, I get weird fetishes like that...

Broken China is, as you would expect, a musical dissertation about China's lamentable lack of human rights - or at least that is the impression Charlie give sin the song comments. Its a given then that you should expect a strong, forthright peice of music but - to be honest - I wasn't expecting something that had the authority and authenticity that the musical portion of this track conveys. As with his previous track, it's obvious that Charlie has learned about music presentation and as good as Bebee Bubba was in that respect, Broken China is about as good as it gets. Take, for example, the tone and tenor of the cello that introduces the track; hear how fat that thing is?? The little touches of kodo drum behind that sound show that here is an artist who thinks about every move.

Broken China develops rapidly into the powerful track the intro suggests, as muscular in the musical construction as it is in the technical aspects. Charlie A has a very adept touch with electronica and over the space of a couple of tracks has impressed me no end, but this track completely blows me away the more I hear it. Not just for the addition of proper Chinese instrumentation (as you know a staple of my diet) but for the self assured, highly competent manner in which all these goodies ended up in the same package. If tracks like Bebee Bubba and Broken China are any indication of the kind of material to be expected from this source, 2007 is shaping up to be a really good year.

Top class electronica. Top class World Music. Top class

shag locc

All that i have to say is WOOOW Some of the best producing skills I've heard on this site. All of the insrtument sound almost real. i listened to a lot of peoples shit.but you did come here to get critsized

bebbe bubba

I loved it !

Your a Genius !

Totally Original and a great idea for a song.

I'm not sure the radio will play it but they might.

It might be the new trend.

I give you an A+ for the genius of the idea but don't be surprized if others get mad and say thats not music.

But the question is what is music ?

Your piece is definitely entertaining and not boring at all and you kid has a pretty good voice.

Also I liked it because your kid isn't saying anything like a swear word or telling lies.

I believe I heard them do this is jazz too so I hope people check it out because it made me smile

Charlie Armour (aka Charlie A) is a multi-instrumentalist from the UK whose list of influences reads like a Who's Who of film scores. John Carpenter, John Williams, Danny Elfman and believe me it doesn't come much better than that. Elfman, in particular is a big favourite of mine, I haven't seen him score a dud yet. Kinda weird then that Charlie A's genre is Electronica: experimental, but if Bebee Bubba is anything to go by the genre fits him like a glove because this is high class electronica with just a dash of experimental weirdness to leaven the mixture.

I liked Bebee Bubba from the get go and I ascribe that partly to being a parent of budding rock stars and that the track's vocalist is Charlie's one year old neice Lauren. The bulk of the kudos though must go to Charlie boy because it surmounts a well known showbiz obstacle with ease. That showbiz obstacle most people know as the maxim: Never work with animals and kids. In this case Lauren almost manages to pull off that act but it's Charlie's musical nous and arranging skills that make this track work ultimately - the addition of Lauren's amazing catchy burblings is just the icing on the cake.

Uh oh.

Seriously, although this is classed as a general comedy track (it IS LOL material), it could just as easily have stood up as an electronica contender in it's own right. Cripes, I use all kinds of **** in my tracks and that gets accepted, so why shouldn't this track? Moreover, it's a cracking peice of music too with the vocals counterpointing the deceptively simple arrangement and instrumentation. Definitely a student of the less is more school. Now, if I could only get my twins to stand still for two seconds at any one time, I'm gonna have a go at this so I guess I have been inspired by this track and - buuuhleeeevvvee me - that doesn't happen very often at all.

Laugh out loud funny and Highly Recommended.

Ok, this would go well with some classical console game style.
It has the right atmo to something like that. Not too overpowering, but still goes like it should, I believe.

Now you would only need a game... :wink:[/
Ok, this would go well with some classical console game style.
It has the right atmo to something like that. Not too overpowering, but still goes like it should, I believe.

Now you would only need a game... :wink:[/

i can definately see the countryside..and walking is so right..arms out by my sides, feeling the brisk breeze as it floats about me; warm sun on my face..fire in my heart.

Your piano work is most beautiful as usual Charlie and this particular track really does feel so free and easy..like a heart and mind thats on sabatical, perhaps after having experienced heavy times previously. I get the ever so slight feeling of deep thought..but somewhat thoughtful, neither sad, nor happy..just seemingly eternally restful..and have to say it's real sweet my good man..

I really like the feel as the claps and other real light percs kick in and around the tracks peaceful feel, giving it a little more literal rhythm seems to just up the energy level, as if the track progresses from that thoughtful stage, to one that holds the energy that comes from relief..like its all over now...just relax

And boy did I...Great track Charlie and a beaut to return to..keep em coming sir, i'll keep listening for sure..

My Love to You and your Loved, and of course..those who pass by

Very nice.

Like when the beat comes in, I thought the riff meandered a little bit but it clearly doesn't though. Sounds like something from the Thomas Crown Affair.

I like the synth work, you blend Jazz and electronica very easily. Almost effortlessly. No production comments cus it sounded pretty good to me, mixing was just right. Definately something I'd like to hear on a chillout album.

Really nice work. Its a very nice style you've got!

Charlie, listened to symphony which was a modern rock/experimental song in my book. Lots of keyboards as would be expected but also a freestyle bass line that kept my interest. What made this one interesting to me is since there were no vocals, the guitar and piano took turns playing the melody which worked for me.

Timing caught my ear right from the start on this track. reminds me of Rush, but it's better because I'm not a fan of their vocalist personally. I think this track has an urgency that'd fit perfectly into a video game or the right moments in the right movie.

The drums are a little sequenced sounding to call it rock IMHO.. perhaps based in rock ideals. This didn't really detract from the experience though, and I enjoyed the track. I think mainly it's fake drum tom hit sounds that dig in when I hear them.

The sound you got overall was really unique. The panning, stereo separation was good, perhaps even a little bit too much. I'd play with the mix more to realize the full potential of this track. It was well done, but it didn't have that mix X factor.. the sweet spot.

Don't take that too hard. I'm still going with a 9/10. Well done!

This is really nice - a `Jazzy` fusion of intelligent DnB and other elements – in fact you’ve got many things going on here that it strongly steers in the direction of my favourite genre … “Musical Freedom”
This is very well put together Charlie, and I think you could have serious potential here with this track, especially in the UK.

Chris.

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Moody and ominous are the two adjectives that come to mind. It creates a feeling of spaciousness – I say that as opposed to ‘space’ simply to illustrate that it feels like a cathedral or a canyon as much as it feels like a distant planet. The instruments are well-chosen and woven together with care and taste. Good work.

I’ve been fascinated by the use of reverb in creating rhythm for some time now. I used the idea on both ‘Red Rock’ (one of my more successful tunes) and on a recent track called ‘We Better Go Back’ (one of my yet-another-day-another-tune tracks )

In your case you have used the reverb as rhythm initially and then as an underlying presence reverberating beneath the song. What I should say right out is that you have a knack for this sort of thing, Charlie. (‘This sort of thing’ being quality soundtrack music.) This could easily feature in a film about – yeah, an Orange Planet – or a planet of any colour at all – red or blue, for example. This would make a good soundtrack piece for Lawrence of Arabia, for that matter.

Short story: excellent composition…like apples of gold in settings of silver.

Listened to it a third time just for pleasure.

I LOVE BEBEE BUBBA; I'm secure enough that I don't care what people think of my musical taste, ha! That's the best little novelty song I've heard in years. No person who isn't a parent will likely agree, but anyone who's raised kids is going to love this. Cool, and it shouldn't leave any scars on the kid. (Unlike Ashley and Mary-Kate, for example.) Wonderfully creative idea and very, very listenable. I'll get the other track when I actually reach your place in the queue, but my enthusiasm ran away with me. Going to listen again now...

FABLE

Soul, atmosphere, eno delays, fantastic use of orchestral sounds. This was hip in a dj shadow kind of minor key way at times, although missing entirely the jon bonham heavy hitting reverbed drums..

The constant variations on theme through various instruments from piano to french horn to strings.. all extremely well done. It's a pet peeve of mine too, the horrid arrangement of orchestral instrumention. You excelled in this field and it made for a very enjoyable listen. I have a weakness for the minor key..

Song cut off, unsure if you knew that or wanted that.

9/10 great job on this one.
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review for Charlie A. Now for those of you who don't know of charlie A he produces film and game music and this track is nothing short of that. This track has a very professinal feel to it and straight away it seems to appeal more than any of the previous tracks of review of this artist. The string work is maverlous, the little sci-fi sounds add a very neat touch and the piano is superb, only problem that I can find is few will take the time out to listen to this as it's film music, but believe me when I say you should. Overall a wonderful little peice which could be in your next Sci-fi flick.

Score: 9

brave soul:
i like the way the strings flow, very pretty, and the sparkely flutey noises later.
the echoey end is pretty nice.

pretty nice. sets a really great mood
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http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/asquare.htm
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I like diversity a LOT, so I'm gonna do that freestyle one of yours.

MY LOYALTY: First, I have to admit I was nervous about listening to anything freestyle... I'm like, really, how can this be any good... and I was nearly blown away. Aside from the music track, your "beat," much like your "Future Wars" piece, produces great emotion. The beat alone is an outstanding track by itself. To throw a spit on it, in the manner you did, and with the MESSAGE! you did, was a powerful combination, and thus, led to a powerful track. My criticism... watch the mic... you have some "puffs" on your P's... tolerable, but needs mentioning. The other criticism I have is you need to crank your vocal volume up on your next mix... the music, as beautiful as it was, drowned you out... ok... my last criticism, and an important one, I believe, is you ran out of music track... ok fine.. but you could very easily have either stretched the track or, did a splice 'n dice... but to spit accapella took a lot of enjoyment away from me... sorry, but it did... the track was almighty powerful, and to make a huge switch like that, left me yearning for the music, and kinda ticked off at you for talking too much... ...I'd do a splice 'n dice to fill in that gap, and increase the vocal volume by about 6 decibals... my opinion. Other than that, I remain impressed to such an outstanding performance, particularly considering it's freestyle. For the beat, the skill, the delivery, and most importantly, the message, I'm not only giving you another hot vote, but I'm adding you to one of my stations.

You are a very talented man. Keep me posted.

Hm... haha... an english accent? australian? you have an accent... cute... love it.

FUTURE WARS: Ok... definitely, and I do mean, most definitely a track for a full featured film. A drama part... some part of seriousness. This is awesome... Spielberg should be using this on his next film. I think of (what's that guy's name they always use... James something or other) films like (dangit it... my mind went blank... it'll come to me..) Far and Away? no no... that's not it... It's not Field of Dreams... dangit... it came out shortly before braveheart... Tom Cruise played in it... lemme do a net search... brb...

well that took forever... Legends of the Fall, and James Horner. Yes... definitely James Horner is who this track reminded me of. Thank Amazon.com and a lot of screens.

I'm adding this one to my station... this is a remarkable track... positively remarkable. Hot vote, of course.

Oh... the logistics, huh: Mix was great, strings were superb and flowing, the sound of the ocean waves were a delicate and magnificent touch, but the moving melody ensuing was enough to instill sobriety, passion, heart, and a deep sense of sadness, which suprises me, because when it loops back to the beginning, the intro is everything but these things. The intro, much deeper and heavier, not to mention slower movement, with the strings creates more of a ominous yet surreal mood... more symphonic. Then the strings draw back to leave that delicate piano, bringing in the ocean waves I mentioned, and the strings return with more movement in the melody line, higher tones, and what started as a deep, slow moving, rather intense track, ends up becoming one of solitude, while creating mass reflection from beginning to end.

Beautiful work... outstanding performance... and a track that deserves high credit. Thank you for showing this to me.

Hi Charlie,
It's nice to talk to you again.Sorry for the delay in replying.I've listened to "The Forest" and i feel that you are exercizing well your talent.The begining is quite interesting With all that Rithmic approach and the melodic line very well conceived.Do more.
Bravo..
Keep me posted for next.
Best regards;
Alberto Farah

I REALLY LIKE YOUR CONCEPT. ITS REAL DEEP AND EVEN KINDA MOVING. I GOT A LIL MISTY EYED. BUT U REALLY NEED TO WORK ON MAKIN IT ALL RHYME. YOUR FORMAT ON HOW YOU TRY TO DO THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED. BUT NICE. AND I LIKE YOUR SOUND CUS I NEVER HEARD NO RAPPER SOUND LIKE THAT, AND ITS GOOD. IF U LEARN HOW TO RHYME NICE YOULL BE DOING BIG THINGS. LEMME KNOW WHEN U DO ANOTHER AND WORK ON THAT FLOW OF YOURS. PEACE
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HOLLA AT THE KID, TALENT THE KID

Hey Charlie,

Let me start by saying that this is great!
Very positve message and compelling choice of music, I am amazed at the sense of desperation that is instilled in every word......

I really like the song and it's message and I encourage you to keep doing your thing.....
I would definately try to get a better mix or perhaps work on getting your vocals recorded in a better quality........
A pop filter would be good or perhaps a mic that could handle a higher SPL
(for louder voices), a good condenser mic would do well or even the infamous Shure SM58 would suffice...

Listening to Hope... The additions to the beat are killer. The vocals sound kinda like tricky or faithless. They aren't very rhythmic, but are quite smooth. around 1:40 is killer. I like this mucho! So far as hip hop goes, this is classy as hell.
-dj Busby
Please check out "Chinaman" or maybe "Space Rap".. Any of them really.
Looking forward to your feedback,
much respect.

   

HOPE

Nice intro

http://www.johnranger.com/

Very creative

I like the fact that you're using some real music in the background rather than the usual drums crap.

Really like this YOU have a big hook happening here man. GREAT!!

*****

GOOD LUCK!!

Wow - this is really awesme stuff here! Where are you studying for your degree work? I am really impressed so far!

PHAROAHS CURSE-

This composition is a bit of the soundtrack type of thing. Has a definate atmospheric quality. Good use of ethnic imagery. I think the horn at the begining was a bit brassy, but I think that was probably intentional, as it helps to define the first movement.

The mid-section is a brash attention-getter, but seems to meander a little. Not so much as to ruin the tune, but it wavers somewhere between a melody and a rhythm. The bell-part at the end help wrap this one up nicely.

Percussion could have been a little more dynamic, as this song seems to build in intensity, why not the drum as well. It seems to remain constant througout, and I feel that if it could be introduced a little more subtley, it would have a little more impact. But that's just my own personal preference of doing things. Not a bad bit of production either.

SONG RATING 1-10:
Music:
(Composition) 7
(Application) 7

Overall rating: 7
L

This is some beautiful work. I think the hardest thing about electronica is getting the emotion into the music. I've seen a lot of people criticize electronica as emotionless noise. The trick with electronic sound generation is to input your soul through the manipulation of the sound. Whether you play complex controllers that capture subtlety (that's what I do) or draw the controllers in by hand in software, that's where the art and soul of electronic music comes from; sculpting sound to convey a feeling or mood. Anything other than singing involves technology. Even beating a log involves the selection and tailoring of sticks and logs. Some people prefer 19th century technology, I like to use everything available. With acoustic instruments, it's easy to get the emotion in. With guitar, it travels naturally through both hands directly into the sound. With electronic music it takes a determined effort to get the soul in there. It's often a more cerebral approach. I don't know that Charlie did any more than take full advantage of the velocity sensitive keyboard to impart the feel into these pieces, but he did do everything necessary.

Yes, I'm rambling a bit to pad this out. There is almost nothing to critique, musically or technically. For what these pieces appear to be, soundtrack or soundscape, they are nearly perfect. Lots of expression and emotion in the music and lots of great little touches. These sound like soundtrack material, but I'll be listening to Pharoah's Curse (my fav of these 2) as listening music. They are mixed beautifully and nearly perfect. Both pieces have a little muddiness in the low mids and low end, esp. the pitz strings. The sparkly part of the highs is missing, too. (12 - 15k) There's a bit of sound at the very beginning (b4 the music) of Forest that you might want to clean off. Nothing else to even pick at.

I hope this is the kind of feedback you were looking for. I could go on about the quality of the sounds, the even smooth rhythm, the beautiful melodies, the perfect fades, the luscious blend, etc., but you don't want to hear all that.

I listened to "Silent words".
I noticed in your page description that you do not create the most complicated music and with this track I tend to agree but complicated tracks don`t always work.
For a Sunday morning this was a very easy listen.
Production wise it sounded nice and clear without any flaws IMO.
There is another producer on here called "Mezzer" who also likes to create game/soundtrack/film music. You should have a listen to his work when you get the chance.
Once again Hi

hi and welcome... just checking some nice moody vibe on MARCH ONE...the drums give it a cool groove...Silent words is, as Stu said, an easy Sunday listen... i might not have been patient enough for this another time... but im glad i was... there is a nice playoff between the keys and the wind... kind of like the keys guide and fence in the wind at certain points

Peace

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The forest end is another beautiful piece, well written and arranged. For the type of music it is, I cannot fault it. I love the plucked strings section.

The Pharoes Curse, this builds nicely, great mood music, love the flute/pipe sound, fits the theme well. Again, I cannot suggest any improvements!

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Me and Glen - Overture!
http://www.funender.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27441
Jon Zero
http://www.funender.com/music/flesh_eating_foundation
CyberGothIndustrial Radio
http://www.funender.com/music/zero_nerve
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CHarlie, I checked out your music before, here's what I wrote:
I listened to a few of your tracks. You have a lot of music up, but I'm on dialup so I am limited to the lo fi stuff. Family was was good. I really liked the string sound it started with, was that softsynth? It really sounded nice and warm like some of the old analog synths. The second part kind of surprised me, it transiitioned into that suddenly, but that's probably because it's film music. Next I listened to Iced cold tea, real nice sample and hold in the beginning of that one. I thought that was my favorite one. Feeling relaxed was cool too, kind of lonely sounding. The violin sounding part in the beginning really set the tone of the track, I thought. You might want to check the lo fi version of silent words, there might be a partial file up or something, I kept getting an error on that one. Marching On was very orchestral, nice string arrangement on that one. The snare part did throw me a bit, it took several listens to get that rythmn in my head without it sounding off, but then it settled in. It's a shame, the snare there sounds pretty thin, and the rest of the song is so warm and heavy. If it were mine, I think I'd put a fatter snare in. Then again I'm listening on lo fi, it might sound better on hi fi.
Interesting music, I hope you enjoy yourself here.

Streaming "FAMILY WAR" very, very beautiful song, after hearing this I will have to check out the rest of your tracks. I cannot think of anything negative to say about family war since it is an emotional track which is excellent for film. I can imagine a tradegy occuring in a movie where loved ones are trying to overcome the pain of a recent loss. Very nice track

Hello Charles,
It good to see a young man as yourself go in the musical direction that you do. Symphonic and classical written line will not die. You seem to have a handle on intelligently written movie score and just plain nice music, with themes, movements, and orchestra score. Pleasure to have heard this.
William

one little critism, I also listened to "Living It" and the opening/main theme seemed awefully familiar !

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