Which Track From My New Album Was Your Favorite?

[leejacksonaudio]

Someone has suggested that I break out the recent poll from my personal thread and make it a standalone public topic thread. I thank them for their advice and am heeding it, so here's the poll.

 

Have you listened to "Lady Tygress' Suite and Other Commissions" yet? If so, which track from the album is your favorite? I'd really like to know. If you haven't listened yet, you can get links to buy and/or stream the album from my home page at this link. Please have a listen, and then come back and vote in the poll!

[Daytime Waitress]

Props to @Chezza for the suggestion.

 

I've had the album on high rotation since I bought it a couple of weeks back, and wanted to come in and vote for my fave, because I thought it was an absolute slam dunk. #1, no question. Thought I'd give a couple of the other standouts a brief mention, to be fair, and then be on my way. But when I sat down to actually write my thoughts on the whole package down, I found it difficult to unpack my thinks and I'm even gonna hold off on voting, because deciding on a fave hasn't been that simple.

 

Nuts.
 

Spoiler

Stellar stuff all up though, no question about that.

 

 

[leejacksonaudio]

50 minutes ago, Daytime Waitress said:

Props to @Chezza for the suggestion.

 

Absolutely, props. I couldn't remember who'd suggested the thread. Thanks for the reminder.

[leejacksonaudio]

3 hours ago, Daytime Waitress said:

I've had the album on high rotation since I bought it a couple of weeks back, and wanted to come in and vote for my fave, because I thought it was an absolute slam dunk. #1, no question.

 

Thanks for liking Track 1, "Lady Tygress' Suite: 1. Intro." It's my favorite as well. It was a real gas to write. I'd never done anything like it before. Normally, I'll slap down an extended percussion or rhythm track and compose something over the top of it. In this case, the rhythm track was a fully integrated part of the song composition process, and not just a backbone element. Instead of laying it down long stretches at a time, I'd lay it down 2 or 4 measures at a time and mix it as I went. It made for a very interesting song, IMHO.

 

The melody creation process was even more fun, but much, much more complicated to explain. It's not suited for discussion outside of a full-blown Music Theory forum :) Sorry, too much jargon for polite conversation here on Doomworld.

[Herr Dethnout]

I didn't hear the full album (Yet, poor and limited internet :P) but for now is a hard choice between this songs songs: Suite: 2, Suite: 3 and Ant Farm Melee. For one side, we have the chill Suite: 2. Break and Suite: 3. Outro, it sound like i'm surfing the Artic Poles(?), but in the other side we have a SC-88Pro (I guess?) version of Ant Farm Melee (Absolute fav from the Ult. Doom midi pack).

I choosed Suite: 3. Outro. So far, my fav from this album.

[Rudolph]

5 hours ago, Herr Dethnout said:

I choosed Suite: 3. Outro. So far, my fav from this album.

chose* ;)

 

Anyway, the melody of Lady Tygress' Suite - 2. Break reminds me a lot of Frank Klepacki's "Command & Conquer", albeit in a completely different style:

 

 

As for my favorite tracks, well, I guess it is a tie between b-minor Breakdown, Ant Farm Melee and Double Decker Chase. I really like Ereis Overture too, which sounds like the music for a final boss fight. But do not get me wrong: the whole album is good.

 

Thank you for composing it in the first place, Mr. Jackson! :D

Edited November 14, 2022 by Rudolph

[Chezza]

I've only heard the sample tracks. I get a very intro / outro Amiga game vibe, tickling my nostalgia. I also think this type of music would be great with some Doom wads.

 

My top choices are:

• Lady Tygress' Suite: 3
• B-Minor Breakdown
• Ant Farm Melee

They're my picks because of the Nostalgic vibes I get out of them and can imagine these being used in retro video games.

 

I also dig the base in Ereis Overture. 

 

[leejacksonaudio]

6 hours ago, Chezza said:

I've only heard the sample tracks.

 

Where did you listen?

[Chezza]

30 minutes ago, leejacksonaudio said:

 

Where did you listen?

 

From https://leejackson.hearnow.com/lady-tygress-suite-and-other-commissions

[leejacksonaudio]

5 minutes ago, Chezza said:

 

From https://leejackson.hearnow.com/lady-tygress-suite-and-other-commissions

 

Head on over to my Bandcamp page for the album:

 

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/album/lady-tygress-suite-and-other-commissions

 

Not only will you be able to listen to much longer previews, you'll be able to buy a copy of the album afterward for just $7 dollars! A hell of a deal if I do say so myself. :) :) :)

 

Let me know if your rankings change after you listen to the longer tracks. Thanks!

[leejacksonaudio]

@Chezza Did you get a chance to listen to the tracks on Bandcamp yet?

[Garlichead]

I listened to it early today on Spotify while working on some college stuff.

 

b-minor Breakdown and Ereis Overture were some of my favorite. The suite reminded me of Jean Michelle Jarre a little bit, maybe due to it being kind of progressive ambient vibes..

 

Pretty good stuff. 

[leejacksonaudio]

17 hours ago, Garlichead said:

I listened to it early today on Spotify while working on some college stuff.

 

b-minor Breakdown and Ereis Overture were some of my favorite. The suite reminded me of Jean Michelle Jarre a little bit, maybe due to it being kind of progressive ambient vibes..

 

Pretty good stuff. 

 

Much obliged! People seem to be liking the b-minor Breakdown, it would seem. Surprising.

[Fernito]

Hey Lee! It's Fernando, from Facebook :)

 

I saw this thread back when you posted it but didn't have time to properly listen to the tracks with the attention they deserve :) Now, after 3 full playthroughs, I can say that my favorite is definitely Double Decker Chase, I love its energy! b-minor Breakdown was also pretty good, super catchy rhythm and great melodies.

 

Regarding the Lady Tygress suite, I was gonna say exactly what @Garlichead mentioned, gave me strong Jean-Michel Jarre vibes at some point, amazing suite! I'm personally a big fan of Jarre's work, I grew up listening to Oxygene and Équinoxe :)

 

That being said, there was not a single track that I didn't like, all of them have that classic characteristic "flavor" that your music has always had :) Amazing work with this album, Lee! 

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Fernito

[leejacksonaudio]

2 hours ago, Fernito said:

Hey Lee! It's Fernando, from Facebook :)

 

I saw this thread back when you posted it but didn't have time to properly listen to the tracks with the attention they deserve :) Now, after 3 full playthroughs, I can say that my favorite is definitely Double Decker Chase, I love its energy! b-minor Breakdown was also pretty good, super catchy rhythm and great melodies.

 

Regarding the Lady Tygress suite, I was gonna say exactly what @Garlichead mentioned, gave me strong Jean-Michel Jarre vibes at some point, amazing suite! I'm personally a big fan of Jarre's work, I grew up listening to Oxygene and Équinoxe :)

 

That being said, there was not a single track that I didn't like, all of them have that classic characteristic "flavor" that your music has always had :) Amazing work with this album, Lee! 

 

 

Hello, Fernando! Glad to hear from you. I'm also glad to see you liked what you did! I wish your project wasn't so secret - I'd have loved to have included it on the album! :)

[Fernito]

9 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

 

Hello, Fernando! Glad to hear from you. I'm also glad to see you liked what you did! I wish your project wasn't so secret - I'd have loved to have included it on the album! :)

 

Oh no, I wish I had known! You should have asked me, I wouldn't have minded it; on the contrary, it would've been an honor! :) I'm anyway only half a map away of releasing my project.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Fernito

[leejacksonaudio]

6 hours ago, Fernito said:

I'm anyway only half a map away of releasing my project.

 

Great! Keep me apprised!

[Fernito]

1 hour ago, leejacksonaudio said:

 

Great! Keep me apprised!

Will certainly do! :)

[Daytime Waitress]

On 11/18/2022 at 11:37 PM, leejacksonaudio said:

Much obliged! People seem to be liking the b-minor Breakdown, it would seem. Surprising.

 

It's really not, though. It's people appreciating that the Lee Jackson of today is capable of producing something that would fit perfectly into the catalogue of music produced by Lee Jackson "back in the day", like he never skipped a beat across several decades. It's people appreciating the intensity and eccentricity that made RotT's soundtrack so beloved, and hearing that again in "b-minor Breakdown". They can feel the bombastic, steroid-fueled tones in "Double Decker Chase", even if they don't know it's from a Duke project. And they want to slap "Ant Farm Melee" on their map because it goes so bloody hard. All three of these tracks demonstrate what a unique talent you have for making music which is perfectly suited for blasting sprites in 3D corridors. Unique is a word that has been run into the ground, but I'm using it here in the most pure sense: you're one the few people on this planet who are capable of achieving this at such a high calibre.

 

And you've got your absolute mastery of that "genre" here alongside tracks where you're charting relatively unexplored territory. Back when it was released, I would've said that the tetanus-inducing grind of "Geisterwolken" was my fave new Lee Jackson track. And then here comes the suite intro to blow it out of the water. I'm a sucker for synthwave and/or vaporwave-adjacent ambience, but you really can just slap this on at any time and melt into it. It's definitely my favourite of the three Lady T pieces, but I appreciate how well they flow into and compliment one another, whilst still maintaining their own identities.

 

Maybe you collected all these tracks together just to give them a bit more exposure than they would've gained individually, and maybe it's a compilation rather than a whole coherent project, but taken as a whole, I'm impressed by how much of your career it spans. I'm thankful you're making new music now. And I'm excited to see what you're gonna produce next.
 

Spoiler

Thanks again to @Chezza for the thread suggestion. Without the poll prompt, I might not have tried to nail down what I enjoyed so much about the album.

Spoiler

Provided any of the above was coherent. If it wasn't blame @Chezza for that, too!

 

 

[leejacksonaudio]

15 hours ago, Daytime Waitress said:

I'm thankful you're making new music now. And I'm excited to see what you're gonna produce next.

 

Thank you, and thank you for the great review. I certainly do appreciate it.

 

I don't know what's going to happen with me and my music, the way my health is going, but I'm certainly wanting to make more music if my body will let me. Good lord, this is so frustrating. I hope 2023 will be a better year than 2022 has been.

[leejacksonaudio]

Merry Christmas! Thanksgiving is over, and the season is upon us. With that in mind, I'm giving the community a gift - a 30% discount off of anything I've got listed on Bandcamp, even my entire repertoire as a bulk purchase! Just go to my Bandcamp website at https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com , select what you want, and use the code leejchristmas2022 at checkout.

 

When you're done, if you've bought either my entire repertoire or just "Lady Tygress' Suite and Other Commissions," I would encourage you to come back and vote in this Poll if you haven't already. I still really need the feedback. Thank you for your support through the rough times this year, and through the past as well!

[Chezza]

On 11/18/2022 at 12:24 AM, leejacksonaudio said:

@Chezza Did you get a chance to listen to the tracks on Bandcamp yet?

 

So I got around to listening to the album on Bandcamp. I have to say b-minor Breakdown is my favourite song. The Base line is awesome and at 1:10 it felt epic. I like my songs conveying epic / dramatic emotions and appreciate good use of choirs. I also like ominous music although non of that was present in this album.

[taufan99]

I'll give you a review of the entire album, judging by the Bandcamp release.

Spoiler

• I must admit, I'm not super big on the Lady Tygress' Suite tracks. Yes, I'm aware of the fact that these are commissioned for a Twitch streamer's channel, but they're rather... weak to me. Of course I would still be jammin' to it if I unexpectedly heard them as elevator music. (In a way, you can perhaps say that Twitch streamers' songs are also suitable for that, too.)
• Agape Promenade gives me a lot of royalty-free music vibe in the first seconds. Not that it's bad at all! Matter of fact, the instrumental work in later seconds/minutes makes it stand out with its own personality than I suspected at first. I feel like YouTubers who like using such chill music will be interested in this.
• The latter half of the album is where the good ole Lee Jackson we know kicks in again.
  • b-minor Breakdown sounds like an unused Rise of the Triad OST. It's groovy, fast-paced, and pulls no punches, just like the RotT OST we all know and love. My personal favorite as well.
  • Ant Farm Melee gives the previous track some competition, but it has a more rock/metal flavor suitable for a custom DOOM map. Second personal favorite.
  • Double Decker Chase indulges in a Duke Nukem 3D feel that's nothing short of catchy, as with b-minor Breakdown, although also more "urban" in comparison.
  • Ereis Overture's march-like sound, with all the doot-esque horns and organ work, puts listeners in the suit of B.J. Blaskowicz, as he takes down the entire Nazi while escaping Castle Wolfenstein.

Overall, I'd give it an 8.5/10. The first half may not be for everyone, but should you feel like going for it, have a listen inside an elevator or somewhere else calming. Unfortunately, I don't have a chance to give the "secret" ninth track a listen and a review, but you may want to consider yourself free from any spoiler! :P

 

[leejacksonaudio]

On 12/10/2022 at 6:18 PM, taufan99 said:

I'll give you a review of the entire album, judging by the Bandcamp release.

  Reveal hidden contents

• I must admit, I'm not super big on the Lady Tygress' Suite tracks. Yes, I'm aware of the fact that these are commissioned for a Twitch streamer's channel, but they're rather... weak to me. Of course I would still be jammin' to it if I unexpectedly heard them as elevator music. (In a way, you can perhaps say that Twitch streamers' songs are also suitable for that, too.)
• Agape Promenade gives me a lot of royalty-free music vibe in the first seconds. Not that it's bad at all! Matter of fact, the instrumental work in later seconds/minutes makes it stand out with its own personality than I suspected at first. I feel like YouTubers who like using such chill music will be interested in this.
• The latter half of the album is where the good ole Lee Jackson we know kicks in again.
  • b-minor Breakdown sounds like an unused Rise of the Triad OST. It's groovy, fast-paced, and pulls no punches, just like the RotT OST we all know and love. My personal favorite as well.
  • Ant Farm Melee gives the previous track some competition, but it has a more rock/metal flavor suitable for a custom DOOM map. Second personal favorite.
  • Double Decker Chase indulges in a Duke Nukem 3D feel that's nothing short of catchy, as with b-minor Breakdown, although also more "urban" in comparison.
  • Ereis Overture's march-like sound, with all the doot-esque horns and organ work, puts listeners in the suit of B.J. Blaskowicz, as he takes down the entire Nazi while escaping Castle Wolfenstein.

Overall, I'd give it an 8.5/10. The first half may not be for everyone, but should you feel like going for it, have a listen inside an elevator or somewhere else calming. Unfortunately, I don't have a chance to give the "secret" ninth track a listen and a review, but you may want to consider yourself free from any spoiler! :P

 

Thank you very much for the kind review. If you want to review the ninth track, you can do so based on the YouTube posting, here. It's a bonus track of Geisterwolken, which I've previously released as a single:

 

 

[Chezza]

What are you doing hiding this track? This is the best one!

 

I can imagine this song used in a last or second last level where the player walks a linear path killing off lone or small groups of fodder enemies to signify their unstoppable power. The place is in ruins with fire blazing as they walk towards the Boss to finish things once and for all.

[leejacksonaudio]

7 hours ago, Chezza said:

What are you doing hiding this track? This is the best one!

 

The idea is you're supposed to buy the album in order to get it! :) :) :) Seriously, use that leejchristmas2022 30% discount code I mentioned earlier, and the album costs less than $4. That's a lot of music for less than $4, plus you get a downloaded version of Geisterwolken and some cool bonus art and liner notes!!!

 

I'm not asking much, am I? ^_^

Edited December 13, 2022 by leejacksonaudio