James Kallestad, who are you? i like your music a lot. You created a piece of electronic music that is catchy and has a strong beat, but which in no way overpowers the listener. When the first melody comes in it reminds me of animal collective actually, and i'm certainly a big fan of them. The beat is in the background, which is something that i really like because i'm way more into ambient/indie electronic than i am into dance/techno/house (not that there isn't a lot of house that i do like- mmm daft punk). The melody itself is also beautiful, and the "yeah, yeah" sample shows that James has a sense of humor. check it out: http://music295jk.blogspot.com/.

The piece is also extremely well structured: 15 seconds or so of introduction, a 30 second main portion, and a 15 second, funky fresh outro. Each section seems to be building towards the next. For the first 45 seconds the drum beat is constant, with something that sounds like a dry, repeating hi-hat sound, with a tom-tom hit once a measure, which he then replaces with a more complicated pattern. He transitions with a cool fill, and we're treated to a driving guitar melody line. The other transition, btwn the intro and main section is also seamless.

Upon more extended reading of James' blog, however, we find that he is not new at this music business. This isn't surprising at all though considering that quality of his piece, which made me feel better about myself for sure. Within his bluegrass duo he is already used to making tough decisions about finding the right sound for his band and the instruments that they use (synth bass vs. having no bass at all). I can't wait for his demo.

Reason final - me