I feel that, the timing is def supposed to be swung and drunken boom bap hip hop style, so it’s an intentional stylistic choice a-La J Dilla etc. I understand if that’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s a thing with 90s hiphop and lofi. Thanks for the critique though.
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Sure I can provide some examples, but I think your assessment is fair regardless of wether I’m following a valid style or not. Some people just prefer tighter rhythms and some also like very loose stuff. Thats the nature of a contest and that’s ok.
This YouTube short kind of sums up the idea and methods of sloppy hiphop
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/YoLs9rc8AMk
Here’s a playlist of J Dilla beat “batches” that you can sift through if you want to hear different applications of the aesthetic that is sometimes called RnB Push-Pull or Hiphop shuffle. Drums and bass seem to be most rooted in this idea when applied, but it can definitely be applied to Melodie’s and chordal parts.
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-3TTtJryfWnIOq_LcDNppsB7MJ9ks0sO
Anyway, I hope you can at least get to hear some new and interesting sounds from those examples^^. I’m 100 percent positive that I don’t use these techniques as well as the masters do, but I am glad to be able to explain a bit about the ideas I’ve used. Again, I appreciate your critique and thanks for hosting the jam!
Analyzing some of those, I think I can hear more of what is going on. I also really am enjoying that style, listening to it.
They are doing little pauses and polyrhythms in an otherwise actually very well-timed beat. The contrast between the beat and the violation of the beat is what gives it its flavor. There's a consistency to the pauses since things are looped in that style. It's like the beat version of microtonal music (heh, now I need to make some off-beat, microtonal music). A lot of the variations are also very subtle.
Listening to your track again, I think the part that wasn't quite capturing it was the synth, where it sounds a bit more random than loose, like it's not actually tied to anything, not returning to a sense of time like the referenced tracks you mentioned do.
You did a good job of creating an interesting track for sure though.
Thank you for linking that stuff! :)