excellently noisy, and the switch-up from the verse into the chorus works brilliantly - such a sharp contrast but they fit together really well. Really inventive sampling here, looking at the list of tools you used I'd expect this to be a total assault on the senses but you've found their melodic heart. DIY or die!

Speaking of mood, you've also found a way to fit the samples into the thing that you do that feels pretty seamless to me. Like it probably doesn't seem that way to you because the instrumentation overall is a little different, but to me, it sounds perfectly Stacking Theory, a natural fit. Nudging into cumulative challenge territory hahahahaha, even though you don't have the guest harmony. It's interesting, I was trying to think of what emotion this really imparted to me and it's quite difficult to say--it almost feels like regret but it's not that. Nicely complex.

This is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for from this challenge. You've got many layers of pitch-shifted random noises which provide interesting textures while maintaining a melody at the same time. What's more impressive is that you're able to incorporate some dynamic shifts into the song without the use of any conventional instruments. I can actually feel a sense of movement as it progresses. Probably my one meta-criticism is that your output has been fairly ploddy for the last month, so I'd like to hear you raise the tempo a bit next round.

Cavedwellers: I'm a fan of the production. The conventional instruments are way down in the mix (with the exception of the guitar solo) and you give prominence to the samples, which is excellent. In fact, I almost feel like you could've got away with even more conventional arrangement elements later on to help the build of the song, because towards the end the dynamic starts to feel a tiny bit flat. Throughout this NE I've had this gut reaction against many of your lyrics but without really being able to say why. It's not a strong feeling, more of a nagging one that something doesn't sit right with me. That persists here, but since I can't qualify it sufficiently I feel like I should ignore it this time and instead give you credit for a solid performance. I'm very sad to see you guys get eliminated with what was one of your strongest efforts this year, but such is the Nur Ein way.

Love the power drill chords. Very cool idea. I do wish the samples were cleaned up a little bit, they start to wear on my ears after a while. Concept is about "standing on the shoulders of giants". I like the connection (intentional or not) between sampling and getting a hand from those who came before us. Not sure if you recorded your own samples or used existing recordings, but it's a cool tidbit anyway.

The manipulation of the samples is very clever and I think this is one of your strongest vocal performances thus far. Its just the song didn't grab me as much as some of those I ranked higher up. It's got an enjoyable chorus though and I like how the verses sound like a happy version of NIN's Closer. I really enjoyed the wordplay in "...strings have a theory."