Music Review: Al Hofmann @ Bibi's Beach

Second Life Live Music Review
Written by Enniv Zarf (RL: Paul Kwo)
Metaverse Music
Al Hofmann
Bibli's Beach
2.5 stars out of 5 stars

Maybe it's because I'm hearing so much music these days that I am getting pickier and pickier. I think this would be the first review I'm doing where I think the musician is a good musician, just the music that was being played was a bit boring.

Well it's not totally boring or bad, it's just a tad bit too repetitive. Al Hofmann is a one man midi guitar band, and it's alright. He's a descent musician and plays his instrument well. The problem I'm having is with ambient music is that it needs to really create a real mood, which I don't think it's there either.

One man bands are hard and I applaud...

...Al for doing something on his own and doing instrumentals. But I just can't stand music that basically takes one single loop and loop that for two minutes followed by the next loop that is still the same harmony for another two minutes and only play some stuff over that. It actually reminded me of what one of my composition teachers once said to me about writing using pedal point, it's cheating. Of course anything goes with the pedal point. You can do whatever you want with it.

I much prefer Jana Kyomoon when it comes to ambient music. She actually makes it fun and interesting while preserving it in an ambient and mellow. She does it effectively while I feel Al is just plain repetitive.

But when Al plays his other music that isn't of the ambient quality, it's much more enjoyable and it's pretty fun. But the boredom of his other stuff already got to me by the time he played something that moved harmonically. Nevertheless it is still good by themselves.

If you asked me if Al Hofmann is worth checking out, I'm totally mixed. His good stuff are good, but not to die for, and I'm not sure whether or not I'm willing to sit through anymore of his really repetitive music. Basically it's a tad bit too predictable for my taste, but it is my taste and you may end up liking him.