Among the various established charters of SpinShare, there’s one aspect many have in common: our first charts weren’t exactly good. After all, charting demands a sense of rhythm and flow, which is something that can’t really be explicitly taught; it’s something learned through practice, something learned through trial and error. As our understanding of what makes a chart work and what breaks a chart improves, it’s become more and more common for charters to start off strong. Case in point: I think we can trace this general improvement in first charts back to kaddalaug.

Hot off the heels of charter verification and difficulty standardization, kaddalaug made his debut in September 2020 with Ether (Eprom Old School Deconstruction) and Dreaming, two charts that caught people’s attention for not only being good, but also for being his first charts. In the months since, kaddalaug has proven that this wasn’t just a fluke, establishing himself with dubstep charts such as Ruff and Promises, before delving headfirst into showcases such as those of Kazyo’s The Year The World Stood Still, a selection of songs by ginkiha, and Cyclops Records Boot Camp – with many more showcases still inbound.

A lot has changed in the charting scene since last summer. I’d argue that kaddalaug marked the start of a new era in charting; one where the intricacies of charting were so well understood that even new charters could make a great chart as their first. Let’s talk with kaddalaug to understand why his charts set our hearts on fire.

What got you into Spin Rhythm XD? How did you find out about it?

I found the game before release through either Hyper Potions or Nitro Fun’s retweet of the gameplay clip of Checkpoint. I looked at that and I thought “hey, that game looks really cool!” So I kept tabs on it until release, and got it a few weeks after.

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What made you decide to chart for Spin Rhythm?

The game as a whole felt really easy to pick up. I figured with how it was set up, charting wouldn’t be that hard to learn. The only other pc rhythm game I’ve played at that point that had an editor was osu! and, uh yeah, that editor is a crime against humanity. At some point, after realizing that the only way I’d be able to play songs I really liked was to just do it myself, I tried to chart ON FIRE by JOYRYDE one night. I got a decent amount of feedback from Ambi, and after waking up the next morning, I ran out of motivation to continue charting because me small brain no learn good.

Fast forward quitting the game and coming back a few times across the span of like 5ish months, I came across Eprom’s remix of Ether and my first thought was that this would be an absolute banger of a chart. After messing around, and getting a lot of help from Kali, I got it to a releasable state, and that was my first chart.

What’s your general process behind a chart? What makes you decide you want to chart a song, and what about that song influences the chart’s overall design?

In terms of choosing what to chart, it’s pretty spontaneous honestly. One day, I can just hear a song that’s playing on my Spotify and I’m like “alright, I know what I’m charting tonight”. Other times, it’s me coming across a song announcement on Twitter and I’ll just chart it as soon as I can. Most of the time, these songs aren’t from artists or albums that have been charted already so I tend to think of it as a way of showing of music I really like.

As for the showcases, I’ve had stuff planned for quite a while; all I have to do is pick an artist or album from the massive list of stuff in my head that I wanna chart, and just go with that until its done. I normally just chart what I hear, so how a chart turns out depends entirely on how the song is like.

Is there any way that you would describe your charting style? What makes it unique, and what makes it similar when compared to other charters? Are there any patterns you’re particularly fond of?

I have absolutely no idea how to describe my style. Other people know it better than I do. The only thing I’m properly aware of is my tendency to use the curved sliders for every slider in my charts. My process for charting is more or less just ‘hear sound place note’, and I go with it until the chart’s done. All the stuff I chart is very subconscious and I never really think much in a ‘patterns’ format; moreso just individual notes and letting them flow properly.

I don’t really think of my charts as creative in any way. I’m not the one coming up with new patterns and ways to do things. I’d like to think that I’m more of a ‘remixer’, rather than someone who comes up with brand new things. I learn what works and what doesn’t from playing other charts, and I pick and choose from what I know works and insert it into my charts.

Someone in the community I like to compare myself to is smb. We both started charting at around the same time, and I personally think that our styles are quite similar. We even have the same charting speed, but he’s more popular for it. He admittedly has a lot more charts than I do, but I don’t nearly have the same amount of time for charting as he does.

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As for patterns I really like, I don’t have much that I absolutely adore or anything; but I’m really proud of the tap-beathold spins that I charted in Dreaming. That was one of the few patterns that I came up with completely on my own, and it was so fun to play.

Are there any other charts or charters that you look to for inspiration in your charts?

People like Stride, Kali, juch., and smb are some of the charters who aren’t really afraid to try new things. When it works, I just yoink that pattern and use it for myself lol. Other than that, I don’t specifically look to other charts for inspiration when charting I sorta just do it.

You’re known for having a tendency to work in showcases, perhaps more than most charters. Whether or not you finish them is another question altogether, but what is it about the showcase format that makes you start them so frequently? How has working with so many showcases impacted your charting process? Do you think it’s generally been a benefit or a hindrance?

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Most of the time I do showcases because there are a lot of songs I want to chart. And I mean a lot. So grouping them into showcases works really well for me, because I get to bang out at least 5 charts at once and I still have the ability to chart other singles. For reference, at the time of writing this, I have 4 showcases in the works (1 of which will be up before this interview), and 2 of these showcases are 15 songs long. For me, starting showcases is a really roundabout way of giving myself motivation to chart more during my free time.

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Whether or not I’m working on a showcase really doesn’t affect how I chart, because at [the] end of the day, I still have the ‘hear sound place note’ monke mindset. I won’t lie, I kinda hate how me not finishing showcases turned into a meme, because the only one that I started but never finished until now was just RMP. Showcases never really interfered in my ability to chart. All it really did was give myself a lot to chart, which I would have done anyway.

Many of these showcases are also posted in #collaborations. While you might not be the most prolific collaborator, you do seem to seek them out more actively than others. What interests you about collaborating with others, and how has it generally worked out, both to your advantage and disadvantage? 

Collabs are like the cheapest way to chart less while still putting out a full song. So I put up the showcase songs on #collaborations whenever I start a new one, because I’m a lazy piece of shit. If I had to do everything solo, nothing would ever release. I think in terms of popularity my collab charts do very well, mostly cause I just piggyback off of more popular charters whose names pretty much [draw] players to playing that chart. There [have] been maybe 1 or 2 collabs where I wasn’t happy how the chart turned out, but as a whole, I just abuse the ability to get other people on my charts just so I have less work to do, and it really has worked out pretty well for the most part.

A good number of charters usually take their time to find their footing. However, many note how you started strong, with your first chart still being held in high regard in modern standards. Do you think there’s any reason that you apparently already knew how to make good charts? Or was it just natural to you, or plain luck?

As I mentioned earlier, the way the game works and is charted just makes a lot of sense to me. So when I finally decided to properly throw my hat in the ring, I was able to start off on pretty solid footing. I never thought of my first few charts as amazing or anything, which was why I was quite surprised when people told me that my charts started off really strong. For me, it was 100% natural. Obviously, in its initial form, my first chart wasn’t great. Kali was someone who really helped me a lot (partly cause I kept pestering her lol) while I was still learning what works and what doesn’t, and the Ether Remix chart was able to be polished to the point of release thanks to her.

After that chart was released, and the somewhat positive response it received, I started working on Dreaming, alongside the collab with Kali for the Horsepower Remix. After even more help with polishing the chart, I released Dreaming, and I think that’s when people started realizing, ‘Hey, isn’t that only his second chart?’

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There’s many showcases we can pull from, but the first one that appears in your profile is that of The Year The World Stood Still. An EP full of hardstyle and dubstep, it’s among the more difficult charts with every chart being above 35. What about this EP made you want to chart it, and was its high difficulty an inevitability given the songs or a deliberate decision? 3 of the 5 songs on it were collabs, so how do you think this affected the showcase, for better or for worse? And of course, what are your thoughts on the infamous “Say It Rifle”?

Kayzo is an artist that I have been following for quite a while, ever since he released This Time on Monstercat. Every single thing he puts out is absolute fire. When he started releasing the singles from the EP, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me to chart some Kayzo. Hardstyle, Dubstep, anything heavier, really – [those are the] types of genres I really fuck with and could listen to all day, and Kayzo ticked all the boxes for me. Hell, he’s even got the emo rock box checked. The songs, being what they are, pretty much inevitably ended up being high difficulty because as you know, I like to chart whatever I hear. There’s so much going on in each song, I can’t just underchart it as I’d be doing a disservice to the album.

The collabs were also a result of me being a lazy cunt and honestly it definitely was for the better. I got to collab with Stride for the first time, and both smb and Kali really went ham on their sections for their respective songs. I love how the showcase turned out, and as Kali so eloquently put it: “[the showcase] is pretty fucked but it’s a really good kind of fucked”.

As for the Say It Rifle, it was definitely one of the things smb has ever created. I originally really wanted him to remove it. However, after a bit of back and forth, we ended up leaving it in and would you look at all the memes it created. I had literally nothing to do with the pattern and its meme, but I still feel a sense of ownership about it lmao.

A good amount of your charts are drum and bass songs. Given the genre’s breakneck pace and, as the genre name implies, strong emphasis on drums and bass, I find it’s a genre that, while incredibly satisfying to listen to, tends to demand a lot more charting knowledge than most others. So, beyond the typical “what appeals to you about DnB” question, what goes into charting DnB as a whole?

I honestly had no idea I had enough DnB charts to warrant its own question. Mostly because every time I do end up charting a DnB song, I just question everything that led up to that point. Charting drum patterns like that give me nightmares every time I close my eyes. For DnB specifically, I focus more on the beat pattern, mostly because that’s what sets it apart from other genres.

When it comes to my charts in general, I like to place emphasis on the drums in a song. When translating that to a DnB track, it results it a lot of beat holds, beat taps, and the occasional beat spam. Everything else, like taps, matches, spins, and whatever sounds they’re charted to are just icing on the cake. 9 times out of 10, that’s how the song goes. My DnB charts required a lot more playtesting and polishing than the rest of my charts; that just goes to show how difficult it is to get a satisfying chart out of a DnB track, but I like to think that I still made it work.

Many of your other charts tend to be rooted in dubstep and its various subgenres, a prominent example being the Cyclops Recordings Boot Camp showcase, which is composed almost entirely of riddim songs. Any reason that you’re so drawn to dubstep as a genre, both as songs to listen to and as songs to chart for Spin Rhythm? How does the genre generally translate over to Spin Rhythm charting?

Dubstep was pretty much the genre that got me into EDM as a whole. Artists like FuntCase, Doctor P, Flux Pavilion, Cookie Monsta (still cant believe hes gone, rip), and Virtual Riot were my introductions to Dubstep and I really wouldn’t have it any other way. If we’re talking about stuff like Melodic Dubstep, such songs tend to be easily translated to SRXD. But for Riddim, especially the stuff on Cyclops Recording’s debut compilation? Oh boy, they can be a real pain in the ass to chart. The offbeat timings resulted in my charting sessions to be extended almost by 2-3 times the usual time. That was the first time I actually wasn’t really enjoying charting.

When it comes to other types of Dubstep, such as Brostep, charting becomes much easier and frankly incredibly fun, both to chart and to play. Not only that, you tend to have a lot of flexibility in how you chart a sound. Hear a growly bass? You can choose between match strings, sliders, or even scratches. It helps in creating less repetitive charts by quite a bit.

In mid-February, you pulled perhaps the most Chad move I can think of, and that is creating what I can only describe as a showcase of showcases with “kaddalaug’s Catalogue of Good Music”. On top of establishing your dominance in showcases, it’s a very fun way of showing off some artists and albums that you enjoy, such as the first volume’s Gihinka. What inspired you to make this showcase of showcases, and what goes into each of the showcases in the showcase of showcases? Any plans for future installments of kCGM?

So for the catalogue, it’s more [of] a name that I can just slap onto any of my showcases because that’s what they all are. They are charts of songs that I think are good; it’s my way of sharing new music that people might not have heard of. I came up with it because I was thinking about how I wanted to do so many showcases, so why not create a collective that I can throw each new showcase into?

Each volume will either be an artist showcase or an album showcase. For artist showcases, they are essentially a selection of songs from that artist that I personally enjoy. Since there might be quite a few songs that I enjoy from a particular artist, multiple volumes from the same artist isn’t outside the realm of possibility. For album showcases, they are pretty much just gonna function the same as my previous showcases. Think I won’t do an artist cause I did an album from them? Well guess again! (Kayzo showcase coming )

The Catalogue Plan

The plan for the catalogue is pretty much just to release new volumes whenever I can indefinitely. That’s part of the reason why I labelled the ginkiha showcase as Volume 1. Because it’s the first volume of many to come. Like I said earlier, I already have the next 4 volumes planned (yes, this includes RMP. It will be done eventually, I swear), and I have 2-3 others planned that are for albums that are currently unreleased. The ginkiha charts were really well received so I hope I can continue this for as long as I can.

Are there any other artists or songs that you love outside of Spin Rhythm? Any that you want to chart, but just haven’t gotten around to yet – or you just don’t think their music would be a good fit for Spin Rhythm?

Well if you’re talking about outside of base game I could keep on listing songs and artists endlessly. In terms of what I want to chart? Well, that list is also incredibly long, but I think I can throw out a few names. Puppet, Lil Texas, San Holo, WAVEDASH, and Bring Me The Horizon. These are some of the artists (or whose albums) you can expect to see in the near future. The only artists that I’ve been having second thoughts about charting are those who make the really chill Progressive House type stuff. Think Lane 8, Jerro, Sultan + Shepard, anything on This Never Happened, Anjunadeep, etc, etc. I don’t trust myself to make them fun and not repetitive, but I think I will try my hand at such charts again soon, given how both Shatter and the From Here Remix were received.

Alright, now let’s finish up. Of your charts, are there any that you’re particularly proud of? Which one was the most fun for you to chart?

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Honestly, I’m pretty proud of all my charts, because I feel like I put a lot of effort into making sure that a chart is fun to play. ATAMA WARUI is my most difficult chart to date, I think; the only other 60+ I have is the Machinegun Psystyle collab with Kali. Quite a few weren’t happy with how the Extratone section was charted but I absolute[ly] loved it, along with the rest of the chart.

Beyond that, I’m pretty proud of how my recent singles have been turning out. Driving Thru the Night Remix, Fix It, Uebok Remix, Last Summer, etc. They all were charted quite quickly and turned out extremely well. However, if you had a gun to my head and asked me to pick which one I thought was my best, I wouldn’t be able to give you an answer because I just like how every single chart turned out. I always make sure that I truly enjoy playing a chart before I show it to everyone else.

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Any charts that you consider your favourite, or any that you feel got overlooked?

I’m gonna assume that I can talk about my own charts here as well, cause my Last Christmas Remix chart was something I really loved; both because of San Holo’s take on the original as well as how I charted it, but [it] ended up being my least played chart on my profile. When I look at others’ charts, Pick’s Thanos Beatbox chart was something that I really enjoyed playing. Many of smb’s stuff got overlooked due to the sheer speed he was uploading charts. Another who’s had great charts recently but are unfortunately quite underplayed are Konomi’s stuff. I can’t really think of a specific chart that I really like because I never go back to play charts. Even if I did, I have so many downloaded I’m bound to miss a few good ones anyway.

Anything that you have to say about the SpinShare community?

This community consists of some of the most chaotic people I know and it’s just really endearing. The past few months since knowing y’all has been great and I’m really grateful for being accepted into the community like this. ps. I’m also questioning everything about myself because of yall and i hate this

Any advice that you’d like to give for charters?

Right, this might end up being a pretty long one.

Number 1:

Don’t be afraid to ask anything, and I truly mean anything, no matter how stupid it sounds. We are open to new charters and anytime a new one comes along we try our best to help them. This leads me to number 2, which is that[…]

Number 2:

[…]If you do ask in a place like #charter-discussion, please don’t get discouraged if no one replies. One thing I’ve noticed is that people just tend to assume others will answer, and sometimes it ends up resulting in no one answering. Another thing that can help you is to not ask open-ended questions. Stuff like “can anyone take a look at my chart?” will almost always end up being ignored for the reason stated earlier. Take videos of specific parts. Ask people directly (obviously some people won’t take too kindly to being spammed privately or via tags so please don’t overdo it either). Make sure you get a reply.

There’s no way you can get better if you don’t know how to do it, and there’s no way to know how to do it unless you ask around. Charting standards aren’t set in stone or anything, so there isn’t a definitive document you can look at, or a program that you can use that will make your charts 100% polished. All that currently exists are quite out of date, so you are better off asking people directly. Hell, if you aren’t comfortable with reaching out to strangers, you can always reach out to me. I, along with many others, know how it feels in the beginning when you’re trying to chart for the first time.

Number 3:

Please be open to suggestions. You’re not gonna get anything done if you just disagree with anything that the person trying to help you is saying. It’s incredibly counterproductive.

Number 4:

Just have fun with it. It is quite literally just a game and in the end, you need to have the mindset that you’re charting for yourself, not others. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a terrible place mentally and no one wants that.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

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