by joshw » Tue Nov 16, 2004 12:43 pm
A Different Monkey (7, 7, 7)
Interesting lo-fi-ness to the intro, decent groove. It's taking awhile to get the song kicked off, though. The acoustic guitar solo in the intro seems unneccesary. This is ok, but the i-VII progression of the verse is a little boring. The chorus is cool, though. It goes on a little long, though. Rather than Intro-Verse-Chorus for the structure, which doesn't really take me on much of a trip, I'd rather hear something a little more conventional, personally.
Andre WHAM (6, 5, 6)
I know you probably are trying to make this your "style", but it sounds like you just plain don't care. There are spots here where the beat actually vaguely meshes, but as a whole there's nothing of interest here.
Anonymous Musings
Lame.
Bell Green (7, 7, 7)
Nice vibe. The beat drags a bit. The mix is compressed way too hard - the loud notes pump the sound. Nice drumming. Each part seems to be played well, but they seem to have trouble meshing. Seems like it was begging for a click track. The vibe on the chorus is neat. At 3:30, I was hoping for a huge massive explosion. The bridge here doesn't really break the monotony of the song. I'd love to hear this redone in under 4 minutes with a big bridge to add interest.
Bjam! (6, 7, 7)
You need ID3 tags - it says you're "The Author", which is a pretty swanky artist name, but hey. :) The song is quite good. The presentation is lacking. The twangy electric tone doesn't do much for me, and since the acoustic driving the song is panned hard right, it makes it feel a little inbalanced. The vocals are overall good, though a few parts seem a little "oversung" - loosening up would add something here. I get the feeling that the chorus of this one is going to be the one that gets stuck in my head. There's not a lot of movement here, but for a two minute song, there doesn't really need to be. The bridge is perfect. Good song!
Creep (6, 6, 6)
Despite the odd mix with very loud vocals, this has a fun feel. Nice chord changeup in the chorus. The song itself is fairly good, but the performance and production really don't do it justice. The second verse/chorus repetition didn't add anything to the first. The pseudo-rap doesn't do much for me, the flow is too slow to make an impact.
Deshead (7, 8, 9)
I like the sound of this. Full and melodic. The verse was good, but the chorus is great. I love how the beat kicks up. This is excellent. The mix is lacking in highs fairly massively. It sounds like the acoustics are plugged in, but that might just be the missing treble. Great harmonies. Love the piano. The building during the solo is great - I would have liked to hear it go a little more. As soon as it really hit a huge energy, it stopped. Abrupt ending. Awesome song, probable vote.
FWC (7, 7, 7)
Interesting intro, I think I like it. I was hoping for a double-time verse. The trick is wearing a little thin by the part that starts at 1:05ish. When little changes at 1:30, I get a little fatigued. I'm hoping for a fun double-time beat to come in and lift this to new heights. The delivery on "beneath your bed" bothered me. The changeup at 2:50 wasn't what I was hoping for, but is still nice. Love the 80's rimshot sample. :) Some clipping starts at 3:33 with the loud drum. Mix lacks treble. I like how the synths stack up on each other around 3:50 towards the ending. Excellent ending. Would have been a possible vote with a beat.
Glenn Case (6, 7, 8)
The first line lost me until you hit the b2nd chord. Great part at :25. Nice chorus BG vocals. The vox are really buried in the mix and I really can't understand them, which is too bad because the 60s garage feel of the rest of the mix is excellent (though the guitars are a little thin). Love the bridge-type-thing leading into the solo. Even the fuzz-o-matic solo was quite nice, and I don't usually like solos. Short and sweet. Abrupt ending. Would have been possible vote without Deshead. :)
HeuristicsInc (7, ?, 6)
The 128kbps encoding rate is really making this suffer, there are artifacts all over the place, and the highs that are so important to this mix are gone. The music here is really interesting, but the vocals are doing zero for me. Actually, they're doing negative.. this song would be a lot more enjoyable without them. Love the fake guitars, though!
Jake Holmes (8, 8, 8)
Kinda interesting with the synths that remind me of various bodily functions. I find myself wondering if there's going to be a... what's it called... a song? Interesting toss-up. :) The acoustic part is quite pretty and a nice contrast to the insanity. Nice Willie Nelson feel. The fact that this is tongue-in-cheek makes it even better. Actually, great guitar playing. It's a little avant-garde for my tastes, but I really like it for some reason.
Kapitano (7, 6, 6)
The rapping is fairly bland. The music is kinda interesting. I like the part at :55. This isn't bad, but it's not really triggering anything in me for some reason.
Ken's SDBAS (7, 7, 8)
Nice Grandaddy-esque synths. The arrangement is growing on my by the minute mark. I'm curious what you're going to do because you seem to be at "10" on the volume spectrum from the start. Some big drums kicking in around 1:40 would be cool, but there's not room for that. The moogy solo is great, though. I really like the song, but I wish the arrangement would take me somewhere. It's just too much of the same thing.
The Likely Lads (6, 6, 6)
The vocals are disturbingly "close". Wow, I hope this is tongue-in-cheek. The verse wasn't great, but the 50s quality of the chorus is fun. Overall, not my thing. But hey, you got a score of 666, which is pretty cool.
Mccullochslashcarlier (6, 7, 6)
This is fairly bland. The delivery on "back lane" was disturbingly Cashpointesque. This is completely pleasant and inoffensive, but pretty much devoid of feeling.
The Motor Monkeys (7, 8, 7)
-1000 points for plugged in acoustics. The intro has me a little bored, but the interesting voice in the verse buys you some time. Nice strings at :45. Love the pre-chorus drum fill for some reason. Retro toms. :) Nice twinkley chimes. The song itself isn't especially interesting, but you're doing a great job of keeping me entertained with ear candy. Actually, the song is growing on me by the second chorus. It does go on a bit long, though. This might improve with age. Pretty ending.
Poor June (6, 6, 6)
Every song I've ever heard from you needs more treble. As in, a whole whole lot more. Most of the instruments sound like they're coming from another room. I like the dissonant tin whistle thing, or whatever that is. The performance is better than average for you. You're finding that detached but still in-tune delivery. By the two minute mark, I'm getting bored. Too repetitive without any big suprises. You need to either economize the length of the song or add interest.
Rockin Oxen
It'll take a lot to recover from the hopelessly bland acoustic riff in the intro. And... nope.
Sober (6, 7, 7)
Long time no see. Something's really troubled with this mix - the bass is boomy and there's some sort of distortion going on. Great harmonies as usual. Some interesting chord changes, but by the minute mark I'm not getting into this. Great accordion (again, as usual). :) Ok, the speedup at 1:30 is giving this new life. I wish it hadn't stopped for a moment before going into the next verse - it lost some momentum. Still, the energy is much better now. The overlapping solos get cluttered. Something's keeping this song from being everything it could, but I don't know what. This has an Asylum Street Spankers feel.
Southwest Static (8, 8, 7)
Excellent intro. Mix is lacking treble. The vocals need to be more upfront. The verse and pre-chorus are a little bland, but if the chorus kicks up an octave and lots of energy, you'll be set. Hmm.. at 1:28, it feels like an "insert chorus vocals here" thing, which is too bad because that would have really helped. There's the missing chorus again. Was that accidental? It really feels like a glaring ommission. Add a soaring chorus melody and you'd have one of the best songs I've heard here.
Wreckdom
Uhhh.. no.
And Deshead it is. :)