That being said: I feel asleep to a cassette tape of Enigma 2 - Cross of Changes almost every night from about Kindergarten to 2nd grade. My mom/step-dad are also really into shamanism and took me to sweat lodges all the time as a kid. So hand-drums and chanting are kind of burned into my brain and have been from an early age. I also used to be really into that medieval folky stuff that came out of the goth scene (think early Miranda Sex Garden/Medieval Baebes). And one of my all time favorite groups is Dead Can Dance, which -- Tool similarities aside -- was really more what I was going for.
I will honestly say I did seriously fight the urge to go full Enigma on this one and bust out the hand drums, synth pads, and sexy whispering...maybe in another fight just for giggles.
Slint is cool though, they're one of those groups that I'll return to once in a blue moon, listen to, enjoy the album, then promptly not listen to it again for another couple years.
I'll get the banjo out again soon!
Ha, called it! I wonder if you might like this band Al1CE, we played with them recently when they were on tour and I feel like they are kind of in that genre. Maybe too commercial/not quite medieval/dark enough for you, but check them out.
I forgot about Dead Can Dance! They were cool. I just fell down a brief Wikipedia rabbit hole looking at their page, and found that two of them met in Melbourne's little band scene started by... The Primitive Calculators, @crumpart's friend's band. Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, anyone?
and speaking of dark banjos and hand drums, I might go see my friends perform this original score for Koyanisqaatsi this Friday, I saw it when they recorded this session last year and thought it was great. Although some friend who heard it said it sounded like a Ken Burns documentary and that spoiled my feelings about it a little bit.
Ha! Awesome! I reckon @Æpplês&vØdkã would love the Calculators.
Also, reflecting what @gizo said, your reviews are fantastic and very helpful, and welcome any time. I’m aiming to one day know enough about writing songs that my own reviews will get better.
Ha - I wasn’t sure anyone was reading those! They were just the little stories that played out in my head while listening to each of those tracks. I enjoyed that review process but agree they’re not particularly helpful.
Ha - I wasn’t sure anyone was reading those! They were just the little stories that played out in my head while listening to each of those tracks. I enjoyed that review process but agree they’re not particularly helpful.
Your song is lovely, thankyou for sharing it <3
I read them from my Whitney Houston Airbnb in Lisbon and thoroughly enjoyed them. Excellent holiday reading!
I’m aiming to one day know enough about writing songs that my own reviews will get better.
Just tell us what you liked and/or didn't like about the song. Even if it's vague. The more you do it, and the more you get helpful reviews on your own songs, the easier it gets.
Like I would have probably just gone straight to "If it was me..." without that extra 4-count in between those lines. But I'm notorious for cramming too many words into things so maybe don't listen to me.
I appreciate you letting me know how it worked (or didn't) for you. But I like the contrast between the four count spacing after the first two lines and the two count spacing between lines three and four. It's not a good thing if that spacing makes it feel draggy, though. Thank you for being specific, it helps greatly.
I appreciate you letting me know how it worked (or didn't) for you. But I like the contrast between the four count spacing after the first two lines and the two count spacing between lines three and four. It's not a good thing if that spacing makes it feel draggy, though. Thank you for being specific, it helps greatly.
I've discovered the best part about this site is getting feedback and the second best part is telling 'em all to go to hell when you disagree with it
FWIW I don't think it's necessarily specifically that the gaps make it feel draggy, so much as the whole package gives it a more simplistic feel than I would have preferred, and that was the first thing that occurred to me as a thing that could be adjusted. But you could look at meter within the lines, word choice, rhyme scheme, etc. if you do feel like changing it up.
Leppakron: Whoever is playing lead guitar needs to chill for a minute, they are just noodling nonstop, in a way that is fun for the person playing and really not fun for the listener, and it is SO distracting from the other stuff going on. It's not nearly as much as in "Hope Against Hope" (which, thank you for posting the chords for that btw, I may or may not get around to that cover one day) but they could maybe at least limit the noodling to just in between the vocal lines or something? Anyway, I like the other stuff going on, although it doesn't feel totally done, it does have a bit of that jam session feel. The chorus is memorable to me, more than many of the other entries. The bouncy staccato parts of the song are my favorite. Parts of this reminded me a little of the Beatles but I can't quite put my finger on which song I'm thinking of. It also reminds me of "Drive" by the Cars, hahaha. (I'm just going to say this about every song of yours now.)
Thanks, and thanks to everyone who reviewed the fight.
It turns out that the guitar noodling was recorded in the background of a live vocal track during our creative session, so there was no easy way to remove it from the mix.