Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
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SweeneyToad
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by SweeneyToad »

jpnickolas wrote:
Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:51 am
SweeneyToad wrote:
Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:38 am
JP - I keep picturing a guy in a wizard robe singing this on stage and getting like really into it and it just seems like it would be a really entertaining spectacle to behold. Man I miss live shows. Bowling Score: Strike
If you ever get a chance to see Gloryhammer live, they are exactly this. They all dress up and will straight up have foam sword battles on stage. I really want to see Nekrogobikon live as well since I suspect they'll be similar.
That sounds awesome for sure. I love bands with that GWAR style stage show. When I used to live in Orlando, FL there was an awesome local band called Killer Robots! that would put on an amazing stage show as such, they would throw pool noodles out into the audience and when monsters would walk off stage into the crowd everyone would beat them senseless. I would have to say my all time favorite band for live performances in that style would be THE AQUABATS!!
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by mholland »

Thanks for the reviews!
sleepysilverdoor wrote:
Mon Mar 08, 2021 8:29 pm
Night Sky - I already made some comments, but you should seriously make more music like this and add saxophone to it. The timbre of your voice works well in this setting and the only thing this is missing is more of that saxophone. I think I recommended in my “listened to the songs on the way to work making quick comments during a bathroom break” post from earlier that you check out “Never Lose That Feeling” by Swervedriver because it’s a fantastic example of shoegaze meets saxophone that would probably be up your alley. I feel like all I do is recommend you stuff. But hey, that resulted in a hell of a morphine tribute so I should keep going, eh?
Thanks, and I really do appreciate your recommendations. For one thing, you gave me an excuse to build a quick and dirty slide bass, and I think my next two "proper" instrument builds are going to be a lap steel guitar and a Mark Sandman bass. I did listen to the Swervedriver song, and the sax is a bit atmospheric and buried for my tastes, but I guess that's the style. Anyway, I'm getting exposed to a lot of different stuff here, and that's kinda the point, right? In other words, yeah, keep it comin!
vowlvom wrote:
Tue Mar 09, 2021 5:40 am
Night Sky: the song sounds good (especially the twinkly keys), the sax sounds good, but when it switches from the vocal section into the sax section it feels like a different song to me, somehow. I know sax is your thing but I wonder if it could have been integrated as a spacy layer in the rest of the song rather than being a detached solo?
Yeah, I kinda wish I had spent more time composing this and had woven some sax parts throughout, but then again I often wish that, so nothing new there. At first I had planned to play the sustained chords on saxes and process the hell out of them, but I wasn't getting a good sound, so I went with synths and ran out of time to do more than a solo in the middle. Plus I had to spend the week listening to shoegaze since I had no idea what it was going in.
Night Sky is Sally on lyrics, Steve on drums, and Matt on the other stuff
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by shoehornTC »

Listened, enjoyed, was inspired, voted, read your comments. thank you!!

I could never write like Anton, or play the tambourine like Joel, or stare at my shoes with enough intensity. Just happy to play and create and learn from you'all.

The secret to my retro, classic sound is old cheap gear that just keeps "working". Bringing lofi into the 2020s!! turn it up!! :)
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by sleepysilverdoor »

shoehornTC wrote:
Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:43 am
Listened, enjoyed, was inspired, voted, read your comments. thank you!!

I could never write like Anton, or play the tambourine like Joel, or stare at my shoes with enough intensity. Just happy to play and create and learn from you'all.

The secret to my retro, classic sound is old cheap gear that just keeps "working". Bringing lofi into the 2020s!! turn it up!! :)
Heh, I'm glad I know the names you're referencing. BJM is one of those bands that is super hit or miss with me, but when Anton comes up with a good song, he REALLY comes up with a good one. I'd say Anemone is probably the strongest song they've ever done, which makes sense cause it's their most popular. I caught them on tour in either 2010 or 2011 when they were touring for "Who Killed Sgt Pepper?", and it was a wonderful show. They managed to get to an almost scary intensity when they launched into "Someplace Else Unknown"...which I hadn't heard yet. Maybe not their best lyrically, but sonically it was just killer. And yes, Joel was just standing there looking cool playing his tambourine the entire set.
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by mo »

Moody Vermin liner notes:

Due to a variety of circumstances, this was a song that was put together basically at the last minute, Evermind having the idea and the core tracking, and then I recorded a series of guitar layers, including eBow and slide, but everything with just a silly amount of effects. For me the challenge really was about how to have so many effects on, have them be different, knowing they're likely to clash, and do it in a way that felt artistically defensible and not just wankery. YMMV as to the success of that, but I was reasonably happy with Evermind's final mix there. Someone picked up on the Slint feel, which is very much in the wheelhouse for both Evermind and myself. Mostly I was thinking about Explosions in the Sky and weaving in a multitude of simple guitar parts. I feel like the end product is pretty early King Missile, sort of Zen rock koan if you will. Jesus was Way Cool, Sensitive Artist (I do basically quote that song every day), that kind of thing, but shoegazy and Evermindy.
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff wins!
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by gizo »

Woohoo Ken!! Super!
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Ken you believe it? Congrats to the super duper band!
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ken
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by ken »

I'm sorry, what now?

Wow. This track wouldn't have been 75% as good without Lunkhead. Thanks for everyone who voted for me. This is unexpected and very much appreciated!
Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff - Berkeley Social Scene - Tiny Robots - Seamus Collective - Semolina Pilchards - Cutie Pies - Explino! - Bravo Bros. - 2 from 14 - and more!

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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by jpnickolas »

I meant to post/finish these earlier in the week. Apologies to any band after mellfire, you all got a shorter/rushed review this morning.

Congrats Ken and Lunkhead! Excellent job!

Reviews:

Brother Banker:
I like this panning at the beginning. The soundscape in the intro really sets the foundation for the rest of the song. The slow driving drums make this feel so somber. The overlapping lines are fun. This feels tongue in cheek, with the epic sound juxtaposed with the trombone and petty lines near the end.

Brown Word and the Big Whine:
I like these lyrics a lot. The "I still use the same shampoo I used to sell in mommy magazines" is a delightfully pathetic mental image. The way the synths(?) set subtle movement between the chords is nice. I feel like I wanted a slow lead around the mid range for this song, although if I had my way I'd litter every song with more leads and solos - so I may be biased.

Cavedwellers:
I like how raw the acoustic guitar starts. It's a fun contrast against the more produced instruments that follow. The constant changes in instruments is keeping this very fresh to listen to, and I'm jealous of your ability to put together/play drums. Honestly, I'm jealous of your voice as well. This was really good. Some timing slips early in the lead near the beginning, but overall very forgivable.

CazaroTaro:
Have you ever played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? I don't know what it is about your instrumentation in the pre-verse, but it brings me right back to walking through the mall in that game. I don't mean that as "this is crappy mall background music, just a notch above elevator music" but as "man, something about the chime of this is giving me a ratatouille style flashback moment". Anyways, back to the review. Ok, actually, not back to the review. I want to go loop this pre-verse and go rollerblade down by the beach with a cassette player and live my 90's fantasy. There, now I'm done. This feels well mixed, and I love how soaked in reverb it is. The keys mesh wonderfully with whatever that rhythm instrument is (guitar? more keys?). And of course, I adore your pre-verse.

Duncan Martin:
I like the whistle outro, and it gives us some nice lightheartedness which matches your lyrics. Unfortunately, the whistling is way too low in the mix. Honestly, a lot of your rhythm section was too quiet as well. I think the verses are a bit free-form, which can work and give some good Pink Floyd vibes, but is hurt by the lyrics being squeezed into these tight sections. Note, the chorus doesn't suffer from this problem and sounds great. Probably having a second verse where you could spread these lyrics across could help, especially if it had a more defined melody for your "looser" verse to contrast with.

Heine:
Big intro! Goes from blue's clue's to renaissance festival fast. I like the stiltedness of the early verses. Nitpick: your vocals don't seem to be trying to be as stoccato as the rhythm there, but are getting pulled hard by the rhythm of the keys. Potentially doubling the vocals or dropping the initial velocity on the keys could help - although this may have been an intentional choice. I REALLY like how the climax goes into the intro strings! The key interlude, although good sounding, felt like a bit too much instrumental in a row. It may have shined better in between another of the two stanzas.

Hot Pink Halo:
You win this week's "best take on the prompt" this week. Whatever effect you've got on the guitar/synth(?) really adds great texture and discord in the background as the song progresses. I love that the *woozshes* are all in time and emphasize a lot of your "go go go"'s. Damn, I was not ready for this to be a round. The way these melodies intertwine is awesome. For sure the winner this week.

JP Nickolas:
I just got a new guitar (Variax) and it has a 12 string mode, so I spent a ton of time playing the Diablo 2 theme. So much so that I found out Diablo 4 had just released a very epic looking trailer. I wanted to try to work some of that into this week's song. I borrowed a lot of motifs and chord shapes from the Diablo 2 theme for this one, and I'm really happy with how it came out. But man, this one was really pulling teeth to get it together, despite having the backing guitar written and recorded on day 1. This is the first time I've been happy with my vocals, which is really nice. Not sure exactly what I changed, but hopefully I'll be able to keep it up for future songs. I hate hate hate hate this bridge/solo, and was born out of salvaged recordings. I was too exhausted to write/record a better one, but it definitely physically hurts when I hear it. Having a longer bridge I could incorporate a verse into would be better. Happy with how the strings came out, although it was very time consuming to record/touch up them. Hopefully I can improve and cut some time down with that in the future.

Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff:
Nice lead off the bat! Good ear-feel on it. I love how the guitars build up on themselves and crescendo into that into riff. The first line of the chorus feels a bit low energy in the vocals compared to the rest, although I don't think it hurts the overall song. Good job! (note from future Nick: congrats on winning this week!).

The Late Heavy Bombardment:
I love whatever chords are going on in this chorus. The keys coming in give a great contrast to what I thought would just be a guitar+vocals song. The lack of drums really works here, and I think this would have hit less hard if they'd been added. It's interesting, I hadn't thought about how removing drums could add more to the song. Also a really good contender for the win.

Magnetic Letters:
I like the story this one tells. The long lines of lyrics with few/odd breaks reminds me of how a kid would tell a story, which thematically fits. Especially in the bridge that goes longer than expected. The reverb is really grabbing onto your S's here, which is a bit distracting. Fixing something like that is out of my wheelhouse when it comes to mixing, but maybe the other reviews have some advice.

Mellfire:
I'll plus one the others in saying "storm in a teacup" is an adorable mental image for a kid. I'm having trouble finding anything bad with this song, but also having trouble latching onto any sections. I think the issue is that this song starts at a 7/10 energy, and never goes up or down. Just a very consistent feel with a chorus that's a 7.1/10. I think having more peaks and valleys (something I personally struggle with a lot) would make this song shine. Otherwise, if you stopped me at any point in the track and asked my thoughts, they would be "can't complain". Which, btw, is a great foundation to be at and a sign of good work... I'm just selfish and want more :)

Moody Vermin:
Oh, nice stoner rock vibe. As the backing sound gets louder through the song, the vocal effect starts to make the lyrics hard to understand (luckily I was following along in the archive). Kinda like when a subway announcer speaks through the intercom. The lyrics are bleak in a hard hitting way, and I like the contrast of "I could smoke cigarettes but not eat twinkies".

Night Sky:
Oh, I like this effect at the beginning. Very nice whooshes. Oh man, the reverb and delay on the sax is awesome! I feel like I'm drifing into the night sky (ayyyy ☜(゚ヮ゚☜)). I think all the background notes and twinkles really make this track sparkle. Good job!

Nomb Superbus:
Dissonant! Oh damn, hearing "Natick Mall" just shot me with the weirdest hit of nostalgia. I'm from New Hampshire (currently living on the west coast), and it's just one of those words/phrases that I didn't realize was dropped from my lexicon until now. Anyways, back to reviewing the song... The intro guitar pattern is interesting. I like how it leads into the very rugrats sounding keys. This feels creepy, like if it had a music video, that it woule be mannequin heavy. I think I've changed my mind. This feels like what you'd get if you played the Animal Crossing theme backwards. I like how it leans into the weirdness, and very nicely transitions between the sections.

Phlebia:
Getting those headbops right off the back Lots of noise here. I think Phlebia vocals were a harder taste for me to acquire than SweeneyToad vocals, but I like these ones for sure. I'll need to listen back on some past fights to see if this one's exceptionally different or if something just clicked in my lizard brain that says "this is good now". A similar thing happened when I started liking screams in metal, so who knows. But either way, this one's real good. I like whatever guitar riff comes in at 1:10. I'm impressed at how this just keeps building up. It's a bit on the longer end, but definitely never gets boring.

ShoehornTC:
Ok, so whatever chord you play at 1:08, I want it. I want to steal it and sprinkle it everywhere. I love the way I think the progression is going to resolve then BAM, sad chord! I think that's a bit more emblematic of this style, but man it doesn't show up in any of the music I normally listen to. Oh nice, other reviews I think also mention "the note", or maybe I'm latching onto a different one. Either way, good tune and great guitar tones. I dig it!

Sly Eli:
Oh damn, that noise shocked me a bit at the beginning. I dig all these synth notes at the beginning. The "cash register opening" sound at 2:50 (and elsewhere) is a bit harsh for my ears. Curious what show/book this song is referencing, although I get the gist from the lyrics. This one is fun, and I appreciate how somewhat robotic the vocals are to match the narrator (very few notes/inflections changing mid word). Great ambiance as well!

Sumner Sloane
Very pretty piano bits. That guitar at 1:30 comes in very hard, potentially starting with some feedback or a note that gets slowly louder would help ease into this. Or just bringing down the whole section in volume. Sounds like you're peaking a few times in this guitar section as well. Would have been nice to have some lyrics there as well, and some interplay between the piano and guitar, since as this stands it feels like two adjacent shot songs. That being said, each short song sounds good and holds on its own.

Sweeney Toad:
I always smile when I see Sweeney Toad comes on - at first it was delight from the name, but now I know it means I'm about to go on a journey with at least one chuckle. This is no exception. The cabbage patch doll is especially fun. Was that cut from a show, or an original recording from you?

Thieves of Reason:
Reminds me of the SuperHot game theme song in how it feels like the lyrics get out of sync (intentionally) with the music. Pretty repetitive piece, though. Fun idea, but lost my attention fast.

Vowl Sounds:
I like the rhyming here (1989, Divine, Calvin Klein). Vocals are really good here - is that owl? Everything here feels well done. Very chill. Guitar riffs are fun and interesting. I'm impressed at how well you're able to tell this story with so few lyrics, it doesn't feel like any word here is filler.
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SweeneyToad
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by SweeneyToad »

jpnickolas wrote:
Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:18 pm
The cabbage patch doll is especially fun. Was that cut from a show, or an original recording from you?

Original recording! I was trying to emulate an 80s sitcom of some sort lol
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by jpnickolas »

Nice! You really nailed that! I googled the lines in case it was part of an old stand up routine.
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by crumpart »

jpnickolas wrote:
Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:18 pm
Hot Pink Halo:
You win this week's "best take on the prompt" this week. Whatever effect you've got on the guitar/synth(?) really adds great texture and discord in the background as the song progresses. I love that the *woozshes* are all in time and emphasize a lot of your "go go go"'s. Damn, I was not ready for this to be a round. The way these melodies intertwine is awesome. For sure the winner this week.
Aw, thanks! There's a tiny little bit of electric piano I think, but apart from that it's about nine tracks of guitars (three different ones: Mustang, Telecaster and an old Yamaha with a floating bridge/whammy bar) through real pedals plugged in through the amp sims in logic. I borrowed Toshiro's pedal board, and it has a Strymon El Capistan d'Tape Echo, Boss Tremolo, Boss Chorus, Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress, MXR Phase 90, Keeley 1962x distortion, Fulltone OCD Overdrive, a Big Muff Fuzz and a wah pedal. I also ran the bass through the Big Muff. The goal was to use everything on the board at some point.

I'm a little shocked we don't own a reverb pedal.
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Re: Pictures from when (I Was A Child Model reviews)

Post by crumpart »

Anyway, congrats Ken/Lunkhead!

I didn't get around to writing reviews this week, but it was such a strong round that I ended up using lyrics as my decider in who I'd vote for. On that note, special shout out to The Magnetic Letters. What a story.
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