Cowell's Beach Bikini Alert (one beautiful summer reviews)

thehipcola · Post by **thehipcola** » Fri May 20, 2005 11:41 am

and for my last non-review post in this review thread...Ween's recent Live in Chicago DVD...well, it R'sTFO. BIG TIME.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Sun May 22, 2005 10:22 pm

Ants (Invisible)
Oooh, spooky. I like how the melody/harmony move over the chords. I especially like the part after "a la lay", etc. to the end. Could be the theme for a Tim Burton movie or something, it has a cinematic quality to it.

Baron Von Smith
It might be cool if the piano had a little more low frequency punch to it. Hm, the bass could use a bit more of that, too. I guess I want to feel it more and hear it a touch less. I like the song, like the chords and melodies, etc. It's maybe too synthesized for me. Catchy melody, though (the one in the intro, etc.).

Blake Walker
The style of the song seems like a showtune to me, but with a Casio accompaniment. I like the harmony vox in the chorus. And in the outro, where they're a bit Muppet-y. The lyrics are ok, too. I don't have any suggestions for improvement, I guess.

Deshead
Good dynamics in this song. Catchy chorus, I like the guitar riff at the end. Nice harmonies. I like the "you the boat and me" part. It's weird, I enjoy your songs in spite of the fact that they are in a style that I normally don't like at all. Anyway, another well written and recorded piece.

Double Team Techno Dream
This is me and Erin from Loyalty Day. We didn't have as much time to work on this as I hoped we would but I think it turned out OK. I wish it were all as exciting to me as the outro. The bridge especially needs something added to it.

Gareth Duncan
I think the intro is a little long. The verse is somewhat generic jam rock. The chorus doesn't veer much away from that style, either. Still there through the musical interlude. This song is fine but not a genre I'm into because I've heard a million billion songs in that genre. I'll try to provide a constructive criticism, though: I don't think the harmony vox changing to sing in unison at the end of the chorus line works that well, it might be better to just drop the harmony vox track there.

Manhattan Glutton
Starts out threatening to be generic neo-punk. The "uptown" part and afterward head a little more toward retro hair-metal, which is a little more entertaining to me. This could really use some drums... Whoa, trippy spoken word part, which I'm not very into, and might be better off sung somehow. The chorus vox would be pretty sweet transposed up an octave, and with more volume/intensity.

Matthan Minster
Does that opening chord progression sound like a Police song to anybody else? [Edit: Invisible Sun?] Anyway I like the sound in this once it gets going. You almost sound a bit like JB during the harmony part. Yeah, that distorted guitar isn't meshing very well. The "beautiful summer" part near the end borders a bit on melodrama... I like the single-tap delay though. The ending seems a little loose.

The Meanness
Is that Caravan Ray singing? I can't quite tell who it is but it sounds familiar. Those are some long pauses. The non-pauses don't really have so much energy that they slam into me the way I want them too after the pauses, though. I'm not really into this, it's a little to a-musical for me.

X Tokyo etc.
Ugh, those vocals are whiny and lame. It's like bad poetry slam or something. Yeah, this does nothing for me, sorry. I don't care to hear what this person is saying, and that's about all that's trying to get my attention in this piece, so I'm moving on...

I think my top 2 are Deshead followed by Matthan Minster.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:46 am

Lunkhead wrote:The Meanness
Is that Caravan Ray singing?

No - but I'd happily claim it. I like it

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Mon May 23, 2005 6:10 am

Reviews:
(In order of decreasing merit with a quantitative assessment based on an arbitrary scale of 1 to 10)

9
Baron Von Smith
Excellent, albeit a tad Radioheadish. Love the piano and good vocals. Good song

8.5
The Meanness
I’m thinking Nine Inch Nails – but I’m also thinking I like this - a pretty good effort. I like the pauses – builds up nice tension. Good vocals. Enjoyable

8.4
Double Team Techno Dream
I like this a lot. Reminds me of The Clouds (or any one of a whole heap of other bands playing around Sydney pubs in the mid-to-late eighties). Like the vocals

8
Matthan Minster
Starts off a bit poncey – but I love the lead guitar, that really makes the song. I’d love to hear you take it further and have the whole thing break down into a Sonic Youth-style ear-bleeding noise-fest

7
Blake Walker
Not bad – like the Nintendo sounds – lyrics suck – but not bad

6
Deshead
Great voice – but the chorus sounds a bit like an 80’s hair-band

5
Gareth Duncan
Lacks energy and sound a bit paint-by-numbers. I’ve heard you do better.

4
Ants (Invisible)
Nice to hear something different – but I don’t like it. It’s not you, it’s me

3
Manhattan Glutton
Sounds like Weezer but without the hooks. I don’t like it

2
X Tokyo River Gods
This is pretty shithouse

I'll vote for the Baron

gduncan · Post by **gduncan** » Mon May 23, 2005 7:53 am

Ants (Invisible) - the plucked strings remind me of Enya. I like the distant marching sound of the drum and atmospheric bell toning. The different vocal lines mesh together nicely but I'm having some trouble picking out what your singing, which makes it difficult to get a handle on the song. After the song finishes I think 'that was nice' but I don't remember why. Maybe there is just too much going on for something to hook me in. I noticed a little distortion on the right channel at around 0.23 when the second vocal comes in, sounds like you overloaded a bus. Overall good and the change to the softer ending with the harpsichord playing was my favourite bit.

Baron Von Smith - I don't think that really overloaded guitar sound fits with the piano, they don't sit together well. The soft singing in the verse is a good contrast to the loud chorus. You've got some nice use of dynamics but you need to EQ the different instruments in the loud sections, so they each have there own range, as it sounds too much like a barrage of waring frequencies. I'm not a fan of the piano sound but it does the job. I doubt you've got a nice acoustic piano that you can record. Overall not bad but it didn't grab me.

Blake Walker - this style of pop just doesn't interest me, sorry. It reminds me of mobile phone jingles which drive me a bit nuts.

Deshead - this is pretty. The chorus is really catchy but I'm not so keen on the verse. It kinda feels like you were just coasting in the verse waiting for the chorus. As usual the production is excellent. Unfortunately every song you do will be compared, by me, to your Wrath Of God, which I love. Although Wrath Of God sounds a little rougher, it also sounds like you meant it more. This is still a good song though.

Double Team Techno Dream - the singing on this is good. The style of the song is too sugary sweet for my tastes though. It reminds me a bit of David Gray because of the style of the electronic drumming. When the guitar comes in the mix suffers somewhat and you loose some of the seperation you had before. Some EQuing would sort that out though.

Manhattan Glutton - you suffer for not having drumming on this track. This style of rock needs a pounding rhythm section. You could try using some drum loops. The vocals are mixed too high and the distortion sound on the guitar isn't great. Not a bad effort, I think most of the problems are probably due to the limitations of the equipment available to you. The singing does sound restrained though, like you want to yell but your lacking a bit of confidence. That'll come if you just give it a go.

Matthan Minster - the 'pain I have found' melody reminds me of another song that I can't quite place. Something by the beatles. This song is very chilled out. A little bit too chilled out for me.

The Meannes - you've gone for a very disjointed feel in this song that doesn't really work. The arrangement of all the different parts is interesting.

x-tokyo-river-god - sounds like a Brian Eno soundscape type of thing. Weird but for some reason I do like it. The lyrics aren't great but then I shouldn't talk.

Cheers,

Gareth.

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Mon May 23, 2005 10:31 am

Some good tunes here. A good fight to sit back and work to.

Mathew Minster... you stood out for me. I'm not sure if my vote will count, but it's going your way.

I really dug that tune.

Matthan · Post by **Matthan** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:13 pm

thanks a lot dude.