IAAC. WAIL.
Reviewed in a hotel room in upstate new York, streaming on a blackberry (no headphones and on a patchy internet connection) – so that’s why my review may not sound like your song at all
Adam Adamant – Good story. Cute song. Harmonies at end are horrible and unnecessary.
Balance Lost – Love the little musical evolutions throughout the song, like the morse code synth. Subtle, perhaps not the earworm I thought was going to be.
Boffo Yox Dudes – Brave choice and you almost pull it off. Not sure all the different tones in the voices don’t distract from the impact of the song, but they’re all good.
Carlo Bruno Jr – Ooooh, proggy. Good if obvious use of the gunshot percussion. Quite strong melody here and demonic BVs for the win. A little repetitive.
Cave Dwellers – lovely vocal. The “8-bit” start was great and I wanted a bit more of that. Overall, it’s a bonkers, lacking in focus.
Chokehold Princess – ugly a capella! Cute offering but if you don’t get the joke / find it funny there’s nothing else here so I can’t rate too highly.
Dani House – prejudice against country blues rock. Well done enough to count as pastiche, of Beck or someone like that. Not moved by it much though.
DJ Ranger Den. Apart from being QUIET, that’s some lovely soundscaping, creepy and moodfull. Great stuff.
Frankie Big Face – Sounds great. Clever but not clever-clever message song. Lacking some of the touches I expect from FBF, but a good solid catchy tune and a great lyric. “Heston/Vest on” made me think of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWa3ouFWwJs
Government Dynamics – Up-tempo bounciness, constructed skilfully but a little unengaging despite the big Killers / Springsteen feel going on. Lots of cool bits, mind – I like the “I was too late” refrain, for instance.
Inflatable Vegetables – everything wrong here yet it somehow works. The mix off , the sounds like a sample vocals are bit dumb, yet I like it. Wish the drums were lot louder. Angry gunshots work some places better than others. Overall hmmmmm
Jon Eric – Simpering vocal and inappropriate drum programming drg down a good story. Some of the rhymes are clunky. Feels like lyrically showing off a little too much which jerks me out of the moment once too often.
Ken Mahru – Did you just rhyme “comes / guns / drums”? Despite that, it’s a catchy chorus.Could do with some contrapuntal harmonies to offset the rigid direction of the song. Awesome Moog-y solo. I like this.
Manhattan Glutton – Hey, I liked grunge too but I don’t feel the need to pastiche it ll the time So basically the chorus is the verse with louder guitars. This goes nowhere nicely.
Merisan – opening sample too long, dynamically. Nicely done, a little easy. Classical guitar is lovely. I come away with one strange impression – if Leonard Cohen recorded this, I would have loved it. Take from that what you will!
Paco del Stinko – I hate sensitive shit Kind of works for me, mind – more Stan Ridgeway than Johnny Cash, though. Hammering home the challenge much? The last 30 seconds of this works for me the best. Hmmmm
Rabid Garfunkel – good opening! Another guns/comes rhyme? The track could do with being MUCH louder. Not huge amount here, sadly. It feels like a sketch, half an arresting song.
Ross Durand – totally predictable but all sounds so sweet I don’t really mind too much. I’ve given up hope for a kazoo solo half way through. You do what you do and do it well.
ROTR – That first 30 seconds is wonderful. Who doesn’t love the Stooges? But there is something lazy here which I find annoying – maybe it’s pretending not to own a good microphone.
Sky Pup – oh dear, this lyric is a parody of itself. In the trenches, playing my guitar? Rhyming world and girl? Urk! Otherwise pretty standard G’n’G. Your gunshots sound like fireworks. War is bad, yeah, got that. Not bad, not good. A Hmmmm.
Tubba Gutz – Where’s the bass? A dance song you can’t dance to. A sexless, hateful, self-hating “will this do?” moment. Some great ideas in here, so it’s time to stop cocking about.
The Tydon Docks – Perky and handsome though the spoken word parts are a definite “no”. Skips along without me really noticing – overall it’s pretty, but that’s not meant entirely as a compliment.
The Various Artists – Another over-heavy use of gunshot sounds. The music I like. The mix on the vocals could be smoother. I don’t dislike this but I couldn’t say I liked it exactly.
Your Kid’s Dad’s Friend – The problem with comedy songs, I find, is if you don’t find them funny, nd there’s nothing else to hold the attention, you run the risk of coming across as unbearably smug. Which is where I end up with this song. I mean, everything is done well but at best it’s a ‘meh’ moment for me, because I just don’t find it amusing at all. Sorry.
Wreckdom – A great track, sleazy and groovy. I liked this a lot.