yadda yadda yadda reviews
Antisoc: ack! no no no! stop that. Keys? Drum machine? Rap? Three strikes, you GOTS TO GO!
But was it all let out?
No, not at all let out.
Back Street Blumpkins II Men: I don't know what to make of this. Certainly not my style. Technically seems to be recorded, performed (except for out of key vocals) and mixed alright. I don't know if this is up to par for its genre. No grade. Rectum? Damn near killed 'em!
But was it all let out?
Yes, if we mean the disturbing bugaboos of your adolescent psyche. Freud would have a field day.
Gammamananarama: Programmed drums, no? Strike one. Keys? Stee-rike two. Certainly less well put together than the BSB2M in roughly the same genre, minus the chocolate starfishes and whatnot. Sorry dude, you just lost to the dude obsessed with the velvet goldmine.
But was it all let out?
I'm not sure there was much
it to let out.
Wait, Freud
DID have a field day. Fuck me running.
Zipline: Hooray, guitars, real drums. Is there too much echo/verb on the vocal or is that room noise? I might like the vocals down a little in the mix, but otherwise I'm kinda digging this. Great dual guitars, nicely panned. Great tracking, performance and mix. Composition is intriguing; it's nice to hear something this unpredictable, but it seems to move on its own internal logic. Definitely a keeper, worth a few more listens to sort it all out.
But was it all let out?
Sounds like Martyr was selling the vocals pretty hard, and Glenny demonstrates how us other guitaristas are bunch of wankers. Much, if not quite all, was let out. Bravo.
Melvin: Normally I live in mortal fear of Melvin's pop hooks, but coming after Zipline in my random order this week's Melvin seems like a bit of a letdown. Nice thick, wall of guitar (certainly not a complaint!), but perhaps not a lot of rhythmic or melodic interest. Vocals straying too much into the modern "alternative" Blink182, LinkinPark territory I so despise. Melvin proves mortal after all.
But was it all let out?
No, and given my expectations, I was all let down
Fart: What the hell is WRONG with you people! JeebusFlushingCrisisOnAPogoStick! Arrggh!!
But was it all let out?
Obvious joke withheld.
MC Eric B: Ick, Casiotone rhythm with fake irritating guitar patch. Automatic DQ. At least this is a bit more involved and more complex than your other stuff, which is sort of like being the world's tallest midget.
But was it all let out?
Nope.
Biharmonic Plus: Starts OK with a lazy guitar figure, which I liked, but damnitalltohell if it isn't programmed drum. I was hoping the vocals would settle into something like the Bats, but they sort of get lost pitchwise and stylistically. It sounds like you're one register higher than your range; you might be able to pull this off an octave lower? The doubled vocals just compound the problems, I think. The drum is killing me. The guitar work doesn't hold up for the entire song; I'd like to see it thicken up and do something else during at least part of the song. Recording seemed ok, mix was kinda inconsistent on levels [hint, turn the faders on the drums to 0%].
But was it all let out?
My rant on programmed drums? Yes, thank you, it was.
Jolly Roger: I find this kind of speed whatever really boring, so this isn't going to do it for me. The dronecore stuff doesn't either. Why the silly vocal effects? It seems deriguer these day for this kind of sludgy dark metalic stuff, and it seems cliche, tedious and worn-out.
But was it all let out?
No, it was safely by-the-numbers, metal style.
The Weakest Suit: Nice mid-60's pop groove, perhaps revisited by an 80's retro Paisley Underground type band such as Rain Parade. Nice guitar and bass. Drums need to come up a lot, IMO. Relative levels need work. Stereo image seems fairly biased to the guitar on the left; the bass or vocals probably needs to pull the right for balance and to keep them off each other, but the EQ seems to keep everything from fighting. Lyrics seem a bit pedestrian (the bits I'm picking up), but who listens anyhow?
But was it all let out?
Quite the opposite; this is rather tightly buttoned up.
Ben Foxworthy: There's a lot of clicking/pick-noise on the guitar, no? So distracting. Faster than your stereotypical HBoYaW, but it's dude singing and strumming open chords nonetheless, and I don't have much interest in that.
But was it all let out?
Not that I can tell.
Tam Lin Music: Technically well tracked, performed, and mixed, yet this holds no interest for me at all.
But was it all let out?
Nope, this was very Adult Contemporary.
Wages: I think I'm already on the record re:Grunge Ballads. Guitar is well played and recorded, albiet a bit distant. Not so bad, just not my thing.
But was it all let out?
No, and perhaps it should have been. The genre sort of begs for an over-the-top dude yodeling like a cat in heat, Chris Cornell with a belly full of bird-shot kind of coda.
signboy: Nicely played, tracked, and mixed. I don't know about the sleepy vocals. I think this would work a bit better with more sense of urgency and less constrained vocal delivery. You should be singing this like you just shot Chris Cornell in the belly with birdshot and hope nobody got your license plate. One of the better entries this week so far, though.
But was it all let out?
I wish it had been. Oh the missed potential.
Urban Mail: Better than most this week, if only because nothing played.
But was it all let out?
No. Perhaps letting out an MP3 would have helped?
db Collective: This could have been a nice groove if it could have brought out and defined the guitars better. As it is there seems to be a lot of mush in the low-mid frequencies. The vocals are too nice and controlled; give it some growl and loosen it up a bit and think this could be an effective cross-genre rock and soul piece. I liked this a lot better than I would expect given the vocal style.
But was it all let out?
If only.
Ham No Burger: Grunge Ballad. meh. Vocals are way too high in the mix during the first verse, and especially the chorus (by a factor of two, at least), but seem to settle into the mix better later in the song. Good performance and tracking on the backing. Composition and lyrics are fairly conventional. I just don't like stamping-it-out-by-the-numbers. Take a swig or two of what Zipline's been imbibing and you might have my interest.
But was it all let out?
In a word, "Not Particularly"
Renwick: This is missing a bass, no? It starts off sounding like it might be interesting, but the opening bit goes on way too long and repetitive. Once this gets going it veers into somewhat conventional mid-90's post-Nirvana "alternative" and seems like a stew of a lot of stock riffs and bridges.
But was it all let out?
I don't think so.
Hostess Mostess: Very earnest dude with a guitar. Very earnest double-tracked dude with a guitar. Ok, and a piano. And a electric piano or something. Somebody's been listening to
Smile. Well played, tracked, mixed. I can't say I particularly
like it, but I sure do respect it. You have overcome my cynical biases, damn you.
But was it all let out?
It's safe to say that an "it" of a very curious nature was let out. Lots, if not all.
Kill Me Sarah: Ixnay on the ogrammedpray umdrays, svp. There are parts of this I really like and others are really grating on me, such as that synth wash. The mix seems kind of disjointed in a way I can't fully pin down.
But was it all let out?
Survey SAYS: XXX [aaawww
]
The Hell Yeahs: For a straight-ahead girl-rocker, this is not bad, but the lo-fi engineering effect and deliberately bad vocal style pulls this too far into genre exercise for me. Well performed, otherwise.
But was it all let out?
Dude was rockin', chicky was squawking, so I'd say there wasn't much that
wasn't let out.
Destruction Enterprise: The world does not need another MC Eric B.
But was it all let out?
How about, "no", ok?
Ross Durand: Ok, look, it's 3:10 am and after 20 something songs I'm beginning to get sleepy and I know it sucks to be last in the randomly ordered line-up, but somebody's got to draw the short stick. Well played, tracked, mixed, I guess. It should be no surprise by now that this isn't my kind of thing. Nothing wrong with it on its own terms.
But was it all let out?
*yawn* Huh?
Zipline FTW!
Worthy Foes:
signboy, The Weakest Suit, Hostess Brand Mostesses (with cream filling),
dbCollective.
Melvin, Wages, Ross, Hell Yeahs take a Mulligan based on past work.
The rest of you should perhaps consider stamp collecting.
Bums of Portrero Love The Hand Puppets.
But to some, it is "the appearance of evil" or a symbol of evil, right or wrong. Of course I wasn't thinking that philosophically when I wrote the lyric, but I was thinking (if you could call it that) in the "bigoted" sense, for which I apologize. 
