Favorites in blue
David
Very well-behaved. Pretty and pleasant. I like that it's so simple and clear a statement. Perhaps a bit too simple for me. The rum-tummy-tummy-tum rhythm gets sort of old after a while. "My little fudge-catching girl?" I don't get that line. I'd like to hear more musical material from you. This seems like either a tiny keyhole glimpse into some great songs or else represents the most you can do. Nice job.
Hooray for: Straightforward, clear simple vision executed nicely
Boo for: Lack of musical variety
Liechty
Ouch, rap. I'm predisposed not to like this, because I rarely like rap. But the instrumentals are kind of neat. I like the contrast between the delicate winter kitten patches and their pretty chord progression vs. the big phat drums. This is a nice setup for a real song. I just never have patience for rap lyrics, they bug the crap outta me. I'd love to take the instrumentals and put a tune on top of them.
Hooray for: Pretty, delicate, winter kitten instrumentals
Boo for: Rap
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Idiot Kings
Reminds me very much of a terrific but semi-obscure band called the Boo Radleys. I like this a lot. At first listen I thought the vocals were mixed too low, but I changed my mind; this song is about the landscape, not the words. On third listen I decided I love the mix, though it's very pushy, could use some more space. Or at least, that's how I hear it. The chord progression and how the melody sits on it are very attractive. I like that strange wa-wa thing added on in the second verse. This song is unfinished. You've got two lovely verses with choruses, and then it stops. What a shame. I can hear a big instrumental verse, and then take me somewhere else. This sounds like a great 5 minute song. For some reason I also hear a trumpet ringing out above this mix at some point. Contender.
Hooray for: Nice spacey mix, pretty chords and tune
Boo for: Not finishing the song</font>
R Mosquito
Yikes, that lead guitar is WAY TOO LOUD. It drowns out a lot of the amusing-sounding dialog. Bummer. I miss a lot of the words because of that. What I can make out is funny, though. Haven't read any reviews, but I'm sure you must have heard Devo comparisons by now. I like your semi-spoken delivery a whole lot, and the whole song bops along in a fun way. Remix and you've got a real winner.
Hooray for: Lead vocal style, fun idea and boppy Devo-ness
Boo for: Way too loud guitar drowns out other stuff
Octothorpe
It's very simple: I can't understand the lyrics. Could you compress him? The volume in his track varies so much that mixing it in cleanly is almost impossible without compression. But the rest of the band sounds good. It seems more balanced than usual. I didn't know this was # until the vocals started. Take that for what it's worth to you, I don't mean it positive or negative, but I thought it might be a valuable comment somehow.
Hooray for: Nice clean band sound
Boo for: Poorly mixed vocal line
Noah McLaughlin
There are some pretty moments in here. I especially like the "You up on the catwalk" changes, and I like your instinct of adding the second voice there. That's a very catchy bit that I can hear myself umming to myself as I lay me down to sleep tonight. The guitar playing has a few boo-boos in there, that's a shame. The verse tune doesn't hold nearly enough interest for me, and your vocal delivery is too full of attempts at some sort of rock style and there's not enough attention paid to singing the right notes.
Hooray for: "You on the catwalk" part
Boo for: Lack of melodic interest, vocal performance
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Johnsonic feat. Bolio
Great groovy groove here. Some cool guitar work too. I like the amount of variety in the song in general. You know just when I'm ready for something else and you give it to me. Right at the end you pull some stuff out of the mix and the effect is like a breath of fresh air. I think that probably means it's an effect that you might want to have used more. Vocals mixed too low in the chorus, guitar solo too low in the break. Although I appreciate the energy in your vocals, you're off-key too often. It annoys me a little that the lyrics don't make any sense to me. But overall, the song works very well. Contender.
Hooray for: Slick, cool groove, musical variety, guitar playing
Boo for: A few little things here and there, lyrics</font>
Calfborg
I miss the weird Calfborg. You're enviably great at your apocalyptic, strange songs, and this song just doesn't hold any of the creativity I know you for. Since I know how talented you are, I'm going to let it rip here, so hang on: Vocals are off-key and not sung with enough stuff to make them interesting. The guitar is too plain and fuzzy and irritating, and the chord progression doesn't make enough musical sense to give the song a recognizable shape, and the two-note tune drives me to drink. Sorry, but I don't like this at all.
Hooray for: Trying to do something different
Boo for: Failing at it in just about every way
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redcar
The production wins the fight ands down. I'm not crazy about the whispering and the rhymes, but fortunately you get away from that pretty quickly, and I don't really mind that you gave it a shot. I like the epic number of musical ideas spread before me. It's suite for two pianos of course, but then what is?
All the pieces of this song are terrific. All told, it comes across like something of a medley of disconnected bits, but I suspect I'd get over that eventually. 1:32 thru 2:20 rocks very hard, and those great vocals over it are suh-weet. There's enough stuff going on here for 3 or 4 songs, but perhaps only for 2 or 3 good songs. Contender.
Hooray for: Production, vocals when sung, wealth of ideas
Boo for: Disjointed medley-ish feel, whispering</font>
Vapour Can Ideas
Huh? What a strange little ride. Very similar review to that for redcar (above). A strange medley of interesting stuff, that doesn't really add up to a "song", but instead feels like a medley. Most of the little pieces work quite well, so no complaints there, but it doesn't gel as a cohesive statement. I like all the funky percussion and the surprise shifts in tone.
Hooray for: All these ideas, good production, tremendous amount of creativity
Boo for: Inability to reign it all into a single song
theres another belated review up there too