Green Faces for four favorites/votes.
Barkley's So Called Need - I really dig the synth (is that a theramin?). Nice dirty guitar riffing too. Cool harmonies. Good one.
Berkeley Social Scene - Nice vocals. Cool drums. Nice seperated guitars as per usual with BSS. It's good but it doesn't grab me.
Caravan Ray - Very catchy, great rhythmic sytnh thing. Really cool layered vocals. I really like the focus of this one. It seems to know what it wants to do and does it well. There may not be many lyrics (not something that bothers me anyway) but they're pretty good/amusing. VOTE.
The Chandderandom Abyss - I like the atmosphere, kind of makes me want to do something with this kind of sound. I think something like this could be very effective with a good song underpinning it, but unfortunately that's not the case here.
The Chocolate Chips - I spent a decent amount of time on the instrumental part of this track but ended up having to rush the vocals to get it done in time. This is the first time I've used an augmented major 7th chord (G+Maj7 features prominently in the verses and in the outro) ... and I dig the 7/4 ending, I'm pretty happy with that part (maybe because there's no vocals) .. overall though I count this as a failed experiment.
Cookie Blue - Cool personality in the (very young sounding) vocals. How old are you? Seems to be mixed heavily to the left ... I'm waiting to hear if this is a set up for something interesting coming in on the right? (hmm.. gives me some neat ideas I might use on a future submission) ... Pretty good performance/song despite the subpar mix.
Foobar - Vocals are pretty good. Better than past Foobar submissions to my ears. I think the extremely deep bass that comes in (like a sub bass synth?) is probably a bit out of place in the context of this song and I find it a bit disconcerting.
JAN - I like this one a lot more than the "Her" JAN track. It has an intensity to it that pulls me into its world. It reminds me of Atari Teenage Riot at about half the tempo (which is nice because while I liked their approach in general - the insane tempos usually wore thin ... I like my chaotic madness at a slower tempo usually.) VOTE
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Jeff DeSantis - This seems pretty good for the style but I can't say it really draws me in. It seems kind of all at one level so there's nothing that really stands out. Maybe it's a bit overcompressed. Vocals could be more clear in the mix.
Ken's Super Duper Band - Nice sparkly guitar riff. Vocals could have a bit more sparkle though, they seem to lack energy in comparison. I like how each element in the mix is pretty clear, no claustrophobia here. Really cool synth solo; that's the highlight for me.
Klownhole - 13 minutes? I skipped ahead to 4, 7, and 10 minutes and it seemed like not much had changed up. I just don't have the patience/time to listen to a 13 minute song by a band that I don't already like (and which doesn't grab my interest in the first minute). I'm not sure many people do? (especially not these days.) But whatever, right? You might have a small audience with this kind of thing but maybe they're really into it.
The Magnetic Letters - Nice sweet tune. Has a bit of a 50s feel to it in a way, but not in a purely retro way, more subtle than that - I like it. Really nice harmonies. The song also reminds me of Crosby Stills & Nash a bit. VOTE.
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MMMC - There's potential here, really good vocal quality but it's all done too sloppily so it doesn't come off. The rap bit is not good and just doesn't fit.
New Image - Love the guitar riffing & the vocals (including the excellent harmonies.) Reminds me of The Who circa 1970. VOTE.
Paco del Stinko - Well done. I like the more acoustic type sound more than the heavy electric guitar sound I remember hearing from Paco del Stinko in the past.
Rio Mondo - There's some nice stuff going on here but the lo-fi production lets it down a bit and I don't like the talking vocal thing (or the later rap.) The chorus vocals aren't bad though.
Scott Gesser - I'd like to hear this sung by a pop starlet (Britney Spears/Ke$ha or someone like that) ... with the right production I can imagine it might work as a radio hit. I do find myself pulled into the track the longer I listen to it. It's got a cool melody and because there's not much to distract from the vocals I can focus on it. The drum sounds like Queen's We Will Rock You. Almost voted for this one, I think the song itself is really good but the performance isn't quite there.
