You Shake My Snake & You Rattle My Brain-Rattlesnake Reviews

[Spud]

I finally got around to listening to the songs I didn't get to due to accidentally closing the Opera tab I opened specifically to listen to the songs, and its a lot of effort to scroll up and down to see which ones you didn't listen to when you have to come back to the page, since they re-shuffle every time you open the page. But, anyway, it feels like I started these reviews two months ago even though it was like two weekends ago.

You know if you click on the cover art you get an alphabetical listing, right?

[Chadderandom]

I guess I've never really paid attention to the listings underneath when I've clicked to see the whole picture. But those totally are in alphabetical order. Huh.

[nyjm]

Ford's Theater Disaster - Least cool song on a new installment of Rough Trade Shops Rock-n-Roll compilation, it feels like I should be able to headbang to this but I don't think I can. There are sections of this that feel like they should sound different than they do, different from the rest of the song. I think maybe it was from mastering the whole song the same way instead of using different compression on different sections differently. Maybe this song would be cooler if it used the right compression for the right sections or maybe no compression on the sections that shouldn't have compression because there are sections of this song that sound like they shoudn't be compressed.

http://thesaurus.reference.com/

Translation: The chorus is too compressed; its sound needs to open up and differentiate itself more clearly from that of the verse.

[jast]

I'm tempted to think that you don't value reviews much.

[coder_lyte()]

Attention all Units – I really like the vocals & strings portions, and it has a great guitar rhythm. Kind of short, and could really use a harder additional part. 7

Billy’s Little Trip – Nice Rocking sound, and I love the solo. Pretty awesome lyrics. I think the rhythm guitar could stand to be a little louder. 8

The Chadderandom Abyss – It really has no rhythm or melody, the vocals aren't very good, and it's way too long for what it is. Plus that incessant hissing makes it really annoying. 1

coder_lyte() – The sound quality was still terrible on this one. I had a lot of things going on that week so I didn’t really get to finish it. The timing on the rhythm guitar was pretty off. But hey, I’m getting better. 4

Corn on the Cob – This is pure rockin’. The vocals are just a little too goofy, but other than that it sounds like something you’d expect from ZZ Top. 9

Dutova – The vocals are way too low for to pick out from the background. It has a good beat, and the individual parts sound good, but it seems like the mixing could have been done better. 6

Elaine Dimasi – I think the drums kind of overpower the piano in this one. Vocals should probably be a little louder, and I really enjoy the doubled vocals in the chorus. It would probably be good to do use them more often. That’s a great guitar solo, and your songs could probably do with some more occasional guitar portions. 6

Ford’s Theater Disaster – I don’t really like the highly distorted and filtered vocals. The rest of it sounds awesome, though the hats & cymbol are kind of loud. 6

Heine – I think the vocals should be just slightly louder. It has some great guitar composition. Sounds like some good 60’s/70's kinda folk music. 8

The Hell Yeahs – It sounds kind of flat, without much panning. Has some really good guitar and percussions. 7

Make Spoons Not Knives – Man that’s a long intro is really long, and I like all of it except for the synth; it’s a little overpowering. The main parts are kind of thin, and I don’t really care for the flat vocals. I do enjoy the tripped out solo though. 6

Manitee Matinee – This is whacked out and I kind of love that. The percussions are a little too simple, and the parts in the middle were lacking something. 5

Meat Knob – It’s short, but it packs a lot in there. The vocals could have been a little better. I wish the quality was a better, cause it is a good ‘un. 5

Oddbod – The synth rhythm in the main part gets a little repetitive, but that chorus is awesome. I love that bass line. 8

Paco del Stinko – Great guitar as always. I just don't think the vocals don’t pop out as much as they should. 7

Quimby – I really like the vocals and the whistling. The guitar is really good too, but I always think these kinds of songs could use something extra. The lyrics are pretty funny. 8

R Mosquito – Man, that hurts. This might be good if not for the horrible, ear splitting clipping. I can’t make out anything else. 2

Rone Rivendale – That guitar sounds pretty bad, the timing is all off, the percussions are Casioeque, and the vocals are flat and dull. I think you might be better off trying a single muted string and power chords for rythm. If you're not good at holding bar chords, you can do a higher pitch power chord with the 3&4th strings, index finger on the 3rd and ring finger/pinky on the 4th two frets higher. 1

Ross Durand – Good sound, but as good that guitar lick is, it does get old when overused. Freakin' good overall though. 7

Steve Durand – I think the intro would have been a lot better with some fast snare rolls. I like the big band sound, thought it could have used some more accompaniment. Most of the vocals are good, but the “I’m a rattlesnake baby” sounds out of tune. 7

The Styop Quoons Experience – Wow. Here’s comes a rattlesnake. I’m not too sure what this song is about, could you tell me again? 3

The Test – Pretty good sound, but kind of simple. The vocals are great except for a couple of spots. 6

Tungsten Chic – That polysynth is loud and grating, and that’s about all there is. 1

The Weakest Suit – The drums are kind of simplistic, and the guitar rhythm is a little prominent. They should probably have some additional things too blend in with. 5

[rone rivendale]

You know I hate to bitch, but I'm going to.

My rattlesnake song is one of the best I've ever done. It has way more complicated guitar riffs than I've done on any other song. The vocals are more straight forward and follow a set pattern as opposed to some of my more experienment stuff. The drums are definatly better than most of my songs considering there is more than 1 drum pattern. I have progressed by leaps and bounds over what I was doing when I first got my guitar.

I might as well go back to rapping over Fruity Loops beats and forget the guitar if that's what's going to get positive reviews.

[Reist]

I might as well go back to rapping over Fruity Loops beats and forget the guitar if that's what's going to get positive reviews.

Dude, you might have forgotten, but that stuff didn't get positive reviews. If this new stuff is better than what you were doing before, keep at it. And keep working on the guitar, even if people don't think it's stellar yet - it takes time. Just learn power chords, that's what I did for the first year or so.

[Henrietta]

Attention all units: Nice overall sound. The mello and the acoustic styles are what I dig. I'm usually not a fan of reverby vocals, but it works here. I'm not sure what this song is about. Who are they and why are they coiled up in Neverland?

Billy & the Crew: Oh man, awesome.

Chadderandom Abyss: I dig the "Where's my rattle" breakdown. Ooops, no it's a chorus. Jay Munly out of Denver, his style- although more trad Americana influenced- has a similar feel to this. http://www.myspace.com/jaymunlyfanpage

CoderLyte: I like the melody and the feel of this a lot. I don't think the guitar is that sloppy.

Corn on the Cob: Awesome grit & smooth production. The keys & the guitar & everything is radio ready. I'm torn on the vox. It's like these badass bikers drive up on their Harleys, and the one badass dude singing is toothless and drunk. The bikers overtake my Honda Civic and wave me to pull over. But, I can't figure out if the badass dude is telling me "I'm gonna slit your throat." or "Excuse me, Miss. You seem to have a flat tire."

Dutova: Good song. Someone mentioned I think, you have this awesome David Byrne quality to your phrasing. The overall mix could be a little better.

Elaine: The crashes are pretty distracting. I really like your melody. I've been listening to Nellie McKay a lot this week, and I can totally hear her doing this song, with its variety of stylistic influences woven throughout the same tune. (as opposed to say, a Sarah McLaughlin type song that is beautiful, but doesn't change much, if that makes sense.)

Ford's Theater Disaster: I dig the verses a lot, and the Dead Milkmen-esque chorus. I'm not sure they fit well together.

Heine: Great song! I'm curious how it would sound with a bit faster tempo.

The Hell Yeahs: Awesome! I love the harmony vox. Those drums kick ass.

Make Spoons: I love the music a lot. Unfortunately, much more than the song itself. Awesome percussion. (Bonus gold stars if they are not samples)

Manitee: This is a huge improvement over last week. Not really my thing, but I could totally see it being the soundtrack to some sort of Forbidden Zone sequel. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOhncfDJum8 )

Meatknob: Damn, I wish I could rock like you lot.

Oddbod: Music is stellar. I love the melody, although there's a little something about the mood of the vox that doesn't quite live up to the great setup. Maybe your delivery needs a little more venom. ( Sorry, I couldn't help myself )

Paco: I'm a sucker for a slide. Turn that up! Awesome.

Quimby: Figures I'm after something that rocks. Things I learned this week: Real mics give a waaaay better than acoustic-electric line in. Also If you don't start your entry at the last minute, you have more time to mess around.

RMosquito: This rocks. Awesome.

Rone Rivendale: I didn't really get into this one. Maybe on another listen.

Ross: Why does this make me think of Neil Diamond doing a James McMurtry cover. The song & vocals are great. The twang sounds a wee false.

Steve: I love those horns. I'm curious how this tune would have come out with more surfabilly elements.

Styop Quoons: I didn't really hear a song in here.

The Test: I absolutely love this song. The melody is beautiful, and the mood of the lyrics match the music perfectly.

Tungsten: I didn't really hear a song in here.

Weakest Suit: Really nice! I like the changeups for the chorus.

Favs: The Test, Billy Etc., Oddbod, CornOTCob, Hell Yeahs, RMosquito, and I'm prolly forgetting one so I'll go back and listen through the playlist again....

[Chadderandom]

http://thesaurus.reference.com/

I actually did that intentionally to amuse myself, which doesn't really speak well of your song, does it?

if that's what's going to get positive reviews.

Because you're only in it for praise and gain no creative fulfillment from anything you do? That seems kind of pointless.

[rone rivendale]

if that's what's going to get positive reviews.

Because you're only in it for praise and gain no creative fulfillment from anything you do? That seems kind of pointless.

I'll put it to you this way. If you scribbled on a paper and people praised it and then you took 2 weeks to draw out a detailed picture with color and cross hatching and other professional looking stuff and people thought it sucked which would you be motivated to do afterwords? The scribble that people like and takes minimal effort or the detailed picture which takes 2 weeks and no one wants to see?

[Chadderandom]

I'll put it to you this way. If you scribbled on a paper and people praised it and then you took 2 weeks to draw out a detailed picture with color and cross hatching and other professional looking stuff and people thought it sucked which would you be motivated to do afterwords? The scribble that people like and takes minimal effort or the detailed picture which takes 2 weeks and no one wants to see?

Since public reception really doesn't factor into my creative process, I'd choose whichever style worked for the project regardless of previous praise either got. But thats just me.

[Märk]

Rone, what you need to do is make whatever music you personally want to make. If you're in it for validation and praise, you will (continue to) fail.

[Ross]

If you scribbled on a paper and people praised it and then you took 2 weeks to draw out a detailed picture with color and cross hatching and other professional looking stuff and people thought it sucked which would you be motivated to do afterwords? The scribble that people like and takes minimal effort or the detailed picture which takes 2 weeks and no one wants to see?

I don't see how that applies to the current situation. Your product this week is not comparable to a a detailed picture with cross hatching and professionally looking stuff.

Although what you produced this week was more complex for you to do - the product sounded so disjointed to many of us that the product did not accurately represent the effort. I could try to shred a metal guitar solo - but it would sound terrible because I don't have the technical ability to do that. I wouldn't expect the reviews to say "Good Job - that solo sounded really hard." If you want to learn new things - learn them, but if it means that you will make a lot of mistakes while you learn, you should expect people who hear it to notice the mistakes.

I also think you should not necessarily mistake more complex or more difficult with "better" - Take "She's Got a way" by Billy Joel for instance. I think it's a pretty great song (i know others here may differ) but nothing he does is technically difficult - yet the song still shines through. "Roundabout" by yes is also great and took a lot of technical prowess, but the bottom line is that it is the quality of the execution that makes each of these sound great to a listener, not merely the level of complexity.

My two bits.

[Ross]

Ross: Why does this make me think of Neil Diamond doing a James McMurtry cover.

Um - because I'm a huge McMurtry fan who inadvertently sounds like Neil Diamond at times.

[coder_lyte()]

Rone,

Do you record all of the guitar/vocal tracks in one long take? It's a whole lot easier to get seemly good timing if you record many small snippets, and time them with the sequencer. I suck at keeping time, but if I find a way to break the tracks apart at silent parts it helps. You can make a pretty decent simple guitar rhythm with one short track looped.

The only way I can get good timing on the guitar is to listen to the song with headphones and play along with it. So if you usually record the guitar first, it might help to switch to doing the drums and other parts first.

I think using a compressor on the guitar and vocals would help to take the roughness out of them. That and reverb are the most important effects.

Don't get discouraged, everybody has to be terrible for a while to get better.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I might as well go back to rapping over Fruity Loops beats and forget the guitar if that's what's going to get positive reviews.

It's your life, do what you want.

[jast]

do what you want.

... 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!

... and back to regular review business.

PS. oh, yeah, if you didn't get that, here's a link.

[Billy's Little Trip]

do what you want.

... 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!

... and back to regular review business.

PS. oh, yeah, if you didn't get that, here's a link.

I'm curious as to how you knew to look up that clip.
...actually, no I'm not.

[TheTungstenSheik]

To everyone who hated my song: I forgive you.

To Heine: Thank you.

And Now, Useless Reviews á la Breakfast Cereals, Real & Imagined

Attention All Units - Pleasant, if a little bland. Kind of a Cheerios-by-themselves vibe. Have you considered adding fresh fruit to your music?

Meatknob - I like the sound here, but I can't pick out a stable tune. Fruity Pebbles? I mean, there clearly isn't a fruit flavor there. It's got its own flavor, which is a fine thing, but I don't think I'm going to pour myself a bowl.

The Styop Quoons Experience f. Dr. Bean, the Rock & Roll Mexican - This says Raisin Bran to me (which is mostly good). Hearty, with delightful bursts of sweet, but not cloying. If only you could somehow mitigate those all-bran bites where it's just... you know, bran. It's like, come on. I could be tasting raisins here.

Rone Rivendale - As a person who doesn't believe music has to be "good" in order to be good, I respect your enthusiasm. Like a whole-grain goat food cereal, though, while there may be goodness inherent, the complete lack of timing here is a bitter cud to chew. ...Do goats chew cud? Is that... You know what, I'm just going to stick with that.

Paco del Stinko - Mmm, Cream of Wheat, maple syrup. This is smooth and tasty, and you may serve it to me any time. I miss that crunch just a bit, but boy, this hits some extremely fine notes on the palate.

Oddbod - Oh, man, does anybody remember that cereal where the pieces were little cinnamon rolls? It's like, why are there tiny cinnamon rolls floating in a sea of milk OH WAIT IT DOES NOT MATTER BECAUSE THIS IS DELICIOUS. The nutritive value may be dubious, but the sweetness is not.

Corn on the Cob - Despite the fact that I do quite dig the funky sounds at play here, this is very "Bowl Full O' Bees." That is a new cereal that I just made up, because your song is very buzzy and jittery, and also the singer sounds like he has been stung in the mouth repeatedly.

Steve Durand - Like French Toast Crunch, I feel you are trying to wedge your singing style into a more folksy tack than you may be comfortable with. Be true to yourself, sir. You can be classy and still be cool.

Elaine DiMasi - I can taste the difference between the Name Brand and your Malt-O-Meal Corn Bursts.

Make Spoons Not Knives - I quite agree. Have you ever tried to eat cereal with a knife? I don't recommend it. I do recommend putting a heaping spoonful of this song in your mouth, though, because it is DELICIOUS. I wasn't sure I'd like Life Cereal at first, but damned if I didn't find myself reaching for that box a second time.

the test - Hell of points for Charlie Patton name-drop. Bit of a store-brand Rice Chex alternative thing going in the rest of the song, though. Light texture, mild flavor, certainly not offensive to the tongue, but ultimately falling a little flat.

The Chadderandom Abyss - Oy gestalt! I did not know they made Lucky Charms with LSD-shaped marshmallows. I'll take a bite, and barring possible bad flashbacks I'll enjoy it, but I don't know that I could handle a second hit.

The Hell Yeahs - Honey Comb's big, Yeah Yeah Yeah. It's not small, No, No, No. Oh hell yeah.

coder_lyte() - This one time when I was a kid I thought it would be a real keen idea to zazz up my corn flakes with chocolate chips. The flavor idea had merit, but the execution left more than a little to be desired.

Ross Durand - Did they ever put Bruce Springsteen on a Wheaties box? Man, that would have been sweet. This is totally what that would sound like. I like it.

Ford's Disaster Theater - There are some workable ideas here, but the vocals sound like they were recorded in a bowl of oatmeal. Is your drummer perchance a walnut? Or several walnuts? You really need to cook those properly.

DuToVa - Ooh, I like this a lot. It's got that Multigrain Cheerios just-sweet-enough-with-contrasting-but-complimentary-grain-flavors vibe to it. Did they ever put David Byrne on a Multigrain Cheerios box? Man, that would have been... what? Oh. Well, I like this a lot, I guess is my point.

Billy's Little Trip - Captain Crunch. Not exactly a "refined" taste, and I guess you might cut up the roof of your mouth a little, but one could totally eat a bowl and then go out and have Fun Times.

R. Mosquito - Gadzooks, Count Chocula. Do you hate my ears? What did they ever do to you? Actually, I kind of like the flavor of your fever here, but take 3 steps back on the whole mix and remember that we're all just trying to have... breakfast... here.

[Henrietta]

Um - because I'm a huge McMurtry fan who inadvertently sounds like Neil Diamond at times.

Cool, I hope you took that as a compliment.


... darnnit I didn't get a breakfast cereal from Tungsten. I'm gonna suggest Cinnamon Life, because it's pretty good at first, but then gets soggy by the time you're half way through the bowl.

[reve]

Gang, I apologize for only issuing select comments this week. I did listen to everyone's track, and am consistently surprised at how excellent you all are. A lack of comment does not indicate a lack of appreciation for what you've achieved.

Overall winner: Weakest suit.

BLT+SPUD+PACO : You owned the rock here. Albeit a smidge dirty for my clean mind.
Chatterrandom : As mentioned in previous reviews, your work would be more awesome were it shorter and more focused.
Coderlyte : I enjoyed this. Excellent whistleship.
Dutova : I got a talking heads vibe. The people who said turn it up were right.
Heine : This is good, but cutting it in half would be a worthwhile endeavor.
Make spoons : This was prettty awesome.
Manitee : This was also pretty awesome (but also could have benefited from trimming).
Meatknob : rad.
Paco : Rock par excellence.
Quimby: this was my favorite of the mellowcore trax this week.
S. Durand : This was my 2nd favorite of the fight. Really excellent.
Styop Quoons : More death metal please?
Weakest Suit : This cracked me up. Could have used a trimming, but by far the best track this week.

[The Weakest Suit]

Overall winner: Weakest suit.
Weakest Suit : This cracked me up. Could have used a trimming, but by far the best track this week.

thanks a lot.
you made my day.