I decided to review these in alphabetical order for a change.
Absolutely Credible: I like almost every element of this tune. Those apocalyptic synths that fade in are full of atmosphere. I love the angular drums and the growling bass sounds awesome. In the second section, the widdly guitar is really cool, although a touch jazzy for my taste. Overall though, I feel the song doesn't quite match up to the sum of its parts. Everything is very well done but in spite of this it fails to hook me after repeated listens. The arrangement and production is spot on, and although the vocals sound very good perhaps the vocal line and the general dynamic of the song could use a rewrite to give the whole thing more impact. Still, I'm tempted to give it a vote on the strength of the first 30 seconds. We'll see how things pan out.
BSS: This starts out pretty well. I don't usually go for this kind of roots rock but it sounds nice and I dig the slight smokey sort of Chris Isaak feel from the music. The first verse is cool with the picture painting lyrics and whispered vocals, but I feel this singing style grates a little as the song progresses. It would be nice if you'd opened up your vocal cords for a chorus to raise the dynamic slightly. Added to which I feel the lyric writing deteriorates into lazy repetition in the later sections. I totally believe there is a place for repetition in music, of course, but it feels like your just filling bars in this case. Also, the the crowd vox shouting the title of the song feels like a cop-out box-ticking exercise. Anyways, the recording is really smooth and tight. The acoustic guitar sounds a bit plastic-y and I hate that, but otherwise everything is cool, and I particularly love the twinkly keys, I'm guessing that's a rhodes? Very nice.
Break Broken: This is really bugging me, I feel like I should know who this is but I can't work it out, never mind. To make things worse I can feel a disappointing review brewing. I can't find a thing to criticise about this, it's all well written, beautifully played/sung and the recording is great. It's just not my thing, sorry. Excitement factor 0. ...I just read the previous comment, it's Jon! I knew I knew it, obviously not well enough.
Eat It 'n' Mattress: Plat! Yaaayyy! So many things to say, I need to order my thoughts. First, what's the difference between Eat It 'n' Mattress (and what does that even mean?) and the Cow Exchange. I feel like I won't get answers to that but I had to ask. I already listened to this a few days ago and I know straight off that I'm voting for it. From the opening bars it has this really optimistic feel and while you've made a track that could easily sit alongside any radio friendly pop it's just full of Plat-magic, I love that scream "aaargh". As is often the case there are so many seemingly nonsensical lyrics, I have no idea what a snake in a stomach tube is. Why is Jan sandwiches? But it's wrapped up in this warm suburban backdrop, it sounds so sunny and the nonsense just makes it more colurful, like an episode of Hey Arnold. This is my top tip for this week's prize. Oh yeah, also I like how you actually make a decent master, cos then my song doesn't so stupidly loud by comparison.
Gizo: This is a classic case of pleasant-sounding-but-passes-me-by-if-I-don't-listen-closely. However, there is a bunch of cool stuff going on here. I dig the low phased kind of jet sounding thing going on throughout in the background, and the twinkly keys are a particular highlight. Generally it's all put together really nicely. The drums sound really warm, the vocals sound good and the little touches of backing vox are a cool touch. The cello is also a nice addition although it sounds a touch too synthetic; but where are you gonna get a live cello player? Very nice, probably deserving of a vote.
Glenn Case: There is an impressive consistency in the quality of your recordings and songwriting. I have a slight quibble with the fact that it feels like you're going for too high a register too early in the verse; it's not that you can't hit the note, but it means in terms of the song dynamics there is a touch of "premoturo ejaculazione", as they say in Italy. The chorus is my favourite part of the song, and it's great, but the aforementioned makes the impact feel less. That said, it's all still enjoyable and I dig your liberal sprinkling of synths over the rock.
Glennnnnny: Never one to shy away from a challenge, this song ticks a lot of boxes; Challenge met, you actually went for the epic literature angle, somebody had to and why not you. And after your nod to the challenge comes the jaaazzzz...nice
I've never considered myself a jazz fan but it does have the ability to put a bit of a pep in my step and this does exactly that. I find myself unable to stop myself clicking my fingers along to this, at least for a moment. I may regret saying this but I'd be interested to hear what your voice sounds like when you go for the low notes. As someone who has a very limited voice myself I know it can be irritating for people to comment on your voice when it's all you have to work with, but when you go high it sounds a bit strained. I wonder what this would sound like if you dropped it down a tone or two.
Hot Pink Halo: I really appreciate the ambition in this, it's absolutely bustling with ideas, but the recording struggles to hold them together in a coherent piece. There's a bunch of interesting sounds, such as what sounds like the strangulated violin stabs and vocal whoops in the background. The rustling, syncopated percussion and various sound effects in the background add a good atmosphere that sounds a bit 19th century in a creepy, backstreets kind of way. There's some good imagery in the lyrics, the source material is strong obviously. The main problem is it lacks a compelling melody and where the vocal is the primary melodic driver, it probably could've used a few more takes to really nail those parts down. I understand you're still developing in the art of mixing and I recommend checking out some youtube vids related to that cos your layers of vocals definitely deserve a bit more clarity. I just did a rudimentary search and there are a bunch of videos out there for how to mix/eq layered vocals. Have a look, there'll be some invaluable tips there and it will definitely be 10 minutes well spent. Good to hear that Aussie accent coming through a bit too.
Jonathan Mann: Yeah, this is a nice bouncy little tune. I liked "the what now? Errrrrrr yes?" You did it all very well. Catchy. Will I be singing "I made Steve dance" this time next week? Probably.
Leppakron: There isn't much that stands out here for me. The chords and melody are average and it's all done pretty loosely. I guess the layers of guitar add a little something, and it kind of gains a little momentum throughout, but only a little, and it doesn't really go anywhere. Apart from all that, it's inoffensive and my only real active gripe about it is that the lyrics, which for such a lo-fi production should arguably be the thing that hooks the listener in, are far too vague to mean anything to anyone, and as such are a bit of a let down.
Lily Plus Martin: I was tentatively excited to hear this one after your entry last week, and it certainly piqued my interest very early on. It's a sharp change of direction from last week, and it's always good to keep us guessing, but the execution is no less proficient. The vocals sounds great and I always love a bit of vocal chopping up, though the edits here are slightly on the rudimentary side. I'm getting a hint of Goldfrapp in the melody, but the musical backdrop seems to compliment the lyrics well. I'm gonna stop short of saying I love it, but it's a good job nonetheless.
The Magnetic Letters: Thanks, I just wasted 15 minutes reading about Herzog Zwei. Love a good RTS and it was slightly before my time. This is a pretty funky little chiptune number, I particularly love how the arpeggiator does that flamboyant run before settling back into the outro riff. Very enjoyable generally, but I found the vocals a bit unclear after the track kicked in. I don't know if there was too much reverb, or maybe your vocal timbre just doesn't fit with the music but it felt like the vocals were detached from the rest of the mix. Either way, I like this. Great synth riffing.
Paco: The combination of clean guitar and piano make this so super jangly, it's great. You don't half rattle through your tunes; reached the middle by 1.30 and into the final verse at jut over 2 minutes. The weird jazzed out lounge-style ending is an amusing denouement to an otherwise bouncing tune. What I most like about this is not so much the actual song, but it's the way you execute it, the handclaps and backing vocals all make it sound so exhuberant. Having said that the intro riff is great and the switches between sections are cool. I feel like this might just fall a hair short of warranting a vote, but it's up there.
Phillipso: I love how you specify fretless bass in the liner notes, like a) there's more than one bass in the song, and b) we can't hear you Pino Palladino-ing away in the intro there. This is pretty cool. The first thing that stands out is the distorted vocal effect which is a bit of a double-edged sword, because it sounds cool, but also muffles the lyrics so I can't really hear them, maybe that doesn't matter. It's something that irritated me about later Beastie Boys albums, here I guess it's not such a problem. Overall this is a tight production and a decent sounding song, the chorus isn't bad, but it doesn't stick with me. Also the structure seems unfocused and meandering. Interesting to know that widdling runs in the family though.
Phlebia: It's creepy and weird. The banjo was an unexpected touch but takes it in a Dreamend-type direction (i.e. folky post-rock). Up to that point it's like a mix of tribal drumming and chanting with a post-rock undertone from the guitars. Even the spoken vocals remind me of Slint. I don't know why I keep namedropping other bands because this is by far the most original (imo) music in this fight and I really dig the way the drums propel it, and the gradual rising tension leading up to that no-quite-crescendo with the banjo. While I'm namedropping, have you heard of This Heat? This would sit quite nicely on their album Deceit which has a few absolute gems on it. Dark and slightly nasty gems mind you.
PFJ: Things I like about this: the keys that come in halfway through the verse, they give it a bit of nuance. Your production consistently improves. Things I don't like (the long part): Piano AND guitar solo? Probably unnecessary. Po-faced heartbreak song without anything that should make me care about the plight of the protagonist, there's no wry-humour or anger or sarcasm or even bitterness that would add a bit of pep to the lyrics. I'm guessing she doesn't love them any more cos they were a boring fart. How is this song different to anything that's ever been written before? It's trying to be a personal song without having anything really personal in it. It needs some small details, or some emotion beyond "oh, I feel sad".
Third Cat: Backhanded-insult/compliment time! I've said before your voice doesn't really do it for me, but in spite of that you've got a way of writing songs that just hooks me in and makes me like it. Here it's specifically the hook that comes in just before the minute mark, and by the time it (prematurely) ends I'm left wanting more. It's frustrating when songs are overlong but this twinkly little beauty isn't long enough by half. The more I listen to it I think I was overly harsh about your voice, it is decent really. Those layers of synths are super lush. This is well up my alley so though it may be imperfect, or at least unfinished, it may well warrant a vote.
TOSHIROOOO: Named after Mifune I hope, legend. A song of two halves, sort of. The vocal sections aren't bad as such but just don't do much for me. The instrumental bit with those huge crashing guitars is awesome though. I'd quite happily listen to a whole song of that. The track seems to open up into this wide space.
Vomit Vorton: I was very tempted to write a short novelty for this title so it surprises me none to hear an angle of this variety from you. The tune is nice enough, and the pay-off is amusing, but for someone who's songs are usually chock-full of witticisms spending the best part of 2 minutes listing girls names for a single joke...you know, like all jokes with an overlong set-up the pay-off has to be pretty spectacular to make it worth it, and here it falls slightly short. Still, I appreciate the unique take on the title and your creations are always refreshing in a large field of songs.
Balance Lost liner notes: I have been pleasantly suprised by the reaction to this song so far. Honestly, I was just trying to write a song like Oasis back when they were good. I used to love Oasis when I was 15 and shit at songwriting, then I became alright at songwriting and I was completely uninterested in Oasis (to the extent that I even chose to snooze rather than watch them at Glastonbury 2007), now I have rediscovered my appreciation slightly and I'm still alright at songwriting so I decided to belatedly combine the two, and kaboom, this was the result. Madferit!
glennny wrote: ↑Sat Oct 05, 2019 9:12 am
Cool lead guitar tone too!
Cheers, dude. I have been struggling with guitar tone since moving into an apartment with paper thin walls as I can't use an amp now (I don't even have one any more). So I've been DI'ing my guitars and doing all sorts to try and get them sounding not shit. It's good to know the results are acceptable!