Berkeley Social Scene: I'm getting Neil Young vibes from the opening vocal line. I like the lyrics a lot. The bass line in the verses adds nice colour. For me, the chorus pattern runs a bit long. The unison riffs give the song a distinctness, and the five-chord interludes provide strategic breaks.
Brown Word and the Big Whine: I love the deep, rich, serious textures and the way they flow like a river. The words are a composition to be reckoned with. I wish they were always as clear as they become at the end. "Buy buy buy" is read ambiguously, sounds like an ironic "bye-bye-bye." Just a great sound coming out of this track.
Everybody Hurts: A weird blend of "My Sharona," "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," and maybe something by Billy Idol. Nice lyrical turn on the title. Great vocal deliveries, good hard-hitting urgency from the band. A fun track.
IXTXI: Fine heavy death metal, machine gun guitars, excellent snarling and roaring. The slight bend in the guitar line adds character. Tritones noted. Nothing gets old in this track. This is the genre done well.
James Owens: The lyrics came late, so I didn't spend a lot of time on the composition. As I added instruments, trying to maintain musical interest, it began turning into an older style, because I'm an older guy and those are the licks I know. That's OK, it was fun to jam with the drum loop.
Johnny Cashpoint: Optional challenge met. Angry lyrics, cynically delivered: strong communication, appropriately backed by the dissonant anarchy of the music. The recording gets a bit distorted, but that's all part of it. This song wears its heart on its sleeve, I like that.
The Pannacotta Army: A really smooth, solid recording, with a downright hooky chorus. Tasteful guitar fills, a gently imaginative and responsibly unobtrusive bass line, a catchy tambourine, and even something like a handclap, strangely spaced out in the chorus. A plausible commercial love song but for some slightly clunky lyrics.
V4nnim3l: Busy synth pop with autotuned vocals give this a late 20th-century sound. With just a drum track and a poly synth, the arrangement is a bit thin, and the composition is fairly flat and narrow-band except when that lovely closing harmony stretches upward. The catch in the higher voice at that moment is positively Lennonesque.