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Everybody Hurts:

Loved this!! My first thought is "Gojira" but you have a sharpness to the left-panned guitar track that prevents sludge buildup and a raunchy chorus that BORDERS on a pirate power metal hook (ha ha hook) but the wandering lonesome-west guitar line that threads through it -- first off it rhymes wonderfully with our roadway theme -- but it especially keeps the chorus vocals from feeling like a "forced hook" and keeps up interest for the climax. Great work, great feeling. Other (non-genre metal) namecheck vibes for this are Butthole Surfers and Silver Mount Zion

Grid:

Well, I certainly know this voice. Cute interlude, gets funky and done. Hearing "marijuana cigarette" yanks me out of the funk and into the joke zone, i dont use that word but I like the joke, and the funk

Joy Sitler:

It begins very direct to the words of the title and into a story that seems sad and maybe is about the emotional weight of a directional change in someone's love relationship. The directness is backed up with the sounds of an earnest, moving confessional that justifies the bare-bones intro and builds into some great emotional climaxes. But you are still using words artfully, and delicately, when the music swells to something more emotional. I guess what I mean is I want to hear some words that shock and sting a little to lead us to the way the music says we should feel. Stakes have to feel bigger than an argument! And they do, but that's the direction I want to see it go. I like the melodrama, I just want it to give me prickles if it's threatening to.

Lillly:

Well, this is me. I got it down in an afternoon and spent 3 days trying to make it passable. It's poppier and less dire than my usual lately. I think I learned (and relearned) a lot about producing and recording myself. Lessons include: 1) This mic is not gonna be involved in my next project lol. 2) don't put that capo on and try to stretch your range because your voice will strain on accent notes (there are some manual corrections in here that I don't think improve the sound ). 3) stress less about being in tune at the end of a long session because your ear will be shot and you will do a lot of second guessing, build in time to listen the next day and rerecord. I was terrified it was unlistenable on submission and I'd have to memoryhole it like my Grand Parade but I just blasted it in the car 3x and I liked it so what the hell.

I think I'm keeping and developing this (along with my no-time-to-record entry "don't look at me that way") for my WIP album "Social Reproduction" (prob not "grand parade", though it lives on in shreds). For this track I want bass and some horns (I only play trumpet, we'll see if I have to piss off my neighbors with it).

The Mellfire Trifecta:

With the piano line so close to the melody this felt like it was intended for a play. A play might contextualize it too -- I had trouble telling what I was supposed to make of the allegory or where it was pointing. I thought it might be communicating a national/societal "where do we go from here?" sort of sentiment but then it seemed to get even more focused on the individual and individual decisions. Working on the hook would give it some center of gravity.


After reading lyrics: I think this is about ICE and it's meant to be kinda low key menacing in a tongue-in-cheek Phil Ochs-y (or Highway 51 Revisited) kind of way?

The Pannacotta Army:

This is pleasant and well recorded and performed. I enjoy the fanciful interplay of the guitars and the warm character of the vocals. I think it meanders but it sounds like that's exactly what it wants to do.

The Salmans:

I would add a big bass drop and some crunch and a big big hook. And a bpm boost. OR some ornamentations that cement it as triphop and go sultry. I should be shot for my beliefs, but I wanted a dubstep drop. Both vocals are very nice to me.

With the piano line so close to the melody this felt like it was intended for a play. A play might contextualize it too -- I had trouble telling what I was supposed to make of the allegory or where it was pointing. I thought it might be communicating a national/societal "where do we go from here?" sort of sentiment but then it seemed to get even more focused on the individual and individual decisions. Working on the hook would give it some center of gravity.

After reading lyrics: I think this is about ICE and it's meant to be kinda low key menacing in a tongue-in-cheek Phil Ochs-y (or Highway 51 Revisited) kind of way?

(Thanks for your review. I'll review soon too.) You've nailed it. My musings this time are politically themed.

MellyP wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 23, 2025 7:48 am

After reading lyrics: I think this is about ICE and it's meant to be kinda low key menacing in a tongue-in-cheek Phil Ochs-y (or Highway 51 Revisited) kind of way?

(Thanks for your review. I'll review soon too.) You've nailed it. My musings this time are politically themed.

Oh thank god if that was a wrong guess it was gonna be really weird

Everybody Hurts
Guitar work is skillful and that really carries this one all the way to the end, along with the fine bass. “Burn down dreams and warning signs” is a good lyric. I feel the power and the passion in this song, and it helps that its sections noticeably move from one level, to the next, to the next. Based on this, I was expecting a loud, crashing ending but you surprised me with a low-key, quick dropout. Works too. Nice work.

Grid
Catchy and funky while it lasts. You left me wanting more.

Joy Sitler
Nice acoustic playing. Alternate tuning? Cacophony challenge met and then a good build at the start. Lyrics tell a tale and yet don’t reveal too much. I like the instrumental choices and mixing is good. The bass is so smoothly entwined. There’s a bit of a distracting drum mishit that returns a few times, but I can be picky about these things. Lots of great singers in this fight and there’s one here too. Short and good song.

Lillly
I like your cacophonous but low-key start, with daily parenting sample included. There’s great energy in this. It’s got an off-the-cuff production vibe that I like. There’s potential for a nice vocal performance but I think it’s just in a bit too high a key? I can hear some faint call and answer stuff going on but would like to hear that better. Maybe just add a few more bells and whistles to this, like another instrument or two and/or harmony vocals. Then this could be filled in just right. Good lyrics.

Mellfire
Us. Cacophonically challenged and I didn’t have time to make the strings sound more realistic. Will do that later. Finding an arrangement that worked for violin and cello was fun.

The Pannacotta Army
I like the acoustic guitar part at the start that returns a couple of times. Playing is tasteful. Drums are just right. The double-tracked chorus is just so sweetly put together – with some great harmonic vocal splits near the end of it. This is like a good Lilac Time song done better than they could. Fantastic production. If I’m nitpicking, the beautiful music is probably only 90 per cent capable of making up for the fact (for me) that the lyrics aren’t drawing me in as much as they typically do. Small quibble.

The Salmans
Whispering cacophonic beginning. Nice touch. I’m liking the full, well-mixed sound. The shared vocals are a highlight. Nice arrangement. Great give and take, and thought’s been paid to who will sing what, who will sing alone and when you’ll sing together. Lots of interesting choices. Sometimes vocals do sound a bit disconnected from (not integrated with) the music but it’s not too noticeable. Are there three singers here? The low voice sounds a bit different from the mid. Anyway, this combines a lot of great elements, and I enjoyed it.

The results are in and the fight has been won by ... Joy Sitler!