Rankings from Denise Hudson, AKA DJ Ranger Den:
Read on for Denise's full reviews!
AN INTRODUCTION
Your songs were delightful, delicious. But there are a great many so this all got a bit Sisyphus-pants. I enjoyed something about EVERY SONG, so I was a little alarmed at the quality selection for making my task exquisitely tricky. I regret that everyone can't be ranked highly. I hope it all comes out in the wash.
Ultimately, your opinion is more important than mine as far as your music is concerned. Submitting to something like this is an act of bravery, and I honestly think we can get very cavalier about it because we do this so often. But you are sharing something personal, and do deserve kudos for this.
Sadly, there was not enough time to listen/proofread as much as I would have liked. I originally had this grandiose idea to film myself reacting to my first listens and writing some—but this was Madness and Folly...
If I don’t talk about your lyrics much the music and lyrics connection probably didn’t sink for me, or it sounded too much like something else that has already happened before—in a way that did not pique my Hook Hearer. I wrote these in real-time for the most part and tweaked here and there as I could with 3-5 Ranking Listens. So as usual, forgive made-up words, run-ons, over-the-topsy-turns of phrase, arbitrary punctuation/capitalization, and any tiresome repetition of concepts.
And again, thank you for your work.
Songfully—
Den
Berni Armstrong - It Will Come in Handy One Day
Your lyrics are incredibly detailed and specific for some of this. It's so meticulous that it is charming: "the bulb on the bag valve" ...a battery "of 18 volts..." Style and aesthetic reminding me bizarrely of an Austin Lounge Lizards song with some deeply convoluted lyrics! And I kept moving this around in the rankings for one reason. I have been walking around my house for a couple days singing: "It will come in Handy One day." In key. Every time. (I do not have perfect pitch)
I picture your song in a trim vest riding a penny-farthing on its day off. I enjoy this aesthetic, your performance, and your story. I would describe your vocals as droll and perhaps bearded like a gold prospector from the 1800s. Also—very lively and consistent accompaniment that holds up the story just fine out there on its own and is a worthy partner to the storyteller ... a song that didn't need anything else ladled on to it, so bravo to you!
Bubba & The Ghost of the Kraken - Knock Knock Knock
This is so catchy, but the distortion on your vocal is bothering it a bit for me. This seems like a really sticky hook yay! I love the stop at the end and throughout, your EPiano being so percussive. The chorus does have a real snap to it! You handle that vocal nicely too, so the distortion doesn't bug me as much there. Just the other thing. "Tried it once… don't like it / I won't try anything new ever again." Lol great line. I enjoyed this song and its archetype so much and the performance, but the sound gets hard on my ears, and the vocal/cymbal/organ w/tines combination amalgamates to hurt my head. But performance/style, lyrics—really excellent!
Daniel Sitler - Sunshine
This is very heartfelt and earnest. It's a passionate and emotional delivery that absolutely carries the message and the tone of the song on its back perfectly. The chorus is engaging and lands agreeably, making a well-presented contrast. It ends sweetly and lands on a ear-ful moment. Sometimes your accompanying guitar lines distract a bit from your melody, which gets a twirtch repetitive in repeated verses. I wish it would develop and maybe have a bit of variation on later repeats. The harmony and vocal effects at the end of it all (particularly on the last chorus) were exactly that kind of right idea.
The Pannacotta Army - Never Look Back
The layering and the build on this set a great scene! But I feel like the guitar is a bit edgy for the roundness of sound— maybe like the kick and the claps were a tad heavy-handed—possibly I could have done with some more ethereal effects on the vocal because sometimes the range got only slightly jarring. But there was a crispy crunch around the edges when it needed to be all soft shades, as your singing voice has a velvety smooth quality. You don't deviate from the melodic line much, but the lyrics and melody fit nicely together. It all feels like a cinematic dance (a sort of waltzy swish), and I love how the lines come in triples in this sort of meter. It gave a nice, picturesque flow … "You shy away from love / as if it were a trial / overcome the fear in your heart."
Balance Lost - A Temporary Window
Wow. I like the cadence with the held note at the end of this! The rhythm track too. And isn't this subject matter a deep well? — I love how you framed it, wrapping up a whole vibe with the way you treated your vocal well. That's the synth that sounds like it was played with a pen! (was that a stylophone?)—or something I heard in a cartoon.. anyway, it really works with this so nicely and ends the song precisely right. The track is a bit noisy but the vocal sounds pretty damn hip while still having some stride to it, and I like this use of chorus on a vocal because it gives me that nostalgic vibe. Also, the song is thoughtful while also ringing a tad bit melancholy. Like our struggle in this ridiculous business, I guess.
Single Pint of Failure - Don’t Believe in Hope
Loving the name of your band. And this song is so gungy. There is a real warbly effect on your vocal that makes you sound gurgly and digital against the guitars, and I feel like robots are shouting at me dystopically. I like the chorus because I have a soft spot for chanty, repeated words--and this one is nice and hooky. This catchy melody has a triumphant conversational patter centered mostly within a third of itself on the scale. It gets places with sheer guts rather than hopping all around with intervals and fast passages. I found this to be an effective and non-distracting way to frame the rhetorical questions that we should ask ourselves.
Weiner - Play Your Hand
Nice instrumental texture. Vocal comes in thinly, landing on ends of phrases nicely but then doesn't quite stretch over things tightly—sort of wobbling around things. The warm feeling of the orchestration reminds me of something you'd hear in a D&D kind of setting … or a movie about adventuring. I do like the transition into the sweeping synth violin/ola lines from the choruses. NICE end with the snare bit. Percussion can get a little overbearing. Hook got a bit samesy after a while and I sort of wanted some more syncopation or movement in the vocal. The words fit the message but the atmosphere of the song and the feel of it all outlasted the whole message thing.
Sober - Things You Can’t Unsay
The first line and tone to the lyrics really hits and it's an exceptionally satisfying chorus hook! I do feel occasionally, too many words are slipped into places where fewer might soar better, or other word emphasis choices could be more expedient here and there. This is nit-picky as it's not messy in the least. And the vocals occasionally sound a bit thin-maybe-tinny, and things generally get a little bit rubber-bandish sometimes as well in the way bluegrass can sometimes when it is in want of washtub presence or prevalent standup. It's hard to say this because it is still beautifully arranged and full in the right places. So as long as there is a fatness of sound here and there, maybe an occasional abrasive and raspy quality is just the percussive thing one would want. It's just a matter of taste that I might prefer a different sonic surrounding addicted to Reverby, Excessive gong-like sounds. No matter—But I love (always) your general personality and writing tone and tasty endings as well. And the message is direct and clever and skillfully delivered, so I've yammered on enough it seems. Bravo.
Tunes by LJ - Draw the Line
Mission accomplished with this little gem! You did go into the red sometimes, so … maybe tighten up the production just a twisk? That bass line is so thick and chucka-chunkah-chucky tho, really satisfies! You could develop another layer on another verse if you did ever want to make it longer. Beat boarded on getting too busy at times. Maybe add some absolute silences. Some sudden backbeats rather than relying on high-speed, high-frequency percussion. Use your newfound ethic to create drama. Maybe round out the note at the end instead of lobbing it off a soft mini-cliff. The song is really efficient tho. Love the bass, vocal melody, breezy and imaginative one-note piano solo and toothpaste commercial chords into a sudden adorable soda pop ending with a cute little g'bye touch. This song is a bit of a snack!
Stacking Theory - Make it Great
There are a lot of different things happening in this song. It's pretty cozy and squishy. It is definitely a deeply breathy party. Lyrics very clever. Vibe very groovy. Sentiment very much about recalibration—like an anthemic vibe, and I don't recall the last time I heard a pride march in a psychedelic disco idiom. I feel like there might have been a more protracted fade out and it was a bit abrupt cut off at the end. Your vocal has a whole lot of personality tho and is certainly out there naked at the beach with the rest of your song and getting some sun!
Hot Pink Halo - Op shop
Your bio was informative. And I was just in Melbourne with family! (an aside) I really liked that fill at the beginning but the shaker stopped so abruptly! Sometimes your sounds start and stop a bit abruptly. And entrances of events seem more like musical announcements than smooth transitions. This may or may not be a feature, not a bug. Not so with your vocals--the way you handle subtle harmonies is oceanic and mixes well in time and space. Your voice does this - wavery thing around arrival points—and gives a warm rain-in-sunlight feeling. The song does flow a bit like the words were written before the melody in places, with emphasis and rhythm hitting in curious ways. I love the pause before 'opportunity cost'; the pacing of the chorus is presented well. It's so catchy and well-constructed. I love a hook that has a phrase like this and uses timing for emphasis. And I love the strings bowing us out the door.
Jeff Walker - Try Again
This country-flavored song hits a sweet spot in the second verse. The first line of the chorus works really well, but I think the chorus is a bit lengthy and obscures the hook. It loses its impact a bit that way, but the repeated line at the end is nice. The word choices are pleasing to the ear, and the balance and instrument choices blend nicely with your voice. It all sounds rich and clean. The bridge feels a little phoned in compared to the heightened tone of the rest of it, and it seems like the song is almost relieved to get back to a nice meaty texture and get on with it. Might do better with a solo passage. Or with ditching the accordion sound for the rest (or toning it down) and then swelling it up for the bridge when you hit the minor and surging up more, suspended the cymbal maybe? Bridges are tricky things--I rarely write them unless they write me first. Fully unsolicited thoughts at a very late hour writing this, so … grain of salt. This was a pretty song, and some of the swells reminded me of listening to records with my grandmother in San Antonio.
The Evil Genius formerly known as Timmy - Monkey Videos
This was a massive earworm. Catchy is king. Love this wormy bass synth. The way it escalates into the next verses. V1 lyrics: "Easy to make something ugly and meaningless/ugly and meaningless." All the words in this chorus fit the music just right. Sometimes the sounds get harsh, to the point of possible occasional distortion. I like the 'loud and sweet' description though. :) I wanted hand claps on the backbeats of the chorus rather than on those 16th notes. This could be a hit if you're not careful—at least in my ears. It will not be a hit because the performance and production need improvement, but awesomeness lightening doesn't happen often, and this just did. It needs some mixing improvement—some things are too loud and out of balance. And I really want some kind of treatment on your vocal to sit it differently against the synths (not Chorus, something else—maybe a delay of some kind, or a different EQ for it?). No complaints song-wise—again, you're being rewarded for EARWORMAGE. Ooo-ooo-ooo-oo!
PS. Is this from the point of view of a cat, or a really bored co-worker/friend?
Huge Shark - Edge of a Knife
I appreciate a personal story and the slink toward a rainy vibe, but vocals and the electronic music arrangement seem to clash a bit stylistically, causing confusion. The music comes in and puts you into a sort of mid-late 80s feeling ... but with a vocal that is so distinctive—it sounds partially country and partially musical theater—w/strong vibrato delivery. It sounds like story or singer would be at home in a piano ballad or something abstract rather than paired with such exacting electronica. But I thought the performance really earnest with well-showcased moments. I liked the day/night interplay in the chorus.
Profestriga - Useless Sapphic
Everything into "no…you…" vibes and all the hits on beats are good. You do a nice job of explaining your concept but it took me reading the song bio and exploring the back history and my eyebrows quirked at the title until I found it enlightening because I Did Not Know any of That. And an interesting story suffered a bit under a lot of sonic clutter—as a song. So I like to think of this as quite successful conceptually as a story told sonically—and if does need to be presented as a more song-like song, it could be tightened up, produced and smoothed more. As is, this was a good sonic walk-thru of virtual history and informative of culture. I liked the speaking samples, I liked the simulation of a relationship unfolding, but the song itself could have played out tighter and a bit less clumsy as events being lined up both structurally and sonically.
Mandrake - Supernova
Immediately I like how smooth the synth work was. So original and spiffy--ALL of the programming is stellar and the music is blowing me away ... to the point of ear fatigue. This is incredibly entertaining and musical. And a lot.
But I want more from your vocal. It just doesn't go. There are too many words. There need to be 10% of these words. At most.
But ooooo the programming. Soooo good. Keep the part about wanting to ‘stare at you for hours’ and not wanting to run out of time. Maybe conceptually about the disappearance and impermanence. The sounds are so spacey—you don't need to make the words so plodding, they can be more conceptual and abstract. And then they can have whatever effect or presentation you want—how you deliver them doesn't really matter I don't suppose.
The Practitioners - Heaven
This chorus is agreeably bright and airy, with those light vocal sounds ... a good-feelings rhetorical question as well as a nice change—a subtle contrast of movement. It evokes a carnival with those loops/samples you chose. As far as the verses, sometimes the flow gets jerky, but then you do a refreshing thing and save it with a stop or a breath. I thought I'd almost like a more present kick drum all the way thru with this and a smacking backbeat. That would power this through, and then when you hit stops, it would create a lot more movement, which I think this needs. Maybe some more melodic lines too, like a marimba sound or a Rhodes or something.
The Popped Hearts - Never Miss A Chance To Miss A Chance
The drums here are quite loud. I think of this sort of thing as Headache Snare. The tone of the high hat/cymbals is tough to take. The guitar solo--intriguing but also gets grating. You're doing cool things with rhythm and accents between guitar vs. drums, and the chorus is so nicely hooky. I like lots the chord change and the gusto. I feel like this is a lot of the pot whining to the kettle about sound; I wish the vox were mixed more cleanly—rather than the fierce battery I'm getting, but the message gets lost, so maybe a smoother approach to the lyric content would sell vision better. Your ensemble sounds like good energy together, and this song is compelling with a good premise. The writing really is clever! No shame in saying I had to look words up.
Phlub - 2023 Valley Motors Tesla Cybertruck Promo
Oh wow ... your commercials with the "cyber truck!" And the woo-woos! This was highly amusing with fantastic delivery and great playing and layering. The tempo change was awesome, and the oddly rap-like patter fit a roundly robust arrangement. Love the low meat in your vocal and all the harmonies. Really playing to your strengths and this is super charming and funny! Lyric writing is really clever as well. I don't have a lot of critique here. In my opinion you certainly understood the assignment and the venue, and you are just really getting the job done here.
Susan Veit Heslin - Go My Own Way
This is a solid structure presented proficiently. Performed beautifully and loved that evocative line 'Money covered the trees….' It's a strong start to your verse and a catchy hook out of your chorus. Your voice is really distinctive and sits nicely there against that nice big sounding guitar. If you wanted to develop this, maybe thickening it up instrumentally and smoothing down some rough edges on the recording process or with some effects would make it sparkle. I wanted harmony or one-layer vocal the whole tune rather than singing on any of the unison parts (that bit suffered by comparison to the other, fuller segments). Indeed, when you get to the 3-part harmony it's just lovely.
Siebass - Just Go Away
Hey! I was promised a solo in those lyrics! Lol … This was hilarious tho! It's so exuberant and roguish. Really fist bumpy! The melody itself is really jump-skippy and not at all same-same, so it's fun and energetic. It takes exuberance to sing while still coming off casual. Still, the recording is a little gratey on the ears … sloppy a bit, but this whole performance is chock full of mirth and I would have a lot of fun drinking to this at a bar. And OMG, I totally agree about those pusher Girl Scouts and trying to get you back on the smack. I talk about this problem ALL The TIME. It's a track with some gall and personality.
The Dutch Widows - Just The White Wine?
I found this story a sensually fraught sweep and got invested in it. "These moments indelibly etched and are fixed for all time / in my mind" is a great line. A melody that risked getting same-ish. But repeated listens to really think on it tick-tock-clocks it into a nice narrative and helps sonically showcase a passage of time. It's a good sound for reflecting on a time of Complicated and Feelings. This is universal. It's kind of swishy, making you think of things like windshield wipers, and I love a song that gets me in road trip over-think mode. I have BEEN HERE (not here, but not NOT here...) So this was very romantic and descriptive—maybe at times a bit wordy or even getting stumbly and awkward in need of some variation in the vocal cadence or the melodic line (or not...). Vocal tone is whispery and intimate—inviting, secretive. It's a mood for sure.
Loren Kiyoshi Dempster - Land Of Opportunity
Very entertaining mix and song for a Not At All Entertaining subject! But I'm music-directing political sketch show right now, so this bowls right up the alley for me! Love the arrangement when the brass comes in; very funereal-yet-festive. The lyrics' cadence started to fit better after a bumpy and knock-kneed start and went by quickly when helped by the orchestration and the key-changes into choruses. The parts that grabbed the hook swelled up nicely, but I found myself wanting more to reinforce the catchiness of it—like a background counter-rhythm (maybe in BUvox) on that chorus or a fast shaker percussion or a tap-break or something. On a personal note, I do so appreciate a song mentioning gerrymandering. I didn't dig the plagal cadence, but within the context of a musical number on a stage in a whole production—it could work nicely?
Roddy - Piano opportunity
I loved the idea of this, before even hitting play. But this is not a song I think I'd listen to for pleasure, even though I appreciate the schtick. I don't know if you meant the piano playing itself to come off hokey — there were some hammed-up licks pointedly over-played, played, then played again and this did make me chortle. It stilted like a YouTube robot pounding out jazzy/honky tonk/bluesy/cheese ball licks to a desperate audience. The sound of your piano was really cool, but there was hiss in my phones, and your voice got into a kind of whiny clash at times w/ piano. But you did get your voice to sound really oily, and I appreciate that. I wish it had been mastered a little bit more sweetly together—to sound all the more silky.
Governing Dynamics - To The Moon!
I love this vamp and the directness. Very mosh. Delivery of 'hey now you know you're really winnin' is cool and surf—which is great because there's that low tom bringing in a bridge bit that is very ethereal and weird but is performed well, particularly those falsetto notes as the bits most tightly nailed town. Got that Wall Street Bets vibe, a properly evocative performance. More—your lyrics are absolutely hitting their marks against the melody, so it's well-placed songwriting with very little space or words wasted. Tidy. This sounds stylistically "you" as well … but also sounds like a track made to be evocative of a feeling/mood/situation—so distinct from your other songs. So you've minted (lolz) yourself as versatile here again. Also—THAT is an incredible way to hang an end note.
Yeslessness - My Secret
This is different. I don't know why I love this track so much but I do. I love the demented/o repetitions and the little skootchy wormsy accompaniment in the chorus that sounds like an uncomfy wiggle. Your voice is so creepy in this. Whatever effect you choose to place on it--it's one of those so wrong it's right choices. The chorus actually reminds me of all the things I love about Boffo Yux Dudes. You're making great character choices and they match their instruments—so it all locks in and makes a nifty presentation. It makes me want to go shut my windows. This is SO environmental. Both ridiculous and superb. Comedy Gold right here: "Don't say that… Don't say thaaaaaat…." Adorably weird!
James Young - What Can I Do?
Love the lines "blinded by the truth / ..you lie because I need you to" — I do prefer a more effortless flow to a more percussive or quick vocal cadence unless the subject/tone warrants it--and you fit in more words where a tighter form of the thought and word choice itself would serve better within each bar. As far as your excellent singing goes, your phrase rounding off at the ends of lines does not quite stick its landing, and I only notice because your phrase shapes are on target. So pitch at the end of verse lines might be just a tone color thing rather than a tuning problem. That was a tasteful guitar solo almost all the way up to the end, but I think I wanted to hear a clearer, more soaring or sustained passage to exit that section. I enjoyed the production, though--entirely. Great on the shouted hook at the end of the chorus and also a good idea of the "what can I do?" statement, but I lose that hook going back into the song and get a bit lost again.
thanks, brain - Looking Down
This is a solid in-song representation of how it is to get sucked into phone land. The drone-zy chord progression and squinty melody floating above (as a sound package--the feel of it) stages out like a super late Sunday breakfast scrolling ignoring one another and our surroundings after a long week. I do like the long arcing phrases though and that you’re not shoving lyrics into tight spaces at full whim. It gets sucked into the echo chamber with things that have happened before for me and I wish sometimes the content were more up at the front and a bit more distinctive. I keep having to go back through to remember 'which one was this..?' So that means it needs something. It sounds nice though—altho something about the high-hat/snare combo is bugging me. I wish it'd been washed with the same hazy sort of treatment everything else got and that things had been a bit boomier—and fade out could have been handled less jarringly, perhaps. So whatever it needs--it's not something abrupt.
JW Hanberry - Opportunity Knockin’
This. Is. Quite. A Thing. 🤡
I am, however, disturbingly impressed. This is a story presented in a Hell of creativity that will likely worm its way into my dreams. It's a haunting relatable coulda shoulda nagging at your psyche and a well-done soundtrack written before the movie. Go get yourself striped pants and a top hat. I'm into the theatrics of the experience, and maybe I was just up late every time I heard it, but this was heinous sonic ringmaster at a zappatastic synth-crunch extravaganza. Just my weird brain on the fakeout—something about your phrasing initially reminded me of Rod Stewart, then suddenly, the tone completely changes and we are off on a mad dash to White Lotus. I was horribly confused but loved it with that Mr. Bungle/Kim Dracula part of myself. This is a whole Situation you've conjured here. Spellbinding!
Cavedwellers - The Last Gasp Of An Empire (The Amateur Draft)
I REALLY love the guitar solo and the ending—the hanging dissonance there and there’s other lovely jazz-oriented chords slipped in here and there as well. There are a lot of little subtle complexities, little moments that take special planning and care. I wish I HAD MORE TIME on this and other songs as well to savor things like “weakness well always wondering what would be…” because I know I’m just seeing them all fly by—not just others here but probably with other folks I’m going to be missing. I do think the chorus is a skitch long and doesn’t feel like a strong chorus that reads like a chorus ought to read—it feels more Verse-like and only parts of the chorus and “chorus-y” if that makes sense … though it does end on a nice meaty hook—instead, what actually sticks with me about the song motive-wise is that bluesy vocal riff you hit at the end of verses “I resigned today…” Anyway—lots to hear here!
chewmeupspitmeout - Never Die
A solid enough song that could grow up more to be even cooler. It needs an uptick in production as you know—and good for you for powering thru with dental woes. Keep working on it because there's something groovy here. Surf guitar and the weird progression. A bit of vocal chorus on the chorus would do you a lot of good, maybe a good reverb with a more grandiose pre-delay. Love any song where a Faustian, serpent-tongued situation "proffer[s] a goblet." Could have done without the fast talking portion but the more intense bit with drums was nice. Maybe do something else with it—like some stacked vocals or a instrumental passage … something. Does progress a bit slowly
Brother Baker feat. Father - The Sloth
I honestly thought that the sloth was a sleepy animal. I guess not, with this aggressive offbeat-accented number. I think it is pretty cute while also rocking quite a bit! Very urgent! Grindy tri-tones couple places and deliberate dissonances! Lots of almost cartoonish, over-the-top energy. Really wanted more grit and mass to the vocals—both don't match the heavy instrumentals. The syncopation of your hook hits just right. It's boggy sometimes, but the rough edges don't come off goofy during crunchy bits, and it sounds like an aesthetic. But you chose to make a party out of maybe sloppy-sounding moments and hit the tasty bits quite well.
The Alleviators
I love this sumptuous and atmospheric presentation of lyrics. I can project my own scenario onto it; and putting yourself in that place is so easy! Also, it's just a charming duet to listen to. The singing is super cushy and flows right through the whole song—and the (nicely familiar :) ) guitar is accessible and soothing, a beautiful and clam-proof canvas to hang a musical narrative or vision upon. And it does read/transmit like a poem. The rhythm flows easily, and all the words fit nicely into all the lines. Maybe at times, some lines get busy and too talky—so it's such a nice breath when there's a soaring note or some space or a bit of breath. So there are some rough edges in the performance, but this is all part of the excitement of Spintunes. ZING! What a great line "Now the hesitation leads to ruin 'Near misses leaving deeper wounds."
Simon Purchase James - Voices Fill the Air
Many people labor over a hot DAW for days and nights, hacking at tiny details in this and other adjacent contests. Here, you have presented a casually delivered 'What This Ole' Thing?' bit like you could quick-improvise in your spare layovers all the time and can eat this $*%! for breakfast ... but you are obviously very skilled. Your crowd work is an endearing treat. You have a distinctive type. This is also a skill--though it's not precisely the same songwriting skill others have shown here. It's a troubadour skill—definitely a vibe. Before I got involved in improv theater myself, I submitted songs and feared and avoided "tropes" (like roving singer-songwriter with feel-good-friendly-peaceful message) like the plague. But now I get it. Tropes make the world go round. The familiar is the human story. We need more human story. Perhaps cynicism is poisonous at times.
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson - Knockin’ on wood
This is a nicely full recording that sounds vibrant and lively. Although … there's something thuddy on random off-beats I don't like. Think it's excessive kick drum? Possibly it's too high in the mix. There. Now that THAT is out of the way—just letting you know this is a real earworm. Like a TV commercial-level earworm. LOVE the chorus. And a fun and uplifting performance. Your singing is solid as well—just as remembered. And no words wasted, everything in its place and things repeated in the chorus correctly and effectively for emphasis. Everything about it sounds earnest and fun even as rough and ready as it goes. I don't like the guitar still ringing through the drop-out so much. For me, I'd rather just the clapping. One woman's opinion. Great tune and memorable!
Jealous Brother - Missed Calls
Deliciously jangly and percussive! Also--that's a honey of a tambourine roll and a sick blues tone. :) I don't even mind the gratuitous lick-dropping (usually I get peevish about excessive guitar-thwacking onto a track) … because the quality is so good, it's all fine. Plus, your vocal harmonies are tight, and the presentation really comes off. The words are a bit artistic for dirty blues, but that just gives it a breezy, eclectic vibe—a band you won't hear too many carbon copies of. Very tasteful—and the right lines get hooked into again. I would call this a sing-song feel. There's a lot in the midHZ after a while there in my ears, but your solo feels so good managed so well it's like TigerEarBalm after all this audio. Oooo! It faded out too soon—let it ring!!!
Also In Blue - Miss Opportunity
These verses are tuneful and songsy—and meander around a real showcase for the vocal. I found it a bit tedious and not catchy to hang onto words and content in all the melodic movement, but the melody is terribly interesting at all times. Complexity has pluses and minuses. Your chorus is crisp and catchy, though. The song is a story of high points and percussive accents--it starts out jangly and cool right out of the gate. I felt whirlwinded a bit, but the arrangement is spot on, the harmonies are crystal clear, and the mix is precise. Also, your vocal is refreshing and easy on the ear, like the 1970s which I still remember fondly. Fun fact: you could sample “Wake up!” if you or a fan/loved one/fellow spintuna/moi wanted a pleasant and low-key alarm for a mid-afternoon nap wakeup ringtone! Bamp-bump! (GT!) Good song for a breathless sort of gal.
Phantom Woes - New Woman, New Cry
Interesting starting—bits of drama and time shifting. Things are getting lost in a heavy texture and sometimes a bit warbly. Events happening at the same time clash too heavily against one another (a matter of clutter on the same EQ spectrum across tracks)—and this is a problem easy to fall victim to. (i.e., that drone vs. the rest of it) I do appreciate a chorus achieved a bit sloppily but with style by laying those two tracks aside atop another. You did some fun things with two different vocals so I like the idea. I like the staging and the point of the different parts. I liked the story. You start to lose momentum with the length and say things more than once where being more concise in tempo or wording would have done (again—easy to fall victim to this in songwriting). But again—it might have been an interesting journey that you made them different, that you made them progress—and I almost wanted more layers of vocal more tightly woven onto the Her part; or more variation to contrast it to the other. The concept is endearing and a lot to think about for those in relationships. And wow the end! :)
Ominous Ride - The Deal
Whoa ... you were right about your small-low-then-build! It's a little disconcerting, but I think you stage it proficiently. Vocal tone gets effective when you get to parts that have power behind it. Actually, I think that you're handling the dynamic range pretty nicely. The lick and that one crying high note sorta get repetitive, so it could happen half as many times and still be motific. That's stylish placement of a guitar solo with great tone! And the faster-paced lyrics do actually make repeat devices sound slick in context. On repeated listens, this sounds less and less dinky than it honestly did the first time I heard it—maybe because I was expecting that nice drop into a more robust center.
Jocko Homomorphism - The Captive Sphinx
This was fun. It felt like you field recorded a bit, maybe the dripping coming from somewhere sampled as those sounded familiarly legit from having to sound design caves a bit (got the best drip sound from a bending piece of metal, oddly). Your sonic space is pretty sharp sounding and intense (in headphones at least—which I experienced this last time whilst babysitting laaaaaaate at night). The arpeggiator you have going kind of upsets my brains a bit against the jump up to the fifth you take on the last line—not sure why. Love the imagery though. It's really thin and sparse and do so enjoy all the featured friends. "Acid tongue and sharpened line" cool line to sing :) OMG that laugh is classic! Talk about something great for sound design!
Night Sky - Janus Lies
This is just deeply and richly soulful. So much so that I get a bit resentful about that relentless high-hat in the middle of the tune. Your vocal is a bit rough—It's the only thing that doesn't quite match the caliber of the rest of it, but there are things you can do about that without changing your singing too much/at all since you were pretty solid on delivery/performance. That chorus is so easy-going and reliable. The rest of the groove should just fold neatly around it. If you workshop no need to adjust lines that flow like "one more dream (I'll) defer / till I got the time to love her / (don't) flowers bloom endlessly / oh no whoa oh no …" I had to keep looking at the lyric sheet though to connect things together as this is getting a bit lost in the shuffle of other things although might have stuck harder in another round. Wow! Those horns sound great. Gah, the whole band does! 🎉 You got the whole damn sandwich.
Ironbark - Privilege
You are obviously deeply wounded, and I'm so sorry. This is hilarious. It's minimal and beautiful and hilarious. OMG, 'chooks at KFC!' I could go on and on about major and minor keys and clever puns, but you know what you did. Every device did its trick and I quickly pushed the lyrics aside when first hearing so every beat would land. And I don't care what people say. If I didn't have the priviledge of spell-check, I'd be ducked.
Temnere - Sands of Time
You have a tremendous, epic voice. 'Twill surely be a pounding, dramatic zombie song from the very beginning and I am more and more amazed as this unfolds into Extra, genre-bending delight. And all the choral/synth pads are great on the arrangement. This would be great in a rock-metal musical. The drums are a lot (but very quick clever fun!), so the crackly midsection is smart and good writing. Extra nod for the use of the phrase "pilfer the tome" and just a million things that make me dream of Jordan Rudess' rotating keyboard. These solos interweave with high/low vocals that are stacked across your interweaving vibrato-highs light the Colossus of Rhodes.
Menage a Tune - Push It
I would also like to hear this not done a cappella because I don't think it's meant to be a cappella. I couldn't really visualize it and the scatting didn't come off for me at the beginning so much—but sorry that you couldn't get music together, and congrats on Ted's new child and on all your film work. Your vocals are sounding really smooth tho—Singing was really good, and the concept chilling. Sure do something with this later…I thought that maybe the tune was getting a little bit same-sy, but it might not have come off that way with an instrument/al along to it. I do like how some of the repetition is rather lulling and reminds you of sitting in a casino pulling lever after lever mindlessly. Kind of evocative
Jerkatorium - Opportunity
This is not a hook-filled or hit-like tune. It feels like an incredibly serious, intimate (well-formed) letter with a nicely constructed jam behind it in which skilled musicians were present. I don't get a feeling of tightness from your chorus—it seems like when a band filled with players gets together so they can riff well and come across as more verse-like. Like two songs smooshed together--gratuitous riffing over a great beginning form sketch with ballad lyrics as they present as a different song. I pulled the words up and got strong feelings about it, and I don't like criticizing it because it felt a bit like a passion piece. But the song starts, and I musically thought, "oh. That's jolly.." (head tilt). . . The "doom, doom, doom and despair" line delivery did grow on me--it is so powerful. I could use more present backup vocals. And not into using chorus on LV the whole way thru. Grain of salt thoughts, though. If I had to describe it as-is: it would be Frenetic but Well Played due to Subject + Setting.
Good Niche Gracious - Cold War Master
I could not figure this out for a while and wondered if a bunch of instruments had been thrown into a blender and then people started to sing a heroic album. And then you started to REALLY sing because you got real, real serious. The "HUH!" ending to this is hilarious. It's so retro-80s childhood and then it starts swinging 60s like Mamas and Papas style harmony or something. Strange (rThings) effect! It's a high drama operatic-fake out, in a pseudo-modal kinda-key that pretends that it doesn't exist.
Mandibles - Time Machine
The tempo and mood flow feels nice in the entirety of this. Vocal delivery connected me to the subject matter, but sometimes it gets a bit clashy in the same range as the guitar strum and feels a bit tweety rather than ethereal. A floaty and spacey reverb to bring the ensemble into a like-minded space might be nice on this, or some other emphasized part of the guitar's EQ range that better compliments the heights of your vocal. That chorus really soars beautifully into the modulation. This has a very classic rock feel- a good setting for a characteristically mystical sort of sound, and I want it to have less harsh and more richness to it in general.
Weiner - Seven Card Stud [SHADOW]
This sounded like an exclamation point in a loud suit who decided they would like to visit a casino.
Hutch - Opportunity Knocks [SHADOW]
If I heard this at a coffee shop I would clap for it, a serviceable tune. Thanks for the song. :)
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