Alright, here we go. I am leaving no stone unturned here (except for Connor Boyle. I'm really sorry man, my internet has slowed to dial-up speeds and it would have taken me 10 hours to redownload volume 3. I'll definitely check it out!). I think getting feedback is the second best part of this process, so I wanted to make sure and give everyone a fair shake.
But before we get there. If you liked my album but thought it had too much dynamic range and didn't cause enough ear bleeding, I remastered it and put it up on my bandcamp. Ch-ch-check it out: http://loganbradley.bandcamp.com/album/hzlhrst
And one final piece of business. I gotta brag. This was my most productive RT week yet. I created a t-shirt design for a family ALS walk the day before RT, started building the RT website Sunday night, did my RT submission, worked the 40 hour work week, did my album art, mastered Aaron Webster's RT songs, did the cover art for Andrew Miller's RT submission, and then promptly finished the RT website the Tuesday after RT week. Woo...alright. I feel better now.
Enough bullshit. Let's do this.
Autumn Bluff – Lovesick Lullaby
Super clean sound. You definitely hit all the right marks of this style, including a mandatory but quickly-passing mention of the clitoris. Did you construct the song from previously existing loops or put it all together with samples and recorded material? Either way, sounds great. I enjoy the outro remarks.
Clock Systeme – droides
This track is filled with great textures and standout moments. It definitely works best when its playing in the background. The repetition lets it sink back, but then the music will jump to the forefront with some really neat bits. Once again, gotta ask. Are these mostly loops or did you sequence/record/manipulate most of the sounds? I especially enjoy the stereo clicking that begins around 1:20.
DJ Cleveland – Tessie
Neat. I get to do graphic design for a living, and one of my favorite techniques to sneak in when I can is halftone patterns. I also like the stylized take on chromatic abberation and of course the adorable dog. More art next time I say.
Five Minute Fanclub – Tongue-Tied and Twisted
Overall awesome sound. The banjo in the first track has the perfect middle-of-the-room sound to it. Just the right amount of slap. Mary Anne is a sweet song. Haha, love the quick switch to Doo-wop. No no no has a great travel vibe to match the lyrics. You said you had some issues with getting a drummer, but I think you still got some solid rhythmic ideas down. Improvised percussion works really well with this style anyway. Like the clacking in The Secrets They Keep; works perfectly. Love the low-gain electric guitar sound in The Sun is Only Shining...I think you and I have the same amount of whistle ability. This track has a nice light hearted feel despite the depressing lyrics. Love, loss, and alcoholism are fun again! And finally, like I said on the 'book (I hope that catches on) Tongue Tied and Twisted is exceptionally solid. I'll agree with Paul, the first set of background vocals would benefit from being set further back in the mix, but it still sounds great.
Nice stuff man. Two thumbs up.
Lobster Shanty and the Crab Rangoons – Tremendous
Man, it actually feels really nice to have a song welcome you to Record Time. The production on this EP is perfect. Great punch on the low end, clear but subdued guitars, and vocals that sit comfortably on top. Nice job on that alone. Songwriting wise, awesome once again. My exposure to funk is pretty limited, so I may be wrong, but this definitely sounds like some solid funkin to me. If anyone says otherwise, funk 'em in the bunt with a groovy lick. Seriously though, great job. I have no criticism.
Logan Bradley – HzlHrst
Hipster album title, pretentious opening, apes the DC sound too hard.
Mike Weber – Morning Waits for No One
I always look forward to your albums Mike. Last RT was without a doubt my favorite of yours, but it is nice to hear you back to the more contemporary stuff. Opening is beautiful, I love well distorted drums. Candle March is a great duet. The vocals have a refreshing rawness to them. Morning Waits...nice synth with the right amount of drive. I imagine these are drums tracked in your studio? They sound great, I like the double tracking technique. Scarecrow's Song has a Mineral feel to it. Nice slapback on the vocals. Fitting outro. You always have great vocal melodies and this album is no exception.
Strange Battery – Grenadine
Ooh, I got to sneak preview this one. Suck on it Record Timers. Almost every song feels familiar from the get go in the sense that you hit the style and the classic melodies so well that it taps into all the songs I heard in Disney movies and sang in choirs. When I started Grenadine for the second time in the last few days, I immediately remembered the hook so that's a testament to its catchiness. Watch Out is some serious hobo-ghosts-trying-to-steal-the-last-bottle-of-whiskey-but-never-quite-getting-it-and-then-getting-scared-when-the-cartoon-lady-sees-them-and-screams music. Nice. Great reverb on the organ on Horsies. The Knight and The Princess rot my fucking teeth out. You owe me teeth. Family Band got me to chuckle. I want to hear how Chuck clicks a single spoon by itself. Production is great. I think you made the right decision not purposely degrading it. Whey 2 Go.
Todd Kevin – Jejune Oeuvre
Great vocals. You're voice reminds me of the Maps & Atlases vocalist. Tons of character. Nice amount of humor throughout the record. Evelyn McHale has a great vocal line. Solid song. Just Going gives me a beautiful old south vibe. A little Fleet Fox like. I like the turn at 2:20. Late in life tone changes are always welcome. Production wise everything is there. I'd say throw some reverb on the drums and push them back a bit. The guitar could definitely use more low end, but that's always really tricky with acoustics. Vocals are nice a crisp and mixed well. You've got a unique sound, keep it up!
Andrew Miller – Paroxysm
I think this might be the most realized track I've heard from you. I don't know that there is anything that would need to be change before this could show up as a film score. I know you were going for a Rite of Spring vibe, and I think you got really close. The drum hits just need to be more violent, but the score itself hits all the right notes. It actually sounds like a mix between a Star Wars prequel score and the Rite of Spring, which I believe was pretty much your intention. Another good one Andood.
Christian Lyon – Young Man EP
Very relaxing. Nice mix. Good guitar sounds. Has that Explosions in the Sky feel, with the vocals I get a Logh vibe. Nice vocal arrangement on Young Man. Crisp, clean vocals with the slightly darker lyrics. Basic Beats didn't catch me quite as much, but still a nice track. All around a pleasant listen. I look forward to hearing more.
Donkey Donker – King Henry VIII
A good collection of soundscapes. They all have a good sense of build. The first two tracks would feel at home in a film set in space. I like the drums in Get Down, but with drums comes a very apparent sense of time, so this track seemed to drag a little. The filter on the drums in Bridges helps to add some progression to the track. Overall I think these tracks would work wonderfully with the right visual media because they're so vivid even on their own.
Intraphase – A Boy and His Demon
The vocals kind of remind me of Scissorfight. I think the vocals are a little too high in the mix. The guitar could stand to come up and if you double track the guitars they'll have even more impact. I like the drum section at 3:50. The reverb drenched piano is nice. The shredding at 9:45 sounds great. A 12 and half minute concept song is super ambitious, so kudos to you.
Jiva – The Atma
Really beautiful stuff. Jiva has some great dynamics. Love the various filtered drum sounds. Great guitar sounds. Nice pluckiness in Balance. Love the strings in Ascension. I wish I had more to say, but it's all really beautiful. I have no real critiques. It straddles the line between post-rock and shoegaze with some other nice elements for good measure.
Jonathan and Jason – The McWaffle
Definitely getting the contemporary church service vibe from Dancing In The Rain. The opening vocal melody actually reminds me of the Proud To Be An American song by Lee Greenwood. Good mix. Vocals may be a little hot, but not by much. Maybe a bit more of a build to the end with one huge hit would have sent the whole thing home that much more, but it still sounds good. People's Champion gives me a chuckle. I hope that's not entirely unintended. If so, disregard that. Mix is good again. Guitars and strings could be a little louder. Good on you for doing two very different tracks.
Michael Joiner – Sister
Cool keyboard melody. Vocal style is nice. I like the double tracking. Mix is good. Lyrics are strange, and that made me listen to them more carefully. The stranger the better. Neat. Keep them coming.
The DuPage Amiable Society – A New Fall
Has a nice preciousness to it. The synth stabs in Goodbye are a little high in the mix. I like the open to I Can Only Hope. Synth is a little loud again in Thoughts From Bed, but I like the synth itself. I like the ending of Goodybe Pt 1. The Pedro The Lion cover makes sense and works in the album. Nice. Long Drive Home is a fun song. Overall good sound. Congrats.
V.Mel – One Minute Rave
A man(or lady) of his(or her) word! My cat dropped E and chewed on his pacifier to this track, so it worked! Nice short song. Come on back.
Ben x – XE
I haven't listened to much techno or house since I was much younger, but these tracks seem to move a lot more than most of what I've heard which is great. I like the rhodes sound in IHOD. Cool vocal sampling in Robot House. Nice chill drum sound in Simple Dub. Overall I'd say you set up some good chunks, but each track would do well with more contrast. I was just hoping simple dub would explode at one point, but then it wouldn't be as simple and relaxed so maybe not.
F.E.A.R. - Night Terror
This is cool. Reminds me of John Carpenter's synth scores for his early films. The searching synth lines definitely have that Halloween vibe to them. I know there's a whole scene dedicated to this sound, were you going for that? If not, you should check it out. I don't know off the top of my head any of the artists in that style, but this track would fit in there comfortably.
James Danger – Sentiments & Romances
Nice feel. I like the reverb soaked percussion in the first and second tracks. Nice transition into the field recording. Good use of samples in Setting yourself up. Nice atmosphere going from The Curse to From Where. A good collection of tracks that do a nice job of telling a story.
Kris Eckman – The Devil & Isaak
You've got that Meshuggah feel going on. I can hear the tone you're going for with the guitars, but there's a bit too much gain which causes a fizziness on the high end and leads to the can-of-bees issue a lot of high gain sounds run into. Also, if you double track all the guitars and pan them stereo it'll help to define the notes that much more. That said, its not the production that matters, it's the riffs. You've got some good riffs. I like the break we get in track 2, makes track 3 that much heavier when it comes back in. Nice outro on track 3, neat panning echo on the guitar. I like the environment you're setting up in track 4. Good melodic bits. I like the mix of electronic sounds with the guitars in track 5. Cool stuff. Very ambitious.
Oberon – Self-Titled
Nice mix. Everything is pretty even. Vocals are a little dry, but they still work. Has a Jack Johnson, John Meyer vibe...I think. I'm not very familiar with the more bouncy acoustic rock sound. The third track chorus definitely reminds me of Nightmare of You. Check out Bang by them if you haven't already. Truth has a good low down feel. Nice and smoky. Good job.
Paul Marquissee – Journey's Edge
Nice processing on the vocals in Secrets. The track has a little bit of a build, but there's not much of a payoff at the end. Still a pleasant listen. Cool open for On The Edge. Much more contrast in this one, I like it. Nice panning in the open to Shake Your Windows. Drums sound good. Vocals too. Ends somewhat abruptly, but that's cool. Nice thick layered sound in One Last. Very big sound with a nice taper at the end. Nice to hear you push into some more contemporary spaces while keeping your style in tact.
Pigeon - Crooked Legs
Cool atmospheric sound. Vocals fit well with the guitar sound. I like the guitar lick around 2:45 in Buildings. Everything feels like its emerging from or sinking back into noise, in a good way. The album feels pretty cozy and warm overall. Nice big end to the EP.
Aaron Webster – Sex Affairs of Ghosts
Pure madness. I crushed the ever living shit out of the first and last songs, only because I wanted the production to match the musical ideas. The first track is so circular. I really like the way the string synth is accentuated by the other towards the end of the track. Cool spooky piano sound in the second track. I like the swelling and cutting synth sound. Nice skipping feel at the end. Third track is another brickwall of sound. This track brings the Genghis Tron feel. Even though its a whirlwind of notes, there is that main riff that is immediately recognizable. Nice job man. I was pleasantly surprised when this showed up. Look forward to your next one.
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