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Old 01.19.2010, 07:33 AM   #7
Glice
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Sorry, I did listen to this at the time, and neglected to say anything.

Right, so, first of all, this isn't really my sort of thing, so I'd take anything I say with a pinch of salt. It's not terrible or cliché-ridden or hideously trite or anything like that - just not the sort of thing I've listened to for ages.

'The masses become zombies' - I like that the guitar doesn't stick to resolving to the tonic on the beat. That is, you've avoided one of the most annoying things about post-rock. Everything sort of floats about nicely. I'm not too sure about the drum recording, it sounds like it either wasn't the best room you were recording in (practise space?) or the mikes weren't suited to drums. You're probably going for that 'lo-fi' sound though, so that criticism likely means little. They could certainly do with being tuned though, they've got a bit of a dead sound to them.

'Sometimes being evil will get you even' - neat, drifting. Doesn't outstay its welcome. The mix is ideal on this track - the orientation of the bassline (presumably what you're all playing off) doesn't rise above the other less obviously rhythmic stuff. It doesn't all blur into a mess though, you can follow each line without too much trouble.

'Ghost in this room will not let us sleep' - Again, not too sure about the drum sound on this. And the acoustic guitar [?] doesn't sound as bright as it might - did you get a new set of strings for the recording? It might be down to mike placement or problems with DI-ing if it's electro-acoustic. If you listen to the cymbal from 3:20 or so - that's where the problems with the drum come in, there's minimal in the way of bright overtones coming from it. I personally find vocals overlaid on this sort of thing a bit of a difficult thing to pull of but if you're happy then I'm a dick. Actually, I'm a dick either way. This tune's a bit 'straighter' and...well, in the context of other things that's fine, but personally this would probably be my least favourite for that reason, and it reminded me a lot of why I went off Mogwai.

'Magic Bullet Theory' - this is one of the oldest ones, right? I like this. The organ sound works really well. I think because the distorted guitar ends up a bit compressed the drums work better here. I like that you didn't give in to the tendency to shred on the guitar and just leave it floating about a bit. There's a lovely little figure on the organ around 3:15 that sits just low enough in the mix that you wouldn't quite notice it, but I think it highlights how the melody isn't quite repetitious.

'Learned how to booze' - There's a sound in the background that sounds like an EQ Sweep, but also a Jew's harp. I like that. Again, I think the mix is about right on this. And again, I'm not sure about the drum sound. The xylophone sound is nice, and the various droning sounds work nice and discretely. There's what sounds like a digital keyboard sound over the 'learned how to booze' motif that just about alludes to a major key without making it quite explicit. Do you care about modes or is this coincidental? This song might benefit from a few variations on the drums, it just sort of plods along doing nothing (for my taste).

'Fleshy part of the thigh' - I like the drum figure on this, but still not happy with the sound (sorry to your drummer). I like that this sorts of threatens a crescendo but doesn't quite give in to it, preferring to stick with variations on the theme. Around 3:00 there's an organ figure which plays off the rhythm nicely, and something similar (double time to the earlier organ figure) on the xylophone around 4:30 (ish). I think the mix is pretty good on this, but I'd say the bass could do with being a bit higher as it's not just providing rhythmic orientation.

'Our last evening in Key West' - That's a really nice change of pace to the rest of the songs. So I should say that these songs all fit together nicely, there's not too much going over the same ideas. Again, it sounds enough like a major key but not excessively so. I like that it picks up pace, but only a little bit, later on - a lot of people can't hold it together when they do that, so you've either got a good group together or worked long and hard at that. I would say the drums are way too high in the mix in this one though. They are leading, but the bass gets sort of lost in it, and a few of the additional synthy bits disappear aswell.

Like I say, I'd take everything I say with a pinch of salt but... yeah, those were my thoughts. I'm surprised more people haven't said anything though, so.... bump.
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