Vol3 Reviews

And we're back with my review of volume 3!

Flavor Town Voice Potential-- I really like the vibe you have going for you. I have to agree with Dan that The One About that Girl is my favorite of the three songs. It fits together very nicely. Also, in Ode to Alejandro, I really liked the conversational thing you have going on between the male and female vocals. Great job!

Kelsi Ephraim-- I know a little about video and what goes into making it. That said, I'm not good at it at all. I really liked the lighting throughout the video, as it made the video seem very grungy. I also really liked the pairing of Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates." Great choice. I also caught a few instances where you were kind of matching the video to the music. (Especially the part about laughing and the image of the gnome). Overall, great job!

Kris Eckman-- Very interesting concept. I love the noise aspect of this. The constant panning left,right,left,right, grates on the nerves a bit. If that's what you were going for, great job! Orochi's Fury is my favorite. I love how it starts off as a sort of experimental electronic thing and then morphs into this rock metal guitar solo. Awesome.

Lake Euclid-- I'm glad you guys did this. Love You Anyway is very emotional. Reminds me a little of The Fray's first album. Much more driving though. I really don't have any real criticisms. I second Dan's comments about licensing this stuff. You should get on that.

Oryx and the Crackers-- I generally liked this. Very dark depressing material with a nice hopeful lilt at the end: "make the mundane beautiful." The vocals are buried so much that I could barely hear them, and at the end that I couldn't really hear them at all. Really cool stuff here though.

Randy Stary-- Just in time for Sunday. I'm not really a football fan, or sports in general, but to each his own. It's very Nashville sounding. The guitar work is really nice. Not much more I can say about it. Good job!

Rebecca Allison-- Those cookies look delicious! I'm a little jealous of the study group, and now I'm trying to think of a way to digitize food and send it over the internet... hmmm..

The Killer Meteor-- Ed Mellen at his best. Wacky, zany, and a little crazy. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I think I have to let it ferment in my head for a while before I come to a clear conclusion. Upon my second listen through, I'm starting to like it a bit more than my first listen. I was focusing on the lyrics the first time through and kept getting distracted and thrown off by the instruments and the drums. Now that I'm listening to the whole thing together, I'm starting to hear some kind of cohesion. Also, this is the first KM I have actually heard, so that could have something to do with it.

Anyway, congrats to everyone who made stuff last week. I learned a lot from listening to all of your work and can't wait to hear more in the future!