I'm late and a crybaby.

I've been listening to stuff and there are definitely some gems floating around in the RT6 material. Nice work, people. I'm way slow on this, but will post reviews.

I just noticed that I never actually designated proper track orders or something and my shit is just in alphabetical order. I'm going to give myself a big, fat, FUCK THAT. The order is EXTREMELY important, lyrically and musically. So for my own self-indulgent sake, I am posting the proper track order here:

1. Storytime 2. Sneaky Ko Sheng 3. Fight with Self 4. Master's Sacrifice 5. Eye of Knowledge 6. Daydream Style 7. Enter the Vile 8. Transmigration Style 9. Last Time I Tried Tiger Kung Fu I Couldn't Get it Right

I know this is my fault, but FUCK THAT.

Sorry guys, I'm just bummed.

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!

Vol2 reviews

There's nothing better than waking up late on a Saturday and spending it listening to new music.

Cameron King-- I really enjoyed this song. Like other people have mentioned, the textures created by the piano and guitars are great. Also, the falsetto voice gives it this ethereal feel. Love it, and can't wait to hear more, hopefully, in the future.


Brad Adams--This reminded me of some kind of ending to a musical. With puppets. Nice message, nice lyrics. The harmonies in the sung vocals muddied it up a bit though.

Eric Putnam--The intro track cracked me up. I was a little afraid of what the unplugged electric bass was going to sound like, but it's actually really REALLY cool. I might have to try that in the future. The Bear Sky is probably my favorite track on the album. The ambient, kind of droning of the bass drum and the... I'm not sure what that is, but I like it... gives the song a trance-like feel, and then when the bass comes in, yeah. Cool. The vocals in Valium were great. I especially like where you took it on "we need something for the pain." I feel like a different synth sound would have made it better though. It's kind of in your face. Something similar, just not as edgy would give it the same feel I think. Future Phantom's lyrics were great. I love abstract lyrics. Great job!

Lobster Shanty and the Crab Rangoons--I thoroughly enjoyed these songs. It has that pop feel that is heard in Vampire Weekend and other bands like them. Sing On is my favorite track of the three. Love the edgy feel. It kind of reminded me of Jack White in some spots. I really don't have any real criticisms. Great Job!

Logan Bradley--I've heard most of your RT submissions from the past and I've always enjoyed them. This definitely has a different vibe (which you were going for). I was going to review each one, but it turns out that I was basically saying how much I liked each one. It was really nice to hear you doing different types of vocals. Quite a versatile voice. My favorite tracks were Gin Soaked and Eighth Day. Great work!

Mike Weber-- I've always been a fan of the electronic music we studied in college. Probably why I throw myself at it the way I do. The problem with a lot of electronic artists these days is that they don't connect with their audiences. I strive to create something for the audience to connect to when I create electronic music because, while I appreciate the work of Reich, Riley, Lansky, etc. I know a lot of people just don't get it. Mike's work does remind me a lot of some of the electronic pieces I and most of us created in computer music 1 and 2. Going back to those traditional electronic music techniques. My only wish for this would be to take it somewhere else. Try using those techniques in a way that you hadn't thought of before. I love this genre of electronic music, but it does get a bit tiring when every other piece sounds like the other.
1. Green: I love the minimal style of this piece. The steady vibe motif through the whole piece isn't overly distracting because it is buried within the mix and it has all of the swirling textures flowing in and around it.
2. Swan: I enjoyed the way Mike used the noise to bring in and out the different tones and sounds. There were moments where I felt I could feel some lower frequencies wanting to come in but they never did. It was both dis-heartening and satisfying at the same time, giving a feeling of longing almost.
3. Blue then yellow then red: I wasn't exactly fond of the beginning of this, but I always love granular clouds. So, once that came in, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great use of panning.
4. I didn't know we had tamales in here: This piece is very meditative in nature. It began to be a little predictable in spots though. Whenever a new sound would jump to the surface, it always originated in the right channel and moved over to the left with a higher bell/voice sound. It would have been nice to change up the pattern a bit.
5. Tanner than: The rhythmic pulsing really added to this track. It's always there, until it isn't. Very nice use of the build up to cover the clack's escape.
6. Blurring out the radio: I feel like this could have been made longer by waiting to bring in the bell/choir sound, and maybe fading it in more. It's a little abrupt. Other than that, great!
7. Lab dots: I was a little hesitant about this piece at first, but it grew on me with the introduction of the vocal. Again, I feel that it could have been a lot longer. Maybe playing with the vocal sounds.
8. Thr33: This should have been left attached to Lab dots. It's short enough and continues the vocal stuff along the same lines that I wanted in Lab dots. I feel that it cuts off rather abruptly though.
9. They call me cici: Probably my favorite piece on the album.

I really enjoyed the way each piece had a motif and stuck to it for the most part. The noise based sounds really create a feeling of cohesion between the separate tracks on the album. The only thing I wish was that it wasn't as "in the box" with regard to the traditional electronic music realm.

VOLUME Two Review by Eric

Brad Adams - Change

Awesome with the trombone(?)! Hah this song is so great. I'm at a loss for words. It does exactly whatever it was meant to do.

Cameron King - All We Soldiers

First of all, I really like the artwork for this one. Second, I really like this track. The layers and textures are nice with the piano and all the strings. The vocals are bold, pushing the limits of the voice. Bravo!

Eric Putnam - Night Time

I think my speakers just took a shit. Sorry, bud.

Lobster Shanty and the Crab Rangoons - Friends of Mine

There isn't enough of this kind of music around these days. This kind of vocal-reliant rock. Simple instrumental parts but the vocal melody plays a large role in the music. And I like the free feeling. Reminds me of Spacehog. 90s brit-rock. Which is a good thing. I'm really enjoying this submission.

Logan Bradley - Formulas

This may be my favorite album of Record Time VI. I really really like the drum work, especially on Eighth Day and Neon Cast. It's hard-hitting and creates a great texture. I like the variety found on this album. From Gin Soaked to Neon Cast to Of Time to the soul-splitting blasting on Throats. Of Time especially reminds me of Chris Cornell and his old team of fellows (Soundgarden). It's interesting to hear 90s influences throughout this whole Record Time. Maybe I'm only hearing it because I want to, but I feel like there are some clear influences. Anyways, thanks for this one Logan. It's a goodie!

Mike Weber - Flower

Mike and I discussed this album last night. So. He already knows how many sighs this album gets. Mike Pounds would be proud and probably would have added some pocket reverb.

Paul Marquissee - Bringer

Wow, this is raw talent. I heard through the grapevine the voice we hear is the wife. Gorgeous voice supported by great instrumentals. It's amazing this came to be in a week or less. I read somewhere that you hoped not to do something so avant garde, but if that's a peer pressure thing don't let it be. This feels like you were comfortable in this area of music and if that's the case, go for gold! I really enjoyed listening to this. It really opened up the scope for Record Time.

COMMENTS (From the producer of Lake Euclid)

These are the things that caught my ear...

ANDREW MILLER: Holy God. Whatever movie these tracks were in, I would go see. They’re Hacking The Mainframe! is awfully exciting. Limbo of Infants? I’ve heard pieces of serious art music that weren’t as well conceived. Well done indeed.

CAMERON KING: Beautiful, affected lyrics, arrangement, and melody. I’d like to hear more of your music. Hell, I wouldn’t mind making some with you.

FIVE MINUTE FANCLUB: Loved the lazy organic vibe on Great Plains and the cassette tape rawness of For The Love, though I don’t understand how taping other peoples’ performances amounts to writing tracks for an album.

FLAVOR TOWN VOICE POTENTIAL: Lots of, um, potential in the song The One About That Girl. I’d love to hear it produced up.

LAKE EUCLID: Hit and miss. Love You Anyway features some solid arranging, but probably the gayest guitar solo I have ever heard. Pulled Myself Through is a giant fucking turd of a song, but I did appreciate the intro. You Won’t Know… now we’re talking… pretty serious shit, but you need to work on that ending there, homeboy.

LOGAN BRADLEY: A Diva is a female version of a hustler.

LUXI: Fuck yeah. Really diggin’ the ambient, smart, modern vibe. I will actually play Coral Castle and Wrecktronix after this is all over, which I can’t say of any of the other tracks, aside from possibly my own You Won’t Know. I’d love to hear what you can do when you’re not limited to a week.

STRANGE BATTERY: So I’m playin’ through all this silly, crazy, creativity orgy, and then I hear Finally. Ahhhhhhh :) Seriously though, I don’t know how a person can be so creative and free, and I envy it.

VOLUME One Review by Eric

Andrew Miller - Self-Titled

Andrew, I'm really loving this stuff. It's very impressive! Sounds like it could easily be in any major motion picture, really. Except Danny Elfman pictures. Not nearly enough ostinato. :-) Sorry this commentary probably wasn't at all helpful!

Five Minute Fanclub - Big Shoulders

I'm having trouble understanding this kind of music is making it into Record Time. I remember when this thing got started we were recording things with our built-in microphones, hoping to get some 'semblance of a few songs out. Now we've got these tracks that could totally be on my iPod to listen to on a daily basis. I love the feel of this album. It's got a great laid-back vibe, which is great for my anxiety! haha. I really like the singer's voice and the rapper definitely has his own flow. Grand.

LUXI - Sacred Geometry EP

Again, production quality this time around is through the roof. Though this album is inundated with pitch correction, I still enjoy the beats. They're deep and complex. I love the hard hitting bass. I also love the middle-eastern influence that seems to have made it into this entire album. Great harmonies. Oh and I'm also a sucker for a fat synth (track 4). Another incredible week-long endeavor.

Osmin - Flow

Opening with a guitar choir was the right thing to do, first off. I don't know why, but the real question is, why the fuck not? This album covers quite a few bases from there as well! Great latin guitar tracks, great 90s acoustic feel tracks. The 18 minute track reminded me a lot of Sounds of Animals Fighting for some reason. Good show, sir.

Reality Calls - Reality Check

The first thing I thought of on Endless Night was Nirvana. It took me back to hot summer days in my youth, listening to Bleach on my brother's boombox. The Nirvana didn't last long, but this is not a bad thing. The 90s feel, however, did. I'm digging it in a big way. 90s + Owl City. Was the pitch correction intended to be part of the sound? If so, it worked. If not, maybe ease off the gas a little next time. All in all, we should all be proud of anything like this done in a week! Keep on reppin'!

Rob Fisher - Years to Remember

So I heard through the grapevine that you were in Dan's music lab dealie. I enjoyed your track. Your voice, especially! It's got a unique sound. Thanks for contributing all the way from the UK!

Strange Battery - Tinkle

Dan. I laughed most of the way through this album. Ready to Dance is among my favorite tracks. It reminded me of that day you and Mike and I wrote a hardcore song in the basement of 913 Linden Street. Then the Squirrel Nut Zippers. But it was Dan throughout. I applaud your tuning bravery. I think we discussed briefly how it was time for a shift in Dan. And jokes aside, I actually found some profound meaning in this album. If I ever get married and my wife and I decide to put a bun in the oven, this is what I'm giving him for his first birthday! And of course, thanks so much for putting this together for the 6th time! It means a lot to everyone, I'm sure, myself included.

REVIEW, by the Strangest of Batteries

*Note: sorry that I am interrupting people's string of reviews with this monster post...I thought I would be the first to do this!

Anyways...

Hello all!

As you can see, It’s review time! Hopefully everyone is happy with their work…I know I am. I encourage everyone to post their thoughts on the music – feedback is totally sweet. Don’t feel obligated to listen to every second of every song – general impressions are just fine (although personally I like to go as in depth as I can). Don’t feel obligated to post your reviews at all! I enjoy writing and reading this stuff, but I don’t expect others to feel the same way.

Here are my reviews. More to review this year, and less time to review it…I will have to keep it a little shorter than usual!

EDIT: Whoops…so much for the shorter thing.

REVIEWS

ROB FISHER – YEARS TO REMEMBER: Rob is a friend-I-have-never-met from the UK. We make music together in the Intercontinental Music Lab, an awesome musical experiment I am very lucky to be a part of. As some of you may have read, he was going for a 7 Wonders of the World concept, but had to scale it back a bit, and now we have this track. I particularly love the background vocals (I love BG vocals in general)…there are some awesome harmonies in there – I think I heard more than one diminished something or other. I also the sort of natural ebb and flow of the track – starts out with just two chords, then starts building tension and going into more complex stuff without you realizing it…so great. And there is an overall pleasant, trance-like quality throughout. Rob’s silky-smooth voice goes without saying.

LUXI – SACRED GEOMETRY: Last year she was Alexandre Maxine, this year she is Luxi! The name change actually makes sense (I did the same thing, and I’d like to think mine makes sense as well)…this is a totally different artist…more underground hip hop than electronic pop now. Production has definitely stepped up, as she pointed out, and the guest musicians add a ton. I think I like “Wrecktronix” and “Alchemy” best – especially the guest artist in the latter. On a more general note – I really like how consistent Luxi’s whole vibe is – from what I’ve seen Alexandre seems to have a really bold, unique style that ties together all her artwork – musical, visual, and otherwise.

BRAD ADAMS – CHANGE: Nice debut RT track from Brad, who I met in drumline at Ball State. Don’t have a whole lot to say about it, except nice lyrics, nice message, and is that a French horn?!?

ORYX AND THE CRAKERS – I’m not really sure if there are more Oryx and the Crakers tracks besides this one and the one for RT5, but there ought to be. I think Nadia and I have a lot in common musically – she appreciates a good dose of humor and often uses it to sneak in some pretty serious and (in this case) pretty dark stuff. Though she denies it, Nadia plays a mean Jew harp here. Wish the vocals were just a teeeeeny bit louder…I generally like buried vocals but this is pushing it!

LOBSTER SHANTY AND THE CRAB RANGOONS – FRIENDS OF MINE: Gotta say, I was very surprised at how this record turned out, for reasons I will not go into. So poppy! This is a collaboration between my good from Joe Wilinski and my Facebook friend Nick Puglisi, although you’ll have to forgive me for seeing it mostly in the context of Joe’s previous records. Joe seems to have a major breakthrough every Record Time, and this one to me is pulling all of his previous lessons together – like he’s finally got all the elements in place, he’s finally got a unique style going, and I think it’s finally time he explored his songwriting career outside Record Time. Nick’s bass playing is incredible, though I would expect no less after hearing the new Kings of Push record. I say get a third member of Lobster Shanty and go on tour.

ERIC PUTNAM – NIGHT TIME: Eric and I have been friends for the better part of 700 years. He told me that this Record Time he wanted to experiment with unplugged electric bass, and at first I was skeptical, but of course it worked. Of COURSE it worked. Those bass sections are definitely the highlight for me. Eric has one of my favorite types of voices – kinda out-of-control but somehow always in tune. Now that he has a job, Eric just needs to buy REAPER and get his production value on.

LOGAN BRADLEY – FORMULAS: I always look forward to Logan’s music (and his artwork), and he never disappoints in either. As he posted, he was doing little homages to his favorite bands…though I don’t think he was trying to prove anything in particular, the album shows there isn’t much he can’t do. I was particularly impressed by his vocals, especially on “Throats” – don’t think I’ve heard anything like that from him. The Sleigh Bells track is my favorite. Logan also wins loudest album by far – I literally had to remaster my entire record after hearing his, and it’s still not even close.

CAMERON KING – WE ALL SOLDIERS: A great RT debut. It’s hard for me to comment on stuff like this that has no gimmicks, no tricks…all I can say is that Cameron has a great, very masculine voice (rarer than it seems), and I especially like the little bits of vibrato here and there. Sounds a lot like Bon Iver, or at least the one Bon Iver song I’ve heard. That falsetto is hard to pull off without sounding ridiculous, and Cameron pulls it off.

MIKE WEBER – FLOWER: The less I give away about this album, the better. But I will say that it gives me fond memories of college, and the worthless skills learned therein. Not that this album is worthless, of course. I think Mike would agree that this album could be depressingly popular in the right circles.

PAUL MARQUISSEE – BRINGER I think Paul has meant to do Record Time at least once before, and I always hoped he would follow through with it – I remember seeing him perform one of his pieces (violin + tape of some kind) and remember loving it. Paul and Mike’s albums show two sides of the computer music coin – Mike’s is…well, th0nk, and Paul’s appreciates the need for some kind of emotional anchor in this kind of stuff. His wife Kylene pulls everything together and it sounds like they had a great time making this – they’re also one of the few who planned on a concept and actually stuck to it! Very very impressive RT debut!

ANDREW MILLER – SELF-TITLED: Andrew is my roommate now, and I’m extremely jealous of both his talent and his rig. We’ve already discussed his album in person quite a bit, so I don’t need to go into too much detail, but I will say that Limbo might be THE standout track of this RT, and the other 3 are easily good enough to send to music libraries and make money on. So he needs to close this browser and DO IT NOW.

REBECCA ALLISON – COOKIES: Every year I mention that you can bake stuff, and Becca is the first to actually do it. What can I say? They look delicious. Props for a very thorough story, and for providing a recipe – it’s Super Bowl weekend, people…you’re gonna need a dish to pass!

THE KILLER METEOR – THE PHILOSOPHER STONED: Oh my Lord. Ed’s submission last year was teetering on the brink of madness…now he has gone completely off the deep end. At first I thought it was just too much for me, that I liked the last one better…but once I actually sat down to listen I changed my mind. I really like this. The beats are really something special, if you could call it that…it seems like all of the grooves that I hear in this are completely by accident – like each drum is doing its own thing and come together once in a while, but never for MY sake. Like some kind of phasing or algorithmic thing…I never completely understood Ed’s plan for this, but I think that may have been a part of it. I do kind of miss the weird voice he used on the last one. I almost want him to do something even weirder next time, if only because I literally can’t imagine it.

LAKE EUCLID – C SIDE: Definitely one of the most professional-sounding records we’ve had. I work at a music licensing company/library, and this is exactly the type of stuff we are pitching to TV shows every day. Nice, straightforward stuff, great vocals, good universal lyrics – you can make money doing this. If you’re into that sort of thing. My only complaint, and this is very nitpicky…I wish the pitch correction were a little more transparent. I only bring it up because that alone would put it over the edge quality wise, and you could seriously start licensing this stuff. Just a thought.

RANDY STARY – ROCK TO THE BIG GAME (2011 VERSION). Randy and the rest of the Starys are good friends of my family, though I haven’t seen them in a while! I’m really glad Randy was able to submit some music –a Packer song just in time for the Super Bowl, no less. Nice groove, nice guitar playing, nice lyrics…and it’s already up for sale to benefit cerebral palsy. Doesn’t get better than that.

KRIS ECKMAN – HIROCHI NO HI: So happy this album exists. Weird as hell, and an orgy of genres, just how I like it. And I’m really glad Kris followed through on the concept…almost makes a nice counterpart to the Killer Meteor record, conceptually and…sonically? Almost? A lot more noise-type stuff than I’m used to, but it’s very “colorful” noise. Also like the use of Asian instrument samples – really helps out the imagery and…stuff. Really cool.

FLAVOR TOWN VOICE POTENTIAL – SELF-TITLED: Great band name. Legendary even. I’m always happy when people use all real instruments...the production on this one definitely has a certain charm to it, especially “Ode to Alejandro.” I think my favorite of the three, however, is “The One About that Girl” – has a really nice, tight groove, and seems the most natural out of the three.

FIVE-MINUTE FAN CLUB – BIG SHOULDERS: I was so excited to have Eric Sherman back (from Record Time 2, I believe!) and this time with his awesome wife, both of whom I met in October at Mike Weber’s wedding! Such a small world, although not really, because all of that was organized…hmm. Anyways, to the record. I alluded to it a little earlier, but I love when male singers actually SOUND LIKE MEN. Eric’s vocals are my favorite of this entire thing. They’re not perfect, but they’re very rich, and for some reason I like the way he pronounces things. Some of the field recordings (I believe all done by Blythe ) are real highlights as well. Even though I think Eric said they were stepping back from the Chicago concept a bit, I think they really nailed that. This record is epic in scope – whether intended or not.

OSMIN – FLOW: I always have the hardest time reviewing Osmin’s (Oscar’s?) material. I just never know what to expect when the next song hits. He’s got an 18-minute track here! That actually might be my favorite one…not sure who the girl is or what she’s reading, but there’s a nice tone set there. I also like the last track…nice and direct lyrics, and I like the build toward the end. I know Osmin told me that this record isn’t totally finished, but I liked what I heard so far.

REALITY CALLS – REALITY CHECK: I can definitely hear Jason, Stephanie, and the rest of the crew trying out some new things here, especially in the drums…I think I remember their previous stuff being a little more square and straightforward. Love the keyboard sections. And overall, I gotta say again, you guys seem to have a very intuitive sense of arrangement and melody – the songs are catchy and easy to listen to, but never seem formulaic or forced. I think I like “History with No Beginning” best.

KELSI EPHRAIM – VIDEO: (Note: I would urge you all to look at the note along with Kelsi’s link…she was having some technical issues) This video is tiny, and awesome. Among many other reasons, I like Kelsi because she isn’t afraid to make things that don’t mean anything (something I think Record Timers can appreciate), and it’s hilarious when that makes people angry. Also kudos for finding a workaround to the shaky camera issue – it’s so small now that nobody can tell!

STRANGE BATTERY – TINKLE: Tinkle is exactly what this record sounds like. 0/10.