Whoever’s tape I’m reviewing has every right to be outright pissed at me for putting this off for so long. But now I finally have an evening without homework where I can settle down and write this thing.
So without further ado...
1. “Wake up, it’s a beautiful morning!” Fitting beginning. I really like the whistling, its just a fun, summery, surfy song.
2. Nice sort of galloping rhythm. I thought I knew who this was, but I don’t. I’m not crazy about his voice, but the harmonies are really nice. Had a nice verse section, but by the latter half it sort of loses me. Not bad though.
3. Strummed guitar, and a sort of jazzy woman’s voice. Starts off as a nice change, but the way she sings gets annoying pretty fast…just something about that jazz-pop style where they keep on adding extra notes. Or maybe it’s just the timbre of her voice. Yeah, the fast bit near the end confirms that I’m definitely not a fan.
4. This starts off with a really nice, chill vibe. Voices are more subdued and listenable, is this Bon Iver? Maybe..err, probably not. Definitely has some similarities, though. Overall its pleasant, and keeps itself from being boring with little nuances. Good pick.
5. A couple layered guitars…will this be an instrumental? It’s great so far. Oh nice, hits you with a snappy groove halfway through. Decent singer, and I like how the guitars harmonize with the melody. It develops nicely too, might be my favorite so far.
6. Huh, kind of a strained, whiney voice. Not liking the singer, but the arrangement is okay, whole thing has an amateurish appeal. The chorus seems too large for the singer to do justice. Yeah, most of it is just shouting slightly off key, a shame as it could have been a pretty good song.
7. Quick transition into a song with a really powerful, sort of electro bass sliding sound. Woman singer…this is pretty interesting, in a good way. A lot of nice synths, especially the outro.
8. Oh, nice solemn piano bit, has a chopin vibe but obviously not him, I’m guessing some contemporary artist. I like the subtle expressiveness of the melody, and how it sort of arpeggiates without stopping for a while. I’m definitely hanging on to this.
9. I recognize this, but can’t for the life of me place it. Kind of a dark, marching biker ballad. It’s a cool little song, wish I could remember where it was from though.
10. Another stark change, a soft, sort of poppy-electronic song. Great rhythm, backing vocal melody and keyboards on the chorus. Indifferent to the singer, but I definitely like it.
11. Distant guitar and drums playing. Tough to describe, but its nice and interesting. I like the verse, mainly the dialogue between singer and what sounds like hand claps, keyboards are nice too. Cool track...long outro.
12. One of the cleaner produced songs on the mix, I like the piano accent, decent singer, albeit a little intense for my taste, almost muse-ish in parts…lyrics are odd but interesting. By the end I’m kind of blah about it, I guess from the repetition.
13. Ooh, rolling, snappy piano. Woman singer…it’s a really cute song for what it is. Doubt I’ll want to give it a second listen, but it adds variety.
14. This is wonderful! Kind of a layed-back country vibe with picked guitar, violin, maybe some mandolin. I love the warm calmness of the guy’s voice. Cello and piano come in…this is definitely a keeper, I’d love to know who this is, sounds strangely familiar.
15. Electric guitars, kind of neo-classic rock. It’s okay, not really into it. Not terrible, just nothing particularly unique or interesting about it, except for maybe the random lyrics.
16. Distant sounding picked electric guitar segs into a rolling drum rhythm, and an older voice. Like it so far, mainly the little reverberated guitar accompaniments…this song has a great atmosphere. I like the instrumental breaks, with the interplay between keyboard strings, guitar and the man’s voice. Pretty cool.
17. Interesting closer, sort of a quiet, romantic Spanish song with picked guitar. I can definitely pick up some of the lyrics based on the very little Spanish I’ve had, and the slow rhythm of the singer. Its unique and really serene and pleasant. Pretty cool way of ending it.
Okay, so I’d say this was a pretty solid mix, and I'm eally happy that I received this many songs. Almost all of the songs were objectively well done, not many really jumped out at me as absolutely amazing, but that may be largely due to different tastes in singers. It was generally the softer tracks like 4, 5, 8, 14 that stood out to me the most. But then again, I really liked some of the upbeat tracks like 10, 11, and 16. Most importantly it introduced me a lot of interesting bands and songs almost none of which I recognize, and none of which I have. Thanks so much, for uploading this twice when I was having difficulties, and especially putting up with me taking so long to review (although for all I know you've already given up and posted it for someone else to review), I really appreciate it, and am really looking forward to learning who these artists are.