Violet

1. "Panda"-Mew 2. "About Face"-Grizzly Bear 3. "For You"-Coldplay 4. "Kopf Verloren"-Peter Fox 5. "Try Again"-Keane 6. "Jump in the Pool"-Friendly Fires 7. "House of Cards"-Radiohead 8. "Click Click BOOM!!!"-Ham Sandwich 9. "Looks Just Like the Sun"-Broken Social Scene 10. "Read the Blessed Pages"-Belle and Sebastian

I can't pick just one. There are too many things to choose from. Yaaaaay lack of self-confidence (an example of one of my many issues, BTW).

WUT. :stunned: Let me double-check. I was certain that's what your mixtape maker told me the password was. Expect another PM soon.

Not here at home. My Internet is too slow. :bigcry:

LP3 needs to come out already. :bomb:

DAMMIT I WAS TOO BUSY WRITING MY REVIEW TO EVEN SEE THIS. Not that it matters, since I don't have BBC Radio here, anyway. :disappointed:

Review tiiiiime. :D First things first: It was titled "Mixtape for Violet." AWWWWW, how nice. :blush: 1. This was a short, simple, beautiful piano piece. It reminded me very much of something Erik Satie would write. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it in fact was Satie (maybe Gymnopedie 1 or 2? It's not 3, as I've played that before). You obviously took into consideration my love for piano. Thank you. Great choice for an opener. 2. I felt like this was some soft jazz fusion number. It had several elements of soft jazz within the song. (vibraphone, chill bass, soft drums (using the wires instead of sticks; that was easy enough to tell)) I like the vocals on this piece; although they're muffled and hard to understand sometimes, they fit well stylistically speaking. The string work in here also fits very well. (Pizzicato strings are great, and I love the cello bits. The string bit near the end is fabulous.) While I didn't catch most of the lyrics, I did catch a bit "where the people are pleasantly strange." I love it. As I listen to this song, I can imagine swinging lazily in a hammock on a sunny afternoon. :wacky: 3. It starts with soft acoustic guitar. It grows louder, and it's later joined by electric guitar. I didn't know how I felt about the slight twinge of whine in the guy's voice at first, but I ultimately decided that it wasn't enough to really bother me, and I think it fits with the song pretty well. It's pretty similar to the previous track, but it's more upbeat. I like this one, too. 4. "Blood" by The Middle East. :heart: Fabulous. This was the first song I heard by them. It's a shame they've split. :cry: 5. This is my favorite track of the whole thing. It's pretty much perfect; the vocals are highly enjoyable, the music is great, and the lyrics are spot on. I particularly love the second verse: "The calf (?) is warm, but your milk is sour. Life is short, but you're here to flower. Dream yourself along another day. Never miss an opportunity. Don't be scared of what you cannot see. Your only fear is possibility. Never wonder what the hell went wrong. Your second chance may never come along." This really struck home with me, given the thoughts that have been running in my head lately. This was pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you so much. :hug: This track is a home run. 6. This starts with some moving synth stuff, which is later joined by more, bigger snyth sound. It kinda reminded me of Sparkadia. The vocals are kinda dry and whiny in a way that I don't like, so I wasn't a fan of that. The music is fine, though. I was kinda confused when the song started; due to the previous songs, by this point, I had convinced myself this was going to be a purely acoustic tape. :tongue: 7. This starts with electric guitar. The vocals remind me of Bob Dylan, who I don't like. The music's kinda "meh," too. This song for me lives in the nether region between good and bad. It's kinda just...there. 8. Some of the info on this song was there. I didn't get a full song title, but the band is some band called Flight Brigade. It's very upbeat with lovely vocal harmonies. It kinda reminds me of a fresher version of Belle and Sebastian. It's very folk and very cute. :blush: "Even though it's a long, long way from Hollywood, at least it's a start. Yeah, it's a start. You can end up places you never thought you could, if you make a start, so make a start." This song made me smile. :smiley: 9. This has more rock influences. I get a slight Strokes vibe from this song. There are times when I feel the vocalist sounds slighlty like an old man. :lol: That's more in the verses than the chorus, though. "You don't seem to care about who gets in your way, and you don't seem to care about the price we had to pay." I like the OOOHS at the end, but I found it odd that the song ended on the vi chord. That baffled me a bit. This one kinda grows on you the more you listen to it. 10. This is another acoustic track with guitar (and perhaps banjo). I spent a good chunk of my time on this song trying to figure out what the accent of the singer was. My initial guess was Irish, but later I got more Scottish vibes, so I'm not really sure. It's puzzling. The vocals themselves were OK, I guess. I do enjoy the bass line, the drums, and the use of bells. "I will hang my head, hang my head low." That was pretty much the basis of the song lyrically. It's a good song. 11. "The bottoms of my shoes are clean from walking in the rain." HAHAHAHAHA, WTF. :laugh4: Don't worry; I'm not making fun. I just found that really interesting. It reminded me of when I listened to The Books on Chris' mixtape from the last exchange. The vocals grew on me the more I listened to the song. I didn't like them at first, but then I found them endearing. "She's just another beauty queen, queen of hearts with a heart made of stone." I liked that line an awful lot. Also, the chorus made me laugh: "Straight guys and college girls so tight, line up on (trucker?) drugs, let's get hiiiiiiigh." This was a nice song. 12. I'll be completely honest with you. I hated this song. HATED IT. The vocals on this thing are just atrocious. I tried getting past it, but after listening to the first minute or so, I had to stop. Wow, I sound like a douche, LOL. :| I'm really trying not to be mean, and I'm sorry. This just didn't work for me at all. 13. This song threw me off so many times. At the very beginning with the synths and the ocean noises, I thought of Owl City. Then the bass/lower synths came in, and I thought, "Sounds like Massive Attack." Then the soft background vocals came in, and I was like, "Thom Yorke? Is that you?" Then, when the actual vocals came in with the slightly different music, I was immediately reminded of Kasabian. This song was just a tease. :laugh4: The vocalist does remind me of a younger, crisper version of Tom Meighan, and I like the song a lot. This makes up for the previous track. 14. This begins with some acoustic guitar and humming. Hmmm. OOOOOH, there's these diddly bits in here. Those are too adorable. :blush: There's also flute! :cheesy: I think the music helps the vocals a lot. I find the vocals quite tolerable. After the soft beginning, it explodes into this bigger sound and stays that way for pretty much the rest of the song. The end was a bit too abrupt for my taste, but this was a great choice for a closing track nevertheless. Given I know who you are, I think I should say this to you. You had mentioned earlier in this thread that you were quite proud of this tape. You should be. Yeah, there were things I didn't like about it (*koff* TRACK 12 *koff*), but I think generally speaking, you captured my tastes pretty well. There was a lot of folkier, more acoustic things on here (which I've grown to love, particularly as of late), and it had splashes of other things, too. I hope to get the track listing for your tape some time soon. I'm particularly excited about Track 5, as that was the song I fell in love with the most. Cheers!

Ohhh, OK. Thanks, Lore!

I'm glad to see that so many reviews are being posted already. I'll put links to reviews and tapes on the first page some time soon. Speaking of which, can anyone tell me how to link single posts? I don't think I've ever done that before. Heh. :|

^^^ OMFG WOLSTY BASS FACE ARE YOU KIDDING ME ARRRRRGH :bomb:

This totally reminded me of how much I hate it when people say they like a band when they only know one song. /totally not helpful.

^ Yeah, I'm sorry about that. :\ ETA: Hey mixtaper, I know I told you I'd listen to it, but stuff kinda popped up (family issues...UGH), so I've only kinda skimmed it. I'll take my time with it tomorrow. I promise.

Wow. A review already. Crazy. :dead: I'm going to go listen to mine within the confines of my room. :wacky: EDIT: No, Ricardo, you're fine. I didn't even read your comment until after I was finished sending everything and dealing with stuff.

I'm sorry for the long wait, guys. It takes a good chunk of time as it is with a 46-person exchange, let alone when I'm using dial-up Internet. I also had to deal with a few tapes having some minor technical difficulties, and I was trying to figure out how to rectify that. Anyway, MOST of you have your tapes now. If you don't have a tape, it's because you've either already talked to me about a malfunction in the link I gave you, or you don't have one. I'm still waiting on three tapes. One will hopefully be in by tonight. As for the other two, I've PMed them, and I'm waiting for a response. Thank you all for being so patient.

IT'S TIME, GUIZE. I'mma start on getting links out to people now. :escaping:

^ I almost did that with two of the extra reviews from the last exchange. I chickened out at the last minute, though. :disappointed:

"My Fair Lady"-The Bird and the Bee

^ D'AWWWWW. You beat me to it. LOL 1. Pick Your Artist Hot Chip 2. Are you male or female? "And I Was a Boy from School" 3. Describe yourself: "Playboy" 4. Describe where you currently live? "No Fit State" 5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go? "Out at the Pictures" 6. Your favorite form of transportation? "You Ride, We Ride, In My Ride" 7. Your favorite color is? "Colours" 8. What's the weather like? "Slush" 9. Favorite time of day? "Thieves in the Night" 10. If your life was a TV show, what would it be called? "The Beach Party" 11. What is life to you? "One Pure Thought" 12. What is the best advice you have to give? "Hold On" 13. If you could change your name, what would it be? "Tchaparian" 14. Your favorite food is? "Crap Kraft Dinner" 15. Thought For the Day: "Look After Me" 16. How I would like to die? "Bad Luck" 17. Describe your friends: "Brothers" 18. My soul's present condition: "I Feel Better"

I'll keep that in mind, Christina. :wink:

1. "Our Little Boat"-Elbow 2. "Keeping It Real"-Taylor Hicks 3. "We Are Blind and Riding the Merry-Go-Round"-Alaska in Winter 4. "The Wider Sun"-Jon Hopkins 5. "Three Thousand"-These New Puritans 6. "Ex-Lover"-Friendly Fires 7. "I Believe in You (Je Crois en Toi) (feat. Celine Dion)"-Il Divo 8. "Blücher"-Kamelot 9. "In the Ground"-Midlake 10. "Með suð í eyrum"-Sigur Rós

No, I'm still waiting on a few tapes. I don't think we've ever had an exchange when all the tapes were in on time.

Less than an hour to go! :awesome:

Yeah, I had to redo mine, too, when I was doing it. It's frustrating. :|

See, this is what I was meaning by training pants. They're not diapers (nappies), but they're not legit underwear (pants). Look at me being all bilingual and stuff. :wacky:

^ You've at least informed me that there's a problem, so that's perfectly fine. :nice: