Violet

Speaking of reviews, I hope my partner liked their tape. I don't know if they did or not, as they haven't given me their review yet. I really would like one, though, if (s)he has time.

MMMMM, Woodkid. I approve.

You didn't get your tape? Wow. That makes me feel bad. I was about to come in here and whine about how I didn't have a review for mine yet. :shame: I'm sorry you don't have it, Dee. :\

YEAH, TALKING HEADS. :awesome:

OH MY GOODNESS. FRAN. :heart: It sure seems we're building a history together, huh? We made tapes for each other during MTE 11, and I got you the second time during MTE 14. Never did I suspect I was going to get you a third time. Mixtape friends 4lyfe? I think so. :wacky: Here's a quick collection of afterthoughts from when I saw the track list: 2. Ah, David Bowie. So I was right about it being an older song. I don't know why I didn't detect his voice. I thought I would've known from what little I know of him. I guess it takes more than just knowing a few songs to really get to know a person's voice. 4. Oh, it WAS The Beach Boys. OK, cool. That definitely fits with what I said about listening to the car radio with my mom. She always had it on the oldies station, and it played its fair share of Beach Boys singles. :nice: 5. Oh goodie, The Smiths! I've been meaning to look more into them. I definitely will now. I really do like Morrissey's voice quite a lot. 6. I DO remember hating that, hahaha. I think if I went back and listened to it, it might not be so bad. I've got "Small Craft on a Milk Sea" (because Jon Hopkins collaborates with him on that), and I think I'm slowly starting to come around to some of the stuff that's harder to get into. I did like this one quite a bit better, though. 7. OOOH. I've heard of Joy Division, but I don't think I've really heard them before. This served as a lovely introduction. Thank yooooou. :blush: 10. My profile says I hate Earl Sweatshirt? I know I did that with Tyler, the Creator (BLECH), but I didn't think I did that with Earl. I'll definitely have to change that on Tastebuds. 14. Phosphorescent again? Very nice! I'll definitely spend more time with the guy. I think I liked this even better than "Song for Zula." :D 18. I'm really surprised that's Wilco, to be honest. I've heard a few Wilco songs before, but Jeff Tweedy's vocals (That IS the singer's name, right?) have always been too hit-and-miss for me to really give them much attention. I think this is the most harmless Wilco song I've heard. Maybe I'll give Jeff (and the rest of Wilco) a second shot. 21. THE AVALANCHES. THAT WAS IT. I knew I'd heard of the song before. Thank you SO SO much, Fran! You're the best. :hug:

Alright. Here’s my review for my tape. My tape is titled “Bricolage.” I had never heard of the word before this, so I looked it up to see what it meant, if anything. It turns out that bricolage "is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work created by such a process." (This definition has been brought to you by Wikipedia.) I already like the concept based on the title. I’m really intrigued by it. The album art for the tape is of a classroom photo taken from the early 1960s. I’m not quite sure how this relates to the title, but I’m sure there’s a reason for it. This album has 21 tracks on it. I highly approve of this, as this means that I have more potential artists to discover. Also, I just love music, and lots of it. Thanks for making this a sizeable tape. :wacky: 1. “Hey, what about me? Can I have a playdate?” This sounds like a radio or TV changing. HAHA, I hear the “Saved by the Bell” theme song. Nice. There’s some cute whistling towards the end. This is just a collage of audio clips. “This is Cartoon Network.” This is an interesting intro. I wonder how this relates to the rest of the tape. 2. This song starts with a fade-in of drums. “Pushing through the market square, so many mothers dying. You should just come over. We have five years left of crying.” The singer reminds me slightly of Damon Albarn, although Damon Albarn isn’t that shouty, as far as I know. I like the old school feel to the song; is it an older song? I like the use of piano, and the string line is really lovely, too. Some of the singing is more like speak-singing a la Lou Reed, which normally wouldn’t appeal to me, but for some reason, I feel like it fits in with the whole essence of this song. I have the feeling this song is called “Five Years” based on the chorus. Towards the end, particularly in the last chorus, the vocals remind me a LOT of Johnny Rotten from Sex Pistols. It was kinda annoying. I only felt that way about the end, though. Generally, the vocals didn’t bother me that much. The background music is really pretty, and I think that helped take the edge of the vocals. 3. This starts with guitar with some effect on it to make it sound slightly twangy. Now there’s some whistling that accompanies the entrance of the bass line. Oh no, this singer… :wreck: The vocals are growly in a way that really doesn’t appeal to me. I can’t understand half of what he’s saying; he’s slurring his words. I could at least guess, however, that the singer is British. My favorite bit would be the instrumental break, particularly the saxophones. Yeah, the saxophone section is definitely my favorite. The song is about a guy named Jimmy… Giles? It’s something like that. Like I said, I can’t understand this guy very well. I’m not really a fan of this. I’m sorry. :\ 4. OH DUDE. Is this the Beach Boys? It sounds an awful lot like them. Actually, thinking about it, the vocals don’t sound like Brian Wilson or any of them. Maybe this is some surf rock band from now that is influenced by The Beach Boys. I definitely get that ‘60s beach rock vibe, though. “A brand new love affair is such a beautiful thing.” I like it. It reminds me a lot of the music I listened to in the car with my mother growing up. The vocal harmonies are nice. I like the organ in the instrumental break, too. I hear that nice bass trombone at the end before the fadeout, too. This is a good song. I dig it. :thumbsup: 5. This has strumming guitar in the beginning. It sounds like a British rock band song. That’s good, as this is a type of music I really like. I’m particularly fond of this singer. I’m not really sure why. Perhaps it’s something about his tone. I appreciate that, from my view, he’s singing in a range that really suits him; he doesn’t sound like he has to try really hard to sing his part. The guitar parts are really catchy, too, which helps. This one is probably my favorite so far. 6. This starts with guitar and harmonious “Ah-ahhhhhs” from some background singers. It’s a simple song with a sort of folk/alternative country vibe. Wait, are there no main vocals in this song? It’s been over a minute now. I guess not. I think some vocals with some earnest lyrics would really enhance this song. It’s a harmless enough instrumental track, though. It builds up in a way that keeps the listening experience interesting. I like it when the synthetic brass (?) enters a little before the halfway mark. OH LOOK, here are vocals. It only took you about three minutes to enter. While I still think what I said about the vocals is true, I think this singer fits in OK. I kinda wish he’d sing something a little bit more than the “Daiiii-deh-daaaaaiiiii” I caught at the end, though. The ending was a bit abrupt and weird. It sounds like it was cut off on accident. This is an alright song. 7. This song starts with percussion; it sounds like a rain stick or a shaker or something. Then, cue the bass line and bass drum. This is another piece with piano. I love the high line on the piano; it’s really cute. The vocalist sounds like a mix between Nick Cave and Tom Smith from Editors. It’s sort of a dark sounding song sonically, but I think that’s what really draws me in. With the bass line and piano working together, the song sounds almost seductive, in a sinister sort of way. “Cry like a child, though these years make me older. With children, my time is so wastefully spent.” This is a very intriguing track. I really, really like it. 8. It’s another one of those songs like the first track. This one has a bit more static, though. AHA, I caught the Michael Jackson bass line. Very nice. Can I just groove to this MJ song for a while? OH BOO, it changed it. :snobby: Oh well. 9. This is an interesting sort of…electronic song? No, there’s rap in this. Is this Madvillain? It sounds like him. I’ve heard maybe two songs by him (one being “Meat Grinder”), but I don’t know much about him other than that. I think I like this one better than “Meat Grinder.” The piano line is quite catchy. 10. Oh look, more rap. “Something sinister to it, pendulum swingin’ slow and degenerate movin’…” I feel like I’ve heard this rapper, too; his voice sounds familiar. It sounds like this song is a story about his life. He talks about not having his father around and other such unfortunate things. “Too black for the white kids, and too white for the blacks...” Awww, sad. :sad: The guy has a nice flow, though. I don’t know as much about rap as I’d like, but I could definitely listen to more rap like this. Please, tell me more. 11. “We got the jaaaaazz, we got the jazz.” Wow, this is the third rap song in the row. You must really like it. I also imagine you saw the lack of rap in my own library. This is a different sort of rap song from the second one; while the previous track was something I could really pay attention to the lyrics and reflect on it, this one is more like something I would groove to when I was in a mood to relax. I can’t help but bob my head as I listen to this. I think it’s the whole jazz aspect to this that helps make it feel so relaxing, sort of in that same way that Massive Attack uses certain things to help make their music seem so chill. I also think the rapper’s voice is naturally very mellow, which helps. I really like this, too. 12. “COME ON!” “Watch ya back, *****s!” Oh boy, here we go. These guys sound like they’re trying to sing at a karaoke bar or something, haha. It’s sort of endearing, though. I think I just caught a line about someone drinking Drano; is that right? There’s a nice brass section on this song, and I like the walking bass. This song is kinda cute, in a weird sort of way. It ends with the line, “This villain was a ruthless mass conqueror with aspirations to dominate the universe.” It’s sort of weird, given how the rest of the song went, but maybe it’s one of those tracks that segue into the next track of the album from which this is actually on. :shrug: 13. It’s another radio track. I think I understand now that Tracks 1 and 8, as well as this one, serve as transitions into different moods of the tape. The first section was rock, and the second transition was into hip hop and rap. I’m trying to see what to expect from this one, but I wasn’t expecting rap based on Michael Jackson, so maybe I’ll just wait it out and see. “Hello. My name is Juan. I play trumpet for the Mariachi Doritos.” I’m so terrified now, hahahahaha. 14. Oh hello, guitars. It’s nice to hear from you again. Oh look, it’s a group of people singing in pretty harmonies! It’s like you know I love this sort of thing. :D I’m really enjoying this already. This is a really homey sounding track. Oh wow, it just exploded into big, bold sounds. The vibe of this song fits perfectly into my life right now, as it sounds very joyous, and since the birth of my niece Monday afternoon, my heart has been filled with nothing but joy. It adds to the feelings I have and enhances them. You of course didn’t know anything about my niece when you made this for me, but I have to say, your timing with this was perfect. Thank you so very much. :heart: 15. Ahhhhh! It’s “The Forest Awakes” by David Byrne & St. Vincent. I love love love this album. It put it at the top of my 2012 Albums of the Year list. It’s still an album I listen to regularly. Cool addition. Thanks for throwing it in. :nice: 16. There’s a woman whispering at the beginning of this track. I think I caught something about something or someone chasing after her. I like the build-up with the brass. This singer, like Annie Clark from the previous song, is a woman, and I like her clear tone. It sounds very sweet, which is a great contrast to the darker nature of this song. I feel like if a music video were made for this song, it would involve ghosts or vampires or something similar to that. I imagine a girl being chased through a large house by this thing, with her getting caught at the end. I really like this song either way. 17. It starts with synths and a simple drum beat on a drum set, followed by an entrance of guitar and bass. “You’re the color. You’re the movement and the spin.” This singer sounds cute. He reminds me of Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie. The violin added in later adds a nice color to the song. “You’re not in this movie. You’re not in this song.” This song is all sorts of pretty and cute and all that. I like the break with the piano and the bongo drums. “Leave me paralyzed, love. Leave me hypnotized, love.” Awww. This is a really nice song. I like it a lot. Thank you. :nice: 18. It starts with claves and a beeping noise, sort of like one of those heart monitor machines in a hospital. That’s appropriate, given that the singer is singing about stuff like bandages and broken jaws. “There’s bourbon on the breath of the singer you like so much. He takes all his words from the books you don’t read, anyway.” These lyrics really struck me. It’s kinda ironic, too, given that I think this singer sounds raspy in a way that a smoker might sound, if only slightly so. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. If rasp is executed properly, it can work quite well. I wouldn’t say his vocals are the best as far as that goes, but I’ve definitely heard much worse. (Tom Waits comes to mind. EW GROSS. :sick: ) I do have to say that the ending to this song was a bit odd, and I don’t understand how it fits in with the rest of the song. Generally, the song was pretty alright. Like I said, I particularly like the lyrics. 19. It starts with explosions of strumming guitar and a strong singer that sounds like he has a Scottish accent. I could be wrong about that, though. Either way, he reminds me a bit of Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit. In fact, if Frightened Rabbit decided to go in that direction, I could easily imagine them performing this song. This is a nice contrast to the previous song. It’s very upbeat and heavy on the guitars. “Oh oh oh oh oh-oh oh ohhh!” This is the song that sounds most like it has punk influences. I could be wrong about that, too. It’s just the style of the vocals and the guitar makes me think of punk. Thankfully, it’s only influences; punk vocals typically annoy me. It’s a nice song to have towards the end of the tape; it’s very energetic, which makes me feel energetic. :dance: 20. Oh, one more radio station change track? But it’s the penultimate track. At least it talks about Doritos? Heh. 21. This song starts with clapping and later leads into, oddly enough, a horse neighing. O.O There’s something about Dexter being criminally insane in there. This last song sounds like a conglomeration of a bunch of audio clips…which actually is really great, given the name of this tape is “Bricolage,” and this fits that definition. I understand why you ended the tape with this now; it ties everything together. The different samples are tied in really nicely, too. I heard All Songs Considered talk once about a guy who did that, and I’m thinking this is who that is, but I can’t remember his name for the life of me. Speaking of tying things together, I’ve just realized that there’s a bit in there that also came from the very first track, which really adds a nice touch. This is actually really cool, especially for a closer. Overall, I thought this was a lovely tape. I love the whole idea of the bricolage, and I really like how you split the different genres and vibes into different sections to make it seem even more like a mish-mash of things. I’m glad that I got exposed to several different types of music throughout the same listening experience. The theme is really well thought-out. I also really appreciate how you decided to find things both in my comfort zone and outside of that. I liked the rap section a lot more than I thought I would. Thank you for taking the time to make this lovely tape for me. :hug: I can’t wait to see what all you have to say. :smiley:

To my mixtape maker: I've just finished listening to your tape, and I have my first draft of my review typed out. I'm going to take a bit more time to listen some more and make sure I say what I want to say, but you should expect a review up in this thread soon. :nice:

To the person who made my tape: I have to be honest with you. I'm sorry, but I haven't had time to even think about your tape yet. This past week has been pretty hectic for me. My brother came in from college for Thanksgiving break, so I was spending time with him and the rest of my family until he left yesterday. As for today, I spent all day in a hospital waiting for my niece to be born. As exciting as births of new babies are, it's exhausting for everyone involved. I was there waiting since 6 this morning, and I didn't get back to my house until some time between 9:30 and 10 tonight. Now that I've said all that, I hope that now everything has settled down, I'll be able to set aside a nice chunk of time to listen and write a review. All that I ask is that you please be patient with me. I want to be able to give you a proper review, and I think you deserve one, especially after having to wait so long to get it. Again, my apologies for the wait.

People getting reviews and track listings already? UGH I WANT MY TAPE. /impatient.

That's not the problem. I can't even get that far because it won't upload my damn file. >_< Anyway, doesn't Sendspace have like a 7 day limit or something before it expires and you have to reupload it? I'm kinda afraid to upload it now if that's the case. What if I upload it now, yet my partner doesn't have time to download it until some time late next week? :anxious:

UGH, MEDIAFIRE. Y U NO LIEK ME!? :bigcry:

Actually, I've put mine together already. I've just gotta clear all the info and upload it. :cheesy: This may be the quickest I've ever completed one of these.

I think it's great that so many of us in the exchange are so willing to let their tape makers have such a lax creative license. Now that I've said that, I'd like to make that point to the person making my tape. I'm actually pretty open to discovering new things; I'm on the hunt for new music all the time. I'm not fond of everything (I'm not a fan of country or musicals), but if you think you can find something I normally wouldn't like that might actually fit the bill, then by all means put it on there. I can't find out whether I'll like something or not unless I hear it. Don't be afraid to explore. :nice:

Hmmm. Interesting. For the person making my tape, my Last.fm page is a little unreliable, since I haven't really used it much over the past two years, so instead, I'm going to link you to my Tastebuds profile. Click here. After you get there, click on the button that says "Tastes" on the left. There you will find what you need. :nice:

I'm ready to get my partner now. SO EXCITED. :wacky:

Yay! :cheesy:

JAAAAAAAMES :dazzled: :wacky:

Also, since we typically haven't done AOTY and SOTY polls at the exact same time, I have a question. If we post an AOTY list, are we then obligated to post a SOTY list too? I have a hard enough time coming up with my AOTY list, let alone trying to come up with a SOTY list.

Taken from the Jai Paul Wikipedia page: 2013 Album Leak On April 14 of 2013, a user uploaded an album to Bandcamp that appeared to be a release of music by the artist. Several sources, including Pitchfork Media, reported that the release posted to Bandcamp was Jai Paul's debut album. However, on the 15th of April 2013, Jai Paul posted a tweet to confirm the rumours of it being a fake, and warned not to buy the album, with an official statement expected soon. On April 17, XL released the following short statement: "As widely reported, on Sunday 14th April, music by XL Recordings artist Jai Paul was illegally made available via a fake Bandcamp account. This music was not uploaded by Jai and it’s not his debut album – it is a collection of various unfinished recordings from Jai’s past. Neither XL or Jai will take any money from the sale of this music. We have been working with Bandcamp and PayPal to resolve this situation and they have told us all purchases will be refunded within the next 7 days." It is alleged that this unfinished music was stolen from Paul. So yeah. Considering Jai Paul himself doesn't count this as an album, perhaps we shouldn't, either. That's just my opinion, however.

Oh wow. We've reached this part of the year already? D: I've gotta get myself on that.

Mkay yeah, I'm signing up for this. Again. YAY. :wacky:

Oh wow, a new exchange? I'MMA GO. Also, while I'm thinking of it: Ouch (Sorry I have to resort to calling you that, but I don't know your name), I'm really sorry for not having fulfilled my duty of listening to your tape. I've had some personal stuff come up, and even when I had the time, it turns out that the site you used to upload your tape REALLY dislikes me. Seriously, I tried at least five different times to download it, all for nothing. I'm really sorry. :disappointed:

Well, I'm not in any hurry. I mean, I haven't been in here in a while, so I don't even know who has gone in the time since I was last here.

Well, The Dark Knight Trilogy adds up to 458 minutes. You could watch that.

Just to drop by a note to Ouch, I'll try to have everything sorted with the review this week. :nice: