Vol. 2 Reviews

Volume 2 was quite excellent as well, here are my reviews!

ClassiCal - Sefirah EP
Great sounds!  This is the perfect chill music, its not too distracting or consuming, it just sounds good.  I loved the way the various instruments/sounds would cut in and out.  It’s a technique that hip hop and electronic music use a lot, but you did it in a very cool, out-of-the-box kind of way.  Cool record, you should be proud of this!

Dick Reynolds - Record Time Shizz
I wish the vocals were a bit louder on these songs.  The vocal melodies are GREAT, and it sounds like the lyrics are probably pretty stellar as well, but its hard to hear them.  I really like how clean and unassuming these songs are; there is something magical about using just vocals, bass, tambourine, and guitar feedback.  Cool music!

f.e.a.r. - Why?
This is intense music, not quite like anything I’ve heard before.  There is so much going on it is hard to comprehend upon first (even second or third) listen.  Every time I play it, something new jumps out at me, like a panning tambourine, or some new synth countermelody I hadn’t noticed before.  I’m not generally a fan of the industrial genre, but this doesn’t really sound like industrial either.  Great work!

Kevin Lee Todd - Magnus Ociel Marcello
Holy cow, 46 minutes?!?!?  And not just 46 minutes of rubbish, but 46 minutes of well thought out material.  Very impressive!  I really dig the musical vibe you have going on in this album.  I like how sloppy it is, and I love your use of banjo and mandolin.  This album definitely sounds like a more refined and well-executed version of your last Record Time album.  Great work!

Kris Eckman - Burl’s Great NoNo
I like the guitar tone a lot, especially on the leads.  I’m not really a fan of this kind of metal, but I really like and can appreciate a lot of the little things you threw in there, like the shouting at the beginning of “Eat Jimmy Dean” that gradually fades up underneath everything else.  “Good Luck and the Lost Turf War” is really cool, especially right at about the 50 second mark when the drums kick in harder.

Marqs the Spot - Favorite Place
I like the band name.  Not only is it clever (you know, cuz your name is Marquissee), but it fits with the theme/title of the song.  Every aspect of the mix sounds great, but the vocals could have maybe been a little more upfront.  Cool tune, solid production.  Its a shame you were only able to churn out one tune, it would have been really cool to hear a few more like that from you.

R. Aaron Webster - Snails
This piece is a lot more complex than I initially thought it was.  There is a LOT of subtle variation going on in that synth pattern, and the rest of the instruments follow along perfectly.  This is the kind of stuff that is really arduous to program, and always takes a lot more effort to make than it maybe sounds like to most people.  The only thing I might have done differently (MAYBE) is, halfway through the song, I might have switched up the main instrument to something else, or maybe added another layer on top of it.  

Volume 2 reviews coming tonight!

I'm almost done with them, its just taking a me a while to really absorb Kevin Todd's opus (sounds like a recurring issue).  As with Volume 1, really great music, and really great production quality!  I'm very impressed.

Wilinski's Volume 3 Reviews

So instead of a typical review of what songs I liked, didn't like as much, what bands I think you sound like, etc. etc…I'm going to describe to you exactly where the entire album or particular song brought me.  I've tried to write the most unadulterated image of what I imagined when closing my eyes while each submission gently blared through my Sennheisers.

In addition, I want to provide constructive (yet, perhaps opinionated) feedback that I hope isn't taken as being offensive or overly critical.  I am fully aware of the time restrictions of this project, and know that although everyone's projects are pretty solid, improvements can always be made.  We all want to hear how we can improve, or at least, I do!  I suppose it's hard to define where everyone is at musically, so I'm not sure how to gauge these recordings against something else you may have done.  Regardless, Record Time has definitely pushed me to grow as a musician, and honestly, as a person in general.

I'll throw in a single word remark about your artwork.  No one ever talks about the artwork...

===========

Eric Cripe's JabberJay

The Image:

I've entered into a medieval time period where a horse drawn carriage harboring a time traveling guitarist playing and singing is trudging along in a  damp forest where Robin Hood is lurking, waiting to rob the 1%, only to suddenly be whipped back into present day, transported to an airport runway, nearly run over by a lightweight Boeing 737.

The Critique:

I can definitely hear the hunger game influence, and I like your approach towards a concept album!  My one gripe when listening to everything is that I think that the vocals sound almost improvised.  I think your voice has a pretty excellent timber.  If you work on your confidence when singing the actual melody and vocal lines, it could have been that much better.

The Artwork:

Granular

Marta's Tuscon

The Image:

The scene flips between an almost unnoticeablely slow zoom out revealing a lone girl singing, narrating, sitting on a neatly made bed in an earthy themed room and the vivid memories and dreams that are running through her mind.

The Critique:

Honestly, this album is really great.  I think that this could have been improved with more advanced recording techniques.  BUT. BUT. BUT.  I would not want to take away from the intimacy that really shine through on these recordings.  It's almost like you would want the more advanced recordings to sound like the lo-fi recording that you've made.  I think some of the harmonies and doubles could have been sung a bit tighter.  Again, great job.

The Artwork:

Jazzy

Randy Stary

The Image:

The year is 1973, and Randy Stary is perched on a 4 legged stool on a dark stage with a single spot light shown upon him.  His paisley shirt has a collar that is bigger than yours.  An amateur's camera with a small propagating crack in the lens is filming this live performance, the performance right before he springboards into fame, making it big with his new single, Child of the Night, ready to be released in the upcoming weeks.

The Critique:

I want more voices on this track.  I also wish the lyrics were given a little more creative thought, but they definitely work well with the melody.

The Artwork:

N/A

Daniel Clark's Songs Relevant to my Life at the Present Time

The Image:

4x real life speed, I'm watching the close-up of a tan colored grasshopper jump from grass blade to grass blade.  A lizard suddenly slurps and eats it.  The focus racks from the lizard's wily eyes to a man on a ladder brush painting a wooden paneled house with a bucket of pearl white paint.  Time lapse even faster, I watch the man quickly finishing the entire wall in a matter of minutes.  The hot sun is shining overheard.

The Critique:

These songs are really excellent.  I wish the overall production gave a little more OOMPH to everything, particular the drums.  The drums could have been a little more in your face pounding/driving overall.

The Artwork:

Screenprint

David P Larson's Faded Form

The Image:

9pm, Thursday evening.  An experienced poet wearing a black button down shirt preaching at a podium in a full but silent lecture hall.  There's an intermission with half dollar sized cucumber sandwiches and organic french toast sticks paired with all natural Vermont Maple Syrup.  The wine is sweet with a pleasant bouquet of oak.

The Critique:

Dude, super sick.  My only critique is that I wish that every instrument on all the tracks were played by real players.

The Artwork:

Black

Pigeon's Good Times, Hot Chicks, Limp Dicks

The Image:

Wintertime is ending, and the ice is finally thawing.  There's a stillness in the air, and I can cut my breath with a knife.  I'm exhausted, and I'm huddled beneath a blanket in my north woods cabin.  I'm able to hear the trickle of a stream that's a quarter mile away, and every once in a while there's a slushing noise of ice and snow breaking away from the shoreline.

The Critique:

I think that the vocals could have had a little less reverb.  But the verb does in fact give a nice softness, and I can still hear what is necessary to understand the lyrics.

The Artwork:

N/A

T Clax's What the Heck Johnny

The Image:

Jesus with a well trimmed beard hanging out with his disciple homies, breaking bread, earning respect, loving life and triumphantly walking into Jerusalem as his followers are waving palm leaves at his well washed feet.

The Critique:

I think this is unique, and it's the first Christian rap I've ever heard.  The clave sounds a bit like a click track in the beginning.  Great sound effects throughout, but I think the main verse vocal could use a bit of vocal treatment for some added interest.

The Artwork:

N/A

Audio Adrenaline's I'm Not the King

The Image:

A pitch black muscle car comes barreling down a twisty red rock canyon-like trench.  It's pushing 95 mph, squealing its tires around each turn, rocks being thrown in every direction, almost losing control.  There's a glimpse of the inside of the car, and there's a man tightly wound with a thick gray rope up in the passenger seat, and a woman driving with one hand on the 8-ball shifter, knowing exactly what she's doing.

The Critique:

Great guitar work, but I think that the entire track lost a bit of focus.  There are a lot of ideas jammed into this single song.  Lots of cool progressions and riffage, but I think that this tune could be broken up into several, with each respective lick and riff expanded on as separate identities.

The Artwork:

N/A

Brad Adams' Mr. Brew

The Image:

I'm about to fast forward through the commercials between the show that I DVR'd.  But I can't help but stop and listen to the entire polka jingle of Mr. Brew, having it stuck in my head for the rest of the week, inevitably buying a Mr. Brew coffee mug that I accidentally leave on top of my car after juggling too many things when trying to enter through the car door.  The coffee mug falls off the top of my car as I drive away, and is picked up by my neighbor who steals my Mr. Brew coffee mug.  It becomes a collectors item.

The Critique:

This is a fun tune.  I don't have much critique about a composition like this.  It's exactly what I think it's supposed to sound like.

The Artwork:

Smorgasbord

Nick's Reviews - Volume 3

Last batch of reviews / thoughts / comments!


Disclaimer: the following comment is not endorsed by Dan and/or the Record Time administration haha... but like Logan said on Facebook, "POST REVIEWS AND RESPOND TO REVIEWS!"  My 2 cents is that this is an invaluable part of the process. We all deserve each other's praise. But on that note, I think we also all deserve each other's constructive criticism. That's really the more important part here in my opinion - to maturely and honestly suggest improvements for each other. Iron sharpens iron... and all that good stuff... (although that's been admittedly hard for me because this crop of music is so damn good!).


Audio Adrenaline - I'm Not the King: I'm really impressed with this tune. I love the vocal melodies and the lyrics. It's a well put-together, serious tune. My favorite part is the chorus hook - "I am not anything without the king of kings." Good choice going to the IV chord there... and those ascending / descending licks. Kinda wish I wrote that line and used it in a funk tune lol I think adding lots of vocal harmonies would have been good for this tune. Great work.


Brad Adams - Mr. Brew: I just read in Dan's review that Audio Adrenaline / Brad Adams / and T Clax are all the same person(s)? Nice... I wouldn't have noticed from how different the 3 tunes are. Anyways, fun tune man. Are all these horns real? They sound cool to me.


Daniel Clark - Songs Relevant to My Life at the Present Time: Really like "Until The Surface Fades." Cool herky jerky kinda rhythm. Great vocals and unique vibe... dig the harmonies. Maybe snare rim shots would have been cool in the bridge with the lowered intensity. "It's Mine"... more of the same goodness. Dig the drum movement. Third track... the wild card! I like all the production and madness. Also, great artwork - simple, but awesome.


David P Larsen - Faded Form: Cool, atmospheric stuff. I like the delivery of the spoken word stuff and the lyrics. Very nice backing vocals in "Precipice." I like how they subtly move in dynamics, and then you add those extra ones towards the end. I'm a sucker for harmonies. The 2nd tune started playing before I caught the title, and I thought hmm, delay and reverb on a trumpet... reminds me of... "Shades of Miles" indeed. Also, a BASS SOLO! Nice. The strange, abstract delivery of the spoken word stuff reminds me of Microsoft Sam, and also the song "Droides" from Record Time VII. I like the sung chorus in "Pure Emancipation." I think you could have hit those notes cleaner if you allowed yourself to sing it louder, more chest voice... belted it out a little more ya know. Great ending to the tune. Great work!

Eric Cripe - JabberJay: Cool concept, unique to Record Time. The rain does put you in that gloomy Hunger Games mind-set. Maybe it coulda been buried more in some places, but I think you automate it in and out most of the time, which is great. Same thought as Logan that additional instrumentation would really spruce up the tunes – and also harmonies! I think the concept and lyrics are great and ambitious. Good work, look forward to hearing more.

Marta - Tucson: Really nice stuff! Very sweet, honest tunes. I like the chorus of the 1^st song. I like how the lyrics interact with the fact that you’re, ya know… playing guitar haha Nice vocal overdubs! I think everything's panned pretty straight down the middle (or I'm going crazy). I'd suggest getting those overdubs out of the middle and EQing them differently so things occupy their own sonic space. Overall, really cool stuff. Some spit and polish to the production and it'd be even better. Also, great artwork! 

Pigeon - Good Times, Hot Chicks, Limp Dicks: Nice atmospheric stuff. Dig the verb on the vocals in "Ghost Rider," just can't make out the lyrics too much. I coulda sworn you said "rusty trombone" in there at one point. If not, my sincerest apologies haha Nice harmonies at the end of the tune. Very cool stuff, overall. Nice melodies. Reminds me of the movie Garden State for some reason... sorta that melancholy vibe. Nice work.


Randy Stary - Child of the Night: Great tune! Great voice, very enjoyable. Love the call and response vocals. I could picture lots of harmonies and backing vocals. Nice job throwing reverb on the guitar and sending the signal 100% wet into the right channel... I recently started doin that trick myself. Seems like the attack on the reverb is slow though, causing it to act more like a delay... which I'm not sure you were goin for. Also, maybe roll the high end off of it so you just sense that it's there, but don't make it out distinctly. Love the lyric about 8 and infinity. Nice work!


T Clax - What the Heck Johnny: Great performance. Nice hook. Kudos on all the lyrics. I like the production of the vocal and all the ad libs. Cool effect treatment to the chorus vocal. Nicely done, not a lot else to say!




Cheers and congrats again to everyone!
-- Nick

f.e.a.r. why?

first off i want to thank everyone who put this together, secondly for letting me do my music that takes like years for me to do to allow it on here. And finally whoever took the time to record stuff in a week, and put it together! You guys did a great job all of you, personally i will not be doing reviews. =( Sorry guys.

I wanted to elaborate on what i decided to do. with this music. I love industrial, and post punk with all my heart and soul so i wish to bring these two together in a blender so i throw the usual ingrediants in, bats, machine noises, vampires, gears, and this is what came out of that blender. So i hope you like it all. It takes usually 1-2 months for one song for me to finally get together, i am trying to be really serious and no bullshit about it.

Recluse= a mixture of  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSr0aeHYMSc the cure one hundred years,  the intro and some of the synths. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI7bm-5rpX8 foetus satan place, with the drums (you can barely hear it in the foetus song)i tried to overlap the bass drums and the regular beat and it came out really cool, like the synths are like a scarier simpler version of kinda i want tos synth. NIN Mixed with a really psychedelic like bass spinning around it. Cannot find a good inspiration on that one. With the chorus, i made something that sounds like Double dare by bauhaus, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z9djjD2XnM mixed with some organ thats very similiar to the psychedelic bass.

psych i might change the name to entropy= NiNs thats what i get very repetive but sounds good synth/mixed with the beats of kinda I want to. (not the same exact ones)  i mixed it with the airy/ dark kinda sound of bauhaus in the flat fields http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yur_mH_AXwQ Then  for the break down, what i had was a darker version of a synth that had a similiarity of kinda i want tos synth. mixed with a drum beat i added, mixed with super duper programming of panning put on your headphones the synths/drums bounce back and forth. I also put this synth that was really high pitched, kinda on par to what bauhaus does with their high pitched stuff sometimes. Then I added this super fast bass with strings distorted to sound scary. While overlapping the synth. Then the chorus, is what i call the dancy  psychedelic synths which really is not a influence, well maybe one thing the distortion is alot like grunge, with this chorus i wanted to indusrializegrunge it, very fast beat, with the dancy synth, creates something brand new and pretty cool. The ending took fucking forever as well. holy shit. I wanted to do a kinda i want to ending to it. And i am very happy with what i came up with

entropy i might change the name to psych. this is just a demo.
Right now the main influences is NIN/ only time mixed with bauhaus bela lugosis dead. It also has a little bit of gangster rap and a tiny twinge of black metal influence in it. I will talk to you more about it later, but for right now, i cannot because i think of something brand new i want to add to it everyday, it might sound totally different by the time its done. I have also done this with another one of my songs. http://soundcloud.com/fearband/night which was a demo, that took another month to make into a song.

After i am done with entropy/psych whatever i choose the name to be or another name. It is vocals i work on, and my vocals are going to be very dark/grungy/opera/numetalish. http://soundcloud.com/fearband/night-terror-verse Then i will make it my ep and i will send it to everyone on the planet and their mothers. but for right now i am working my butt off on this last song, wish me the best of luck.

Sorry for the grammar mistakes, and everything. With me i just type and just let it loose. If you wish to contact me. Hit me up on here. or message me on http://soundcloud.com/fearband Thank you for checking this out. You all have a great day now =)

Nick's Reviews - Volume 2

Reviews continued... took me a while to wrap my head around that crazy-ass owl.

ClassiCal - Sefirah EP: Really chill and slick stuff. Very well produced. Love the speech in the first track. Love the crazy arpeggio sounds all over the place. Reminds me of this keyboard my old roommate had... it had an arpeggiator that sensed your hands like a theremin... so you could manipulate the number of octaves generated by moving your hand up and down. Love the water sounds... did you and Dan both go to the same well? haha  Love the bird and nature sounds. There's so much to LISTEN to in so many of these records... so many sounds. Also, awesome artwork! Great job.

Dick Reynolds - Record Time Shizz: Cool covers man. I wasn't familiar with them, but checked them out online. I dig how you took them all in different directions and put your own spin on it. "Drive It All Over Me" is a cacophonous racket, in true Record Time spirit haha  I dig how you whistled the guitar part in "Those To Come." Maybe vocals could be more up front? Nice spin on everything and good work.

F.E.A.R. - Why: Once again, so many sounds to listen to here. Great job on being really creative and showing off all these production techniques. Sort of a side note, but I find Record Time the perfect opportunity to test out all the tricks we have up our sleeves... stuff that we may consider too gaudy for other tunes. Sounds like you were able to really blast out a ton of new tricks in these tunes... and it works in creating a totally chaotic atmosphere. I don't have a lot to say... sort of hard to latch on to specific things to mention... but that's kinda saying something in itself. Great job, and great artwork.

Kevin Lee Todd - Magnus Ociel Marcello: This is some fucking wild, wild, stuff man. Unbelievable job well done. As I noted above, I'm still re-listening several times to better wrap my head around the plot, but I think I got the gist of it now (then again, I'm horrible at following plots... I could be watchin cartoons and still gotta ask my girlfriend what the hell's goin on haha). As for the story itself: amazing job making this whole thing up, and the enormous set of lyrics that go with it. I wish all of lyrics were on the sheet so I could follow along to the whole thing. You did a great job building this fictional world through music and words. I love the song sequence of sung lyrics and then spoken word.... helps the slow folk like me follow what's going on. I also love the difference between your singing voice and your spoken voice - both are unique. As for the songs themselves... lots of great tunes. I think "Black Rain" and "Zombie" are my favorites. Stylistically, I love how jangly and LOOSE everything is. Not everyone can pull that off (for me - if it ain't tight, it ain't right). I been listening to The Band a lot this week after Levon Helm's death, and your stuff really reminds me of that loose, folksy vibe. But at the same time, it all sounds very intentional and well-produced. I love the spooky music during the spoken-word vignettes. And great artwork too. Awesome job!  ... Can we see a transcript of the Langsdorf Doctrine? haha

Kris Eckman - Burl's Great NoNo: Really heavy stuff. Good guitar playing and really syncopated parts. I dig the guitar parts around 15 seconds into "Night Trains Kill." And the trumpet parts too... totally random! Dig all the cool production in "Eat Jimmy Dean." Cool reggae vibes in the last track. Cool stuff, cool guitar playing. Great job man.

Paul Marquissee - Favorite Place: Great tune! Reminds me of that huge single from Train last year. I love all the vocal adlibs towards the end. Great job, not a lot else to say. Good, solid pop tune.

R. Aaron Webster - Snails: Very cool and unique. This sounds like... what extraterrestrials would head-bang to haha. Cool sounds, cool production techniques, cool snail crying blood... Great job.

In the near future...

... I shall post reviews.

By this I mean, once finals are over I'll be all over it like poop on porcelain. So about a week and a half? Sorry, its the best I can give you if you want me to legitimately listen to all this awesome stuff.

- Aaron

Logan's Vol 3 Reviews

RTVIII, Volume 3

Everyone started with Vol. 1, so I'll help to balance by starting with 3. I really enjoy this collection of albums. Almost all of them seem like peeks at some really fantastic music down the pipeline. If everyone took what they did here in tone and style and had more than a week to work on it, I know some really incredible stuff would be made. That's not to say these albums aren't great, I just want to hear more!

Disclaimer: I say “nice” roughly 60 times per sentence.

Brad Adams, Clayton Witt, Logan Witt

Three very different tracks, that's always fun. King of kings has some good riffin, the mix is solid, and tight song structure. Mr. Brew is delightfully goofy. “Later I will urinate you” may be a completely unique sentence., at least to those who speak English as a first language. It's probably been muttered in broken english in a seedy setting or two, but not for the same reasons. Anyway, What the Heck Johnny has a nice beat, good flow, and some really strange lyrics. Nice mix of songs.

Daniel Clark – Songs Relevant to My Life...

I really like the overall vibe of these tracks. Reminds me of a criminally unknown band, Adios. Guitar tone has a nice jangle to it and I like the angularity of some of the riffs. Drums are very minimal, and I think it works well with the tracks. Last track switches it up, nice choice on the vocal distortion. Finish with a lo-pass filter, another nice choice. Like I said, I really enjoyed these. If you ever do a full length in this style, I'd love to hear it. Oh yeah, also enjoyed the minimal cover art. Good font choice and simple cloth texture.

David P Larsen – Faded Form

This is one of the most unique RT's I think I've ever heard. Music is very relaxed, really nice harmonies, I really like when the “chorus” enters in Precipice. Shades has a good amount of smokiness, and emancipation has a nice darkness to it. The spoken word sections are pretty great. Your voice really works for this spoken style and the lyrics are interesting enough to make it work. These tracks are genuinely interesting. I hope we hear more.

Eric Cripe – JabberJay

Another unique vibe, so far this RT is delivering. I'm a big Murder by Death fan, and this album hints at a lot of the same moods and styles. I could see taking these songs, adding cello, found percussion, and some big reverb, but that's for albums not done in one week's time. The ambiance is a nice touch, adds an air to the whole album. Nice mix of songs, with more driving songs and more mellow tracks. I think Come On Out is my favorite track. It's has a nice structure and the payoff in the chorus works every time. Thumbs up.

Marta – Tucson

Lovely tracks. Beautifully precious. Your voice works very well with the playful guitar lines. I have to agree with others, Tucson is my favorite track. The syncopation, the lyrics, the double tracked chorus, the vocal melody, it all really comes together. Serial Killer is also quite fun, kinda reminds me of Garfunkel and Oates. With more than a week for a slightly crisper production (not too much mind you), these tracks and this style would fit right into a quirky indie movie. I mean that in the best way possible.

Pigeon – Good Times, Hot Chicks, Limp Dicks

Very nice atmosphere. Good guitar tone, low key vocals, tons of layering. My first listen through I just let my mind shut off in the same way I do when listening to GY!BE or Mogwai. Vocal harmony toward the end of Ghost Rider gives me a fleet foxes vibe. Nice switch up with the more forward vocals in Rubber Soul. Cool unique vocals. Really enjoyable listen.

Randy Stary – Child of the Night

Nice dual vocals. Almost sounds like it was tracked live altogether, which if there's only one of you would be miraculous. Another beautifully mellow track. Very nice tremolo in your vocals. Hope to hear more.

My Third Eye on Your (part 1)

Not sure exactly how to right a review so these are my thoughts as I listen to the music.


Andrew Miller - Bharata
- Is the singing in Indian, it blends with the rythem
 that is tight. My mind raddled on with it till my shoulders were moving to the beat.
 If only I would have had a poster of an elephant walking through a jungle or
 pulled up one of those movies on youtube of riding around on the back of an elephant.
 Do people ride giraffs? I would and ride one throught the african plains.
 I think the structure of the it was good, I liked the brakedown and build ups. My favorite part was
the built up at 2:24 where it drop to just the small bongos sounds and the Singer gets down with it
and I can picture them dancing around a fire. Then it works around with the electronic sounds and giving
this futuristic view. The cover art fits it. Thanks it is a good listen.

Kris Eckman-Burl's Great NoNo

-Right off the bat Bearcat, got my ears ready with the back and forth sound and then a rush of metal slip my brain. Instantly my body began to bang and my legs though this was the perfect time to mosh. So there I am moshing alone in the garage and the first pause comes and I look over at my shadow and scream bring it on  It can be said that I enjoyed this track multiple times and will continue to enjoy this. I liked the guitar tone at 3:30, it added a nice taste to breath before the ending primal scream. 

-Night trains kill is that true? To be the title of a song it must be. And if I was Jerry, I would not push it any further. If it was Burl that was taking then I Putting together the movie in my split brain. All the blood has not ended up on the floor. Its so metal and trippy at the same time. I watch as the pools on the floor start acting like a lava lamp. Rolling around the floor as my feet track a circle as it path. The trumpet is nicely squeezed into the metal and pscyodelic grooves. Like Coltrain was rising a rattle snake out of the soundwave. 

-Eat Jimmy Dean And I will. Or should I not sense this is Burls NoNos. If I have to make a decision and since I am the one who is typing, I do have to make the decision. I decide that Burl is so addicted to Jimmy Dean that this is his hunger calling to him. There is no fighting such a bad habit as Eating Jimmy Dean, I tried once to quit and two days later I found myself on the street corner begging for change just so I could get a hook up. I got so bad that I got kickout out of walmart for eating a tube right in the meat department. This song rocked that feeling right into me and again. I can feel the call.

-Good Luck and the lost turf war bought me back together. The opening told me what I need to hear to drop my nasty addication and I began to stitch my cranium back together. The brass riff and the pick up of the guitar, drums, synth on top of synth and some dubstep sonicly minded my brain. I felt every nurve find it connect from my finger tip to my toes. The rubbing my sweat from my eyes, I found that this was only the begining and that was past but I can revistit anytime. I really enjoyed it, Thanks.

Nick's Reviews - Volume 1

Congratulations to everyone on a job well done! RTVIII has been a tremendous learning experience and a tremendous amount of fun, as usual. To pull sounds out of thin air, create things that weren't there before, and preserve them in recordings is something very special... and we did a shitload of that last week. Here are my thoughts on the music in Volume 1 (2 & 3 to follow):


Andrew Miller - Bharata: Really cool piece of music. This has a really professional sound-track vibe to me. I can imagine it being used in some sort of action/thriller movie taking place in the Middle East. Great samples, great production. Like how it just sort of meanders from one vibe to the next.


Eric Putnam - Listen: Very nice, peaceful, honest. I dig the use of pads throughout. I like the singing and especially the harmonies in "Listen." And the bell sounds in "In the Past." Maybe roll off some of the lows on the acoustics to suck out a little muddiness/boomyness. Nice work.


Girlbeard - Girlbeard: Excellent work. Excellent production. Awesome guitar and drum sounds. The drum performances are pretty damn bananas... break-neck playing... reminds me of Rancid. The loud, far-forward mixing of the guitars reminds me of that Foo Fighters sound. There are some killer vocal hooks and melodies in here - "Broken System" and "Cats=People" are some of my favorites. Ooo the bass entry in "Intermission"... nice. Great bass sound overall, too... and good low-end. I agree with Dan, I wish the vocals were brought up a bit. I do like the distorted vocal effect, maybe just not on everything.


Logan Bradley - Hamburgers and Hotdogs: Insane production as usual. Not sure how much of this album is satirical haha or if you are into the death metal vibe with your other music. While the genre isn't my cup of tea, this is a remarkable accomplishment in 7 days, or in any days. Everything is really tight. My favorites are the tracks that stick out like sore thumbs: "Cat Yoga," "Hamburgers and Hotdogs," "8 Bit Dipshit," and "Stay Fly." Also, holy cow that sound in BFG. What the hell tuning is that? haha Great playing and really interesting stuff as usual. Awesome artwork too, as usual.


Luxi - Infinitesma EP: What a beautiful, ethereal album. I love the vocal treatments. Really great production throughout. You have created really amazing atmospheres and soundscapes here. Lots of exciting sounds coming in and out and all over the place... like waves washing over everything. I love the ascending sound in "Dancematica." And I really dig the Intro - a fitting way to start the album. Great artwork too!


Strange Battery - Piece of Wood: Another display of complete demand of yet another musical genre. I'm always amazed at how you head out in a different direction for every Record Time, but can manage to make it sound like you've been there forever. Not sure what I'd call this music anyway, but I love how organic it is. It really does sound like a piece of wood haha Really beautiful melodies and harmonies, as usual. I love all the varied percussion. I really dig the last sections of "Where Will I Go When I Die." It's sort of uplifting, despite the lyrics. I can imagine that tune being in The Hunger Games movie. Love that line 25 seconds into "Piece of Wood" (and throughout the tune). Love all the sounds at the end of "Piece of Fuzz." Killer job, as usual.


Cheers,
Nick

Reviews for Volume 1

Every time, I promise that I am going to review every submission, but I haven't yet.  Well, this time is different, I swear!  Here are my reviews for Volume 1, the rest are on the way.
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This whole volume was AWESOME!  Seriously, all of the music was great, and the production quality on everything was top notch.  This was an especially cool volume to listen to because everyone on it was a veteran to Record Time, so it was cool to see how much we have all progressed over the years.  And we all have.  Seriously great work!  I think, if the time was taken to promote it and whatnot, every record in this volume could be released online by the artist and could probably get quite a few fans and do really well.  That is, after all, the whole point of Record Time, right?  To prove that making cool music isn't REALLY as hard as we all think it is.

Andrew Miller - Bharata
Andrew, your stuff always sounds amazing and super professional.  I can totally picture this in a Mission: Impossible-style action movie where the hero has to tiptoe and dance around all of the alarm lasers as he/she sneaks into the enemy base.  Its a pretty repetitive piece, with no drastic change happening throughout its entire 8 minutes, but the way the instruments subtley change and weave in and out keeps it from getting old.  As always, great work!!!

Eric Putnam - Listen
Before I even hit play, the artwork jumped out at me.  I love its simplicity!  The music was great as well.  Completely not what I would have expected from you, since your last RT was almost entirely electric bass and I don’t think you even picked the instrument up for this one.  The acoustic guitar tones you got sound awesome, the whole thing sounds like a much less pretentious Bon Iver, I really like it.

Girlbeard - Girlbeard
Teh vocals suck on this onee

Lobster Shanty and the Crab Rangoon - Downtown
Wow, this sounds great!  It always blows my mind when I hear music that people produce for RT and it completely sounds like a real, serious music project that someone spent months writing, weeks in the studio, and lots of money making.  The drums/perc. sound really great. I love the way the live drums blend with the overdubbed cymbals and stuff, and how the shakers and tambs. mesh right in.  Everything else sounds great too, I’m just a drummer at heart so thats what I notice first.  The whole thing is mixed very well, all of the elements fit together perfectly.  Musically, I think this album is a great next step for Lobster Shanty.  While your last RT resurrected the energy and emotion of P-Funk, this endeavor takes a more “disco” approach.  Its great, it has its own distinct feel that I love!

Logan Bradley - Hamburgers and Hotdogs
Your albums are always so full of creativity, and this one is no exception.  There are more killer guitar riffs in this 20.5 minute album than I've written in my whole life, and you touch on so many styles of music, it is really impressive that you can get it all done in just one week.  Plus the production value is killer and the artwork is amazing too.  Wonderful wonderful music!

LUXI - Infinitesma (EP)
This is a really cool record!  I tried to follow the blog pretty closely this time, and it was neat reading about the process you went through making this EP.  The whole record has a very distinct and cohesive sound to it, especially the vocals.  The effects you dialled in with that floor vocal pedal sound great, they really compliment the atmosphere you have created with this music.

Strange Battery - Piece of Wood
“You know me, I’m that guy.  Not that guy, that’s another guy.”  Dan, this is an awesome record.  I made a comment on one of your blog posts about how when we first started Record Time you did EVERY single instrument digitally in the computer.  Its so cool to hear you make a record where every instrument is played live and miked up in your bedroom.  Parts of this record really remind me, both in production sound AND in musical content, a lot of the album Floating World by Anathallo, which is easily one of my favorite records ever.  As always, way to set the bar high for the rest of us!

Just to be sure

My reviews are forthcoming, but before anyone thinks I wrote the world's best rap hook...



- Logan

Reviews by Dan

Alright guys, here are my reviews! I just want to say thanks to everyone for participating – without you guys, I’d probably be doing Record Time from a padded room, uploading everything to my “laptop,” aka a cardboard box attached to the wall with a piece of yarn.

As for the reviews, I’d encourage everyone to keep it positive (although you always do), and don’t feel any obligation to do them if you don’t want to. I like writing about this stuff, and certainly like reading about my own, but obviously it’s a ton of stuff to go through. And you don’t have to review everything. As with all things in life, just do whatever you want to do.

Onwards!

LOBSTER SHANTY AND THE CRAB RANGOONS – DOWNTOWN: Some of you may already know how fond I am of the first track on this album. Makes me want to cry. As for the funky meat of the album – Joe and Nick have outdone themselves again. I don’t listen to a lot of funk, but they seem to have a pretty original sound going on this. I’ve already talked to Joe about how much I love the addition of real melody/chord progressions. And I’m always shocked at how much Joe’s voice improves from album to album. Love the production, especially the experimentation on track 5. Production overall is great, vocal production especially is a big step up. I believe that’s Nick’s doing. Killer bass as usual. Not a ton else to say, I guess!

LUXI – INFINITESMA EP: This is really cool stuff, way different from the last Luxi I heard, in the best possible way. Maybe this is just me, but I find Luxi’s stuff really aggressive. If not aggressive, than at least really confident compared to her earlier music. She seems to be really embracing and/or amplifying the quirks in her voice, which is great. The vocal layering reminds me a lot of Julianna Barwick who I love. I found myself enjoying the sort of half-spoken parts, which is weird for me, as I’m usually all about melody. Great artwork as usual.

R. AARON WEBSTER – SNAILS: I love this track. Like a snail, I can’t be sure of its purpose. And like Aaron’s last album, I have absolutely nothing to compare this to. It’s actually a pretty artsy piece, if you ask me. For some reason I think the actual melody you picked is brilliant…it’s sort of bright and totally neutral at the same time. Sounds like a big 5^th on the sample you used or something like that. For some reason it makes me feel like I’m in an aquarium. 

ANDREW MILLER – BHARATA: Since we live together and I heard most of this being composed, I’ve told Andrew most of what I have to say about this. But it’s obviously super professional and totally chill. For some reason I love the artwork – if I did drugs, I’d probably start up this track, curiously open up the artwork and stare at it for all 8 minutes. Good stuff.

F.E.A.R. – WHY – A great set of 3 tracks by Dennis Ohlson. I could definitely see a niche audience for this kind of stuff. I don’t have a ton to say about it, but great production as usual and I appreciate the total chaos. As I told Dennis earlier, I think his stuff is sounding a lot more original, which is good, because it’s hard to write stuff like this and not remind people of NIN. Which his older stuff did, but this doesn’t. Sweet.

DAVID LARSEN – FADED FORM: I was surprised to get this album as David is new and I hadn’t heard anything from him. But it’s great and way different than anything we’ve had before. Shades of Miles is really solid, I don’t know, smooth jazz I guess? But the other two are the real wins for me. To be totally honest, I don’t expect a lot lyrically with Record Time, but I was REALLY impressed with all the spoken words. It’s extremely tough to pull off something in that sort of romantic poetic style without sounding like an angsty teen, but I think David nailed it. Pure Emancipation is especially brutal and I can’t help but relate. And David has the perfect voice for this kind of stuff, which could have been a big pitfall. Really happy to have this album.

RANDY STARY – CHILD OF THE NIGHT: This is a nice little song with some light humor. I like the sort of random, improvised quality of the lyrics. I can also tell Randy’s been learning a bit more about recording, which is great. Keep it up!

DANIEL CLARK – SONGS RELEVANT TO MY LIFE AT THE PRESENT MOMENT: I have been waiting for Dan to do Record Time forever! I particularly like “It’s Over,” as it seems to fit his voice best. Reminds me a lot of Queens of the Stone Age. Until the Surface Fades has an interesting sort of 90s vibe, not sure why. The third track is madness. But I dig the harmonies.

DICK REYNOLDS – RECORD TIME SHIZZ: From what I understand, these are cover songs. I haven’t heard the originals, but I’d imagine they aren’t a whole lot like this. This stuff seems to come from the sort of low-fi indie world, in which I have zero experience. So I’m not totally sure what to say about it. But I appreciated the noise elements, and I think it could go even further in terms of the wall-of-sound thing. Maybe? I don’t know man, it’s weird stuff!

ERIC CRIPE – JABBERJAY: This is a cool, pretty ambitious record – about the Hunger Games, I believe. It’s really unique and although I don’t totally get the rain sound effect going through the whole album, I appreciate how Eric tried to create imagery and atmosphere with a really minimal setup. Nice RT debut!

GIRLBEARD – GIRLBEARD: Holy production value! I guess I haven’t been keeping up with Mike’s music lately, cause his stuff sounds completely pro all of a sudden. I know Mike wasn’t a fan of the vocals, but I wish they were louder anyways. After hearing this, I REALLY want to hear “Pistols and Stamens” redone with this production. Mike, let’s make it happen. I absolutely love the lyrics. Especially “Bridges.” And especially the line “Catch me if you can, I am the Bridge Man.” It’s complete nonsense in the best possible way. I get that he’s a bridge man, but now he’s…elusive? Fantastic. I could go on about half the lyrics on this album. Fun to read. Also big props for hitting basically 30 minutes! 

CLASSICAL – SEFIRAH EP: Another cool, chill, pretty unique album. I enjoyed listening to this while doing some paperwork today. You know how everyone has their “summer jams”? This one is more of a “spring jam.” It’s got just enough to perk you up a bit, but no more, because it’s freaking Tuesday afternoon and nobody wants that. I was pretty intrigued by some of the samples, like the watery kick drum in “Unknown Knowledge.” Cool man.

KRIS ECKMAN – BURL’S GREAT NONO: Daaaaaaamn, this is a HUGE step up in production. I loved the lyric idea (wish I would have been on FB at the right time!). Nice death vocals. This has just a slight southern/Pantera vibe, and the title makes me think of Burl Ives, so this album is full of weird images for me. I can also hear a big improvement in the guitar playing, if I’m not mistaken. And is that some real trumpet on track 4? Great EP, huge steps forward man!

ERIC PUTNAM – LISTEN: Eric and I discussed this a bit already, but this is another “big step” album – production is really cool, great melodies, some great singing and harmonies. Eric needs to write some damn songs outside of RT, and he knows it. I like this stuff because it’s new and different.  Nice work Ricky P.

LOGAN BRADLEY – HAMBURGERS AND HOTDOGS: When Logan said he was having trouble with his album, I was secretly a little happy, as I’m always insanely jealous of his recordings. Of course he turned it around and pulled off another RT classic. This album is hilarious and extremely well done. Unbelievable song titles (my current favorite is Pizza Blast, although I have no idea why). 21 tracks is crazy. Might just be me but I think Logan’s vocals have been getting way better – somehow they just make more sense to me now. And I think this is a very colorful album, which is what I miss a lot when I try listening to other music like it. Makes me look forward to the legit metal stuff I know Logan’s working on now.

MARTA – TUSCON: Great debut from a RT noob! Such a pleasant album. I think I like the title track best. Honestly I think the production suits the music, and wouldn’t really benefit from anything fancier. I like the lyrics (which seem to be the focus) – when you write lyrics this direct and specific, you have a certain power that says “don’t cross me or I’ll sing about you.” Which is especially potent if you get famous. So hopefully you’ll keep writing songs and do just that.

KEVIN LEE TODD – MAGNUS OCIEL MARCELLO: Oh my GOD I love this album. This is the kind of album I wish I could make for RT – a ridiculously ambitious, unbelievably weird concept album that probably only happened because Kevin didn’t have the time to talk himself out of it. Incredible artwork. I have no idea where the story comes from, but it’s brilliant an interesting and the writing is absolutely top-notch. I’m having a hard time finishing this review cause I just keep bouncing around from track to track trying to figure out how this thing came to be. I don’t know what I like better, the story or the songs. I hate to completely gush over this so much, but it’s a truly inspiring album and strikes me as really, really special. It’s like a weird, melancholy puppet show. I can’t really go into much detail about any one part, as I’m going to need a while to process it. My favorite album of RT8, maybe of any RT. Kevin wins. 

PAUL MARQUISSEE – FAVORITE PLACE: Loved to see Paul messing around with some pop music. Nice simple lyrics, chords, melody, everything – which I’m sure was a struggle for Paul! Kylene's voice is a little different than the kind you usually hear in stuff like this, which made it an interesting listen. Also it's a little more reverby and full than similar productions. So it's cool to see Paul's take on that whole subgenre of "bouncy ukulele pop." Nice.

T CLAX/BRAD ADAMS: I’m gonna review Brad’s 3 tracks at once, because I know they were 3 different projects but recorded somewhat together. First off, I have no words for Mr. Brew. I believe it’s a song about Perkins, which might be a world first.  I’m Not the King might be our first nu-metal track, and What The Heck Johnny is our first Christian Rap track. So Brad gets major points for covering our bases. It definitely sounds like a step up in all aspects of production. T Clax’s rapping is solid for sure. I enjoyed Brad’s (I think it’s Brad’s) growling. Just loved the variety, and it sounds like you guys had a lot of fun with this stuff. Nice.

PIGEON – GOOD TIMES, HOT CHICKS, LIMP DICKS: I don’t have the RTVII stuff with me, but I’m pretty sure this is a bigger production from Dominic/Pigeon. Sounds great. I really like the voice, I almost wish there were a little less reverb and stuff so I could hear it better, but I realize that’s a big part of the sound. Melodies are great, and it’s a very pleasurable listen. Great album title.

STRANGE BATTERY - PIECE OF WOOD: Piece of Wood? More like Piece of Shit.

I'm alive

Sup all,

So I wasn't sure if I was going to participate this time because I had my first paid composing gig last week (woo!), but I found some time over the weekend. I knew I wanted to make some electronic music, but other than that I didn't have much of a plan. So I just started writing. What I ended up with is some pretty chill, kinda trip hoppy electronic music that has heavy Indian influence. I mostly used Reason in combination with a couple sample libraries I have. I named it Bharata, which, other than being the first cool sounding word I came to on the "India" Wikipedia page, is a mythological emperor of ancient India, apparently. The album cover is a picture I took of a Hindu temple in the hills above Malibu, CA, which I quickly threw some filters and whatnot on in Photoshop. So anyway, the music is about 8 minutes long. Enjoy! Looking forward to everyone's tunes.

Andrew

Me=Excited

I really can't wait to hear everyone's music.

Jus sayin

Snails

The 'artwork' for my 'single'. I hope it pisses Dan off haha.

As a heads up, once all the music is released I'll be reviewing as much as I possibly can. If you get excluded, I'm totally sorry. I'm super busy with end-of-semester stuff (which is also why my submission sucks camel toes, but I'll go into detail about that to preface my reviews). Nice job to everyone who put something down though, we should all reward ourselves with sex and/or mexican food.

Peace
- Aaron

Jabber Jay

This is the cover for Jabber Jay EP.

album art!

i asked him to give his own personal take on the musicality of an acoustic guitar. big fan, oh yes!

My submission went in last night at 11 o'clock or so, Indiana time. There are definitely some parts that I wanted to fix and didn't have time to, and also parts that got overlooked and came out SUPER out of tune. Whoops.

Woodwork

A nice little piece by my good friend Joe Sliker (who also helped me with the artwork on "Tinkle")

I've got about 15 albums now with who-knows-how-many more on the way. Probably going to get in the 20-25 range again -- we'll see!

I've listened to a lot of it already...some really fun and interesting stuff this time. Shooting for a Wednesday release!

Darn.

I'm late. Sorry. I'll have it done tonight. And to think, I'm not even going to make the 15 minute mark... Oh well. I have to say, I'm equal parts disappointed and pleased by this album. It has repetitive and predictable riffs. It has dodgy vocals. The drums are boring as hell. There's a part that sounds like a Golden Earring song but I like it too much to take it out.

All of that lame stuff aside, I really am fairly pleased with this. It doesn't have a concept. The lyrics are mainly phrases my Facebook friends came up with, mixed with cheesy stuff about God and death and war ("cus thats is whats metals"). Speaking of lyrics, this is my first Record Time I'm using my actual voice. RTVI was done with phasers, flangers, digitizing, and pitchshifters, RTVII was instrumental. These are my actual vocals, save some EQ'ing, reverb, and occasional echo. At this point, unless I change my mind, none of them will be clean. I apologize in advance, as it might get old.

What I like most is that there isn't a great deal of "filler" on this. Some riffs aren't great or imaginative, but there aren't any giant spanning slow parts. There are more than a handful of surprises in here. Also, I don't want to give anything away, but the closing track is pretty far off the beaten path for me, and it's by far my favorite thing on this recording. Maybe my favorite thing I've done ever.

Anyway, I can't wait to hear everybody's recordings! I have been a review freeloader in the past, but as long as I can post mine after my finals (first week of March), I'll have plenty of time to give each of your pieces of art the loving care and attention they deserve. Congrats, everyone!

BOO! last minute technical problems

SO it looks like I'm going to be running late getting this one in. Reaper started crashing and giving me all sorts of grief last night, right as I was trying to master the tracks. I finally got it figured out this morning, but I couldn't get it all completed before I had to leave for work. So Dan, don't expect it until later tonight.

I was super excited with how this album was turning out BEFORE I did the vocals. DURRING the lyric writing and vocal recording, I got considerably less happy with the project. AFTER all is said and done, though, I am definitely pleased with this record.

Since I knew my voice would not sound good singing these songs, I decided to make them sound intentionally bad. I wrote the lyrics hastily, sang the parts quickly and out of tune, and then I ran them through a guitar amp simulater. Its not how I would have preferred to do it, but given my limitations as a singer, it was the best route to take. Plus, it made the whole vocal process go by quicker, which is always a plus when it comes to Record Time.

Funzo Donezo

I managed to pull it off, kind of, idk what I did, but I did something.  And that is the point.
Put some glitter on my face and called it a day.  I think this album art turned out to be a lot better suited for this album than what I was originally going to do, so the screen malfunction was not all bad.

This album in general is definitely rough around the edges, and I keep listening to it & changing little things here and there, but I think it's pretty much as done as it's going to get.  Disclaimer: I sang a lot, and didn't use any auto-tune at all (for once, but maybe should have), hopefully it's not unlistenable... I did my best, that's all I can say.  Think of it as anti-music music... kind of about everything and nothing at the same time, with little regard for the listener.

 

I really disliked this album in general at first, until I realized I was only hating it because I actually do love it.  This RT has been awesome though,  I learned a lot about the importance of staying organized and focused, and how to deal with technical problems.  Plus, now I can visualize my other album (that one I've been working on for a year) getting finished because, heyyy...it's not that hard to make an album.  Another shout out to Dan for birthing the fetus of Record Time to fruition. Glad I could be a part of it again. Can't wait to hear everyone's music!

∆ ∆ ∆

P.S. The lyrics came out kind of like a stream of consciousness, they're pretty simple, and there aren't a lot of them, but I did manage to leave the swearing out of it, which is generally a challenge for me.

Piece of Mind

Well, I finished...sort of. I have premastered versions of everything -- just want to run it all through the Waves mastering plugins at work tomorrow.

My album is called Piece of Wood.

The tracklist, unless I change my mind:

1) Where Will I Go When I Die
2) Beautiful Girls
3) Piece of Wood
4) Piece of Fuzz

Total running time is...29:58! Guess who's adding 2 seconds of silence to the end of the last track!

I went from being really happy with this album, to a little disappointed, to really happy again. Thank God for Autotune. I hadn't used it on my last 2 or 3 albums at least, but this album has a couple moments of 7 or even 8 part harmonies, and that's just not going to happen without Autotune.

I should really give another disclaimer about my album. It's somewhat...unfinished. There are sections that were clearly meant to have vocals, and they just don't. I ran out of time and brain power. Such is Record Time. But I'd like to think that the instrumental parts are interesting enough that it doesn't completely break the album.

The lyrics are also INCREDIBLY simple and occasionally stupid. All of the lyrics fit on about 3/4 of a page.

I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't cram this album full of vocals, but I'm patting myself on the back because there's a buttload of music and I played every single note in front of a mic. All natural, baby.

Now, to think of some artwork before bed. Night!

Done.

Blahg.

WHOOOO!

So I only clocked in at 13:53. I ain't mad.

The only thing left is the album art, which my friend was going to help me out with. However, it's 11:30, & he's yet to respond to my desperate pleas.

I'm super proud of this album! It's, as I predicted, exceedingly simple, but that's part of its charm.

Now we'll just see if I can finagle this bad boy into becoming a .zip file. But first, it's time for wings!

xoxo

2 good 2 B True

Okay...so... it's been a crazy 24 hours with many ups and downs. 
I hit a lot of technical problems all at once.
First off, the screen printing thing just isn't happening and I am super disappointed about it  :(  I spent a good few hours trying to hand scrub emulsion out of my screens last night, and eventually I decided to throw in the towel since if I didn't get the new emulsion on by last night, it wouldn't be dry enough to expose this morning... SO yeah, that sucks, but anyway, I'll have to do digital artwork this time... Might still get some copies printed out at kinkos because I like having CDs on hand, but that will have to wait until tomorrow seeing as they close at 6pm (eastern time).

On top of that, last night my free ableton demo decided not to connect with the network after I restarted my computer (ahhh! never restart in the middle of a project if you can help it) and I was worried I wouldn't be able to make any changes whatsoever, in which case I wouldn't have been able to release anything, but luckily after a couple hours of hitting "retry" over and over, it connected again.  Haven't closed the program down since. 

So today, I spent a good amount of time sitting in my car with my laptop plugged into the tape deck adapter to do a jenky mix down.  Also, side note, I recorded a lot of my vocals in the car, my bedroom is too reflective.

Charlie thinks it sounds okay:

Anyway, the album is pretty much done, still have to do a car test with a CD, but I'm pretty happy with it... and a warning:  These are some of the weirdest songs I've ever made. 
Total time is currently at 19:19...weirddddd.

xxx Luxi xxx

Lobster Shanty - Day 6

T-minus 24 hours, ladies and gentlemen!

I am so excited about these 3 tunes we have. I have learned so much in the past week (and couple weeks before that just in doing research, etc). My favorite part about Record Time is the unparalleled improvements I make when I participate. So shout outs to Dan for this brain child. I'm stoked to see all the action here on the blog and can't wait to hear everybody's stuff.

The muscles in my right hand and arm are starting to spaz out from non-stop editing and mixing... and I am pretty shot right now.........

ANYWAY - I'd like to share the album artwork for Lobster Shanty & the Crab Rangoon's album: Downtown.

Stay on Target...

Finished all the instruments today!

This album is really odd. I've never made anything like it, and I don't think I've heard anything like it either. It's a strange mix of Shugo, Espers, Opeth, Devin Townsend, and one of my new favorite indie bands, Friska Viljor.

I'd say this is a reasonably experimental album. It's also very much a "Record Time" album -- it'll be very clear to the listener that I recorded the very first thing that came to my head, one riff after another, with zero regard for structure. As it should be. It's completely arbitrary where one song ends and the next one begins.

One thing that's a little strange about this album so far is that there are almost no strong melodies -- which is usually the only thing I care about. There's a lot of stuff where I'm fingerpicking these sort of half-melodies -- not melodic enough to be hummable but too melodic to work as a basic accompaniment.

Even after day 6, I still have no idea what this album will sound or feel like when I add the vocals. And for the most part, it doesn't feel like it even needs vocals. So whatever tracks I do tomorrow will be more textural than anything.

The lack of melody, plus all the percussion, I think means that this will be a sort of "background" album. Nothing really pops out at you (except one hit that I'm intentionally leaving crazy loud), and there's not really a dominant emotion or point to any of it. I think it'll just be a pleasant, interesting ride for the listener.

My room is getting messy -- here's how it looked last night when I was finishing up some percussion:

That gold-colored plate on the ground is the top of a film canister, which ended up being the star of this album. It's sounds awesome. Home Depot bucket also came through for me in a pinch.

I feel like I need to add a disclaimer that my album is SUPPOSED to sound like it's miked horribly. I recorded most of the percussion 5 feet away, with my back turned to the mic. I don't know why, just sounded right. Haters gonna hate.

More. More. More. Gear. Gear. Gear.

Seems like I just want to keep adding more and more STUFF on these tracks, and I'm sure Nick agrees.

So, the Shanty decided to do something special for RTVIII in terms of audio, something that we have certainly not done, and from what I can remember listening to over the years, no one else has done either.  Looks like everyone is pushing their creative limits, and I'm loving it!--Luxi & Dan, making physical artwork--And Logan's album cover is so good it brings me to tears.

It's fun to see everyone's caves.  I'm lucky enough to have a fine space to work in!  Lots of gear, lots of light, lots of empty beer bottles all around (Although, I cleaned most of them up right before snapping these shots).

After 7 years of being an amateur in recording music...I still use a makeshift pop filter made out of the top of a salsa container with a hole cut in the center of it, woman's panty hose, and a binder clip to hold it up in front of the mic.

For the record (time), I don't sport the panty hose on the weekends...but I did buy them using a self checkout lane...