Can I put my bands new CD up for review? We are Experimental/Progressive/Screamo

[mattspurplepen]

We are recording it in two weeks and I wanted to find out how I can set up a page for it and have some people give their opinions on our music. I could send the album to any people interested in hearing it, if you leave your email address/

You can check us out at http://www.myspace.com/ohapollo
or search Oh, Apollo!:eek:
i'm cool with brutal reviews i just want to get our stuff out there.

[guitrguy]

Go a head and post it, thats what this forum is for.

[DFelon204409]

I think you mean the review forum but whatever. You guys are just a CTTS ripoff though.

[Happy_Squirrel]

Eh, whatever. Not really my thing. I would've liked the 2nd & 3rd song if there was just less screaming. Actually, after another listen I think I like them more. ESpecially lumenarianism. However, it doesn't sound like anything groundbreaking. You should put http://www. at the beginning of your myspace address so that people can actually link to it.

btw, I'm pretty sure that "recording" doesn't count as a show.

I think you mean the review forum but whatever. You guys are just a CTTS ripoff though.

CTTS? Forgive my ignorance, but who's that? :confused:

[mattspurplepen]

haha thats one way to look at it thanks for listening. We do draw some inspiration from Circle Takes The Square but I don't base my guitar on other bands' stuff nor do we try to sound like other bands. Our new cd will be more diverse with different song structures and more experimental aspects but if you wouldn't care to listen its all good. The screaming was kinda strange on that recording but the new ones should be better.
What do you mean by "I'm pretty sure that "recording" doesn't count as a show."?

[Happy_Squirrel]

You have "recording" listed in your "shows" section on myspace.

[mattspurplepen]

ohhh haha word i'm not too sure why we do I guess just makes our page look more full? Well i enjoyed your solo project i think it was. with acoustic guitar and computer tracks/ sounded dope. if you'd like to hear our full length i can send you the tracks when we're finished

[Happy_Squirrel]

ohhh haha word i'm not too sure why we do I guess just makes our page look more full? Well i enjoyed your solo project i think it was. with acoustic guitar and computer tracks/ sounded dope. if you'd like to hear our full length i can send you the tracks when we're finished

Cool, thanks for listening and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, I'd love to hear your tracks when you're done.

[DFelon204409]

haha thats one way to look at it thanks for listening. We do draw some inspiration from Circle Takes The Square but I don't base my guitar on other bands' stuff nor do we try to sound like other bands. Our new cd will be more diverse with different song structures and more experimental aspects but if you wouldn't care to listen its all good. The screaming was kinda strange on that recording but the new ones should be better.
What do you mean by "I'm pretty sure that "recording" doesn't count as a show."?

Dude, I'm from the Bay Area too. At the end of last summer I went to see Drowning With Our Anchors and Twain Harte and this crappy skramzed out band opened. They just ripped off CTTS in the antiphonal vocals and faux-chaotic drum-bass-guitar interface like in that they slipped out of time. However, instead of sounding epic and complex, they just sounded sloppy and immature. Also, they were all like 17. This just reminds me a lot of them. Maybe you are the same band. It's just you wear your influences so obviously on your sleeve. I know you're not *trying* to sound like any one thing but you do with listening to a few non-hella skramz artists so that you don't just sound like you're replicating their style, which is what you guys sound like right now.

[mattspurplepen]

Well its all good, thanks for the feedback man. Our recordings we have up right now don't sufficiently represent our sound but they are part of what we play. Most of us are 17 and i can see what you mean about some of our stuff, there are other styles of songs that we play though but i wouldn't expect everyone to like them. I personally was not so influenced by different bands while writing the guitar for most of our material. I listen to all types of music, but its good to hear what faults our music may have. How do you think we replicate these other bands' sounds though? i'm just curious if you could send me any examples?

[indietrashrock]

I don't really think you sound that much like CTS. which is good 'cos I don't like CTS all that much. at least not their vocals. I prefer you guys really. I like that "Wolves" demo.


... oh yeah I'm playing "Rebuilding planes to take the" and I kind'a see that CTS stuff happenin' now. I don't like the vocals on this one. the screaming is slightly annoying and the sobbing even more so. even though they grow on me as the track progresses, they are slightly... not my thing. the melody is generally boring till that jolly part with clean vocals (starting around 2:30 or later, can't tell as the MySpace player sucks a'ss from a straw). I like that bit. I find the rest of the track to be kind of generic. but from that jolly part and on, it's a rocker. actually, it's really really good and I like it very very much. too bad the intro is so meh imo, heh.

lumenariunism is actually pretty much the same deal for me. the calm parts (even though there's no clean singin') are pretty f'ucking awesome but I can't get into the heavier parts. they just sound like so many other heavier parts out there. so too bad there's more heavy parts than calm ones, eh? oh and the breakdown doesn't do it for me at all. the piano outro is real nice though.

so I kind'a think your stuff reminds me slightly of CTS but also a teeny weeny bit of Saetia (which is ten thousand times better than CTS imo). I like the calmer parts, but I can't dig the heavier ones too much. it doesn't hit me; it just passes by, barely looking at me whilst leaving me behind. it's not unique enough.


p.s.
I'd recommend you listen to The Pax Cecilia.

[Iscariot]

I don't like screaming in anything what so ever, but I do like your riffs.

[DFelon204409]

Well its all good, thanks for the feedback man. Our recordings we have up right now don't sufficiently represent our sound but they are part of what we play. Most of us are 17 and i can see what you mean about some of our stuff, there are other styles of songs that we play though but i wouldn't expect everyone to like them. I personally was not so influenced by different bands while writing the guitar for most of our material. I listen to all types of music, but its good to hear what faults our music may have. How do you think we replicate these other bands' sounds though? i'm just curious if you could send me any examples?

So you're mad skramz right? If you have any emo influence and you're just grooving in a really obvious 6/8 feel and you're using harmonic minor #7 degrees for your turnarounds, you're going to sound like CTTS. That's just inevitable. They were the band that essentially brought those techniques to popularity and have been copied nonstop since 2004. Then there's the fact that you have some "chaotic" sections, where the meter slips a little bit and isn't precise, not unlike a CTTS technique. Also the constant high pitched riffing that doesn't motivate the chord progression but just moves back and forth from two different patterns is sort of played out at this point. Also, the quality of the vox is terrible. I hope that was specific enough.

Yes, I agree you should check out The Pax Cecilia. I'd most recommend checking out the band You and I though. Mostly their album The Curtain Falls. They had a really good sense of melody and chord progressions, which I feel like you guys don't. You just riff for the sake of riffing and don't show much variety or ingenuity in your harmonic choices.

[DFelon204409]

Okay so I went to your guys' myspace again and noticed the show flyer that had the band name Matsuri on it. That's the band that played with Twain Harte and DWOA and just sucked it up. I thought I was watching a middle school talent show. The asian kid couldn't have been playing guitar for more than 2 weeks before that show. They are other egregious CTTS copycats too.

[indietrashrock]

The asian kid couldn't have been playing guitar for more than 2 weeks before that show.

PUNK ROCK!!!!



... anyway. I agree about the You and I recommendation. "Forever Lasts A Moment" is a fantastic exhibition of harmony, melody and overall chord progression.

I am no fan of guitar solos (not that _you_ have lots of solos, I'm just saying). I like bands that are creative enough to make use of advanced and complex riffs in e.g. a verse or chorus. I like bands that are good enough composers, so they don't have to solo the one or two times per album they actually come up with a decent riff. You and I is an excellent example of this. (so's Coheed and Cambria (though they have some guitar solos e.g. in Welcome Home), even though they don't have all too much with this type of music to do. I'd still recommend checking out Good Appollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness - a great album.) where I believe You and I succeed and you fail is the fact that You and I is more diverse, and quite simply more harmonic and thus more catchy.

[mattspurplepen]

Thanks for listening guys. D felon I see what you mean ( some of our stuff is indeed like that) We are pretty far from being a great band but we have fun and if only a few people end up enjoying it then i will be satisfied. That is a pretty big compliment to me, creating music in a general range with Circle takes the square and i appreciate your honesty.
The Pax Cecilia is an awesome band, i totally forgot i found them like 6 months ago and really liked the songs they have but i dont have any on my comp. Is there a site to download their tracks from?
Oh and the band You and I is good as well, I'm feeling their tunes, not sure if they have this incredible ingenuity you were speaking of though. I mean for sure i would say they're a better band than us./ But they sound like the same general style you seem to classify as "epic screamo?" It seems like you put a general category just because you weren't feeling the tunes, which is fine but i think Matsuri have some awesome tunes and they are unique in my ears. I guess i'm still younger and open to a lot of music that might not be the best or most pretentious haha.

[indietrashrock]

send a m@il to cd@paxcecilia.com where you put down your address and ask if they can ship "Blessed be the Bonds" to it. it's free.

[Neoteric]

I think you guys sound good for your age sadly, every flaw DFelon has pointed out is true.

[einzweiveirfunf]

Wolves rough demo

I'm guessing this is a live performance. You got a cool guitar riff, and it sorta sounds homemade, if ya get where i'm coming from. I like the low quality in some ways, but the guitar is perhaps a bit too fuzzy in place. Seriously lacking bass as well. A good bass line could really take this song to a new level. Sorta sound like refused, imo. oh can hear a bit of bass now, but it only really becomes noticable at the end

Rebuilding planes to take the

I think the sudden change from clean guitar to heavy works very well. I like the sudden change from screaming to vocals in some points, though the screamings just a little to throaty, if ya get what i'm saying. Interesting talking section, with a cool guitar riff under the next bit of vocals. The more tunefull section is perhapsm a little flat, though it's nice to have a change near the end of the song.

lumenariunism

Sounds pretty similar to your previous struff to begin with, though the sudden break works very well. could do with more tunefull vocals in this section, though you do move from talking to vocals well. It sounds pretty bland after this unfortunately, though the guitar later is pretty cool. Piano works nicely, though it perhaps doesn't have a very good sense of rhythm to it, though maybe that was what you were going for. Ends you selection of songs off nicely anyhow

anyways, if you ever wanna give my stuff a listen:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=544551

[mattspurplepen]

thanks for giving a review of the stuff man. Our new cd will be done this sunday and we'll upload some better versions of tracks and new stuff