Hey! Ho! Let's Dibs!

[B]Cocteau Twins - Aloysius[/B]

Right-o. I've heard a lot about this band as well, but I haven't heard them.

Starts with some acoustic chords and then the guitar continues a nice little acoustic riff with some effects on. Sounds dreamy, there are also some atmospheric sounds in the background. Then the drums kick in, they seem to be produced by a drum machine. An excellent beginning to this song.
Then the vocals, it's a songstress. High vocals, very medieval sounding, the language seems to be some sort of Celtic language, I'm not sure, I can't understand it anyway. The vocals are maybe a tad too high in the mix or something, not perfect anyway. But still good at times. They are growing on me, though. The song keeps to go back and forth -Verse, chorus-. Hmm; the song ends abruptly.

Well, it was certainly a nice song, the intro where the guitar was in the spotlight was probably the best part, very atmospheric and dreamy song. A good one.

8/10

[B]Ye song(s): [/B]
[URL=http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3EHQ5FEZLM0HT2LZ5XBP4MLPK6]Therapy? - A Moment of Clarity[/URL] (Not quite as weird, but a great track with great lyrics. It's one from Therapy?'s alt-y period. Enjoy)

dibs

[B][I]A Moment of Clarity[/I] - Therapy?[/B]: 6:02

I have heard a song or two by these guys and have enjoyed them. Hope this track doesn't break the pattern.

The song opens with a very chilled and electronic sounding opening, already something I didn't expect, very nice mellow stuff, off to a good start. The 'chick-chick-chick-chick's speed up and a couple of thunderous effects are played which kind of dissipate the calm before. Great intro.

So after the just over a minute intro the guitar starts playing its chords, not breath takingingly awesome, but not the horrible cheesy strummy kind. The vocals come in soon enough, nice voice, very fitting for the guitar. The transitions from electro part to guitar to inclusion of vocals feel a little rushed; if they had been extended I think it would have worked a lot better.

At the 1:40 mark the major riff has already begun, and again it feels like to may have came too soon. Although this riff does kick major ***, very stark and powerful, really love it. The kind you want to let blast out even though it's very late and PC speakers do no justice to.

After this strong section the song settles itself in that in-between area of full throttle and slow, sorta mid-throttle. Lots of bell on the ride which always good. The vocals are resting back in the song.

Instead of falling back into another full throttle section it drops to a very quite section, mostly snare and ride with very quiet guitar and vocals. This bit I don't like, doesn't do anything for me.

After a little 'flump-flum' on the toms the kick *** riff blares out again and firmly cements itself as the best part of the song (apart from the electro intro). Also during the second half of this section the singer lets fly and provides the higher less constrained vocals you knew from the start his was capable of. They suit this end section really well.

The song lulls into a sort of 'break-down' section and doesn't rise back up to the riffage again. The volume drops and the chords come back again to cap this song off.

Overall, a very enjoyable and oddly quick 6:02. This track was quite different to the other songs I have heard by this group. On this songs own merits I give it an [COLOR=Red][B]8.5/10[/B][/COLOR].

[B]Forced Listening:[/B]

[URL=http://s21.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1RF5DDXGF7BDB32WPL7GHXUM4K]Ellen & Ben - The Dismemberment Plan[/URL]

[URL=http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0YUR2QUSNEL0Y3LJQF5BWRBXSK]Big News - These Arms Are Snakes[/URL]

[URL=http://s27.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2GBLVMCSQG53A223TAV9B29R7R]Time is an Imploding Unit/Waiting for Green - Biffy Clyro[/URL] <-- Just shy of ten minutes this track is, so watch out.

deeeeebs

I agree with you about Ellen & Ben, it is a bit of a tedious song with the repetitiveness of it, but I love the melody.

[B][I]Starseed[/I] (Armageddon Remix) - Our Lady Peace[/B]: 4:02

The eastern twinge can be heard in the plucky guitar intro, it's very quiet also, which with hindsight works nicely contrasted with the louder parts about to come up.

In the bridge section from intro to first rock part there is some really nice driving bass (great tone) and the drum sound really good too. It is really reminding me of The Screaming Trees so far. A long snare roll takes the song to the second part of the bridge section and it is sounding even more like The Screaming Trees, which is no bad thing at all. The guitar goes into a bit of full overdrive for a small section (sounds very nice) and eventually the song drops down into the first versey part.

The vocals come in now and don't particularly grab me, but they aren't awful by any means, just something I feel I would have to let grow on me about the band. That said, his 'ehyeeayyeeehyeeayyee's in the pre-chorus soon after the verse are really cool.

The chorus part (1:30 - 1:48) doesn't quite do it for me as it's a bit too 'weak' compared to the full over-drive part if you get me.

The song repeats the verse/pre-chorus/chorus pattern (I think, there aren't any inclusions of different parts) until around 2:50 where there is a brief section where the drummer plays a really tasty fill and then the guitar solo begins.

The solo is average. It doesn't/didn't really get me; it is a bit low in the mix I feel.

The song goes on to resolve itself in a pretty typical rock fashion and with the band fading out at the end.

The song has a really nice driving bass line and the guitar works really well with it. The drumming is really cool and the vocals are decent. All in all I would say it was a very good track and would rate it as a [B]9/10[/B].

[B]Forced Listening:[/B]

[URL=http://s27.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2GBLVMCSQG53A223TAV9B29R7R]Time is an Imploding Unit/Waiting for Green - Biffy Clyro[/URL] Pop-Punk/Alt. Rock - 9:23

[URL=http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0YUR2QUSNEL0Y3LJQF5BWRBXSK]Big News - These Arms Are Snakes[/URL] Punk tinged rock? - 3:18

[URL=http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=38QOKDHWFFF9T02XTV7RWT2QBD]Witness - The Screaming Trees[/URL] Alt. Rock - 3:39

I only have Dust by them, but good tracks off it are All I Know, Halo of Ashes and Gospel Plow.

Infact, I could upload it to one of the YSI threads if you would like me to.

Ibid.

Haven't heard them before. Not sure what's going on with that name :-/
[b]DieCiS1e7E - Zoe[/b] - 3:23

Guitars fade in for a couple of seconds, and then we're hit with some cymbal-heavy drum beats and a good rock riff. The cymbal goes away for the drums to pound in an intro, and the riff takes over fully. I really like this riff. The bass is quite easily heard underneath too, which is nice.

Basically carries on like this until the vocals come in around fifty seconds in; Spanish lyrics, as promised, so naturally I have no idea what's being sung. It sounds like there's more than one voice there, though; one main vocalist and one or two more supporting him rather quietly in the background. About a minute and a half in now, and I'm assuming we've hit a chorus. I think the guitar's playing a little mini-solo behind the vocals, too. It's all been very high-energy so far.

Vocals cut out, and the guitars get slightly deeper and slightly heavier for a pretty cool little instrumental midsection. Reminds me of something The Wildhearts do in some of their songs, actually. The vocals come back for a short while, and then the guitars return, briefly, to the part they played in that midsection, to end the song on a pretty cool note. Unfortunately this means there isn't much for me to say about it, which results in a short review :-/

I was thinking about 7/10 for most of the song, but then that midsection pushed it up to around an 8/10. It also gets +5 points for having a positive reference to the Wildhearts made about it, so;

13/10

[b]Songs;[/b]
[url=http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1SQ60BMAO21RJ178MEZ81TGF4Y]William Shatner (w/Joe Jackson and various others) - Common People[/url]
[url=http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3P6C68LJSGT5I0VTWGYSZ8F8XB]Johnny Cash - The Wall (live)[/url]
[url=http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=28YMDZ4FYNX001LOZWTZ0OHGW6]The Polyphonic Spree - A Long Day Continues[/url] (the happiest band in the universe)*
[url=http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1QNNXB88X97LA3PW4EEI5JI7KM]The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now[/url] (the happiest band in the universe)
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1EXLY4UYJ9VAC0RXP7A9X7J564]North - Through Fire[/url] (relaxed, slightly funky alt/indie)
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RN2V6Z5RZ4052IZKYXUQZH054]North - untitled bonus track[/url]
[url=http://s29.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2H8H5N1OB9IY233EIZFCC5S98G]Thirst - State of High Piss Off[/url] (alt/hard rock?)

Dibs.

I enjoyed Get Down, which I reviewed in a different Forced Listening I believe, so I thought I'd try another.
[b]Butch Walker - Alicia Amnesia[/b] - 3:23

Starts off with a quick drum roll, and then a riff. It definitely seems to be a pop punk riff, although it's quite long and winding for pop punk. There's a nice chunka-chunka bit about halfway through. Anyway, this riff repeats a couple of times, and then vocals come in.

Walker's vocals remind me somewhat of Freddie Mercury. I've said this before, and the only person I've said it to so far has assumed I meant his amazing singing talent, which I don't. I mean the kind of half-rapped, clipped vocals (the kind Freddie used in We Will Rock You, for example). There's a better example in the other Butch Walker song I know (the aforementioned Get Down), but here it's not really any different, only less pronounced. I swear the guy is channeling Freddie Mercury.

So anyway, I like his vocals. Lyrics seem to be about just a particularly forgetful girl (every man's dream, I'm sure), which makes for some amusing lines. Sung chorus (or pre-chorus, tis too early to tell yet) around 0:50, before a rather loud single repeated guitar note for him to sing "she doesn't know my name". Drawn out cry of "aliciaaaaa", a couple of repetitions of the riff, and then another verse. Much in the same pattern as before. A very cool little bridge part after the next chorus, with some doo wop-ish vocals, and then swiftly back to the chorus before the song draws to a close.

7.5/10, I think. I didn't like it as much as Get Down, but it was still pretty good.

[b]Songs;[/b]
[url=http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1SQ60BMAO21RJ178MEZ81TGF4Y]William Shatner (w/Joe Jackson and various others) - Common People[/url]
[url=http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3P6C68LJSGT5I0VTWGYSZ8F8XB]Johnny Cash - The Wall (live)[/url]
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1EXLY4UYJ9VAC0RXP7A9X7J564]North - Through Fire[/url] (relaxed, slightly funky alt/indie)
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RN2V6Z5RZ4052IZKYXUQZH054]North - untitled bonus track[/url]
[url=http://s22.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RYJ4843BOX0M3ARG2Q02QHJPE]Aereogramme - Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement[/url]
[url=http://s29.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RWWDZP32I2H935WY8DGBNLLN4]Aereogramme - Hatred[/url]

Dibs

I've never heard anything from this band before, but I've heard them talked about, so lets see.

[B]Aereogramme - Post-Tour, Pre-Judgement[/B]

Starts with some cool drumming. Some nice vocals and a lovely chord progression on a clean guitar come in. Then...holy crap! An explosion of awesomeness! There's some hard drumming, distorted guitar and an incredible organ. Now some vocals. This guy's vocals rule. Goes back to the softer part of the clean guitar and then goes back into the big part.

I'm liking these lyrics, though I can't say what they are about right now. Goes big again and then drops back to just bass, some light cymbals with toms and a pretty little guitar lead. Builds up slightly before the vocals come back in. Some cool lines..."fu*k the devil, fu*k myself" sounds really cliche, but the delivery is great. Wow, now it's heavy again and the dude is screaming, sounds a bit like Converge. And that's the whole song. Wow, amazing.

[b]10/10[/b] That song was way too good, I'll definitely be checking out this band more, starting now.


[b]Songs;[/b]

[url=http://www.thejollyrogers.org/thepartypunch.mp3]The Jolly Rogers - The Party Punch[/url] Alt Folk/Pirate Pop
[url=http://www.thejollyrogers.org/ohbeone.mp3]The Jolly Rogers - Oh Be One[/url] as above
[url=http://s12.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1UPNEPBUQGNVP3OOAA0UTVM22K]Thomas Newman - Shawshank Redemption (stoic theme and end credits)[/url] Film Music

dribbles

[b]The Jolly Rogers - The Party Punch[/b]

A strummy, bouncy guitar opens it, just a couple of chords. The vocalist starts up, and he sounds like Ben Folds meets the Modest Mouse singer. It's pretty simple, just guitars, singing, and simple percussion with claps.

It's pretty happy, and melodic, though I don't hear anything piratey, as promised.
In the second half is quiet choirs, with a bit of Beach Boys sound, the main music powers up a bit, more noticeable than the the first half. The guitar riff is getting a bit repetetive, but it's pretty fun and it doesn't matter.

But the last 50 seconds or so sounds totally unrelated, with bad strumming and bad singing... I'll ignore this bit..


Yeah, that was pretty mellow, slightly tacky in it's simplicity, and the singer's shaky voice, but a good type of tacky, like Custard or Presidents of the USA, just for indie. I wouldn't have liked something like this, a year ago, but for now, I enjoyed it.
8/10

_________________________________
[b][url=http://www.comcen.com.au/~caracarol/XTC - Apple Venus - 06 - Greenman.mp3]XTC - Greenman[/url][/b] - 70s pagan pop-rock

Dibs.

I've heard of these guys, and for all I know I've heard them before now. Still not really sure what to expect, though.
[b]XTC - Greenman[/b] - 6:01

Starts off with a rather familiar sounding little tune; sounds like it's being played on an organ of some kind. Quickly resolves itself into a rather sweeping and grandiose kind of sound, which instantly brings to mind Lawrence of Arabia for some reason. Small flourish in the strings (I think) before the vocals come in about thirty seconds in. Multiple voices (at least two, anyway), and they sound pretty good. Not amazing, but good clean voices for this kind of smooth song. The melody is really good too. Memorable, but not in an annoying way. Lyrics are just about "the one called the greenman". Little playful flute melody during an instrumental break/chorus, and then the next verse starts.

I'm noticing the bass now (at least I think it's the bass). It's really good, deep and nice-sounding. Harmonised vocals for a while, before what is either a repeated fragment of a line, or some non-verbal sound. The guy's voice wavers a bit around 2:55, but it's not all that noticeable.

About four minutes in now, and so far it's just repeated what it's done up to now. I'm liking this song. It's very sweeping and grandiose, lots of could-be-dramatic strings and such, but which aren't especially intimidating or overwhelming. Different instruments, such as percussion, the bass, the flute, get their chance to do their thing every now and then. And..there's not much more I can say about it. It's six minutes long, but there isn't much variation, and it just basically repeats itself through to the end (and a strings fadeout).

7/10, I think. It was enjoyable, but a bit overlong and faintly annoying for some reason. I liked several aspects of it though; the variety of instruments, the flow of the verses, and the general vastness of the sound, in particular. Sorry for the short review.

[b]Songs;[/b]
[url=http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1SQ60BMAO21RJ178MEZ81TGF4Y]William Shatner (w/Joe Jackson and various others) - Common People[/url]
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1EXLY4UYJ9VAC0RXP7A9X7J564]North - Through Fire[/url] (relaxed, slightly funky alt/indie)
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RN2V6Z5RZ4052IZKYXUQZH054]North - untitled bonus track[/url]
[url=http://s26.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2G0BKDMF1POEY129DVMLF271TD]Aereogramme - Sunday 3:52[/url]
[url=http://s29.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RWWDZP32I2H935WY8DGBNLLN4]Aereogramme - Hatred[/url]

dibs on
aereogramme-sunday

very smooth, mellow chello(that spelling's gotta be wrong) opening. Voice comes in, also quite nice. hope this speeds up a little right now though. drums and guitar i think come in at same time, makes you appreaciate this new fullness. Right about now this seems like the kind of song that would bring tears to my eyes if anything sad had recently happened to me...luckily that is not the case. oh and now thats a violin that just came in. wow the harmonies really are beautiful, but to be honest every time the voice comes in the song is worse for it. the ending=just simple guitar with vioce, now I am liking this voice a lot more.

Alright well that was a song that if I was in a certain mood i would have loved, but at any given time I would not go out of my way to hear it. 6/10

oh yeah
Muse-Muscle Museum

His review didn't deserve a review that good in return :)

Dibs.

his?

[QUOTE=breezer]his?[/QUOTE]

As in yours. Don't take offence, since it's the first I've ever seen you do, I wasn't really bothered, and I'd rather have more than less people playing the game. It was just a little short and disappointing.

Heard and liked before, as you know. I was debating which to do, but I figured I might as well go for the only Butch Walker there I've not yet heard.
[b]Butch Walker - Mixtape[/b] - 4:05

Starts off with some quite piercing piano (in so far as piano can be piercing). It sounded a bit like nursery rhyme-style piano at first, but it's soon joined by some acoustic strumming, which makes it sound all the more mature. It's just these two for a short while, until the vocals begin.

He sounds less like Freddie Mercury, this time. Probably because his vocals are a lot more laid back and relaxed than I've heard previously. I would say "drawled", I think, if he had a southern accent. Anyway, light percussion starts up at the same time (and the piano stops, I think); it's nothing special, which is unsurprising, since the focus is very much on the vocals. There's no great change in style on the chorus (except for the most concerted effort at singing I've heard from Walker so far, in a few lines here and there). The piano returns for short instrumental breaks post-chorus, pre-verse.

Pretty cool part now (around 2:00) after the second chorus; the vocals use that slightly more commanding, jerky delivery, and there's some flashes of distorted guitar here and there. Goes straight into another chorus. Multiple Butches join in for backing vocals. After a few repetitions of a chorus line, the song goes quiet, and some slightly distorted drumming starts, while the music builds up slightly around it. The bass here is nice; warm, good tone. It never builds back up into a chorus, it's just something to fade the song out on, but it reminds me somewhat of a NIN instrumental.

8.5/10. Bits of it weren't anything special, but I liked the outro, which makes it a solid 7. The extra points come from just the fact that I really like the basis for the song. It's essentially (so far as I can make out, in one listen) a love song, but it's about the person who gave him the bext mixtape he ever had, which, unlike most love songs, is a sentiment I can somewhat relate to.

[b]Songs;[/b]
[url=http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1SQ60BMAO21RJ178MEZ81TGF4Y]William Shatner (w/Joe Jackson and various others) - Common People[/url]
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1EXLY4UYJ9VAC0RXP7A9X7J564]North - Through Fire[/url] (relaxed, slightly funky alt/indie)
[url=http://s32.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RN2V6Z5RZ4052IZKYXUQZH054]North - untitled bonus track[/url]
[url=http://s26.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2G0BKDMF1POEY129DVMLF271TD]Aereogramme - Sunday 3:52[/url]
[url=http://s29.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RWWDZP32I2H935WY8DGBNLLN4]Aereogramme - Hatred[/url]

Bump.

Dibs. I'll try this.
North - Through Fire

[U][B]North - Through Fire[/B][/U]
I've never heard of them so I'm not sure what to expect.
Well in the start there is a nice little piano build up that sounds like a Norah Jones song. Then about 30 secounds in the Bass and cymbals comes in and I then have an idea that a deep voice will comes in, which I was hoping against and to my surprise a nice mellow soothing voice comes in.

The song starts to sound a bit like a upbeat jazz. The singer I can't really hear exactly what he's saying but the words he is singing reall flow and keep the song in a mellow sleepy state. About 2:45 into the song he stops singing and the guitar picks up with the piano still jamming away. The guitar solo reminds me of something Santana would do. Sounds sorta like a TV theme I dunno maybe I'm just tired. Then it stops and the singer comes back singing his rhythmic style still sings only about a line or two then the guitar comes back in.

Sounds like a faster version of the first solo but this time the piano is louder and slowly gets louder as the guitar plays. The guitar does its thing for about a minute then it dissappears leaving us with the piano. The piano slows tempo then slowly builds and the drums make the first sound thats caught my attention since the begging. The guitar comes back in playing my favorite part out of the three little solos it had. This time it reminds me of a sort of David Gilmour thing. Then the guitar just drops again, and agian leaving us with the piano to say good bye.

Sorry for all the comparisons this song sounded like so many songs or had little pieces that reminded me of songs but overall a really steady song. Despite only having singing in about one min of this 5:30 min song it kept me interesting with the changing of tempo and the guitar solos that were the same sounding yet different. And when the singer did sing I thought the words just really flowed.

8/10 I don't usually like these songs they tend to bore me but as stated above this was different.

Hope that was good.

[URL=http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=15KOZ3537WUW017DV4WO7CYQXF]The Bees - Horsemen[/URL]

[URL=http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=298QWACOIR6XU0BKWUWZGMFNJU]Secret Machines - Nowhere Again[/URL]

dibs

Note to Grateful Dead - [URL=http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8210167&postcount=2685]Dust - Screaming Trees (post&link)[/URL]

[B][I]Horsemen[/I] - The Bees[/B]: 3:29

I haven't heard of these guys but if they are as good as the Secret Machines are they will not be bad at all.

The song opens with some choppy guitar chordy bit things, reminds me of Neil Young already and that's no bad thing as far as I am concerned. The vocalist comes in and his voice is very plesant, kinda strained a bit, the voice and the guitar compliment one another.

Bum-tap, the drums and bass come in and with that the first annoying part to the song, a **** marracca. The cowbell tries to fight the annoyingness of the marracca but it's too down low in the mix to do much. Ah well let's carry on.

The next section is quite cool, organ, bass and piano with some floaty vocally kinda stuff in the background. This short piece finishes and goes back to the choppy guitar stuff, rinse and repeat this pretty much until 2:39 when the solo section begins.

The solo is pretty rad, reminds me of Josh Homme but that's due to my lack of knowledge of guitarist names.

It carries on after the solo with more of the guitar until it ends in a pretty unsatisying way, even after the solo.

Overall I did enjoy it, not something I would normally listen to or look for myself but I will keep my ear to the ground for more stuff by them. I give this track an [B]8/10[/B].


[B]Forced Listening:[/B]

[URL=http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0M5D22FBG867O17LUF94ZB0N8V]Time is an Imploding Unit/Waiting for Green - Biffy Clyro[/URL] - Alt. Rock/Pop-Punk, 9:23 long.

[URL=http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0P5N9ZTH0HB42EO5BH0Q4WT3X]Tonight my Wife is your Wife - Reuben[/URL] - Pop-Punk/Rocky Tinges, 3:07 long.

[URL=http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0LGC3UCHXC26P2AYOFQSOK72EV]The Mission - Queensrÿche[/URL] - Prog (Power tinged) Metal, 5:47 long.

[URL=http://s5.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0NLVRG775PCYA0JO8J45M8I2R3]I Know Your Name - Bee & Flower[/URL] - Woman and Violin and things, dark, 4:50 long.

[URL=http://s22.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1V8M134QDYKHB0BM3ANAJN0SXG]What You Feel - Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cast Musical[/URL] - F[SIZE=2]u[/SIZE]ckin' Jazz-a-matazz, 3:01 long.

dibs

I can take this now can't I?

if so dibs.