Chorus.fm Member Compilations: Originals: Due June 29th • Page 18

Just finished, this was quality. Great work everyone!

 

That's the TrevorShmevor review I slaved over a hot laptop for?!?

 

Shout out to the sequencing too, as well as it can with all of the vastly different production styles and sounds going on, this actually kinda feels like an album with a flow

 

Hahaha. Gotta listen through a few times, will probably do something a little more in depth later. Don’t worry, you will have a chance to get properly ripped apart!!

 

which one is @uuu's?

 

@angrycandy track 9 - Peaches

 

ahh thanks

 

oh shit oh fuck

 

I am really proud with the sequencing on this. The first 5 tracks especially flow well. It really feels like an album and I love it.

 

We should do a concept album next where all the songs flow into each other don't @ me.

 

This would be cool as hell, but also a logistic nightmare. I’m not opposed to try sequencing like that though.

edit: I forgot to put “opposed” in that last sentence and it made no sense.

 

Listened to this in the background while doing work. This is great! I'll have to do a closer listen again tonight and give a detailed reaction. But for now I can say @bradsonemanband holy hell! I've been listening to your stuff on these comps for like 7 years and I never heard you do something this heavy. That song rocks!

 

Thanks man! That's my little brother doing the screaming on it. We want to start a side project that's like this kind of thing. So there may be more soon!

 

I'm not a great reviewer so I'll skip on reviewing but you guys all absolutely killed it. Proud to be on here with y'all

 

Gonna listen to this thaaaang tomorrow and give everyone a piece of my mind!

 

@manoverboard365 - really fun way to have this thing open up. The energy, the really filled out production, and that super slick vocal production you regularly employ that always gives me an inexplicable feeling of nostalgia. That hook is bubblegum sweet. I can’t tell if it’s a synth or a guitar, but there’s this really cool plucking sound in a lot of the background that adds a really pleasing third dimension — I didn’t hear it at first, but it’s most audible right before that acoustic break at the end of the bridge and now I can’t unhear it. Just overall a really solid pop rock tune — I know these comps are not a competition by any means, but my immediate thought after the first chorus was something like “shit. I should’ve submitted something better” lmao.


@me - it was very tempting to re-submit one of the originals I’d contributed to any of the old Chorus originals compilations since those were removed from Bandcamp, haha. But I figured if I was going to be lazy and just contribute a track that I didn’t purposely put together for this comp, it may as well be a newer one. Here’s pretty much all I’ve got to say about my own track, I’ll throw it in a quote bubble since it’s long and rambly:

@Roman Rogowski - ayyy this is smooth af. Really love these guitar tones and the way they’re layered. This whole track just feels like you’re swimming in it. I think setting the drums so low in the mix really helps that feeling too — they’re so sparse and yet they fit so well. I have a very hard time arranging drums in a way that’s this off the beaten path, but you pulled it off really nicely. It feels like I can never tell where they’re going next, which keeps me engaged and gives me some extra stuff to chew on. Really inspired vocal delivery too, I like the parts where you have one layer going with a melody and another that mirrors the lyrics but in a more spoken word style. Kinda La Dispute-esque but with a more pleasing sense of melody. Nice work!

@Benjamin Lee - love how airy this sounds! Between some of those super light synths and your vocal delivery, I’m getting some heavy The Cure vibes. One of my favorite things about these comps is hearing the different sounds some of the regular contributors such as yourself take on. This is worlds different than the sound you explored on the last comp, and it’s really interesting to hear your unique fingerprints through an entirely different lense. I like your use of toms on these drums too — there are little fills at the end of nearly every measure, which helps mix stuff up in a really fun way.

@SmashRipsaw - worrrd, this is some shit I didn’t not expect. I’m like, profoundly terrible at attaching labels to anything remotely in the electronic world, so I’m not even gonna try that. But what I can confidently say is that I’m feeling a heavy 80s influence here, dare I even say kind of like a gothy feel?? Like, listening to this immediately makes me long for Halloween, haha. Alternatively, if I ever get into filmmaking and need music for a “get it done” montage, I know who I’m hitting up. That lead that starts at :45 and comes back a few times throughout the track is sooo catchy, and the mixing in general is really impressive. Using this many synths makes it easy to lose some stuff, but I didn’t experience that at all with this track.

@bobsheiskawy - the voice caught me off guard! Hahah. Did not put two and two together that this was your band as opposed to just you. The main vocalist has a really nice voice, very emotive delivery. And then I’m gonna guess that’s you coming in later? At least it sounds like you? Y’all sound real nice together if so — love a good duet. The part where the piano comes in and elevates things a bit is a cool touch, along with the tremolo guitar picking. That kind of stuff does a lot for the dynamic flow of the song while still allowing it to maintain its sonic integrity. The kind of stuff you don’t necessarily see coming, but fits right in when it hits. I see this is from a 2017 EP, I’ll have to check out the rest of the record sometime! Good stuff!

@bradsonemanband - hell yeah, was excited to see this ripper on here. Checked this track out along with a few others a little while back when it was posted in one of the Albums In Stores This Week threads. Love this aggressive side from you, and I can tell just by listening to this that it was a blast to record — it’s like every new part goes harder than the last. Even the one part that repeats later in the track feels like it’s heavier the second time. Gonna have to put this EP on again sometime soon. Bloody noses are the worst, so hearing a song this pissed off about them is very validating lol.

@genericities - digging the slightly more elaborate version of your sound here! The drums add a nice bounce and play well with the upbeat energy. Your stuff always has this really intimate bedroom indie rock vibe, which I love because it always feels like there’s a lot of heart in it. You’ve got a wonderful ear for melody too. If this is from a past EP then I missed it and need to check it out, but if you’re writing for a new one then I’m looking forward to hearing the rest!

@uuu - damn, this song is pleasant. Like “sitting on the patio on a warm, late summer afternoon with a light buzz and no plans” type pleasant. The use of bass to fill out the sound with an absence of drums is really effective. Dunno if it’s the tone or the way it’s plucked, but it’s almost sounds like a stand up bass haha. And of course, the second vocalist coming in later in the song is just pure bliss. Your voices work exceptionally well together — as much as I like the octave notes, the part I really fell for was that part at 2:00, with the “ooh’s” going behind your main vocal track. The decision to hard pan those over to the right added an extra bit of atmosphere at that part. I like that repeated line at the end too — it’s a sweet sentiment and it sounds like it was fun to perform. I hope this blurb was scathing enough!!

@kelcytaylor - after digging your Taylor cover so much, I’m really happy to say that I like your original material even more! That melody during the verses is a really great lead in to your chorus. Really makes me wanna sing along. ”I’m no superstar, just a girl and a guitar” — very catchy stuff. That last chord in the chorus is super dreamy too, almost reminds me of like, Soccer Mommy or something. Your harmonies are mixed really nicely, as well. They’re low enough to not quite match and detract from the main vocal track, but loud enough to really effectively punch up the melodies. Real good stuff!

@straylight93 - hooooly Manchester Orchestra vibes! Specifically in the instrumentation and choice of melody — idk if you’re a fan of them or not, but I mean that in the best way. That part at 1:52 is, simply put, pretty epic sounding. You mixed a lot of tones on this thing and really made the most out of each track. And I really love how those drums never really let up into a super straightforward driving beat — they truly build a LOT of tension in this way, and don’t really allow the listener’s attention to wane at all. Out of all the songs on this comp, there really couldn’t be a better closer to round things off. Nice work!

 

Thank you! And yep that's a synth doing the plucking sound in the background. I tried to bury it through most of the song and then brought it up a bit more for the bridge.

So cool I got to be the opening track for this comp! I've had serious writers block since January, so I'm grateful this comp was able to motivate me to finally write something new again.

I listened through the whole comp again tonight and wrote out my thoughts on everyone's tracks. Need to flesh it out a bit more and I'll share tomorrow. But will just say now that everyone absolutely killed it! This is definitely the best compilation that Chorus put out. Every one stepped it up and brought their A game!

 

Perfectly scathing enough, thank you.

That girl is a friend of a friend who someone tagged while I was looking for a female vocalist and she came in and did it all in one take. Literally must have a pitch pipe installed in her somewhere.

 

Thank you! Yeah, this one is fairly different. After a breakup a few months ago I decided to make more of a pop album with no guitars on it. This is the title track. It's funny you mention a The Cure vibe because, crucify me if you must, I don't think I've ever actually heard a The Cure song. Maybe I should listen to some The Cure now.

 

I'll be posting thoughts later today. I wanted to do it sooner, but school and my brother's birthday kept me too busy.

 

You MUST listen to Disintegration and then report back here.

 

Sorry to see this so late, but thank you so much!! The piece I was originally working on for submission fell through at the last minute, and I panicked and reworked this older one; I wrote it with my late-father and sang it to my husband at our wedding. It is very special to me!

 

Haha, funny how stuff like that can affect the way you approach making music. That’s a fun concept though, I’d have a really tough time with that. And yes you definitely should! If you through Head On The Door or Disintegration, there’s bound to be something you’ve heard by them and just didn’t know

Oh wow, yeah that’s heavily sentimental! Really cool that you were able to do that with your father. Like a piece of him you can’t ever lose

 

@genericities Do you have a SoundCloud or any other stuff I can listen to? Of all the stuff on this compilation, your sound resonates with me the most.

 

Okay, here are my thoughts. Not nearly as in-depth as @trevorshmevor but oh well. I genuinely love every song on here, and I'm so happy my little label got to be part of this. Hopefully we can do more of these in the future.

@manoverboard365 - Has anyone ever told you that you sound a lot like Andrew McMahon? I mean that as the highest possible compliment. Love the energy on this song. Great choice for an opener.

@trevorshmevor - Lo-fi beats to browse Chorus to? I’ve been getting more into the lo-fi hip-hop stuff lately, and this is an excellent example of the genre. I really dig the vocal mix, where the vocals are there but also kind of blend into the instrumentation.

@Roman Rogowski - Love how chill this one is. Reminds me a lot of those La Dispute EPs from back in the day. You have a great voice. Would love to hear more from you.

@Benjamin Lee - Really like the arrangement on this one. I love the wobbly synth in the background. And that hook!

@me - Total trash. Skip it. But really, I had a lot of fun with this one. I always feel like an outlier on these comps, but am happy to be included. I wanted to do a dark synth-wavey thing, but with an uptempo beat. I’m particularly happy with the bridge towards the end.

@bobsheiskawy - I’ve legit had this song stuck in my head since Tuesday. Both vocalists are so strong, which makes the track hit so much harder.

@bradsonemanband - Speaking of hard-hitting, DAMN, this one goes for it. I’ve always hoped for more heavy tracks on these comps, so this was a welcome inclusion. I would buy your 7”.

@genericities - So many great vocal performances on this comp, and this is another one. Getting some Hop Along vibes from this track, which is always a good thing.

@uuu - I’m always down for some good vocal harmonies. Your voices work really well together. I enjoyed yelling along about peaches at the end. Also, you killed it with the album art. These tapes are going to look GOOD.

@kelcytaylor - Really enjoy the layered vocals on this one. It’s subtle but makes the track sound fuller. This is some good "back porch on a hot summer night" kind of music.

@straylight93 - Excellent choice for a closer. I love the slow build and the layered guitar parts. There’s something very classic rock about the arrangements and vocals that I really enjoy. This would sound great on vinyl.