Chorus.fm Member Compilations: Originals: Due June 29th • Page 15

Damn, should’ve invited me over.

 

y’all are good at this, damn

 

Your "Mirrorball" cover is much better than whatever I was doing with the song haha. You nailed it.

 

Hahah. Thanks man! No lie, you saying you also kinda wanted to cover it was super motivating for me to like, actually get it done lol. Woulda been bummed at myself had neither of us been able to do it because of my slacking

 

Anyway yeah just finished listening to all of them — this is quality stuff. Seriously great work everyone! If I have time later I’ll go through each track individually

 

I'm def not a tswift fan but that mirrorball cover is tight

 

Wow this is a great collection! I'm gonna give it another full listen tomorrow, but I really loved both Taylor covers. Has me listening to folklore now before bed haha

 

Oh man, I wish I had subscribed to this thread earlier. I'll have to try and jump on the next one.

 

Next one will be originals with a short run physical release, all profit from digital and physical sales will be donated to the Tegan and Sara Foundation. I’ll announce details later this week. I hope to see you on the next one and/or future covers comps! Happy to have any new people in the group.

 

Is the current comp like unlisted, or hidden on Bandcamp or something? It won’t pull up when I use the app, but the other one will

 

That's weird. It's definitely public, just double-checked. Maybe the app is slow to update new releases or something? Idk. Anyone else having this issue?

 

Interesting. Yeah I even tried to add it to my wishlist from the internet browser so that maybe it’d appear there in the app too, but... the button isn’t there. Maybe just something weird on my or Bandcamp’s end — clearly the songs are there and the page is up so it’s all good!

 

@straylight93 - Kicking things off on a real high note here. I don’t know the original song, but if this cover is anything like the source material, then I can tell why you liked it enough to cover. Favorite part is that solo thing that starts around 1:14 — trying to figure out what that is? First instinct was a guitar, but the more I hear it, the more it kinda sounds like some kind of synth pad? Maybe both? It’s a really cool tone, kinda trippy and backed with a bunch of reverb to match the really lush, crisp production job you put together. The piano hard panned to the left is such a cool touch.

@SAB22 - this cover is sooooo dope. Would not be out of place in the Emo Thread at all, could definitely see this being something random I came across in there fell in love with. I’m a really big sucker for the way your guitars are utilized in the verses especially — both just kinda plucking away playing two separate melodies that fill each other out harmoniously while the bass does the heavy lifting for the rhythm section like it should. The half time parts toward the end are a ton of fun too.

@manoverboard365 - so I hadn’t looked at the list of songs that had been claimed prior to putting this thing on, and I was super surprised to see this one here. This was a pretty fun record that I was surprised to not see more of the pop heads on Chorus talk about last year. Anyway, you came through with a vision on this track that I couldn’t have seen coming — I love how interpretive it is without sacrificing any of of the source material’s catchiness. Can’t really ask for more from a rock cover. Fun and energetic like a pop punk song but with substantially more integrity than just slapping some palm mutes in there and calling it a day. You must’ve had a blast working on it.

Kelcy Taylor - it looks like you might not be a member here, so... you might not see this lol. But my biggest joy seeing this tracklist was that not only was there another folklore cut on it, but that it also happened to be another top 3 track from the record for me. A very faithful cover to the original, which I usually find to be a super risky move, and here you pulled it off wonderfully. It’s a hard song to imagine carrying the same weight if delivered any other way, so not only do I think you made the right call, but you really came through and crushed it. Some surprisingly difficult falsettos and vocal runs here that you sliced through like warm butter. I also don’t know if the synth bass was an artistic choice or out of necessity, but it works really well with the rest of the sparse instrumentation going on here — particularly that light piano tinkering in the back half. Hope to hear you on more comps!

@xkaylinh - another song I didn’t expect to see here! One of my favorites from the Beach Bunny record for sure. And one of your best sounding covers overall! Did you get a bass recently or have you always had it? I’m trying to think back to old covers of yours and don’t really recall a bass guitar presence, but I also know you were sticking to acoustic for a while. But yeah overall the tone and mixing is nice — you always bring kind of a lofi feel to your covers, which is a cool take on a lot of sounds and works particularly well for a band like Beach Bunny that already has such a youthful garage punk element to a lot of their stuff.

@bradsonemanband - I continue to be shocked at what you’re able to throw together in such short amounts of time lol. And it’d be one thing if it was like “yeah but it’s not good”. But it is! You’ve been on this super garage punky kind of vibe for the last year, a sound that I think probably just kinda comes natural to you to begin with, but that you’re actively getting better at emulating. Lots of different dynamic shifts here to latch onto that make this an exciting cover to listen to, even if I’ve never heard the original.

@bobsheiskawy - coming from a person that has never been into Bright Eyes... this song is wildly catchy. Knowing kinda where Conor is at musically in 2021, I have to imagine it’s not an acoustic song — but having only heard this cover, I have to say that it works super well as one. This felt like sitting at an open mic night with a full pint in a crowded room of people chomping at the bit to hop in and sing along. The backing vocals in a few places were really effective in adding some extra depth, too. Really great job!

@Benjamin Lee & Kelcy Taylor - this is another song I’m not familiar with the original of, but is a really fun cover. Really dig the entire production — it feels mixed really nicely and I really like all of the guitar & drum tones. Those big hits in the first chorus feel huge, and then when it all comes in for the second chorus is a super fun moment. That synth paired with the vocal effect in the bridge is a TRIP and feels executed perfectly. I love an understated bridge like that that takes the song to an entirely different place but doesn’t take up so much real estate that the chorus can’t still steal the show when it comes back around.

@therookielot - so, the comp thread has historically been a pretty positive place. And I don’t wanna kill the vibe too hard, so I’ll just say that it was tough to listen to this without abandoning my own biases against MGK. It’s nothing against you personally — I don’t think I’ve had negative interactions with you in the past and I do generally enjoy your covers! I dug that Doors one on the last comp a lot. But being actively involved on this site and exposed to a lot of the ongoing controversy surrounding him, I just can’t separate it in my head. It does sound like you had fun playing the song though and maybe were ad-libbing some stuff — having fun is what it’s all about so of course that’s a positive. Hope you understand!

mirrorball - going to put this in a quote bubble because like all of the above blurbs, it is very stream of consciousness, and I had a lot to say haha.

 

Can't wait to get in on the next one.

 

I'm a member as of this morning! haha Thanks so much! I had a lot of fun with this, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

 

This was well written. Thank you! I had fun doing the music/production on Level of Concern. I actually had a bit of inspiration from @bradsonemanband as far as the production direction. It was a lot of fun. I felt anxious about the mix, but I'm glad to hear my anxieties were unfounded.

 

Alright, it's my turn. I don't know if this will be quite as good as @trevorshmevor but I'll do my best.

@straylight93 - I really like the tone your production has. To me, it feels almost dream-like. It makes me feel like I'm floating on a cloud.. except the cloud is taking me to an existential crisis as I listen to the lyrics of this song. Which for me, is a huge compliment. I love the contrast. But really, the production is great, the instrumentation is great, I really like the choices you made for synths, and your voice sounds great as always. Good job!

@SAB22 - You motherfucker, I was gonna cover this... But I am so glad you did over me because it's way cooler than what I would have done with it. It manages to be faithful to the original while also being very different. I love the guitar tones and I really love what you did with the drums. You sound great on this one, I like the bit of grit you added to your voice in the choruses. This is a tough song to cover because the original is so insanely good, but you more than did it justice.

@manoverboard365 - I'll start by saying that your cover of 3am is constantly stuck in my head still. I have a feeling this one will end up the same way. You have an interesting production style that I really dig, and your sense of style when actually creating the instrumentals is really cool. I am also really jealous of your voice. I think your whole aesthetic is just really unique and I was definitely looking forward to hearing your submission and you didn't disappoint.

@kelcytaylor - You sound amazing as always, but you should fire whoever mixed this because he's a loser who probably cries himself to sleep in the fetal position every night (everyone, I mixed this. I promise I'm not an ass to anyone but myself). Genuinely though, I was really excited when you sent me the stems. I hope you're happy with the mix because I am. And you did a great job overall. I'll echo Trevor in saying that you took a huge risk and nailed it. Also, the rule is I buy anyone a beer if they get a friend to join Chorus, so guess who's buying himself a beer tonight!

@xkaylinh - I have zero recollection of what anyone sounded like before I took over the comps, so I can't speak to anything pre-me, but this is my favorite submission of the three I've gotten from you (so far). You sound really good on it, and I love the addition of the bass. You have a cool sense of guitar tone too. I really love how crunchy your guitar tones are. You have a sound that feels very much "you" and I love it. I'll always be excited to get submissions from you in my inbox.

@bradsonemanband - Come. On. How the goddamn hell do you just go "well, I gotta go to LA in a few hours, but lemme just throw together a fucking masterpiece first." You are an enigma to me. I cannot comprehend your efficiency. I guess it's all the experience from doing these for years. But yeah, as always, I love the lo-fi(ish) garage band feel of your production. It works really well with your style. I love how aggressive this song gets. You killed it like always.

@bobsheiskawy - I would've never been able to put it to words on my own, but I think Trevor nailed it on the head when he said that this feels like going out and having a good time at an open mic. Your acoustic guitar tone is really, really cool. You need to teach me how to get an acoustic to sound so clean sometime. You sound great, and the layering adds a lot despite the subtlety. I really like this cover. It made me want to check out the album the original song comes from.

A quick blurb on my song - I honestly wanted to do more with it instrument-wise, I just didn't get the chance, but I think deciding to take some inspiration from Brads' production style helped it a lot. I got super sick, like, worst cold/flu I've had in years, so I had to enlist the help of Kelcy to do vocals. But I think it all worked out for the best. She has a better voice than I do, which also helped elevate the simplistic instrumentation. Anyway, had fun doing this one and I hope people enjoy it!

@therookielot - This is the biggest curveball on this whole thing. I don't want to be too presumptuous, but this was chosen kind of as a joke, right? Between the high level of hate people on the site have for MGK, and the Jennifer's Body shit I figured it was meant that way. Anyway, either way, this is a lot of fun. I laughed at parts because it seemed you were just kind of bullshitting your way through it and having fun. I think the movie playing in the background adds a kind of fun atmosphere to it too. Good job! I enjoyed this a lot.

@trevorshmevor - You killed it. I said this last comp, but in many ways, I view the last track as the most important on a record and when I heard your cover for the first time I knew it would make the perfect closer to the comp. Your production is fantastic, just insanely clean. I wish I could get something to sound as clean as this. The instrumentation too is lush and diverse without being overwhelming. Your voice works really well with this song. I think it is tough covering any folklore or evermore track, so kudos to you on taking the risk and killing it. This one will probably be stuck in my head for a while too.

Anyway, thank you everyone for submitting! This one was a bit tumultuous to get done, but I'm glad we were able to. You all did great and I'm excited to hear what you do in the future. I'll probably announce the details for the next comp on Wednesday or Thursday

 

I don't know that I'll be able to do a full track-by-track, but this is one of my favorite comps we've done here. These are always more fun for me to listen to when I know more of the songs that people are submitting, and this one was the first in a while where I knew almost all of them (and I really liked even the songs I didn't know before). The production creativity and arrangements (on top of the performances) are all so good. It almost makes me want learn how to do more than my normal acoustic stuff haha. I'm really looking forward to hearing what everyone's original songs sound like on the next comp!

 

I'm so incredibly ready for details!

 

I love that Jessie album! Wish she got more love on this site, I'm been rocking with her since Kiddo. I've tried many times in the past to cover Jessie but it always came out awful and I would scrap them haha. Thanks for the kind words! Had a lot of fun recording this one.

Thank you! I actually hate my voice and always try to mask it with reverb and phaser filters on guitars haha, so I'm glad you like it!
Loved your song too! I actually like your rendition more than the original. It's got more energy to it!

I'm gonna try and sit down tonight and write a full comp reaction.

 

oh yeah mine was kind of a “welp, i planned on getting drunk and watching Jennifer’s body tonight anyway, might as well cover Megan Fox’s bf’s song” thing.

then there I was.

anyway, im glad someone covered Bright Eye’s-that songs a gem

 

Well, I’m glad you did. It might not be the most wild cover on the comp, but it’s really obvious you had fun with it which made it a fun listen. Rounded the comp out to a nice 10 tracks too. You and Brad came in clutch af at the end there.

 

Alright, so the next comp we're doing is originals with some help from the label @SmashRipsaw made, Outcast Tapes. For the first time, there will be physical copies of a comp available! On top of this, all money from digital and physical sales will be donated to the Tegan and Sara Foundation. For anyone who doesn't know, the Tegan and Sara Foundation's focus is helping LGBTQ+ women.

For now, everyone can submit one song. I say for now because depending on submission levels it may change, but originals are always popular so I'm not too worried there.

Unlike other comps, this one is closed for Chorus members only.

When submitting I'd appreciate it if you just copy/pasted this format (below).

Chorus name:
Artist name:
Song name:
Links:

It made it a lot easier for me last comp. If you just want to use your Chorus name, then just put that in the artist name part too. Since it's originals, I want to make sure everyone has the correct information first try.

The due date is: Monday, August 23rd
Send songs to: [email protected]

In the meantime, check out Outcast Tapes! The release by the artist Quiet Commotion in particular has become a favorite of mine. But it's all cool stuff.

Hallå, Kära Flod!, by Quiet Commotion
https://twitter.com/outcasttapes

I can't wait to hear all your songs!

 

fuck yeah

 

fuck yeah