Yes, lonestar indeed sent Pyramid Theorem.
Round Two Results, 2 of 4:
Aefenwelg - The Uhhhh.. Wildcats:Dreadnought – Lift:Bus Impression: "I thought Mike was the mix-loudest drummer in the business"
Timestamp Snippet: 0:08 – 0:24: Not to sound like a pretentious dick, but I have the impression that [instrument] is playing a 432hz A in a 440hz A environment.
This submission tries too hard to replicate The Mermaid's success in the previous round. It succeeds only at the beginning (despite a slightly flat flute, the intro would hold its own inside a mid '70s King Crimson album) and at the end, when all the instruments seem to find that elusive cohesion making this kind of tunes really magical. In fact, while the Hail Spirit Noir song blended every sound together in enchanting balance, this one's (constantly stellar) melodies are carried by instruments almost always running on parallel tracks, never “dialoguing”.
A big chunk of blame may be addressed to the drums. Monstrous from a technical and inventive standpoint, they're mixed in a way that seems to enjoy creating frequency conflicts with the “singing” instruments. Even the drummer's greatest achievement in this tune – the telluric emotional classy blastbeats – goes lost amidst the constant loud tinkering. The effect is a strange layer of monotony upon brilliant ideas squashed by wrong dynamics and mixing, and that's a shame because the starting material is worth at least a 8.
Vote: 6.8 – I can spot beautiful things while listening, but forget everything one minute later.
Parama - Six Roaming Owls:Thank You Scientist – Suspicious Waveforms:Bus Impression: "How to write impro in the studio right"
Timestamp Snippet: 1:20 – 1:55: That's a solid 8 on the Jean-Luc Ponty Scale
This submission tries too hard to replicate What About Me's success in the previous round. At first glance it seems to succeed: great compendium of fusion staples? (the trumpets' recurring rendez-vous lick is an educated homage to bebop's infancy) Check. Incredibly tight rythmic work? (the odd meter samba is a gift) Check. Top notch soloists? (the guitarist is a Scott Henderson worthy clone and that fiddle solo is my personal favourite) Check. Not mentioning all the subtle nuances gathered into arranging what is probably born as a studio impro.
Well, the difference between this piece and the last round's co-winner is the same you may find between an enflatable sex doll and a woman. It lacks story and life. It's a polished display of musicianship (state-of-the-art at that) never letting you forget it's a sequence of solos at heart. Plus, and above all, in opposition to Snarky Puppy's masterpiece, there's nothing really progressive here. Just old established noble jazz-fusion habits pumped to their most extreme and impressive capabilities.
Vote: 6.8 – I feel pleasure at every caper while listening, but forget everything one minute later.
jingle.boy - Boston Bruins Blow:Epysode – Obsessions:Bus Impression: "I'm feeling yelled at"
Timestamp Snippet: 5:28 – 5:54: Hey, we have a guest superstar axeman and guitar-maker. Let's give him the tune's best riff for his solo!
This submission tries too hard to be fresh, compromising its efficient melodic heaviness with unnecessary up-to-date iper-compressed sounds and complexities, losing its right to belong to the next group of rookies (the “I give you exactly what you drafted me for” one). Just keeping the bipolar chorus (a real exciting joy to listen through) and the sexy monster riff under Godin's solo as verse would have made for a great salt-of-the-heart heavy metal tune never loosening its grip on your nutsack.
Alas, the first (and luckily only) pre-chorus' meody is horrible and some passages are fluffy, and I really have to wonder how this song still makes me headbang despite that burden. A word on the vocals: the male singer (the same screaming in Katt's song, I gather) is on a pointy yelling slightly annoying Jeff Martin range here, but he works wonders in diarchy with the female vocalist's wonderful arousing concave embracing timbre. A word on the video: if you play keyboards in that position, you deserve to have them fall and smash your feet.
Vote: 7.0 – A war machine hindered by superflous baggage.
Evermind - Cockroach Sympathizers:Headspace – In Hell's Name:Bus Impression: "A man capable of singing both Stevie Wonder and Ozzy is a man I want to know"
Timestamp Snippet: 3:50 – 4:16: The best verse Ozzy never sang
This is getting the Atlas Stone treatment. If I could edit this tune leaving only the first pantheon level three minutes (and I'm talking about They Won't Go When I Go kind of goosebumps here) and the grandiose (main?) chorus full of drama and not stranger to a certain Led Zep flair, this round would have an unreachable winner and this roulette its first 10. As for Haken's song, this tune felt the need to pay imaginary prog metal dues left and right around its best two parts, making me yell “shame” like a Game of Thrones nun.
I have to mention the part immediately following the celestial soul beginning: simply the verse to the great mid-nineties smash hit single Ozzy Osbourne never had. Amazing. The vocalist, despite lending himself to the crime of the century, is an instant idol of mine now. There is no colour he can't seem to master, powerful without screaming, and gifted with a soul sensibility the Gods seldom distribute, the last recorded occurrances being 1963 Canada and 1968 Germany.
Vote: 7.3 – You have crammed five Harry Potter books inside The Dragonlance Chronicles.
Going to sleep now. Please leave your complains beneath and I will gladly address them tomorrow morning *bows*
Topic: Indiscipline's Roulette v. The Dirty Aftermath (Read 120541 times)
