How was it received by the critics?

Do you think you can post the next band soon, too?

Johnny Six-String comes to you with a series of cassettes which he claims have on them about 40 songs. He says that he'd like to record some better takes of some of the tracks, but he wants your audio engineers' input. He wants to be able to release the album "as soon as possible", to quote him exactly.

Band #7: Purple Sky
 

Purple Sky is a psychedelic band from rural Pennsylvania that are best known for their spacious sound and poetic lyrics. Their incredibly artsy tendencies both in manner and in musical style have resulted in them being marginalized by the mainstream. However, they have a small, devoted fanbase that spans the country. Although they have only released 1 album and 1 EP, their 2008 tour across California brought fans from all over the world into backyards and backwater pubs to hear them perform. Their musical technicality, combined with their taste for tonal complexity, has led to some intensely fascinating musical compositions over the past few years. They are looking for a studio that will provide them with new opportunities and "give us a chance to expand in wild and exciting directions".

The critics scoffed at "Keys and Buttons" as "a tasteless and overtly sexual tune that serves no other purpose than clogging up the air waves until another similarly unoriginal track comes along to take its place". However, "Reverse Polarity" has become a cult classic of sorts, and has received a lot of love from those both in and out of IDM circles. The songwriting in that work seems to be the aspect catching people's attention, not so much the musicality.

I audition them. They sound awesomely interesting.

Evil Monkey
 

Evil Monkey is an indie band from New York City whose dry and satirical lyrics have won them a large fan base as well as a sizeable wall of enemies and critics. Founded in 1994, the band released 4 albums in the 90's before taking a "forced hiatus" in 2001 for an unnamed cause. They temporarily disbanded and not much was heard of them until their reunion in 2008, when they released an EP and toured the east coast of the United States. They are looking for an up-and-coming record company to "support". They say they "can pretty much pull it all off on their own", but that they want to "help a new independent record company to fame and fortune". Whether this statement is ignorant altruism or arrogant bravado is your call.

Evil Monkey's songwriting is deeply rooted in the 90's college rock scene of New York. Although not all incredibly talented, their drummer is very well known in alt-rock circles and was listed as #32 on IndieScene's "Top 50 Alternative Rock Drummers". Their lead singer has a shrill, whiny voice that many describe as "a monotone squeak". One particularly nasty critic remarked that it sounded "halfway between Geddy Lee and Kurt Cobain". However, their fans will tell you otherwise. They have a huge fan base that continues to grow by the year, and their old records are still big sellers online.

I sign them immediately. This is just what String Dance Studios needs :laughing:

Also, I have my engineers pick the 12 best songs from Johnny's tape.

Little Miss Prissy
 

Little Miss Prissy is an aspiring pop star who has big dreams for her future. At 14, she has already managed to record 40 tapes worth of superficial love songs and laments over the downsides of being famous. She is considered by her peers to be "hot" and she has an okay voice, which she assures you could be made perfect with a little auto tune. She is willing to give 90% of the profits from her first album to whichever record company decides to sign her.

I would like to ask The Young Virtuosos to practice at my (crappy) studio, just so I can get a feel for the group and see about their schedules and whether or not they can do any studio work in the near future - ideally cutting a demo with some of the original compositions made by the older members.

I send them to record the album. I decide that Unbottled Water as a single, with Christmas In A Sweatshop as a b-side is the best choice for singles.