Forum Member Album Reviews

[YorkeDaddy]

Originally Posted by Frownland

Daydream Society - Daze End

It's alright.

You listened to it?

@ Plainview: Glad you liked it so much! I agree with your sentiments at the end about adding a wider array of sounds. Definitely something I'll continue to work on. I'll be getting to your album sometime tomorrow, can't wait to review it!

[Tristan_Geoff]

****, keep forgetting. Really sorry dude, I'll try my hardest to remember for tomorrow.

[Frownland]

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

You listened to it?

@ Plainview: Glad you liked it so much! I agree with your sentiments at the end about adding a wider array of sounds. Definitely something I'll continue to work on. I'll be getting to your album sometime tomorrow, can't wait to review it!

I'll try again.

On Obsolescence, total improvement so far.

[Frownland]

Ja mate, I'd definitely say it's the first album of yours I dig a lot. Mega improvement brother.

[Plainview]

Originally Posted by Frownland

Ja mate, I'd definitely say it's the first album of yours I dig a lot. Mega improvement brother.

Do you want to listen to mine? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Plainview]

Anyone want to review my album? It's really good imo

https://thecartridgefamily1.bandcamp.com/releases

[YorkeDaddy]

Sorry man I 100% promise it'll get done soon. I listened to the first few tracks last night and was liking a lot of what I was hearing (especially the first track)

[Plainview]

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

Sorry man I 100% promise it'll get done soon. I listened to the first few tracks last night and was liking a lot of what I was hearing (especially the first track)

No problemo. I took long enough with yours.

[YorkeDaddy]

The Cartridge Family - Silent Spring

Right off the bat I have to say I love the album cover. Not sure where you found it but that's a very nice find.

1. Silent Spring: This track establishes a very serene atmosphere with some beautiful acoustic guitar playing. You hear all kinds of soothing sounds of birds and nature that cycle through with enough variation to keep yourself intrigued throughout. Around the halfway point things change up with a beat coming in and a very cool piano loop starting up. I don't like how the percussion here sounds so plastic which goes against the natural, organic feel of the rest of the track too much. The beat brings in some more variation after a few cycles which makes it sound a lot better though. Overall a nice, serene opener that I like a lot.

2. Sprawl: A very electronic, sort of abrasive track as a follow up. I wonder if you're trying to juxtapose more nature-y sounds with fake sounds to create a theme. This one's kind of spooky honestly, I really like the vocal sounds in this context. There's some parts that are fairly jazzy but for the most part the track is fronted by those electronics that move in and out and get all glitchy every now and then. The ending is a tad underwhelming, I wonder if you could have come up with a better outro for this track.

3. The Clearing: Gorgeous ambient intro. The rest of the track just kind of has me floating along, I'm enjoying it but I'm not being blown away by anything. But obviously that's the point of this one, to be a very pleasant slow piece and it's extremely effective at that.

4. Light of Day: Another just sort of soothing slow track that has me floating along. I really like when the piano comes in halfway through. Things start building up around the piano with the percussion and synths and it's a really neat effect.

5. Chime Hour: Wow a huge change of pace, and I LOVE the whimsical feel of this intro. Kind of feels like this could be the background in a video games where you're exploring a strange forest, like Fungi Forest from DK64 maybe. The "voices" or whatever that come in later are a nice effect that contrast with the rest of the track in an interesting way. Sick track, probably my favorite.

6. New Dawn: This one flew by me kind of. I liked it but can't think of a whole lot to say, the vibe was nice.

7. Ashes: Absolutely loving the start of this. The echoing guitars create such a cool overall sound that washes over you. ****ing beautiful. Things build up to a really nice full sound with a cool electric guitar melody. Killer track, damn this one's just awesome.

8. Sheperds: I kind of zone out for this one. Some neat effects and atmosphere here but it's similar to a lot of the rest of the album and didn't blow me away like Ashes did. Those two could have maybe been swapped on the track listing to create a more memorable finale.

My overall verdict is that this album is very good, but four of the tracks or so are just kind of zone-out tracks for me while some of the others are engaging experiences. This is an interesting culmination of those two kinds of songs but it creates for a somewhat uneven experience. But there definitely isn't a bad track on this thing, so I'm really just discussing cohesiveness at this point. Great work overall, and Ashes is my favorite track of yours that I've heard.

[Xurtio]

Originally Posted by MicShazam

I'll write a bit about this one too, as I've been listening to it a handful times today.

1. Pull 02:32
A very calm, pretty track with a slightly trippy backdrop.
There's a simple guitar plucking melody that alternately ascends and descends across three notes. Male vocals up front, soft female backing vocals occasionally in the background. I really like the voice that comes in past the midway point and sounds kind of mellotron-ish. The male lead vocals sound kind of lethargic, but in a way that seems intentional and works well.

2. Flags 01:54
Nice shuffling drumbeat. The male vocals almost reminded me of Maynard James Keenan for a split-second, but maybe that's just me! After a couple bars of singing, a guitar lead plays a fill. Then a couple bars more of vocals (this time a wee bit more agitated and Maynardey), then some more unhinged soloing and boom: the song ends. Structurally it makes good sense, but I do feel like it could (should?) have pushed past the barely-two-minutes mark and gained from it.

3. Fed A Spider 03:16
There's some weird sounds in this one. Sounds kind of like a saw being played, but then again, I can't quite decide. The point is that it sounds odd.
There's a couple soft guitar chords being played over and over again with the bass guitar doing a bit more of the work as far as driving the song forward goes. The moany, slightly Nick Cave like vocals bind it all together and I think that the general flavour of this track could really go over quite well if it was featured in a movie or something. Good track.

4. Oneironaut (acoustic) 03:57
Familiar sounding guitar strumming territory here. What catches my interest here is mainly the low, flute like sound in the background. Quite ominous. The vocals sound somewhat like the singer is not in his natural voice here. Still, it works well as the melodies sung are quite nice. Some hand drums (or guitar body tapping?) plus some spanish guitar plucking come in late in the track, the joins the previous vocal part until the finish. I like this one quite a bit too.

5. Cats n' Dogs 04:24
Loving the start of this one! The start of the track sound like circus music. Superficially, this track makes me think of Faith No More's "RV". The vocals here are not quite that strange, though, even if there is a slight trace of Tom Waitsian edge at times. There's a drum transition just around the 3 minute mark that sounds pretty awkward to me, but I like the guitar that comes in just after it. At 3:51 the music quiets and an electric guitar gently plays us out. Nice, but it somehow seems like the least interesting song yet.

6. Pile of Guts 03:18
With that title, I expected death metal! It isn't that, but a bit wilder it is. Let's call it upper mid-tempo rock with quieter verses and lots of reverbey guitar leads underneath and above most segments. A bit jam-like in style. Grows a bit more conventional as we move deeper into the track, but I'd still call it quite a good track. Maybe the guitar riffs in the second half could have been better - it just feels like it needs a little dash of something there.

7. Trees in the Wind (acoustic) 03:19
Quiet track after a loud track to end the album on. Nice choice. Sombre acoustic guitar plucking and slightly monastary like singing (monastic? monk like? ahh, don't know the proper word here) lends it some gravitas. Like Oneironaut before it, the singer isn't quite in his natural voice here, but it does sound good despite it. We get a bit of soloing and the song ends - a bit suddenly too. The track is over three minutes long but it feels like it could have taken its time to let the mood sit for a couple more minutes. Wouldn't have minded a word-free vocal harmony part in the end, or something else that would fit the mood and style of the song.

Closing thoughts:
I liked all of the tracks more or less and the album certainly doesn't manage to really outstay its welcome at a mere 25-ish minutes. The most impressive thing is probably the sheer variety of styles and not least vocal styles - even if the singer does not always sound like he's in his element. The only negative thing I feel like isn't pure nitpicking is really just that the songs often feel slightly underdeveloped. Better too short than too long, no doubt about it, but a few more minutes spread out across some of these tracks could have done wonders.

Hey man, just noticed this! Thanks for the review!