PhonoBrainer

You retired bastards. Great tune, maybe just dip the moist pointy cymbal hits just a bit. thanks for the fun, Bjorn! I can only give you an appropriate estimation of your song once I retire . . . see you in six years. Maybe ten. the phone taking pics of your right ear - that's a good one. cheers, Tom

That rhythm guitar riff is so well played and mixed. I'd say the bass knows its place very well on this one. Your vocals and guitars and drums really shine. Nice slowdown adventure in the middle! cheers, -Tom

It's a nice listen. Maybe the bass elements could come up a bit in the mix? The balance of the mix leans a bit to the upper eq side. A nice composition, a very calming listen, and easily has cinema potential I think - kind of 1970's in a way. cheers, -Tom

Awesome! For the vid, on those wide shots, did you have a split screen green screen approach? Three distant shots of the musicians, all set in one green screen image? It's friggin awesome. -Tom

I suspect part of the issue might be some Bandlab downsampling in the uploading / streaming of it. I dunno, the hi hats have a flangey quality that I associate with lo-res mp3. Or were you shooting for a 1959 recording homage? I have not experienced the Bandlab ecosystem so I dunno. The toms have a limited, crunched feel to them at times. OK, good stuff? Vocals are great! The whole arrangement swings properly. The audience sways left and right to this one! And you dug up a nifty early Beatles classic for a renaissance . .. nice choice. And, the lead guitar, fabulous retro phasey tone, very well played! cheers, -Tom

For 14th of May: really dug the arrangement and those awesome chords, and it all serves up some amazing guitar parts. Kudos! -Tom

Very pleasant, very well recorded guitar and vocal. A great song and I like this a lot. cheers, -Tom

I got more than a little of the Elvis Costello vibe from this! Maybe not what you were aiming at? Your voice is good and with an English accent, might pass for E.C. . .. Mix-wise, I listened on decent headphones, and in the verses, your voice is just about as loud as the bass. Particularly in the first verse/intro. LAter, your vocal mixing seems louder and it works much better. You might drop thebass a bit in the first part . . . Nice powerful singing at the end! Maybe bgv up a little? The other thing to work out is perhaps that lead guitar patch, it's thin sounding, like you just went with a DI track from an Ovation. Did you gird it with an amp sim? Got a beefier patch? Overall, the song holds together quite well, and I think this is one of your better ones. Well done! cheers, -Tom

Jeeze. That is a crapton of songwriting power and cool cool guitars. And drums. Here's a nit - around :55 type area, the drums (toms?) are pretty much just as loud as the vocal. I think your mix generally has the pounding of the toms? almost as equally loud as the vocal. For me, I'd drop toms a hair, push the vocal up a hair. You clearly have panned stuff to help this, and generally, I'd say the panning you have done is pretty stellar. For me, there isn't enough clear center for the vocals to push through and dominate. Pretty close, though. That is one hell of a vocal performance. Just a few tweaks perhaps. This would be an extremely challenging song to mix! Very well done. Apart from the mix? What about the songwriting? KILLER!!!! cheers, -Tom

So the leads and the riffing are all very cool! I'd give the drums a little more oomph in the mix. The constant bass sustains just fill up the mix, and eat some of the high-end energy I think you want for the guitars. You might take some out of the low to give to the treble. Towards the very end, I'm hearing some clipping? crackles, you are pushing the low end too hard perhaps. Did you mix this on headphones maybe? The leads kick a$$ . . . Great performances and concept. cheers, -Tom

I'd vote for the bass guitar up, quite a bit. Particularly in the intro. I like the "out there" quality, even without chemical inducements. That four-bar blues riff that snuck in at the end - great choice, very funny indeed! cheers, -Tom

Fun song! Freddy welcome back, if you ever left! You have clearly slapbacked the crap out of guitars and vocals, and I'd say it works. So it's a period piece, welcome to 1959. Very cool that way! I hear the early Beatles ripping this one up. I'd say stellar period-correct guitar work, and thank you for tuning them first. Occasionally, in the back end of the chorus, you have simultaneous slapback going, on vocals, bgv multiples, and guitars. It kind of collapses the frequency spectrum into something narrow-sounding. Do you hear that? Is that "overload" what you are aiming for? Maybe so! The verses are clean, clear, and fun. I think this is one of your better tunes, and you have totally nailed the time machine here. Well done! cheers, -Tom

Your version of this is just great. I think it all hangs on the vocal, and your voice is quite good! Just some opinions from random internet guy: 1) Get to the piano/drums a verse earlier. It's very powerful when they come in, why make people wait? 2) There is an autofocus thing going on with your camera, it's not timed to the beat, and it's distracting and detracts 3) Your visual presentation is great! ( knit cap, glasses, darklit in studio - it looks good!) but the video over the course of its run time is too static. What about some cutaways with some slow dissolve transitions to some nice clips that support the mood? River flowing, a clock tower, dolphins in space - any video or even motion images that support your mood? Seriously, probably not dolphins in space. Your voice is I think perfect for this stripped down version, and tonally how you've captured the guitar is very pro sounding to my ears. The other instruments are great as well. Just take the video itself to version 2.0 . . . I really liked it. cheers, -Tom

Love that main riff. I'd vote for the middle funk kit, only because that snare in the "rock" kit is kind of 2-D and samey. Might be improved with some different processing. I think that "funk" snare is good to go. cheers, -Tom

This is a really cool song! The girl's bgv could come up a little. Can hardly hear it. The strumming guitars down just a bit. Your vocals, yes, up a tad. I like the chords, the piano parts, both elec and acoustic. I like the lyrics a ton. Has a really "up" feel. There are spots where you intentionally break out of the "British Dance Hall" stomp rhythm, and shift for a measure into a traditional 4/4 . I think this breaks the magic you are creating . . . hard to describe . . . 1:37 is an example . . .. could just be one listener's experience. I don't think Landr crushed anything, but hard to know without hearing the "before" picture. If you are happy with the raised noise floor on your bass instruments, lower guitar notes, and bass notes on the piano, then good to go. I'd like to hear your next mix update! cheers, -Tom

I liked the experiment and call it a success. The part two thirds in felt like it could even crossover into hip hop. That said, 8:30 felt a tad lengthy for what was on offer, nice though it was. Blame my short attention span then! cheers, -Tom

Hey Bjorn, nice one! If you didn't mention Scotland, I would have put this in the American West. So I reckon, there's overlap there. Very cool melodies throughout. At :21, I think your guitar wants to change that chord? I dunno. I like how they all go away, and come back! cheers, -Tom

I don't see the link either. Will check back.

I listened to "Bitter" and that's a cool guitar arpegg riff. The mix was really outstanding. A pleasure to listen to. Vocals are a treat. Very fine! I'd comment more, but Life Gets In The Way. cheers, and good luck with the album! -Tom

nice and weird. I liked it a bit more when the drums were minimal, fwiw. The bigger snare sounded too normal and didn't fit the rest of the proceedings. Jesse brings the fun. cheers, -Tom

Thanks for the translation! Very enjoyable, and I prefer those lyrics to many of the more English English ones' I've heard.

Great start. I'll stay tuned. Agree about the hi-hat. I like the descending chords of the "chorus" . . . the main 4 chords in the "verse" are I think kind of expected, don't know if you feel like switching it up a little there. cheers, -Tom

This sounds '80's plus very modern. Love that combo. When your vocal gets to the word "tight" in the lower register, the volume dips on it just a bit. But I can still hear it. The second verse, the snare and all it's perfectly-crafted swoosh! is just as loud or louder than your vocals. But, I still get it. Great tune, mellow vibe, nice break at the end, and a killer mix. Plus a great lead vocal and bgv. This is a winner. cheers, -Tom

Anthony, great piece here. Epic in all the right spots, tension that builds and is released. Mix sounded great. What was the product - insurance? dentures? a Sham-wow? Whatever, very likely their product is unworthy of your fine composition. cheers, -Tom

Sweet Smooth Slow Bossa Strat Nova. Where's my sangria? Love the changes in this. Very clear lead guitar tone. Don't know if you could feature another solo lead instrument other than that guitar all the way through, tasty though it is. Nice one! cheers, -Tom