Listen Through The Static For Your (Cassini Reviews)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
saunter
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Post by saunter »

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Last edited by saunter on Tue Nov 21, 2023 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
owl
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Re: Listen Through The Static For Your (Cassini Reviews)

Post by owl »

First time reviewer. Took me a while to get around to this, sorry! Thank you all for your feedback!

Pigfarmer Jr.
I really like your use of the samples and the swirly synths--it created a great mood! It doesn't quite come together for me musically--I enjoyed the synth stuff but I found myself wishing the texture would change more throughout the course of the song, as it was in this kind of in-between space where it was not quite sparse enough to be ambient but not quite holding its ground as a more traditional instrumental. I enjoyed listening to it, but just didn't feel like I had enough to grab onto.

Lichen Throat
I quite like the instrumental part of this song, it's kind of experimental/weird and distinctive-sounding-- something about it reminds me a bit of a song called "When The Open Road Is Closing In" by the Magnetic Fields... those cool kind of angular riffs, I think, although it doesn't sound all that similar on the whole. It's a nice arrangement. As far as the way the vocals mesh with the music, what strikes me is that you seem to be quite often accenting your singing and playing on the same beats, rather than syncopating the vocal, which I personally think would be more pleasing; I think that unison thing would be more effective in much smaller doses, I did really like the lines "I'll be gone"/"Now I'm gone," which felt very poignant to me. I wasn't a big fan of the processed vocals, but it depends on what effect you're going for, I guess... I think the song would benefit from more decisive delivery (both rhythm and pitch). Even if the timing ends up somewhat off, I think a confident-sounding delivery would go a long way in making it feel "done."
I liked the lyrics at the beginning of Verse 2 a lot, very evocative.

WWF
Skillful vocal performance. I like the melody as well, very insistent and unsettling, with some unexpected shifts in there, but it did feel like it went on too long without changes to fully hold my attention. To me, that sort of continuous/repetitive vocal was crying out for a counterpoint melody coming in partway through the song to break it up, but I think some other structural or more dramatic arrangement change would be nice as well. Overall, I wasn't sure what aesthetic you were going for; the song felt like it could, at any point, either turn into a weird Laurie Anderson art song or a Disney soundtrack ballad, but wasn't quite odd enough for the former or epic enough for the latter (yet; but it could be). I'm not terribly into the dragon/prince/fantasy imagery in the lyrics, but that's my own personal preference! I think you definitely did a good job making a song with a strong, lovely melody and a memorable lyrical hook.

R. Mosquito
Goofy and fun, short and sweet. That ending reminded me of David Bowie. Not sure what to say about it, I don't really have any complaints but it sort of just felt like it was there and gone, a little thin in terms of content. Great job doing whatever it was you are doing though.

Johnny Cashpoint
I really dig the synths, I love that kind of dirty old Casio sounding synth playing the main riff and the filter sweepy whooshy texture one. Overall the song feels slightly too stately to me, I would have enjoyed this more with either a bit more or a lot less drive/energy, it currently occupies a sort of draggy midrange tempo-wise and I think it would be more effective either more washed out and slow, or faster and more frantic.
Some of the earlier lyrics felt a bit too straightforward/explicating but I liked this part of the lyrics:
"You talk of risk mitigation
But humankind is the contamination
Spread your disease til the galaxy's full of it
My death saves you money, just spare me the bullshit"
and "no AI in team" is a great line, too.
Your vocals are appealing, the "ahs" are nicely done.

Vowl Sounds
This is me! And Vom! I was coming off the tail end of a phlegmy cold when I recorded this and did want to redo the 1st chorus/bridge vocals (I thought they were pitchy but nobody has mentioned this so far). Waiting to see if we get additional feedback that I want to take into account, I appreciate all the feedback! I'm happy with how it has turned out so far, though--narcissistically, I will tell you my favorite things in this: the central lyrical conceit of zooming down from the rings of Saturn into wedding rings on a table, Vom's countermelody in the backing vocals, his strangely tasteful use of Omnichord in the chorus (how is that possible?), the slightly discordant ukulele walkdown I added in the 2nd verse. Oh, and making fun of Neil Degrasse Tyson.

2 guitars and a bass
Reminds me of the Doors! Nice moodiness, I liked the spoken word stuff. I enjoyed the vibe overall, but it felt a little tossed-off to me, like there's not quite enough there to be a song. That being said, I did enjoy listening to it.

Metaluna
This was my favorite entry, although it's very different from the style of music I typically listen to. Very nicely produced, gets right into the action with them harmonized metal guitars right off the bat, and I really liked the shift into the slow spacious chorus. If I'm going to nitpick, I thought the tone of the lead guitar in the slow part felt a little too cheesy-macho for the way the rest of the music felt at that point (works great in the louder parts though) but that's totally a matter of opinion. (Unlike all my other opinions, which are OBJECTIVE FACTS.)

WreckdoM
The sound/rhythm/tune of the "Oh Cassini" chorus reminds me of the Flaming Lips song "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1." I admire the weirdness of this song but I don't really get what this has to do with the prompt, and the vocal could use some work. It might sound cool super processed (+ vocoded, autotuned?). As is, it's kind of distracting. I do like the bubbly/bouncy instrumental once it gets into the 2nd half of the song. I think it has the potential to be an earworm but would need to be performed/produced more tightly to get there.

Huygens
The booming drums at the start sound huge and nice. I like the wailing lead guitar, but I'm not a fan of that metal chugging thing... I guess the song as a whole doesn't transcend the genre bias and make an emotional connection for me, which makes it hard for me to give any constructive criticism, sorry! I think you're doing what you do well but it's not a song I'm able to feel on a personal level.
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furrypedro
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Re: Listen Through The Static For Your (Cassini Reviews)

Post by furrypedro »

Turns out vlc on my phone just didn't like the Huygens file. I've listened now, and so...

Huygens: interesting mix of sections. The percussion seems to get a bit thin when it transitions to the second section, mainly cos the opening beat is pretty beefy and cool. I'm not super into the melodramatic metal but there's is lots here I really like, such as the phat synth bass riff, and the atmospheric guitar wailing over the top. The mix is a bit muddy so the bass does get a little lost when it becomes very busy. I'd like it if you just looped the whole lot around a second time too cos it's quite short. Overall a couple of minor gripes but I thought it was really good and enjoyed it.
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Re: Listen Through The Static For Your (Cassini Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Vowl Sounds wins, congrats!
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vowlvom
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Re: Listen Through The Static For Your (Cassini Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Oh wow! Thanks! Hopefully we can get our double-act together for another entry soon. I'll be sticking around, anyways!
owl
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Re: Listen Through The Static For Your (Cassini Reviews)

Post by owl »

Awesome! Thanks! It can only go downhill from here.
saunter
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Post by saunter »

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