On 2010-05-19 19:46, woofmutt wrote:
Although you and I are are locked in a blood pact and must fight to the death should we ever meet face to face I am really, really impressed.
So much so that I listened to the tracks for about an hour yesterday and have you plugged in right now.
My too long thoughts...
So Daco Sambo is so damn sweet. This was the first cut I listened to and I liked the sound right off but when the electric piano hit I went "Damn, I think this guy might be able to actually make good music." The piano is great, such a lively flow and nice sound. The piece is way too short for me. I want summer afternoons that are like this piece.
And then I want summer nights that move like Muito E Voltanado. I really dig the organ background you paint the piano across. This is a really great piece. It's exactly what I would want an evening cocktail party to be like.
Though I don't dislike Norah Jones or hate her big hit I could probably be fine if I never heard Don't Know Why ever again. When I heard your cover I thought "This? Why?" and 30 seconds in I had completely forgot it was a cover of a well worn song. To me that's talent. I like the interplay of guitar (or is it bass?) and piano, the guitar going abstract against the warmth of the piano. And I like the rally at the end, others would have finished off the piece in a cloying little cutesy wrap up. I'd never have guessed I could've enjoyed this song this much.
Because I've listened to your tunes about a dozen times through I wish 69 Times was at the end of the play list. It's clever, a dead on take of end of 70s/early 80s disco pop (and sounds almost exactly like music from porn movies of that era...I, uhm...Heard some tracks online or something) but it's a novelty song and harshes my buzz.
A good chicken pluckin take on Roly Poly. It's not as sing songy as most people would do it, though I feel room for just a touch of looseness (one of those hard to define observations, it's not stiff by any means). The mandolin solo is really, really swell, I could have heard that go on for a bit more. (If I heard it live I woulda been hollerin loud after the solo.) I'm crazy about Bob Wills, Milt Brown, and early country and western swing. Look forward to hearing your other tunes.
I like classical music but can't say I know much about it. Symphony #27 is pleasant, the bass whatever makes the piece. (If guessing I would think it's the one three dimensional instrument and the others are electric.)
Excellent version of Girl Talk/Night and Day. I like how it feels as if we dropped in on the piece already in progress (a blunt, suddenness to the keyboards) and then how it really takes off when Night and Day breaks in, as if the piano players martini finally hits him and he cuts loose a bit.
Quiet Nights and Quiet Stars is just plain beautiful. It perfectly captures that alone after the party feel, and Triste feels like sunrise on the morning after that party.
Not counting the western swing, classical, and porn music...You really have a solid core here for an excellent album. I think there's almost a concept album here, because for me the tunes move from a breezy summer afternoon into the evening, the late night, the wee hours, and dawn.
For what you claimed about "substandard" production the sound is really good, just a little thin in the back, but you compensated with strong warm leads. I have to think that the "very raw, all first takes" aspect added a warmth to the music that I often find lacking in similar endeavors. "Fixing" things might impress the experts but it could kill part of the music.
Of course the supposed rawness wouldn't matter a bit if you weren't obviously an incredibly talented musician. I particularly like your keyboard playing, it's just damned excellent, there's an amazing sense of flow that for me is an absolute necessity in good music.
I hope you see this project through. And if that doesn't happen: Burn me a CD.
Woof, that is just about the most detailed and helpful review anyone has ever done for me, and it is basically what i have always hoped to hear. As a musician, we often work in a vaccumm, only listening to our own stuff with an assumption that it sounds ok, but no real clue because we just can't be objective about our own performances. I think you understand what I mean. Anyway, this review is highly appreciated! Highly. And it is double important to me, because I think you mean it.
For So Daco Samba, it was a bit short...kind of on purpose, because things I have done in the past tended to go on an on...I wanted to finally keep something succint.
The organ sound on Muito...I am glad someone noticed it because it was my favorite sound on that song! I am a big fan or good organ sounds (like Jackie Davis) and was trying to sort of copy the organ sound Jim Tikiyaki gets sometimes.
Don't know why: My earliest recordings when I was younger were mostly progressive and avante-garde, so at times I wanted to do a song so straightforward that it is out of character for me. Something more down to earth. I wanted this song to have that 70's "new York sound" (like a opening theme for some cop show or something) and I guess I wanted a Bob james feel. The "guitar" is actually a 6 string electric bass. You have good ears!
69 times. Yeah, I ain't much of a singer! But that's a song I actually recorded years ago, and the reason I included it was that I use the myspace to try and get gigs and jobs...so I wanted people to hear electric bass played in the funk style.
Quiet nights, triste, I think everyone likes those songs. I can figure why. They are just stunning, beautiful melodies no matter who performs them. Jobim new what he was doing! I wanted to set a really calm mood on those, so I used brushes on a newspaper for the percussion!
The classical music was Mozart's 27th symphony, one of my favorites because to me, Mozart (Like Bach) understood bass and put good bass parts in his music that always manage to still provide "bass" while also playing the main melody. For some jazz gigs, people require arco style bass playing, so I wanted to show any potential employer that I could play a bit of that style. (still learning, of course, with weekly lessons!)
Anyway, I really want to thank you for taking the time to help me out. This means a lot to me. Not even because they were words I wanted to hear, but really because you took the time to write them!
