Recorded a few tracks for my band last week:

http://soundcloud.com/eightdirtypages/sets/march-of-the-octopi

Enjoy!

Bump?

🙁

I had a listen. My admiration to anyone who creates music but that did nothing for me I’m afraid

Description sounds like my kind of music, I’ll have a listen when I get home…

I’ve had a listen (and I’m probably not your target audience) but for me it’s played far too slow. To me, all the songs are being played at “Dad Rock” speed which means I struggle to take anything in as drift in and out of consciousness. Slow grunge needs to kick in the balls to get away with it. Your songs don’t but would sound great much faster. Apologies if I sound negative but I would like to hear it played faster and with conviction. As I’m already pissing on it a bit you might want to shoot your lyricist too.

I’ve no idea how long you have been playing as a band but a bit more experimentation could really pick it up.

If you are in your mid to late 40’s then ignore the above comments, spot on and keep up the good work. 🙂

Does the singer write her own lyrics? It sounds like whoever writes the main guitar part writes the lyrics and/or writes the vocal melody. In my opinion, the melodies need to take a brake from one another as there’s just not enough interesting stuff going on to allow two things of similar register to be doing the same thing. She doesn’t really sound comfortable carrying the melody that she does.

for me it’s played far too slow

+1. I’ve just listened to the first track and thought exactly the same. I really like it, but the tempo is off (for me), I was sat here wanting to gee it up.

Harsh crowd, damn bump!

Vocalist writes lyrics/melodies herself, usually write the music together as a band first. Nearly finished one which I’ve written by myself (lyrics and music) which has a bit more of a Black Angels vibe to it.

Speed is one of those subjective things, we like it slow and chunky, usually described as Desert Rock (niche!) but that gets a lot of blank looks when people ask what you play.

Thanks for listening! 😆

TBF, that was my only real complaint. It might be the sound you’re aiming for and it might sound ace live, but as a listener (and hey, you invited criticism), I felt that as a recorded version it ruined what could’ve been an otherwise excellent track. Sorry.

I wasn’t going to bother with this given the reviews above but then your Black Angels reference sold it to me…..quite a hard act to follow though mind.

I like it. Need to put it on loud through some proper speakers though rather than listening to it through a laptop (I am hoping this will bring out the grinding bass and lose-yourself-psychedelic moments that drives the Black Angels along)

I liked it. I liked it very much indeed.

Reminded me of Sugar (Copper Blue era) if Bob Mould was a women and all that.

If i could add something constructive, you need to get the vocals into your tracks much earlier. Work on the principle that less is more if you half the amount of bars in your intro it will feel fresher and more interesting when the vocal kicks in. Also work on the song dynamics if you keep the first verse basic it makes the hook in your chorus more dynamic, when you get to your second verse colour it a little more to keep the interest. If you look a song writing this way the tempo makes no difference. Best of luck and lets hear some more soon. Seahouse

Used to like that sort of thing.. actually, thinking back, I think I just liked shagging the type of girls who liked that sort of thing. 😳

haven’t bothered listening to it BTW.

Ta folks, this is just a demo to get gigs, was recorded in about 8 hours at our rehearsal space so not expecting rave reviews! I’ve got no problem with criticism, I’m not that precious about it, do it for a laugh but take it seriously if you know what I mean…

Whippersnapper – Black Angelsy song yet to be recorded unfortunately

Tiger – am unaware of their stuff will have a listen!

Seahorse – the dynamics thing is something I’ve been trying to push there’s nothing better than really blatting into a loud chorus from a quiet verse!

Here you go

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZvnbmfmL7c[/video]

Speed is one of those subjective things, we like it slow and chunky, usually described as Desert Rock

This is what I thought you were aiming for,unfortunately ( I stress for me) it was slow but lacked the chunk. I do think you are onto something though and maybe live you add the grit to the performance.

Reminded me of Sugar (Copper Blue era)

Does it? Have you listened to it recently?

My 2p worth….

I liked all the “sounds”, and the singer does have a nice voice. There is def’ potential there so keep at it, for sure.

Trouble for me was that it was too “obvious”, too safe, once I’d heard the first quarter of the song I’d heard it all. Always seemed to resolve to the root. Some tension and release would be good.

The vocalist reminded me of Patti Smith in places. That’s how old I am!!!

Get your singer to take up smoking. 😆

Her voice is waaaay to *nice* for the music you’re playing.

Has anyone mentioned the Dead Weather?

The vocalist reminded me of Patti Smith in places. That’s how old I am!!!

Patti’s still going.
As others have said, a bit slow, rather turgid. I like bands fronted by women, and loud noisy ones at that, but sadly none of the tracks worked for me. The second track came closest, rather reminding me of ZZ Top, and it’s that sort of speed that works best. Blood Red Shoes and The Joy Formidable are my touchstones for exciting female fronted rock bands.

and Sleigh Bells and the Ettes, and Dirty Epics, and the Mighty Roars (more punk though)

Well I liked it, especially number 2

well I thought it was good. well recorded for a rehearsal space. my favourite of the 3 songs was track 2; track 3 could do with a doubling of the tempo. Drummer’s playing slow 16ths on the hihat, could do with doubling to 8ths at that pace, at least for some of the song, then cutting back down to 16ths, if you get my drift

Drummer’s playing slow 16ths on the hihat, could do with doubling to 8ths at that pace, at least for some of the song, then cutting back down to 16ths, if you get my drift

I concur.

Getting better feedback on here than most muso forums!

try http://www.leedsmusicforum.co.uk & see what happens 😉

NB if you’re not one of the “in” crowd, be prepared for indifference at best, cat fight at worst…

Desert rock? Never heard of it before but now know I like it, thanks!

At the risk of detouring, any other bands I should look out for?

Thanks for posting (and bumping!).

The kings of the desert are Kyuss, (Josh Homme & Nick Oliveri before Queens)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc-7FXzbeA0[/video]

Another Homme project I love is Desert Sessions, especially the one with PJ Harvey (8&9)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkWrsbGQgnU[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eIRxdNAOCA[/video]

My first thoughts were that it sounded a bit Queens of the Stone Age slowed down. I am on the way to liking it but it doesn’t quite have that special edge that I kept expecting. Each track never deviates from a narrow band so there is no variety through a track meaning that I was often bored by the 2 minutes mark. It kept moving towards something new but would then move back to it’s original place. And as others have suggested- currently needs more “chunk” or be played faster, almost sounds ballady to me, which I hope isn’t what you were aiming at!

Personally I think that the current vocals and music don’t quite match up and the vocalists ability isn’t used enough. She has a good voice but it seems a bit lost with how it is currently used. I would either turn up the volume on the vocals and use the higher female voice to contrast with and possibly rise above the darker, choppier instrumentation (maybe with a bit of screamy stuff) OR feed her rough whiskey and cheap fags to turn her voice into one that matches the music! Track 3 probably used her voice to best effect (you could hear it properly!) in my opinion although it wasn’t my favourite musically.

Just my tuppence worth and it is intended as constructive critisism, I do genuinely like it, just not enough yet to buy it. But all these things are down to personal taste I guess.

Was a pretty rushed recording so almost everyting was first take, all the vocals were as we were running out of time. We’ve got two or three new ones on the go which we hope to record in a few months and based on the comments so far I think I’ll double the session to get the performances right (rather than just “yep, that’s how the songs goes” which is what happened on this one). We’re not planning on selling this (although will prob charge £1 for CDs to cover costs) but once artwork’s all done they’ll be up for free download from our bandcamp.

Main things seems to be dynamics and chunk? Although these aren’t mastered to CD level so are a touch quieter (have to turn my MP3 player up 2 notches to get it at the same level as proper stuff) which may account for the loss of chunk…

Any criticism is good if it’s quantified so don’t worry about that!

As this is turning into a slow clunking music thread, I would just like to add one of my favourite pioneers.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eOuPeAfOeE&feature=related[/video]

and

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnSrw8rE-dU&feature=fvwrel[/video]
Though all their songs are worth a listen.

Sounded good to me. Not the kind of music I normally listen to but I enjoyed it. Could quite see myself listening to that with a load of mates as the sun went down, chilling out with a few beers after a good ride.
Don’t understand the criticisms about the speed; seemed fine to me, but I was brought up listening to a lot of blues and have played loads myself so am used to slow stuff. I think a bit of time knocking them into shape on the road, and then a good producer in the studio, together with a few overdubs and you would have a good product.

I like it.

Cheers guys glad you like it, souldrummer that’s the kind of vibe we’re going for.

High quality free downloads now available at

http://www.eightdirtypages.bandcamp.com

Artwork will be uploaded shortly. Old EP on there too.

Thanks again for all comments and criticism!

Lifer, better on a second listen. Thanks for sharing.

Still needs a rougher voice though, she;s still too polite 😆

Artwork all done and up at bandcamp: