Tea Leaves CD and podcasting.

[BeeCee Powda]

Hi. I've registered herefor awhile and have posted in the Cakewalk forum. I am in a band named Tea Leaves that has just released CD that is receiving good reviews. Please take some time to listen to the tracks at http://www.podsafeaudio.com/jamroom/bands/428/ which is a podcasting site that seems to be pretty cool and you guys can get some use out of. I'll leave you with a review of the disc off of another forum. Thanks.

This is some outrageously fine music!

Tasty and gorgeous guitar tones with none of that "look at me...I can cram 10,017 pentatonic gnat-notes into every solo!" crap....Nope, there's no "filler" in the guitar work, it's all 100% Grade-A filet mignon fine!

Some great songwriting is evident on EVERY song...no slack-schlock whatsoever!

The drumming is solid as a rock....the best word I could describe it is "masterful".

The key work was always supportive and never intrusive.

The vocals, both lead and harmonies, were about as perfect as ever you'd care to hear.

The only thing I wasn't totally blown away by was that the bass was mixed kinda "out back"....but it was nice when you could hear it well!

On a scale of 1 to 100, I'd have to give it a solid 97.5!

.... you are an integral part of a band that's more than good enough to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, Guitar PLayer, Guitar World and every other rock gazette on a regular basis. Shit, there's very little on the Contemporary Rock stations that comes close to what you guys have put on this CD...

I hope you will send copies out to every major rock publication, because of the 100 or so CDs I've bought this year, while Tea Leaves is not the very best, still I'd rank it in the Top 3...seriously! You guys should be stars!

In fact, if you'll send me some more copies (at least 5, but more if you can), I'd like to pass them onto some friends of mine in The Industry who will very likely recognize how much $$$ you could ultimately make yourself, and (more importantly) them!

You guys are very, very talented...and I was really looking forward to saying otherwise!...but fair is fair and this CD is, again, simply consistently excellent!

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Whoa, I can't listen now... but that's a lot for those tracks to live up to right there

 

[Dogman]

Pretty good sounds. I really liked hypnopower. Had a great feel to it. Nice voice, and the music seemed to have plenty of space, and all sounded very good. Nice tunes.
Ed

 

[Toki987]

Pretty nice.
is this band pickin anywhere in hotlanta live? I'd like to come check em out.

 

[BeeCee Powda]

Thanks for listening. I believe that our next gig is a Hurricane relief show at Jake's Toad House, then most likely Smith's Olde Bar (hopefully opening for King's X) after that.

 

[XLR]

I listened to the first three tracks... good guitar playing.

But this thread is a commercial advertisement.

Tim

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Alrighty, got around to listening to some of this stuff... Reminds me kind of the Gin Blossoms musically. Also with that jingly guitar. I saw the blossoms a bunch live here since they live here, so I like this sound.

Pretty cool, poppy rock sound. Some good songs here.

 

[GoldFalcon]

Well, I don't normally comment on recordings here in the mp3 section because I have a bit of a tin ear when it comes to mixing stuff. That said, since this post was a blatant commercial plug I will offer a critique. Because you are asking for my money I am going to be much harsher than I normally would be.

**Let me preface these remarks with the admission that I stopped liking "metal style" vocals in 1989. For those that still enjoy that vocal style, there may be no problem.**

The guitar playing is more than good, the melodies are catchy if a bit vanilla in places. Whoever is writing the music is doing a good job here. The vocals are gawd-awful and uninspired. It's not that the vocalist is bad, he isn't, but his type of voice doesn't match this type of music. It sounds very much like someone conned the Counting Crows into replacing Adam Duritz with Bruce Dickinson.

"Mrs. Parker" is a good tune, and a good pick for an album opener. It's catchy and driving and would make a good single except for the fact that the vocals make me want to go masturbate with a cheese grater. Again, not that the vocalist can't sing, obviously he can, but his style so badly matches the style of music that it is jarring.

"Yes it's You" - I was going to nominate this song for "The Most Inane Opening Line Award" for: "I've got some silly notions about life it seems, like love for one another and similar themes", except that the next song on your album won that award so I had to settle for giving this one the "Misused Falsetto in a Chorus" award.

"Universe" - "And the award goes to...'I want you to sleep with me, see what I feel for you, [unintelligable], feel what I feel for you.' "

"Hypnopower" - I listened to this track because I was hoping to find something good to say. This is the song that seems most "at home" with the vocal style of the singer.

"Way" - This is really just a string of cliche's set to music. It was a runner-up for the "Misused Falsetto" award.

What was the naming scheme for the songs? I never heard the word 'universe' in "Universe". The song --if it were to be honest-- should have been called "I Want To Sleep With You" because it is 4 minutes of pleading for coitus. Similarly I didn't hear 'hypnopower' in "Hypnopower", or even the word 'way' in "Way" --at least not as a part of the rhyme scheme-- (though I did hear a lot of words that rhyme with 'way'. I kept waiting for it: "...'say', ok was expecting 'way' there...'day'...yes, yes, come on...OH! damn, 'on my way back home', why not just 'on my way'? woulda rhymed better. Here it comes, here it comes...DOH! 'on my way back to you' Oh well."

I would love to hear how this album would have sounded with a different vocalist and a different lyricist.

Sorry for the harshness, but it is early, my patience is short, and this thread was one notch above spam.

**Take the edge off edit**
I just re-read that and it is pretty harsh, so I'll show you what I wrote about some of my stuff while mixing last night:

Song 1: Your vocals on this track are wandering like an Israelite. Good God! What's up with that guitar? *Note to self: one should actually press the string one intends to play*. The lack of a chorus kills this song

Song 2: Again with the vocals! Try to pick the note in the middle and stick with it. The best that can be said is that if one averages your sharp notes with your flat ones then it works out to a good job. The playing here will never spawn anything. It can't. It's sterile. Great job genius, this disk space would have been better served housing porn.

 

[SnakeDog5050]

**Let me preface these remarks with the admission that I stopped liking "metal style" vocals in 1989. For those that still enjoy that vocal style, there may be no problem.**

Yeah all the quotes to start out the post kind of bugged me. And if I was going to be a little harsher in my review I'd say that the catchy guitar/music reminds me of the Gin Blossoms, BUT without a singer I like that much. So I guess my point here is that I agree with GoldFalcon in the sense that I didn't care for the vocals too much. Very catchy stuff though...

 

[XLR]

About advertising…

This is the second advertisement thread in the last few weeks, the other by a different poster and it had a timed lead-in to the actual ad. Are ads out of place in the forum? I mean, it's mentioned as a no-no in the registration agreement. But who reads the fine print? I'd suspect that a lot of HR members have made commercial CD's. Should we all advertise them here? Just advertise new releases?

Personally, I think that a post looking to discuss one song, that mentions the tune's from a just released CD is OK. Those interested could visit the person's site to find out more. But a direct CD ad with a price? And buyer testimonials? Jeez.

I wouldn't mind at all if Incanus and Supercreep let us know when their CD comes out because we've all been involved in discussing the music, song by song as its been being written and produced. But I bet they’d do it in a non-commercial way.

I dunno, what do you guys think?

Tim

 

[GoldFalcon]

What I took exception with --more than the advertisement-- was the attempt to insult my intelligence with "I've been registered here for a while" when the join date was clearly the 14th of September. It just made the post seem disingenuous and "spammy". I don't mind people selling stuff, but don't cut'n'paste your schpiel in here like I'm some schmuck. (Hey, that's two Yiddish words and an Israelite reference in one thread, and I'm Irish) If you want to sell me your CD in here that's cool, just don't insult me when you do it.

A few short lines like:

"Hey, I know I'm knew, but me and my band just put out a CD that I'm really excited about it. You can check it out at our site and even pick up a copy if you like it."

would have went a long way in my opinion.

But what the hell do I know, I'm new too.

 

[BeeCee Powda]

About advertising…

This is the second advertisement thread in the last few weeks, the other by a different poster and it had a timed lead-in to the actual ad. Are ads out of place in the forum? I mean, it's mentioned as a no-no in the registration agreement. But who reads the fine print? I'd suspect that a lot of HR members have made commercial CD's. Should we all advertise them here? Just advertise new releases?

Personally, I think that a post looking to discuss one song, that mentions the tune's from a just released CD is OK. Those interested could visit the person's site to find out more. But a direct CD ad with a price? And buyer testimonials? Jeez.

I wouldn't mind at all if Incanus and Supercreep let us know when their CD comes out because we've all been involved in discussing the music, song by song as its been being written and produced. But I bet they’d do it in a non-commercial way.

I dunno, what do you guys think?

Tim

I will happily remove the link to my store if it bothers you. I was more looking for comments than sales.

 

[BeeCee Powda]

What I took exception with --more than the advertisement-- was the attempt to insult my intelligence with "I've been registered here for a while" when the join date was clearly the 14th of September. It just made the post seem disingenuous and "spammy". I don't mind people selling stuff, but don't cut'n'paste your schpiel in here like I'm some schmuck. (Hey, that's two Yiddish words and an Israelite reference in one thread, and I'm Irish) If you want to sell me your CD in here that's cool, just don't insult me when you do it.

A few short lines like:

"Hey, I know I'm knew, but me and my band just put out a CD that I'm really excited about it. You can check it out at our site and even pick up a copy if you like it."

would have went a long way in my opinion.

But what the hell do I know, I'm new too.

Uh, 9-14-2003. Two years is awhile, isn't it?

 

[BeeCee Powda]

**Take the edge off edit**
I just re-read that and it is pretty harsh, so I'll show you what I wrote about some of my stuff while mixing last night:

No worries. If it's what you think, it's what you think. Thanks for listening.

 

[Toki987]

Tim, you are correct, commercial advertising is a no-no. The plug at the end of the post definately should not have been added. But I believe it was added with no devious intent however. Quite possibly the poster was using a cut-and-paste script unaware. The first paragraph was all that was needed to post it tasteful in presentation for review. This is not a place for sales or advertisement for such. He should be aware now.

 

[BeeCee Powda]

Tim, you are correct, commercial advertising is a no-no. The plug at the end of the post definately should not have been added. But I believe it was added with no devious intent however. Quite possibly the poster was using a cut-and-paste script unaware. The first paragraph was all that was needed to post it tasteful in presentation for review. This is not a place for sales or advertisement for such. He should be aware now.

I'll remove it.

 

[XLR]

I will happily remove the link to my store if it bothers you. I was more looking for comments than sales.

Just my opinion, but I think removing the sales oriented stuff would be a classy move... the price, sales page link and customer quotes. ...just the description and a link to the actual music file or steaming.

Tim

 

[GoldFalcon]

Uh, 9-14-2003. Two years is awhile, isn't it?

Well, that certainly makes it official doesn't it? I just won my own award for "Biggest Fucking Idiot on an Internet Forum".

Thank you, thank you. Both my foot and my mouth will be here all week, sometimes they actually separate.

(apologies to you BeeCee, but really, reading the last two digits of the year was just too much for me)

 

[SnakeDog5050]

Personally I'd rather listen to music and comment on it without having to read lines after lines of how great other people thought it was in the first post. If it's good it shouldn't need to be built up immediatly and people's honest opinions will reflect that. It's like telling me I'm supposed to like it before I even hear it.

And Tim, I do agree with you. I think it'd be neat to hear people's CDs on here that we heard during the recording process & maybe even had some influence on. Sorry, but this post just felt like more of an ad to me.

 

[Toki987]

I agree with you Snakedog,Tim, and GoldFalcon. If anyone being a member here that has worked material thru the clinic, and has reached the point of producing an albums worth of material suitable for promotion, I think a link to it would be highly appropriate. As well, it would be a positive reflection on the clinic. Of course Dragon would have the final say since this is his software.