Some songs from my band

Hey,here are some songs that my band has recorded, the more recent one (a reason for you) has our new equipment (firebox, cad mxl3000 vocal mic) whereas the other one had no interface and i was using a drum overhead to record vocals.

Sounds nice!

It seems like you're going for a "pop" angle (i.e., the goal would be a place on FM radio). You'll need a stronger hook if that's the case. You've got a great college coffee house vibe, but I don't have anything when the song is over. Put a little riff in there, a recurring rhythm, or a lyrical hook. "There's a reason for you" recurs, but I didn't even notice it until I read the lyrics--draw attention to it.

Also, the bongos have to go. That just announces to the world that you couldn't find a real drummer--even if that's not the case.

One final note--a lot of people won't go to myspace links, since the player is frequently down and work firewalls often block it. Soundclick offers free space to post songs, and it is far more accessible to the others here.

Chicken Monkey

Thanks for the advice.

We used a djembe cause drums didn't seem to fit. We actually do have a good drummer though. We also tried having it be electric guitar to see if it'd help, but it didn't work either.

are you posted anywhere besides myspace? i'd love to listen. (soundclick or something?)

me too.. im at work- i cant get to myspace

first off, you immediately hit me with ben folds. he's one of the best songwriters who charts today, IMHO. definitely on my list of best songwriters ever.

your tunes may be wearing your influences a bit too much on their sleeves, though. for a die-hard ben folds fan, that may not be a bad thing, though. there's some vox tuning issues throughout and i think this music needs to be pegged vocally like ben and chris do from bff and coldplay. also, the hooks don't hold up strongly enough for me. the vibe is awesome, but the songs' hooks aren't there

(it's fair to note here that i think "you're beautiful" by james blunt is the biggest hook-lacking piece of {censored} i've heard in years, but it's working for him, so my opinion's not exactly 100%supported, okay? lol)

a reason for you:

i hear ben all over this tune's form and changes. also, the melody is all there. i dug the backing vox (bff again) and the main vox is a little too hot and distorted for me to hear what's being sung. (we are listening to mp3s, though.) from what i could make out, the lyrics are a bit sugary, which is something that bf usually counters with a powerful image (think the old married couple in 'the luckiest') (despite my saying you're mimicking too much, i'd draw from his literal and matter-of-fact lyrical approach a bit more, if i were you!)

i like the tune. it's nice and pretty and the hit/bridge really made it climax. i'd like to hear a better version someday

will you feel it:

another nice song soaked in ben, but there's some coldplay in the drums and how the whole thing crescendos. it has radio play potential, IMHO, but it -like the other one- doesn't have a lot of individuality in its presentation (refer to influences on the sleeves thing) and i also kind of feel like it needs a strong bridge to break from the same melodic theme you have going on and make it hook better, but that's just what this songwriter would do; you do what you want. it's a good song as is.

overall, good work, man. nice songs.

As another Die hard Folds fan i would echo most of whats been said already. For me WYFI is by far the stronger of the 2 songs but is also the most folds-like so maybe thats why i enjoyed it more.

I agree that the pop hooks are not quite as catchy as Folds manages but even half as catchy and you are doing well. I think on this track in particular the vox performance is pretty strong, the piano part is well played and i like the attention youve given to dynamics w/both drums and piano. all the basic ingredients are there and i think its only a matter of time until you really nail a song that would be worthy of a Ben Folds album! :-)

but i think you should have a listen to a few bands which in my opinion are a little ahead of you at taking what folds does and doing something a bit less derivative with it.

Check out:

1) Millard Powers - S/titled (millard was in Semantics with Folds in the early days and apparently turn down role of bass player in BFF to do session stuff - silly man!)

2) The Argument - first album entitled something like 'your favourite record'

3) Duke Special - Irish songwriter who fuses folds-esque ragtime, and vaudeville with piano ballads etc

Anyway, hope you find some inspiration from these artists

good luck and keep up the good work!

Rx

Thanks for the comments.

This is my first band and we've only been writing music since late december. WYFI is a song I wrote last year, and is the only one i really finished before my band got together. ARFY is a song that the guitar player and drummer wrote two years ago, then me and the guitar player touched up the first half and wrote the second half, and I wrote the vocal (and piano) line. Our goal is to get signed down the road, but I realize we have a lot of work to do if we want to get there, so any criticism or comments are more than welcome.

P.S. If you guys listened to the soundclick one that might effect your oppinion, for some reason it keeps screwing something up and the song is playing a slower and for some reason way off key.

really like it, very popy, but it sits very nicely

First off, always nice to be nearby folks!

Re: A Reason For You

Personally, I like the percussion. I don't really have any writing-related comments aside from the part at about 4:15 - seemed a little out of place, and reminded me a little too much of something from a Nickleback song. Production/performance wise - vocal tuning needs a bit of work, as mentioned.

Re: Will You Feel It

Wow. GREAT chord progression. The melody does not support it strongly enough for me - it's so close, just seems like maybe a little more....I dunno, something. I love the piano sound as well. Nice bridge. As with the first song, vox are just a bit off.

Note: I couldn't find lyrics and couldn't make them out for the most part, so no comments there

we fixed our soundclick, the songs now play at the speed they should be played so if you could check it out it would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.soundclick.com/nowincolor

A kid in town asked us to use Will You Feel It in his movie he entered for the film festival. He put us at the end, and he ended up winning. So it's gonna be playing in a few of the theatres, and was in the paper and stuff, so maybe some people will like us and it'll spread the word around.

We've found a new bass player, who in all likelyhood is here for good, we just need to iron out a few things. We've got some more stuff written, so we're gonna record it and I'll post it once its done.

I disagree! I think they fit well, but they could probably be lower in the mix.