Chorus.fm Member Compilations - HALLOWEEN COMPILATION (Out now!) • Page 176

@nickyeatworld Run - I think the thing I like most about this song is how well it's put together. You have a very good sense of songwriting. The little guitar break between the first chorus and second verse, that big explosive dancey bridge into the quiet chorus before busting it all out again. Chorus was very catchy too. I liked that cleaner guitar tone a lot, I would actually like to experiment with using a tone like that for leads on some of my stuff in the future. Nice work!

@Benjamin Lee October Baby - reading about the meaning behind this song is so saddening. That's a really horrible thing, and I'm very thankful that you and your friend have each other to relate to in that type of experience, and that you both dealt with it in a healthy way. This wasn't a tribute comp but you found a nice way to pay some anyway! Musically, I do hear a bit of the Copeland influence you were referencing in a couple of the guitar parts. The vocal melody from 2:46-3:00 reminds me of something you'd hear out of an early Third Eye Blind song, actually. This song has multiple dynamics and I appreciate that!

@bradsonemanband The New You (2006) - ha! Dude, I love that you did this. Such a cool way to partake in this comp. It must have been fun to revisit this song after all these years! Not to knock this version at all, but it really makes me appreciate the newer version even more, now knowing where the song rooted from! Like, how on the newer one you still started out with an acoustic and then the full band part jumps in. This song for obvious reasons has such an old school pop punk feel, I almost get nostalgia from it and I've never even heard it before! Had we known/lived near each other back in the day, I think we would've been good buds and made this kind of music together all the time. Totally up my alley in 2006.

 

Hahaha that's awesome! We would have been Brad's Two Man Band, I guess? It was a lot of fun revisiting my old songs and deciding which I wanted to do a "re-imagining" of first. After doing this one, I've decided to start working on an EP where I re-record old songs I wrote in high school. I'm glad you liked seeing the contrast between the 2006 version and the new version, recorded 11 years later.

 

Thank you! Spencer was one of the coolest people I'll ever know, so I'm really glad we got to make this as tribute for him.

I've always thought about the kind of sparse ambiance of "Little Fury Bugs" by Death Cab for Cutie when I hear the guitar in the second and third verse. My biggest gripe is just that I am not technically capable of making the chorus sound as big and full as I'd like. But that's why I labeled these as demos. Anyway, sorry for being rambly. To be honest, I've been discouraged with music for a little bit but the nice things people have said here have kind of encouraged me a bit so I really wanna mention how much it means to me (and I've been screen shotting everything and sending it Micah, the singer too. haha)

 

Oh, I haven't heard that song that probably explains why I didn't catch that parallel. But yeah, sometimes it's hard to figure out how to beef up a part without the individual instruments sounding like they're trying to overpower one another. I definitely hear ya there. But don't be sorry for rambling -- if any of us ever had a reason to ramble about our own music, I feel like this is the perfect time and place hahaha. Hope you guys take the encouragement and make something cool out of it to throw on the next originals comp!

 

We will definitely have stuff for next originals comp! (Truth be told, we have an album of stuff. Haha). I’m also hoping the opportunity to do a cover of “Options” by Pedro the Lion comes up because we want to cover that just haven’t had a reason to make it any kind of priority. Haha

 

@bradsonemanband @CSWAPPO you know what "Existence" reminds me of? Especially the chorus.

 

This is actually the exact Saosin song I had in mind when I wrote about Existence earlier haha, that's awesome

 

I didn't expect there to be much metal but I'm more comfortable writing a metalcore song than anything else. Those breakneck verses were inspired by the new Counterparts record. I wrote the drums and guitars together (programmed drums while I wrote guitar parts really) so the bass had to be the missing piece between my software limitations and guitar playing. I'm glad the bass is getting some attention, I was really proud when I finished laying it down. Unfortunately I was rushed to get the vocals done by the deadline... I'm not a big fan of how I was sounding that day. Some takes are great, most are really disappointing to me. Thanks for your feedback. I couldn't even try to dedicate that much time to this. I'm ALMOST done listening! haha. Glad you contributed this time, your track was great.

Thanks. Wish I had more time to get better vocal takes but, I was very happy with how the instrumental turned out. It's nice to be one of the few heavy songs on this comp! I enjoyed your jam a lot... I originally started tracking an instrumental bass-driven funk/experimental jam but felt lost so I crawled back to metal!

 

I have just sat through all 57 songs, and there was not one song I didn't like. So, well done. It was really good hearing everyone in their own wheelhouse. I won't single out every single person or song but that doesn't mean I like yours any less than the ones I am about to single out.

Those first four tracks were a hell of a way to open the compilation, and then to go through those acoustic treats (excluding mine, because...well, ew) to get to @Mr. Serotonin and his "Waves" was another wild ride, that had me dancing in my car on the highway.

@Pseudo! comes in with "Pig" not long after and channels his 90s emo/post-hardcore which was another really nice track.

And then @Craig Manning with his John Mayer x Jason Isbell x Matt Nathanson infused pop/alt-country song, which was beautiful.

and then @ImAMetaphor comes in with a Modern Baseball/Front Bottoms-esque song, which was a nice surprise too.

and then @ricklightning scares the shit out of me.

It was also really interesting to see how @Patterns in Traffic used the instrumentals that @Erwin89 provided.

It was good to see Movies About Animals, City Mouth, A Common Year and Out of Service submit some songs to the compilation, some real good bands to dig deeper into if you enjoyed the tracks they submitted.

 

Hahaha, I can imagine the surprise if you are not ready when the song suddenly kicks in.

 

Those are three names I do not mind being compared with! Thanks so much for the kind words.

 

@bradsonemanband Just curious, what made you put my song as the closer? Length?

 

It sounded like a great closer to me, really. The way it opens sounds like (to me) a resolution, and it just felt right. I also love when albums end with a killer acoustic track, and yours fit well as that. One of my favorite tracks on the whole comp! When I work on the sequencing to these compilations (and even my own stuff), I like picking the opener and closer first, and then I slip all the other tracks in between, in a cohesive and interesting way. Like, i don't like putting all the full band tracks together and all the acoustic tracks together. I like there to be a good mix throughout the whole thing.

 

Thanks again @trevorshmevor and @aoftbsten ! I'll let our bass player know you liked his runs, he'll love to hear that. Glad you liked "Old Friends". That song was actually about an ex of 5 years who immediately got with my best friend after we broke up. Ended up getting it played on Lex and Terry so, good things come from bad things sometimes, i suppose

 

Gloria @Jdaniels - "I wish I could say it's better", this is a heartbreaking song, filled with some really really great lines. "Are you listening to anything good now" and "all my glory goes to Gloria" are a couple of my favorites (alliteration hooks me every time haha). You can definitely hear the passion in your vocals and lyrics.

Old Friends @Mr. Serotonin - I've really liked all your submissions to this, but this is my favorite so far. The rhythm guitar has an Americana rock kind of feel to it that I love Couple that with the guitar solo and this is a solid overall rocker. And then there's that bass fill after the first chorus, which groves hard. Great melody in the chorus as well. Really solid track.

Float @troyplaysbass - Everything about this is great. The bass intro, the guitars, I love the main vocalist. She's got that alt rock sound down, but with a little bit of soul behind her. I love the duality between the male and female vocals too. Well crafted song.

 

Ah, cool! It made me think about my own song in a different way, so I can't say I don't appreciate it.

 

your voice/delivery is great @TedSchmosby

 

That's so nice, thank you. Are you talking about the closing track? (Just wondering because that's the one I'm singing on). Either way, thank you very much

 

also, I didn't want to single anything out because I haven't yet heard all the songs and also everything I've heard so far has been very enjoyable but with that being said

sudden pacific has been stuck in my head a lot and is just a really wonderful song so major props to the person who submitted it, gonna check out the record it's on and would love to see it live someday

 

Yeah haha I just listened after watching y'all talk about it, you give off a vibe that's a mix between early ace enders and early Conor oberst

 

Someone mentioned the Conor Oberst vibe after I did a song for the Weezer comp, and it introduced me to Bright Eyes. I am forever thankful. I didn't know who he was back when I recorded and wrote that song, but if I were to hope to have any influences show through in my future music, it would be him. I'll have to check out Ace Enders too

 

@bodkins and @alexmelton – All Your Faults: This can’t be an original. It’s too good. Real people don’t write songs this good. I love it so much. You guys kind of sound like Metric, but it still sounds completely new to me. I think it’s really clever to title the song All Your Faults and then have the line in the song be “You are more than all your faults.” That’s great.

@bradsonemanband and @CSWAPPO– Existence: I love listening to this after being familiar with your solo stuff. It’s so cool. There are a lot of things I really like here: the feedback, the layered vocals, the woahing in the intro. What a great song. It reminds me of my hometown and the pop punk bands I went to go see that I knew should have a bigger following

@troyplaysbass – American Graffiti: Those first thirty seconds… guhh. The inflection of your voice, that fluttery guitar, the horns… I love these original comps because it reminds me that there’s a person behind every song – something I might forget when every song I listen to is by some celebrity I’ll never meet, you know? I should give every song the attention I’m giving this song. Especially if every song is this good.

@teebs41 – Hear the Sound: You’ve posted a few videos of you covering Brand New right? I liked those, but you sound totally in your element here. This song really sounds yours, you know? You sound so comfortable and it’s great. And if it wasn’t you who did those Brand New videos, all these compliments still stand. I love this song. The bridge is sort of Foxing-esque. So good.

@Damien Davies – Naked In Blood: I’m whipping out a cover of this song at the next campfire I go to. Great placement on the album, too. Your delivery of the word “blood” really hit me for some reason. Goes to show that a nice melody and some good lyrics over a simple chord progression can still make for a great song. One of the best since Butterfly by Weezer.

 

@hermanthehermit – Watch the Skies: The production on your voice sounds so neat. Not sure what’s going on there, overdubs and reverb or something (I don’t really know music), but it creates an atmosphere despite being so subtle. When you go into your head voice or whatever (I don’t really know music) a minute and a half in, I was already captivated, but that was a great move. What a sweet track. Not sweet as in cool (which it is also) but just sweet. So pretty.

@Mr. Serotonin – Waves: Oh shiiiiit. This is so cool to hear. (If it’s not obvious, I’m typing a lot of these up while I’m listening to the tracks). I don’t go to clubs or anything, but this is in rotation at those places right? It had better be. This is so fucking groovy. I don’t even know how you’d go about making a track like this. When I can’t hear an explicit guitar, I often take for granted that songs like this had to be written and created, because to me they just exist in finished form, you know? So I can’t even imagine the work that went into this. But thank you for doing it. I need to show this song to my friends. Can I say that I know you?

@Jesse West – Rings True: That organ takes me right back to I’m Like a Virgin… by Manchester Orchestra. One of my favourite albums and one of my favourite sounds. Great choice. A very somber track. I’m into it.

@JakeRabin – Grave Dance: I just said I can’t imagine how the songwriting process goes when I can’t hear a guitar, but I would never be able to write anything like this either. I really appreciate the energy, and your voice is lower than what I would expect over a song like this, so it adds a whole new dimension that I really like. Also, that sampled scream is awesome. That is awesome.

@bradsonemanband – The New You: Interesting decision to put the new version before the old version – I would think it’d be the other way around, but I trust your judgement. I am ready. Anyways, this is a good song, man. How old did you say you were when you wrote it? Twenty? The lyrics are totally good, and it’s super catchy. I love the two guitars in the bridge too. Great production.

@Pseudo! – Pig: The guitars on this are sooo good. Great solo. Great intro. The song just never loses steam. I’m along for the whole ride. Awesome job, sir.

 

@Common Conversation – Volumes and Tomes: Oh man, how does that piano riff not exist in a song already? It’s so good! All the instrumentation on this sounds perfect to me, and your voice complements it all really well. Great username too. You’ve got it all figured out, man.

@Craig Manning – Life in the Rearview Mirror: The song is just starting now and man am I looking forward to it. You’re the Counting Crows and Bruce Springsteen guy! Hell yeah. I could have guessed this song was written by you just because of the title, I love it. Your music is so pure man. I don’t really know what that means but it feels like the right word. It’s just so genuine. Not that any of the music on this comp isn’t genuine, but your style of music is just so wholesome and unabashedly earnest. I’m really just throwing out words here now, but I’ve got to trust my gut. Great song, Craig. I really like it.

@trevorshmevor – Stray Therapy: Yo that intro riff is creeping me out in the best way possible. And then your voice comes in over this perfect dissonance all Kenny Vasoli-like. So good. I can’t tell you how many lines I’ve written like “Can’t fix what’s not broken yet.” I feel you man. But don’t worry – you don’t have to fix this song at least. It’s perfect.

@ComedownMachine – Out of My System: I really like that build after the first chorus. And the sound of your snare fits the song really well. And now I’m noticing how much I like the piano. I had to stop typing for a minute because I was so entranced. This is a really captivating song, man. There’s something about it. It’s not dense or anything. It’s really flowy and I just want to live in it. What does that mean? I don’t know. It means it’s a good song, probably. Nice.

@Benjamin Lee – Master Blaster: I’m glad you caught back up with the thread and submitted this, sir. Good to hear from you. The guitar has a great sound, and the drums sound great too. You guys are so amazing at production. I look up to all of you, and your song is making me realize that. The space between the first chorus and the next verse is great. I want to live in that too.

@thewmaynes – Sudden Pacific: I love any notes that go beyond the fifth fret on a guitar, so this is my shit. I love the vibe you create with your playing. It absolutely sounds pacific (suddenly). So good.

@nfdv2 – Field: Oh man, I’ve absolutely heard one of your songs on these comps before. I’m sorry, I don’t remember which song it was (maybe 3rd Planet?), but your voice and delivery has stuck with me. It’s so beautiful. “I’ll finish this record and run away” broke my heart. You know how some people could sing the phone book and it would sound good? You could sing the phone book and it could sound good while also making me want to curl up in my bed and have a good think and/or cry. Right after your song ended I started it over. Why do I do this to myself??

 

Hahahah thank you so much @TedSchmosby. No, it's not on rotation anywhere , but it is on bandcamp/spotify/itunes etc.
Everything on it is real electric guitar/drums and rim clicks/bass/vocals. The chorus hook just has a synth mirroring the electric guitar, behind it. We recorded this one, possibly the quickest. Just really wanted to experiment with effects and whatnot and try to make a dancey track. If you wanna show your friends, links are at:
Emerson