This was posted on my site back in August 11th, 2003. Seeing if I can post this here as part of my blog and (pre) date it.
The Stephanies often sound like textbook 70's punk except their songs are a bit longer than 2 minutes and their lead guitarist gets way too much time to do his his thing when no-ones singing. The music, for the most part, is pretty badly recorded and not well mixed. Something that could certainly be said (and often is) about my music, and would normally seem to fit the punk asthetic, but I don't think it helps them. Playing with the EQ in winamp does wonders for the drums on leather land. A coupl'a tracks sound a little folky or country-ish and show a band willing to expand their horizons.
I first listened to the tracks on my portable cd/mp3 player, then at home on my computer. The first coupl'a times I listened to the songs alphabetically ('cuz that's the way my computer and player arranges them). The last two times I listened to them all in the sequence as provided on the site and I had the bass turned up on the EQ. Both of these things helped a great deal. Song sequence is very important, I think.
I didn't read the lyrics (which are available on their site). I normally don't. As a result I often get the words wrong, but while words are kinda important, in a way, they aren't. It's more the sound of the words sometimes. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I don't really know what most of these songs are about. Some songs I love because I either know what they're about or I've attached my own meaning to them. Other songs, like songs in languages other than English, dance tunes, or songs that are comprehensible yet seemingly meaningless, sometimes have a vibe, and I love that too sometimes. These songs were judged on vibe:
America
I like this song.
The noisy guitar solo noise effects, while great here, start to get on my nerves on the other tunes.
Indifferent
This is kinda one of those lets alternate between mellow and loud songs. The aggressive chorus does sorta rock. Still, I don't think much of this one.
Turtle Lama
Indifferent to this one (Ha! Thought I was gonna use that on the last one, didn't you?).
Leatherland
Like the music on this track (even ld gtr) not so crazy about vocals. Could use earlier fade out. Much earlier.
Miserabler
Okay, this is the best recording so far, and the best song by this group. Nice countrified (countryfried?) groove. Brief gtr solo, while much better than usual is still unneccesary. Still, I recomend a download.
Does He
I love the groove on this. An excellent performance.
I Lie
Really not crazy about the lead guitarist, like the song, though. Folky. More like hobo folk, not hippy folk. Lead guitar is horrible here, though. Would be nice to hear a version without his track(s).
Library
Good performance by the whole band, not so much by the lead guitarist. Fade out should'a happened about a minute early.
Mario
Don't like it. The band isn't really bad on it. It just doesn't seem to add up to anything.
My Guitar
Ooh, I like this. Not a great song, but a damn good performance. At first I thought this should'a faded out about 2 minutes early, but I've changed my mind.
Ski Enemy
back to noise band territory. Don't like it much.
String Theory
Not completely bad, but another tune that would be helped a great deal by being only 2 and a half minutes long.
So, to recap; Really liked Miserabler, Does He, and My Guitar. I Lie is really good, but is marred by awful lead guitar playing. And the rest I can do without. Provided the band wasn't recorded live on to two track cassette, the worst of these recordings could probably be saved by some creative re-mixing and some EQ-ing. The drummer, bassist and rhythm guitarist put in some solid performances and work well as a team. The vocalists are a bit raw, but I like that, sometimes. A little more reverb now and then wouldn't hurt, though. The lead guitarist... Well, Miserabler shows some promise.
Their music can be found at http://www.thestephanies.com/
mp3's, lyrics, photos, and even video. Check them out, and make up your own damn mind.
Edshugeo The GodMoor
Labels: downloads, music