#check out some of the other polyphonic singers on youtube

[amarriageoftrueminds]

I know it's not Mermay but I just stumbled across this incredible polyphonic singer for the first time and I had to mention her in case anyone happened to be writing a mermaid fic right now and was looking for inspiration for what an actual siren (or demon??) would sound like... 😲

[1-dollar-cd-sale-reviews]

Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda (2004) - Side B

(I apologize for the blurry picture, it’s all I’ve got right now and it’s 4 in the morning here. I’d take a replacement picture if I could, but I just finished listening to this CD and I need to strike while the iron’s hot)

This is the second half, or “Side B”, of Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda. I reviewed the first ten songs eight days ago - frankly, I worked my way into a bad mood after that review and avoided the CD for a while. But I’m back to finish the review, because there are a couple of CDs I want to get to in time and I can’t do that without finishing this one.

For this half of the compilation, I turned my sound down to help combat the distortion - the main issue I had with the album in the previous review was the sound quality, and I decided to forego the same audio quality complaints for this review. By all means, it’s still a problem - but I’ve decided to focus more on the songs themselves this time around.

Surprisingly, I liked this half of the album a lot more than the first half. It could have been the lower volume making each song less grating, but I think there are just more tracks on this half that appeal to me.

It kicks off with a song by Coldplay - one of the names I bought the album for. I don’t mind Coldplay so much, they release good singles and I think the stereotypical “well, at least it’s better than Nickelback/Coldplay!!” statement is stale and trite - but as far as albums go, I’m no fan. Give me The Scientist and Yellow, maybe a handful of other tracks like Fix You, and that’s about it. This is a singles band for me.

The track on this compilation, Brothers and Sisters, doesn’t fit into that handful of tracks I just mentioned. Lyrics didn’t resonate or stick out to me, especially with Chris Martin’s singing style. The music was good though, I feel like Coldplay is a decent-sounding band as far as instrumentals go - pre-Sky Full Of Stars, anyway. Overall, kind of a letdown considering that Coldplay was one of the key draws to this compilation in the first place. I was hoping to find another track of theirs that I might like, but it’s no skin off my back in the long run.

Hundred Reasons’ “Cerebra” is more of a heavy rock track. Maybe emo, or alternative rock? I dunno. The music sounds good and the singer has a decent voice for this style of music. This is one of the better rock/metal-oriented songs I’ve heard during the course of this blog, which is to say it was well-produced and I liked it well enough.

The song Arienette by Bright Eyes was the first surprise of this half of the album. It’s got a very brooding, almost gothic atmosphere to it, played very well by the band. The vocalist sounds a bit wobbly in his singing, but I chalked this up to the sound quality - if only because I want to believe there’s a smoother, better quality version of this song in existence.

I actually checked out a higher quality version on Youtube, just for background noise as I wrote this review up, and unfortunately the vocalist still sounds like he has marbles in his mouth. Even considering this development, I still like how this song sounds very much. Hell, it works for the latter half of the song - all in all, this is a decent tune.

Hundredweight, by Easyworld, switches between a softer, more beat-driven sound, and a more pop-punk sort of sound for the chorus. I would have preferred if the whole song was in the more pop-punk-sounding style, the singer just sort of annoys me in the quieter sections. If this song was more like the chorus all the way through, it’d be a pretty good track.

Take the Long Road And Walk It, by a band called The Music, sounds like three or four notes being played for the entirety of the song. I hated it.

The Polyphonic Spree’s song “Soldier Girl” runs into a similar dilemma as Hundredweight, though I like this song for what it is. The song starts off with someone laying down a beat by... puffing into a flute the wrong way? I dunno. I had a try of my friend’s flute once, and the discordant puffing noise sounds like when you aren’t blowing into a flute the right way. This sound is what makes up the beat at the start of the song, and I kept hearing it through the song - for that reason, I found it a bit uncomfortable to listen to.

But the chorus gives way to more of a Brit-pop sound, or something a little rockier, and this part of the song sounded really good. It makes up the last third of the song, and I really liked that. This is a song that I can tolerate at worst, and have a smile and a nod to at best - it’s a pretty decent track.

Manhunt, by Winnebago Deal, is another hard rock sort of song. The band sounds good, but when the singer comes in, everyone decides to stop playing when the singer is yelling something out - but they’ll play tiny sections in-between his statements. I don’t know if that has a term, or if it’s a trope? I’ve heard songs do this before. Either way, I don’t like listening to it. There are also a handful of cusses thrown in there that just feel tacked on, like they’re pandering to an edgy teen crowd by saying “fuck” once and “bitch” a handful of times. It’s face level at best.

Six By Seven’s contribution, “Bochum (Light Up My Life)”, is what you get when you mix uplifting, soaring music with more of an airy, ambient atmosphere - and then give that song a tub-thumping drum pattern. The drums kind of reminded me of how the Lumineers would use a drum track, but I think that comparison does Bochum a disservice - it’s a bit distracting, but it’s still a good song. The only disservice that’s been done to this song is how flat the vocals are - otherwise, this is a really neat track.

That leaves two songs: Tiny Vessels by Death Cab For Cutie, and This Is The Last Time by Keane.

Death Cab For Cutie is one of those bands I know about solely from the name. They’ve never been on my radar, and I went into this song relatively blind. I felt like I might have heard a song or two from them in the past, but nothing really stuck out in my mind. This was a pretty clean track, the vocals were smooth and the instruments sound good. The tempo hooked me in, and the rest of the song really delivered.

And finally, This Is The Last Time by Keane. Yeah, this is the last time I listen to this CD! I’m excited, even if the song doesn’t end up being so good.

Keane is the last band that drew my eye on this disc. I have fond memories of playing a Singstar demo on PS2 with Somewhere Only We Know on it, and I was hoping to get some more of that goodness with this track.

This is the only brand-name recognition song on this disc - out of this, Supergrass and Coldplay - that managed to live up to my expectations. It’s got a lively piano line to it, and the vocals are strong right out of the gate. The chorus is very upbeat in its sound, and the vocalist hits these high notes that no other song on this compilation gets close to - the song just comes across as more lively. It has more range than any other song on this disc, and it appeals to me in a very bright, lovely, mid-00′s poppy sort of way.

So - with that last great song done and dusted, how does the whole album stack up?

I’m not going to mince words - I thought this compilation was trash.

I don’t say that because the songs were particularly bad - the first ten songs had some mediocre tracks, but I liked a couple songs on that first half and I liked a fair amount of songs on this half. I say it because the audio quality is terrible.

This could be me talking out of my ass - I’ve made no secret of my own ignorance in my reviews. But I’ve listened to the MP3s on this CD, and I’ve heard rips and official single releases on Youtube for songs that I liked, and the CD quality songs sounded much worse. Some songs sounded like they were buzzing when too much was going on, like they were clipping, and particularly heavy guitar playing or loud mixed instrumental songs would sound distorted as well as have that clipping sound to it. The mixing on this compilation is straight-up garbage.

Because of that, I can’t recommend this album. If you see Decade: Ten Years of Fierce Panda in your local used multimedia shop, or on eBay, or whatever - grab the track listing, and take it to YouTube. I don’t say that as in “pirate this album”, I say that as in “don’t waste your money on gimped versions of these songs”. Hell, buy the albums from each artist featured on this compilation if you want to hear each song and show your support for their craft. Whatever. Just don’t buy this release.

Recommended songs are All You Good, Good People by Embrace, Porchlight by Seafood, Arienette by Bright Eyes and This Is The Last Time by Keane, There are some other songs that are worth a listen, but these are my favorites. You can find the first three on Youtube, I know that for a fact - and it wouldn’t surprise me if This Is The Last Time was uploaded on there as well.