Today’s haul was so much fun to pick apart. Funnily enough, I listened to these tunes back-to-back… and got intense whiplash from every single one. It was like they’d conspired to slap me across the cheek in succession while gleefully declaring, “And now, for something completely different!”

As far as our submission pool goes, these three compositions reside in its remotest corners. Each brings something unique to the table – I have to say that I’m glad that our contemporary up-and-coming musicians emerge from a plethora of creative voices and inspirations.

Without further ado, here’s our fourth Mixed-Bag Mixtape! I hope that the nuggets of feedback here may once again be of use to these composers, and that you’ll find this as fun to read as it was for me to write.

MiniDoom & Daisy Vineyard

What a jam I.H.Y is. The vibe here is so easy – the pace may be brisk, but it’s breezily so. The drums’ ghost notes and occasional rapid-fire hits drive exhilarating momentum, without compromising the easygoing atmosphere set by the cleanly fluid electric guitar strums. Underpinning those strums with an emphatic bass hits you with that oomph, too.

The instrumentation is employed really intuitively in tandem with musical structure! Removing the bass in the first half of the first verse, simplifying the percussion in the pre-chorus, adding crotchet ride hits into the chorus, and removing strums in the second verse were all decisions I would’ve made myself.

I’d also like to take the time to appreciate I.H.Y’s inclusion of dynamic harmonic guitar lines. It’s subtle, but it adds the perfect amount of depth by providing a harmonic cushion for everything else to build upon. Challenge yourself by seeing if you can identify them! (If you need a hint, one of them emerges isolated at 1:14.)

I really only have one comment: the mixing of MiniDoom’s rap sounds just a tad off. For the most part, he sounds as if he’s far away and straining to be heard, which doesn’t make for the most emphatic performance. This isn’t the case for the first half of the first verse, as the stripped-down instrumentation allows MiniDoom’s voice to dominate more foreground. Once the bass reenters, however, MiniDoom gets somewhat overwhelmed. It’s almost like the music is coming from two different rooms that happen to be synchronised. Vineyard’s vocals enter or exiting just before Minidoom’s is also a little jarring, as the reverb settings are vastly dialed up on hers compared to his. So it sounds like three rooms, instead of two.

Aside from experimenting with different recording settings, environments, and microphones for the rap, I suspect that utilising an equalizer to dial up the lower frequencies of MiniDoom’s vocal recordings may also benefit its aural prominence. (We can leave Vineyard untouched. Her languid vocals, together with the heavy reverb, very effectively convey a despondent wistfulness.)

That said, I do still appreciate MiniDoom’s performance. There’s a mix of swagger and anger that I think really encapsulates how breakups tend to be dealt with in the modern dating scene – an attempt at nonchalance ultimately compensating for hurt and insecurity. Vineyard’s rueful singing complements it well, I think, by revealing the tender centre at it all. And of course, all this, in turn, complements the breezy yet brisk pace I outlined at the outset – feigning composure while constantly on the move so you don’t have to sit with your emotions. And there’s the whole package.

All this to say, I can see myself reaping some catharsis from this tune myself if I ever get burned by a bad breakup. Well done, team!

You can find MiniDoom and Daisy Vineyard on Spotify.

Fallowed Ground

You know those pieces of music that are more experience than product? That suck you in, and immerse you such that you’re almost subconsciously compelled to sway along for the ride, only for you to awake to lucidity at its conclusion, stranded by the wayside? That’s Willow, by Fallowed Ground.

It achieves this feat through its impeccable audio mixing and manipulation of soundscape. At every turn, it very deliberately hooks you into deeper and deeper levels of immersion.

Get ready, ‘cause we’re gonna get a little technical here.

We open with the sound of rain and wind fading in. As the wind swells, so do some airy, ambient synths. Already, we see the technique that Fallowed Ground executes under your nose throughout the track – because the rain and synth ambience share that windy quality, the latter builds on the former seamlessly, transporting listeners one layer of immersion deeper.

Another such play can be heard from 0:59 to 1:12. First, choral harmonies are very naturally introduced into the chorus as they’re hitching a ride with the main vocal melody. Next, they’ve been mixed slightly toward their lower frequencies, so that the guitar strums layered over them meld with the vocal harmonies into one expansive mass of sound. This is especially efficient, as we’re widening the breadth of our soundscape without relying too much on increasing volume, such that we have further runway to increase the intensity of the track much later by making it louder then.

With the guitar strums in place, we are consequently able to sneak in bass and drums. The bass resonates in a manner similar to the guitar, fitting like a glove, while the hi-hat hits don’t sound abrupt as they leverage the percussive quality of the strums’ initial impacts upon the strings. All this aural cushion makes the electric guitar’s slow fade-in nowhere near obvious, such that it’s only perceptible at 1:09.

And after all that meticulous timbral groundwork, the vibe of the second verse doesn’t feel all that different once the electric guitar, bass, and drums take centre stage – even though it very much is. I won’t gush any further on the topic, but I’ll just emphasise that feats like these are more impressive the more subtle they are – and here, it’s really unnoticeable.

Once again, just a teeny comment: the vocals in the final chorus are almost drowned out by everything else, especially with how some of the melody resides in the vocalists’ lower range. Because of that, we can’t fully appreciate the depth of her performance. If she were just louder and her lower frequencies dialed up, it should do the trick.

Finally, I also really like how this track ends. Totally different color from all the prior angst, making it super comforting. I wish there were a whole other song with this vibe, too, honestly – I’d sleep like a baby to it.

To close this off, Willow was a really impressive opening song to Fallowed Ground’s debut EP. I eagerly await whatever they have in store next!

Listen to Fallowed Ground’s debut EP here on Spotify, and keep up with this promising up-and-coming band on Instagram!

Tungstayn

One of our rare non-vocalised submissions! What a treat!

Let me first say that Tungstayn is one heck of a soulful guitar player. Most of the played melodies aren’t all that eventful, but that’s not a problem at all because they’re so melodious and memorable. And it definitely helps that Tungstayn plays that guitar like it’s singing. Good grief.

I really don’t have much to say here. The arrangement absolutely slaps. The drum fills are dynamic, the bass groove is dynamic, the accompanying electric guitar is dynamic – I’m sure this was absolutely fun to play.

The piano interludes are perhaps a little weak compositionally. A more authentic soundfont and something more idiomatic would’ve been even more soulful – it’s a little mechanical, stiff, and awkward as-is. Structurally, though, it serves its function well. And maybe this is just personal preference, but in the final few seconds, I felt as though the shredding could have occurred at a higher octave, just to close the solo off with a bigger bang.

Sorry that this one’s so short, but this really is one of those tunes that’s so obviously good that it’s right there on the tin and there’s truly not much else to say about it. Listen to it, and you’ll know what I mean.

Tungstayn’s submission teased some future prog rock releases that I’m really eager to see! I guess we’ll just have to follow their Facebook to know what they’re up to.

Conclusion: Mixed-Bag Mixtape #04

I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of writing these Mixed-Bag Mixtapes! I’m gouging myself on music here. If you’d like to have your music reviewed, please send your tunes over to our submission page! I’d be so happy.

Of course, any commentary here is more brief than what would normally constitute a review, as necessitated by the Mixed-Bag Mixtape format. So, if you’d like to add on to the conversation, do drop a comment below! All you have to do is create an account on iaasmusic.com, and you'll be ready to chime in.

‍