Music Untitled Head - Faces LP [download here!!] (Read 1479 times)

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Alright, motherfuckers. This is in general because who cares, really? I've seen plenty of other folks post their shit here, so here's my shit, and besides, I'd like to think enough people around these parts are at least a little familiar with my stuff so I reckon it's warranted. This topic is about my third full length record of songs that I have written by myself. It is called Faces and is by Untitled Head. The majority of the record was recorded by Adam Houghton, who lends his voice to one song and his guitar playing skills to 2 others. The rest of the record was recorded and performed by myself.

Faces by Untitled Head


Original photograph by Francis Guini

1. Camera
2. Half My Life
3. Safe
4. North
5. Will It Snow?
6. Settle Down
7. Chocolate Milk
8. Ice Cream
9. Other People's Friends


Download link: http://download.yousendit.com/AB7B514F3FB3F097

Enjoy!!
Last Edit: April 10, 2008, 06:17:07 pm by GaZZwa
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awesome man. i love your stuff. :)

is this different from your other work stylistically?
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after this trailer you can also enjoy Spaceghost - DNA (live version), which is a duo collab with GaZZwa and Adam
Last Edit: April 10, 2008, 12:34:39 am by DJ Soup
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the guitar sounds very niandra influenced!
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awesome man. i love your stuff. :)

is this different from your other work stylistically?

thanks. I'd say it's more pop. Way more focusing on vocals. There are harmonies. It sounds better. It has some drums. There's no electric guitar on this album.
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everything that came together to make this album

ps. added download link y'all
Your Pussy's Glued to a Building on Fire

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Holy shit.

I just heard this and it totally exceeded my expectations.
This album sounds like it comes from a professional artist.
This is pro stuff man.
But most importantly, this record is ART.
I feel there is this cohesion, like there's something conceptual going on.
The trailer tells you nothing at all.
It has this distant cold feel which is particularly engaging.
This is really creative.
If you guys want to expand your listening, if you thought you heard it all, well Faces has its secrets, its 'unpleasant' turns. Unpleasant as an artistic word, not literary.
I listen to it and I can picture things, you can develop images, situations, ask yourself "what's going on", there's a procedure, safety.. haunts.. escapism.. you figure it out.
But I repeat, what is fantastic about this record is that it is PURE ART.
I feel music is like painting, not all sorts of music, but the special kind of music, the music that comes from the heart. I feel my music works that way, John's Niandra works that way, and GaZZwa's too.
Some take music for the rhythm, melody, power or hype it creates. I like to take it to the level of heart and art, and we've new got FACES to enjoy.
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if the production was a lot cleaner (I can hear you clicking off stuff every once in a while and the whole thing's got a constant static) then this could be record label shit.

like seriously

i dont like guitar pop stuff but this stuff is really enjoyable. I only listened through the first half yet tho (you know how when listening to good unsigned artists you get really inspired to make music yourself, right?) but it was pretty great! like seriously!

but dude, the sound quality is what drags it down. it seems you were going for static in the first song and it works really great but once you hit the second song and you'd expect it not to be there and its there like above slightly, its noticable. thats just my opinion tho i guess but great work!
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OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIITTTT


i can't get this right now but i will soon as i get home.
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Lars, take note that Gazz records music in the analogue way, y'know onto a cassette. This is not just because that's what he has, it is also part of our philosophy (I record digitally but man I wish I had G's 4 track) of not using the finest finest equipment (think of how Diggity Dawg made amazing things with just MSPaint).
Recording thru cassette is not ugly at all, to us it adds this sweet vintage sound that I find especially nice and particular.
Besides, this is G's record with the highest effort on production, so it is meant to sound with that sort of distant distortion.
All in all I wish I could get that same kind of production for some of my songs.
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Lars, take note that Gazz records music in the analogue way, y'know onto a cassette. This is not just because that's what he has, it is also part of our philosophy (I record digitally but man I wish I had G's 4 track) of not using the finest finest equipment (think of how Diggity Dawg made amazing things with just MSPaint).
Recording thru cassette is not ugly at all, to us it adds this sweet vintage sound that I find especially nice and particular.
Besides, this is G's record with the highest effort on production, so it is meant to sound with that sort of distant distortion.
All in all I wish I could get that same kind of production for some of my songs.


I appreciate what's trying to be done, but honestly I think as a more poppy record this could benefit sooo much more from cleaner production. It's good as it is, but I think with digital recording/mastering it'd be a heap better.

Some tracks like Half My Life really benefit from it, but others are just piercing and unpleasant when they could be really nice (case in point: Settle Down. The percussion is awesome but it's so piercing and hard to listen to as it is). The old school sound is cool, I just don't think it works as well in this situation.

All in all a good CD though, like really good for amateur stuff, I just wish that it was recorded better. It's a real toss up because at first I kinda dug the sound, but on repeated listens it gets a bit distracting.
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Hey fellows, thanks for the comments. Regarding the recording quality issues, I have a few general thoughts. I recorded and mixed the record at Adam's house and my parents' house so I was listening back to things on his speakers, speakers at my folks' place and headphones. I never usually do mixings based on headphone listenings, but this time I kind of broke my own rule. I'd also burn CDs of the songs and listen to them on the big home stereo system. On all these different listenings things sounded fine, except for an annoying distorted low end in Half My Life. In fact, things sounded better than fine. I was exceptionally happy with the sound of Safe, North, Will It Snow? (like, especially Will It Snow?), Settle Down and Other People's Friends. Ice Cream sounded great and dreamy and I had no qualms with Chocolate Milk either. Anyway, now I've returned to my own place after staying with my parents for a few weeks during the recording of this, and listening back to my own stereo system Camera and Half My Life seem really unbearable. The low end distortion is blatantly present on both of them, rendering them pretty much unlistenable to my ears. This is undoubtedly due to my bass settings on my subwoofer, so I've altered them and they sound back to the way they original had.

This leads me to ask, how are you fellows listening to the record? Headphones? Speakers with sub? etc. The main problem with the records I've made is the lack of mastering, there isn't a way to make sure it sounds the same across the board whoever is listening to it. If you haven't already, may I recommend listening to it through headphones? This seems to get the best result for me. Also, I'd like to ask, you guys talk about "static" and stuff, I'm wondering if this is the low end distortion on Half My Life particularly, if you found this all the way through the record, or if it's something else, like, I dunno the tape hiss, or something?

I think the main reason for this contention in sound quality is the volume the songs were mixed at. When I was recording with Adam, his main issue was that my last records didn't sound that great and, frankly I agree. By making mic placements much closer to the guitar and when mixing pushing the levels fairly high, we achieved a much clearer tone. Unfortunately this seems to have also been the cause of the low end distortion. So that's that.

 
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^It does sound like Adam's albums so that makes sense. I have a problem that some of the highs sound piercing (instruments not vocals) - I've tried listening on crappy speakers and good headphones and I have the same problem in each.
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i don't have a problem with the recording or production at all, i think it's one of the most important parts that make this collection good. it's the coldness, all together. it's succinct and has a cohesion. shep said he thinks it has a conceptual feel and while i wouldn't say that exactly, the album feels focused. it's a different direction for you, gazz, and i think it's the best stuff i've heard from adam.

there are some moments here which i think are pretty inspired, like i get that daaang this isn't just some bullshit feeling. for example:

on will it snow, when it descends into underwater sounds. man. i LOVE this. this is a very cool song.
on safe, when the chord builds up and then stops. build up tension and don't pay it off. it's like fuck you, and yeah we've all done this but this is done really well.

i don't love the lyrics. i do think you'll work that out, i'm not saying i think they are SHITTY, but the lyrics are still amateurish. like, forcibly abstract in an art school student kind of way. i feel like i understand the abstraction and it isn't necessary. it's your choice obviously, and like i say you'll get better at it, you'll probably work this style into some damn good lyrics once you figure out exactly how to get the message across. right now it is the only weak part of the music. and that's a great thing, i think, for you guys. i think it bodes very fucking well.

i'm still listening, so i'll get back to you again


edit: yeah like on ice cream - now this track has a very good atmosphere. it's kind of beautiful and otherwordly, and kind of creepy, but it's called ice cream. i don't know why you called it this, the only reason i can imagine is that you kind of threw the title at it cos you couldn't think of anything. if i'm wrong set my ass to the grass but it feels like the atmosphere gets cheapened. this is a superficial thing, but it is related to the lyrical stuff i mentioned.


Last Edit: April 15, 2008, 08:40:30 pm by real_jamicus
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what would you have called it?
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maybe call this one faces. like, hide your faces. river stopped running. don't watch. don't look.

edit: i want to clarify i'm not saying i necessarily see a better way but when i'm replying to work people have posted i just tend to say whatever it is i am thinking, even if i'm not sure why i think it or really any other consideration, cos i would want it like that when people are replying to me.
Last Edit: April 15, 2008, 09:00:32 pm by real_jamicus
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oh yeah, yeah, I don't mind anything anyone's said or anything, y'know opinions are opinions I don't mind at all. I dunno man, it's the name of the song, it's always been called that, way before I recorded it, that was in my brain for some reason, I don't think calling it that cheapens it, I like ice cream very much and always saw it as a really fitting title. Seriously though, thanks for taking the time to comment and all. Good or bad comments, you're in the minority of people who have heard this and given feedback.
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Glad you like it. I don't know how many people have downloaded it, but, I dunno, I'd just like lots of people to hear it really. I'm working on the next one now also.
Your Pussy's Glued to a Building on Fire

"We're gonna live like kings! Damn hell assed kings!"
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