Month: January 2020

Broadjam Artist: Margie & Art Corey
Song: I Get The Bird Coreys

Reviewer: Kate Carpenter

Positive Comments: Who can resist pink flamingo humor? This song is a hoot! It’s a story of a break-up, a couple splitting up their possessions. He insists that he gets to keep the pink flamingo (it’s all my mama left to me). What a crack up. Original humor. Hokey Pokey Fun.

Constructive Comments: Okay Coreys, I know I have heard this one before. I would say work on the vocals being a little clearer and together in the mix. Nothing wrong with the the tune and lyrics. I just saw a whole flock of fake pink flamingos here in Corpus Christi, TX this week. And for your reading pleasure, here is a flamingo joke:What do flamingos decorate their lawns with? (scroll down for answer)Plastic Italians. Love you guysMK

Broadjam Artist: Patrick E. Muth/Catnip Pat
Song: Where the Sunshines Down Below (Live @ Ft. Lauderdale Song info

Reviewer: Kate Carpenter

Positive Comments: Live recording of a very cool band playing an original love song. The strong point is the guitar and just the whole live groove of the tune.These guys have a great feel for the blues. Awesome ending! Love the opening lyric “you don’t know me but lady you I know”/glow – great rhyme.

Constructive Comments: Please post the lyrics. I thought the intro was a bit lengthy. You can get away with it live!

Broadjam Artist: Marilyn Hall
Song: Loco Beat-EDM

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: A decent melody, good beat. There’s a fair amount of variation as well, so that helps. The recording itself is very solid. Mixed well.

Constructive Comments: I would say that while there is some variation on the melody, the song seems anticlimactic to me. It’s trying to go somewhere but mostly ends up just treading water IMO. That’s not to say it’s terrible or anything. There are some quality elements, and perhaps it just isn’t to my personal taste, but it seems a bit par for the course for this genre. Good, but lacking that extra something that takes it to the next level. Might be worth taking this one back to the drawing board, not abandoning the melody or beat but really trying to make it more unique or energized.

Broadjam Artist: Nigel Barrett
Song: Quantum Dance

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: Obviously I didn’t score this song very high…there are some parts I would say are okay, like the pentatonic part that gets repeated a few times.

Constructive Comments: You could maybe take the pentatonic parts and expand those further. Otherwise the rest of the song was forgettable. Not bad, just forgettable. Also sounds too ’80s, I can’t imagine something like this attracting many people nowadays.

Broadjam Artist: Jay Gross
Song: Are you So Sure

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: The actual voice is pretty nice at times, there is decent emotion there. The piano isn’t bad, too bad it doesn’t play a more central role.

Constructive Comments: The lyrics are just a little too whiny for my taste. The voice, while good, goes off pitch plenty of times, which shouldn’t happen with the available options in home recording nowadays. Do more takes until you get it all right. It would be passable for a live performance, but not an album recording. This sounds like it should’ve been released in the ’80s. It might have actually worked back then if it were polished up a fair amount, but it’s just not going to attract anyone in this day and age.

Broadjam Artist: Groove Fondue
Song: When it comes

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: Good mix, good performances for the instruments. Not sure what this reminds me of, maybe somewhat reminiscent of Phish. Excellent piano at the end.

Constructive Comments: The negativity here may just be my personal tastes, but to me, the lyrics were trite and the song was just very average to me. Nothing new or exciting going on here, just the same standard kind of pop songs that have been around for decades now. That is not necessarily a terrible thing, depending on what you’re going for. I did put above that there was some marketability here, but I think only as, say, a song being played by a band as sort of background music at a party scene in a television show. Might work that way. As a general release, though, I don’t see this turning any heads.

Broadjam Artist: Randall Mark
Song: Wonder Girl

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: I thought this was a very charming little song. Excellent melodies, instrumentation, and the lyrics seemed solid. It’s just the right length, and I could easily see this becoming a hit if it hit the right place at the right time.

Constructive Comments: The vocals are a little disappointing. This isn’t necessarily a problem it does add to the song’s character. But I do think that some more work on the vocals is in order. They just need to be more consistent, and maybe with an added effect or something I’m not really sure. I don’t recall there being any kinds of solos…perhaps I zoned out thinking about the other elements. But there is a lot of room here for a cool piano or guitar solo. The groundwork is there with the melodies.

Broadjam Artist: Patrick E. Muth/Catnip Pat
Song: Where the Sunshines Down Below (Live @ Ft. Lauderdale Song info

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: The melody here was really nice. The beat works, the instruments work, in nearly every respect. It gives off a great bluesy mood with the pace and solid musicianship. Good songwriting going on here, though I might rate it a little higher if I could’ve heard the lyrics well.

Constructive Comments: The quality of the recording was sub-par. I had trouble hearing the lyrics (thus the n/a). No reason to upload a live recording like this you should take this down and replace it with a real recording. It’s not difficult or expensive nowadays to do one on a PC. I think the vocal performance suffered perhaps due to the live performance, but even so I’d say that the singing just isn’t up to the high standard required for blues. Unless you have a Stevie Ray Vaughn in your band, you’re just not going to get by with that voice. Not enough emotion or dynamics. I’d also say that while the musicianship is very solid, there is still that little extra edge missing from the performance for the guitar. You really need to have an exceptional vibrato and just a little more creativity with the guitar to make it work in this genre. A little extra practice/work on that might go a long way.

Broadjam Artist: Greg Lambert
Song: Boomerang

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: The guitar/(banjo?) work is excellent. Good melodies there. I also think the vocal melody/hook is solid. This is a song that could possibly do well for a certain market, but I’m no expert on that. The quality of the recording is also top-notch.

Constructive Comments: I didn’t like the lyrics. Seemed a bit cheesy to me, though I will say that most country-style lyrics seem cheesy to me, so that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The singing is a little problematic IMO because the voice sounds pretty old/worn. Again, though, that isn’t necessarily a problem. Depends on the listener. Still, I have to say that overall the song sounds a bit trite, as in it’s really been done before, done to death, and done better. It needs spruced up somehow…if you want to write this kind of music it needs something special added in there to make it really work, even if it’s just a really nice electric guitar solo.

Broadjam Artist: Randy Calligan
Song: The Procession

Reviewer: Systole

Positive Comments: If this was programmed, I couldn’t tell. The violin sounded very real to me. Very expressive, and great tone. Great tone on all of the instruments, really. The melody is very nice. Definitely sounds like a cultural piece to me, thus my chosen title for it. Could be used in a romantic setting or perhaps some kind of “Godfather” film.

Constructive Comments: I’m not sure this is something I would just listen to, but for television or film this is definitely industry-worthy. Mostly because there isn’t a whole lot of structure to it it’s an atmospheric piece IMO so it’s more about mood than anything else, which is why it would be great in t.v. or film. So that’s a real drawback if that isn’t what you’re going for.