SUNSHINE AND SINS REVIEW
HEY, THIS IS A REVIEW OF CALDERA'S SUNSHINE AND SINS ALBUM, IT'S THE BEST THING I'VE EVER READ!!!! THANKS RYAN!!!
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Austin based Caldera (not the drug) attempts to make themselves something bigger than they actually are from the very beginning of their bio. They consider themselves to be a philosophical construct, rather than a band, and imply that people may have actually heard of them because of their exploits, rather than their music; a really deluded idea for those of us outside of Texas. Their album Sunshine and Sins follows this pattern, hyped as doing something new, but at the same time, making the same old mistakes that other artists have been making since technological breakthroughs have made so many options available for recording music.
The scariest moment on the entire album is the track called “Sex”, but this is not because of the song’s content. It’s simply because this track is in the running for worst song to actually be recorded in history. These guys were either really high or got a vocal effect processor for Christmas, decided to record their first effort using it, and then put it on their latest release. “Sex” starts off with a Harry Connick, Jr. 25-ish piano intro and vocals that sound like they have been run through sand paper. For some reason after that, each of the last few words is repeated by a super cheesed, synth-type vocal which drags the sewer for a sound (literally), and is followed by some horrible, shrill Nintendo fairy-like sound which would leave dogs howling. This finally stops, which is only a tease backed by some early Red Hot Chili Peppers funk, because the nightmare continues with all three vocals joining in to form the synth-vocal trio from hell.
The whole album is not like this, although vocal effects, synths, and loops do play a part in most of the songs. “Freedom” starts off the album with a folk feel (the root is picked before the chord) on the acoustic guitar. The vocalist has a warm rustic quality to his voice and repeats the same chord/vocal phrases throughout the entire song, finishing off the song with the line “…This song gone too long, how’d you know?”, just what the listener has been thinking. A Talking Heads inspired egocentric “Death” follows, driven by a repeating Casio keyboard phrase and background vocals which sound exactly like David Byrne’s yelping from “Burning down the House”. “Instrument Panel Confessional”, a song praising the pain which life brings, sounds as if the drums, guitars, bass, keyboard, and vocals were all recorded using a Casio keyboard in some guy’s basement over the course of a few hours. The high point on the album is the regret-filled hidden track, which sounds like a Jay-Z/Linkin Park Collision Course track. This track is a lot more tasteful than the other tracks with its percussion loops and bright chorus effect on the guitar.
Caldera has done a great job adequately mixing pop and hip-hop to achieve something which doesn’t get heard much on the radio. However, the production sounds as if the producders were asleep in the other room and gave thumbs up when questions were asked about the sound, just so they could roll back over and go back to sleep. The guys in Caldera need to cut off the synth-effects and cut back on the overdone experimentation so they can focus on writing songs with verses and choruses, and actually figure out what they want to sound like.
Ryan T. White
HEY, THIS IS A REVIEW OF CALDERA'S SUNSHINE AND SINS ALBUM, IT'S THE BEST THING I'VE EVER READ!!!! THANKS RYAN!!!
-
Austin based Caldera (not the drug) attempts to make themselves something bigger than they actually are from the very beginning of their bio. They consider themselves to be a philosophical construct, rather than a band, and imply that people may have actually heard of them because of their exploits, rather than their music; a really deluded idea for those of us outside of Texas. Their album Sunshine and Sins follows this pattern, hyped as doing something new, but at the same time, making the same old mistakes that other artists have been making since technological breakthroughs have made so many options available for recording music.
The scariest moment on the entire album is the track called “Sex”, but this is not because of the song’s content. It’s simply because this track is in the running for worst song to actually be recorded in history. These guys were either really high or got a vocal effect processor for Christmas, decided to record their first effort using it, and then put it on their latest release. “Sex” starts off with a Harry Connick, Jr. 25-ish piano intro and vocals that sound like they have been run through sand paper. For some reason after that, each of the last few words is repeated by a super cheesed, synth-type vocal which drags the sewer for a sound (literally), and is followed by some horrible, shrill Nintendo fairy-like sound which would leave dogs howling. This finally stops, which is only a tease backed by some early Red Hot Chili Peppers funk, because the nightmare continues with all three vocals joining in to form the synth-vocal trio from hell.
The whole album is not like this, although vocal effects, synths, and loops do play a part in most of the songs. “Freedom” starts off the album with a folk feel (the root is picked before the chord) on the acoustic guitar. The vocalist has a warm rustic quality to his voice and repeats the same chord/vocal phrases throughout the entire song, finishing off the song with the line “…This song gone too long, how’d you know?”, just what the listener has been thinking. A Talking Heads inspired egocentric “Death” follows, driven by a repeating Casio keyboard phrase and background vocals which sound exactly like David Byrne’s yelping from “Burning down the House”. “Instrument Panel Confessional”, a song praising the pain which life brings, sounds as if the drums, guitars, bass, keyboard, and vocals were all recorded using a Casio keyboard in some guy’s basement over the course of a few hours. The high point on the album is the regret-filled hidden track, which sounds like a Jay-Z/Linkin Park Collision Course track. This track is a lot more tasteful than the other tracks with its percussion loops and bright chorus effect on the guitar.
Caldera has done a great job adequately mixing pop and hip-hop to achieve something which doesn’t get heard much on the radio. However, the production sounds as if the producders were asleep in the other room and gave thumbs up when questions were asked about the sound, just so they could roll back over and go back to sleep. The guys in Caldera need to cut off the synth-effects and cut back on the overdone experimentation so they can focus on writing songs with verses and choruses, and actually figure out what they want to sound like.
Ryan T. White
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