Mr. Furious Records

MR|Review directs readers’ limited attention among works via ratings, and within works via prose, focusing on works where our opinion diverges from critical or popular consensus, or we have significant insight that compliments or challenges readers’ aesthetic experience.

I write this as a guy who thinks “Shake The Sheets” is a 5-star record, and got into Ted Leo’s older stuff because of it and to the extent that it points toward “Sheets;” “The Brutalist Bricks” is less than the sum of its parts.

Leo & Co.’s inclusion of some fresh sounds - acoustic guitar, synthy noise - are welcome in theory, but make “Bricks” seem a bit too ProTooled.  Song arrangements depart from verse/chorus/verse, which, again, seems good on paper but never gels.  Wish I could say it did; my hopes were high, but this is a classic record that’s for fans only.  If you don’t love TL+P already, “The Brutalist Bricks” won’t convert you.

As impossible as it would seem to predict before hearing “Broken Bells,” this superduo’s debut - the Shins’ James Mercer and Danger Mouse (The Grey Album, Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz’ “Demon Days” - sounds about like you’d expect.  And it will probably deliver at about the level you anticipate.

I imagine it went down like this:

1) James demo’d some songs

2) DM took each element, chords, vocals, lead lines, etc., and treated them as sample sources for his own re-creations

3) Voila; “Broken Bells.”

I’m sure it was more collaborative than that, but that’s about what we hear.  And it’s super-solid; no more, no less.

Mastering is tricky business; there are so many options, and such fine balances to weigh, that it’s never a straightforward proposition.  That being so, the final dynamics of the music I work with is always my top concern.  If the final master is too crushed, loud, and flat, or (on the other side of the spectrum) perceived as too soft relative to other music that listeners are likely to hear, nothing else I do is going to make up for it; it won’t be an enjoyable listen.

Toward that end, from the Production Advice blog:

Dynamic Range Day is March 20th, 2010

Join us in a day of protest against the CD “Loudness Wars” – more info below

• Show your support – check out the Facebook Event and RSVP to say you’ll “attend”
• It’s easy to take part – just SHOUT (type in all caps) ALL DAY, EVERYWHERE !
• And when people ask, tell them why you’re shouting
• Add a Dynamic Range Day Banner to your website or blog
• Use the Twitter hashtag #DYNAMICRANGEDAY

Read the full story here: Dynamic Range Day – The Idea

Latest News

• 05/03/10 Over 1200 guests confirmed to the Facebook already – and climbing
• 25/02/10 Dynamic Range Day Banners available for download
• 25/02/10 TurnMeUp.org adds a Dynamic Range Day banner to their front page…

What are the “Loudness Wars” ?

Music is getting louder, and sounding worse.

Engineers and artists are using modern technology to push the average level of recorded music up and up and up against the “brick wall” maximum level of the CD format.

This results in distortion, lack of punch and a flat, two-dimensional, lifeless sound …

STREAM via Flash below or .m3u

DOWNLOAD ALL via .zip from archive.org

1. The Night Is Long
2. I Got This Feeling
3. Never Get Lonely
4. This Song –> STAND UP
5. Blue-blue-Grey
6. So Disconnected
7. I See Something
8. Shame On Me
9. Dark Cloud Full Of Rain

This Wednesday, March 3, Mr. Furious Records and Brandon McKenzie will release Panda Face’s self-titled record.

Some of you know Brandon from Lincoln, NE indie band Strawberry Burns and his solo work as BLANE.  To my ears, if you dig BLANE (or MFR’s own Bike) you’ll enjoy Panda Face.

If you don’t know, give it a shot on Wednesday! -h

My ’80s-ish pop band, Five Star Crush, will perform in Kansas City at the Riot Room (formerly the Hurricane) in Westport on Monday night, March 8.  Hope to see you there! -h