Artist: Nautical Disaster
Song: “Your Lying Stars” (from the CD Interceptor)
Heard by: Lucas Blankartz, North Park
I thought it was a pretty decent song. It started out really bass-heavy and sounded very spacey and dark. It sounds like it could have come from the ’80s or pretty much any band from that era. They’re not a gothic band, but the song definitely has a darker feel to it. The overall musicianship and composition was good; it flowed and was easy to follow. The instrumentation was pretty straightforward. They used a lot of reverb, which was good. I liked the tone. The recording was a little blown out, and it added some nice fuzz to the bass. It’s dreary and drone-y, so I can imagine listening to that song in the rain when you’re feeling down.

Artist: Jimmy Powers
Song: “Jimmy Who” (from The Snare & Kick Project EP)
Heard by: Brandon, South Park
It was kind of terrible, in my opinion. It was like Eminem mixed with Slug and P-Diddy. The vocals were monotone and kind of boring. The beat was not very creative; [it was] slow-paced and didn’t make me feel hyped at all. I thought he was rapping about his genitalia in the song. He kept rapping about “Jimmy,” but who the hell is that? When I was younger I followed local hip-hop closely. I know what good-quality hip-hop is, and that’s not it. It’s just not very creative or thoughtful — the opposite of what the people around me were doing at the time. I would give him a 2 out of 10 just to be cool with the guy because he put forth the effort.

Artist: Aepnia
Song: “Riding the Lie” (from the CD Not the End)
Heard by: Fouad Bachar, Chula Vista
The music is very nice, but if his voice was a little bit higher it would be perfect. I wasn’t able to understand the lyrics much because the music was louder than the vocals. This is the type of music most teenagers would listen to and they would appreciate it more than I do. My girls are 19 and 20, and they would appreciate it more because it’s the new generation of music. It’s beautiful music, and I would want to listen to it more. It had a nice beginning and climax. They have a good chance at being popular. It would be a good song to listen to in the morning before work to lift your energy so you can function through the day.