Instrumental Psyche-Prog-Surf-Gaze

[andtheLiquidmen]

Hey! I've been trying to get this project off the ground for close to 3 years now, but after a long line of flaking musicians, I decided to just program the drums and play everything myself, just to get SOMETHING heard. All of these songs were written in late 2010/early 2011, and pretty much reflect exactly what I wanted to do then. I'm trying to move more and more away from what someone could mistake as "traditional" surf, and more into something that's just generally instrumental.

Something that might interest a few of you is that all of the sounds (with the exception of the programmed drums, as well as theremin, trombone and fake brass section on one track) were made with guitar/pedals. No keyboards, synth, etc.

Anywho, I have it up for pay-what-you-want (or just grab it for free) download at: http://beautyandtheliquidmen.bandcamp.com
If it piques your fancy enough that you could say that you "Like" the music, the Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/beautyandtheliquidmen

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/andtheliquidmen/01-third-planet-of-the-black-2[/soundcloud]
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/andtheliquidmen/02-the-existential-fear-of-a-1[/soundcloud]
[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/andtheliquidmen/03-return-to-the-sea-1[/soundcloud]

Feedback/comments/criticisms very much appreciated

[DarkAxel]

Hey there, fellow home musician

nice ideas, i like the songs, the first one is just amazingly catchy and the third one is beautifully atmospheric
but i think you might work some more on EQing and mixing - it's sometimes kinda mushy...

btw... don't give up on your dream, it took me more than three years to find musicians for my project as well... but i have now and we've already rehearsed one song
and it's bloody worth it

good luck and take care!
btw... liked on facebook, will download the album

[jfrey]

Sounds pretty cool man.

[andtheLiquidmen]

Hey there, fellow home musician

nice ideas, i like the songs, the first one is just amazingly catchy and the third one is beautifully atmospheric
but i think you might work some more on EQing and mixing - it's sometimes kinda mushy...

btw... don't give up on your dream, it took me more than three years to find musicians for my project as well... but i have now and we've already rehearsed one song
and it's bloody worth it

good luck and take care!
btw... liked on facebook, will download the album

Thanks! I know this will sound like a piss-poor excuse, but "mushy" is exactly the sort of mix I was going for with this release

Sounds pretty cool man.

Why thank you!

[Gutmann]

woah, I like that!

[Chankgeez]

I liked that third song a lot.

[Ghost Hip]

Sounds like rad stuff from my brief listen. Downloaded!

[andtheLiquidmen]

woah, I like that!

I liked that third song a lot.

Sounds like rad stuff from my brief listen. Downloaded!

Thanks gang! Physical copies of Half Human with build-it-yourself diorama are now available for $3 + shipping!

I'm going to have a split with my friend's project out in the next month or so with a couple of new tracks on it.

[dubkitty]

that's beautiful. i'm not mad about the first track because i'm not a huge fan of surf music, but it's got more twists, turns, and tunes than three Mermen tracks. i love the huge slashing horn chords on track 2, which remind me of Lalo Schifrin and John Barry soundtrack music in the best possible way, and similarly really enjoy the Sonic Youth-meets-Morricone vibe of the latter part of track 3. my only big critique is that the drum programming is somewhat clunky; particularly, the bass drum is too busy. but generally the construction of the tracks is really impressive. i'd love to work on this kind of stuff.

and i the faux synth and theremin stuff.

[andtheLiquidmen]

that's beautiful. i'm not mad about the first track because i'm not a huge fan of surf music, but it's got more twists, turns, and tunes than three Mermen tracks. i love the huge slashing horn chords on track 2, which remind me of Lalo Schifrin and John Barry soundtrack music in the best possible way, and similarly really enjoy the Sonic Youth-meets-Morricone vibe of the latter part of track 3. my only big critique is that the drum programming is somewhat clunky; particularly, the bass drum is too busy. but generally the construction of the tracks is really impressive. i'd love to work on this kind of stuff.

and i the faux synth and theremin stuff.

Firstly, thank you for the overwhelming compliments. Secondly, I totally agree with your assessment of the drums. I attempted to program them "loosely" as possible, but I feel that in doing that I definitely left too much variation in the kick drum in particular. That and the sample-pack I ended up using was pretty clunky itself. Not a whole lot of room for dynamic, and consequently I spent more time trying to get it to sound "human" than OCDing some of the parts. I'm looking into switching to Addictive Drums or EZDrummer if a human replacement isn't located in the next month.

Now if only we lived on the same coast. I'd kill for musicians to collaborate/perform with.