From – Thoughts?
Here’s a bit of a weird one, Toadlings. I am going to moderate all comments on this post and then approve them all at once, after everyone has had a chance to weigh in. The reason for this is because I want to avoid any sort of peer conformity, and want a pure and honest opinion from everyone. Sound a bit contrived? Well let’s give it a go, shall we.
From is a band, and From is Roni Brunn. She’s had something of a varied career, from handbag designer to web developer, and has some pretty hefty academic credentials behind her – she majored in economics at Harvard, and is a self-taught musician. All this is from her own bio, so I couldn’t tell you if any of it is embellished, but it’s an impressive list.
The reason for this blind-commenting, secret ballot nonsense is this: I have been involved in a conversation about this music, and one where I was very, very much at odds with the other party, and surprisingly so since we tend to agree on musical things. The two opinions went vaguely along these lines: Argument A: she is a self-promoting, talentless joke; Argument B: the early stuff isn’t that good, but the new single is really infectious and it will be interesting to see where she goes from here. Basically, given that our opinions were so completely at odds, we both thought it would be really interesting to get an entirely innocent and non-partisan reaction from Toad readers, which is what this is.
Here is her website so you can check that out, and here are three songs to help you make up your minds:
The new single: From – One Spring Away
The cover version:From – Fall On Me
The old song: From – American Girl
So, we need answers. Remember that she is an unsigned artist so if you are going to come down on the negative side of this argument, don’t be too mean, in case she reads this, but basically we’d like to know: promising popstrel or worthless waif?
If you do like it, remember to chip in your $0.89 here at Amazon.
And here’s the video of American Girl, as further grist to the mill:
None of the comments on this thread will be approved until all the verdicts are in – so leave your comment and I will approve them all on Thursday 2nd. Make your voice heard.
No comments yet? Ok, I’ll start.
I don’t consider myself a music critic and haven’t heard anything of her before, so this “review” (which definitely isn’t a review) will probably be a tad bit too subjective. The new single “One Spring Away” is really better than “American Girl”. “American Girl” is not a really “gripping” or “touching” song, a song you probably forget about. There’s just not the special “it”. The chorus is quite flat and if you listen to this song for several times it gets extremely annoying. The music has (in my opinion) nearly no melody, which doesn’t make it a good song either. The new song is a step forward, but it’s kind of too keyboardish (Does this word even exist?). A nice guitar arrangement and a proper drummer would help the song a lot. I hope it’s not just me but to me she seems a bit too mainstream, like she is trying too hard. I mean I don’t think that she wants to become the next “star”, but to get her music promoted. I miss this “looseness”, that turns an even simple song into a work of genius. If she will become famous is really hard to say. I mean some bands that only promote their image get rich and famous, and other extremely talented musicians that really work their arse(s) off will never be heard of just because they don’t “fit in”. For my part, I would be more interested in her if she used a lot more “real” instruments (now that sounds stupid, sorry) and wrote more songs you would consider as rock’n'roll, whatever that should mean.
(Apologies for all grammatical or orthographic mistakes, I’m not a native speaker)
I downloaded and listened to the new single. I thought it was instrumentally interesting in a quirky and irreverent kind of way, but the lyrics were, well, banal and her voice wasn’t my cup of tea. I didn’t bother to download and listen to the rest since I only got half way through the first. Power to her for chasing her dream, but her music really doesn’t work for me.
This really just isn’t doing it for me. It’s lacking spark, inspiration, LIFE. I don’t get the point, but if she’s having a good time and can make a go of things, God bless here.
I’m going to have to go with option a). And with some force!
I’m all for self taught and all that, but this has absolutely nothing going for it what so ever. She should go and listen to music and contrast it with this. The synth sounds, you can only assume on purpose, like a cheap casio that a child got for Christmas. There really no melody, and the songs don’t really go any where.
I’m amazed there was a debate about this. But I’ll stop now because you said don’t come down to hard on her. You don’t have to post this. Sorry I can’t be more constructive old chap.
Sorry, don’t like her voice. Sounds pretty flat. Some people will like that kind of singing I guess, but not me I’m afraid.
okay… the melody is nice enough…the lyrics are also passable…the instrumentation on the other hand is truly poor. it’s just too clean and nice and chirpy. i think if you’re going to use pre-programmed backing tracks then you absolutely must try to find a way to make the sound unique to yourself (as you would a guitar). that’s not to say it has to be 100% original (what is?). could be good, just not this time.
on the bright side, she is bright.
Nope. It’s difficult not to think of some of the comments on the Jenny Lewis thread about being blinded by the light. What it reminds me of a little is Flunk, particularly their cover of blue monday, everything stripped back and laid back, but her out of Flunk has a lovely voice and this one does nothing for me at all. Sorry.
I listened to Fall On Me first, intrigued because she doesn’t look like your average REM fan.
The verdict based on that track alone was as follows:
No.
Just so very no.
Absolutely no.
Then I listened to the new single.
It made me want to drink Domestos while listening to Half Man Half Biscuit.
Then I listened to the old song.
It made me want to hunt down Gary Numan and throttle him with a white silk scarf attached to the propeller of his own light aircraft.
Overall, I find very little of appeal here.
A fascinating experiment though, Matthew. Thank you.
I agree – Argument A: she is a self-promoting, talentless joke
That shit is horrible! She has no voice, to speak of.
Also, she can’t sing. She only uses one not, and it’s flat.
God I’m sorry because I know you don’t like people to take apart unsigned artists but this is dreadful. “Yeah, I am an American girl” uses just under one note. And it’s flat! Proof, if it were needed, that just because any person can make an album doesn’t mean they should.
Delete this sentence if you want but I’m fairly sure John Lennon is currently wondering if you shoot yourself in heaven, can you die more? Because I’m sure he wants to.
So here’s the thing. Dismiss the god awful version of Fall on Me because it is apparent that she cannot really sing when presented with material that requires any sort of octave changes. The old song has a Nico doing dance pop vibe which I guess could be appealing, but in the end the whole sound and look is bland and boring. Musically, there is some hope but in the end her voice (or lack thereof) kills any sort of interest I would have.
Ok, here’s the deal, I love, adore, positively am smitten by a woman’s voice in today’s music. I’ll listen to just about anything that features the feminine attempt to sing. And I like her voice very much. I like it so much so that I wish the music was better. If only she had a stronger beat, a harsher guitar and bass track to hook that solid vocal on this band might really make a mark. Instead of that tinkly dinkly sound they have now, I’d love to see them really rip into something and let her go. Maybe that’s just me, and my inner punk gurl wanting out again after being trapped in a 40-something body for far too long now, but this pretty young thing in the picture could offer us more I feel. American Girl hints at it, for all she seems to want to be PJ Harvey (?) I think there might be a Poly Styrene or a Suzi Gardner in there to be uncovered.
As it is, I agree, the new stuff is infectious and will definitely go somewhere. The “look” is there, the marketing is there, and she’s far too pretty to be ignored. I closed my eyes when listening, it helped.
xoxox
I’m afraid I’m sitting very comfortably on the negative side of the fence. I’m reclining on a lounge and drinking one of those fruity cocktail things with an umbrella in it. That’s how comfortable I am here.
I find this stuff pretty flat and uninspiring to be honest. Not a fan of the vocals especially – I think they’re pretty monotonous and lacking expression.
I do want to say though Matthew that you’ve come up with a pretty clever way to get people to listen to her gear. I probably would’ve completely bypassed this and not even had a listen if it wasn’t for the interesting way you’ve chosen to present it. I hope for her sake that other people choose to have a listen too based solely on your secret ballot idea and that she gains a few more fans from it.
the single is pretty interesting regardless of whether she is a promising popstrel or worthless waif. it reminds me a slightly wonky st etienne.
Listended to American Girl. Shades of Liz Phair and The Passions but not impressed. If economics is the dismal science; this is dismal music. Trying not to be mean, I’ve listened to One Spring Away. This is better but not a keeper. And as for the cover version…I had my head in my hands. Sorry.
this is a joke thread right?
Nup. Not for me.
Not downright bad, and the self-promotion is jarring but hardly a crime; I think the thing that turns me off is that all three tracks come across as somewhat cold and disengaged. I’m not sure if it’s the voice or the production, but I feel as if the music doesn’t like me listening to it.
Hmmm.
I prefer the new song to the old one.
And I think I’ll leave it at that.
Erm, wow. DC will be feeling very pleased with himself.
Basically this all came about because DC started leaving comments on the Jeff Lewis post the other day laughing his arse off at how comically bad this stuff is and how craven he found all the attention-seeking and haha just listen to that voice, and the video! Watch the video!
He only stopped in his tracks when I commented back saying that actually, I like One Spring Away. In fact, stopped in his tracks understates the case, I think. Poor lad nearly choked on his pork scratchings. Anyhow, after we bounced a few comments back and forth and DC had recovered his composure we decided to scrub all the comments and try the above as an experiment to see what everyone else thought.
As it is, I disagree with all of you. In terms of self-promotion, it doesn’t actually bother me. It seems to me to be pretty genuine and what else is she supposed to do – not make any effort at all?
Anyway, that’s all by the way, it’s the music that counts. I agree that American Girl isn’t very good. I don’t like it much either. But the flat instrumentation and vocal seems to be to be a deliberate style, inspired very much by the likes of the Velvet Underground and most obviously Nico. I understand most of you don’t like it, but I think it’s good actually, when done well.
One Spring Away is the newest song, and I find it extremely catchy and enjoyable and bouncy and hummable, so there we go. And because it is the most recent song, I am inclined to ignore the fact that I don’t like the early stuff, write it off as development, and wait until there are a couple more new songs before passing judgment. I see it as all moving in a positive direction and if the next songs are good too, then who cares about the very early stuff.
In short, One Spring Away is a good pop song, I’m enjoying it and every last one of you (except Tart and wh666, obviously) can just bugger off. So there.
Not my cup of tea but good luck to her.
Jebus Christmas. Does anyone have anything nice to say. If she reads this thread the poor girl is going to be very depressed.
I LIKE IT Roni, don’t let these phillistines get you down!
Agnes wins the blind-tasting Pepsi-challenge best-remark-without-knowing-it prize:
Although Ben comes close with his delightful:
I’m glad that Matthew didn’t follow Ben’s suggestion and delete it. (As if that would happen here..)
I noticed one word being repeated quite often throughout, and that word was ‘flat’. Very interesting to see how most of us expressed a similar opinion, despite the lack of peer pressure etc. I think you definitely got the ‘pure and honest’ opinions that you were after Matthew!
And cheers Dylan – I’m honored!
Not at all, Agnes. You deserve it.
Matthew, give Agnes a prize..
I know, it’s interesting isn’t it. I would agree with flat, actually, but I don’t necessarily see it as a perjorative. Actually, I like this method of reviewing a band. It can be a bit harsh, like in this case, but I like the way it avoids Group-think which can be a problem on message boards and blogs and so on.
Maybe you’ve just conditioned us so we all think the same way now, anyway.
There are probably hypnotic subliminal messages hidden in the website somewhere we’re all responding to.
It’s probably a plot for world domination or something..
Or to annex the global production of gin for my own nefarious purposes.
Are we to become your gin monkeys?
“Gin, monkey, gin!”
Actually, don’t mention gin just yet. I’m still smelling a bit like pot pourri as the results of Sunday night’s shenanigans continue to seep from my pores.
I think it’s a great method. But yes, it can be pretty harsh. I did find myself hedging my bets a little bit, not wanting to be the person who made the harshest comment. So I guess I was kind of thinking a little bit about what I expected others to say. And Dylan you’re probably right. Let’s just hope Matthew will be a benevolent dictator.
I win! I win!
I wouldn’t hold out much hope for that, Agnes…
On a serious note, that was genuinely a very interesting exercise (subject matter aside); one I think, if repeated for future music features/reviews, would serve to keep initial responses focussed on Toad’s wordage & the music itself — affording the artist & output a little more musi-blog attention than is currently the ‘meet you in the pub at 8pm’ norm.
Granted, it wouldn’t work for all music/subjects, simply because, well, you only have to look at the older posts on the more obscure/downbeat/quieter/whatever bands/artistes to see sometimes very few people (if any) actually comment on stuff they are ambivalent about or if the subject isn’t a ball grabber. From, if nothing else, grabs your balls, no?
Still, a worthy experiment & one I think bears repeating.
Hmmm… I don’t know DC.
This was a fascinating experiment and it has teased a few more of the irregular (as opposed to ‘regular’) commentators out of the woodwork this time, but I don’t think it would continue to work if Matthew used it too often.
I’m going to use that word ‘novelty’ again in a minute.
There was clearly a novelty aspect to this exercise, and it’s been fascinating to take part in, but I think the novelty aspect has been the very cause of the influx of contributors on this occasion – and not necessarily the fairly mediocre music we were discussing.
I’m not sure that if every Toad music review was carried out in this manner the same thing would keep happening, and it might end up actually having a negative effect on the vitality of this site.
In my opinion, Matthew would be best served to keep this approach in reserve to use once in a while. It was good fun and I’d like to see it again – but not all the time.
This site is lucky to have a broad spectrum of visitors, and there are as many visitors who enjoy the random spontaneous banter as enjoy the in-depth musophile chin-stroking.
I kinda like both.
However, I’m also aware that some members of either group are often put off by the activities of the other.. I hear rumblings to both ends from regular and irregular commentators. However, I think both approaches can co-exist and that people should be encouraged to contribute in any way they want, as long as they’re contributing.
And in that, frustrations and all, I think we can stop worrying. We’re doing just fine as we are and the future’s looking rosy.
When I say ‘we’ I mean that inclusively.
I mean all of us: the regulars and the irregulars, the chin-strokers and the random nutjobs.
We’re all in this together – we’re all just Toad’s gin monkeys – so we better get used to it!
NOVELTY!!! NO, DON’T YOU DARE! Oh, sorry, we’ve moved on, have we?
Dylan, I don’t think DC was suggesting doing it lots, just that it seems to be an interesting exercise and that it would be good to do again in future. On from time to time though, as you say.
In terms of inconsequential chit chat vs serious musical debate, I am pretty relaxed about that again. There was a period recently where the local cliquey side of things seemed to be getting on top of the musical stuff, and I was a little worried about that, but recently the balance has been pretty good.
Basically, I want to have my cake and eat it too: I want lots of proper music discussion, and people trying to make intelligent points. I also want people to have fun being here, to build a community, not just local, and have this site thought of as a fun way to hang out and waste some time during the work day or whenever.
All that really needs to happen is to maintain some balance between the two. I can do that myself to a degree, with the tone of both the posts and my replies, but apart from a crazy week or two just before End of the Road I think it’s been a good mix.
I have to say, I’m actually more concerned by DC’s ‘meet you in the pub at 8′ comment.
I mean, 8? Fuck – I’m usually half-pissed by then!
i’m again about a day and a half behind everyone, which has been the situation for a while – so i guess that makes me an irregular contributor, but i assure you i am still an avid reader/listener. i have been discussing of late the intensity of muso chat on here and whilst it makes for fantastic reading, some of us, namely me!! kind of lack the insight to be able to contribute all the time, so whilst we are all here for the same reason, music, i think the light hearted banter is as necessary as the in depth analysis of the stuff we are listening to. Its a good mix.
And this was a good experiment, even if i totally missed it!!!
You’re certainly irregular.
I think it could be interesting to go even further (just as an experiment): a selection of chosen tracks, to be evaluated with no artist name, no song titles, no links, no videos, no pictures, no bio… evaluate the music in a context free zone and see what people think.
In this instance, I found myself wondering how I would listen differently if I had not had my preconceptions shaped by the website, the marketing, the background, the visual style of the video, connections to Sex and the City and Justin Timberlake, etc. For all that Matthew can claim that “that’s all by the way, it’s the music that counts”, I find “that” influences my subjective experience of music, regardless of how objective I might try to be.
Nice legs.
That would be quite an interesting thing to do actually. I’ll give that some thought.
You can tell you’re a professional music writer, MIlo. It’s that economical turn of phrase that gives it away.
Whats with indie chicks and paleness btw? Is perfecting china white skin the ultimate rejection of all things Posh Spice, Jordan and the other Orange people that fill our high streets.
What do Orange People listen to? Where do they shop? What do they eat (nothing for some, rather too much for many – there doesn’t seem to be an in between)
Can we do an anthropology post comparing and contrasting Chickus Indicus and Slappera Orangiboom?
Orange people listen to bangin choonz, darlin’, and it’s all shit. Besides, you’d better be grateful I like clever, pale women or you’d be out of a job.
Chickus Indicus, indeed! See? That’s why I closed my eyes when listening, and yes — she’s flat and without affect on purpose, but it’s not without feeling. I stick to my guns, I like her voice. How many male vocalists do this type of thing and you all lap it up and call it genius? Not to start a gender war here but honestly, think about it. We generally hold women to some higher melodic standard I think and give them far less artistic leeway.
Great idea here Matthew, thanks for the exercise xoxo
Oh and Matthew, I never realized you paid Mrs. Toad! My wife does it all for free, you Scots really are odd.
I don’t know if that’s anything like active gender discrimination, Tart. I think music taste is a bit more instinctive than that. I don’t disagree with the observation though, just the mechanism you’re suggesting.
And yes, I still like this too.
Tart does ma a good point that what is acceptable for a woman was more or less defined 2 years ago and left there. Howl like Aretha, Purr like Bardot. Done and dusted.
But I think to claim gender discrimination the young lady might want to step out of the miniskirt and put some proper musicians clothes on.
I meant to write ’20′ years ago.
Ah so we instinctively like a larger tonal range but it’s been bred out of us by a generation of (male dominated) indie music, ok, I’ll buy that!
Well Tart as usual I flap around like an amateur on a generalisations high when trying to explain myself, and I think you may have done it better than I could. Certainly more succinctly. I always felt that we gravitated to flat indie singing because it reminded us of music in pubs and there was comfort there. Maybe it’s just that the best song writes aren’t necessarily the best singers. And visa versa. Interesting musings on the subject from someone smarter than me here:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug08/articles/soundingoff_0808.htm
They all sound like I stepped in something sticky and unpleasant.
This music should be prescribed as a colonoscopy prep.
[...] Song By Toad: From – Thoughts? Ok now this was pretty interesting. Matthew put up three tracks by ‘From’ and gave everyone a day to listen to the tracks and leave a comment with their thoughts. The interesting part is that he published the comments all at once, giving everybody the chance to give their honest opinion without being influence by the comments of others. Very cool. I can inform you that I was not impressed at all by this artist, but I will let you read the other comments to see how my opinion compared to the others. In addition to being a great way to get uninfluenced opinions, I also thought it was an excellent strategy to bring an artist to the attention of others. While her gear wasn’t at all my cup of tea, I don’t think I would’ve even listened had it not been for the inventive way Matthew chose to present it. Check it out. [...]
Sorry about that spiel up there Matthew – didn’t realise it would do that! Thought this post was worth some linkage.
She can’t sing,as has been mentioned she’s flat.
Judging from her background and the fairly high production quality of the video, I would hazard a guess that she comes from a wealthy background and daddy is bankrolling her attempts to be famous. I could be wrong but, I just don’t like it.
[...] be pleased to know that Roni Brunn from From sent me an email last night and given the monumental ripping she got from everyone, she was incredibly gracious. So whether or not you like her music it seems like she is a nice [...]
Hello Toad
nice blog, nice means of getting a response!
I gave the youtube clip 59 seconds before coming to the conclusion that this was an outtake from Smack The Pony spoofing the Darling Buds, and that it hadn’t been deemed strong enough to warrant inclusion in their last series on Channel 4.
That was ten minutes of my life I can never ever get back.
You’re a cunt Toad…….