Jake excellent! a goulash of killer instros done The Verb' way looking forward to your release! give my regards to the guys.

Kyle

-Kyle

Beyond The Surf YouTube channel
Beyond The Surf Instagram
The Verbtones @ Instagram
The Verbtones @ Facebook
The Verbtones @ bandcamp

FenderShowman63
I keep getting that annoying pop up advertisement though. What gives I tell ya' what gives?

Dude, if you knew how much they were paying us to have those ads there you wouldn't be complaining.

Thanks! I know exactly what the violins would sound like. Everybody in the band has the same thing in mind. It isn't something we could have done in the time frame. "Love Theme from "A 'Verb in Despair" was only practiced 6 times before we recorded and Los Perdidos was practiced 3-4 times. And we wrote most of the parts in the studio for Los Perdidos.

Which is why it was called Major Motion Picture Soundtrack until we found a proper name for it.

Recording that song was unique(and a ton of fun). I didn't track with the band except for a small finger picked part during the second verse that you can't even hear. Too bad since it sound gorgeous. One take on the acoustic, had no idea how I was going to play it before I sat down in front of the mic. Eric didn't play lead guitar when we did live tracking for the song. We did that a couple times on this album. Very different process for us.

SURFmole
Violins would sound good but Mellotron would be my choice!!

A Mellotron would sound HOT!

-Kyle

Beyond The Surf YouTube channel
Beyond The Surf Instagram
The Verbtones @ Instagram
The Verbtones @ Facebook
The Verbtones @ bandcamp

Guys, these songs are sounding really great! "Suspense in Sector 7" is really ripping! Coupled with that crazy fast double picking, the lead guitar tone has a certain buzziness that makes me think of swarming bugs or something. It's a cool effect. My only gripe is that I feel that song may have benefited from an extra section, but what's there is already good enough that the song stands well as is. It kicks a good amount of ass, so I most definitely approve.

"Alone in My Principles" makes for a good softer tune. I have to admit it got me kinda bored after a couple minutes, but it definitely redeems itself with the escalating B parts, especially to close it out. In fact, it closes really quite satisfyingly.

"Los Perdidos" is really cool. Nice Spanish flair to it, and the 3/4 time makes it have a certain unstable feel to it at times, especially with the opening trumpet part. It works well though, sounds pretty urgent. Again, I like the big finish. Lots of layers and texture.

"Last Stand of the Mercenary" is my favorite. That's an irresistible hook! All these songs have a 'Verb feel, but this one I think does it the best, with that poppy catchiness that's by now pretty distinctly 'Verbian. Coupled with those classy tones (the tone on all the songs is really stellar) and yet another mercenary-related title, I'd say this is pretty archetypal 'Verb to my ear.

I dunno, I guess "Love Theme..." didn't do it for me as much. Not quite up my alley I suppose, but not at all unenjoyable. It's definitely got a visual, cinematic quality to it. Good call on the title.

One thing I've got to add is that I'm really glad to hear the rhythm guitar diversified on these new songs. No offense to Jake, but I thought the rhythm on "Reverberated for Your Pleasure" was too redundant, and as a result became the undoing of some of the songs when played in succession. I think with the rhythm freed up on these new tunes the songs have more individual identities. They sound damn good!

Jake -
Very tasty tunes with Suspense in Sector 7 also my favorite and Last Stand of the Mercenary running a close 2nd. Ironically I was listening to _Reverberated... for your pleasure _ this past Saturday on a 4 hour drive to Daytona Beach. Can't wait to add your new CD to the collection. If you do T's be sure to save me the non-kick-ass, bright pink with "The Verb" written in Times New Roman in a much too small font.

Frank

CUTBACK

First of all, yes - the MySpace player is still screwing up.

The first song had some promise - the opening drum fill gets noticeably clumsy in a few places, but the guitar parts are decent during the intro. After that, though ... the verse melody doesn't have much to keep it in memory. The part that first occurs at 0:36 - the guitars don't mesh well at all during it, which is really distracting, especially the second time around. Could have really used a bridge. The change in the lead melody for the outro doesn't really work - it's a lot weaker than the other variant.

"Love Theme ..." and especially "Alone in My Principles" failed what I like to call the Boss Martians Test - which is to say, I didn't make it more than halfway into the song before skipping forward and hoping the next one is better. Some of the lead and upper register chords on "Alone in My Principles" sounded out of tune. I didn't make it to the much ballyhooed climax. (I did go back and listen to "Love Theme ..." all the way through, though.)

"Los Perdidos" is way too repetitive, especially the trumpet part, which is which has absolute zero variance. It works as a fanfare at the beginning, but after that it just feels like the bottom falls out underneath it on the repeats. The second part (chorus?) feels like it's tripping over itself, rhythmically. Rhythm guitars sound noticeably thin throughout, and the dual lead sections don't really add much.

As for "Last Stand of the Mercenary," the guitar parts don't mesh in the beginning. Awkward groove once the drums kick in. Really repetitive melody in the B section. The ending comes out of nowhere - this was the one song that felt like maybe it was building toward something, too. Again, coulda used a bridge.

"Love Theme ..." sounds inspired by the Huntington Cads' more mellow songs, only it lacks Chris Barfield's knack for melodies that stick in your head as well as their lush production. There's so little variance between the two main parts that it ends up feeling a LOT more repetitive than it actually is. (See also: "Last Stand ...") On the plus side, it has a bridge! The volume increase works well, but the lead melody during it was forgotten before it was even over.

Almost all of the songs - or sorry, "pieces" - have parts that sound way too close to each other, and that's top to bottom, not just the chord progressions or the lead. Overall the production is noticeably better than what you guys have released in the past.

-Warren

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

Warren, your critique has me wondering why these tunes really work for me. I am certain that I don't have your discerning ear. Maybe that's all it is. But where you see a lack, I see a _virtue _of your main point--that the work is repetitive and lacks variance.

I have contemplated why the 'Verb tunes (here and on their last album) seem so expansive (and yes, cinematic). I think I have it down to the fact that they seem to exist in an endless loop---that one can come in on the end, the middle, the beginning--and have the feeling that the song existed before you listened to it, and will continue after you have finished.

The very fact that there is no denouement, no real crescendo (aside from a slow, albeit subtle, building of intensity within the restricted confines of the musical themes of many of their "songs") to me gives them a timeless quality. The lack of drama is a welcome change of pace in a musical form that is too often about bombast.

Anyway, your thoughtful listening and comments gave me a good springboard for my own thoughts, so hope you don't mind. you are one of those who when they speak (especially about musical matters) I listen. It is really nice to have a good conversation about music once in a while.

That has me searching for an answer.

And I was just going to post that I want our next album to sound like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DQdjXkPta0&feature=related

I think our music has a lot of the same virtues that was in JS Bach's music. Baroque music has a very linear layout and has a lot of recitatives(repeating themes). And same with classical music, we have parts that are going to repeat, but you aren't going to hear them the same as the first time you heard them. There is going to be another melody on top of the existing theme or the dynamics will be serious upped with new accompaniment. While we may not accomplish that one every track. In my opinion the album has a couple fun "instro" track that are fun to listen to, and crowd pleasers live. But I think at least what Eric and I (Mike has a different approach I'd say) tried to accomplish is to make something symphonic. Eric is a terribly talented musician who has played in symphonies aplenty, and I am just a huge admirer of all the passion and themes that go into some of the works that I love. And whenever I listen to classical, be it Bach, Vivaldi, Brahms, Mozart, Mendelssohn, or even Messiaen every piece has repetition. Gorgeous themes that do something funny to the brain to elicit an emotional response of joy or pleasure.

That was a rather jumbled and not quite eloquent paragraph.

So... I think we just wanted to create something that sounded great, and was the music we like. The band has nearly stopped listening to any surf. Mike might dabble still, and he definitely enjoys other genres close to surf. But we have drifted and it was time for us to create something new for ourselves. Something that reflected where we were, what affected us, and most important what we are. We just aren't into the surf, hot rod, rockabilly, etc, scene. We enjoy the music, but just isn't who we are as people. I think we tried too hard on the first album to be "surf". We wrote some stereotypical lines and such. I think that finally caught up to us and we have nearly discovered who we are.

I do love to talk about myself!

I wish the board had more conversations like this though. Based on songwriting choices, open criticisms, and overall process.

And thanks to everybody willing to discuss this and listen to me and everybody else. It really is helpful to hear and to talk about.