Not shilling just want advice

hey guys, my band made our first album a few months ago. i posted it a bit in soundcloud / bandcamp threads but didn't get much reception. we are now gearing up to write and record a second album and i want to know what can be improved on.

is our sound too generic? what is generic about it? what are the weaknesses of the album? what are the strengths?

i'm really not shilling, this album is kind of old now and i don't care about it as much, i'm focusing on the next one now and i want to know how we can make it better.
thanks.

mouseatouille.bandcamp.com/album/fill-the-bathtubs-turn-off-the-lights-and-brace-for-the-new-millennium

You sound like a NMH rip off and NMH isn't even good

Well, your name is the gayest shit I've ever seen, and your vocalist blows. So that's a start.

"mouseatouille" lmao

never change Sup Forums

what needs a change is your band's stupid name

op here!! name is not changing ahaha.

we're tryna deviate from the nmh influence, hopefully, we can find our own sound better on the next album.

yeah the vocalist is pretty shit on this album but he's getting better. the other members in the band are gonna sing more also, so that should help fix that.

thanks for the criticism so far!! keep it coming : )

I don't understand why you're going to Sup Forums for actual advice.

bc you guys are harsh critics and my friends just like the music bc i make it. i want fresh ears who dont know me and have no reason to be nice about it ahaha.

it's just bad, there is not much to say about it. practice.

Call your band Neutral Milk Hotel

practice what? what songs did you listen to? : )

practice everything. timing, singing, sogwriting, guitar tuning etc.
then again, playing is for fun. if you have fun do it and stop caring what people think about it.

do you think we sound too similar to nmh? in what ways? we tried to take inspiration from other artists like guided by voices, the microphones etc.

i'm trying to wear my influences less on my sleeve, what specifically makes you think that we sound like nmh? : )

hey thanks this is good : ) we have definitely gotten tighter since this album but we like a bit of that loose feel. are we too loose? we dont want to sound perfect but we dont want to sound like we are genuinely bad musicians.

yeah we have a lot of fun when we play ahaha. we're an 8 piece band and we pretty much just jam stuff out when we do it live, no parts written or anything. it's hard to not care what people think tho, it'd be cool if we could make music that other people enjoyed listening to as much as we enjoyed playing. : ))

Hallo Spencer

close but no cigar

>do you think we sound too similar to nmh? in what ways?
The way your vocal melodies are, the production, the song structure, the chord progressions all make it sound like nmh. Not to mention the buildup into the start of the second track, its the most transparent itaots ripoff.
I quite like it tho desu. I guess you could try some different things with the melodies and the production to mix it up, have some creativity now that youve got the ability to lay down an already existing sound.

thanks : )) i'm trying to make more diverse sounding songs! thanks for this advice it's v constructive. we'll take all of this into consideration : ))

also glad that you like it ahah

Not my cup of tea but keep on keeping on

thanks : ))

Don't worry about the trolls dude. Honestly you sound a lot like NMH but wouldn't think of it as a bad thing

Given that this is y'all's first release, your sound will change if you stay together as a band. So I just wouldn't even worry about it. Keep pumpin on

Hey OP,
Professional musician here.
Change the name.
Find someone to work on your image because its not grabbing and doesn't exactly relate to the sonic landscape you are trying to deliver.
Change the name, no one is going to tell a friend about a band if their name is bad or lacking. Its more of a con than a pro.
Find a better engineer.
If your first album is a dud and no one listens to it. Scrap it, come back.
Hopefully this helped! Making it in music is a lot of fucking up and changing so don't be worried. Also most people on this board are idiots who listen to the same 10 albums every week so don't come here for criticism.

thanks!!
i'm glad that people are giving me criticism. that's the reason i posted here in the first place. we just finished playing some venues around my area. decent gigs, over a hundred people who came specifically for the music on the good nights. i've heard some good things about the band but i can tell that we have lots of room to improve, which is why i'm here ahaha. i know a lot of these guys are incredibly picky and won't hold back.

i like the name. people in my area dig it. it's easy on the tongue (i understand it's not easy on the eyes tho ahah).

we did the engineering pretty much by ourselves. used all analogue gear and stuff. had a dude come in and master it (friend of ours) he's worked with big and small acts of all different genres and felt what we were after pretty well.

as for our image, what is wrong with it? what even is it? it's not something i've even considered. we just are who we are ahaha.

hey thanks dude : ))