DW. DUNPHY

The album is far from being monolith, as a matter of fact, the sounds are irrelevant from each other in most cases. However, this doesn't mean that listener would feel distracted. It does feel comfortable in a way Tangerine Dream feels the listener comfortable in a nearly chaotic way; and it provokes the musical habits of the listener by using a creative instrumentation. The understanding of composition of Dw. Dunphy is staggering; but, the tones or effects he chooses can be questioned as it feels quite 'synthetic'. Enthusiasts of experimental musical scenes such as krautrock and progressive electronic should give it a try.

The music here is tangents, cello and other symphonic orchestra music instruments doing some short pieces of music. I guess all instruments has been sampled. There is no vocals here at all.

The music can best be described as ambient. Very little happens during these thirty-seven minutes and I found it hard to concentrate on the music. By all means, those into more ambient music than I am will find this free download album a real treat. But the music makes it hard to stay awake.

The music is not without it's qualities though. The music is not bad and Dw Dunphy does a good job on the piano. But most of this album is not good at all. Ambient is good when there is some good melodies. Something this album mostly is without.

2 stars

Dw. Dunphy is his own man who does his own thing. Something I really admire him for. On Proud Sons Of The Suburbs, he is touching upon the big US (and UK) theme; the life in the suburbia. That's what I got out of the lyrics.

He uses some sound samples in addition to his own voice and instruments. The instruments are basically guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Some of them may be programmed. The sound is minimalistic.

The quality is good throughout. He manages to create a good suburbia feeling and replicate it's chores. I am not living in a US suburbia. I live in a suburbia somewhere in United Kingdom, but I recognice the sounds and the ambience. There is no great songs here, but it is still a good album well worth the free download it is. Strangely enough, I am giving it a three stars verdict although I up to the final listening session was settled on two stars. But I like the ambience and I understand what he is doing here. Hence the stars.

3 stars

This album was just put on the database but I've had it for some time so I'll go ahead and review it.

Simple, simple music is what this is. From what I hear the material is probably studio outtakes or something like that. Mainly Dunphy and his acoustic or electric guitar playing simple rock songs or jamming out. Nothing more, nothing less. Decent nonetheless, the last track is still stuck in my head, but some of the material is forgetable and lacks a certain quality that I can't put my finger on but would certainly make it better.

It's free, I semi-liked it. 3 stars. (His other material is better).

Yes, I understand that USA are in the middle of a roots to branches reflection over the Iraq war. A war which everyone have their own opinions about. That includes me too. So let's not go into if this war was justified or not. I don't want to even express an opinion about this issue which this album is based on. In this matter, I am only expressing my deeply felt admiration for the privates and the lower ranked officers in the US Army. My grading of this album is by no means a slur on them. But this album is a waste of time and my stars reflects that.

I have no idea what DW Dunphy is normally doing on his many free albums. But I hope his other albums is far better than this.

1 star

The main negative aspect of this production is the lo-fi approach used - the overall production leaves a lot to be desired in places; the drums in particular are aren't the best in quality in terms of sound as well as performance, and the album is generally marred by a cardbox sound overall.

Get past those issues and a wonderful collection of tunes reveals themselves though. Apart from the opening track; which I couldn't make heads or tails of; we're treated to some beautiful creations looking to Beatles and ELO for overall sound, with added symphonic qualities courtesy of the synths. For contemporary artists in the same vein Jeremy Morris is a good reference.

Later on compositions with a more sacral sound appears as well, and the achingly beautiful and familiar sounding yet unplacable Pine Box is the highlight of this venture as far as I'm concerned. As with these other tracks in the second half of this album it retains the symphonic qualities but liberates itself from aforementioned influences, and in my ears comes across as creations with a strong touch of a unique overall sound.