Help a Poo' Musician Out

[Mortis]

No, no, it's not about money! This is a mere two-part questionnaire for you all. If I were to send a three- to four-song demo CD to labels, hypothetically speaking, which songs from Sitruunapuu would you recommend me to pick for it? I need you to choose three songs; Kun me oltiin will be the opener of the CD just like it is now, but apart from that, which three songs would you choose,

a) ...If I was sending the demo to a high-profile commercial label, or
b) ...If I was sending the demo to a low-key indie label.

I would prefer an answer to both a) and b) if you have time. You can download the songs, as usual, from http://www.slowdays.org/mortis/temp/ - if you are in a position to do so, please do download all of the songs again while you are picking out your favourites, as I've made some important changes listed here in this blog recently.

• Kun me oltiin (When We Were)
• Uskallus (The Dare)
• Pojanpoika (Son of Son)
• Varjo (Shadow)
• Tyttö tuo (That Girl)
• Taivaanrannanmaalari (Skyline Painter)
• Nyt ja sitten (Now and Next)
• Hitaita päiviä (Slow Days)

To reiterate, please, post for me two lists of three songs (a) and b)), in your preferred order of listening, after Kun me oltiin as track one! If you have any particular reason as to why you picked a song over the others, I would love to hear that as well.

[Mortis]

From what I've seen so far, I'm under the impression that you guys prefer tracks 5, 6 and 8 best - is this true, still, if in context with questions a) and b)?

[nobile]

yea, since the first track is going and that was definitely a fav aswell

[Mortis]

It's hard to be objective with your own tracks, of course, but as far as these songs go, Kun me oltiin is really dear to me in more than one way. It only took me one weekend to finish the full song (including lyrics) and it turned out exactly like I wanted, so it'll always be a memory of something that for once went completely right from start to finish

I'm bummed about the fact that the songs are in Finnish, but alas I don't think there's much to do in English right now if I want to try making any contacts here in Finland. If only it was easier to translate the lyrics... I might even do quick English language renditions if I could sort out the lyrics, but alas, translating songs is very hard, and even more so when you know what the intended meaning is

[Smeagol]

I agree with those selected tracks! And translating them sounds like a not-so-fun thing to do, i say get on with new tracks Or new lyrics to existing melodies

[Mortis]

Haha great Right now I will be concentrating on finding time (school is really beating me up right now) to wrap up some cover art and promotional "materials", suitable texts to send to reviewers and record labels. I also need a website base I can extend to Myspace and other music websites and all that jazz.

I would really enjoy if those who already told me their views would post in this thread anyway, it's easier to come to a proper conclusion when you see the facts on black and white.

vrap actually mentioned before how musicians have a tendency of "always wanting to cut things out" - this is not the case here! The sole reason I'm asking for your opinions is because some labels only accept three, four, five songs per submission This is also why I need to think about tailoring my submissions to match the specific label direction.