YOU CHOOSE THE SONGS 3

Howdy. If you're here, you oughtta know what we need from you and we thank you for helping us out!

If you're joining us late, here's the recap.

We've decided that we, as a group, may be too close to the trees to see the forest. You, on the other hand, are free from such problems. Plus, we simply have way too many songs in the running (well over 50) to make any unbiased decision. So we request your help in choosing the songs that we are going to take into the big studio with us.

Our plan is simple.

We'd like for you to check out these songs and give us your opinions. All we ask is that you give us a 1-5 ranking on each song that you hear. A ‘1' will mean that you feel the song sucks and should never be heard again while a ‘5' will mean that you love it and it should definitely be on the album (in your opinion). Anywhere in between will mean (duh) that it's somewhere in between! If you really can't decide if it's a 3 or a 4, decimal points will be accepted. So yeah, "3.7" is cool. Don't feel like you have to be positive about something if you're not. Don't feel as if we need you to like even one. If you think they all deserve low rankings, give them what they deserve. Give them what you honestly feel. We hope you like them, but if you don't, we'd rather submit more for you to choose than do something that's not up to the level we set with Satisfactionista, which we feel is a pretty high bar. If you dig 'em all, great! Reflect that. You don't need to overly critique either. It's all about you and your opinion. It's whatever you feel.

We'd appreciate any comments, critiques, advice, production ideas or anything else you'd be willing to share, too. You should know us well enough to know that WE WANT THE TRUTH. YOU WON'T HURT OUR FEELINGS. Tell us what you like or don't like, if you have ideas for improvements or if you think it's just a hopeless track. If you don't have time for all of that, a simple 1 – 5 ranking will be more than enough. And we'd be endlessly thankful. Your opinion WILL matter.

This is, after all, how the songs were chosen for Satisfactionista and the choices that were voted in wound up being much better than the line-up of tunes the band had originally chosen by the band members. Hands down, the voters did infinitely better than we ever would've.

Remember, these are demos. Most of them were recorded in my living room with me playing all the instruments. Some are studio rough mixes or outtakes. The quality of each recording varies. Try to judge the song for the song instead of the production or mixes. I say that knowing that for myself, that can sometimes be hard to do. But to do it properly, that's the way it should be approached.

By the way, if you don't want to stay behind the computer, you can always "right click, save target as" and download these songs to your hard drive. Then, you can burn a CD and listen even more conveniently. It's all up to you. I just want you to have the option! We can't wait to hear what you think should stay or go! It's always very eye opening.

So...you ready?

Well, let's go.

(Just click the song title to play or "right click, save target as" to download these demos to your hard drive in order to burn to a disc or play later.)

Batch 10 (May 5, 2010)

1. The Best Of What's Around (Final score / 4.255 / DEFINITE)

2. If You Want To Go (Final score / 4.1 / DEFINITE)

3. Nowhere (Final score / 3.6125)

4. Shut Up And Love It (Final score / 3.7133)

5. Time Marches On (Final score / 4.25 / DEFINITE)

Batch 9 (Completed on April 13, 2010)

1. All The Best Sins Are Taken (April 13, 2010 - Final Score / 3.92045 / Alternate)

2. Feels Like Yesterday (April 13, 2010 - 4.285 / DEFINITE)

3. I'm So Happy (Somebody Slap Me) (April 13, 2010 - Final score / 3.5705)

4. Impermanence (Must Be Right) (April 8, 2010 - 4.235 / DEFINITE)

5. We Were Never Strangers (March 15, 2010 - Final Score: 4.004 / DEFINITE)

Batch 8 (December 7, 2009)

1. Growing Up (Final score: 4.06 / DEFINITE)

2. Torchbearer (Final score: 3.98 / Alternate)

3. Goodbye Tuesday (Final score: 4.02/DEFINITE)

4. Burning Down Yesterday (Final score: 3.625)

5. Music Junkie (Final score: 3.57)

Batch 7 (Monday August 31, 2009)

1. Someone's Trying To Tell Us Something (Final score: 3.8727)

2. Ahead Of The Curve (Final score: 3.265)

3. Skyward (Final score: 3.26)

4. Goldmine (Final score: 3.472)

5. Seven Hours (Final score: 4.295 / DEFINITE)

Batch 6 (Monday August 24, 2009)

1. That Excites Me (Final score: 4.175 / DEFINITE)

2. This Is The Night The World Changes (Final score: 4.04 / DEFINITE)

3. Water Colors (Final score: 3.55)

4. When Running Turns To Searching (Final score: 4.24 / DEFINITE)

5. You Don't Know Me (Final score: 3.85)

Batch 5 (Monday August 17, 2009)

1. Everybody's Trying (Final score: 3.23)

2. If The Morning Ever Comes (Final score: 4.195 / DEFINITE)

3. Like Children (Who've Been Released) (Final score: 3.977 / Alternate)

4. Pepper (Final score: 4.5 / DEFINITE)

5. Potter's Field (Final score: 3.836)

Batch 4 (Monday August 10, 2009)

Closed on September 23, 2009 with 2 definites and 2 alternates.

1. Green And Gold (Final score: 4.157 / DEFINITE)

2. It's Never The Same (Final score: 3.9238 / Alternate)

3. Shake My Faith (Final score: 3.506)

4. This Place Is On Fire (Final score: 3.91 / Alternate)

5. Twist (Final score: 4.37857 / DEFINITE)

Batch 3 (Monday August 3, 2009)

Closed on September 23, 2009 with 3 definites and one alternate.

1. Everything Must Go (Final score: 4.14999 / DEFINITE)

2. I Won't Stand Still (Final score: 3.25)

3. If You Try To Make Me Choose (You Lose) (Final score: 4.090909 / DEFINITE)

4. Looking For Home (Final score: 3.91875 / Alternate)

5. Something In The World (Worth Singing About) (Final score: 4.03636 / DEFINITE)

Batch 2 (Monday July 27, 2009)

Closed on September 23, 2009 with 2 definites and 2 alternates.

1. Gone (Final score: 3.94545 / Alternate list)

2. Hold On (Final score: 4.2913 / DEFINITE)

3. I Expect The Same From You (Final score: 3.7)

4. If I Could (I Guess I Should) (Final score: 3.915 / Alternate list)

5. Save It For Another Day (2009 Mix) (Final score: 4.322 / DEFINITE)

Batch 1 (Monday July 20, 2009)

Closed on September 23, 2009 and none of these made the definites list.

1. Always (Final score : 3.8129)

2. Best Case Scenario (Final score: 3.81818)

3. Butterflies On Fire (Final score: 3.5034)

4. Emotions To Free (Final score: 3.839)

5. Feel It (Final score: 3.7307)

So that's that. As soon as we get enough votes on each song, we'll post the next batch of 5 and we'll keep going in that manner until we get through all of the demos!

Email your 1-5 verdict plus any other comments you're willing to share to chris@criticaldarlings.com .

Join us or tell us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/criticaldarlings .

Thanks again!