Michael Dyer: Press

"Compli-Intricated Life" by Michael Dyer is an alternative soft rock album that takes an inventive look at love and relationships. It is certainly original, as it combines wavy soft elements with bassy vocals, wailing guitar solos and a strong indie-influence. Michael's lyrics have a nice flow to them and are quite clever. The album opens with "Alphabet Soup Love,” which features lyrics that tell a story of betrayal based on....you guessed it....the letters floating in a bowl of alphabet soup. Tackling the topic of regret, "If I Could Undo" introduces a bit of a Latin flair in its guitar progression, and exhibits some nice instrumental changes. "Ethereal Night" exudes these same qualities, along with a danceable beat and more of an inspirational feel. If you like Death Cab for Cutie, you'll like this one

Here are excerpts from Dan MacIntosh's review of the CD: Our Unwinding Time:

"When folk musician (at the time) Roger McGuinn first heard The Beatles, he immediately set about combining his folk instincts with a new enthusiasm for British Invasion rock. This resulted in what is now known as folk/rock. When I listen to Our Unwinding Time by Michael Dyer, it suggests what McGuinn might have sounded like had he retreated further back into folk." ...

"This CD’s title track includes some striking lyrics:

When my love starts enhancing
Your love starts out bleeding
When my love is repeating
Your love is deleting ... "

" ... Dyer is an expert lyricist, and many of these words would read just as well in a poetry book. “Coasting, The Crying Birds” is an excellent example of this disc’s lyrical high quality. It says, in part:"

"Coasting
The crying birds
And lately
their wings are betraying
The winds that blow
The sunset’s delaying ... "

"... Unlike lesser singer/songwriters, Dyer’s musicianship is just as integral as words and singing are to his art. The driving “Not Much Of A Dancer” includes intersecting guitar picking and strumming, which creates a strangely beautiful mood. At his most mystical, this playing reminds me of John McLaughlin’s work in Mahavishnu Orchestra." ...

"Dyer is a fine singer, although he lets his voice take a backseat to the words and instrumentation of his songs. I’m not quite sure who he sounds like. Gordon Lightfoot comes to mind, but ... Dyer is far more urgent than Mr. Sundown."

"Our Unwinding Time is the sort of CD that reveals different layers of meaning with each play. ... Dyer creates highly emotional food for thought, which requires repeated rumination. ... Dyer’s music makes you listen, meditate, and wonder."

This next review, of the CD: Nothing Seems Like What It Seems, occurred sometime in August 2007. Apparently the reviewer didn't like "You're the One" or "Full of It" and he thought there was a "hollowness" and "distant" sound on the CD, but he did say:

"Strangely enough, however, this effect often works in favor of Dyer’s songs."

Here are some of his more positive comments:

"... Nothing Seems Like What it Seems, is, to put it succinctly, a strange and often beautiful affair. ..."

"The key to this disc lies in Dyer’s guitar parts. He often layers at least two guitar lines together, one usually a smoother part, the second quite often a percussive, picked guitar part. The approach makes for a number of highly inventive, highly interesting guitar self-duels driving the majority of tracks on the album. Right from the opening track, Union of Souls, Dyer’s guitar work had my attention, with his hard-hitting, driving work on the song, Nothing Seems Like What It Seems, elevating it to favorite track on the album. ..."

"... Dyer’s work delights for the most part. ..."

"... Bottom line, Nothing Seems Like What It Seems, provides pleasant, and more importantly, due to Dyer's excellent guitar work, interesting listening."

Here is an Indie Music Stop review by L. Anne Carrington:

Michael Dyer has been described as a master-level guitarist, composer, and arranger, with a rich baritone voice that is complementary to his musical style, falling within the genres of folk-rock and adult alternative contemporary rock/pop.

Nothing Seems Like What It Seems is a CD of mystical acoustic rock with dual interacting lead guitars, intricate fingerpicking, strong bass themes, haunting voice and poetic lyrics.

The majority of his songs are romantic; selections describing everything from love to loss, and disappointment and anger in love, can be found in titles such as "Union of Souls," "You're the One," "Luck of The Night," "The Dawn Is Still," "Nothing Seems Like What It Seems," "Translucent," and "Full Of It."

The CD also contains other songs with other themes: the search for spiritual meaning in "The Trek," and the state of the environment in "Earthsong."

Nothing Seems Like What It Seems is a very personal and emotional, and reaches deeply into the soul of the listener with both voice and lyrics.

Each song stands out on its own, not something easily done by many artists. Unlike most music that is released nowadays, this is a CD that is smooth and easy on the ears, expressing what we feel but cannot express.

And the unusual cover art? As a hobby, Michael enjoys glass-blowing. He employs techniques such as glass slumping, flame-working, glass casting and Venetian-style blowing. The covers of his CDs include images of some of his glass creations. He is as talented in glass blowing as he is in his music.

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF ANY SONG OF MINE - then please consider writing a positive comment about that song and email your comment to me, along with permission for me to use that comment for song promotion. Let me also know if I can attach to your comment (in addition to your name) your homepage URL. I will then post your comment, along with your name/URL. Thanks!

IF YOU ARE AN INDEPENDENT SINGER/SONGWRITER (OR MEMBER OF A BAND) and you really like some of my songs and you think that I will really like some of YOUR songs, THEN PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE BELOW:

We Independent Artists Must Promote Each Other!

Michael Dyer (Singer/Songwriter)
www.MichaelDyerMusic.com

You have produced one or more CDs (or promo songs) on your own and your CD is now available on CDBaby, Amazon.com, iTunes Store or other websites. You (and your band members) wait for listeners to write glowing reviews of your music but your review page on those sites remains empty or maybe some random listener places the comment "nice sound dude!" which is not very useful for use as a review in your Electronic Press Kit (EPK).

So you contact music magazines, online mags, or music sites that review CDs. But you discover that they are all backlogged by the many artists who are physically mailing in CDs for review. You discover that those magazines can't guarantee that your CD will even be reviewed, and if reviewed, they inform you that the lead-time is 3-6 months. Some review sites even demand that you send them two copies of each CD! Meanwhile, you receive email solicitations from musical promoters who, for a fee, promise that they will write a positive review for you, but you just don't feel right in going down that route. Such paid-for reviews (besides costing money) could backfire because music industry professionals may know, when they see a review by that promoter, that it was paid for. If your music is really good (and you believe it is) then you shouldn't have to pay to hear positive things said about it. What is an independent artist or band to do?

Here is one solution: We independent artists should help promote each other. Below I explain how to do it and also why to do it. First, HOW to do it:

1. On any website where your music is available, spend some time listening to other artists/bands who are in the same (or closely related) musical genre as yourself. Find a new, independent artist/band who has produced one or more songs that you really like and who do not already have reviews at that site.

2. Contact that artist/band and explain that you are an independent artist/band like them. Offer to write a positive review of one or two of their songs, in exchange for having them do the same for you. Offer to write your review first and explain that you will also include permission for them to use your review wherever they want, such as for their EPK. You could also offer to post your review at some site where their music is available for sale.

Here is a sample email you could send:
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Hi! I'm an independent artist, like you. I have listened to some of your music and I really like them! I believe that we independent artists should help promote one another, so I am offering to write a positive review of several of your songs and to post that review at [insert URL here]. You would also receive my permission to use my review to promote your music in any way you see fit (for example, in your Electronic Press Kit). I just ask that you always include my name, very short description of me, and my website URL.

Please go to my website: [insert your URL here] and check out my music. If you find any songs of mine that you like then let me know that you are willing to write a positive review of some of my songs in exchange for my positive review of your songs, along with your permission to let me use your review.

Best of luck!

[your name]
-------------------------

3. Optional: In your email you could also state that you have placed a link, in your webpage, back to their webpage, along with a positive comment about their music next to that link and ask them to do the same for you. Also, if you want, you can refer the person you have contacted to this article as an explanation for why you are suggesting this exchange of reviews.

Some suggestions about whom you should/should-not contact and what to write:

a. Do not pick an artist who is already famous. That person/group will be too busy to respond and will view you as just trying to curry favor with them. Stick to other artists who are less well known or earlier in their music careers, like yourself.

b. Do not pick an artist whose music is very different from yours. Suppose you are a folk singer but you happen to like rap. The chances are much higher that the rapper will not like your music and so you won't agree to write any review in return.

c. Do not review the artist/band's music in general. Instead, review one or two specific songs. Why? That artist/band may later put out music that you don’t like or even their current CD may have songs that you don’t care for. If you stick to reviewing specific songs then your review will always be correct, since those songs will most likely always have the same melody, lyrics, and sound that you like.

d. Take care to make your writing grammatically correct and without typos. Also, be specific in your review. Don't just say "sounds great!" Your review should make positive comments about specific song elements, such as vocals/harmonies, drums, lead-guitar riffs, lyrics, melody, rhythm, ambience, keyboards, how the song starts or ends, and so on. If the music sounds so good to you then, surely, there must be specific reasons why, so give them.

e. Do not include any self-promotion in your review. Remember, your review is about that artist's music, not about you or your music. The only self-promotion you should allow yourself is a very brief caption, in parentheses, along with your name and URL, for example:

[your review]
-- Michael Dyer (singer/songwriter, www.MichaelDyerMusic.com)
or
[your review]
-- Joe Bloe (drummer for XYZ band, www.XYZBand.com, Boston)

This kind of brief description is reasonable because it gives any reader of the review some idea as to who you are.

Finally, here are reasons WHY exchange of positive reviews among artists is a good idea:

(1) You will get your music positively reviewed much faster and without using up physical CDs or having to buy positive reviews.

(2) You will be establishing contacts with other artists – the artists who really count (and the artists who ultimately count are the ones whose music you like).

(3) MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: A review of your music by another artist is worth much more, in the long run, than any review by any music magazine reviewer! I can't emphasize this enough. Most online magazines (and even many offline mags) have a relatively short lifespan. Within a few years, if you include that review by some music magazine reviewer then a reader may very well go to that magazine's URL and find a broken link. For example, I have gone through the IndieBible newsletter, just a few months back, and already I have encountered CD-reviewer sites that no longer exist. In contrast, once a CD (or single) is released by another artist, that CD (or single) will exist forever on the web.

As that artist's music becomes better known over time, the review that you received from that artist will increase in value. It won’t matter that you received your review from a now-famous artist/band XYZ at a time when they were not well known. Your song is timeless and artist/band XYZ's review of your song will be timeless also. It won't even matter if artist/band XYZ no longer has a website or even has died. (Image being able to post a positive review of one of your songs, written by some no-longer-alive but famous artist like, say, Jimi Hendrix.)

Of course, most reviews you receive will be from artists who never become famous, but some artists will become better known and their reviews of your music will become more and more valuable over time. Compare that to a review by some non-artist who works (or volunteers) at some music magazine site. There is no comparison! (Personally, if I admire the music of some artist/group XYZ, then I will appreciate a positive review of my music by XYZ even if they never become very famous.) Also, consider any listener who happens to be an admirer of some artist/group XYZ. When they read a review of your music, written by XYZ, that listener will be much more likely to check out your music.

There do exist websites where artists can obtain reviews from other artists. One such well-known site is GarageBand.com. However, at such sites the artists are asked to write critical reviews (to help improve the music of the artist receiving the review) and therefore such reviews almost always contain some negative comments. Also, the artists who write those reviews have not given their permission for their reviews to be used for any promotional purposes.

So, I suggest that we independent artists should find other artists with songs we like and offer to exchange (and post) positive reviews for each other. Let's help each other out!