Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

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Pigfarmer Jr
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Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

(your favorite songfighter) is about to die! (of embarrassment.)

That is, if you do your reviews.
Evil Grin bandcamp - Evil Grin spotify
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Pigfarmer Jr
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

Lyric thread link:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11237
Last edited by Lunkhead on Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Change "Review thread link" to "Lyric thread link"
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Lunkhead
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Songs posted!
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Berkeley Social Scene - hey, another coffee song! I really love the verses, there's a lovely melancholy vibe and I really like the keys pulsing along under the guitars. The chorus doesn't quite kick in like it should for me though, the harmonies sound a bit unsure.

Lichen Throat - some really interesting musical ideas here but (especially in the first verse) the vocal timing feels a bit off. I like the bits that I'm going to describe as "orchestral swells" because I'm not sure what the actual instrumentation is.

Pigfarmer Jr. - good take on the title and a strong performance, excellent work turning your current recording limitations into a strength.

Rizzle Mosquizzle - really punchy beat and I love where you've taken the 'strong button' lyrical theme. Very short but it doesn't feel underdeveloped, think this might be my favourite from this fight.

Third Cat - the stereo panned guitars sound lovely in headphones, and I really like the way the bass kicks in on the second verse. The song as a whole doesn't quite grab me like some of your stuff, but it sounds so clear and airy, really gorgeous production.

WreckdoM - pretty solid, I like the beat and the driving bassline and there's a good new wavey energy to this, but the vocals get lost a bit in places.

Vowl Sounds - this is us! I'm pleased owl asked me to collaborate on this one as I've been struggling to write anything solo since the end of Nur Ein, burned out a bit I guess. Anyway, I expanded her phone-recorded first verse demo into a full instrumental track and suggested a few lyrical theme ideas and this was the result, I think it sounds pretty great!
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by owl »

Rizzle Mosquizzle: Nice work, good beat, good delivery. I feel like the vocals get drowned out just enough a lot of the time that I can't really make out a lot of the lyrics well, which is a shame since I couldn't check in the lyrics thread for them either and I think I was probably missing some cool stuff.

WreckdoM: maybe I am just getting old... I couldn't hear the vocals super well here either, the mix feels a bit odd. Super catchy chorus, I liked the energy and the guitar bits although I wish the guitar was louder.

Third Cat: I like the combination of the kind of cheesy drum machine beat with the shimmery guitar, I think it keeps it from feeling cheesy. Good melody, I really like the chord progression in those couple of alternating lines in the chorus before the "strong button" line. What sounds like a series of little guitar swells in the background there where you're going from solo back into verse is really cool. Main complaint is that I would have liked more of a variation in dynamics in the song, it felt like it hung around at the same midtempo energy level and a changeup would have been nice, but overall I thought this was a lovely song.

Pigfarmer Jr.: I really like the emotional complexity of these lyrics and the simplicity of the arrangement works well for you. Sweet sad song, good performance.

Vowl Sounds: Exotic vocab, you say? Challenge accepted, I went at these lyrics like I was getting paid by the syllable and managed to cram at least a couple of good words in there like "synecdoche" and "circadian." I started working on this and got stuck both melodically and lyrically after the first verse, so I'm glad Vom wanted to collab on this, and got us unstuck.

BSS: I like the overall arrangement and feel, the piano part sounds really good. Awesome melody in the verses, and I like the harmonies. I think the verse part has this very pure soaring kind of feel to it, but the chorus melody is more nuanced so it feels less satisfying than the verse even if it's more musically interesting. I think this was my favorite of this fight (but there are a lot of good entries! It will be hard for me this time to figure out what to vote for.)

Lichen Throat: Great lyrics, I really like the story and where you went with the prompt--you've painted a vivid picture with simple and minimalistic words. The little solo is nice, it has a kind of Irish jig feel, and I really like the melody in the "will you think of me" line. It's a bit difficult for me to figure out what is supposed to be happening musically through a lot of this, there are a lot of layers that all seem to be going at their own pace and with a stop-start kind of rhythm, having at least some parts that are a bit more traditionally arranged might be easier to follow.
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by thirdcat »

arrows for votes/favorites:

:arrow: Berkeley Social Scene: cool drums & guitars; I like the verses more than the chorus. the vocals work pretty well. tasty guitar solo.

:arrow: Vowl Sounds: Coffee. Mmm. Great vocals. Love the little slow down trippy bit in the middle. Great keys too. I think this is my favorite of this round. Has a real groovy '60s feel.

Wreckdom: Catchy chorus and it's neat how the guitar mimics the vocals there. Has a cool manic feel. In a way the drums aren't quite there with the rest of it as far as the energy, but they fit in a Ween-ish way.

Rizzle Mosquizzle: The synth horns kind of me of Macklemore. There's some cool rhythms in the drums and you seem pretty skilled with the rapping. I like that it doesn't wear out its welcome. Just listened to it twice actually.

Pigfarmer Jr: Pretty good; I like the change there around 1:49.

Lichen Throat: I don't really get this one... I wish I could come up with some kind of constructive criticism but I am having a hard time hearing what you're going for. Is it a Leonard Cohen in the '80s type thing? (ie: like "First We Take Manhattan") The vocals + synthetic instruments reminds me of that... but I think that's a tough thing to pull off.
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by lichenthroat »

Berkeley Social Scene-This is among my favorite BSS tunes. Good melodies, interesting arrangement, pleasant vocal: what's not to like?

Lichen Throat-I had to rush to finish this before my vacation. Consequently there are more rough spots than usual, and I would have liked more time to work on the verse melody. I'm pretty happy with the lyrics and the chorus, however. I've wanted to try writing a song with two bridges for a while, but this is the first time I've actually done it. I think it worked out okay.

Pigfarmer Jr.-One of your better vocals, I think. One of your better songs, too. It feels fully realized despite the minimal instrumentation.

Rizzle Mosquizzle-I like your confident vocal delivery. This is pretty well done overall. I might like it to be a little longer, but it still feels complete as it is.

Third Cat-I like the melody and the vocal performance. There's nothing to dislike, either. Nice work.

Vowl Sounds-The mix is loud. The song is good, however. I like the midstream switch from coffee to politics.

WreckdoM-Last week I said I'd prefer it if you had a more conventional approach. This week, you did have a more conventional approach, and I did, in fact, like it. This is among my favorite of your songs.
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Vowl Sounds wins! Congrats!
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Yay! Cheers!
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Re: Red Warrior Needs Food Badly (The Strong Button Reviews)

Post by thirdcat »

Congrats vowlvom ! Dug your song a lot. Nice one.
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