gotta get out of it before I get into it(Diggin Out reviews)

[Heine]

I'd be a perfectionist about something though - are you doing "na na na" or "la la la" or both carefully chosen on purpose? Choose!

Well, when recording it I tried both, but preferred the "la"-thing. But the distortion, well, maybe distorted my consonants But because I knew, what I was singing, I didn't seem to recognize.

[ElaineDiMasi]

cell block e group musical enrichment group f7
/// i don't know how i feel about the take on the title; i like to applaud unusual approaches and i'm far from a prude; but this is a straight-forward tune about sex that lacks the tongue-in-cheek delivery of Spud's Rattlesnake and therefore it's creative charm ///

Cell Block E's take on the title wasn't tongue-in-cheek enough?!?!

Or am I not getting that this seemingly straight-forward review is also tongue-in-cheek enough.

[nyjm]

This rocks good. I like the radio tuning intro then how the song kicks in. Pretty good production, too.

Quickness and singing remind me of Men without hats in a fine way. Nice sound effects.

Now this I like. Honestly, I can't think of anything you should change about this. The playing is good, the recording is good, the song is good, and the mix has just enough mud splashed on it to make it interesting. Good job.

The station tuning set me up and I think I had an orgasm when the music fully kicked in and your vocals being buried are kind of cool on this... but maybe the orgasm wore off and they're kind of annoying now. Some of them are cool, some of them are annoying. The less buried, the less annoying. At least it was short, so nothing could get too annoying, and parts of it make me want to do crazy flailing dance moves, so win.

Thank you all very much. I think this is one of the best-reviewed songs I've ever submitted.

Minus points for clipping. I like the rest, though. Perhaps the vocals could stand being a bit fatter (nothing EQ can't fix). A bit too hectic for my regular playlist, I guess, but close to "would listen again".

I like it when songs start of with a radio. WOOOEEEEOEOOEE. I like your vocal delivery and the energy of this song. Clipping is ow. I like the radio cameo. Good stuff.

Thank you for the positive reviews, but it doesn't clip for me and apparently not for too many others. Maybe it's just the too-loud lead guit? I just find it odd that two reviewers have mentioned it (so, not a fluke), but only two (so, not a trend).

Other than the words “I’m diggin’ out” I can’t understand what you’re singing. I had to go read the lyrics thread to figure it out and I don’t like to have to do that. But this thing rocks right along nicely. I have no idea what the connection is between the garbled radio sounding voices and the rest of the song

I love the trippy intro/outro, but the song seems too straight for that context, I wish it were intertwined even more as it does in two places. Save for the couple breaks, there's little dynamic happening, so the verse/chorus is pretty flat throughout. Vocals need some punch.

The rough-cut was too short and needed an interesting touch. Enter SampleSwap. I usually don't like to explicate my own compositions, but the main idea was that this was the noise on the emergency radio during a snow storm: the song emerges from it, plays its bit and then is sublimated back into the noise.

As for dynamics, it's hard to balance a two-minute punk song with the development necessary with a lot of change while keeping it appropriate to the genre. I'd like to think that there's a fair amount of dynamics, from the intro/outro, to a single guitar riff, to balls-to-the-wall intro and chorus to a single bass thrum and drums on the third verse. Maybe it needs to be more sonically/tonally diverse?

"I have a spade. I'm diggin' babe." Is that right? I couldn't quite understand it, but I was kind of diggin' it.

ahem

Ease up on that guitar, fella! With the kind of mixing you've got going on here, your lead is likely to split the ears of whoever might be listening to you through headphones (which I was through my first listen). Drums are nice, if a little subdued, and you might want to consider layering your guitars with multiple to get a beefier sound. The chorus is a mess, and your vocal performance leaves much to be desired.

I like the pogo bounciness to this. The verses work better than the chorus, which lack catchiness. (not that mine contain it) The lead guitar licks accompany well, and the rhythm ones sound nice and crunchy, more so on the right side where it's far less trebley. But the lead one is too piercing. It doesn't hurt to roll the tone down on your guitar, but I suspect it's more of an amp or emulator setting that needs a rollback. Decent tune a little under-baked. Suggestions: Soften the edge on the vocal and bring it up a bit in the mix. And don't be scared to ease up on the guitar treble.

This tune has become an object lesson for me in mixing with different equipment. I do most of my mixing on headphones, because I like the sound of mine better (they're mid-to-good quality) and it doesn't annoy the rest of the family. However, playing the mix through my normal speakers (which are kind of shitty), I can see where the trebly tone of the lead guitar is too piercing. Purely a mix thing, really.

Ok, I love your voice and your vocal delivery. It's distracting, because I, like, want to marry it.

Wow. I have two fans of my vox. Thanks.

...that comes off as too snarky, though. Seriously, thank you. I work on my singing, but I'm not a natural talent, so it's nice to be appreciated for what I consider the weak point of my songwriting.

Same goes for the overall sound of the band too, so I automatically dig the song. If the antennas are confusing and the lyrics a little abstract, so much the better. Ok, but the song is not perfect: I hate the middle chord in the chorus "to dig you babe".

How can you hate a simple F#? It's just a lonely little thing... Okay, so maybe an A-G-A-F# progression is a little weird, but still...

Unlike some others I like the simple guitar lines and the needly tone, but I agree that only 80% of them sound like a simple line you intended, and the other 20% are simple like you haven't made up your mind what to play yet.

Guilty as charged: I felt like I needed a part (well, I needed a solo, and the conceit is that there's a real band here, so the lead guitarist is going to do more than 4 bars of work). Actually, the solo I agonized over until I figured I could just mirror the main melody and voilà. But the others... yeah, they could use some proper flourishes instead of simple fills.

I had to go read the lyrics too, but I can't decide whether I'd want you to clean it up too much since I love the grit. It's funny anyway since you evidently don't like your voice, you usually bury it much further down in the mix than this, when you're not trying to find someone to replace you.

I like the grit, too, so it stays. The vox are still buried here, I just doubled them every now and then. Needed some harmony.

Hey, thank you everyone for all of the reviews. This is awesome.

[nyjm]

cell block e group musical enrichment group f7
/// i don't know how i feel about the take on the title; i like to applaud unusual approaches and i'm far from a prude; but this is a straight-forward tune about sex that lacks the tongue-in-cheek delivery of Spud's Rattlesnake and therefore it's creative charm ///

Cell Block E's take on the title wasn't tongue-in-cheek enough?!?!

Or am I not getting that this seemingly straight-forward review is also tongue-in-cheek enough.

No, I didn't get any irony in that song. Exaggeration (here in the form of lyrics) isn't enough for me. There has to be a nod or a wink somewhere: in the arrangement, the performance, the genre, even. Think Avenue Q. Spud's guesting with BLT the other week was wonderfully ironic because of his vocal performance, which you could tell he was belting out in proper punk-rock fashion, but with a little snark on the side. Highly entertaining. Cell Block E's entry is... just kind of disturbing.

[Phil. Redmon.]

I can't tell you're drunk.

One of my favorite reviews ever, right there.

[jast]

Thank you for the positive reviews, but it doesn't clip for me and apparently not for too many others. Maybe it's just the too-loud lead guit? I just find it odd that two reviewers have mentioned it (so, not a fluke), but only two (so, not a trend).

No, I'm pretty sure it's in the vocals. For example, shortly after 0:20, the "had" in "the dreams we had" is pretty clippy. It's just a few isolated spots of clipping but I am pretty sensitive to this kind of stuff.

By the way, I have to agree with the comments about vocal delivery. It's pretty cool.

[ElaineDiMasi]

cell block e group musical enrichment group f7
/// i don't know how i feel about the take on the title; i like to applaud unusual approaches and i'm far from a prude; but this is a straight-forward tune about sex that lacks the tongue-in-cheek delivery of Spud's Rattlesnake and therefore it's creative charm ///

Cell Block E's take on the title wasn't tongue-in-cheek enough?!?!

Or am I not getting that this seemingly straight-forward review is also tongue-in-cheek enough.

No, I didn't get any irony in that song. Exaggeration (here in the form of lyrics) isn't enough for me. There has to be a nod or a wink somewhere: in the arrangement, the performance, the genre, even. Think Avenue Q. Spud's guesting with BLT the other week was wonderfully ironic because of his vocal performance, which you could tell he was belting out in proper punk-rock fashion, but with a little snark on the side. Highly entertaining. Cell Block E's entry is... just kind of disturbing.

Ok, but the lyric describes a tongue in some cheeks pretty clearly.

[nyjm]

Ok, but the lyric describes a tongue in some cheeks pretty clearly.

... and here I'm just obtuse. I get it. oi.

[Rone Rivendale]

Just gave a listen to all the songs. Will have to listen to them again before I can review but I really like The Hell Yeahs' song alot.

[Heather. Redmon.]

Just gave a listen to all the songs. Will have to listen to them again before I can review but I really like The Hell Yeahs' song alot.

Yay! That made my otherwise kinda crappy day better! Thank you!

[Teplin]

Thank you for the positive reviews, but it doesn't clip for me and apparently not for too many others. Maybe it's just the too-loud lead guit? I just find it odd that two reviewers have mentioned it (so, not a fluke), but only two (so, not a trend).

Yeah, that is kinda odd. I went back and listened again, and I can still hear it. I can hear what Jast is talking about with the vocals, but it's the most noticible for me during the guitar solos, like the one that starts at 0:45. It's also way more noticible through my studio headphones than my monitors. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it too? Or maybe these headphones happen to accentuate that specific frequency?

[deetak]

Thank you all for the comments.

[reve]

And then I'd marry your sister, and we'd cut our wrists and tie them together to become blood brothers.

Not until she finishes grad school -- family rule!

[Teplin]

And then I'd marry your sister, and we'd cut our wrists and tie them together to become blood brothers.

Not until she finishes grad school -- family rule!

Well, alright... if the family insists. But the two of us can still do the blood brothers thing right away, right?

[reve]

And then I'd marry your sister, and we'd cut our wrists and tie them together to become blood brothers.

Not until she finishes grad school -- family rule!

Well, alright... if the family insists. But the two of us can still do the blood brothers thing right away, right?

Hell yeah -- get me a rusty spork!

[Ross]

More fodder!!!

Reviews

I lost the ones I started and am starting again.

I hope to keep the review momentum going for this fight!

Barf - I like the overall sound here - the Killing Joke reference seems stylisticaly appropriate. Good chorus hook and stuff. Great breakdown into verse 2 - I like that you know to vary the arrangement a lot within the constraints of the idiom. The "instrumental" break is a little uneventful. Not sure what you're singing about. Good-

BLT - This sounds familiar, like you've written this song for songfight before - or maybe I just dreamed it. Your screamy chorus vocals are working very well here. I like the rhythm of the lyrics - it's all coming off very well - especially the bass. I have no idea what you're singing about. Top notch BLT! Good.

Cabin Fever - nicely executed, beautiful sounds, something about it makes it want to recede into the background. nothing to complain about - nothing to rave about. a little monotonous. sweet solo. I have no idea what you're singing about. OK+

Cell Block E - nice harp playing, I have an idea what you're singing about - makes me quite uninterested in the song. ok-

Chad Random - I think I would be close to enjoying this if you did not have the "beat" in it. Sometimes the guitar punctuations work real well with the vocals, other times it sounds as if they were recorded with no relation to one another. I have no idea what you're singing about. Ok-

Collaboration Station - great little pop-rock song. I like the dual guitars. nice hookey chorus. Excellent use of silence. I feel like I recognize a few of the voices but not enough to throw ay guesses out there. Good

deetak - Interesting piece. Some of the arrangement isn't quite working for me on the fist half, although I thinking I can tell what you're going for. The piano second half is unexpected but adds a really nice second act. Good -

Elaine diMasi - sounds like you're leaving half a million nerds. I can't decide just how campy this is meant to be. The sound effect gets irritating. I like your instinct for arranging - something about this continues to sound a little frantic to me like things are just ahead of the beat and could lie more comfortably. I don't care much about the words, but I get it. Good -

FTD - ooh rockin' along. Capable, but not grabing me. I don't get the sped up word sections. OK+

Heine - I like the way you are working the guitar and vocal lines, but I do think that kind of thing benefits greatly from a tighter performance/recording. Nice tune. The tune and arrangement are staying a little static even with your inclusion of the lead patch. the La Las sound like you couldn't come up with words. Gets a little borng by about the guitar solo. All ok, but hinting at a better song. Is that a harrison reference at the end? Side 3, all things must pass? OK+

Heck yes-es - What? the protagonist of the Hell Yeahs is pissed? I'm shocked solid little rocker with not much to make it stand out except that it is a solid little rocker. I like the cowbell break. Good-

Howl down - I like the aesthetic right away. The folky instrumentation and slacker vocals. I think the previous monks of doom comment largely has to do with the sound of the lead vocalist here being very similar to Victor Krumenacher of that band. Great little song - the package is working on all levels for me. Good +

Jan Krueger - Double guitar sounds great. One of my favorite Poe short stories is "Buried Alive" - scary as hell. I think this may have played better with the lead vox in your chest voice rather than up so high. nicely done - the words arrangement and performance are all very supportive of one another. Good +

Jeff Landgraf - I am interested in what you are singing about - I don't think I quite figured it out. Musically this comes off a lot like a bare acoustic demo and begs to be fleshed out. but you had me listening. Good -

Mc Milk Plus - Pretty groovy. I like your rhythmic choices. Great use of samples/loops. The shake it is reminiscent of Andre 3000's thing. Some cool rhyming. I have no idea what you're singing about, but it sure is catchy and infectious. And well performed and produced. Good.

Monkey see monkey doodoo - sorry - I didn't care about this. thanks for playing.

PACO - You had me at Hello! And then kinda lost me - the song doesn't quite live up to that awesome intro. Good fun none-the-less. Great solo (duh). The verses just don't grab - but I'd skank to this at a party! Ok+

R. Mosquito - I like the percussion intro. you built anticipation well. Are the horns you (you've probably already addressed that)? Have you been listening to the Decemberists and Danny Elfman at the same time? That was very interesting! Good!

Roymond - I like the opening couplet a lot. The vocal delivery is a little rough and I wish it matched the guitar's softer quality better. Interesting song that didn't quite kil but was close. Good -

Sgt Stmp BOOM - The clipping is bugging too bad, too. The choral vocals are cool. and the overall unconvential arrangement - did you play your own sax? So many horn players around here. A lot good here, but also anticlimactic. OK+

Signboy - quite monotonous tune. I feel like the song is all drums. not mix wise but momentum wise. I like the soft cadence at the end of the chorus phrase. i got kinda bored by 2:00 - but I'll keep listening. The change at 2:02 is nice, but then it got boring again. Sorry. OK

Slats - I like the dissonant guitar thing at the front. This got quite monotonous. I do think that it's interesting that you took a (not) diggin out take on the title. Ok-

Steve Durand - Cool, man. I dig. nice build, starting with the flute. I like the picardy third thing at the end of the verse and the key change for the chorus. I do wish the jazz was a little hotter, but then maybe it would rock too much. Interesting lateral take on the title, although I admit I don;t expect to see this in Downbeat anytime soon! Nice lip trills, too - man!!! Good +

Stoons - I like the opening sax loop. looking at the list I see this is the longest song in the fight - dangerous when you are alphabetically next-to-last. ok, yeah, it's getting a iittle boring - the chorus change was nice, but there is not much melody to speak of, not to sustain 4 minutes and the arrangement does change, but not quite enough to really make it work. I like backwards stuff, but it is too little and too late. Ok

Ted Nixon - This is like a little songfight Ogden Nash Poem, but not quite, I wish you had fleshed this out somehow. I don't know how, but structurally it feels undone musically even though it is done lyrically - I don;t know if that makes sense. Good Idea for a song for this title. Ok+

Clubs - Right off I have a judgement. You use this strumming pattern a lot, right? Lyrics bias - I tend not to like songs that reference themselves. Nice tune instinct. The stops and starts and unconventional phrasing is interesting. OK

Very listenable fight overall - only two clunkers and one whose lyrics I didn't care to hear again. good work songfighters - let's do it again next week.

So in the end I guess my votes go to (from bottom to top alphabetically) Steve, R Mosquito, Mr. Milk, Jan, howl down the Chimney, Collaboration Station, and BLT.

[Heine]

Is that a harrison reference at the end? Side 3, all things must pass?

Yes, but side 4, track 1 (on my vinyl copy). Love that album.

[Ross]

Is that a harrison reference at the end? Side 3, all things must pass?

Yes, but side 4, track 1 (on my vinyl copy). Love that album.

Right, It's track one disc two on the CD, I was forgetting that's a 6 side set. Good stuff!

[inevitableguy]

Clearly a good fight, I'm just diggin' out all the votes I can find. Short reviews in the random order the songs were given to me.

The Chadderandom Abyss - Still too disjointed for my tastes.
Elaine DiMasi - I'm biased here - legos were my favorite toy growing up; hence, I love the lyrics. Everything sounds a bit washed out to me, especially the vocals, but overall this is a good song.
Cell Block E Musical Enrichment Group F7 - I think this type of music needs more going on to keep it from becoming too repetitive.
Monkey Throw Feces - Just the one riff? Something needs to break that up.
The Styop Quoons Experience - Odd. In a good way. I like the treatment on the vocals, it makes it feel like it was recorded underground. I would have preferred it to be a bit shorter.
Billy's Little Trip - I generally don't listen to music like this, but you do it so well that you might convert me yet.
Steve Durand - The vocals lack conviction, but the horns sound great.
deetak - Everything's a little muffled. Did you give any thought to combining some of the instrumental bits with some of the a capella bits? They didn't really tie together too well.
Ross Durand - Love the concept and the lyrics. This is really good.
Cabin Fever - I can't understand half of the lyrics. Maybe I'd like it more if I knew what you were saying.
Howl Down the Chimney - Every instrument had its place, and nothing felt out of place. Loved it.
The Weakest Suit - The pauses were disconcerting, and not in a good way. I just couldn't get into this.
Slats - What were you doing to the bass during the verses? I like the odd sound it's making. The song got repetitive after a while.
Ford's Theater Disaster - It feels a little generic to me, but it's got a good vibe. The vocals need a bit more punch. I like the noises and the backwards bits.
MC Milk Plus - I'm not sure what else to say about this - it made me smile.
Barfknecht - Nice. I'm getting a great 80's feel off of this. Everything works for me.
Heine - I'm a sucker for cheesy keyboard sounds. It seems to be lacking something I can't put my finger on, but good work overall.
R. Mosquito - This has a great series of layered textures in it. I'm not sure how I feel about the song as a whole, though.
The Hell Yeahs - This has got some attitude, and I like that. Probably the best lyrics of the fight, too.
Signboy - The vocals are off in a few places. Some of the riffs are a bit generic. Not bad, not great.
The Sergeant Stomp Explosion - This would have been great if it was shorter. The concept just couldn't sustain itself for the whole song.
Jeff Landgraf - There's really not much too this, and it's not working in a "less is more" kind of sense, either.
Jan Kreuger - This needs some crunchy guitars or something.
Collaboration Station - I've heard that bassline before. There are some really good guitar tones in there.
roymond - Very pretty - lovely acoustic guitar tone. I'd love to hear this with some deeper instrumentation.
Paco del Stinko - Kinda generic, but at least it sounds good.
The Tedward Nixon Experience - When I first started working on this, I thought it could be a 7 minute long coffeehouse open mic folk rock epic. I hate that kind of music. As a result, I banged out 1:35 of electro-pop, but used a mandolin as a tribute to the folk-y inspiration. It sounded better in my head than it actually came out.

VOTES to The Styop Quoons Experience, Billy's Little Trip, Ross Durand, Howl Down the Chimney, MC Milk Plus, Barfknecht, and The Hell Yeahs

[Ross]

I generally wait until after I write reviews to respond to reviews. So this comes a little late, but...

First of all thanks to everyone who reviewed and and especially for all the positivie comments. I wasn't sure what people would make of my choice of idiom and am pleased that it was received so well. This was recorded the last few days of the year and I was thinking through much of it, "For Odetta."

As for your comments:

Ross Durand: I know I’m ignorant but for a “negro work song” the lyrical take seems a little bit off to me. Did they really sing about “getting the man” like this? I’m sure that they probably thought it but I doubt that they would have expressed it out loud.

Do you ever actually say why you're digging?

Well, as I put this together I actually chose not to stay strictly to the Negro work song, although that is definitely the main image I wanted to conjure, I also knew it didn't fit the song story well. So I left open the possibility this was some sort of work crew, maybe on railroads or whatever. Intentional ambiguity.

I'd like to know what you used for that shovel sound.

I went out looking for sound samples of shoveling sounds, this comes from like a 19 second royalty free sample I found of digging gravel. Then I cut it up and made this "beat" out of it.

See you all in the next fight!

[Billy's Little Trip]

I have no idea what you're singing about

That's because I'm just too damn deep for an old folk singer to get it. One of these days I'll sing a song about growing up on a farm with the wonderful memory of smelling fresh apple pie baking in my Mom's kitchen and seeing my Dad working on our old broken down tractor out by the barn.

you might convert me yet.

Yes! My plan is working perfectly!

[Billy's Little Trip]

By the way, I was so busy being sarcastic that I forgot to thank everyone for the reviews.
.....Thanks for the reviews, all!