His Last Few Reviews

[chocolatechips]

AG Beatz - Creative. Interesting to listen to a couple of times, but I wonder about how much I would get out of it in the long term? As far as first time listen interest this is pretty cool. The story is interesting and the beat boxing and bass backing track works. It vaguely reminds me of Soul Coughing's first album; Ruby Vroom.

Anomely... - Cheezy. Terrible production. The singer sounds pretty talented but this song doesn't work for me at all.

Anthony Butterfield - I was initially very put off by the cheezyness of this track (vocals & production.) But it's pretty nicely done. Basically; not at all my style but I think objectively it's pretty good. If I knew for a fact it is tongue in cheek (for example if it were on a Ween album) I may even be able to enjoy it ironically. Irony lives on?

Bad Boys at Bat... - Sounds a bit by the numbers for this style. That said; not bad. Pretty much everything I hear in this style sounds "by the numbers" to me. It's just not my style so it's hard for me to judge. And what does it really mean to give a review of a song the first time you hear it like this?

Berkeley Social Scene - Reminds me of Pavement. The guitar solo is pretty nice.

bgm - Definitely the top song I've heard so far. The production is pretty professional sounding. Everything sounds well played, the vocals are good. Bits of it remind me of Radiohead (particularly the guitar intro) and Folk Implosion (the chorus.)

Billy and the Psychotics - Vocals are a bit too buried - they sound good, just too low in the mix - otherwise the production is pretty great. Guitar and bass playing is excellent. I do think the chorus is a bit weaker than the rest of it; it sort of loses cohesiveness there. The instrumental breakdown is kick ass. Love the bass.

Samuel Shoop - Pretty good. I feel like I should have more to say about it, but I don't know. It's well done... in some ways this is probably the most radio friendly so far.

deetak - Impressive. In contention to be my selection for sure. Not necessarily my style; but so well done that I'm hearing past that prejudice. I think my wife might really like this. The singer has a great voice; kind of a bit too "sexy" for my tastes, but the ladies probably like it. The strings sound pretty great too. Almost have me fooled into think they are real. ... Are they real? If they are samples, what software do you use? Great production. Everything sounds good.

Dejected Motives - I like weird music and I plan on submitting some of my own here in the future. But I'm afraid this one doesn't work for me. Just sounds like a mess to me. Vocals are buried and I can't make out any of the lyrics or any kind of melody ... sometimes less is more.

Ebola-Cide - Not my cup of grapefruit juice.

EggNogAdam - Bit of a mess. Too much going on... too loose.

The Flight and the Grand Design - Poor production which particularly hurts this song as it sounds like its meant to be a big pop number. Kind of reminds me of the band Grandaddy. Vocals are too low in the mix. I almost find myself liking this song in the chorus and I like the instrumental break. If this song were recorded a bit better I think it could be a contender for me.

hillbilly - holy fuzz batman! the panning vocals are a bit strange especially when considering the lo-fi nature of the song. I'm not sure if this is meant to be ironic or if I'm supposed to be hearing this at face (ear?) value.

Hostess Mostess - Reminds me a bit of Paul McCartney circa 1978. I'm a big McCartney fan so I don't mean that as an insult (although if I had said circa 1968 then that would have been meant as much bigger praise...) but you may take it as one, eh? Isn't that strange - the way the world works.

Jeffrey Davis - Many moons ago I used to be you. Is there anything more condescending than someone who says something like that to you? ... I'm not sure ... probably not. But that's the world. Some of us are on one side and some of us on another, and we're probably all full of shit.

Juliet's Happy Dagger - If this had been earlier on the playlist I'd probably have more patience for it. It's not bad, but I don't find it good either. Too much going on. Messy production.

King Arthur - Nice lyric about Nascar ... got my interest. Nice classic rock thing going on here. I like the bass. Almost makes it into contention for me, but doesn't quite get there..

King Ginger - I got no patience for this. Reminds me of my reaction to Jeffrey Davis. It's so easy for us to share our BS ... so the internet is full of it. I get it. Hell I plan on sharing my BS here too. Look out!

MC Who Izzy - This is terrible. If your music is based on the lyrics/vocals it's a good idea to make sure people can actually hear them.

Mind Map That - Cute. Sounds like children's music. Don't get me wrong; it's good children's music. Maybe that's what you're going for? I hope so... Because I don't mean it as a negative thing. In fact, this may be the most successful track I've heard today if that's the intention. I can imagine this on a TV (maybe even as theme song if cut down) or movie soundtrack. In fact I'm going to place this in my "to be considered" list... (you'll see it here at the bottom, just you wait.)

The NATIONAL FRONTBUTTON - Vocals are too low in the mix. The backing vocals are kind of cool. Kind of tries my patience a bit. Maybe if I was drunk as hell and the production was better I'd dig it.

The Notorious FAP - Nope.

Odoriferous Valley - I mean this as constructive criticism because the track is otherwise pretty good: Get vocal lessons. Your voice has a decent quality to it, but you need to work on singing in key. You're probably aware of this... but if not, work on your ear training too!

Paco del Stinko - This would probably be pretty cool as a performance... as a recording I'm not really into it. Everythings well done, but this sort of thing just isn't for me. That said; I think there's an audience for it and I don't hear anything wrong with it really... just not for me.

Planets - The production is pretty damn cool. The vocals have some pitchy issues... but I think with some work they could be a good fit for this kind of style. I really like the sound of it though... has a sort of retro future thing going on that works. Despite the vocal pitchyness I'm going to put this in my list of contenders.

Sep - No. I get it. I get the desire to record stuff just to annoy people (I've done quite a bit of it and when my mood changes I may do some more) ... and maybe there are some people who aren't as jaded as me who actually get something out of it. But there's really just too much shit on the internet to do this to people. I mean... I've already listened to like 20 songs and then I listen to this song that seems intentionally bad? It's just not even funny man, you are ruining my damn life. No that's bullshit. That's my fault. Here I am, spending my time doing this instead of doing something constructive. I'm an asshole! The self hate is strong with this one.

styop quoons - Has bits of it that remind me of '80s/'90s Pink Floyd and of Spiritualized's stuff (have you heard Spiritualized? I'm huge fan and that's meant as a big compliment.) If the singing were a bit better this would be a contender for me. I mean that as constructive criticism. Work on your vocals as much as you do the rest of your music and you might really have something here.

SYNFONYC - I find this obnoxious... if you're going to do the lyrically based thing, you have to have your vocals higher in the mix. The melody is just terrible. Painful to listen to. I couldn't make it all the way through.

Torrentz - I guess this is kind of good in some way... but to me it just sounds kind of ridiculous. Couldn't make it through this one either. I'm losing patience. Maybe if I had heard this one earlier it wouldn't have annoyed me so much.

The Yyarrell Brothers Band - Why is it so damn loud? Sounds like blues rock by the numbers. Not bad, but not great. The over-compression if punishing. That main riff is too obvious to be so loud in the mix. As a bass line it's fine, but it's not the kind of thing you should push up so high...

THE CONTENDERS

bgm - On my second listen the intro sounds even better than it did the first time. Reminds me a *lot* of the band Grandaddy on this listen. Have you heard their album Sumday? this song would fit on it pretty well. Also reminds me of the new Band of Horses album.

deetak - Probably the most commercially viable song. I can definitely imagine it on a movie soundtrack. Everything about this song is done well. I'm very impressed by the vocals, guitar playing, the strings (I want to know more about the strings...), and the production.

Mind Map That - Actually, this may be even more commercially viable than deetak's contribution. And it's educational!

Planets - I really love the sound of this track. The use of static on the intro is fantastic. The bass is cool. If the vocals were better this would probably be my top pick.

I guess I should have given votes to all 4 of these but I screwed up. I thought I could only pick one to vote for and I chose...

MY TOP PICK = MIND MAP THAT.

[Paco Del Stinko]

b-52s + aquabots=paco del stinko

Ha! I can not tell you how many times I've been compared to Aquabots and yet I am not familiar with their music. Thanks for listening and commenting.

Chocolate Chimps: Nothing wrong with voting for only one song. That's how it used to be. I only vote for the song I find 'best' each week, and have yet to vote for myself, I can still say. Thanks for the comments, where's yer tune?

[chocolatechips]

Hello Paco - No tune this week - might do one next time... knocking some ideas about for the French theme. Probably won't get it done in time (considering I haven't even started.)

I used to SongFight a long time ago.. 2005 I think was the last time. Used a lot of different names back then.

[Ebola-Cide00]

sorry for the bad producing in my song, I barely heard about this site and really wanted to do this song and I had 4 days to do it with also working 2 straight 12 hr days on night crew. I really dont know producing at all but I have a friend thats going to help me on my next one. I also have no damn pop filter, 30 bucks, what does that hurt, 30 freakin bucks to get a damn pop filter, idk, I must be lazy or somethin

[Ebola-Cide00]

And by the way, although Im in the the songfight mix for this one, I gotta give it to Torrentz, they were kick ass.

[BBABM]

sorry for the bad producing in my song, I barely heard about this site and really wanted to do this song and I had 4 days to do it

totally hear that. No worries. Keep being awesome, and coming back! The more you practice, the better you will get at working quickly/finding time/knowing exactly what you need to make your song great. My songs are a million times better than when I started... Listen to my early fights, "the middle part" "after hours" I could go on... Either way, I still suck, but I'm way better than I was. Keep it up bro, I dug it... Listen, learn, Progress. No one likes every song... But I've been surprised by everyone who I've seen do more than two fights.

[bgm]

Holy shit what a big fight.
I'm just drinking beer and riffing off the top of my head so take all of this with a grain of salt because I'm kind of an idiot and it's been a long, exhausting week.

Here we go.

The Flight and the Grand Design
Lovely pop song. Kind of a Cars by way of the Rentals sort of thing. Love the way it chugs along and the tasteful synth lines. Nicely done.

Jeffrey Davis
A cute song to sing to your kid. I'm not really getting any added-value from the background whistling, though.

hillbilly
Wow that's a lot of tape hiss. The guitar is nice and it sounds like you can sing quite well but the back and forth left and right vocal panning thing sort of threw me off.

Egg Nog Adam
Probably my two least favourite things are fake drums and acoustic guitars recorded with a pickup that has that thin, piezo pickup sound. Unfortunately you've got both here; but that said, I really like your vocal track. Very nicely sung and a great sounding voice.
The guitar track was well played. I think even a shitty mike would make it sound just that much more natural though. I'm a big fan of room/natural sounds.

The Notorius F.A.P.
I like the synth line at the beginning.

The Yyarrell Brothers Band
I really enjoyed this. Great song, great simple riff. What more to say?

Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvahs
I think my favourite thing is the bass track. I'm always a sucker for a great bass track. And it sounds almost like it's halfway between a tuba and a fretless bass...is it a keyboard?
Again I have to mention my prejudice against acoustics recorded solely with pickups. So much more effective to just mic them.
I like your vocals on this one! Although at the beginning it sounds like you have a slight English accent. Are you Madonna?

AntBut
Wasn't expecting this clean synthy sadness from the name AntBut.
It's very well played and arranged. It comes across a bit synthetic and Karaoke-ish to me; I can't help but picture a video with the words scrolling by at the bottom over footage of sexy girls doing things completely unrelated to the lyrics.

AG Beats, Viktor Walters, and Nate C
Ya I really enjoyed this also. I thought it was going to be goofy from the beatboxing at the start but your voice really sold it and I loved the filmic quality of it; the narrator and changing characters. And then the human beats and bass, sound effects and bg chatter really started creating a whole soundscape that felt like its own little world.
Really, really well done.

Planets and Bubble Pipe Media
"All we hear is...Radio Ga Ga!" That's what I thought at the beginning.
Love the synth. For me the voice isn't matching the song. She sings very clear and pure but sort of naive...it seems like the song is begging for a bit more edge and dirt, which she hints at a few times when her voice lowers and she's not in the falsetto, vibrato mode.

Mind Map That
I'm a bastard I guess; it's a cute song but to me it comes across a bit like the 'cool' teacher trying to find a FUN! way to teach her class about Mayflies. The uke sort of seals it.
I do like the way you arranged it though, the fake tabla and bass are a nice touch. And the lyrics are very clever.

The National Frontbottom
I read the lyrics the other day so I sort of anticipated this one and thought it was going to be a stupid song that said 'cunt' a lot.
But I like it! Your gravelly voice and your accent totally sell it and it becomes a real guy telling this story. I like the 'hello, mate.' Made me laugh. Great production, overall.

Ebola-Cide
Man, heavy. You certainly succeeded at creating some vivid characters with harsh situations. Great writing. Not a fan of the fake synth strings but that's sort of a minor complaint.

Oderiferous Valley
Wow, love this. So far my favourite. Kind of Pavement-ish. I'm always a sucker for that shaky, unsure leap into falsetto. Guitar sounds fantastic and what a great bass sound. Very impressed overall.

King Arthur
god, I love this one too. This makes me want to make a band with you. Love everything about this.
It sounds so familiar but I can't put my finger on it...which is kind of awesome.

MC Who Izzy
Others have probably said this, I haven't read any reviews yet...but obviously the vocals are crazy-quiet. It's a song about an 808 and a Rhodes keyboard line, with a guy sort of mumbling quietly. It's too bad because the arrangement is really nice. But you probably know this already.

SYNFONYC
Dylan doing the Little River Band!

styop quoons
I like your voice. I would have chosen a less bell-like synth sound; it's a bit cheery and peppy juxtaposed with your blasé, disaffected vocal (which is great.) I love the Mountain Dew line.

Hostess Mostess
I feel a Piano Power Ballad coming on!
Yes, you do not disappoint.
I like your voice a lot at the beginning when it's quiet, really nice quality to it, sort of rich and controlled and on-pitch.
The beginning/ending of the song feel a bit disjointed from the loud middle wanky part, for me.

Juliets Happy Dagger
Guitars!
This is another case where I find that the vocal doesn't match the track. It's all RAWK guitars but the vocal is sort of talky-singy and timid, where you'd think it would be a bit shouty, just to match the intensity. The choruses work a bit better for me, I like the harmonies and layering of those parts.

King Ginger
A bit of the rhymes are pretty forced and crowded...like "radioactive waste," but maybe that's your style, I don't know. My favourite part is the "Last few Days" hook part at the end.

Paco Del Stinko
Kind of a Rock Lobster vibe. Love it. What a great sounding recording. Love your vox, and killer bass line. Is that a Strat? An SG? great guitar tone. Ha, it's like B52's meet Zappa or something.
Very nice.

Anomaly Jonez
Very smooth. I think the guitar line is unnecessary, the bass/drum groove is all you need to propel your vocals, which are great. Make it a more jazzy thing. The guitar just kinds of crowds it for me. Also something's up with your mic level, it distorts a bit when you get louder. Would be great to hear your vocal a bit cleaner and more up front and maybe with a bit less of the b.g. vox, because it's nice on it's own. I would pair this way down and simplify it, there's something quite nice here.

Torrentz
Really nice production. I very much like the breathless quality in the first verse, sounds honest and sort of desperate; real. Not crazy about the singing of the chorus, which is a bit weak-feeling in comparison. The newscastery voice in the 2nd verse is kind of corny, sorry.
Love the string sample choice for the chorus, really nice. What is that?

Dejected Motives
I like the melody and the backing track. The autotuney synthvoice is cool but the backup vox track comes in way too loud every once in a while and sort of spoils the vibe. Cool as background music for something but a bit too long and unchanging to be an interesting listen on its own.

Daring Front

My dear beautiful bitch,
You have such a lovely voice.

don't change a thing for me,
bgm

Berkeley Social Scene
I liked the kind of chorusy, flangey, conga Yacht Rock beginning and was sad when it was abandoned...
Seemed sort of sloppy and meandering after that.

Billy and the Psychotics
Awesome vocals on a kicking track. Guitars are great and frenetic but the vox are my fave.
Love the bass solo.

deetak
That's a beautiful, clean recording. Very, very, nice.
I got worried when the strings came in but it was all very tastefully done.

Sep
It's like some sort of schizophrenic tango. Awesome!

[glennny]

Chocolatechips said:

Odoriferous Valley - I mean this as constructive criticism because the track is otherwise pretty good: Get vocal lessons. Your voice has a decent quality to it, but you need to work on singing in key. You're probably aware of this... but if not, work on your ear training too!

Thanks for the criticism. However, I think my vocal melody perfectly in key. The pitch is shaky at points, well a lot of points, but it is clear what notes I'm going for. You can say the vocals are : sour, icky, shaky, ugly, off, scoopy, but as a modal guitarist I really hate being accused of being out of key when it is not true.

For the most part your point is taken and obvious. With more time ( a lot more time) I would practice that vocal line 98 times and hopefully tighten up the pitch. We wrote the melody on guitar, then Paco said " I can't hit that note". Of course I have no problem making a fool of myself, so I dove into the task.

[glennny]

His Last Few Days

AG Beats & Viktor Walters, and NC- I like the bass a lot. The b-box is pretty cool too. The beat jazz word speak doesn’t grab me. Why the weird voice? I suppose that’s a character, but it’s awkward. The beat is super cool. Overall this is alright. I enjoy the listen, I don’t mind the repeated listens, and the rhythm section makes the composition.

Anomaly Jonez ft 3rd Nipple- The production leaves a lot to be desired. The bass doesn’t sound too bad. The drum machine is passable. The guitar sounds terrible. It’s in a little box underwater in the next room. The vocals have a pretty good performance. It sounds like they distort on the more powerful notes. Using the computer mic? The banter at the end doesn’t add anything, which should’ve been cut. The vocal line is super scoopy. It works for the most part, but I think that bend is over-used. The call and response falls flat with the 2 voices in the same register. If there was more distinction between the 2 voices that part would work a lot better. I think what bugs me the most is you’re in Cm, and every time you sing a G you scoop up from an F#, when you really want a full bend from F, so a larger scoop or no scoop would work much better. It keeps sounding like there’s a wrong note being corrected. The song is well written, I like the structure alright. I like the passion in the vocals just not all of the notes.

Anthony Butterfield- The vocals are impressive. I like the vocal melody a lot. The piano is super nice. You were right in adding a rhythm section to the sparseness, but I can’t say I like neither the drums nor the underwater effect on the synth. This is too long and sleepy for what it is. Wicked vibrato on the vocals! The lyrics and story doesn’t grab me. I like the interludes, they sound like muzak Genesis. So all you need is Bob Ezrin production, Peter Gasbriel harmony vocals, and Phil Collins on a real kit. This is a well written song, the production choices are really killing it for me.

Bad Boys @ Barmitzvahs- You forgot the “Tell me about it Stud” at the beginning. Okay maybe it’s just the bass line that sounds like “You’re the one that I want”. The country shuffle drums are pretty loose. The tightness of the drums exactly dictates how tight the rest of the band sounds. I like the bass playing a lot. I like the acoustic guitar playing too. It’s not the best tone for that acoustic, but it sounds alright. The vocals are cool. I like your voice. There’s a Morrissey quality to the vocal melody approach. The song is so bouncy and upbeat, then that solo drags like crazy. I keep wanting to yell at the lead guitarist to keep up! The fade out on the solo is cool, seems to becoming more fashionable.

Berkeley Social Scene- I’m a bit disappointed this isn’t being received as well as I think it ought to be. This is one of my favorites we’ve churned out this year. The chord pattern is the most clever part to me. It’s all Ken. We arrived to the studio that fine Tuesday and Ken had the chord pattern all ready to go. The unique sounds to this BSS song is the bongo rhythm the song is based on, and the super slow cry baby wah wah. I’ve been obsessed with TV on the Radio lately, Nine Types of Light is blowing my mind. The guitar in your left ear is me, I’m riding the wah wah the whole song in a rather obnoxious way. I’m not saying it sounds like TV on the Radio, but to me there’s a clear influence. Lunkhead is in the right ear. His playing is restrained, tasty and most often perfect. The vibrato he puts at the end of the pre-chorus kills me in how crazy good it is. I love the vocal approach. I like the interplay between Ken and Martin. There are a couple moments in the vocal melody I’d love to tweak. “… no matter how many hours he spends there..” in the 3rd verse doesn’t really work for me, but for the most part I think the melody is fantastic. The drums are of course perfect. I think maybe the vocal line gets a bit robotic. I like my solo okay, it’s short and sweet, but it melts no faces. Were we to develop this further I would spend a lot more takes on the solo. This one was live with the band on our best run-through of the evening. Overall I love this song. Easily gets a vote.
BGM- Wow! This is gorgeous! The sci-fi solo is brilliant and perfect. I dig the indie rock super close whisper vocals. The harmonies are delicious too. The weakest link is the lyrics to me. The rhymes feel forced and the accents and stresses on the multi-syllabic words feel awkward. The rhymes feel like they dictate the content, and the story is thin. The “Hell on Earth” line makes me cringe slightly. All that said, I love this recording and performance. This easily gets a vote, and is a contender for the win. I love the way the different instruments enter the song. Those guitar licks on the 2nd chorus are super tasty and probably the 2nd most memorable part (that solo is awesome). This is also one of the keepers from the fight for me. Well done!

Billy & the Psychotics- The bass and drums sound great. The guitar tone is muffled. I’ve heard much better guitar tones from Billy. The riffs are fantastic. DJ’s performance is great! However the vocals seem way too up front for the genre. I’m sorry I stole Paco from you this fight, however in his absence you gave us a ripping bass solo! What the vocals lack in melody they make up for in performance and attitude. The song desperately needs a hook, the rock knob is at 10, but the hook knob seems to be rolled back on 2.5. Although, a hook in this melody might disrupt the head banging it forces one to do. This kicks ass! Gets a vote.

Daring Front/ Samuel Shoop- This is nice. Sounds like the same formula as last week. In fact I need to go listen to Ashes, because in hearing this, I don’t remember what Ashes sounds like. The organ on hear is spectacular. The 2 vocals work really well together. The melody is catchy. This is performed really well. The weak link is the drum machine. A real kit with a funky drummer would take this up a notch. Hey, that’s not an ending. I re-listened to Ashes, I’d keep these 2 tracks off the same album. They’re pretty similar. I think I like the new one a little better, but they’re close. You got my vote last week, I’m on the fence for this one, and this is a much stronger fight. I think you need to write an ending, and watch out for being too self-derivative. Maybe I’ll vote for you, not sure yet. Excellent use of echo.

Deetak- Wow! I’m a Deetak fan, and this may be my favorite from you. This is gorgeous. Your voice is amazing. The guitar sounds wonderful. The strings are haunting and emotional. This is the clear winner to me. This is on par with some of the better Damien Rice moments. Your breathy vocals really work. The instrumentation is perfect; you don’t need drums or bass for this composition. The guitar playing is beautiful and emotional. This goes immediately into my best of Song Fight collection. I’m just blown away. I immediately played this for my wife, she 2nds the Damien Rice vibe. Awesome man! VOTE, and to me the clear winner.

Dejected Motives- Not a bad melody. Poor robot, drowning in all those effects. Way way way too long.

Ebola-Cide- There’s a Vaccination band called Ebola Soup. You sound nothing like them. Ugh. A story. Your flow isn’t bad, your lyrics don’t grab me though. The fake drums are annoying. Well I realize all the music is fake. I think the bpm is way too slow. This does not overcome my genre bias. The string hits are cool.

Egg Nog Adam- The Ovation sounding guitars sound super plastic in this recording. This song is begging for some drums and huge bass. I guess there’s a drum machine, but it sounds like it’s next door. The boom and thak is really missing on this guy. It’s weird to have more distortion on the vocals than the guitars. Not a bad song. It rocks much more than the presentation. When I imagine the proper drums and bass this is awesome.

Flight & Grand Design- I want to do all lo-fi power indie pop songs like this. My band will be called the Upbeat Downbeats. Okay, I love the Rentals I love Weezer, I love SuperDrag. I can’t help but like the pop rock of this. That said, the production is really poor. The whole thing is very quiet. If you’re going to be gentle with composition you ought to kick ass with production.

Hillbilly- Why the stereo vocal panning weirdness? I don’t know that I like the rain throughout. It stays too prominent in the mix. I appreciate short and sweet, but this doesn’t have an arc. I feel like there’s an intro and a verse, maybe a pre-chorus, and then it ends. It sounds tragically unfinished. The vocals sound like a caricature of a Hillbilly. I suppose that’s the point. That said, I really like what is there. I hope you finish it off and it shows up on the boards or Some songs or something.

Hostess Mostess- I love your vocals. Fantastic vocal and piano performance. The backing “ooohs” are super tasty. I wish there wasn’t so much chorus on the guitars. This is much more Abbey Road than Meet the Beatles. I dig the guitar solo tone a lot. The solo seems to lack a little confidence. The mix is strange. I want more bass and drums. A real drummer would be nice too. This would be a fun song for the BSS to back you up on. I shouldn’t speak for the rest of the band, but I’d love to back you up at a Song Fight Live event. In any case, excellent writing!

Jeffrey Davies- My father is insane. He’s hospitalized for his mental illness. This sounds like half of the messages he leaves me.

Juliets Happy Dagger- This is very cool. The band sounds great. The vocals are still a little up front for me, but they’re in the perfect spot if you’re a country artist. I’m liking the timbre of your voice more and more with each song. I am acquiring the taste. I think the bass player is playing too many notes, I think he should stick to the solid 8th notes. The little 16th notes are unsupported and muddle up the overall sound. The guitar pick slides made me laugh.

King Arthur- I dig the bass line and bass tone. Your vocals are always top notch. Nice melody too. Tasty little solos and licks! You know I hate the drum sound, I feel bad for mentioning it. There’s something a little more Grateful Dead than usual in this one. Maybe it’s the bass tone. Maybe it’s the sheer mellowness of it. Good stuff.

King Ginger- At least you let me know early how much I will dislike this. Needs more flow. Needs a better beat. Lyrics are a snore fest. I hope it was fun to make.

MC Who Izzy- Nice slow building intro. I think the vocals should come in much sooner than 30 seconds if it’s only going to be a 2 minute composition. The vocals are strangely super quiet. When I listen hard, I think the flow is pretty good. There must be a story behind this mix. Sounds like a promising demo.

Mind Map That- TABLA! Why do songs about insects invoke the Tabla? I have a song called “Peter the Ant” and of course it’s the table song. The mix is really impressive. This goes into the educational section of the imagined Song Fight sub category Archive. I hear the Uke and I always think Minty Handy. Is this Mrs. Minty Handy? I like the vocals when they stay singing, the regression into talking not so much. The bass is great! Why is nature so cruel? Good song!

The National Front Bottom- Another Caravan Ray incarnation. Have there been previous National Front submissions? Very normal structure. Done well and fun to listen to. The Sam Kinisen yell sample I could do without. I like the swearing! I like the punches at 0:42. I wish the song was louder. I can turn it up and enjoy it, but I fear for my ears when the next song comes up.

The Notorious FAP- This is painful. Unfunny comedy.

The Odoriferous Valley- I had business in Boston, so I went a little early to hang out with Paco del Stinko. This is our 4th collaboration. This is my favorite to date. We hired Ken to do the drums. I think I need 78 more takes to hit that verse melody in a passable fashion. Given our time, we had to move on. So I apologize for the performance on the verse melody. I’m really impressed with Paco as usual. There is so much creative energy in his studio. You’ll get a glimpse of it when I finish the video. This is slated as my next video project. It’s funny Paco says I wrote most of this. I feel like he wrote most of it. He had the concept for the structure and at most junctures he would describe the mood he wanted and then I would say something like “ oh A7 then….” . I’m a big fan of the chorus both chords and melody. Paco took the Mc Carteny approach and left the bass for the last track to record to “glue” it all together. The bass line is nothing short of genius. I have the 1st solo. That was my 2nd take, and Paco said “that’s it!” Paco has the outro solo, he was really feeling the resolution of the outro. The beuty of the overall composition is we save that release for the end. We have that “bridge” come up twice, but the 1st time it goes back to the minor chorus. The last time we let the G7 it ends on release to the C major riff. Paco is an amazing vocalist, so many voices and so easily called upon. I suppose what they say about 10,000 hours of practice is true. With a better vocalist singing my part I think we would have had a shot. Doh! I’m still voting for us though.

Paco del Stinko- Paco gives the 1-2 punch for you alphabet listeners. The main riff makes me sing Rock Lobster. I keep half expecting the girls to come in with the zany backing vocals. This vocally more tame than the B-52’s believe it or not. I know the story with the random radio bit that works so well. The playing is perfect. The chorus is a little weak compared to the verse and bridge. This easily gets a vote.

Planets- All we hear is Radio Ga Ga! Radio Goo Goo! I like your voice a lot when it’s not falsetto.

Sep- The vocal melody sounds like a nod to the Police “On Any Other Day”. Oh man, spoken word never works, does it? Okay if your Beth Lisick and you got a jazz band it really works. This is a piece of art, and I mean that in the harshest most degrading way. The listening experience is that of endurance more than interest or joy. I kinda like the outro.

Styop Quons/ Egyptian Hairstyles- This hits my Eno nerve nicely. This sounds very much like solo Eno. The mostly 3 mote melody even works. This reminds me of that song on the Begnuggen album. There’s a little Spiritualized going on. The stuttering guitar makes this like Spiritualized as remixed by the Chemical Brothers. Cool stuff! Love the influences!

Synfonyc- The timing fluctuations match the pitch fluctuations. The quasi Bob Dylan impression is annoying. The edit at 0:41 is jarring, and the one at 1:02 as well, and the others. I have no problems with patchwork like this but the seams shouldn’t be speed bumps. A click track would do wonders for A- your timing, B- your edits, C- the listeners urge to kill you. HA! It’s a joke!

Torrent Z- Nice flow. Oddly enough I prefer the rapping verse to the melodic chorus. It’s clear that the rapping part is what you do, and you do it well. The chorus is a good effort, but doesn’t work as well as the verses. Last days of Lincoln, I had the same thought.

Yyarrell Brothers Band- Why are you distorting the vocals like that? Nice riff! Cool guitar solo instrumental bit! Oh, I guess it’s an outro. Not much of a chorus or refrain to that song. It’s a nice groove, I guess there’s a little refrain there. This sounds like more of a movement in a larger song or musical epic, it’s a bit thin on its own. I like what’s there but I think it needs more.


This was an excellent fight! Fantastic songs in here. Stiff competition. Here are my votes:

Clear Winner:

Deetak

Excellent Entries:

BGM
BSS
Hostess Mostess
Paco del Stinko
Odoriferous Valley

Very Good and Vote Worthy

Bad Boys at Barmitzvahs
Billy and the Psychotics
Daring Front
Juliet’s Happy Dagger
The National Front Bottom

[Who_Izzy]

MC Who Izzy- Nice slow building intro. I think the vocals should come in much sooner than 30 seconds if it’s only going to be a 2 minute composition. The vocals are strangely super quiet. When I listen hard, I think the flow is pretty good. There must be a story behind this mix. Sounds like a promising demo.

Thank you very much i posted a more audible version lyrically on page...3? of this thread. Check it out if you wish? I appreciate the Reviews from everyone? I'll try to be more awesome next time? i just got off work so even though I know that the whole "everything is a question thing" isn't funny....right now it's hysterical?

[BBABM]

Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvahs
I think my favourite thing is the bass track. I'm always a sucker for a great bass track. And it sounds almost like it's halfway between a tuba and a fretless bass...is it a keyboard?
Again I have to mention my prejudice against acoustics recorded solely with pickups. So much more effective to just mic them.
I like your vocals on this one! Although at the beginning it sounds like you have a slight English accent. Are you Madonna?

I agree... Most of the time I record the guitar with a mic, because it does sound much better. I didn't have the time to properly record all the tracks, and kinda schlubed it a bit just plugging in to the box. that is a real bass (a 10 yr old piece of junk "lotus" with a neck that has somehow warped backwards), but again plugged straight into the box... I don't know what it was that gave it the tuba sound, but it makes me wish it was a tuba. The vocals are a little weird, because usually I belt it out, and this time my roommate was studying during my recording time, so I had to restrain a little.

Bad Boys @ Barmitzvahs- You forgot the “Tell me about it Stud” at the beginning. Okay maybe it’s just the bass line that sounds like “You’re the one that I want”. The country shuffle drums are pretty loose. The tightness of the drums exactly dictates how tight the rest of the band sounds. I like the bass playing a lot. I like the acoustic guitar playing too. It’s not the best tone for that acoustic, but it sounds alright. The vocals are cool. I like your voice. There’s a Morrissey quality to the vocal melody approach. The song is so bouncy and upbeat, then that solo drags like crazy. I keep wanting to yell at the lead guitarist to keep up! The fade out on the solo is cool, seems to becoming more fashionable.

the solo sucks... I was hoping to have time to send it off and have a real lead guitarist throw something down. I didn't, so we are stuck with me trying desperately to catch up. The fade out was pure laziness, I suppose it worked better than a hard stop.

[BBABM]

b-52s + aquabots=paco del stinko

Ha! I can not tell you how many times I've been compared to Aquabots and yet I am not familiar with their music. Thanks for listening and commenting.

yeah, I believe I've said it before even. Not so much the music (they are a crazy ska band with a full horn section and costumes, you would love them) but your voice, and the way you choose where to go with the vocal melody sound very similar. I just realized it says aquabots, it's actually aquabats, but you knew what I was talking about.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Is that a Strat? An SG?

The leads, both clean and othewise, are on my trusty old strat. It's the guitar I've had the longest, a '71 I bought in '83 off of a hippy turned accountant. It's one of the rhythm guitars as well, along with a mutt strat made up of a neck from a supposed Kramer type strat and a Hondo strat body. Geez! Stratoland! The old one only has a three way toggle vs. five way on the mutt. Talk to KA about vintage strats, though. Thanks for the kind comments!

Glen: You are way too kind and modest. Can't wait to see the video, although I feel a possible bout of embarrassment coming on!

[hillbilly]

Daring Front-- Man i like your stuff, good groove

Yyarrell bros----Grab your scooter, were drinking IPA's. invite me next time.

Stinko Zapa---- A Hondu with a krammer neck

Hostess----- that was beautifull

National Front bottom-----Hey you fucking cunt, sounds like you chaps had a fucking good time. In north carolina, cunt is something you run around and spend all your money chasing or looking for. It must be something different there. We may not even be supposed to say that word.

[hillbilly]

Dam bgm , that song bout killing your son, scares me. what the fuck brought that on.

[Ebola-Cide00]

instead of making a list about all the bands i will just give some reveiws on 3 that I like the most and 2 that have potential and one that I cant quite put my Finger on.

Torrentz- I really like this. I could listen to this on my free time. Who ever that second rapper is, he sounds a little like MC Frontalot. Good job

BGM- Diggin this, a lot. Very Elliot Smith, Which is very very awesome. I really like this one. Props

Deetak- The song overall is pretty sweet, its gotta nice soothing touch to it, nice job.

now 2 that have potiential just arent quite there with some techniques.

Dejected Motives- I really like the beat, but the auto-tune needs to go, at least some of it. Maybe just Auto-tune the chorus if you absolutly need to use it. The whole thing in Auto-tune gets really annoying after about 15 seconds, which sux because I was digging everything but the Auto-tune.

King Ginger- Are you a fan of "Axe Murder Boyz"? I think that this could be better if the sentences in your verses wernt so crowded with certain words. other than that, its got an Axe Murder Boyz feel to it.

the confusing yet addicting one.

The National Bottomfront- I dont know what to say, im really not in to a grunge type sound like this but everytime i get on song fight I have to listen to this. It reminds me of "Gnarkill" mixed with "Flogging Molly" which i love flogging molly. and yes, this is something Beavis and Butthead woul jam out to.

[Paco Del Stinko]

I used to SongFight a long time ago.. 2005 I think was the last time. Used a lot of different names back then.

Well, welcome back then, old-timer! Making me feel like a new guy again.

[hillbilly]

stinko--- you getting ready to misss a blue jagmaster ebay for 370, i cant sfford it

[hillbilly]

BGM--- whats the hidden issuse, your son brought shame upon your home and you killed him with a shovel. what the fuck did he do ?

[hillbilly]

man on that album cover, is that dude checking out that other dudes zipper.

[hillbilly]

think i need to do the bed. nite yall

[Ebola-Cide00]

being my first fight, im feeling like a little kid waiting for christmas morning, I really dont care if I win or not, there were some bad ass songs out in the battlefield so just to be apart of it is great feeling. I think Im more excited to see what sort of songs "the only french I know" is going to be like, I didnt do a song for this one but hopfully I will get a chance to do the next fight. I have a question though, Can we summit more than one song under 2 diffrant names? I have a friend that I do music with and it isnt rap, its mellow rock, known as "Hodges Und Barerra. I wanna show of my other styles other than rap, We also do a funny side project called "The Flying Dildos". So if we could do that, please let this little White boy know. this site also wont let me give info on my self yet, says im too new, i have to post a little more before so here is a little info: Name is Cory Hodges, From Dallas Tx., age- 23, instruments- vocals and on my way to learn cello, recording style- my mouth and a mic, a little info- Im just a white boy with a love for music, its hard to find a type I dont like. My influence in doing rap is defenatly nerd core, Mc Lars, Mc Chris, Mc Frontalot so on. I have a rap song featuring HardNox and soon Mc Lars- i find out more about that on october 4th. I have a music video With "The Flying Dildos" that i made, a little shitty quality but I have no experience with that, go check it out on Youtube under "TFD- Yo Soy Monstro" leave some comments. Im one of those people who like to read the "hates" and the "likes" on my stuff, it helps with future projects. anything else you would like to know, ask me. Thanks