Might as well call this a review thread, I guess. (HBFY)

[Dejected_Motives]

Hello all! I want to make a few notes about my submission for this fight..

First, the song is only 5 minutes long, NOT 8.

Second, I want to apologize for the poor quality of the recording. I decided at the last minute that I was going to scrap all of the work I did throughout the week and start the whole project over; which didn't allow me to take sufficient time to edit the song whatsoever (so much in fact, that I may have just missed the deadline; thus making this whole comment basically pointless.) But, even so, I do intend to remaster the song and post it on my Soundcloud page.. eventually...

I'm working on several projects (like always) so, I never know when I'm going to actually finish one or another. However, the real world doesn't usually allow for such procrastination. And, THAT is why I started making submissions, to practice meeting deadlines. This sight is good practice for anyone who would like to start making music professionally and keeping to strict schedules (albeit in a generally enjoyable fashion thanks to light-hearted themes.) But anyway...

[faight]

Klownhole -- I like the classic punk garage band feel, but I really had trouble hearing your lyrics. The groove almost got me going. I would have loved to hear more vocals and dynamics.


Faight From Fire -- I think there is a little too much warble from the phase patches and chorus effects. I had a hard time keeping from slipping flat in the vocals, and I would love to have had a female counterpart; but as you can guess my vocal partner and I are no longer together. And since I'm reviewing my own stuff, I am particularly amused by train guitar in the middle.


Billy & the Psychotics -- When the song started I was really grooving on it. To be honest, I was really intimidated by you guys from your last week's entry. A well put together song. I would have loved to hear more melody in the lyrics or chorus somewhere, but all and all, a great song.


Berkeley Social Scene -- A very cool jazz chord progression. The vocals are a bit hidden by the music, but the harmonies are good. I had a hard time following the story, I think because it was a bit slow.


Paco del Stinko -- I liked the lyrics, but the song was really busy. Everything got mushed together and I had a hard time following it. I do love how you put together so many different sounds--I would have loved it more if you had added them slowly or had some kind of more aggressive dynamics. I love the hungry monster guitar solo.


Pigfarmer Jr. -- This song wasn't for me.


Monkey Touchers -- Did Tim Come back from the grave? He's been dead for years.


The HATE Noise featuring Mean Gene Goatee -- Nice groove. I like the rhymes. I like the delivery. The sampling was really nice.


Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff -- I like the retro groove. The guitar, base, keyboard and vocal mix was really good. The lyrics spoke to me in an uncomplicated way. I would have liked some more dynamics or variation. Good Love song, though. Good Job.


Dejected Motives -- I liked the song! I wish I could hear the vocals more. The mix seemed off somewhat. Still I didn't get bored.


The Sportswriters -- I was looking forward to this one. I like the lyrics, and I was not dissapointed with the music. Good initial buildup, but I was waiting for it to "kick in" and it never really seemed to.


Dirge & Sara -- I LOVE THIS SONG! Great guitar, good drums, great vocals, and awesome harmonies. This one goes in my mp3 player.


Tye Lemery -- Piqued my interest from the beginning... Good solid vocals. Simple accompaniment, and when the groove kicked in, I was not dissapointed. Another mp3 player add.

[jb]

The real world doesn't care about your apologies or your excuses either, bub. They're just not going to like your song.

If you know your song, or your recording, has flaws, keep your mouth shut and ignore those parts of the reviews. It's not going to do you any good to acknowledge them now in an attempt to pre-empt criticism. You're still going to get the criticism and people are STILL NOT GOING TO LIKE YOUR SONG.

Either get better or stop caring, but for pete's sake stop explaining why you suck as if we should take it on faith that you can do any better. If you can do better and want anybody to know it, then PROVE IT or go home. And it doesn't matter if you've proven it in previous recordings. Nobody is going to remember, even if they listened to those previous recordings, until you've done better at least a couple dozen times. Then maybe somebody will come to your defense. But until then your dear listeners are going to hear a recording that sounds like shit and assume it's because you're incompetent.

It's a fundamental law of Song Fight: Nobody gets credit for only having one leg.

Oh, and fuck your "light hearted themes". Your whole message is telling everybody here that you didn't come here to kick ass with great songs, you came to jerk off on their time.

This is Song Fight, not Song Love.

<3

JB

Hello all! I want to make a few notes about my submission for this fight..

First, the song is only 5 minutes long, NOT 8.

Second, I want to apologize for the poor quality of the recording. I decided at the last minute that I was going to scrap all of the work I did throughout the week and start the whole project over; which didn't allow me to take sufficient time to edit the song whatsoever (so much in fact, that I may have just missed the deadline; thus making this whole comment basically pointless.) But, even so, I do intend to remaster the song and post it on my Soundcloud page.. eventually...

I'm working on several projects (like always) so, I never know when I'm going to actually finish one or another. However, the real world doesn't usually allow for such procrastination. And, THAT is why I started making submissions, to practice meeting deadlines. This sight is good practice for anyone who would like to start making music professionally and keeping to strict schedules (albeit in a generally enjoyable fashion thanks to light-hearted themes.) But anyway...

[sportswriters]

This is my first review but I should point out that I am not a patient person.

Berkeley Social Scene - Verses interesting. Chorus not really happening for me. Disto guitar kind of lump. Melody stays in the same place through the whole song. Tuned out after 2'30"

Billy & Psychotics. Nice opening. Great drums. Vocals, okay. Wait, are we going to get a chorus or just a bunch of verses? Great production, again not much happening melodically. Tuned out at 2'00.

Dejected Motives. Dear God, are we really still doing the Autotune thing? Sounds like it's being played from under a cushion. That someone's sitting on. Tuned out at 1'23

Dirge+Sara. Alterno rock. Okay. Is that squishy guitar going to play for the whole song? Apparently yes. Chorus needs some beef. Singer needs to open up. Guitar solo sucks so bad. Tuned out at 1'47.

Faight from fire. Weediest drum sound of all time. Double tracked vocals are creepy as fuck. Not in a good way. Dude sings out of his nose and lives in his mother's basement but apparently "burned your soul in flames of my desire". Tuned out at 1'35

Hate Noise. Oh yeah, this is more like it. Beach Boys + Profanity. Gratuitous threat to 'shoot up your hood soon' from person who likes Beach Boys caused spontaneous abort at 0'27. Sorry, it was going so well, but get a life, really. Will happily provide GPS co-ords of my dwelling so you can 'shoot it up', yeah, right.

Ken's Super Duper Band'n'Stuff. Okay, great, this is going to be music to walk to. Three chords plus banal rhyme of 'smile/worthwhile', not promising. OK this is not going to get better is it? Tuned out at 1'03.

Klownhole. Get on with it. Hey, I used to like stuff like this. Shibboleth/Crystal Meth/Death rhyme is... unanticipated. Heavy guitars need to be WAY heavier but I get the idea. Well, dude has listened to Capt. Beefheart, will give him that. Needs a bit more threat in the vocal. Okay, Bridge is cool. Oops, went back into 'Sweden' bridge at 2'20, already heard that, thanks. Tuned out.

Monkey Touchers. Tuned out at 0'18. Please get some professional help.

Paco Del Stinko. Nice. Right into it. Sweet sound. Oh, God. Lyrics are doggerel. Tuned out to preserve sanity at 0'33.

Pigfarmer Jr. Promising so far. Nothing wrong with acoustic+vocal. Lyrics are not embarrassing yet. "He's a mighty screaner with the ability to annoy" YEAH. Parents represent! Oh, shit, pisswater guitar solo. Can't take it. Tuned out at 1'37"

Sportswriters. Tuned out at 0'13. I much preferred the version I did with just me and the guitar. This one was way over produced.

Ty Elemery. Okay, we're going for the singer/songwriter thing and some major 7ths I guess. Unforgiveably rhymed tears/fears at 0'36 causing eject.

I'm going with Klownhole for the win, with Pigfarmer a close second.

[sportswriters]

Okay, now you all hate me, I'll tell you that I have no idea where that song of mine came from. I've never written anything remotely like it before. I was originally going to do just the resonator guitar + vocal but a friend of mine dared me to go the Jacques Brel route so I thought, fuck it, let's try it. It sort of worked but the song is more honest with just the guitar + vox.

[Ebola-Cide00]

Monkey Touchers for the win and when I say "monkey touchers" I mean The Hate Noise or Paco Del Stinko, it was great on both ends, and I cant remember who compared Monkey Toucher to Tiny Tim but i can see that...... kinda, Tim above though, no doubt about that

[Billy's Little Trip]

THIS.IS.SONG.FIGHT!

I'm diggin' the tunes, ya'll. This weeks songs have magical swirls with electric sprinkles.

[hillbilly]

Monkey---- You really sux, but call me, bet you got some good shit.

Hate-----Kicking lyrics, bomb treath, cooking shit, got my vote

Billy------ Not trying to piss anyone off, sometimes your friend,vocals (no one could do better, then at times shes off key as hell)Killer backing trak, maybe its supposed to sound that way and im old.

Sara----What you doing next week end

burnt out, catch rest sunday

[Billy's Little Trip]

Billy------ Not trying to piss anyone off, sometimes your friend,vocals (no one could do better, then at times shes off key as hell)Killer backing trak, maybe its supposed to sound that way and im old.

No prob, you're not pissing anyone off. Maybe a feeling or two hurt, but that's life.
I tossed this on DJ's lap a day before the deadline and she was knee deep in other projects/stuff. I'm lucky to have a song at all this week. Trust me, this song will be re-visited.

....fluffy, would you make the wink face work, please? It's very important to my sales pitch.

[Tig]

This is my first review but I should point out that I am not a patient person.
.

Ty Elemery. Okay, we're going for the singer/songwriter thing and some major 7ths I guess. Unforgiveably rhymed tears/fears at 0'36 causing eject.

I'm going with Klownhole for the win, with Pigfarmer a close second.

Hey this is Tye Lemery under my old name. Actually just after that portion of the song it completely changes. Please listen past that and you will hear what I mean. Drums and bass kick in etc. The intro song is nothing like the rest of it.

[sportswriters]

Sorry, tears/fears was the dealbreaker, not the musical style, which I had no problem with.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Tuned out at 2'00.

The last 48 seconds is what the whole song is about. You sir missed a Texas babe hollerin'. That's art and I captured that.


...thank you, fluf, good timing. Perfect actually.

[sportswriters]

shoulda made the first 2'00 better I guess

[faight]

Thanks for the review, sports. What do u mean by weediest?

[j$]

Due to user incompetence, Shambles Square's "Has Been For Years" failed to reach SF HQ in time to be included. (I sent it but it in't get there and I didn't notice I hadn't received a notification). Those of you who want to hear it shoul try http://www.johnnycashpoint.com/songs/sh ... e_hbfy.mp3
j$

[Spud]

Due to user incompetence, Shambles Square's "Has Been For Years" failed to reach SF HQ in time to be included. (I sent it but it in't get there and I didn't notice I hadn't received a notification). Those of you who want to hear it shoul try http://www.johnnycashpoint.com/songs/sh ... e_hbfy.mp3
j$

It's been added.

[j$]

thank you!

[RangerDenni]

Billy------ Not trying to piss anyone off, sometimes your friend,vocals (no one could do better, then at times shes off key as hell)Killer backing trak, maybe its supposed to sound that way and im old.

No prob, you're not pissing anyone off. Maybe a feeling or two hurt, but that's life.
I tossed this on DJ's lap a day before the deadline and she was knee deep in other projects/stuff. I'm lucky to have a song at all this week. Trust me, this song will be re-visited.

we are also old. {jaunty grin} As far as I know, no one was any pissier than I have been all week (enough to allow for Inappropriate "hollering" *sigh*) ...so no hurt feelings.
I do have a bit going on- more like shin deep so I should have been a bit better on it :S but I will refrain from comment until I have something more to say. Still have some listening. I'd say I hope to review but I grow fatigued of my empty promises :S

[dirgetheband]

Let's give this a shot...

BSS - I usually really like the stuff you guys do. It's often very well produced and fairly catchy. This one just never seems to get off the ground. The production is muddy as hell. Almost seems like there's some kind of low pass filter on the main bus. I dunno - I'd like to hear what, if anything, you did differently this time than in the past. Also, why do I suddenly want a stick of spearmint gum?

Billy - Drums in my face, as usual with you. Awesome. Live or sampled? Doesn't really matter. Love the vocal delivery. I believe someone said they were rushed. Well, it's awesome. Like DiFranco meets Skunk Anansie. Just needed a horn lead. Great driving bassline, really keeps the tune moving forward and almost makes up for the drop in momentum at 1:32. Hmm, just went back and re-listened from that point on and it doesn't suck as much life out of the song as it did upon first impression. Very cool tune.

Dejected Motives - I'm not sure what you were going for on this... But I have to agree with a previous posters guess that this was recorded under a couch cushion. Everything other than the bass and snare is so buried, I actually can't stand it. Turned up the stereo (a lot) and I hear some interesting vocal parts, some neat synths. But now I'm turning it down again because the hour is late, and -ooops- again, nothing.

Dirge & Sara - We did this pretty much on Saturday night and Sunday morning, so given the time constraints I'm happy. In hindsight, I would kill the "intro" bit and just launch into it with BnD. And yes Sportswriters, I should not have the swishy guitars on the whole song, but I wanted to try something different. I think it's just too busy during the verses. I happen to like the "solo" as I usually don't play simple pentatonic stuff, but for this I figured I'd reel it in. I’m very happy with how Sara's vocals meshed with the tune. I've always worried that she'd be too R&B sounding for anything I write. I think this turned out pretty well. To change at some point: simplify verse guitars, eliminate acoustic intro, add some synths to chorus, have Sara "beef" up chorus.

Faight From Fire – There’s some interesting “pad” type stuff going on underneath it all. I guess that stuff comes through better when the drum track is little more than 2 different click sounds. I should take note of that myself. The singing… The rap part could probably live without the effects on the vocal.

HATE Noise – Didn’t you do some bitchin’ black metal dirge earlier? (Yup, for the last 60 seconds of “Boron Rod.” Awesome. –ed.) I guess you’re eclectic. Major bonus points for initial sample of Hopper, despite the fact that I might hate any other film MORE than I hate Blue Velvet. I guess I was raised in the “is sampling actually stealing?” era of the early 90s, so I was initially skeptical about this, but really liked it at the end. Strong vocal delivery really helps. Good work.

Ken's SDBNS – My foot is tapping along, but my mind went elsewhere. Something just doesn’t mesh. The piano line repeated at the end of each verse line gets tedious. It would have worked well as an occasional accent. Everything is well played, well produced. Nice work. Maybe it’s just not my cup o’ tea.

Klownhole – Hmm. I’m not liking this and it’s getting late. Sweden, huh? What if I’m Finnish? The meandering guitar line in the verse reminds me of my meandering guitar line in the verse of my submission. A little focus would have helped us both.

Paco – I always like your bass playing. This song shows off your chops pretty well. Could have done without the outro, or flesh it out a bit more. Song simply – ends.

Pigfarmer Jr – Sara mentioned that this sounded like it was written for “Out of a Hat.” I’m sure that’s no secret, especially given that upon close inspection I can hear the “out of a hat” line underneath the “has been for years.” I think the song would have worked better if it simply ended at 1:35 as a solo and another chorus fail to introduce anything new. You should have just submitted this for “Out of a Hat”, even if it was late.

Shambles – I feel like I’m being lectured to. And the topic is not of my liking.

Sportswriters – This is a tricky song for me. Not a fan of strings – but they work well here. Usually, not a fan of “story songs” – but this one tells a cool one. Why’d you finish up on the B major rather than the minor? Trying to tell me something? I also don’t like songs that tell me how to feel. Now I’m nitpicking. Awesome work. I would have liked to hear this as you originally intended, only vox and guitar.

Tye Lemery – Cool, relaxed vibe. I like the reverb drenched lead. Vocal harmonies are nice – they make me want to listen to the words, which I usually ignore. Maybe I’m projecting my qualms about my own “intro” but I’d prefer you just launch into this at 0:42. One, it makes the song shorter as I think yours is the longest. Two, it gives you a chance to start with that cool groove. Good work overall.

I don’t know that I’ve seen a fight that had more sparsely arranged songs. Nothing truly knocked my socks off, and that’s a first.

[glennny]

Dirge wrote:

BSS - I usually really like the stuff you guys do. It's often very well produced and fairly catchy. This one just never seems to get off the ground. The production is muddy as hell. Almost seems like there's some kind of low pass filter on the main bus. I dunno - I'd like to hear what, if anything, you did differently this time than in the past. Also, why do I suddenly want a stick of spearmint gum?

Good ear! I was hoping it wasn't that much of a deviation from our usual production, but then I listened to Ken's Super Duper Band back to back with it and it's more glaring. So the power trio was recorded live and should sound like our usual fare. However, the difference you're hearing is all of my over dubs. 2 vocal tracks, 12 string, are done through a 58, rather than a condenser mic, and with Ken's masterful EQing.Then the 2 electric tracks are through delay and pigtronix. Same pedals as usual but not through my tube amp loud and in the practice space with the perfect Mahru mic placement.

We often do pop songs, this is not a pop song. It is an art rock/prog rock song. I think it's a "grower" as Furry Pedro would say. Where as a pop song gives one (me anyway) a nice sugar rush then burns out, a good art/prog rock song gets more rewarding on subsequent listens. However it may turn people off before they commit. I think the song is awesome, but I'm clearly not objective about it. It would be a lot better with Peter Gabriel or Thom Yorke on vocals (wouldn't everything?).

Thanks for the review!

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Pigfarmer Jr – Sara mentioned that this sounded like it was written for “Out of a Hat.” I’m sure that’s no secret, especially given that upon close inspection I can hear the “out of a hat” line underneath the “has been for years.” I think the song would have worked better if it simply ended at 1:35 as a solo and another chorus fail to introduce anything new. You should have just submitted this for “Out of a Hat”, even if it was late.

Sara is right. I was bored and flicked over here to SF and got distracted. It was 3 or 4 hours before the deadline for HBFY but I only remembered the title OOAH and did a quick piece intended to be an obnoxious G+G whatever. Then as I came back realized I did the wrong song. So I substituted the title line and I left the old title line in for truth in advertising reasons. It actually kinda works.. sorta.
Not really.

Thanks for all the listens.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Billy and the Psychoitics - I liked the guitars to start and the vox is cool, but I'm not digging the melody as much as the vox. Overall I liked it.

Tye Lemery - I wasn't immediately grabbed by the intro, but I did like the start of the song proper. I began to lose interest by the end but I liked it overall. This is a song that I like quite a bit that I can't be in an energetic mood to listen to, I think.

Shambles Square - The vox didn't grab me when it came in but at least it wasn't expected. I'm not big into 8 -bit, but I liked some of the sounds in there that remind me of my atari 2600. And I liked the background vox, it's a nice touch.

The HATE noise - It sounds like you used fuck and 'shoot up the neighborhood' at the beginning because it's standard to do so instead of being genuine. Once I got into the song I actually enjoyed it except for the homobashing statements which didn't add much for me. I'll add that I did think the vox was good and the sampling was well done.

Paco - Kind of reminded me of that fake band 'the wonders' at the beginning. Ooh, I dig that guitar, Short and to the point. I went from okay to cool and back to somewhere in between.

Berkeley - An inoffensive song that just couldn't quite grab me musically. It's not bad...

Pigfarmer Jr - Just listened and even I didn't much care for it.

Ken's super duper - Somehow that simple uneventful bass line seems to work really, really well. For me it just lacks energy or something. I like the melody on the chorus. And the tribute to the beatles at the end was a nice touch.

Monkey - yeah... no. (your fake drumming is too high in the mix. Lower it a bit and I might have listened to more of the song.)

Dirge & Sara - I like that back and forth bass line quite a bit. The constant guitar was a bit much for me. Although I enjoyed the guitar in the break quite a bit. Sara has a pretty good tone to her voice and I liked the melody. If she would have doubled the vox an octave up on the last bit it would have put it over the top for me.

Dejected Motives - T-Pain needs to up the vox in the mix a bit. Yeah some cool stuff buried in there somewhere.. at least I think there is.. can't make it out.

Sportswriters - I like the guitar. I like the lyric, you kept me interested in the story and I like adding the strings, thanks for keeping it more interesting than it could have been. Oh you ruined it by going to that nice major chord at the end. It has to end on a sad note. It just has to. Well at least it was a bit unexpected.

Faight from fire - I liked the melody, it sounds vaguely familiar, but the tone of the vox is just... not working for me. I wasn't big on the sound in the rap section either.

Klown - Is that a pirate singing? I can't tell because the vox is so muddied up in the .