Nur Ein III Round Two "Unnatural Disaster"

There can be only one.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by frankie big face »

Caravan Ray wrote:Here's how I saw them this week:

19. Tex Beaumont and the Dirty Hearts
18. Frankie Big Face
I knew you could never put me at the top. It not only goes against your very nature, but it may even be against the law in New Zealand or Australia or wherever you're from. But I'm glad I finally broke through with you, even if you did rank yourself higher. :P
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Billy's Little Trip »

ROSS!!!! Fuck yes dude! I haven't done my reviews yet, but I put this one of yours at the top also. It's about damn time you get your just desserts. Perseverance pays off.
Congrats my friend, you really deserve this win.

Also, sorry to see the cuts. I was really enjoying ALL of the songs this week.

Andrew, you are on the cutting edge kid, so keep heading in the direction that you are going. There aren't many here that can say that they did the vocals, guitar and real time drums. I think that when you fill the bass frequency with a bass, you will be one step closer to greatness. I'm nothing to write home about, but if there is anything I can do to help, just ask.

NUR EIN!
Last edited by Billy's Little Trip on Wed May 21, 2008 11:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Caravan Ray »

frankie big face wrote: I knew you could never put me at the top. It not only goes against your very nature, but it may even be against the law in New Zealand or Australia or wherever you're from.
There is no law about who goes on top in Australia. In New Zealand however, there may be laws about what species goes on top.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Adam! »

Conversational reviews? Don't mind if I do.

So, the challenge this week. Yeah. At one point I believe it was "include backwards elements", but was reworded to the less ambiguous "include backwards recording". A small but important distinction. In my mind "backwards elements" allows for some wiggle room for the technologically challenged or the compulsively experimental; for instance, I think learning how to say a phrase backwards and recording that would count as a "backwards element". If you made it really obvious you could even use the lyrics to tell a backwards narrative. But, for the sake of clarity, it got parred down to just "backwards recording". Hmmm.

Anyway, on to the songs. What was it about the title that made people think "ROOOOCK!!!"? Or "PLASTIC SURGERY!!!", for that matter.

FBF - This is my favorite Nur Ein 3 song so far. If I am being pandered to, I like it. I'm totally in awe of those drums. Double kicks, thundering toms. Are they real? Programmed? Either way, I'm impressed. I have no idea how you achieved this staggering volume while still retaining a punchy drum sound. Killer guitar tone. The oppressive echo on the vocal obscures the verse lyrics completely, although after reading them I'm not sure I'm missing too much. Love the Ann Coulter stanza, though. Cool wide bass sound in the breakdown, great sounding flute. Love the rewind joke, it totally makes the song for me, and ties for the cleverest use of the challenge in the fight. I feel like I should be the one providing the talk-back voice. Why are the vocals so loud in the last verse?

Tex - This is the quintessential Tex Beaumont song. Fantastic humable melody, driving drums, funny and filthy lyrics, spaghetti-western/surf-rock backing woo-oohs, handclaps, detailed basslines, catchy little guitar licks, that epic double-breakdown/buildup, and last-but-not-least, vibraslap. I can't say enough good things about this song. The only thing I wish is that you had played up the backwards-demonic vocals aspect, to tie the challenge in better with the lyrics; you may actually have tried to do this, but those backwards vocals just aren't demonic enough.

Glenn & more Glenn - I'm a sucker for backwards drums. Clever use of a long vocal reverb to convey desolation. Ooh, circular panning at the end. It's nice to hear some cool new production tricks from you, Glenn. Man, you've got Twilight Zone on the brain these days; love this episode. The first-person amnesiac-mystery lyrics remind me of your Greenwood Cemetery album. This song is full of some seriously heavy riffs; it's a shame that the guitar tone is so ludicrous, an indistinct wall of fizzy noise. I'm impressed by your backwards-enunciation, which fooled at least one reviewer. Needs more Rachael. ROCK!

Ross - Those headphones were worth every penny: this mix wraps around my ears like warm caramel. Especially nice, after last week's mix. Love your voice in this song. I found these lyrics a little too unsubtle, however I suppose one needs to make the satire obvious with this kind of subject matter. The backwards solo is the best in the fight (a co-worker stopped me to ask if I was listening to Kenny Rogers' Just Dropped In), and that backwards storm-leaving sound works well with the lyrics. You drop some specific preacher names I'm not familiar with, but given recent-ish events in America I assume the storm in question was a literal one. Cool song, well thought-out, and a great use of the title.

BLT - Some cool sounds here, especially the backwards ambiences and what sounds like filtersweeps (but probably aren't). Intro guitar riffing reminds me of The Bazaar, by The Tea Party. The later guitar solo does not sound as cool. Some really sketchy vocals (by Nur Ein standards) in the last half. The catchy chorus really boosted this song.

Adam^2 - What a pleasant surprise. The tired sounding vocals fit quite well with this song. I'd like to hear this with a real bass. The reggae-ish guitar rhythm, coupled with the cool reverse guitars and fairly catchy chorus melody make this a keeper.

Starfinger - I started off not liking this song, but once I payed attention to the lyrics it just grew and grew on me. "Science is willing when the flesh is weak" is a great line. A very believable and sadly-funny character study of an unscrupulous plastic surgeon. I'm assuming this must be what happened to Michael Jackson. The vocals are pretty sketchy in places, specifically when you're singing at the top of your range, and also around the word "pro". A couple instruments come in that sound really neat, then suddenly appear to morph into your voice... don't really know how you did that, but I like it. Use of the challenge is pretty cursory; seeing as you have a line about reversing the processes, I figured you'd tie the backwards stuff in there somehow.

TWSA - handclaps, dance drums, songs about a robot takeover (wait, I just realized I don't know what this song is about)... I've made the Tokyo Police Club comparison before, right? I like one of your vocalists a lot more than the other. Sorry, other-vocalist. The chorus is totally great, with fantastic backing vocals. Aside from the chorus and the guitar solo, nothing really grabs me melodically. Still, it's never boring. Lots of nice change-ups.

JBB - Cool sounds immediately. This may be the most heavy-handed 2-buss compression I've ever heard. Sounds like you're pulling down at least 6db with a pretty fast release. Pumpy. A manly guitar tone like that could really use a nice loud snare to complement it. Catchy melodies and the top-notch singing I've come to expect from you throughout. I wish there was more work put into the arrangement to help differentiate the verse from the chorus. You copped half the bridge melody from your Kick Start (both lines in each song end with "... to recover"); was this intentional? I spent a short while trying to figure out if this was a lyrical connection between the two. You didn't really do much with the challenge, but then again you didn't have to.

Cock - See my Adam Adamant review (except the reggae part). The pianos and strings in the chorus work really nicely. The verse vocals are pretty terrible, but the chorus is solid. Why am I hearing "and it's nots natural" in every chorus? I really wish you would do something--anything--other than a plodding, never-pausing bass groove coupled with a 4/4 beat. I think all your Nur Ein songs so far have followed this formula. Oh... I just realized you won't be in the next round... damn, raw deal, dude.

15-16 - The most adventurous track I've heard from you since Let's Get Naked. Love the verse, hate the chorus. I guess I was waiting for some cool, fleshed-out, sung hook... but instead it sounds pretty much like the verse, except with embarrassing pitched-down vocals and some annoying groaning added in. Love the "found-sound" percussion (ice-cubes?). I like your flow in the verse. The backwards guitars-or-whatever don't do much for me. I believe you when you say this song turned out exactly how you wanted it. Sad to see you go so early.

Reist - This song earned you last place!? WTF? I mean, it's ain't great, but LAST? No justice. There's less interesting stuff going on in this song than your last two. Guitars and drums are spectacular as usual. Cool breakdown. As you yourself noted, the vocals are weaker than you're capable of. Melodically speaking, I like whatever's going on in the last 30 seconds of the song the most, and I wish there had been more of that earlier. As for the challenge, it sounds like you learned how to pronounce a few words backwards and then recorded that, which is a trivial but admittedly creative way to address the challenge, especially considering your recording restrictions. I wish it had a more obvious connection to the song. Like last year, I was very surprised you didn't make it farther in the competition.

Ken - The intro's guitar feedback, glockenspiels and panned drum machine made me go "ok, this is going to be the coolest song ever"; unfortunately, the song immediately drops all those elements after the first 10 seconds. Meh. I want to hear THAT song. I like how you seem to have built the song around that lead backwards loop. What the heck is wrong with this mix? Your vocals are WAY out in front, and while they sound full, the music in the background sounds thin and brittle. The synthesizer that comes in on the right feels like a dentist's drill right in my brain. The verses get a little repetitive, but the chorus and bridge are a real treat. The deliberate enunciation and slant rhymes make the vocal feel a bit unnatural. Short but sweet.

BK - Am I enough of a jerk to just write "See my Kick Start review"?


Apparently! For me the coolest part was when the reverse guitars came in and made a bunch of weird dissonant chords.

Paco - That verse riff is pretty ugly. I like the chorus, which feels like it's actually a pre-chorus buildup to the real hook that never comes. Drums are great, again, although in the intro they make me say "You gotta' keep 'em separated!". Challenge feels tacked on.

JT - Funkmetal, eh? That guitar tone is over-the-top. I like it. Very cool playing. It's a shame that this song is basically 95% that one guitar riff (or, slight variations on it) over and over again. Those drums need to be much punchier and more in-your-face. That backwards solo ain't doin' anything for me. Maybe I'm not hearing them right, but the nebulous lyrics offer me nothing to grip onto: all I know is the song is about someone who did some stuff. EDIT: Just read the lyrics. OK, once you're familiar with the subject (which, for me, took reading through a couple wikipedia articles) the lyrics actually do a great job of talking about this specific 'unnatural disaster' in a way that leaves the lyric open to interpretation. Still, to those who are unversed in Indian Industrial Accidents, it just sounds like a bunch of tired, generic lines. In retrospect, you might have gotten a little screwed by me not getting the lyrics.

Octothorpe - I'm getting more of a Rock Lobster vibe from this song than usual. The verse is nice, but I really don't like the chorus. Firstly, each one leads in with an irritating sound effect. I don't care for the hook melody, so I quadruply don't care for it when the bass and both keyboards are playing the exact some melody octaves appart. Even though it's justifiable considering the story, "that one should use the word 'disaster'" feels very kludged into the chorus. That all said, Octothope has scored a hat-trick: once again they have the cleverest integration of the challenge. Backwards vocals as alien gobbledygook: genius.

Add - Maybe it's just me, but this song puts me straight to sleep. Fantastic vocals, and a pleasant enough melody. The delivery kind of reminds me of Destroyer's Rubies (which is too bad: I can't stand Destroyer's Rubies). As far as I can tell this song is mostly two chords over and over again for 5 minutes, with very little to break that up. The backwards keys and choir synth that comes in for, like, 2 seconds are awesome... I want more! Like 15-16's song, the pitched-down vocals are silly sounding. The lyrics have some very cool imagery, but lyrics are pretty low on my list of interests. The Mormon in me (he's very small: my family stopped going to church when I was young) wonders why you chose the samples that you did. This song is like the energizer bunny.

King Art - Top of my list last week, at the bottom this week... quite the reversal. I ain't going to mince words: this song is so boring. You must repeat that short little two-chord motif nearly 100 times; by my third spin of the song it had nearly driven me completely mad, like Torgo's Theme. The long, long phrases with sparse rhymes hidden 20 seconds appart make the verses feel like some weird sort of rambling free-verse. I like the little bass flourishes. The backwards stuff makes lyrical sense, but I have to second the chipmunk sentiment... also, the reversed parts are really jarring. Sorry Art.

Oh god, bedtime.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by king_arthur »

Adam! - thanks, it really is helpful to know what was behind your ranking.

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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by adamadamant »

Adam! wrote: Adam^2 - What a pleasant surprise. The tired sounding vocals fit quite well with this song. I'd like to hear this with a real bass. The reggae-ish guitar rhythm, coupled with the cool reverse guitars and fairly catchy chorus melody make this a keeper.
Just to clarify, do you mean a more bassy bass? I realise the bass-line has high notes in it and is not very bassy but it was a real bass guitar.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by frankie big face »

Adam! wrote: FBF - This is my favorite Nur Ein 3 song so far. If I am being pandered to, I like it. I'm totally in awe of those drums. Double kicks, thundering toms. Are they real? Programmed? Either way, I'm impressed. I have no idea how you achieved this staggering volume while still retaining a punchy drum sound. Killer guitar tone. The oppressive echo on the vocal obscures the verse lyrics completely, although after reading them I'm not sure I'm missing too much. Love the Ann Coulter stanza, though. Cool wide bass sound in the breakdown, great sounding flute. Love the rewind joke, it totally makes the song for me, and ties for the cleverest use of the challenge in the fight. I feel like I should be the one providing the talk-back voice. Why are the vocals so loud in the last verse?
Hey man, glad you liked it. I don't know if I should keep my secret techniques to myself or not, but I will just tell you anyway. The drums are stock samples from Apple's Logic Studio Pro. Guitar tone also straight out of Logic. Bass tone--another Apple stock amp modeler. (Pretty awesome little program, huh?) I played the flute myself, but I too was impressed with the recorded tone quality. I've never been able to get results that nice in the past. So....basically, I'm a walking commercial for Apple right now. (And Presonus and Rode.) I would have loved for anyone to do the talk-back voice other than me (tried to get my wife to do it in a more "aggravated stage mom" voice, but she didn't feel like it), but I finally just ended up covering my mouth and doing it myself. I think I re-recorded the vox on the last voice and I probably sang louder or closer to the mic or something else. I guess that one will have to remain a mystery. As always, thanks for the detailed feedback.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Jefff »

Thanks for the review Adam. Makes the low ranking easier to take. Yes, it's two chords for 5 minutes. In fact, it's mostly just one, and and both basses are hitting the same two notes the whole time. I love that sort of shit, but I guess the judges don't. And Rubies is one of my favorite albums ever. Also, I disagree with you about low-pitched voices.

Oh well, Nur Ein I suppose.

The little Mormon in you will probably not be pleased to learn that I picked the Book of Mormon because it is the most transparently fraudulent of all the holy books. (Which are all fraudulent to varying degrees.) The song is about a civilization destroyed by lunatic bullshit because they didn't believe the lunatic bullshit was true.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Reist »

Adam! wrote:Reist - This song earned you last place!? WTF? I mean, it's ain't great, but LAST? No justice. There's less interesting stuff going on in this song than your last two. Guitars and drums are spectacular as usual. Cool breakdown. As you yourself noted, the vocals are weaker than you're capable of. Melodically speaking, I like whatever's going on in the last 30 seconds of the song the most, and I wish there had been more of that earlier. As for the challenge, it sounds like you learned how to pronounce a few words backwards and then recorded that, which is a trivial but admittedly creative way to address the challenge, especially considering your recording restrictions. I wish it had a more obvious connection to the song. Like last year, I was very surprised you didn't make it farther in the competition.
Thanks for the kind words. I tend to feel a bit better about elimination when I see that someone can find some value in my song - and had expected me to make it further. I had too, but hey - Nur Ein III has been the toughest yet, in my opinion. Tons of great songs this week. Great work, everyone.

ps - yeah, the backwards stuff you suggested is pretty much dead on. I learned how to say words backwards, then recorded them, then reversed them again. I thought it gave the words a creepy accent, and made them sound a lot less lame.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by erik »

Adam! wrote:15-16 - Love the verse, hate the chorus. I guess I was waiting for some cool, fleshed-out, sung hook... but instead it sounds pretty much like the verse, except with embarrassing pitched-down vocals and some annoying groaning added in. Love the "found-sound" percussion (ice-cubes?). I like your flow in the verse. The backwards guitars-or-whatever don't do much for me.
Yeah, I was playing around with the notion of singing on the hook, but the way I sing was going to sound gank-ass against the rest of the music, so whatchagonnado? I have a female friend who can sing well enough to be on this, but I couldn't think of any way to spin the chorus so that it would make sense to have a female singing it. I like the pitched down vocals, but maybe it's cuz I'm from Texas. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Billy's Little Trip »

Ross wrote:The affected and slightly imprecise vocals do work against this a bit for me - especially in the recapitulation. you are always good and hooky.
That seems to be the consensus this week. I want for it to be full of life, but I just can't seem to belt it out the way I feel it. Glad you liked "one" line in the song. :wink:
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

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Adam! wrote:BLT - Some cool sounds here, especially the backwards ambiences and what sounds like filtersweeps (but probably aren't). Intro guitar riffing reminds me of The Bazaar, by The Tea Party. The later guitar solo does not sound as cool. Some really sketchy vocals (by Nur Ein standards) in the last half. The catchy chorus really boosted this song.
I'll have to go check out The Bazaar by Tea Party. I'm just not nailing the vocals as it seems. You've commented on them as being my weak spot each week thus far. I'll start working out my vocals sooner this week to see if I can improve on this issue. The night before one pass vocal recording is obviously not working. :P
glennny wrote:BLT- You are Ace Frehley. Another party song from you, cool as usual. Good riff. I wish the solo was longer. I take that it is backwards. I had an elaborate forward vs. Backward trading licks solo originally, that I scrapped, because it didn’t really sound that backwards. I feel the same about your backwards solo. Great song!
Glad you dug it. I always call Paco, Ace Frehley. Believe me, I would have soloed for 10 minutes, but that never goes over too good here. Thanks Glennny.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Adam! »

adamadamant wrote:
Adam! wrote:Adam^2 - I'd like to hear this with a real bass.
it was a real bass guitar.
Oh. Your bass sounds weird. Maybe it's the half-time feel or the tone, but I was sure it was a pitched-down guitar.
frankie big face wrote:The drums are stock samples from Apple's Logic Studio Pro. Guitar tone also straight out of Logic. Bass tone--another Apple stock amp modeler.
Whoa. That program was worth every penny.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Ross »

frankie big face wrote: Guitar tone also straight out of Logic.
Which tone? Did you record clean off of an amp or go direct?

Thx for giving up your secrets :-)
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by frankie big face »

I recorded my Paul Reed Smith (I think I only used the bridge pickup) direct through my FireStudio and ran it through Apple's "Seventies Stack (Bright)" setting. I don't think I tweaked it at all.

But really, it's mostly the attitude you're hearing. :wink:
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by ujnhunter »

Adam! wrote: Cock - See my Adam Adamant review (except the reggae part). The pianos and strings in the chorus work really nicely. The verse vocals are pretty terrible, but the chorus is solid. Why am I hearing "and it's nots natural" in every chorus? I really wish you would do something--anything--other than a plodding, never-pausing bass groove coupled with a 4/4 beat. I think all your Nur Ein songs so far have followed this formula. Oh... I just realized you won't be in the next round... damn, raw deal, dude.
Thanks for the review! I, like Adam, also record using a real bass... ;) The "Nots" you hear is a "T" "tuh" sound it seems as I just had a listen to the vocal track, I guess I was announciating the T pretty badly... I'll work on trying to come up with a few songs that aren't 4/4 w/ bass groove... I guess I was just trying to be somewhat consistent with my Nur Ein entries... to somewhat tie them all together... again, thanks for taking the time to write a review... maybe i'll jump into the Nein thread.
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Ross »

Adam! wrote:Ross - Those headphones were worth every penny: this mix wraps around my ears like warm caramel. Especially nice, after last week's mix. Love your voice in this song. I found these lyrics a little too unsubtle, however I suppose one needs to make the satire obvious with this kind of subject matter. The backwards solo is the best in the fight (a co-worker stopped me to ask if I was listening to Kenny Rogers' Just Dropped In), and that backwards storm-leaving sound works well with the lyrics. You drop some specific preacher names I'm not familiar with, but given recent-ish events in America I assume the storm in question was a literal one. Cool song, well thought-out, and a great use of the title.
Thanks for the review and the positive reaction. I'm gad to know my mixes will improve.

Thanks for mentioning the reversed thunder - I'm glad someone noticed.

And, having grown up on Beatles, I also appreciate the compliment on the backwards guitar solo.

See you in round 4!! :-)
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Re: Nur Ein III- Round 2

Post by Lunkhead »

Useless reviews long after the fact:

15-16 Puzzle
I thought your lyrics/rhymes were good, and I think you have good flow. This is definitely better than 90% of SF! rap. I also liked the ice cube clink noise. Still, overall, this didn't work for me. I've got some genre bias against rap, I guess, even when it's tongue-in-cheek. And it just felt sluggish and lethargic. I wish it had built up towards the end or something.

Adam Adamant
I like that bassline and drum beat. It might have been nice to change them up more for the chorus. I don't like the "uh uh uh uh uh uh unnatural" and "goo ooh ooh ooh oohd" vocal bits or the ska rhythm in the guitar during the chorus. Maybe straight eighth notes in the bass on the root notes in the chorus, with the guitars filling things out more instead would sound better to me, I don't know. The instrumental breakdown is cool, but I don't like the synth pad holding a note throughout that whole section. The lyrics were OK, I thought they told a decent story.

ADD
This reminded me of Laurie Anderson for some reason. I like your singing in this one, and a lot of the lyrics are pretty interesting. The mix sounds really good again. This droned on that one root note too much for me eventually, though. I think switching to a different root note for a brief time (two bars or something) could have added some needed tension to it. On the whole it just got a little too repetitive and flat for me.

Andrew Reist
I think you could use much less or smaller sounding reverb on your voice. I miss the second doubling/harmonizing track that you had in your previous entries. The falsetto doesn't really work for me. This song doesn't seem as hooky to me as your previous entries, and it's a little predictable. A guitar solo would have been cool during the bridge, with the backwards vocals. Ah, there's the second vocal track coming in at the end. I like the outro. I guess I felt like this song was a little lacking and disappoint, but I'm still sorry to see you go. You rock!

BLT
Nice drums and guitars. Your bass sounds kinda farty. You've got some good lines in here. I don't really like the shouting backup vocal track, particularly in the chorus. It sounds like it's not quite in tune with the main vocal track or something. Your pitch seems a bit off during the third verse when you're really going for it. And the vox are really loud there. Catchy chorus.

Bryan Kandel
Great guitars. Sometimes I feel like you're forcing or overemphasizing some of your words when you're singing. Maybe a softer, more whispered or breathy approach could sound really nice. You've got a good voice. You could also stand to have more vocal tracks (backups, harmonies, etc.), particularly in the chorus to really build it up. I like the main guitars in the bridge a lot, but the backwards guitar is too dissonant for me there. Nice song, though it sort of floats by too easily perhaps.

Cock
Creepy backward vocals. The main vocals sound a bit off pitch at times during the verses. I really like the chorus, though, I think it's got good atmosphere and a hooky melody. The second verse seems really long. Is it longer than the first? It's maybe too much the same sounding as the first verse or something. The verses kind of dragged this down for me.

Frankie Big Face
Way to bring the rawk. I really can't understand the verse vocals at all, which was kind of annoying to me. Damn, this is loud as f$#@. It's fatiguing my ears. It's a little over the top loud/distorted for me. I wasn't really into the bridge joke. It's like you're trying to have your cake and eat it, too, by having the flute and guitar solos. The flute breakdown was fine on its own, I thought. At least it was different from the rest of the song and gave my ears a break.

Glenn & Rachael
Nice David Lynch vocals. I really do not like the backward drums. Really. I wish there were some centered vocals sometimes. Your guitar tone is so fuzzy, it's kinda bugging me. I'm not sure the tempo/feel switches work that well for me. The auto-wah in the breakdown with the movie samples sounds kinda cheesy to me. I do like the chorus a lot, especially the fast section.

Jim Tyrrell
This kind of bluesy rock is a weakness of mine. It's cheesy but I was bopping along anyway. Nice backward solo. I wish the drums were louder. Nice echoing vocals.

Ken Mahru
Nice beat/riff in the verse. I don't like how you stretch out the last word of each line so loooong. Nice chorus. Tambo! Sweet. Cool synthy bridge bit. I think your backup vox could maybe be a little louder. Fun song, though.

King Arthur
I feel like you're maybe pushing your voice too hard sometimes and it's detracting from the song for me. I'm not into the glottal noises or the slight yodel type noises in the "unnatural disaster" lines. The backwards parts in the bridge don't really do much for me. The backward solo is cool, though. I kind of like how this is much more sparse than usual for you, at least instrumentation wise.

Octothorpe
The vocals are too quiet, as you probably know by now, especially in the verse. Still, I feel like this is a fun song. I like the silly mysterious vibe. I don't quite know why but I also find the sound effect amusing rather than annoying. Nice backwards sped up Martian voices. I feel like there are some strange thumping noises in the really low frequencies which are kinda bugging me.

Paco del Stinko
I liked this one quite a bit. I think something about the mood of this song fit your vocal style really well for me. I like the surf rock-ish kind of sound. The chorus is sweet. Great drums. And bass. I actually kinda wish the vocals were a touch louder. I'm also digging the half time feel bridge. I wish you'd done a little more backward guitar because I think you would have done that really well. Some more instruments or vocals during the last chorus would have been cool to build things even more there.

Ross Durand
I'm into the dark country vibe of this one. The lyrics are pretty decent overall, though a few lines stick out as kinda clunky to me. I like that the structure doesn't feel like the standard verse/chorus/etc. Nice backward solo, it fit the ambience of the song I thought. Congrats on your win.

Starfinger
You keep reminding me of somebody. I think it's Mike Patton in Mr. Bungle but I'm not sure what it is specifically, maybe the phrasing in your melodies, I don't know. Anyway, another song about plastic surgery? The verses are OK, but the chorus is better. There's a lot going on in here. I like a fair amount of it, but a bit of it's maybe too weird for me. Overall though it's a fun enjoyable song.

Tex Beaumont
Up till the bridge, this song is a little too predictable straightahead rock. I like how the bridge ties in the backward noises to the story of the song. I like the quiet, building "devil made me do it" part. This would be a fun song to see performed live.

TWSA
This is off to a really great start. I really like Frisbee's singing. Melvin and Pedro provide some really sweet backups. The drums really carry it along. I wish the guitar was louder, or was in stereo (one track left, a doubled track right) or had a ping pong stereo delay. This one was my favorite from the round. Nice lead guitar stuff during the bridge, very tasteful. I like the occasional handclaps. Man, when Melvin, Pedro, and Frisbee are all singing, that's seriously awesome.

So long to those who were eliminated, sorry to see you go. Congrats again to Ross. Good luck in Round 3 everyone.
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