All Kinds of Opinions (...sorrow reviews)

[EvelBist]

What part of Toowoomba are you in? I have never heard of "New Mexico". It must be somewhere out towards Goondiwindi. Near Texas maybe.

The only Goons out here are Texans buying guns ...

[Billymojo]

Thanks to all for feedback on my first Songfight submission. I was surprised how, after sending in a tune with no pressure or expectations involved, I soon began checking the message board for the responses I suddenly coveted. Craziness. And I loved reading others' reactions to other tunes.
My computer's on the fritz so I won't have an entry for this week's fight, Beat Me Up. Probably better for all concerned; I kept hearing a knock off of Little GTO by Ronny & The Daytonas (Beat me up, beat me up, honey won't you put me down). So I'll play at music reviewer this week.

[Caravan Ray]

What part of Toowoomba are you in? I have never heard of "New Mexico". It must be somewhere out towards Goondiwindi. Near Texas maybe.

The only Goons out here are Texans buying guns ...

Funnily enough (just to stretch this pointless and un-review related conversation even further) - one of the easiest ways to tell a non-Queenslander is that they pronounce "Goondiwindi" as "goon-da-windi". If you ever find youself out here in the Southwest - remember that the place is always referred to as "Gundi".

[roymond]

This is taking longer than expected, so here are a few reviews...

Me.Rod
You had me at "Hi officer, how's it goin?" I like the progression and overall tone, the staccato keys and the pace. The doubled vocals in the beginning are pretty off, so a few more takes would help there. When double tracking vocals keep going until you get a solid first track that fits, feels right, has all the natural cadences...then record the second track and take as many takes as...it takes. Keep one ear piece off to hear your own voice outside the mix. I'm not into the style but you have something here and your story works. The truth lines were great at the end. Nice arc. Could have done a real fade at the end instead of the sudden splash.

Paco del Stinko
The intro is a bit long/repetitive. The effect survives once vocals start, so it might work if the vocals started right at the beginning, actually. This has your usual dynamism and epic production, so resistance is futile. Then the harmonized break is just over the top awesome, but too short! I want more of that dissonance (some sort of extended solo/duet thing that really goes out there), as it goes major too soon, but really...it's all brilliant. To all those who feel this is too tonally happy for the story...the angst and tension is in the vocals and the sheer density of the texture, especially when head-banging. I keep wanting to hear a brass section in the verses...can you work on that? I dig this more on each listen. Thanks for another fun ride!

Pigfarmer Jr
My wife has been on a real Rory Gallagher kick lately, and you're right in that groove. I'm not a blues guy, but this comes off so authentic and sincere. Short and to the point, I can't help but feel the pain of loss and sorrow (I can her saying "oh, you just wait...you'll be sorry") so thanks for that . I so love the intro guitar tone, that mellow overdrive. And your vocal delivery is spot on. Nice job.

Ross Durand
Are you too close to the mic? Real harsh vocal. Beautiful performance, though, but the story isn't very engaging. Growing old sucks. Dwelling on it sucks, too. Maybe a bridge where he looks back on the old days? After the first chorus I just want some pain relief. maybe that's the point. 

Sep
The drum loops are stereo, but everything else is down the middle so nothing jels, and it's all muddy with these decent drums all exposed for what they are. All the parts are the right parts, so take some mix and eq tutorials, use the stereo field. Then buy a good mic. Them work on vocals, cause this could really rock. 

Slaveship Mutiny
The constant vocal doubling is questionable as its very inaccurate, especially during the verses where there's simply no air in the texture. The ideas are really strong, and I like the timbres (is that a OLPC?). Also like your voice so if there were single tracked vocals you'd have no issues from me. The mix is way down the middle, panning some of the instruments to the sides would really help open this up.

[Stubby Phillips]

A lesson learned, no? Write reviews off-line and then come back and post them. That's what us professional reviewers do.

Too bad that professional reviewers, by definition(?), don't review songs on a website they moderate. It'd be interesting to see what musical musings inhabit that potato, Spud.

[roymond]

Berkeley Social Scene
The chick singer, the ballsy bass, the balanced guitars, the tinkering keys...you've found a wonderful mix here. Transparent and lyrical. The words add some great visuals, and the break/solo cuts in to bring a needed contrast. The last chorus adds evolves brilliantly, with the ebow and all. I guess I like this a lot. Real nice, folks!

Caravan Ray
This is to Caravan Ray what Hugo is to Scorcese. Nice percussion section and la la las. Just a fun frolic through happiness. I'm still trying to get my meds right, so yay for you!

The Chocolate Chips
There's a moral here somewhere. Despite that, I like the analog oscillators and persistent percussion. Your stuff has a great cartoony element that's naive and cool. I like these little short public service messages.

Dejected Motives
Is this on the Titanic 3D soundtrack album? Cause if not, I question your motives. 

The Kenzie Chickens
Great lyric, very whitty and on topic. This whole thing is a good example of less is more. Don't change a thing.

Lovebot Bodega
I love your voice and the atmosphere of this. Not so into the plucky banjo during the first verse. Don't mind it as much as it emerges from the chorus. The chorus, however, is far too redundant...it's a cool phrase and all but its repetition brings it down. Gets too Eddie Brickell and you don't want to go there. Twice is enough. I like the crunchy vocal doubling in the side channel. The ending is just lazy.

sausage
I like the delivery and the lead parts. This gets me all 1976 or something. I think it's great as is, needs some mix and production work but the simple lyric gets a simple stand to say what it says. But really, use stereo.

[Stubby Phillips]

Time for some song reviews on a sunny afternoon on the Salish Sea.


Love Dot Bodega was first up, and it's an eye-opener. And a brain-twister. I tend to analyze complex rhythms, but after a while I gave up and just listened to the song. Or tried to, anyway. The psycho-acoustic effect is strong with this one. Very cool. Sounds like the band is approaching the event horizon of a black hole, and the drummer is closest, while the guitar is farthest away. I dig the bluesy lady's vocals, too. This is a definite vote. One of a kind.

It's too bad that Love Dot was first; that's a hard act to follow, whether you like it or not. But The Kenzie Chickens came through with a pounding beat and a story line that got my attention. A constant but pleasingly noodly stereo organ widens the stage, and the guitar solo is cool, too. It's well mixed, and the instruments completely fill their respective niches, but I think another solo for the end refrain would have made me like it more. Vote? Yes.

The next song's intro had me thinking I had a devotional youtube video in the background. After about 2 minutes of intro, I stopped waiting for something to happen. Dejected Motives produced 6 minutes of background music -- background to what, I don't know. It's introspective and perhaps sorrowful, and was fairly cohesive, if maddeningly homogenous, throughout. The MIDI oboe or whatever got on my nerves right away, but the rest is fine for some purpose besides a Songfight entry, IMO.

Speaking of MIDI, Slaveship Muntiny's song was an interesting little ditty filled with pleasantly plaintive singing and a great lyric. Was that vocal/harmony pitchy, or just excessive in it's plaintivity? Who cares? I can forgive the 8-bit feel of the backing track and get into the vox -- for a while. Another change somewhere would have grabbed me more. But as it is, it's not bad.

I watched Ross Durrand's video, and was struck by how we're strangely detatched voyeurs when watching someone's amateur
video of themselves performing -- especially when they don't acknowledge their audience. Not that they need to; I still cringe every time I get tricked into opening one of those "Hey, what's up, youtube!" videos. Anyway, Ross does a nice job on a simple song. Hey Ross, you were born after Jim Croce died, right? Hmmm...

More reviews later.

[roymond]

roymond & noahIs your guitar out of tune, Sir Roymond? I don't care, the playing is fine and wonderful especially as it opens up into the bridge. This sets the mood I expected to hear from this title. Digging the reggae-esque bass line too. Good collabo with Noah and perhaps a peek at future ones as well. More!

Yeah, I guess there's some intonation thing going on...i had recently adjusted the neck (the winter weather?) and didn't get everything back right. Thanks for the feedback. Had fun setting Noah's words, which are far better than what I (didn't) come up with. The mix was frustrating, as this was recorded, mixed and mastered entirely on the iPad, with an Apogee Jam interface (for guitar, bass and vocals), so there are things I couldn't adjust at all, having maxed out on tracks and really no spot editing capabilities. But overall I think the Jam is pretty amazing and makes the iPad a capable device for songwriting.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Don't forget about the late entries. They need lubv too.

[KimRadioShow]

I have to defend Loveboat Bodega...the song is genius! And very very much like what I used to hear back in New York when the Spoken Word movement in the late 90s and early 2000s was big and even back on the college campuses here in Florida at UF!!! There is absolutely nothing wrong with this song which is very jazzy, blues, eclectic (mis-spelling), spoken word, beatnick fusion!!! I feel like anyone who can't hear the dept in this creation just doesn't know the deep layers of music and it's diversity and it's history...or maybe this is just a regional thing. I can't wait to hear more from Loveboat Bodega. Definately brings back memories of Highschool and College!

On a whole note about everyone...since I first submitted a song with Longfellow Street...Who Said I'm Dead...I have noticed that all around everybody who has consistantly been submitting songs are just getting better and better everytime! Good job everyone! Keep up the great work growing as song writers!

[Lunkhead]

Paco, that is in fact me on the drums. Bear with me as I try to learn how to play to a click. Thanks for the comments, I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.

My favorite song this time was the Chocolate Chips song. I also liked Paco and Ross's songs. I wish I had time to do full reviews.

[Stubby Phillips]

More reviews:

Paco del Stinko's riff-driven entry is pretty engaging, and has lots of parts that resolve well. I especially like the transition after the bridge, also the ending. The build-up is subtle. The solo is a slap in the face I hoped was coming. The drum beat adds urgency, like the guitar riff. Good lyric, too. The only thing I didn't like so much was the chorus; I think the chorus lyrics could have changed/evolved at least a little to assuage the 'here we go again' feeling I got on a second listen. Is this minor pentatonic or Phygian? Either way, it's way cool. Vote.

Pigfarmer Jr., that's some sweet blues guitar. This is the kind of GnG I could get into. 'Altered' 12-bar structure is appreciated. A liitle heavy on the bass, but a good song. Maybe a vote.

Me.Rod took me by surprise. The concept is awesome; the execution (mainly dischordant harmonies) is less so, but still good. Chick Hop? This beats a lot of the lazy ryhmes that are filled with hate and anger. Nice song.

Sausage, that vocal melody trick is pure gold. I was hoping for a vocal section without it somewhere, just to avoid the 'one trick pony' effect, but you pull it off anyway. Killer solos. Everything's tight. Vote.

Nice jazzy feel at the verse, Berkeley Social Scene, then more pop with the chorus. I like where the B sec turns into the solo. Nice voice. Flubbed ending? This has a light, introspective feel that everyone contributes to, so good arranging. No tension/release, but I suspect you know exactly what you're going for, and you do it well. Has there been a more consistant band on Songfight over the years? I don't think so. Vote.

Sep's song was kinda strange in that the music is frenetically played while the mostly unintelligible lyrics are sung in a laid-back style. It's like they're fighting each other -- which might be the whole point, after all. Seems like there's too much going on throughout, and it turns into a jumble. What's a jumble? I don't know. The playing isn't bad, there's just too much. At the same time. A little mixdown editing would help, IMHO. But I'm just a guy on the internet -- what do I know?

Love the feel right away, Caravan Ray. Those drums are da shit, man. Middle Eastern spaghetti western gospel music? I like it. Great job on everything -- especially the singing in the breakdown and the rounds at the end. Nice touch. I haven't heard a lot of what you've submitted, Ray, but this is the best I've heard. Two votes.

You have the best integration of the title into the song so far, Chocolate Chips. I was waiting for someone to NOT use it in the chorus. (Apologies to those I didn't catch.) It seems like it ends before it goes anywhere, though. The vocal, and vocal melody, is really good, if low-fi. Maybe a vote?

Whoa, some unexpected structure from Roymond and Noah. Very cool. Nice guitar. Bring the bass up -- it's tasty as hell. I love what you did with this. Someone is twisted in a good way. There's something about the mix that bugs me (besides the too quiet bass). OK, the vocal is a little low, too. And the guitar going unison with the vox on the chorus bugs me a bit. But I love the mix of styles that occur through the song. Definite vote.

Breaking Reviews:

Oh, this is good. A turn here, a twist there. A little tension, a little release. Straightforward but not predictable. Good mix, great lyric, professional playing and, as always, exceptional vox -- especially the emotional dynamics. You guys have done it again. Ladies and gentlemen, lets hear it for Billy & The Psychotics! What? They were late? Bummer.

The best intro ever! Eight maids a milking, seven what? I like this. It doesn't do much, but it does it well. Heavy is as heavy does. ? This would have been the perfect ending to a session of Songfight, sonofsupercar, but I've got one more song to go, and it's...

Radio Show! Wow. The perfect tonic to cut through the smell of hot motor oil. Except it gets my motor running. This is beautiful from beginning to end -- due to the laws of physics and some real talent. Your voice. It's... good! can't. think ; r ight /
edit: By the way... the song's good too. Vote