Nur Ein XVIII Round Five "Choose Your own Adventure"

[Niveous]

Which way will you go with Round Five?

Submit an original song by July 2nd at 11:59 PM (EDT) that fits the following criteria

Title: Choose Your Own Adventure

Challenge: Ska or Glitch (Not both!)

Send your MP3 to nurein.sidefight@gmail.com

Good luck!

[gizo]

Oh this is a fantastic sounding challenge. Yay!!

[ujnhunter]

Choose wisely...

[glennny]

Do we have free reign on the phrase " Pick it up" ?

[vowlvom]

Do we have free reign on the phrase " Pick it up" ?

Only if you've chosen ska. Using "pick it up" in a glitch track will result in immediate disqualification.

[ujnhunter]

Do we have free reign on the phrase " Pick it up" ?

Only if you've chosen ska. Using "pick it up" in a glitch track will result in immediate disqualification.

In which case you've already been disqualified...

[glennny]

I keep trying to write a Glitch tune, but my equipment is buggy and won't work right.

[glennny]

BTW

Did you all know One Step Beyond was a cover, and not an original Madness song?

[owl]

I probably won’t have time for a shadow this week but I thought I’d share this ska song I did guest vocals on for my friend Nate last year!

[vowlvom]

Crazy tough rankings at this point. Stuff I don't like in the songs I like best, stuff I think is great in the ones that don't quite work for me. Good work on fully getting into the challenge, everyone!


Cavedwellers - I have some issues with this one but the energy and great brass arrangement mostly blast through my complaints and leave me cheerfully "picking it up" or whatever it is we do here in ska country. The main issue for me is that the vocal doesn't always feel like it's matching the energy of the rest of the song, particularly in the first verse where it feels like you're struggling to keep up a bit. But the general energy and arrangement are great and this was definitely one of my favourites.


chewmeupspitmeout - cool glitchy arrangement and I like the vocal melody, the chorus melody is nicely "soaring". I do think there's room here to have a beat kick in and anchor the song a little more at some point, but the subtler approach you went for did grow on me across several listens.


Ellipsis - I like how the glitchiness resolves into a catchy chorus, one of the most memorable of the round for me. I do wish it had a bit more of a punch to it, some big octave synth bass or messed-up guitars kicking in to really give it a lift. Gimme that Stadium Glitch! I wouldn't mind a little more variation in the sonic palette after the first chorus too. But generally this balances the glitchiness and the dark pop vibes very well.


Eric Novak - I like the arrangement and songwriting here, and the lyrics are solid, but after a couple of stronger rounds I did find your vocal(s) here a bit too pitchy / wayward to really sell the song, and in a very tough round that's going to be hard to overlook, unfortunately.


Glennny - another really fun, inventive arrangement. I'm not crazy about the lyrics, which feel a bit clunky - they seem so invested in telling the branching story that they don't feel rhythmically / musically very satisfying. I do like the harmonised "the end", but generally I want some kind of hook in the vocal line to match the fun stuff going on musically and it falls a little short in that area.


Grumpy Mike - these lyrics are appealingly odd and the melody is catchy with some good harmonies. The bridge / breakdown section lets this down a bit though, it feels like you don't quite commit to changing up the energy enough so it just feels a bit half-baked. I feel like it needs a full change to half-time or some other rhythmic variation so that it really has an impact when you drop out and come back in.


Max Bombast - verse sounds great with some really nice brass flourishes, but that same brass sounds really flat and uninspired when it's just playing chords over the chorus. Combining the ska sound with a more Classic Max verse isn't a bad idea but the execution doesn't quite work, for me - and it's always a bit of a downer when the big chorus is the least satisfying part of the song which will probably hurt this in my rankings.


Moss Palace - this sounds extremely cool. I feel like it has the best production of the glitch tracks but the song beneath that isn't completely hooking me in, the lyrics feel a little vague and I feel like it could use a striking phrase or intriguing theme to push out through the clouds of glitches.

[mo]

Good job Cavedwellers! And glennny for also coming in 3rd, I can feel the work and love for the music that it takes to do two high scoring entries in a week

[SquirrelProof]

Well, that was fun guys. Ima go look for a voice coach to work with before next year.

All kidding aside it was a real pleasure to take part in my first Nur Ein - will repeat and good luck to the remaining contestants!

[ujnhunter]

Well, that was fun guys. Ima go look for a voice coach to work with before next year.

All kidding aside it was a real pleasure to take part in my first Nur Ein - will repeat and good luck to the remaining contestants!

Glad to have you in the competition! Some of your tracks were my favorite of the contest so far... hope to hear more from you in the future... consider entering into some of the weekly Song Fight!