Caravan Ray wrote:
That is why there are several judges.
Yeah, but really, if every judge is radically different than the next, does it not stand to reason that the most middle-of-the-pack songs will come out on top? You've been outspoken about your disregard for the challenges and your genre bias and so on and I know those things are very hard to set aside, but I feel similar to Ross in that I busted my hump to try to meet the challenge in a way that was still remotely interesting and my song gets dismissed as bollocks. It's frustrating. But not unexpected given the combo of title and challenge in this round.
Reviews. Mostly based on first listens, sorry. Semi-random order based on the whims of my media player and the order they were downloaded.
BLT - Trying to remember what this riff reminds me of. Oh well. Clever lyrics. I like "We're not the hottest power trio around." I don't mind a sour note in the vocal from time to time, but I wish you had taken more time to make sure the first line of the chorus was on-key. You can get away with a lot of sloppiness (not just in vocals, by the way) if you just nail the first and last few notes of each verse and chorus.
Boffo Yux Dudes - You guys very badly need to get a better set of monitors. Every song I hear from you guys has way-too-loud vocals. Sometimes (like your "First Blood"), the lead vocal is okay, but then some other vocal part pops out, and it's like getting poked in the eye. Here, the vocals make it sound like the music isn't even supposed to matter. It makes the music sound like the background of an infomercial. I'm harping on this point because I don't really have any comments about the rest of the song. The funniest part of this is the little meta-joke you put in the ID3 tag - "Blame IT on Ginger." For the song itself, this is the second week in a row you've phoned it in; I don't know if you can get away with it this time.
John Kloberdanz - Drums are a little too loud, especially considering they don't really do anything - no change in the drumbeat for the whole length of the song - not a severe problem, but just don't emphasize it, you know? Unlike BYD, your vocals are not too how. In fact, they're lost in the background here. So yeah, turn down the drums, and turn up the vox. I'm not sure what the story is here... The melody is catchy, but somewhat familiar to people who are familiar with your back catalog.
Merisan - I"m pretty biased towards this genre, so you're starting out with the wind at your back here. Great chords, and I like the bouncy bass. Erin's vocals work really well for the verses, but I wish the chorus had a little more oomph. That problem disappears a little when the harmonies kick in, but I still wish the lead voice were more assertive. The chorus kind of bugs me lyrically as well, if only because when you sing "Blame it on ginger," I'm puzzling over whether you don't really mean "Blame it on ginger ale." Here's one instance where synechdoce doesn't really work in favor of the lyrics, because of how completely different the two images are. But oh well, this is fun, bouncy, clever lyrically, well-structured, and catchy. Plus it doesn't overstay its welcome. You're probably going to win this round.
Ross Durand - Ross, I love your music, and I'm pretty confident you know this, so don't take this wrong way, but I think I've run out of stuff to say about your songs. Your room sound is perfect, your guitar playing is great, and the whole performance has this immediacy that's really hard to attain - it sounds like you're in the room with me. But hey, you've heard all this before. Not the best song this fight, but you're up there. Definitely safe from elimination.
Paco del Stinko - Whoooooaaaa! Nice rocker. I think there might need to be a little bit more reverb on the guitar - or maybe another guitar underneath with more distortion? I've never been good at playing or mixing electrics. This just seems to lack a certain crunch. Part of that might be the drum machine, too. Hard to pin down. I just feel like the combination of the guitar's dryness and the drum machine's fakeness add up to a song that sounds more like a parody of hard rock than like hard rock. And I'm not sure that's the vibe you were going for. Nice story you're telling here, and the song is a good one - I'm just nitpicking about the sound and mood here.
Bram Tant - Shame about your time crunch; if you'd had more time to pin down a melody, this might not have sucked. I'm not sure about your relevance to the title, either, but that's between you, your history, and the judges.
WreckdoM - This is a little more discordant even than I've come to expect from WreckdoM. The "You know how much I love you / I just don't appreciate your food" part is way out of tune with the rest of the song... or maybe the theramin's out of tune and it gives the effect of throwing everything else off? Hard to tell, but something about this song makes it sound like it's collapsing, and not in the good way that you normally manage. Did you try listening to this without the theramin? It's a shame; I can hear a GREAT song in here trying to come out. But there's too much mud. The bridge, in particular, could be great, but it just doesn't work with this mix.
WSA - I like the instrumentation right off the bat. That synth line over the first few lines of each verse adds nice mood, but it hangs on the same note for so long that it clashes with the melody. Oh, I love that phone-filter trick. Never gets old. I almost used it myself this week, but decided the payoff wasn't worth the effort. Yours, on the other hand, fits the song beautifully. One problem I've got with the lyrics: the old Elements-of-Style banned wordiness. "You are somebody that I will always love." It's such an awkward construction when the singer could have just said "I will always love you." Yes, I know that phrase doesn't scan with the song, and happens to match the title of classic song from another genre, but there must have been some other way to say that. Especially because calling her "somebody" immediately before declaring your love for her makes it seem more backhanded than I think you intended.
DJ Ranger Den - See, that thing I said about how we hear each other's piano technique? In full effect here. Your piano sounds a tad muddy, but it's played with perfect clarity. This is just screaming of Tori Amos influence, especially since it's about food. Oh well, not a terrible thing. There's something very impressionistic about the over-the-top imagery associated with the taste of the cake. Hey, I really like those strings! Right around the time the bridge ends, this starts to get kind of boring. Maybe the bridge could have been cut or shortened, or something could have been added to make that last repetition of the chorus really pop. As it is, it just sounds like the last repetition of the chorus is just ticking something off a checklist.
Manhattan Glutton - Sounds like you used two different mics for the lead and background vocals. The contrast is nice. Some of these lyrics aren't sitting right in the melody, but you nailed the pop-punk vibe to a tee. Okay, maybe a little bit too long for its genre (I blame it on the long solo in the middle). What does "Numero Uno" mean in this context? You know, you ragged on Frankie about his high encoding rate, but I can distinctly hear mp3 encoding artifacts in the ride cymbals in your bridge.
Luke Henley - You keep blaming your poor recording quality on your low-fi equipment, but you've got a better microphone than I do, so there's no reason you shouldn't be able to at least pull off a guy-and-guitar song that doesn't sound like it was recorded two rooms down. At least this week I like the song, even if I'm consistently disappointed in your recording quality. You demonstrate a much clearer grasp of melody and harmony here, and your story is often-told but worth hearing. One worrying sign: we just had a bridge, and at 2:15, the third verse starts. That should mean the song is almost over, but I notice that it's actually only halfway. Oh, there's that weirdness before the last chorus. I dunno, I'm all for building tension, but I'm not generally in favor of discord. This is on the better side of "meh" for me.
Hunky - Wow, Niveous really went the extra mile this time. He corrected the ID3 tag on my song. Dang, I mixed that organ way too high.
Frankie Big Face - You know, Frankie, some people seem to think we "cheated" by changing people's names, but I don't think we should be penalized for a little old-fashioned lateral thinking. Wow, your drums are brilliantly-recorded. Such amazing detail. Something feels weirdly unresolved about the first line of your chorus - it sounds to me like the melody should go higher... I don't know how to describe it. Maybe in a few more listens. "She pulled me by the shirt, with shears in her hand / And cut my tie off at the neck." You're such a great lyricist. Okay, so I get why people are complaining about the "lyrical disclaimer." You broke the fourth wall for the bridge. It kind of sucks the life out of the story. I mean, yeah, I did the same thing, so maybe that makes me a hypocrite, or maybe my song suffers for it in the same way yours does, but it just feels like you wasted a lot of time and words to explain something more or less inconsequential. Still one of the best songs this fight. My number one or two choice, I think.
Abbot and Hines - Oh, jeeze, cry me a river.
Glen Raphael - Going for that early 00s vibe with the drums? Interesting. Some of these harmonies are a little sloppier than what you pulled off a couple of weeks ago. More than ever, the discrepancy between the recording quality of your voice and the quality of the instruments is glaring and annoying. Still, you're a pretty great loopsmith. In the beds of you songs, there's always new stuff happening. Sometimes it can be kind of hard to keep up with, but the risks pay off in a track that never gets boring.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito
Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
Ross wrote:
one reason my song was weak this round has to do with the fact that i, as a participant" choose to take the titles and challenges quite at their word, perhaps that is a shortcoming of mine, if so -so be it.
Al and I had the same issue. We literally started 5 different songs for this one until the crash. Making it Autobiographical limited us, but not in a good way. Usually having some limits inspire us to tweak the challenge in a new direction while staying in the structure of it. It's fun to skirt the edge and come at it from a new direction. This one - nothing seemed to jell. I had a song about Conan not writing my daughter back for her request to replace Andy as co-host. Al wrote one about faking sick and staying home having soup and ginger ale until he got caught and forced to go to school. There was another with my wife jokingly offering me plane tickets to go to Alaska to be with a red headed singer. But when fleshed out, the ideas just didn't have the zing or ring true, even though they WERE true. They were stories, but weren't songs yet.
Then the crash, and 5 hours of scrambling to meet the deadline. So it wasn't a lack of effort or thought this round. The fates just conspired against us again.
The sad fact is that I have no interest in other people's lives. I want to be lied to.
BoffoYux wrote:
Frankie Big Face
'A lump on the side of the Pike?' Balls, my man to stick it out there. The ballad didn't quite come together for me, but props on the whole package.
I think it's safe to say I'm non-traditional when it comes to word choice and I have a tendency to use some antiquated language on purpose to try and lend a "timeless" quality to the text. Plus, I just think some words sound cool or funny or whatever. But in this instance, the event I'm referring to actually happened on the PA Turnpike so it was pretty literal.
Generic wrote:
Frankie Big FaceYou broke the fourth wall for the bridge. It kind of sucks the life out of the story..
Fair enough. Honestly, after last week's chorus/refrain controversy, I felt compelled to add the "disclaimer bridge" lest anyone think the story is fabricated. But I understand the problems it presents. Thanks for the positive comments.
Caravan Ray wrote:
That is why there are several judges.
Yeah, but really, if every judge is radically different than the next, does it not stand to reason that the most middle-of-the-pack songs will come out on top? )
You know, you would think that. But last year, when I thought the panel was pretty diverse, the guy who made a reputation for the most outlandish and riskiest style won the whole shebang. So I guess the take-home here is that you can't really predict how the different judging biases will affect the math.
(Also, bear in mind that you're whining to the judge who last year fobbed off a challenge by having his character audibly reject your vibraphone sample and then do a song that didn't address the challenge at all... )
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito
Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
The winner of Round 2 is Merisan.
The bottom three are Rabid Garfunkel, Abbott & Hines, Boffo Yux Dudes. Tschüss!
Merisan - 75
DJ Ranger Den - 72
Frankie Big Face - 70
Paco Del Stinko - 64
Billy's Little Trip - 62
Jon Eric - 59
Manhattan Glutton - 54
Luke Henley - 53
Ross Durand - 51
John Kloberdanz - 44
WreckdoM - 38
Glen Raphael - 34
Bram Tant - 22
Abbott and Hines - 13
Boffo Yux Dudes - 9
Stay tuned for some very interesting judging breakdowns. Which participant got 3 top scores and didn't win? Which song was so polarizing that it got a top score from one judge and landed in another judge's bottom three?
Bram is not eliminated, though, right? Rabid Garfunkel defaulted, leaving Bram to fight another day.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito
Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
frankie big face wrote:
Yeah, but really, if every judge is radically different than the next, does it not stand to reason that the most middle-of-the-pack songs will come out on top?
Sounds like you're looking good then!
frankie big face wrote:
You've been outspoken about your disregard for the challenges and your genre bias and so on and I know those things are very hard to set aside, but I feel similar to Ross in that I busted my hump to try to meet the challenge in a way that was still remotely interesting and my song gets dismissed as bollocks. It's frustrating. But not unexpected given the combo of title and challenge in this round.
Actually - your song was dismissed as one I didn't understand - not bollocks. I listened a few times and really had no idea what you were on about. I quite liked the 3/4 time - but the story didn't grab me.
Caravan Ray wrote:
That is why there are several judges.
Yeah, but really, if every judge is radically different than the next, does it not stand to reason that the most middle-of-the-pack songs will come out on top? )
You know, you would think that. But last year, when I thought the panel was pretty diverse, the guy who made a reputation for the most outlandish and riskiest style won the whole shebang. So I guess the take-home here is that you can't really predict how the different judging biases will affect the math.
(Also, bear in mind that you're whining to the judge who last year fobbed off a challenge by having his character audibly reject your vibraphone sample and then do a song that didn't address the challenge at all... )
Hey!! I used the sample! I did the challenge. All fair and above board.
Generic wrote:Okay, maybe a little bit too long for its genre (I blame it on the long solo in the middle). What does "Numero Uno" mean in this context?
First it's too poppy. Then it's too long to be poppy. Glad we all have a consensus there. Numero uno - slang for one's self. For the background vox, I just bumped the EQ, some might say of the "nasal" frequencies.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.
frankie big face wrote:
Yeah, but really, if every judge is radically different than the next, does it not stand to reason that the most middle-of-the-pack songs will come out on top?
Sounds like you're looking good then!
frankie big face wrote:
You've been outspoken about your disregard for the challenges and your genre bias and so on and I know those things are very hard to set aside, but I feel similar to Ross in that I busted my hump to try to meet the challenge in a way that was still remotely interesting and my song gets dismissed as bollocks. It's frustrating. But not unexpected given the combo of title and challenge in this round.
Actually - your song was dismissed as one I didn't understand - not bollocks. I listened a few times and really had no idea what you were on about. I quite liked the 3/4 time - but the story didn't grab me.
First comment, funny! Second comment, fair enough.
This was a difficult challenge. Obvious we're not going to fact check, but a believable story often shines through. That said, I had to give more weight to the autobiographical challenge than the title, even though both are pretty hard to qualify.
A personal love story about Ginger on Gilligan's Island is a perfect 10, maybe not all that creative in concept but meets the challenge/title dead on. Bonus points if your mom can verify
A personal story that is heart wrenching and damn believable, with a "names changed to protect" clause works for me as well. This is a creative approach to meet the challenge that, short of a story about Ginger on Gilligan's Island, I would have had to of taken if I were involved.
A generic love sick story with "Ginger" stapled to it doesn't come across very believable.
Everything else is somewhere in the middle and it's the earnestness and overall effect that matters. But beyond all this, on a purely musical level, titles and challenges conspire to make you guys and gals write awesome songs. The restraints aid the creative process and in the end we have some insanely great music.
Reviews sometime later.
roymond.com | songfights | covers
"Any more chromaticism and you'll have to change your last name to Wagner!" - Frankie Big Face
Wow, Nur Ein judging is thoroughly bizarre. We did not rank #1 with anybody but won? Weird. frankie ranks #1 with three judges but places third? Huh? MG ranks #1 with two judges but finished in seventh place? ??? Personally I think having seven judges is just making things even weirder than usual. Oh well. Nur Ein is nothing if not inscrutable, I suppose.
I don't have reviews but I have a few comments. I really enjoyed Luke's song. I agree with Ray that he handled the title the best, by far. Very clever to allude to it but not actually include it in the lyrics. It was a bit long, but didn't overstay it's welcome. I liked frankie's song. It was a bit long too but I enjoyed the lyrics and the piano. I think DJRD's song was her best so far. Nice chord changes. I enjoyed MG's song though I felt like "numero uno" kind of brought it down to a 90's novelty one-hit wonder vibe every time. Those were my favorites but I liked a few others too.
I'm surprised I got a 10 from someone. Thanks, judge 6! Without you I'd be out.
Guess I'll get in on the reviewing. Just a few notes while listening through.
Abbott and Hines - Well, technical difficulties. Sucks.
Billy's Little Trip - Nice. Seems like a very "flat" guitar sound, could maybe use a bit more brightness. Really like the song overall.
Boffo Yux Dudes - Like the lyrics, too bad the technical difficulties got in the way.
DJ Ranger Den - Love it. Your usual style is great, but the pop styling infused in this song trumps it for me. Just suits you completely, I think.
Frankie Big Face - The vocal performance is a little lacking, in my opinion. But apart from that, I like it. The only other thing I can say is that the whole song sounds a bit same-y. Could use a bit more variation. Or maybe it just seems like that because it seems to be slow and dragging.
Glen Raphael - Digging it. Don't think your voice suits the style though, except I was surprised at the "Are when a boy figures out what is real and to what he can...aspire" line.
John Kloberdanz - I think your entry should be titled "I Don't Blame It On Ginger". Quite a sudden start of the song. Pretty good overall.
Jon Eric - Like the verses... The chorus might be bad on purpose. The lyrics might say the character's a winner, but the vocal delivery says different to me. If you did that on purpose as well, well done. A good effort.
Luke Henley - I don't like the first verse, too much possible blaming. The bad recording kind of fits the style, especially during the verses. The bridge seems unnecessary and without purpose to me.
Manhattan Glutton - Sounds almost like Blink-182. Not as good as them, though. The lyrics need more work. Especially the end of the chorus "But most importantly, Numero Uno!" seems lame to me. The music and vocal delivery are fine though. The bridge should've been cut in half, I think. Solo might need some shortening too. With more work, this could be a great tune.
Merisan - No wonder this entry won, it's extremely well put together. Nothing specific to comment on, I like it a lot. And for once it didn't go "Blame it on ginger, blame it on spice."
Paco del Stinko - This music is EPIC. Lyrics and vocals definitely need more work, but I *love* the music. Progressive/classic rock fusion for the win. This is the kind of music I'd like to make. I want to hear more like it. Can you send me an instrumental version?
Ross Durand - It almost sounds like you're singing about a homeless drunk. And he should be blaming the alcohol instead of the ginger. Lyrics fail. And since you're playing the kind of music (country) that stands or falls with its lyrics, this song falls for me.
The Worldly Self Assurance - It doesn't grab me. Normally I do like this kind of music, but something is lacking or wrong. I can't really point it out though.
WreckdoM - First two seconds sounded promising. Then it just fell flat on its face for me. Bad vocal delivery. Nothing that interests me.
Lunkhead wrote:Wow, Nur Ein judging is thoroughly bizarre. We did not rank #1 with anybody but won? Weird. frankie ranks #1 with three judges but places third? Huh? MG ranks #1 with two judges but finished in seventh place? ??? Personally I think having seven judges is just making things even weirder than usual. Oh well. Nur Ein is nothing if not inscrutable, I suppose.
When I won round 0 last year, it was without a single judge ranking me there. Same story as you guys this round. Whatever, I'd have put you at #1, probably, if I were judging.
Part of the confusing math is that not all seven judges' rankings contributed to the final score. So it's possible that one of the ones who ranked Frankie #1 didn't wind up counting. If judge #7 is who I think it is, then my #1 ranking didn't count (man, when Niveous said " Which song was so polarizing that it got a top score from one judge and landed in another judge's bottom three?" I just knew it was me. Sheesh).
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito
Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
)
)
