SpinTunes 18 Final Round: One-Two Punch
Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:26 pm
Ay! Only five songs and I really enjoy everybody’s music, so I thought I would put together some super quick reviews (in the order they appear on the tracklist).
Daniel Sitler - What If: Shoegaze is making such a fun comeback right now and if you’re doing a two-chord challenge, I think this punk-ish direction is great! There are a couple performance issues, specifically a couple of sections where it feels like the rhythm of the vocals and the rhythm of the instrumental don’t quite groove (which is something I struggle with all the time), but overall, love the dreamy big delay guitars, love the POV, love the variation, great entry!
Brian Gray - Gestalt: Enjoying this folksy genre shift from Brian. Still has that musical theatre essence that BG does so well, but if you weren’t looking for it, you’d never know it was there. Also, there are lots of parents in this competition (lol obviously, just try writing a song about a fictional child receiving minor fictional injuries from an intentionally self-destructive narrator and SEE WHAT HAPPENS ), but I can’t stress enough how much I admire the POV. We all love the idea of a song from a parent's POV that’s like “here’s the world, I’m so excited to show it to you and give you a little piece of it because I’m going to be the greatest parent of all time!” but that’s really not the way most of my new-parent-friends feel right now. I think it takes artistic courage to have a super honest POV with a lovely, necessary cynicism that accurately reflects (one of) the (many) modern fear(s) around having children.
Sober - It Never Comes: And yet I did (end of review).
Jim from Seattle: Let me start by commenting on everything I love about this song, because most of it, I love a lot. From the moment it starts, the composition is absolutely lovely and the instrumental/vocal performances are pretty flawless. My heartstrings are TUGGED. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention that excellent instrumental section that starts around the two-minute mark. The sound of this song makes me want to get sad and hang up a Christmas tree alone. All of that being said, when I dig into its substance, I come away feeling much less satisfied. The main thing that pulls me out of it is the lack of a POV. I get it. The intention is to be simple and I’m sure this song is about something because the emotions are there, but it feels like it’s designed to cast a super wide net and when a song is this emotional, I want the lyrics to be a little bit more vulnerable. I love simplicity, but as a listener I have a really hard time connecting to a series of non-sequiturs. Also, the mix takes me out a little bit. Sonically, everything sounds pretty good, but I’m not sure anything sounds like it’s in the same place and it makes it a little bit awkward in the more stripped-down sections.
I didn’t do shadow reviews for lack of time, but a lot of great stuff in there too!
And now to be sincere for just a second (sorry Micah), but I really enjoyed this competition and am so grateful for everybody’s earnest participation and feedback. While I understand that friendly competition is kind of the driving force behind all of this, for me there wasn't a definite 100% winner in any round and that in itself is a sign of all the great art being made as a result! Huge thank you to Micah and the judges for all of the time and effort it takes to organize and execute something like this so well. I’m so excited to hear the covers next week and am crossing my fingers that I have time to get one done too! BYE!
Daniel Sitler - What If: Shoegaze is making such a fun comeback right now and if you’re doing a two-chord challenge, I think this punk-ish direction is great! There are a couple performance issues, specifically a couple of sections where it feels like the rhythm of the vocals and the rhythm of the instrumental don’t quite groove (which is something I struggle with all the time), but overall, love the dreamy big delay guitars, love the POV, love the variation, great entry!
Brian Gray - Gestalt: Enjoying this folksy genre shift from Brian. Still has that musical theatre essence that BG does so well, but if you weren’t looking for it, you’d never know it was there. Also, there are lots of parents in this competition (lol obviously, just try writing a song about a fictional child receiving minor fictional injuries from an intentionally self-destructive narrator and SEE WHAT HAPPENS ), but I can’t stress enough how much I admire the POV. We all love the idea of a song from a parent's POV that’s like “here’s the world, I’m so excited to show it to you and give you a little piece of it because I’m going to be the greatest parent of all time!” but that’s really not the way most of my new-parent-friends feel right now. I think it takes artistic courage to have a super honest POV with a lovely, necessary cynicism that accurately reflects (one of) the (many) modern fear(s) around having children.
Sober - It Never Comes: And yet I did (end of review).
Jim from Seattle: Let me start by commenting on everything I love about this song, because most of it, I love a lot. From the moment it starts, the composition is absolutely lovely and the instrumental/vocal performances are pretty flawless. My heartstrings are TUGGED. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention that excellent instrumental section that starts around the two-minute mark. The sound of this song makes me want to get sad and hang up a Christmas tree alone. All of that being said, when I dig into its substance, I come away feeling much less satisfied. The main thing that pulls me out of it is the lack of a POV. I get it. The intention is to be simple and I’m sure this song is about something because the emotions are there, but it feels like it’s designed to cast a super wide net and when a song is this emotional, I want the lyrics to be a little bit more vulnerable. I love simplicity, but as a listener I have a really hard time connecting to a series of non-sequiturs. Also, the mix takes me out a little bit. Sonically, everything sounds pretty good, but I’m not sure anything sounds like it’s in the same place and it makes it a little bit awkward in the more stripped-down sections.
I didn’t do shadow reviews for lack of time, but a lot of great stuff in there too!
And now to be sincere for just a second (sorry Micah), but I really enjoyed this competition and am so grateful for everybody’s earnest participation and feedback. While I understand that friendly competition is kind of the driving force behind all of this, for me there wasn't a definite 100% winner in any round and that in itself is a sign of all the great art being made as a result! Huge thank you to Micah and the judges for all of the time and effort it takes to organize and execute something like this so well. I’m so excited to hear the covers next week and am crossing my fingers that I have time to get one done too! BYE!