dear notifylist please vote for my song! (safety in numbers)

[Eric Y.]

(oh and if you are bored, you can listen to it. and if you're REALLY bored listen to the rest. but still vote for mine. but only if you honestly think it is the best.)

[Kweep]

heh... if i actually had any friends, i'd pwn this place...

[EDIT - i thought this was funny til <3 posted i shoulda added the begging *sigh*]

[<3]

I have no friends and so I would be much more happy if people would vote for me to make up for it! ^_^

[<3]

I know that it sometimes takes a while for the songs to go up but I am wondering if there is any way to know if my song file is going to be posted? I am not sure if the file made it to the Song Fight Masters because my email can be poopy sometimes and also then I don't know if the style is normally accepted because I don't think I have heard one of this style in Song Fight before! ^_^

Thanking you if you know, or even if you don't.

[obscurity]

If you want to know if your song will be posted, the surest way to find out is to wait till the songs are posted and see if it's there. If for some reason it's not been received, the fightmasters are usually pretty good at adding it later.

I've never heard of a song being rejected due to the style of the song (thankfully!). I doubt the fightmasters listen to all the songs before they put them up. And even if they did, neither of them strike me as the kind of person that would not post a song due to it's style.

[<3]

That is good to know! Thank you.

[blue]

my email can be poopy sometimes

poopy email is not an excuse. PM me (or probably anyone on the boards) for a gmail invite.

[<3]

It is cool! It turns out that if you have a mobile phone you can get a gmail invite by SMS! I did not know that so now I can get gmail without needing any friends so that is very convenient for me.

[Mostess]

Thanking you if you know, or even if you don't.

You are quite welcome.

[Eric Y.]

Location: Ann Arbor

oh yeah? when did you switch states? (i haven't been paying attention i guess)

[Mostess]

Location: Ann Arbor

oh yeah? when did you switch states? (i haven't been paying attention i guess)

Wake up and start reading every post I write very carefully for subtle mentions of major events in my life. For crying out loud, pay more attention to me!

[Adam!]

I apologize for the crappy drum loop in the Popular Electronics song (ran out of time).

Here's a version that instead sports crappy drumming (first time I've drummed for a [finished] song) and criminal mastering. The timing is sloppy, and my fills sound retarded, but it fits with the sloppy guitars. I'll get better.

[Mostess]

In approximate order of preference:

Nodal Nim: My clear favorite. Easy singing, fascinating lyrics (though the rope-skipping Fibonacci rhyme is a bit too cutesy?), sounds very clear and sweet. Noodles a bit too much, but that gives it a nice live performance feel. My vote!

Ray Negro: This is awesome! The melody is right up my alley, and the French Beatles cover-band feel really hits home. The heavy panning, the off-center drums, the flutey organ. I love it all.

Popular Electronics: Squeeze sound is welcome. This is an onslaught of production, though I lose some of the song for the sonic slickness. Like its whizzing by my window. Rhythm guitars sound like they're rushing in lots of places. Falsetto is spot on---kudos!

Tiny Robots: I thought I'd be lost in a sea of odd time sigs for this fight, so I threw in some 2/4s to mix it up. Glad I didn't go for it, 'cause the first minute of this is much nicer than whatever else I would have done (I wish you had avoided the simple groove entirely, though). And the solo guitar is very sweet.

Hostess Mostess: Trying to rock, but falling out of tune. I have no idea how this will go over. Different for us, which is the point.

Kill Me Sarah, featuring That Voice Inside Your Head: The dirge feeling of the verses is nice. I'm having a hard time finding the groove on the chorusish part with that Scotch-snap guitar (sometimes they feel like pick-up notes?). I want the bass to do something other than follow the guitar around.

Kweep: Lovely vocal sound, a truly beautiful voice! I really don't agree with your premise: I find the safest number to be around 7 or so, that whole comparison to 1 thing is kind of a strawman, same with that negative integers thing.

Turtle Boy: Twangy flange is really cool, though I want it to go away for a little while at some point. Maybe only because it's panned so hard? I really like the major/minor tension in the descant that comes in around 2:30 The repetition here does wear on the ear a lot; this is a two minute song stretched out too long. Drum loop is notable. Good choice (performance?)

<3: More lovely sounds. What a pleasant fight. I like the ant imagery. You need another song section---the main melody part is very tiresome after a couple minutes. In general, this needs some serious tightening and shortening. Make every event count---repetition for its own sake does nothing for a song. But it's a really cute entry and I'm curious to hear more from you.

Produce: I like the percussion a lot. The samples seem to step on each other a lot, and there's kind of a resampling skippiness to the overall sound (though I'm not qualified to mention that sort of thing). The rap is fun. The ending fell flat for me.

Marcus Kellis Experience: I like the "cry cry cry..." a whole lot; very nice changeup. In general, this has a very boxy feel; needs syncopation. The repetition of the first bunch is unnecessary, as is the last second meta-goop. Underdone, but worthy.

Marn: I really think this kind of sparseness needs a huge variety of sounds. At least turn a knob on your delay pedal (or drum machine) at some point. Or play a high note. A daring attempt at the George Crumb thing, but with no real drama or love.

[catch]

Puce: Is the loop you looped? It still sounds good.

Nice entry, by the way! The non-solo made it for me. Did you use any particular scale for it?

[catch]

Basically stream-of-consciousness reviews, using the plus/minus system:

Hostess Mostess:

+ Nice vocals!
+ The (acoustic?) side guitars sound nice. Any particular trick for getting that sound?
+ "No!"
+ Light sound effects in the background.
+ Contrasting backup vocals.

- The tone of the intro leading into the song confused me at first. It kind of took some of the impact of the song away.

Kill Me Sarah feat. TVIYH:

+ Shows promise. I think better production/tighter playing would go a long way.

- Muddy mix. Way too much bass frequency.
- Boring song.
- Too arythmic for my tastes.

Kweep:

+ Nice folksy feel.
+ Beatboxing in the intro.
+ Shakers.
+ "Much of nothin'..."
+ Good vocals.
+ Solid buildup. It kept my interest the whole time.

- I wanted to hear "...and one is too few."

<3:

+ So whimsical!
+ Cool sound/sounds. I like it.

- The beat is a tiny bit opressive.
- The song goes on too long.

Marcus Kellis Experience:

+ The tapping percussion.

- The vocals drone on and on and on and
- I just don't like it.

Marn:

- Is this even a song?

Nodal Nim:

+ NICE instrument choice.
+ You have a very nice voice! Goes down smooth.
+ Slick singing, as well.
+ The word "impregnable."
+ Counting.
+ Interesting song.

- The vocals could use a little more compresion... I think. Maybe.

Popular Electronics:

+ Lo-fi love, harmonics
+ Rock! You never fail to deliver in the rock department.
+ Falsetto. My only weakness.
+ Ooh ooh
+ The non-solo (you know what I mean)! Sounds dope.

- The vocals seem too full in the lofi intro (but are real nice through the song)
- Let me rap next time!

Produce:

+ Slick Sega Genesis elevator music intro. Particularly interesting after Popular Electronics' outro.
+ Whiteboy-rap. My other only weakness.
+ The glitching vocals and sounds.

- "This power"(?) Totally takes me out of the groove.
- I can hardly hear the quiet vocals on the side.
- The rapping was kinda whack.

Ray Negro:

+ Ray. Negro.
+ Cool organ progression/sound.
+ The vocals are kinda creepy.
+ "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, sex"?!
+ Reversed vocals.

- The vocals seem distorted and alien at places.
- The vocals are kinda creepy.

Tiny Robots:

+ Nice voice.
+ Nice singing.
+ I like the overall sound a lot.
+ Little electronic beeps in the background.
+ Synth solo w/backup singing.
+ Classy length and ending.
+ Solid song!

- In my headphones, the solo guitar seems bassy to the point of giving me a slight headache. But, I am a pansy.

Turtle Boy:

+ Detuned sounds.
+ The percussion is cool.
+ Nice ending.

- Can't make out the vocals very well.

Favourites: Nodal Nim, Popular Electronics, Tiny Robots
Honourable mention: <3, Kweep, Ray Negro

[Kill Me Sarah]

This is probably the best song I've ever written, and by far the best thing I've ever heard on Song Fight!

[<3]

Hello! I am posting reviews!

Hostess Mostess - I am really liking this a lot! The electronic-sounding introduction is very cool and then it goes into a very poppy hooky beat and I like the melody and the words and everything else. Your voice does go a bit off-key when you go into the upper registers and that is kind of hurty but other than that it's pretty cool! I'd like to hear a bit more of the electronic bits though and they sound kind of like they are just there for the sake of being there later on rather than being part of the music. (Also there is something a bit strange about your mp3 which confuses my streaming media player about the length but that is not a big deal!) Like you said this is very different than your usual stuff but I think it is good!

Kill Me Sarah - Equalize your guitar! Compress your vocals! This mix is needing a lot of work! Then the intro ends and then the song is kind of not very interesting. There is too much bass and too little guitar and too little anything else and everything is kind of messy. I think this could be a really good song with more production though! (Please do not get me wrong because I think minimalism can work very well too but this does not do it right!)


Kweep - Your name is very cute and this song is also very cute! I love the vocal "drum" loop which is something I have tried playing with in the past but I could never do it very well, and then it also goes very well with the real drums which come in later. Something about this song makes me very happy, possibly because it is in waltz form and the chord structure and the overall meaning of the lyrics. And it is true that three is too many - you need LESS than three! ^_^


<3 (that's me!) - So this is me trying to do something new for Song Fight and I'm very happy with how it turned out. When I was young I was very fascinated with ants and they were always so industrious and happy and just doing their little thing, and I used to play SimAnt which was a lot of fun and I'd also keep ants as pets and I had a pet ant named Charlie who was never the same ant twice but later I learned that all ants form a super-organism with their colony through their emergent behaviors so I wasn't too far off anyway! Anyway the instrumentation on this is mostly a number of softsynths but I also did play the violin (but I need to get a lot better about it) and anyway I produced this like a trancey dance song and tried to make it as catchy as I could and anyway I like it a lot. I wasn't quite sure about the ending though!


Marcus Kellis - Oh wow this sounds very different! You have used production! And it fits very well on you! I really like the lo-fi lyrics combined with the med-fi guitars and the minimal but almost frenetic drumming. Maybe it could use a bit of pitch correction on the singing though? (I know that you are working on your singing though and you have definitely gotten a LOT better over the years! Don't let anyone discourage you!)


Marn - This is very nice and relaxing and low-key though I am not sure what it has to do with the title. Very pretty though!


Nodal Nim - Usually Song Fight has a lot of guy+guitar but this instead guy+ukulele maybe? This is very nice too. Very good singing, and it works very well with the minimal instrumentation and I am definitely tapping a toe or three. I am liking this! Do not change it at all! (I would not be surprised it it were to win even!)


Popular Electronics - Oh no! You were setting us all up for the rock with the grounding noise at the beginning but then it turns into strumming! Then you suddenly surprise us again and then sound like They Might Be Giants! Oh wow! You guys are good! (Also it has been rumored that TMBG has entered here in the past so maybe you guys are actually them! But the rumor was that it was Alexander Molodkov who was really one of the Jons just messing around!) Very very good singing especially when you keep on switching into falsetto, which is very hard to do and stay on-key and it doesn't sound like there is any pitch correction. Whoever you are you are definitely very experienced in any case! Definitely high on my list for voting!


Oh no, I am using too many exclamation points again. I will try to keep them in check!


Produce - Haha Sega Genesis What? When the real drums kick in it does a nice job of balancing out the sparse beatboxing though I do not really like the backing "There is power in numbers" sample but this is a cute song anyway! Rapping about math is hard to do well and I guess as far as math-related rap this is cute though I don't think it quite compares with <a href="http://www.themathematicians.net/">The Mathematicians</a>. There is a lot of clipping on the vocals though and you might want to use compression or hard limiting instead of just boosting your levels so much. This is a nice blending of styles in any case.


Ray Negro - It is not as if I am one to talk but I am not very liking the particular inflection you chose for your voice. It is sounding too much like you are trying to be a poppy version of Fantastic Plastic Machine. (Unless that is your natural accent in which case I am sorry I doubted you but it does not sound genuine.) I do like the song and it is cute and whimsical even though it is basically about you wanting to get someone in bed and getting their phone number. Maybe too much cymbals on the drums in the chorus?


(Incidentally a coworker just interrupted my listening because we've had an ongoing debate about the properties of Fibonacci numbers and he decided to continue it right now! I thought that was very appropriate.)


Tiny Robots - There were some nice little rhythmic breaks in this song but over all I found it kind of boring. Your songs usually remind me of people who are the opening act for Rilo Kiley and I guess this one is no exception. But it's very well-produced and the little synths in the background at least keep it from being completely monotonous and this is definitely good by the standards of songs which are like this and so I think it's objectively a good song, I just don't like it much.


Turtleboy - I like the dissonant discordant chords but just strumming them out with a flanger is a bit boring. Also I can't really make out the words, which I think you could fix by boosting the midrange a little bit. Melodically it's interesting though, but I think I start to lose interest in it about two minutes in. Maybe more changing up in the drums would be good, and varying the guitar effects a bit rather than it just being the same tremolo the whole way through. I like that a bass finally comes in at 3:00 or so but it kind of feels like too little too late. This sounds very much like sonofsupercar doing emo which I don't think is a very good match. This would be good for listening to on a long road trip though!


So anyway! It is possible that my vote will go to Nodal Nim or Kweep or Marcus or Popular Electronics! I am not yet sure!

[blue]

well i was gonna review but mostess is first in the play list so i guess i'll just vote and close the fight.

[catch]

(Also there is something a bit strange about your mp3 which confuses my streaming media player about the length but that is not a big deal!)

I had this problem, too. It said your song was, like, 1:40.

[Kweep]

just got in from gettin poked (tattooed) some more and am headin' out again. reviews later but some damn fine tracks!!

[j$]

Hostess mostess – ah sweet. Ouch to some screwy tunelessness distracting from the lovely melody. I wish the bass was a bit more groovy. Other than that I like.

Kill Me Sarah – I like the bass, I like the chord sequence, I like the vocals but they’re a bit quiet. Overall though I am left with the feeling of drabness. Great bass tone – worth stating twice, I guess.

Kweep – I am not really a fan of mouth percussion – I am not sure what it adds to the song apart from saying ‘hey listener I am wackier than the rest of tune suggests’ – lovely tune. I am a sucker for descending bass parts. Mix sounds great if I could only turn off that looped percussion. When the hats kick in I am wondering even more why you needed the perc in the first place. Woulda coulda shoulda been a contender.

Less Three – The bouncy beepy line is a little loud for what it is – it overpowers everything else attention-wise. Otherwise a fairly good mix – the vocal is a bit fey to these ears, but that’s not out of place with the electropop stylings … yeah, not bad. Everything is a bit up front for my tastes mixwise. Certainly un-perculiar!

MKE – Well, I like this. The panning apart of drums and bass apart, and the fact that the mix although cool distracts from the story being told – the vocal sounds a little distant under that (admittedly cool) effect - are about the only things that stop me gooing all over. I like the ‘cry’s and very good at offering respite from the repitition and therefore refreshing its return. contender

Marn – I’m slightly bored at .30 – slightly worried it’s not going to do anything… and it doesn’t. I play the ‘Instrumental’ card.

Nodal Nim – Nice voice. There is safety in numbers, is there? Lucky you repeated it I might have missd it first time round, Lyric is a bit silly. Really getting irked by it 2 minutes in.

Popular Electronics – I wrote the first draft of this lyric, and Puce did everything else. I like it a lot. That Puce he has talent. Suffers only from lack of whistling.

Produce – You really nailed this sound pretty well over the past year or so. I miss the more experimental stuff, or rather I’d like to hear that stuff done with the production nous you have now, but probably because that was more my bag than this.

Ray – Euro-english! Cool. Where in Spain are you from? This has a nice groove to it. Cute. A little long maybe, but I like.

Tiny Robots – great opening. I like that jerky off-rhythm - moog stylekeyboard at the end is also good. I haven’t really liked that many TR songs in the past but this one really hits the spot for me, despite being of a similar ilk to those I have cruelly dismissed. Go figure – contender.

Turtleboy – I like this – lots of different influences colliding at once and not one comes out on top. Is it ‘good witches come in threes’? That percussion is great, nice bass too. They’re my favourite bit I think. Only it’s too long for no real dynamic variation I feel, and that stops it being a contender.

[Mostess]

well i was gonna review but mostess is first in the play list so i guess i'll just vote and close the fight.

From now on, we'll be submitting as "Aardvark Admiring."