Nur Ein VIII Round Six "Weekend in the City"

There can be only one.
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roymond
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Re: Nur Ein VIII- Round Six

Post by roymond »

Lunkhead wrote: I feel like it's kind of annoying though how people can get dinged for consistency here. It seems like everybody here has pretty eclectic tastes, but how many of the individual bands that people here like sound wildly different from song to song, like changing genres wildly, etc.? Most popular bands don't really do that, though they may grow or change as they put out new albums. (Please don't point out a handful of exception because I could easily respond with 10x that match what I'm saying.)
I never think about this, unless it all sounds the same. There are occasions when I have trouble with certain blues or hard rock entries, but you've never approached either of those. I usually approach each song as a single self-contained gem.
Erin and I are usually trying to write songs that, to an average listener, would sound like they make sense all coming from the same band, maybe even from the same album. I feel like in the "normal" world that would be a positive thing but here in Song Fight land it seems to be a negative thing. :roll:
Do you really try to write like this? It's always interesting to hear how people go about writing. I used to try and write a love song or a heavy rock song, or something else...but I failed miserably every time. I always figured most people start writing and what results is just who they are, although obviously works-for-hire are often very specific so that's a whole other kettle of fish, but here at SF there's no such directive.
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Lunkhead
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Re: Nur Ein VIII- Round Six

Post by Lunkhead »

j$ wrote:Maybe "indistinguishable" is the wrong word, I mean clearly this and your "all hail the snake" do not sound the same. There is a "good, not great" bar that Merisan set - in my head only, obviously! - which I could almost use as my benchmark for ordering other competitors in each round. i get frustrated because I believe that there is a truly great album from the two of you, well within your current capacities, that is just waiting to be unleashed, if you could get if not off the rails, a little away from them, a bit. So much talent, so much energy, so much rightness, that you couldn't make a bad song; but of the few Merisan songs I have heard, you've yet to make a great one. I believe you will and I get frustrated that you haven't. Man.

I can certainly listen to a Ramones best-of album, say, and never question where between constistency and complacency they lie. But they had a stick, a reason,a specific mission statement. The bands I truly love evolve and change, not wildly, or quickly, but they change. While still retaining their USP / identity. Compare the first five Clash albums and tell me any one sounds like another. Yet tell me you don't know it's the Clash as soon as you hear it.t

j$
I don't know whether to be flattered or frustrated. ;) We're just trying to make some good songs, not climb Mt. Olympus and sit among the Ramones or the Clash. So I'm flattered you think that's even remotely possible for us, but I'm also frustrated at the possibility that we're being held to a different standard because of perceptions of our potential. I personally don't hold anybody in Song Fight! to those kinds of standards, given the fact that we're all amateurs/hobbyists and we work under totally ridiculous time constraints. I expect crap and when the occasional great song comes along I am pleasantly surprised. ;) Maybe I'll try judging again next year. I know it's a pretty thankless and tiresome job at times, so, thanks j$ for taking the time to do it.
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Re: Nur Ein VIII- Round Six

Post by Lunkhead »

roymond wrote:Do you really try to write like this? It's always interesting to hear how people go about writing. I used to try and write a love song or a heavy rock song, or something else...but I failed miserably every time. I always figured most people start writing and what results is just who they are, although obviously works-for-hire are often very specific so that's a whole other kettle of fish, but here at SF there's no such directive.
Here's an example. The only reason we attempted to write anything even remotely "metal" was because of the challenge. That's not really "us", at least not as far as I'm concerned. There is no way, if we were to perform and put together a coherent set of songs, that we would include that song.
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Re: Nur Ein VIII- Round Six

Post by glennny »

I want to see the alter ego band that plays Down to Under in the set!
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Re: Nur Ein VIII- Round Six

Post by j$ »

Lunkhead wrote:I don't know whether to be flattered or frustrated. ;)
Both. Obviously.

Just to clarify, I judge everyone on the level playing field of what's put in front of me, each round. My aside about Merisan was just that - an aside. But read into it what you will. Whatever gets you through the Nur Ein day :)
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