Devil and the Deep Dark (Ocean of Blood reviews)

[Toby Roktot]

We all hope to get our (Night) wish, and maybe not suck.... sayin'

[Lunkhead]

Songs are posted.

[Toby Roktot]

After an initial listen, the winner is....

1...Flaming Tiger.... by a mile !!!
2...Berkeley Social Scene.... sweet guitar !
3...Jeff DeSantis.... a very dark story, told...in a very sweet sounding way.

thanks,
toby

[Smalltown Mike]

Wow -- more reviews later, but that Jeff DeSantis song is really beautiful. Great work.

[No Horse Town]

Berkeley Social Scene is the winner in this (kinda weak) fight.

Flaming Tiger is 2nd; Jeff DeSantis is 3rd. Didn't care for the others but I wish them all well.

Thanks for still being here, SongFight.

[WendyWisemanFisher]

Jeff DeSantis: Really compelling lyrics and delivery. Love the piano - it adds a nice texture. Interesting conflict between the pleasant, dance-able groove and the grimness of the subject matter; I’m into it. To make this song even stronger, I would have interrupted the flow a couple of times for some musical surprise - quick silence here, an extended phrase there.

WreckdoM: I dig the intense contrasts between the sections. The spoken word sample section supported by bass, pads, and seabirds is strong. I love the lyrics - Bingo, Easter Eggs, Kid Dates, etc. Nod to the human condition.

toby roktot: Love the guitar multitracking. Great articulation in both singing and playing.

Flaming Tiger: Ocean of Blood as shouted vocal hook is awesome. This song takes me to the beach at night at midnight in a convertible. Past a bonfire.

Berkeley Social Scene: Love the groove on this - sultry and toe-tapping. Wish the excellent vocals were a touch louder in the mix. The rest of the production is ear-candy - really solid. GUITAR SOLO! The background vocals in the latter half of the song are smooth and floaty and add interest right where it’s needed. I like this.

Jerkatorium: This kind of grimdark humor is exactly my kind thing. I can’t stop smiling. I wonder if this song would be made even more compelling if you sang the melody as sweetly as you sang the the background vocals, ala Stephen Lynch.

Rio Mondo: A meditative, ambient soundscape. I like the patience of the arrangement and the subtle shifts over time, the washes of sound. Very dimensional. The discordant flute riff at 4:13 signals the transition from glorious, peaceful sea to ominous, bloody ocean. However I didn’t have the patience to withstand the ocean waves-only approach that started at 5:24.

Pigfarmer Jr.: Your lyrics make their point, and the vocals deliver with conviction and clarity. Love the bass on this. The instrumentation seems to be undergirding the vocals as a support rather than meshing and interlocking as a whole. I think the lyrics would be more served with a greater hook in the verse melody.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Rio Mondo - I think I should play this when falling asleep at night. It would definitely relax me. I enjoyed the soundscape, although as a six minute songfight entry, I'm rather surprised. Props for hitting a genre not usually used. Points deducted for making it six + minutes in songfight without really saying much about the "blood" portion of the title.

Jeff Desantis - You kind of undermined the dark lyric (which I liked) with the optimistic/not unhappy melody. But I think it works. I like it. And the way you sing "ocean of blood" in place or two makes me think of Jeff Tweedy. Which is kind of cool. (Old Tweedy, not so much newer.) The up front vocal works here, too. My only pick is maybe the rhythm being a bit relentless, but it isn't really bad.

Jerkatorium - I love that "will sail to you" bit of melody that just makes me want to hear more. Is this a G&G song? The backing vocals and the two guitars really make it feel full sounding. This really has the feel of the acoustic song toward of the end of the rock album. It does feel just a tad long to my ears, but I have a feeling it's because I'm trying to get reviews done at the last minute. Or it could be that you don't have distorted guitars and I love distorted guitars. That's it! you should only write songs and arrange them the way I would do it, even if that makes them much worse.

Flaming Tiger Lilly - This is fun. I think it'd be more fun to play. Sounds good. A busy mix, but that just creates energy and it isn't long enough to tire the ears. All the other entrants should be like this (myself included.) Make it easier to review.

Toby Roktot - I really like the mando adding a nice dimension. Slightly off timing in just a couple of places could be fixed, but really for a sparse arrangement this sounds good. And under 2:00 which makes it easy to review.

BSS - I like the guitars and the melody has a nice hook to it. It's memorable. I like the arrangement a lot.

Wreckdom - Started off reminding me of some White Album Beatles. The vocals were just a hair off in a place or two in the quieter sections, but I liked the feel of them. I like the heavy. And it's a cool effect on the vox. It's a hair long for quick review purposes, but it works really well. You did a pretty decent job of pushing a few boundaries, not being predictable.

P.J. - (me) - I like the music well enough. I think the vox is a bit too much "up" in the mix. I like the message in the lyric but the lyric itself is a bit heavy handed and could be improved quite a bit. Oh, that organ is pretty cool, too. At 2:40 it was still just a hair too long for a quick review, but seems to of barely hit the short side of too long.

[coryag]

I have Berkleys song stuck in my head. So that's 1 for me.

[Lunkhead]

Congrats to Flaming Tiger. It was a close one between them and BSS and Jerkatorium.

[Chumpy]

Congrats Flaming Tiger on your second win! \m/

[Jerkatorium]

Congratulations on a well-deserved victory with that great song.

[thehipcola]

Hey now - that's pretty sweet - thanks everyone. The fan art is a serious bonus.

[thehipcola]

Hey now - that's pretty sweet - thanks everyone. The fan art is a serious bonus.

[Smalltown Mike]

Thanks, all.