It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

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Pigfarmer Jr
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It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

So maybe tap out Morse code on the rails?
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Re: It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

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Songs posted.
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Re: It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

Post by furrypedro »

Some reviews. To begin with I was an arse, then I tried to remove some of the arsey comments. If arsey comments remain then your song must have really sucked. If anyone wants clarification or an apology lemme know!

BSS: There are things that I like about it as it goes on, specifically the crowd vocals and the fuzzy guitar that comes in later. Competent but not a classic.

lookoutJoe!: This is pretty fun. The synth freakout at the beginning is cool, reminds me of Baby, You're a Rich Man. It's interesting that you sun "the drummer keeps on peaking meters" cos I was thinking this mix seems a bit hot fora relatively laid-back song. Particularly those crashes. Also the electric guitar doesn't seem to fit in the same idiom as the rest of the track, but I'm all for going against the grain so fair play. I wish there was more synth freakiness.

Olive and Stone: This ain't too bad. I like the understated guitar, but it doesn't really go anywhere. It just gets in that groove and plays it out. I like where the keyboard comes in near the end.

Pigfarmer Jr: I had to listen to this more than the others to try and find something to say about it. It's not the worst song here, it's fairly well paced. The singing is mostly in key.

Starfinger: Ooh this is interesting. The bleak feel is pretty cool and the beat is tight. I like that you've kept my attention with the switching of instruments in the different sections, and in the "night becomes day" section it's cool how you let some light peak through the clouds. All in all a good performance.

Toby roktot: There's not a lot to hold my interest in the music here so I tried concentrating on the lyrics, but apart from getting some vague heartbreak sentiment I couldn't really discern the meaning. I think it's a combination of the lyrics being too abstract and the delivery not quite being clear enough (most probably the latter - I didn't read the lyrics in the archive). So they didn't really hit home for me. Also, with the drums, I appreciate that you've tried to get some kind of dynamic in there by dropping them out for a bar, but it's a bit guileless. A change in the pattern or something would have been welcome.

Balance Lost: This is me. Worst chorus ever here. I meant to rewrite it but instead spent the whole of Saturday drinking!

I predict Starfinger ftw!
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Re: It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Balance Lost - I think this is the first BL entry since I started songfightin', and since I've known you for a while I don't feel like I have to hold back with my criticism so I've been looking forward to being SUPER brutal. So here we go: I like this, it's good. You dick. Classic layered guitar riffs and some really nice electronic stuff. The chorus is repetitive but it works, I think. Maybe not top-level Lost but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Berkeley Social Scene - I really love the bass / guitar work on this one but the lyrics and vocal melody don't feel like they have the same level of inspiration. That "tied to the tracks, how can you relax" bit in particular feels a bit weak. I also enjoyed the shouty title line though.

lookoutJoe! / The Lookouts Band - you lose points for having two different band names depending on whether I go by the filename or the tag, but luckily I don't use a points-based system so you get away with it. I love the messy layers of the intro and the lo-fi drum sound. Bits of this occasionally remind me of early Super Furry Animals, I think the chunky guitars. I definitely wish there was more electronic weirdness but as a whole, I liked this one a lot.

Olive & Stone - this is pleasant but definitely feels like three minutes of exactly the same thing happening which does get a bit old. Needs some variety or some extra layers coming in or something to hold my interest.

Pigfarmer Jr - I like the verse, not so much the chorus. I can't really put my finger on why that is - I guess the verse has more tension to it, or something. The rhythm guitar has a really nice fuzziness to it, but the lead guitar feels a bit weedy and low in the mix.

Starfinger - I continue to appreciate the weirdness of your arrangements but I didn't have as much fun with this one as your last entry. I really like that kind of "synth guitar" sound that comes in later on and the vocal distortion in that same section - in fact that whole midsection is pretty great, but the rest of the song didn't quite click with me.

Toby Roktot - I like the way the insistent guitar rhythm conjures up that approaching-train feeling, and the bits where the bassline carries the melody are pretty cool. The drums feel a bit overpowering though, and the general style isn't really my cup of tea.

Balance Lost and lookoutJoe and his The Lookouts Band my favourites.
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Re: It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

BSS: Gives me an acoustic Nirvana feel from the first vocals. Not a bad thing, really. I like the guitar on the chorus, but the end of the chorus didn't really do much for me. I like the dirty guitar towards the end this does have a cool vibe. Okay, that chorus grew on me by the end.

Starfinger: Not a fan of the vocal mix. Entirely too up front and unaffected at least until the guitars (cool) enter. They definitely work with the more full arrangement, actually works really well when it hits. I think a simple delay or reverb and a bit lower vocal level on the more sparse bits would do wonders for me. And it sounds like something subtle was added to the vocal at the end... it sits better. But again that's in a more full arrangement... *shrug* Otherwise I did enjoy listening.


Toby: Vocals a bit up in the mix, maybe? Fun rhythm but it got a bit monotonous fairly quickly. I like that it gave a subtle train running on the tracks feel, but it needed some fills or something to fill it out. I wanted more out of the bass line, too. But this song is easy to listen to, I don't dislike it at all.

Olive and Stone: I like the layered vocals. Was the incessant repetition in the melody a purposeful attempt to get that feel of the never ending running train? I like the guitars, but they didn't really do anything different after the first 8 bars, did they?

Balance Lost: I always forget that I like your vocals until I hear another song and then it's like a surprise again. I liked the reversed intro bit. While I think you used repetition well (and it gives kind of a train running feel) you've given me enough dynamic variation to hold my interest. From a purely song writing and arrangement perspective, I like this song the best.

Lookout Joe: Cool intro. I like the melody, and your vocal works well. I like the solo at the end, it doesn't do too much and feels good. There is a sloppy goodness to this that is delicious. I like the vibe and probably enjoyed listening to this song the most out of the batch this week.

P.J. (me): Seems like a year since I heard this song. I was experimenting with recording sections and putting them together and I think I learned a bit. I definitely think this song suffers from a disjointed feel. I actually spent quite a bit of time rearranging the structure with different parts and settled with this simple intro/verse/chorus/repeat bit even to the point of cutting a verse. I like bits of this, but as a whole... meh.
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Re: It's Hard To Type When You're (Tied To The Tracks Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Congrats to lookoutJoe!
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