Get out the tweezers for the (Bad Teenage Mustache Reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

This might hurt a little.

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted. Lyric thread: https://www.songfight.net/forums/viewto ... =5&t=11219

[Geoff WreckdoM]

We have submitted a late entry and would love to be included if possible.

[thirdcat]

Arrows for my favorites/votes.

silentwell - I like the minimalist piano approach. the vocals are cool too (kind of remind me of Kraftwerk). the "strawberry mustache" / "bad teenage mustache" refrain is effective, more so than it seems like it should be. there is definitely a part of me that wants to hear layers added each time it goes through, but I appreciate the restraint it takes to keep it simple, and that may make it work better. Interesting work.

add - I'm not crazy about the whole spoken word deal (although I liked most of the lyrics) but I like the music so much that I dig it anyway. there's just something really cool about the way it fits together. love the layers. This one reminds me a bit of The Talking Heads but only vaguely. probably my favorite this week because I love the instrumental and the singing bit is great. (also diggin' the backwards vocals you throw in there.)

Pigfarmer Jr - my favorite bit is the guitar riff that comes in during the instrumental breaks. some pretty good lyrics. drums might add some energy...

The Ugly Nudists - Pretty cute, I like the vocals quite a bit. I'd like to hear a bit more going on instrumentally.

The Shanks - dirty stuff, crazy & it rocks. cool. reminds me a bit of Mellow Gold era Beck mixed with Jack White. a fun listen.

[Lunkhead]

We have submitted a late entry and would love to be included if possible.

Added

[Geoff WreckdoM]

Thanks so much!

[vowlvom]

add - I really love the twangy acoustic guitar riffs that drive this one. I'm not always into this kind of spoken-wordy list song but you've made it work really well. It's a weird song but extremely appealing to me.

Pigfarmer Jr. - really like these lyrics, good take on the title. The distant fuzz that backs up the chorus is cool too, although I think I'd have liked some drums to kick in at some point.

The Shanks - I'm mixed on this one. It's a lot of fun with some nice touches (that weird instrumental break, the doubled vocals, especially how cool it sounds on "well alright!") but both verses having the same words bugs me and the mix is a little off (too much compression maybe?) which stops the chunky guitars quite kicking as much ass as I would like.

silentwall ft. rec and anonymous artist - this is the sparsest song I've ever heard with a "ft." credit, let alone two. What are those featured guests actually doing? This is an improvement over your previous submission, especially vocally, I still need a bit more to hook me in though, it gets a bit repetitive by the end.

Third Cat - sweet lead guitar work and I love those wobbly vocal pad sounds. The song evolves in a really satisfying way, I really like the dreaminess of the chorus. The ending feels a bit "that'll do" but I liked this a lot.

The Ugly Nudists - this is a fun one, catchy melody and I like the layered harmonies. Some slightly wobbly timing in a couple of places but it mostly just adds to the charm.

WreckdoM - I remember your last take on this kinda weird, dark, churning sound worked really well for me. This one doesn't so much but I'm not sure why that is.

add and Third Cat my favourites, Pigfarmer and the Nudists just behind.

[owl]

The Shanks--I love this, I love the juxtaposition of the filthy swaggery guitars and the kind of goofy tough-guy lyrics, perfect embodiment of the prompt. I kept thinking the lyrics were "super small mustache" till I looked in the lyrics thread

Pigfarmer Jr.--The lyrics are funny and subtle, really liked the storytelling, but it bothered me that the end rhymes of "weed" and "sleep" were so far apart from each other--it makes it sound more like something you've improvised on the spot and less like a carefully crafted song. I found the melody a bit too repetitive for my tastes... but it was also surprisingly catchy/memorable, it got stuck in my head, so what do I know! I think this could be a cool heartland rock, waving-your-lighters kind of song with a bigger production.

The Ugly Nudists--catchy and appealing melody, the lyrics are very cute. I thought this was very charming, but would have liked to see the arrangement filled out a bit more.

WreckdoM--It's interesting, but I wasn't really into the weird kind of falsetto vocals and the music got a bit too oppressive for me by about halfway through. I have no idea what the lyrics are but the mood doesn't seem to fit what I would have expected from the prompt, not sure if that's good or bad.

Third Cat--Nice laid-back groove! that first lead guitar line felt a bit too loud in the mix for me but I love the synth textures. This had a fun summery 90's feel--the rhythm guitar reminds me a lot of "Head Over Feet" by Alanis Morrisette.

add--I really love the busy and strange and constantly moving instrumental in this one. The layers of instruments play really nicely with each other. I enjoyed the weirdness of this, there was always some new interesting thing coming in to keep my interest just as I was thinking the background loop was getting boring.

silentwall--also odd but in the opposite direction, going super-minimal... I liked the very intimate sound of the kind of shaky close vocal with the minimalistic piano, but I wish there was more going on in this track. I feel like the lyrics or the performance (or both) have to be really vivid and strong to pull off a song that's this sparse and I think I would have liked a bit more on either count.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

[quote="owl" it bothered me that the end rhymes of "weed" and "sleep" were so far apart from each other--it makes it sound more like something you've improvised on the spot[/quote]

The P and D are both plosives and while the P is unvoiced and the D is voiced, they are used fairly successfully as near rhymes. I tried to use off/near rhymes throughout the song. "seen/seemed, on/wrong weed/sleep." In addition, I figured the distance between the rhymes was enough to pull it off. A sincere thank you in letting me it didn't work for you. It's something to ponder.

[owl]

Oh I didn't mean the actual words, the half-rhyme with the plosives absolutely works totally fine for me! I just meant the actual distance in the song, in terms of time--the rhyme scheme is A B C D - E F C D (and since "mustache" is the same in both I don't really count it). My subconscious was waiting for the rhyme to come a lot faster--A B A B C D C D or A A B B C C D D or something like that, it just felt like I had to wait a long time to hear that resolved.

[Lunkhead]

It's a tie! The Shanks get their first win, while add completes a hat trick. Good job everybody!

[ujnhunter]

Serves me right for not voting on my own song! Doh! Thanks everyone!