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A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:47 am
by MicahSommer
"DOHN-deh es-TAH el BAHN-yoh?"

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:50 am
by MicahSommer
Lyrics thread here.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:06 pm
by Lunkhead
Songs posted!

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:12 pm
by Pigfarmer Jr
Entirely too early, one listen, one sentence reviews:

bgm: Guitars were cool from the start and I enjoyed the vocals very much.

Budget Bears: I'm digging the live sound that seems betrayed by the cool playing and the chorus.

CsmthngCcrtv0: There's something enticing in the vocal that initially drew me in but ultimately you lost me in the speaking bits.

Evil Grin: Amanda was (is) sick and still wrote this song, played the guitar and sang it while I added the solo and threw it together in the DAW.

The Glash: The intro was a little slow to develop for me, but I dig this once it kicks in and the playing seems tight to me.

Jim Tyrrell: Good piano sound, I like the arrangement and mix, and the melody suits the vocal very well.

Micah Sommersmith: I'm not usually a fan of sentimental sounding songs (regardless of my own penchant for writing the damn things) but this works very well for me.

My Social Uniform: This has a cool 80's feel in the arrangement/melody and I like the change of pace from some of the other songs but the shift in the vocal from pretty dry to reverby is a bit distracting even if though I like the effect.

Paco del Stinko: I like the post-punk vibe and the bit at 2:30is was a cool break from the driving bits before and after it.

Third Cat: The title line is catchy and while the mix isn't perfect for me, that arrangement is super cool.

Ujn & The Luk Ling Band: You've worked both titles into a a song very well but that ending bit is so cute that it kind of turned me off a bit (but maybe that's just my stone cold heart.)

bgm, My Social Uniform and Ujn (and company) instantly come to mind when thinking of good songs, but honestly, this was a pretty damn good fight. I'll have to listen some more to settle on votes (which are subject to change.) Oh, and I'll reiterate that Amanda came through when feeling very, very poorly and I think she hit the songwriting right out of the park.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Wed May 01, 2019 12:29 pm
by owl
There are so many songs to review this week! I want to review the Nur Ein round but 25 songs is daunting, so I'm starting with the fight--at least I can kill two birds with one stone with Ujn's... quick 'n' dirty first impression reviews:

bgm--this is really lovely, great harmonies and melody and nice instrumentation, I love the combo of the slide and percolating toy-like synths and the Omnichord strums. It sounds like if the Byrds teamed up with Stephin Merritt to do a Hank Williams tribute.

Budget Bears--Short and sweet! I really like the reverby sound of the drums and the energy in the fuzzy guitars. The processed/buried vocal works well with the style and there are lots of great hooky and slightly melancholy melodies at play, I especially love that melody at the start of the verse ("calling you..."/"heard from me...")

CsmthngCcrtv0--Doing an cappella track is a pretty bold move, so if nothing else, kudos for having the balls to do that. I think I would have liked this better if a bunch of instruments had come crashing down after those first few nice raw seconds, but it felt a little uncomfortable for me to listen to two minutes of one single vocal (not counting the very low background voice I think I hear after a bit)... I felt more like I was listening to someone's voice memo idea for a song than something that was fully written and finished. I also don't think I understand what's going on with the twins etc. in the lyrics, this is all maybe too high concept for me.

Evil Grin--Very nice vocals, though the melody seemed to meander a bit. I think I would have liked more dynamic and rhythmic shifts in the song--the kind of droney acoustic guitar was nice for a while but started to drag by the end. The solo was a nice change and really well written/executed, I thought it was just enough playing for the tempo and style, and I liked the combo of its tone with the acoustic.

The Glash--Really like the self-deprecatory lyrics and the confident, garage-y feel to the whole thing. The vocals aren't perfect but are really charming and appealing, I especially love the bits of vibrato on the higher notes and the talking at the end of the track. It reminds me of Lou Reed. Good stuff.

Jim Tyrell--really excellent hooky melody and carefully crafted lyrics. It reminds me pretty heavily of "Village Green" by the Kinks.
I really like the cheesy synthetic vocal chorus parts. The catchiest melody this week, I think.

Micah Sommersmith--lovely lovely piano, it sounds so very good! And these are great, moving lyrics, I really like the simplicity of that lyrical turnaround and mirrored structure. The melody is very pleasing at the "stretch for miles" bit and in the prechorus. Well written and performed all around.

My Social Uniform--love the 80's feel, reminds me of "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles. The descending synth arpeggios that sound kind of like pizzicato strings in the chorus are really great. Also I love the detuned instrumental break falling back into the pretty harmonies (starting at 2:21). The vocals sound a bit thin and dry in certain places though.

Paco del Stinko--excellent energy, that kind of dissonant lead that comes in at the beginning is great. I like the dynamic shift in that first chorus but wish the vocals were a bit more melodic there. I also really like how it feels like it's falling apart starting around 1:15, particularly that loopy little riff, although I don't really like the tone of that lead that comes in after that around 1:35 (though I'm sure the shrillness is intentional, just not my thing). This would be a blast to see performed live.

Third Cat--I love how well you can hear your vocals in this track, and the time shifts (although the vocal timing sounds a bit loose in the "I don't know what to say" lines, particularly just after the instrumental break...) I really like the juxtaposition of the fantastical sunbird and mundane password imagery in the lyrics. However, I don't love the "la la la"s, they don't feel like they fit in very naturally. Lots of cool psychedelic noises to enjoy as usual, I particularly liked the bubbling transition out of the bridge. I liked this song a lot overall, very charming love song! If you revisit this later, I would turn down the lead instruments in the instrumental break a bit, I turned it down to listen to them comfortably and then the vocals seemed too quiet.

Ujn and the Luk Ling Band--Very nice. I agree with the Jerkatorium assessment of this as sounding like some lost post-punk track that only hipsters know about. I don't usually complain about harmonies but I like this track the most where it feels the most raw and dirty, the choruses with extra vox feel slightly too melodic/produced for me.

So many good songs this week! It's hard for me to pick favorites. I think I am almost certainly going to end up voting for more than half of them.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 5:43 am
by vowlvom
bgm - I really love this, the instrumentation is unusual but fits perfectly together. I'm a sucker for an omnichord and the slide guitar is inspired. Really gorgeous and a definite vote.

Budget Bears - effective fuzzy lo-fi punk pop. Could probably do with some better harmonies and the distortion over everything makes it sound a bit thin maybe? Voice reminds me of somebody but I can't put my finger on it.

CsmthngCcrtv0 - is this the same person as 'silentwall' who submitted a few times a while back? Sounds like it. As before, there's a couple of interesting ideas here in the lyrics but this level of non-production is never going to compete with actual songs.

Evil Grin - like the other two Evil Grin songs that I've heard, this is really well written, and the vocal melodies and performance are strong. The more stripped-down arrangement isn't as much to my taste though, which leaves me admiring this one without liking it as much as your first two.

The Glash - really charming live-jam feel to this one (including the studio chatter at the end) and some really superb lead guitar work. Definitely getting a Velvet Underground vibe. I think this would be a definite vote in most fights but there are a couple of songs here that I love so much that I'm having to think hard about my voting strategy.

Jim Tyrrell - excellent lyrics, the line about coffee in particular made me grin. Musically I like this but don't love it, like The Glash I think there's enough here that I'd usually consider this a vote, but the strength of this fight makes me unsure.

Micah Sommersmith - lovely piano playing, although the roomy piano and fairly clean vocal maybe don't fit as well together as they could. The lyrics are strong but I struggle with this kind of super-earnest writing to be honest, which I guess is genre bias of a sort.

My Social Uniform - this is AMAZING. If there's one subgenre I absolutely find it impossible to resist it's "super-emotional synthpop", and this reminds me of Zoe Gray's song from the first round of the last SpinTunes contest both in how soaringly emotional it is and how much I love it. Killer lyrics (I'm not sure the "go down with your ship even though it isn't sinking" line actually makes sense but I love it anyway), stellar production and the vocals are dreamy to the max.

Paco del Stinko - I'm not generally as much into your more straight-ahead rock stuff and this is no exception, although I do like the lyrics a lot and generally it's solid, just not among my favourites.

Third Cat - some good melodies, and nice use of synths (I like the thing you do where a synth arp bubbles up in a key point of the song). Vocals sound good on this one and it's a generally solid Third Cat song but again, strong competition keep it out of my favourites.

Ujn & The Luk Ling Band - already reviewed this one for Nur Ein but I really like it a lot and it's another vote.

Really good set of songs!

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 10:44 am
by MicahSommer
vowlvom wrote:
Thu May 02, 2019 5:43 am
Budget Bears - ... Voice reminds me of somebody but I can't put my finger on it.
That's a joke, right VV? Please tell me that's a joke.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 6:53 pm
by pauley g
I would like to start by saying THANK YOU Songfight and fighters for once again breaking my writers block, this platform is invaluable! Please don’t take my opinions too seriously...

Paco del Stinko

Digging the guitar crunch. Well mixed...I like the tempo changed bridge and the acceleration to the outro. Everything here is well done, arrangement, melody, lyrics, and performance, nice job Paco!

Evil Grin

I mean this in a good way - I can here this song as the introspective feature music in a TV show... heartfelt and honest lyric delivered well. Guitar solo is good but maybe a few less notes and more sustaining? I appreciate the sparse arrangement but I think this song could benefit from just a little more support, maybe some ultra soft strings and the lightest of percussion to develop some of the transitions. But this is coming from a guy who needs a mixer that spans two monitors.

My Social Uniform

This one is mine. It’s written about my wife, we recently lost her father after a long battle with dementia. It’s hard to expose real emotions but essentially this is how I’ve tried to approach supporting her through this and deal with my own grief at the same time. Take it for what it’s worth. Writer’s block officially broken.

Ujn & The Luk Ling Band

Like the Ramones with better singers.. chorus is GREAT, super catchy, I would have definitely tried to get there sooner! Harmonies are spot on! I think I’m going to have to go back and listen to your catalog...question - is it two guitars creating the stereo separation or a sample delay on one? Super clear and wide!

Jim Tyrrell

I can totally relate to the lyric! “But there isn’t enough coffee in the God damn world”!! I think you should start writing for stage...gold all around, lyric, chord progressions, performance.

Budget Bears

Tight and good movement, another great memorable chorus, only wish it lasted a bit longer...bg vocals are sweet...the only thing I can think of is lead vocal might get lost in spots especially towards the end, if you could get it to pop out just a little more, I think the song would benefit.

CsmthngCcrtv0

I respect that you’ve stripped this down to the bare minimum to put the melody in some chord context but I need more! I like the speaking... I just think you could do more to set the mood you are trying to achieve!

Bgm

Nice arrangement and well recorded. Lovely slide guitar, great island feel...good lyric and melody. Guitar solo is spot on. Maybe try to get the snare to pop out a little? Honestly, I don’t know if you you could even do that without upsetting the great vibe you’re cooking.

Third Cat

As a synth guy, I love your instrumentation! You do a great job of combining the guitar arpeggios with the electronic elements, sometimes I struggle with that. Quality all around, aquatic swirly pads to the analog arps moving across the stereo field, nice job!

Micah Sommersmith

Heartfelt. I really respond to this lyric. Seriously, you’ve captured something here that every one of us knows about. Melody, chord structure, and performance all top shelf.

The Glash

Has a Killers vibe circa “Sawdust”...I like the quality of your voice, mellow, moves easily, and soulful. Drums could use some treatment, they almost feel like an afterthought in what otherwise is a pro level mix.

I apologize for the abundance of nice reviews but this has to be one of the highest quality fights ever.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 7:20 pm
by codywalkerjr
It's interesting that we get the Lou Reed reference, Jeff, Our singer, Calls us "Glam Folk".. I felt like his voice sounded really Mick Jaggery in this one. It was all live, First take 😩

Also I personally am a big fan of Brandon Flowers and the Killers, so thanks!

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Fri May 03, 2019 12:52 pm
by thirdcatmusic
bgm - wow, really love this one. really pretty song with cool interesting instrumentation. very good vocals. definitely a favorite.

budget bears - catchy, high energy, short & sweet. cool song.

Csmnthng - the line "communication is our food" caught my attention. I hear potential here, but not fully realized. still I thought it was pretty interesting.

evil grin - nice bright jangly acoustic guitar. good vocals. tasty little electric solo. nice work overall. does come off a bit like a demo without any drums/bass etc. i like the chorus.

the glash - pretty cool way to start off a song (sounds like an electric guitar being recorded acoustically?) lots of vibe here. I like the attitude. singer reminds me of david byrne at times. some nice guitar lines. this an interesting song to me as it seems like a really catchy pop song in a way but recorded in this really ramshackle sort of way. it's a neat contrast. reminds me of the velvet underground a bit.

jim tyrell - this seems pretty well written but not entirely my jam. reminds me of billy joel at times. is that just because of the piano? i don't think so. i think it's in the songwriting too. i like the choir vocal thing, unexpected layer.

micah sommersmith - nice piano tone, strong vocals. this is giving me a '70s singer songwriter vibe. guy & piano isn't entirely my thing but this is really nicely done. impressed by the piano playing and the singing.

my social uniform - this is a pretty cool song, clean pop production. sounds almost theatrical, maybe in a way that doesn't totally work for me but is very impressive. I'm really impressed with this song and I can imagine it being something that grows on me and I end up really loving it. you definitely deserve a vote. nice layers/arrangement.

paco del stinko - I love the delay effect on the vocal. tons of manic energy. that guitar solo that sounds like a theramin is really neat. overall; a very cool pds song. one of my favorites I've heard from you.

third cat - I think this one is better than my round zero nur ein entry by a pretty fair margin ("message received"). mostly pretty happy with it, although there are some things I would have changed with more time to work it out.

ujn & - catchy garage rock with lots of attitude. I can imagine this being played during a wild scene in a movie or something. gives me a real vibe like The Clash or something.

...

lots of good ones - I liked a lot of 'em. bgm's is probably my favorite.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 9:28 am
by ujnhunter
Pigfarmer Jr wrote:
Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:12 pm
Ujn & The Luk Ling Band: You've worked both titles into a a song very well but that ending bit is so cute that it kind of turned me off a bit (but maybe that's just my stone cold heart.)
Thanks. I've found extra motivation to finish songs thanks to having both Nur Ein & Song Fight! titles to work on. I know some people may frown upon dual entries, but whatever helps me to actually finish tracks and not leave dust collecting on my hard drive full of unfinished material seems good to me. I apologize for the "cute" ending... or at least for my half of the cute ending (not sure why I can't have a "cool" voice when talking to my son...) but he's the one who actually pushed me to finish and write the song in the first place, so he had to be included. The story is that when I was writing the song, I was singing the lines "Rak mak tee sud baby, rak mak tee sud" and he heard me and said: "Awww... my Daddy says he loves me!" and in the ending I tell him, "The most in the world", to which he replies "In the universe!". The song is in Thai and I believe Chumpy had the best (if not the word for word translation) of "I love you more than anyone else". I liked how speaking and spelling out Thai words fit in with "What To Say And How To Say It" and the Nur Ein Challenge of spelling fit it perfectly too. Wondering if the message was received, obviously worked as some people didn't even know what language I was singing, so it was right to wonder if my words were getting through. Glad most people seemed to enjoy it and I had fun making it.
pauley g wrote:
Thu May 02, 2019 6:53 pm
Ujn & The Luk Ling Band

Like the Ramones with better singers.. chorus is GREAT, super catchy, I would have definitely tried to get there sooner! Harmonies are spot on! I think I’m going to have to go back and listen to your catalog...question - is it two guitars creating the stereo separation or a sample delay on one? Super clear and wide!
Thanks for the kind words. I thought about getting to the chorus sooner, but the structure I had laid out with the harmony guitars kicking in and going up an octave in the singing... felt like it was building to the chorus and I didn't want to re-arrange that structure just to pop a chorus in sooner. You can see my "catalog" by following the link to my "liner notes" in my signature below, but you may be disappointed as I can't say I've ever done another song quite like this one before. The guitars in question are all separate takes usually hard panned or at least 60% panned... no delay... I pretty much always double track guitars even if it's for a lead/solo part that is mostly down the middle, just gives it that something extra I find.

Thank you to everyone for their reviews. Oh and "The Luk Ling Band" is "The Baby Monkey Band" so it's kind of cute by default. Sorry!

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 9:33 pm
by Chumpy
You might have thought we'd be too preoccupied with Nur Ein to do a podcast for this fight, but think again! We save all our best commentary for the folks who make this place awesome week in and week out -- you guys.

Here's how to get the good stuff: I know our work hits you in the feels, so lay it on us: feedback@twojerksonevote.com.

We've just started adding podcast chapters to our podcasts, so if your podcast player supports them, you shouldn't have to resort to these primitive time coordinates anymore. But just in case, here they are. This podcast clocks in at 01:45:35. Yow! Say it!

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 10:39 pm
by bgm
Heh, I usually avoid the podcast things but I got sucked in and you guys were right on the money.
Really the song was an excuse to practice lap steel that I'm still learning (C6 tuning, which gives it that "Hawaiian" kinda sound you mentioned) and a recent Omnichord aqcuisition. Lyrics are awful and were written and recorded about 15 minutes before the deadline. I fucking hate writing words.
I was laughing that you counted how many notes I sang. That's awesome.
I tried to do a Cactus Blossoms-type solo since we saw them here in Toronto a few weeks ago. It's a Gretsch Duojet through a JHS honeydripper tremolo (great pedal!) into a Fender Blues Deluxe.

I totally forgot that I did a promo thing and I can't remember what it sounds like but it makes sense that it had an organ drumbeat in it. I will die on the hill of cheap analog 60's, 70's and 80's utilitarian drum sounds. Sometimes I play my cheap drum kit badly, sometimes I use old drum machines, but if I ever buy a pack of Abbey Road™ Native Instruments or whatever fake "they sound so real!" drum samples then you have permission to kill me because my soul is already gone.
Thanks for the reviews!

Really interesting fight this time, I liked everything.
Making music is the best, keep doing it everybody.

Thanks for the nice comments about my song.
I did a different mix a few days ago, which you can hear here if yer so inclined. Although if you hate old drum machines you'll still hate it.
https://soundcloud.com/fromabasement/wh ... -to-say-it

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 12:51 am
by vowlvom
Re: Budget Bears - I was assuming I'd have to drop out of Song Fight for a while due to the Nur Ein commitments but also I've submitted something to every fight so far this year and wanted to keep that streak going, so I figured I'd try something a bit different and used a band name I've been hoarding for a decade (?) because I figure I'm going for something slightly different than I usually do with my Vom Vorton stuff. Aiming for energy, experimenting with distortion and going for a vaguely live-ish sound influenced by a lot of the louder stuff I've been listening to lately (Martha, Mike Krol, Radiator Hospital, Pup etc). I guess I was also vaguely hoping that people might not immediately realise it was me but since I made no effort to disguise my voice that was probably never going to happen! Anyway I'm in again for Bend the Knee and you'll probably have the same issues with the drums, I'll see what I can do about that.

Haven't listened to the rest of this cast yet because I prioritised the Nur Ein one but looking forward to hearing the rest later!

Also bgm I love your old drum machine sounds! Which model Omnichord do you have? It has a different tone to mine so I guess you have one of the later models with switchable sounds? I have one of the early super basic ones but I love it.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 6:01 am
by codywalkerjr
The podcast was great. Thanks for the time and effort.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 7:15 am
by pauley g
BURN! BURN! BURN! Never occurred to me... I am totally going to fix. Thanks for the great review, you guys are spot on. Reverb on verse was me playing with automation on things I have never automated before. I kind of liked the result but I think it needs less of a swing from dry to wet, maybe a little less noticeable. And I do occasionally try to sound current but Gloria Estefan might be my spirit animal... :)

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 8:50 am
by thirdcatmusic
crazy indepth podcast guys, listened to this whole thing when I should be working on "pump the breaks". micah is a great guest. really appreciate that kind of feedback. I will listen to the idiot by stan rogers. btw; not about Twitter. the sunbird / password thing is just some sounds.

i do disagree about bgm's drum sound - I think that kind of cheap drum machine can sound really good in the right context and to me it sounded great in this song. (bgm's is still my favorite of the fight even after micah pushing jim tyrrell so hard)

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 8:54 am
by bgm
vowlvom wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 12:51 am
Also bgm I love your old drum machine sounds! Which model Omnichord do you have? It has a different tone to mine so I guess you have one of the later models with switchable sounds? I have one of the early super basic ones but I love it.
Thanks!
It's a 200m, which is the first one with Midi. Late 80's. I got it a few months ago for $375 at a vintage guitar place here in Toronto, which is probably too much but I really wanted one and it was in perfect condition with the original case and hilarious original manual that has instructions on how to play the Star Trek theme. I've seen the same one on Reverb for less but in worse condition.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 12:14 pm
by vowlvom
I have the OM-27 which only has one sound and is suspiciously missing some very useful chords (I've had to pitch shift certain chords to use it on songs before!) but I love it.

That was a truly epic podcast. My apologies to Micah, I read my review post back and I feel bad that I didn't know what to say or how to say it and ended up with a vague criticism that isn't particularly helpful. Even after nearly two years writing these reviews I still have a hard job turning my gut "do I like this or not?" feeling into something constructive and useful, music criticism has never come naturally to me and that doesn't seem to be changing much over time.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 12:19 pm
by MicahSommer
vowlvom wrote:
Thu May 09, 2019 12:14 pm
That was a truly epic podcast. My apologies to Micah, I read my review post back and I feel bad that I didn't know what to say or how to say it and ended up with a vague criticism that isn't particularly helpful.
That's okay; I would also like to apologize for saying you can suck it.

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 8:06 am
by Lunkhead
Jim Tyrrell wins!

Re: A Foreign Traveler's Phrasebook (What To Say And How To Say It Reviews)

Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 8:26 am
by Lunkhead
I have to confess I had not listened critically all they way through every song this time around until now. So many good songs in this fight. I wanted to Pigfarmer that the Evil Grin is really nice and your guitar solo in it is fantastic. I started to write a list of favorites but it was basically every song. Great job this week to all.