Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

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Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

.... or maybe the time after that.
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

POST YOUR DARN LYRIC HERE--> viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11712
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Songs posted!
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

OMGeeeeeeeee1!!!!!! It really is a sequel to Starfinger's legendary "More Than Soup". I never thought I would see the day. Maybe this trend of 15+ year later unexpected sequels isn't so bad after all.
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by sleepysilverdoor »

3/12 of these contain rapping. I think that's a higher percentage than usual.

Anyway, Starfinger into Sweeney Toad threw me off cause I wasn't watching the artist names. "Whoa, that was a strange tempo change for a hip-hop influenced number...oh, the song changed".

Couldn't pick a favorite yet though!
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by crumpart »

Today was a day of holiday rest and remote money work, and I’ve finished the money work for today, so am going to try and actually get some reviews done this time around!

Brown Word and the Big Whine:
I like the guitar tone here. While I do like the simplicity of just guitar and vox, on the other hand I found myself wanting to hear a little more variation through the song. I’m enjoying the melody. In a few places you sound like you have a cold, and I’m not sure if that’s the case or if the mixing choices are making it sound that way. Overall I enjoyed this.

COVID-19:
The opening bass is super fun and I’m enjoying this overall. I don’t usually love or listen to a lot of this kind of music, so well done! The instrumental change/break before the “I’m so tired” works well I think; without that there to break the song up a bit I would’ve found it a touch overwhelming. Had to go and look at the lyrics to figure a bunch of them out, but I don’t consider that detrimental to this particular song, as they’re clear, just delivered in a theatrical style that’s perfectly suitable to the vibe.

gizo vs. the 17,455:
This is a 100% old school Gizo song. Could not be anyone else. Having listened to Look Good In Black a bunch of times in a row this week, I’m becoming very familiar with all those little tricks. I’d give you stick about the doubled vocal being a little skewiff, but I know you were deliberately going for early 2000s gizo era vibe, so it’s perfectly suitable in that context. I particularly like the “there’s nothing but dead air that cries out like cockatoos” line, and the ending is schmick.

The Gross Tones:
I like those key sounds a lot; 100% in my ballpark. Some of the lyrics are a bit predictable, and I’d like to hear a little more character in the delivery (more of the variation/energy of that last chorus throughout the rest of the song please!) but I enjoyed this on the whole.

Hot Pink Halo:
It me! This is a sequel to @gizo’s Look Good In Black, which is about my favourite existential vampire. Gizo’s song appears to be season 1 Angel/Buffy pre-moment-of-true-happiness, so I went with a post “Passion” storyline. I tried to write something that could work duet style with Giz’s song, and I was slightly worried that I’d gone too similar melody/structure-wise, then I tried to listen to them simultaneously this morning, and it turns out they’re quite different. I’m still 17,455km from all our equipment, so am recording straight into an iPad with whatever instruments are in whatever house I’m at (this time I had access to a terrible nylon string guitar), but I feel like I did the best with what I had here.

Jr. Exec.:
Please continue to get your flu shot! I’d like to hear this go more balls to the wall on every level. Moar guitars! Moar loud! Less control in voice! Because the same lines are repeated over and over, I think everything just needs to build more intensely throughout the whole song, then end in a screaming mess.

Kindly Swears:
I like those twiddly keyboard lines. There are some interesting choices being made, but the vocal is too buried and is just being swallowed by everything else; I can barely make out any of the lyrics.

The Magnetic Letters:
The engine sounds are fun. Your vocals are slightly too buried for my taste, but if I concentrate I can figure out most of what your saying. Not all of it, but enough. I love the “I'm a slow learner but at least I'm not you” line. And “tricked for the last time / until the next time” line. The ending is tops.

Paco del Stinko:
I love that your songs are so clearly your songs from the very first second. 2:20 is probably the perfect song length. I like the fever dream quality of the lyrics, and the call/response vocals. I enjoyed this, but for some reason find myself wanting to like it more than I actually do. There’s something that’s not quite hitting for me, and I think it’s probably me that’s the problem, not the song.

Pigfarmer Jr:
I like this a lot. While the melody choices are a little predictable, you’re hitting a certain country vibe that makes me happy. I think the pause where the change comes in before “I’ve packed my bags” could be drawn out longer to add more suspense and payoff. Some of your phrasing choices are unexpected in a good way. The dropout at the end it nice.

Starfinger:
This is perfect and I love it. Particularly the pronunciation of “vegetable”.

Sweeney Toad:
I have no idea what this is about so I should probably go and listen to Yellow Lasers. I enjoyed the keyboards a lot, and I like the mixing choices in general.
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by sleepysilverdoor »

Brown Word and the Big Whine: Well I like the general vibe of this song, and I enjoy the gentle reverb or faint delay that you put on the guitar. I’m trying to figure out exactly what I could change about it. It’s generally well performed, maybe it could use a touch of reverb or compression on the lead vocal to make it work better in the mix? The second run through of the chorus has stronger vocals! I’m not sure if it would benefit from any additional instrumentation, it seems like it works well at this simplicity level. I feel like it’s so simple it could have maybe been a little bit shorter? But then again mine’s nearly 5 minutes so I shouldn’t talk! It won’t be sticking in my head, but it was pleasant to listen to.

COVID-19: I realize that this style of music has been firmly in the “uncool” category since the early 2000s, but you know what, I hold a strong nostalgia for this ridiculous nu metal style. And I listen to Korn a lot when I’m working out, along with other late 90s heavy chuggy MTV2 stuff. It’s great for getting stoked on a treadmill. Plus I’ve been wanting to do growly vocal fry, rapping, and abusing my turntable. That’s Sesame Street - Born to Add getting scratched to bits in the background. I like how it turned out.

gizo vs. the 17,455: How was this recorded? It’s got a very strong “cheap microphone on a tape recorder” vibe. And there’s times where I swear the mix has some wow and flutter on it. Or wait, one of your strings is out of tune. Or is it both? Anyway, I love the chorus and the melody in the chorus. “In love and alone” in particular works super well. This sounds like something my friend John would send me. He has good taste. I really dig that major third fade out.

The Gross Tones: I want to like this more than I do. I like the mellow keys. I like that wavery synth. Something about the vocal melody doesn’t really work for me. And, I don’t really know. But I’ll find some things to praise about it. Yeah that cool descending synth line at the end was great.

Hot Pink Halo: I can’t help but notice this: by travelling back to Australia, your vocal inflection sounds a bit more noticeably Aussie. To my ears at least. The exact same thing happens to me whenever I end up spending time visiting my relatives in southern Appalachia -- my “Tennessee” gets a lot stronger. Anyway, I really like the violins that come in here. They sort of creep in without drawing much attention to themselves and I like how it builds, it sort of swoons and creates a lush sonic texture.

Jr. Exec.: Hell yeah. I got one for flu type B. Too bad flu type A knocked me out for about 3 straight days a couple weeks back. As for the song - and I know this is ridiculous to say given it’s sub 2 minutes: that last round of “I got a flu shot” could have been cut off since it doesn’t really do anything new. But it’s still pretty short and sweet.

Kindly Swears: Oooh, what does this remind me of? I can’t place it. A few British 90s bands, but I still could’nt tell you which ones. I really like that organ line going on in the background, though I wish you could hear it better. The vocal is kind of muddy sounding, and doesn’t really hit the higher notes very confidently. I feel like you’re totally burying the vocal. Try EQing down the low mids, and if there’s doubling, try just one track, then compress it a bit. Maybe? I enjoyed the way it hit my ears, but mostly intermittently.

The Magnetic Letters: I was wondering if you were going to come back. You know, Fyshewick is an awesome last name. It’s way cooler than mine. Let’s see, what to critique. Vocal isn’t very muddy on this one. I wish the widdly lead guitars were a bit higher in the mixs. The distorted rhythm guitar has too much low, and the bass and it are kind of muddy together. And the drums are buried. More drums, less distorted rhythm guitar. Song is enjoyable enough.

Paco del Stinko: And I keep on criticizing mixing, then you come in with your crispy, sunny and dry mixes where every element is totally clear. I feel like you’ve done enough of these to land on your own particular mixing style and knowing what works best and it shows. I like the bass and guitar both -- as much as I love playing bass, I don’t think my brain works in a way that would ever let me come up with basslines that are all over the fretboard like this. So good job on the bassline. The song is a series of neat harmonic changes.

Pigfarmer Jr: I feel like the song doesn’t really get the release that it needs all the way until 1:20. Like that higher melody and noticeable change would be better if it were just a little bit sooner...as my attention kind of starts drifting up until then. It holds attention better after that, and the change-up at the end of 2:20 is also pretty good. I feel like I have nothing else constructive to say, not that it’s bad, just not for me.

Starfinger: My wife points out “this sounds a lot like Digital Underground in places”. And I can’t say she’s wrong. You wound up going for these completely over the top hoovers popping up out of nowhere, and I love hoovers and need to abuse them more. This track works for me a lot up until it gets to the part with the emotional support monkey, which is hilarious but such a left turn from rapping about soup, so I don’t really follow it all that much. The beat is catchy, the rapping is competent and well executed. Catchy, and memorable for sure! I like memorable.

Sweeney Toad: Oh god, which Always Sunny episodes does this reference? I used to watch that all the time. That episode where Sweet Dee gets addicted to crack is pretty good. It’s weird going back and watching season 1 episodes before they got Danny Devito on board. What I love about it is that it’s been like 15 years since it started and it’s still just as funny and ridiculous. I wish I could say the same about Trailer Park Boys.
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by Merle Fyshwick »

Disclaimer: Sorry, I haven't paid attention to the optional challenge.

Brown Word and the Big Whine: I think it's a grower and some of my friends would really dig this; I can imagine being charmed by this if I was listening to it performed live.

COVID-19/Phlebia: Yeah, cool industrial rap/rock. I like the cadence of the rap. There's a lot to unpack in this one. It follows the nu-metal (whatever it's called) formula closely (rap/chorus/the slow break down bit), which is deliberate I reckon. That chorus is spot on, delivery-wise, the way that there were usually two dudes: a whiny melodic one and a growly one - ha! Your band has a turntablist?! There was always a credit in the liner notes for that guy. Well done.

Gizo: A nice weary tone. The guitar and vocals combo is effective, which makes me question why I bother with all the fake drums and midi instruments; not saying I could pull it off like you, Gizo. Having said that, part of my brain heard a big orchestral finale. But that part of my brain isn't always right. My friend Corey, think he calls himself Cesky Lives, or Clo5Dimly (who I consider genius-level) has a similar vibe, with minimal instrumentation and feels-hitting delivery. The lyrics got me thinking about Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr; they've been doing the 7 Perth News since I was little. Just checked; yeah they hold a record, 35 years.

Gross Tones: Really clear vocals, did I hear a vocoder at the start? Maybe it's just the electric piano. Nice mono synth. I like the delivery of "Tricked for the last time", a bit Elton John. Actually...the synth is a little bit intrusive, but it made me smile, so maybe it's fine.

Hot Pink Halo: There was a hint of Missy Higgins, which is topical (her dad is in trouble for allegedly spreading COVID or something). The chorus is catchy. I like that little viola/violin trill at 1:45. And the minor key ending is cool.

Jr Exec:
Ha ha - yeah, dig it. Wicked drums/lead guitar. I read the lyrics and assumed (along with the Jr Exec moniker) that this was a Pig Farmer family effort. Great job. I used to get the flu jab at work; my old boss was friends with this crusty navy doctor with tattooed arms, and we'd line up and he'd jab us like we were livestock. Didn't get really sick for a few years, so I guess it worked.

Kindly Swears: Yeah, this is probably one of my faves so far. Can't quite make out the lyrics, and yet I like it, which is not my usual reaction. The subtle organ hook is cool and adds to the dream-like tone. Well produced.

Magnetic Fyshwicks: Not my most polished effort, but some back story: I was at the Highway to Hell concert (they closed down Canning Highway...which is the highway to hell/Fremantle), a bunch of bands playing AC/DC on flatbed trucks, really enjoyed it) when I got a text from my 'brother' Kliff Fyshwick, asking when we were gonna make some Fyshwick magic. I said "Right now. I'll go home and write it and send you the backing track", and it turned out there was enough time left on the Song Fight. So, I wrote some crass lyrics and a simple tune and Kliff recorded his bass and some vocals. I really wanted to redo my vocals, but didn't have the house to myself for a few days where I could really commit to "spray your jizz", so I figured it was good enough for getting things rolling. The mix is muddy.

Paco: Yeah, love it. The progression takes an immediate detour. Lovely plinky "African" guitars. That bass is sick. The song has great momentum...until it doesn't! I felt tricked by the dental surgeon when he pulled out my wisdom teeth; I BADLY wanted to see them, and he chucked 'em in the bin. I'm not an aggressive dude, but I wanted to fight him. Turns out it was the rohypnol, and I've discovered that all benzos make me want to punch walls...anyway, I felt tricked. Great song.

Pigfarmer Jr: Sweet vocals, and really crisp production. I laughed at 'Shithole town'. There are elements that evoke both the 80s (like Springsteen or Mellencamp, maybe?) and 90s grunge, which is impressive, cause I don't usually associate those two sounds with each other. I love the slow bit at the end.

Starfinger: I like it, it's demented, there are some clever rhymes and that synth sound was playing some cool spatial tricks on my ears. So this is some optional challenge reference; I can still enjoy it without getting the reference. Yeah, soup, fuck it. Thought I was the only one; people quiz me about why I hate it, and I say it's because I already levelled up to solid food and soup feels like a step backwards.

Sweeney Toad: Ah, this is the brown torpedo one. Ha, that made me laugh when I was checking the lyrics page. I like the twist on the title: turning tricks for the last time (I think?). Sorry to cut the review short, but I gotta go.
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by starfinger »

Lunkhead wrote:
Mon Mar 09, 2020 9:36 pm
I never thought I would see the day.
me neither!
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

The Gross Tones win!
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Re: Next time I'll be (Tricked For The Last Time Reviews)

Post by sleepysilverdoor »

Yayyy gross tones!
"There's a lot to be said about a full-on frontal assault on the ear drums" - Pigfarmer Jr.
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