We're really in (Uncharted Waters prefight)

[Lunkhead]

Uncharted Waters
Due: Sunday, 04/12/20 9:59am PDT
optional challenge: Do something you've never done before
yourbandname_uw.mp3 sent to fightmaster@songfight.org
Subject: Uncharted Waters
Body: (your band name)

Don't just tread.

[AJOwens]

Love the optional challenge.

Let's see, I've already done a capella, renaissance ditty, guy and guitar (ohh, nooo, Mr. Bill!), church hymn, sound montage, instrumental (but no way I'm voting for that), middle of the road schmaltz, blues, folk, country, Latin, sea shanty, and various dated rock sounds (because I'm old). Oh, and weird silliness.

Honestly, nobody wants to hear me rap. . . Maybe I'll write one of those monster heavy songs that are all the rage these days, all gloom and screaming things. Not really my genre. But the important thing is not to write the kind of song the reviewers want to listen to. The important thing is to write a song so that, if somebody likes to listen to that kind of song, you did a good job for them. If the reviewers don't get it, well, yeah. Also you may not win, so be sure to call your friends.

Oh, wait, maybe I should put this in "Politics and Other Crap."

Sorry, I'll go back to being nice now.

And by the way, it's OWENS. With an "S". But I only say this because there is actually another songfighter named Jim Owen. And he's way better than me, dammit.

[Adnama17]

Regarding the optional challenge, "do something you've never done before", you don't say "musically". I'm planning on planting lettuce later this afternoon. I've never done that before. So technically I am fulfilling the option challenge. Should I work planting lettuce into my next entry?

Asking for a snarky friend.

[sleepysilverdoor]

Regarding the optional challenge, "do something you've never done before", you don't say "musically". I'm planning on planting lettuce later this afternoon. I've never done that before. So technically I am fulfilling the option challenge. Should I work planting lettuce into my next entry?

Asking for a snarky friend.

That was literally the subject of my chorus THIS fight. So I vote absolutely yes, we need more gardening songs!

[AJOwens]

So I fed "uncharted" into the "These Lyrics Do Not Exist" A.I. lyrics generator, and I got this error message:
----
Hmm something not right
Currently I do not know enough about that topic "uncharted"
please sign up for updates and try again with "uncharted" in a few months when AI netural net training is complete
----

Kind of funny, really.

[sleepysilverdoor]

Hmm, I've done cheesy vocal trance, pop-punk, nu metal, industrial noise, skweee, sci-fi rap, doom metal, post-punk, darkwave, hard rock, shoegaze, and in the distant past, goofy kids songs, sound collages, shitty dubstep, deep house, and breakcore. What's next for me?

Ah, yes. "Gulf and western". Surely this place is swarming with Parrotheads, eh? Bring on the country inflected tropicalia! I'm definitely not a son of a son of a sailor though. My paternal grandfather was an Air Force vet turned factory worker. I am the stepson of a daughter of a sailor though. Does that count?

[Pigfarmer Jr]

So I fed "uncharted" into the "These Lyrics Do Not Exist" A.I. lyrics generator, and I got this error message:
----
Hmm something not right
Currently I do not know enough about that topic "uncharted"
please sign up for updates and try again with "uncharted" in a few months when AI netural net training is complete
----

Kind of funny, really.

Very interesting lyric.

[Mostess]

We might do this one while stuck at home. We're working out of the basement, surrounded by the drums, keyboard, guitar, etc. and we had to get some of the audio equipment out for video conferencing. We're basically a recording studio down here anyway. The kids are bored, the weekend is looking chilly, and clearly I'm procrastinating by checking SongFight!

So what haven't we done in a SongFight! entry before?

a) 12yo and dad performing a baritone-clarinet duet
b) transposition down a 4th then back up again
c) fugue
d) recording entirely in Linux
e) writing out the score before recording anything

I think we can hit all 5 of these. Prepare for glory.

[crumpart]

I thought I’d choose a genre that I’ve not really done before as my “something new”, but i decided to randomly put my capo a fret higher than intended and that forced me to sing in places I usually avoid.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

In.
My never done before involve both the rhyme scheme and to a lesser extent the chord progression. I did add a bridge that didn't hold to the pattern because it needed it.

[AJOwens]

A while back, furrypedro suggested I try open tuning, so this seems like the moment. I've tuned three guitars different ways, and now I'm messing around, but without any chord charts to guide me. (You can guess why.) I've also scrawled some meta lyrics about the whole thing, so with luck I'll have something to send in.

[sleepysilverdoor]

In! This track is more or less unplugged -- with the exception of a bit of electric bass, it's nearly entirely acoustic guitar, djembe, and vocal. Also I didn't do any research for this -- my day job is heavily impacted by hurricanes so I have most of these committed to memory. So I guess it's also new that I write a song that's directly about weather instead of just mentioning clouds or breeze or various weather phenomena casually.

[vowlvom]

In! I based this song around a riff that isn't the kind of thing I'd usually use, which is my probably not-entirely-obvious attempt to do something I've never done before!

[WreckdoMelle]

Brown Word is in. I'm doing something I've never done before in terms of instrumentation. There is no guitar or bass in this song. Wut. I feel naked. There IS Gujarati violin and Chemnitzer concertina making an appearance. I've never tried mic'ing either using a dynamic mic and it was challenging. And I'm warning you now, there is a 4-part harmony.

[ken]

Just realized my guitar was 20 cents sharp. Luckily I had only recorded a couple of rhythm tracks.

[lichenthroat]

Well, I definitely did something I've never done before.

[WreckdoMelle]

WreckdoM is in. I guess something new is we tried an online platform for collecting the vox. I'd say long-distance collab might be new but we've actually done that before using the phone. There's not a lot WreckdoM hasn't tried. Maybe the song arrangement is a little different than what's been done before, but if I looked back through the expansive catalog, would probably find something similar.

[the panna cotta army]

I'm in for a second time in a row which is unheard of for me ...but as for trying something new, that's about as far as it gets

[Mostess]

Nope. Failed. Happy Easter all!

[Toby Roktot]

In !!!! Been a while ... Happy Easter all !!
My ‘new’ is this was written, recorded, mixed and mastered on my sailboat just close enough to shore to receive ATT.
I sent the final to Red and she submitted... no internet on the boat this far out. Yes, I’m in quarantine. Not a tragic place to be...for me.
Cya a a week or so,
Toby

[AJOwens]

Just sent in something a bit late.

Drat -- I screwed up the MP3 metadata the first time, so I sent a second mail with an update.

[SweeneyToad]

I’m in this week after being sick for nearly a month, and my throat still even feels a bit funky off and on, this covid thing was no joke!