I can't hear you (Too Far Away reviews)

[j$]

i HoMo...

Bwah ha ha! How come I never noticed that before?

j$

[Thornberry]

Ill do short reviews like everyone else, thanks to the huge fight!


Rone Rivendale - Unfortunately, while i was getting this post set-up, your song kept repeating.


Noah McLaughlin - I like the beat, dont like the singing at all. The guitar is so-so.

Klownhole -Quieter than the others. Volume up! There are some interesting sounds here, nothing that really makes me pee my pants, or even gets me excited.

Anti-M- Finally nice sounds, like acoustic guitar. I was getting a headache from all the noise! The voice is pretty good, very evenecense. Flute is nice, i dont really like the beat. Pretty good though.

Luke Henley- You have a very strong fan base MR. In the past, i havent really been part of that crowd. lets see. I do like the piano you generally use. Lets see, nice smooth today, Its your vocals that turn me so far off. Other people like it alot, so its fantastic,

Those Meddling Kids- There are some fun sounds in here, nothing that really makes me want to keep listening though.

Eight Legged Oedipus- ELO. there is an ugly, guitar i think, that is.l..ugly. vocals aint bad. those are my main focuses.

The Anchors- Sounds like it could be one of those "the' bands (white stripes, strokes etc) which is better than the other experimental stuff, cause at least its got some good rock n roll elements.

Melvin- You kinda know what wins, and so you do your thing. A lot like the bands of today actually. They know what to do to get ahead, and they do it. So for that, I give you the thumbs up. I am just not the biggest fan generally.

Bell Green- The guitar and string arrangments are nice, but the vocals are a little...i dunno...like your trying to hard.

Smalltown Mike- euh, oh ya, little rock n roll. Musically, the guitar is rockin, totally cliche, but i dont care, its fun. I want the melody to be reworked. Words are good, organ is good. everything but the melody is good.

Eclectic Spoons- band name is kinda matching the music. Doing sound clips is always appreciated, but never loved by me. Not great, not horrible.

Damien Verrett- Things are going wrong in this song. I dunno, like your tried to add too much, and it made it all caotic and stuff. I dont think this is too good. Simplify my friend, Simplify.

Dark Liberty- This much quiter than the rest od the stuff, but not bad. this is another rocker that could use a stronger melody, cause the music is good. Not bad.

Freddielove- Nice little bell things. I wish i wasnt on my friend laptop, with the crappiest speakers i have ever listened to. This is actually kinda kickin. I like it, and i dont even usually like this type of stuff. Well Done, good job.

Posyden- rappin lil bit. but not the greatest. i dunno, there is some potential in this, but as it is, its not the best.

Steve Gamble- Hahaha. sorry. no, this is good. it just caught me off guard. I like it, nothing original, but i havent heard anything of SF! that is anyway, as much as people like to think there is. Hey, you got my girlfriends head a-bobbin.

Doscientos- I liked your thing last week. I think voted for it. Well it doesnt really work this week, i think your style is very much a hit or miss, and so far ive seen both from you.

PiGPEN- the on-and-off hiss is really distracting. humm...although it might be good to be distracted from this song. i dont really like this, although the sound of electric is half-way nice. Nice in that i can hear its potential, bad cause its totally k-mart, but theres nothing you can do about that, you either can afford (or want to buy) the good stuff, or you cant, and its not something i hold against people, cause i have crappy stuff too.

Hostess Mostess- i want a twinki. haha, you sound hecka like Neil Diamond. Thats good though. This is pretty good stuff, just nothing that grabs me from the get, but if i listen to it more, i can imagine getting into this actually. If i have time i will listen more.

Thornberry- Kinda unispired crap that ruins all things music.

Manhattan Glutton- Stacy's Mom, has got it goin on. Thats whta opening thing reminded me of. That "faaaarrrrr awaaayy' is just plain annoying. sorry.

Steve Durand- always count on them good ol' brass from mr steve. This song is fun, in a calm circuis way. I like it, but I really dont have much else to say about it.

The Zero Effect- I dont like the hi-hat empashsis with the vocals. Dum Dum Dum Du-uhm. Not my favorite. The song is a bit boring, and reminds me of a amatuer bands opening song.

DJ3XHC- Dude im tired...why this. This has so interesting 80's sounds. But the 80's have thankfully past, as will this song.

Al Gore Band- I hope I like the song bette than the former pres candidate your name suggests. NOPE not really.



I just want to say how much respect i have for those who did like, full reviews. Man, it seemed like the songs nevre ended!

[fodroy]

so we have 9 reviews in a fight of 25?

[a bebop a rebop]

And not to be a dick, but Jeff Henderson and I weren't even in the fight. So 7 out of 25.

[jack]

it's because everyone is so busy over in jim's retarded songs thread.

[anti-m]

Ok, ok, I’m back from the retarded music thread! Sorry this took so long!

Al Gore Band:
This seems “novelty musicâ€

[nyjm]

wow, for the deluge of songs this fight, there’s a dearth of reviews. i got more from my last fight that was half this size. [/whining]

anyway, it’s review reaction time. i think we can chalk this one up to “failed experiment.â€

[Thornberry]

I like the directness, dont like the lack of analysis at all. The brevity is so-so.
.

hahaha

[furrypedro]

you yell well

ah thanks!
my vox are ok i guess, I just like to display a little humility for the benefit of those to whom it really matters (and I'm not one of them, though I do occaisonally wish I could sing like a girl ).

the way i sing is the way i sing

for sure, if I thought a comment of mine was going to make someone stop singing I would never say it.

[jseavers05]

out of all the songs...

[Mostess]

so we have 9 reviews in a fight of 25? :?

Here's 12 reviews. Selected by the random-number generator that orders the entries on the SongFight! page.

Great:

Thornberry: Energy is great. Melody is great. Bass line is
especially nice. Lose that guitar solo, but that's just me. Nice and
short. Ending is gentle. A favorite.

Freddie Love: Hypnotic and sweet. Kind of creepy. Sounds
clean and skilled. I really like the acoustic guitar sounds. Simply
lovely. A favorite.

Really Good:

Steve Gamble: Nice control and restraint. The story pacing is
pretty sparse, though I guess that's the genre. I like the breakdown,
but the repetition is a bit much. Maybe end it at 2:15 or so. Or do
something else at some point.

Luke Henley: I love this by about 1:40. Something about the
romantic sweetness didn't come through until that point. Find some
way to put that right up front to get my attention from the start.
The ending chord is beautiful. Very nice.

Zero Effect: I like the way this falls apart and reassembles
itself. I'd spend a lot more time on the transitions: let the A-part
crumble more gradually and more completely, let the B-part arrive more
slowly. I'd rather savor that moment for a full 30 seconds than hear
the extra repetitions of recapitulation at the end. A nice idea done
pretty well.

DJ3XHC: This has a lot of variation in texture and sound even
though it's just repetition of a few basic elements. Very nice on the
ears. Sounds spacious, even on my crappy computer speakers. Ending
is harshly sudden, but that's okay. Good job.

Good:

Dark Liberty: Trim the fat. Opening bars do nothing, cut some
out. Guitar solo adds nothing. Last verse to the ending is weak, cut
it. Verses seem redundant somehow, though I can't hear the lyrics
well enough to tell if each one is adding anything. I like the intro
to the chorus; I wish the chorus had more meat to it, and happened
less often. Good start, but use that eraser.

Eight-Legged Octopus: Patrick Ewing? Good energy and
committment. But bland. Very repetitious and monotonous. Becomes
background noise pretty quickly. I'd break it up with some different
instruments.

Posyden: I'm not feeling the emotion in the performance, but
the writing is good. The instrumentation is nice, though it could be
more dynamic. It kind of plods along.

Ugh.

Rone Rivendale: Interesting use of syncopation. Kind of cute.
Undeveloped somehow. I think it needs a contrast---something smooth
and soft.

Jonas Murdock and The Child Inside: The strat-sound is lovely
the first couple of times, but it's pretty grating by about 1:35, when
you start playing around with it. Not very artful, really; just a lot
of noodling. Spend some time writing and less time hoping it will
come together when you start playing. DJ3XHC's entry is an
interesting study on how to keep a few simple sounds and loops
interesting for a couple minutes: dropping them out and adding them in
in different combinations.

Al Gore Band: Losing may not be the same as sucking, but they
are correlated. More effort in the writing and less meta crap. My
attention is precious. This should have ended about 10 seconds before
the first silly vocal joke. No soup for you.

[PiGPEN]

PiGPEN- the on-and-off hiss is really distracting. humm...although it might be good to be distracted from this song. i dont really like this, although the sound of electric is half-way nice. Nice in that i can hear its potential, bad cause its totally k-mart, but theres nothing you can do about that, you either can afford (or want to buy) the good stuff, or you cant, and its not something i hold against people, cause i have crappy stuff too.

Eletric what? I have no idea what youre talking about.
And whoever said the piano sounded like a casio or whatever...it sounds like a WURLITZER because its the sound of a WURLITZER its a type of piano i enjoy the sound of (often used by The Zombies) and thats why i used it....twats.

[Eric Y.]

so we have 9 reviews in a fight of 25?

...Jeff Henderson and I weren't even in the fight. So 7 out of 25.

sheesh. before this gets out of hand and somebody creates a gigantic excel spreadsheet.......

al gore band. the whistling and percussion is great. sadly i can't make out most of the words because you are too far away. differently mixed, i feel like this would be a great song.

the anchors. the harshly equeued vocals and everything else here are pretty much cliche punk, which i guess is what you were going for, so i don't know what else to say about that.

anti-m. it didn't really grab me on the first runthrough, but later in the week i really found myself getting into the mood of this song. the clicky drums and nearly hypnotic guitar arpeggiating are pretty great but i especially love the sound of the singer's voice. my only complaint is a lack of lower-register instruments. after the intro and first bit i really find myself wishing a cello would join in, right about where the recorder plays around 0:46.

bell green. this song would have gotten my vote, if i had been at home friday morning, but sadly i missed the deadline. but anyway, i've always been a big fan of both pink floyd and queensrÿche, and so i love the "orchestrated by michael kamen" vibe you've got here.

damien verrett. the bassline is too complex for this song, or at the least, too complex for this bassist. several times it sounds like the parts are all falling to pieces, and sometimes it sounds like it's intentional, like at the very end, but more often it just sounds like bad tracking.

dark liberty. ONE two-and-three-and-four-and- ONE two-and-three-and-four-and-

dj3xhc. i'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt and say this is merely a case of genre bias, but i'm afraid i just plain don't like this at all. synthesised vocals grate badly on my ears in any case, and these are so choppy that i absolutely detested it.

doscientos. loved the "ring around the rosey.......but i'm the one..." lyric. short and sweet, although overall a bit more trebley than i'd like.

eclectic spoons. ok, now this one i WILL attribute to genre bias. i'm not finding much to latch onto here, sorry.

eight legged oedipus. the link between the repeated 'needle in a haystack' and the title seems a little tenuous to me. slathering everything in so much fuzzed-out guitar leaves little room for dynamic contrast, but i guess that's not a huge complaint.

freddielove. i'd really hoped that the misguided misuse of auto-tuners for this atrocious vocal "effect" had spent its entire fifteen minutes of fame and fizzled out entirely. damn.

hostess mostess. i've been spending an awful lot of time lately listening to music which is largely piano-based and featuring quite nice singers, for example james blunt and aqualung. as far as i'm concerned, this stands up well in such company. you may have overdone the shakey percussion parts a little bit, but this is a gorgeous song nonetheless.

klownhole. conceptually this is awesome. i really appreciate what you are doing. but i can't fully get into this because to my ears there appear to be an awful lot of timing issues, with the vocals vs. the music, or the keyboard part vs. the drums, or various other combinations not quite lining up quite together. i did say awesome though, right?

luke henley. the jazz drumming is kind of a nice touch, but doesn't match the heavy-handed piano-playing. the vocals, let's not go there.

manhattan glutton. i really like all the music in this song. the first couple of lines of singing kind of throw me off because you sound entirely bored. but after that, throughout the rest of the song you appear to be consciously trying to emulate kurt cobain's singing, which is a bad move. i love the guitar harmonies on the choruses (if the "far awaaaaaaay" part can be considered a chorus), and i think this would mate far better with an attempted alice in chains emulation, if anything. but i digress.

melvin. "side of beef" is a very awkward construction here, since it sounds ridiculous in the story and obviously is only included for the rhyme scheme. otherwise, i really dig on the lyrics here. also i like the 311 harmony vocals a bunch.

noah mclaughlin. the bass needs to be turned down. and the lead guitar needs to be turned off. no offense.

PiGPEN. i like the electric piano part, mostly. the fake drums are pretty repetitive and sort of annoying, i think they more detract than add here. that is, with the guitar strumming, you may have enough happening rhythmically to leave them out.

posyden. while it's nice to see him step out stylistically this week, this track makes me miss pigpen's rapping. change of subject; you are not doctor octogon, and you definitely are not dan the automator. but surely you already know that.

rone rivendale. each time you say "too far -- way" i really want to strangle you. five-year-olds seem to have a tendency to hit random notes on a piano, and then make up words to fall on (or near) each pitch of the random melody. here we have the same technique, with the addition of a synth-drumbeat.

smalltown mike. you almost sound like that dude from duboce triangle. almost. the saying goes "...but enough about me, let's talk about you. what do you think about me?", and leaving out the middle bit removes most of its meaning. also, trent reznor has already ripped off carly simon's "you're so vain", so doing so again makes you sound like a copycat-copycat. cliches and botched cliches aside, this is a good song.

steve durand. quite an endearing tale of woe. love the trumpet/trombone lines, too. for some unknown reason, this song sounds like it was written by bolio.

steve gamble. replace the harmonica with an accordian and you've completed your acoustic they might be giants vibe. i'm thinking of such songs as "lucky ball & chain" or "cowtown". cool.

thornberry. just like last week, this came out all garbled on my cd (are your songs licensed by sony records perhaps?). the singing is decent, but i wish you had more to offer me than "it's too far away" again and again.

those meddling kids. the synth breakdown bits (such as between approximately 2:00-2:25) seem like you can't decide which synth patch to use, so you're just running down the bank every few notes, trying them all out. the music, in general, seems a bit disjointed. and the vocals (sorry to repeat this lousy pun, but i can't help it) once again, too far away.

the zero effect. as far as i can tell, you've got two totally different songs here. i'm pretty sure i enjoyed the middle part more than the other part which bookends it. i can't quite put my finger on why, though. or probably i could, but i'm lazy.

[fodroy]

sheesh. before this gets out of hand and somebody creates a gigantic excel spreadsheet.......

it's a little late for that. the next fight is already up.

al gore band. the whistling and percussion is great. sadly i can't make out most of the words because you are too far away. differently mixed, i feel like this would be a great song.

http://www.songfight.net/forums/viewtop ... 5333#45333

and i suck at mixing, but i was hoping for the production to be all over the place. it doesn't distract anything in my mind, so i was happy with that.

[melvin]

"side of beef" is a very awkward construction here, since it sounds ridiculous in the story and obviously is only included for the rhyme scheme.

Awkward, yes. However, when my friend worked in the meat section of a ghetto market, he and his colleagues had more than one foot chase after a meat thief. I mean, if you're going to steal food, why not go for the Grade A? The world is an awkward place.

[fodroy]

The world is an awkward place.

ah. true words.

[Smalltown Mike]

smalltown mike.... the saying goes "...but enough about me, let's talk about you. what do you think about me?", and leaving out the middle bit removes most of its meaning. also, trent reznor has already ripped off carly simon's "you're so vain", so doing so again makes you sound like a copycat-copycat.

You are completely right about the saying, of course. I did F it up by ommitting the "let's talk about you" line, which I hadn't realized I'd done until you pointed it out.

I've actually never heard the Trent Reznor rip-off of Carly Simon, though—so technically I'm still only ripping off the original artist.

Cheers.

[EightLeggedOedipus]

Turd rip-off Carly Simon banana

Don't forget Janet Jackson did so too.
I think it's one of those like "The roof is on fire"
It's just par for the course to quote it.

[wages]

manhatten glutton: the band's never going to kick in is it, is this wages with a different name? This ain't all bad, but i reckon until you do get a band try writing some acoustic type stuff AND try to sing as unlike Kurt Cobain as possible.

I just noticed this today. I'm not manhatten glutton.