Ready the polygraph! (Keep All Your Promises reviews)

[Lucky Spoon]

Let's just find out who did and who didn't!

[ujnhunter]

Is anyone working on Cover Art? I can't... I'm at... work. But we need it! Go!

[Lucky Spoon]

Is anyone working on Cover Art? I can't... I'm at... work. But we need it! Go!

I whipped this up if anyone wants to format it/work with it. I have no art submission account.

http://xtravar.org/sf/kayp.png

[The Weakest Suit]

Is anyone working on Cover Art? I can't... I'm at... work. But we need it! Go!

I whipped this up if anyone wants to format it/work with it. I have no art submission account.

http://xtravar.org/sf/kayp.png

to me that looks like pac man and a dead ghost.

[Manhattan Glutton]

I took all the criticism from last week to heart, and I made a song that I think you all will really, really like. So thanks everyone for the great input!

[stateshirt]

I'm trying to continue my trend of not getting any sleep so I put together another video for my entry. No lip-syncing or instrument-syncing, what you see is what you hear.

[Lucky Spoon]

to me that looks like pac man and a dead ghost.

geeeez, everything looks like pac man or dead ghosts if you stare at it long enough... that's the price we all pay for our abusive obsession with pac man in the 80s.

[Lucky Spoon]

I'm trying to continue my trend of not getting any sleep so I put together another video for my entry. No lip-syncing or instrument-syncing, what you see is what you hear.

NO BEARD NO VOTE!!!

[stateshirt]

NO BEARD NO VOTE!!!

Fair enough! I really wanted to go the zz top route but damn it was like wearing a sweater on my face.
It had to go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1pduX1I_oQ

[The Interchangeables]

I'm trying to continue my trend of not getting any sleep so I put together another video for my entry. No lip-syncing or instrument-syncing, what you see is what you hear.

Dude, you rock. From one Massachusetts-born, Los Angeles-living, soul-sucking day job-working person to another, you inspire me.

[Ross]

I'm trying to continue my trend of not getting any sleep so I put together another video for my entry.

Dude - get a life [interpretation: that was frickin awesome]

BTW - any chance we'll see you at Songfight presents in Long Beach on May 14?

[Lucky Spoon]

NO BEARD NO VOTE!!!

Fair enough! I really wanted to go the zz top route but damn it was like wearing a sweater on my face.
It had to go! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1pduX1I_oQ

haha, nice vid. you're welcome for the perfect setup to post it here.... alllllmost as if it were pllllannnnnnnnnned?

jk about the vote thing. I'll try to actually listen and put thought into it this week since i'm in the fight.


To all - great fight this week (as predicted) many songs are to my liking right off the bat (as compared to some previous weeks where there was a quite a bit of crap). Figures the week I choose to enter is the week everyone steps up.

[stateshirt]

Dude, you rock. From one Massachusetts-born, Los Angeles-living, soul-sucking day job-working person to another, you inspire me.

Hey thanks!!! Soul-sucking day-job people unite!

BTW - any chance we'll see you at Songfight presents in Long Beach on May 14?

Yes I think that can be arranged!!

[Sober]

Just sent mine in. I'm sticking with The Sober Irishman moniker for this fight, because I don't feel like I hit the quality level I'm capable of. Once I do, I'll have a new name.

[jack]

i saw "james owens" and for a minute i thought....jim of seattle? close, but no cigar.

also, state shirt seems to not only be on track to make one new song a week, he's on track to make one new song & video a week.

makes any poser excuse i can come up with for being too busy to songfight look weak.

[AJOwens]

i saw "james owens" and for a minute i thought....jim of seattle? close, but no cigar.

I get that a lot.

Early nods to Architects of Desire, King Arthur, LML, State Shirt. I hope to post reviews this time, but I'm not promising anything.

[The Interchangeables]

I took all the criticism from last week to heart, and I made a song that I think you all will really, really like. So thanks everyone for the great input!

Way to go! Love the new song!

[jack]

i saw "james owens" and for a minute i thought....jim of seattle? close, but no cigar.

I get that a lot.

Early nods to Architects of Desire, King Arthur, LML, State Shirt. I hope to post reviews this time, but I'm not promising anything.

hey, i did listen to your song though and it wasn't terrible! there's my review.

[AJOwens]

Reviews part 1. I guess that's as good as a promise.

A Far Off Land - The dreamy tenor, the slow and steady chords, the long drawn-out notes, the major sevenths, the soft-edged wash, successfully create an early Pink Floyd vibe.

Architects of Desire - A reggae beat with rich electronic textures. Lively instrumentation and arrangement, and a tuneful song. One of my picks for this fight.

Balance Lost - Toe-tapping to start, but the busy rhythm became oppressively insistent around the 2-minute mark. Musically a fairly flat structure. Good playing and recording.

Barton Stink - The rap doesn't quite work for me; the vocal delivery is somehow elided or legato rather than percussive, or perhaps it's not rhythmically precise enough. The slow attack and fade of the synth strings imparts an indecisive feel.

Bingy Swirley - An OK tune, with convincing singing and harmonies, but it's not made magic by the wacky percussion and drunk lead guitar. I guess you're poking fun, but it's more like bawdy farce. The joke goes on a bit long.

Chthonic Youth - Lots of energy in the syncopated rhythms of the vocals and leads. Solid groove, some refreshing melodic bits to set it off.

c.layne - Experimentally dreamy, trancelike drones for about two minutes, followed by equally trancelike tabla. Sweet vocals and mellow changes create an effect that would be well appreciated in an altered state.

Cobalt Stomach - The formalist in me recoils at parallel chords, but they can be pointedly unpretentious in the manner of the Ramones. Much about this reminds me of the Ramones' writing style. It's equally brash, and it's fun, but the intensity is toned down so it doesn't jump out the same way.

Fortune's Favorite - This seems to be a stream of consciousness mapped arbitrarily over occasionally interesting but basically aimless music --as if any music would have done. The words are poetic by times, but being down in the mix, they require effort to follow; the more so because they have no obvious narrative drive to sustain interest; on top of which they are frequently dissonant in a random way. I guess I'm not getting it.

The Interchangeables - Not a lot of tune to carry -- almost one note per chord. The chords are appealingly simple, but need more melody to bring them out of the ordinary. The singing needs a stronger diaphragm.

James Owens - I wanted an excuse to take my new e-drums for a spin, so I got all emotional with the piano. I used to listen to Procol Harum a lot; does it show?

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders - Nice pop sound, lots of punch and sweetness, but with a ragged edge. Great solo work. I missed this the first time, but it's up with my favorites for the fight.

King Arthur - Lyrics usually make no impression on me -- I forget to listen -- but here they are present to me of their own accord. With C&W, the musical originality is not an issue. Very tuneful, good beat, nice arrangement, tasteful performance. Good song.

LML - Short and intense. The filtered voice, portamento synths, and intently bompy bass develop a clinical yet loopy quality, like a mechanism gone haywire.

Lucky Spoon - A fiercely intense attack on the political ethos. Thick, growly, and smouldering, with militaristic drums, and harmonies bordering on a riot. If anything, it's too intense for me.

-- more to follow --

[Madren]

Time to pay my new-member dues.

Here's the deal: I listened to this while doing HW half-paying attention. X means I voted for you. * means "gold star", or I could see this playing on the radio and I would like it and look it up afterwards.

Based on my life experience and tastes, I go for weird sound, lots of polish, and tight performance before going for transcendent, life-altering lyrics. Keep this in mind reading my reviews.

A Far Off Land - X *
Nice mellow guitar and vocals with organ anchoring it all down. Me like.

Architects of Desire - X *
mm harpsichord
Depeche-Mode-ey
Nice twist on theme (Keep all your promises to yourself)
Awesome High Register in your voice!

Balance Lost X *
I like bells and what I think is harmonica and the uke! It all blends together smoothly like rainbow sherbet.

Barton Stink X
Mike Shinoda but with string synths? Okay I'll bite.

Bingy Swirley X
Nice and bluesy with cool slide guitar. Note always my thing but well done as far as my ears are concerned. Quality of high notes sounds odd/strained to me, but works with the rest of the bo-diddley mix. Good job working with what you've got.

Chthonic Youth X *
Nice grunge, harmonies and guitar work.

c.layne X ***
Kind of reminds me of Floyd. Minimalist and weird. Me likey. No, that's a lie. Me LOVEY. I like the heavily processed vocal drones and hits. It's very much in the vein of artists like Imogen Heap. If you don't know her yet repent of your sin right now and go google her.

Cobalt Stomach X
Vocals seem kind of plain with such an awesome background. Try a little bit of sumthin' sumthin' on top (I'd recommend chorusing). It's like the Dandy Warhols with just synth. You're almost there. And as incentive to do it I'm giving you this vote with the expectation that you will do that and post a copy for me to hear.

Fortune's Favorite
The "little voice" effect is a great intro, but I kept waiting for the main part of the song where it would explode in a raucous chorus of beeps and boops and you'd stop filtering the voice to keep it muted. Story feels a little drawn out, possibly because the song to me kept feeling on the verge of exploding. I liked it otherwise, and I'm really torn, but I don't feel like I can give you my vote for this one.

The Interchangeables
Voice is warbly and twangy. Lyrics are uninspiring and probably the weakest link. Arrangement feels like a karaoke background, and it's performance feels mechanical/computer-generated (in a bad way). I'm not sold on this one. Some songs like this I find quirky and charming, but this is missing that certain je ne sais quoi. I might like it if it felt like it was trying to be bad on purpose for comedic effect, but I don't get that sense. I should probably shut up now, because I'm telling you mean things without knowing necessarily how to fix them. A songwriter's workshop or some creative writing exercises would probably be a good start. Don't give up! Get better!

James Owens X *
I'm blown away. It's like Billy Joel and a 1950s crooner got together and recorded this. For said crooner, I would say Frank Sinatra, but it would take alot more for me to make that comparison. You're good, but Frank's level of croonage is kind of a whole different animal.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders X
New Wave plus Punk. Yeaup.

King Arthur X * (I personally wouldn't like it because I don't like country enough, but I could see someone else liking it)
Country-flavored rather than country fried. Nice feel-good song I'd expect to hear in a bar. Not mind-blowing, but it didn't sound like that's what you were going for.

LML X
Nice start, but missing all of those little artifacts from throwing massive amounts of effects at that noise (delays, choruses, phasers, and flangers yo! and more reverb!). Also, bring the vocals out a little more from the rest of the mix and remove the highpass/bandpass filter. I'll give this to you with the assumption that you will do this to the vocals and repost just like Cobalt Stomach.

Lucky Spoon X *
System of a Down, especially with the vocal harmonies. This is a compliment.

Manhattan Glutton X *
They Might Be Giants? Yes. What really makes me draw the similarity are the lyrics (Keep all your Promises, Eat all your Vegetables) Have a cookie. In fact, have three.

MENBAH!
With your intro you have my attention. With the drums you start to lose it (the beats hesitate just a little to long in some places). A touch more reverb (aka talent) might polish it a little more too. I like the guitar(?) at the end

Mister Mann
Me. Go me. For 7 minutes. Yeah. Got nothing. Not voting for myself. That's tacky.

Montana Fudge with James Peen
Your choice of lyrical content kept me from listening to all of this song. Sorry?

Ross Durand X * (Again, someone else who likes country would like it. I like the guitarplaying)
New country (as opposed to bluegrass country). Nice fingerpicking.

State Shirt X *
So. Epic. And then you jar me out of that epic-ness with all these metal interludes. They're both good, but they don't work together for me. I'd love to here a slowgear solo or something U2-ish in it's place. Other than that? Love love love it. Would have two gold stars if it weren't for the metal whiplash.

Styop Quoons
Ummm, I'm all for weird stuff and even occasionally dissonant stuff. But see, the thing that makes dissonance cool for me is the contrast with regions of consonance, which should be much MUCH MA-HUCH more prevalant than dissonance. In this song it's not. But hey, if it's your thing, go for it. Also, change up the background noises a little more often. The same drums, cuckoo, and dissonant piano for however long this is (did you beat the length of my song?) is enough to drive me mad(der).

Suckweasel X
Bob Dylan? Well, you are a little more melodic than he often makes himself to be (shame on you for being more musical ), but I sensed a few flats in there. I'll swing a vote for it in the spirit of not-quite-on-key-half-spoken folk

Therman X *
Big overdriven guitar with vaguely Creed-ish vocals. I'll bite. Especially for those schnazzy little guitar riff interludes.

Torrentz X ***
Nice pop/mid-90s Brit "poetry-corner" style rap song. I like it. Alot. All of you should listen through this one.

Ux Mpuzm X *
On second listen through, following the story, this is freaking hilarious. Have a gold star.

Wages X
Nice. Reminds me of a protest folk song. I'd like to hear a version without the doubled-up/heavily-chorused/flanged voice (use a leetle effect, not alot, in this particular case)

The Weakest Suit
See above. Ummm, is there a space battle going on in your song halfway through or glitchy software?
...
By 2:31, I'm assuming you're doing this on purpose. Here's what I'll say: decide to do a whole electronic song with more than just lasers or do a folk song, not half of each

WTFBBS X ***********************************
I love you (Platonically of course)

[furrypedro]

I think you might've just invented multiple-vote abuse.

[wages]

I think you might've just invented multiple-vote abuse.

I'll take what I can get.