The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I have no horse in this race.

I'm a little drunk/very baked right now; but so excitied to listen to these. Bear with me, I'm writing my reviews as I listen to them, stream of concsiousness,

Jan Krueger: Holy shit. At 1:00 minute I already feel like my (our) entry lost the contest. Really good musicianship. It isn't really my genre, and the vocals don't appeal to me directly. But for a piece put together in under a week; I'm thoroughly impressed. The vocals at 1:58-ish made me cringe a little. I can't tell what you're saying in the next bit. When I have less distractions I'll check all this stuff out again and read the lyrics (if you have em posted.) Overall, a beautiful song though. Impressed.

Jeff DeSantis: The vocals sound extra-crispy and I like it. I love the punchiness once it picks up, but the mix itself could use a lot more. Sounds too dry to justify what you're playing. Getting farther into it, the vocals don't seem as clear to me; I'm sure I'm guilty of being unintelligible at times myself; but some parts of it turned me right off for a second or two. Ooooh; smooth breakdown around 2:20; like this part a LOT. Are you familiar with the Gaslight Anthem? Because this just now reminded me of them. One of my favorite bands; not that this even close to lives up to it. Overall: not the best song ever, but definitely something I'll keep in my own library.

Jeremy Dean: Eeeeeeeh; you sound like you know what you're doing; but it doesn't sound all that inspired. I think the production could use some work; I realize we're all broke-ass and have to make due with what we have but there are ways to make this recording a little cleaner. Not that I'm the expert, but I know there are. I think you really did put together a good song; but overall- it lacks a little "umph". 1992.

Mister Mann: Ouch. Instantly this could use some low-end. The horns sounded promising for a second but the vocals swllowed it all. Also, as I am guilty of the same, I recommend from one weak singer to another, to mix your voice a LOT lower. The bass just came in as I finished typing that statement, now I like where this is going. Naahhh.. The sound right when the bass came in and (I'm drunk but I think I heard a cymbal) would be a better overall song to use throughout the track; otherwise, I find it really hard not to skip to the next song right now at the 2:50 mark. Not that it isn't good, but it just doesn't feel totally 'together'. Sorry bud.

Jame Owens: Not my thing but I'll try and be patient because it sounds like you know what you're doing. Your vocals aren't too awesome either, but it isn't hard to listen to. I love the lyrics. I was predisposed to them from reading the lyric thread but it is worth mentioning. The chorus feels a lot weaker than the verses (I think, perhaps our entry is guilty of the same, in a way).I got bored by 2:30.

Longfellow Street: I love the voice. I realized at 0:50 (when my erection occured) that this is by far my favorite entry yet. Could use another instrument or two; if it were up to me; but the simplicity works so well. I am not too familair with this type of music; but I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. Very sexy. I DJ at a strip club and I know a couple sexy older girls who would definitely use this as a third song. In fact, this is making it onto my next work CD. I get a kick out of developing an atmosphere and I like the way this tune 'feels'. Thank you. I'm only halfway through the entries but this is my vote so far.

The Weakest Suit: Could be that the last tune was so good but I'm instantly not interested. Sing harder and learn different chords.

Nobody Et Al: I love the guitar. Kill me but it sounds like Dave Matthews maybe? (i dont listen to him either.) Nice song; but I'm just not partial the whole singer-songwriter thing; ain't my bag.

Signboy: I get what you're going for, but even drunk this is a little painful to listen to the more 'drunk' parts. Also, I like the groove you've got going in the faster parts but I can't understand 80% of the lyrics. Certain things could probably be louder / quiter in the mix. Not terrible, but lets just say I'm glad it was short.

Ross Durand: Meh. Lyrics are cool. Well done, but I don't like things I could fall asleep to. Other people will form a better opinion on this piece.

Country Martyrs: Fuzzy guitar was cool at first; drums made it sound even cooler for like half a second; then the song actually started. Reminds me of my entries; 7 years ago. It sucks.

Bad Catholic Schoolgirls: This is me.

oh yeah, and my vote goes to Longfellow. Hands down.

I DJ at a strip club and I know a couple sexy older girls who would definitely use this as a third song.

I just wanted to make sure everybody read this line. It's the most amazing thing anybody has ever said.

Seamus. wrote:I DJ at a strip club and I know a couple sexy older girls who would definitely use this as a third song.

I just wanted to make sure everybody read this line. It's the most amazing thing anybody has ever said.

Is it ? DJing at a strip club is overrated.

this:
http://www.viceland.com/int/v10n8/htdocs/the_voice.php

It hit me that way -- the candid poignancy of that remark. "Third song" was the KO punch. I know a lot more about strip club DJing than I did a minute ago. I don't know how well-rated that line of work is -- I just go with my gut. (Note: I'm totally sober.) Good luck.

A third song? Congrats!

AwesomeGorgeous wrote:oh yeah, and my vote goes to Longfellow. Hands down.

Btw - you get to vote for more than one these days if you want to. Thanks for the review.

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2010/05/ ... e-are.html

1. The Jeremy Dean Band - Nothing to complain about with this track. Found myself bobbin' my head along the entire time.

2. Longfellow Street - Loved the vocal performance. The music was simple, but catchy. Allowed me to focus on the vocals without being distracted, and in this case that's a good thing.

3. Jeff DeSantis - Very relatable for most people I would think. I kept saying "What kind of love are you on?" accidentally...

4. Ross Durand - Very sweet song, got a little teared up. I loved the piano.

Nobody, et al. - I like the idea for this tune. I'd like to hear what this guy could do in a studio. He does a solid job with just a guitar & I'm guessing built in computer mic.

Mister Mann - Nice vocals. The guitar is a bit annoying. The music prevented me from getting to into the song unfortunately.

Bad Catholic Schoolgirls - Not too bad for what it is I guess. I mean it's juvenile & it seems like he's compensating for something...but I'm sure the typical white, middle class, middle schooler, who wears his pants around his ankles will love it. So well done, I guess.

Longfellow Street - us, Trey, Mallory and Cody of Longfellow Street. blatant plug: http://www.longfellowstreetmusic.com

The Weakest Suit - nice guitar sound. Timing is good, voice is pleasing, needs more focus on vocal intonation, especially on long vowel sounds.

Country Martyrs - love the fuzz intro. Rest of the song lacks atmosphere, sounds disjointed. Soak this in distorted reverb, especially the vocals and drum machine, and I'd like it better.

Bad Catholic Schoolgirls - Mallory's over here shakin' it, I'm laughing my ass off. Diggin' it. "...Tantric Arts / ...Mario Cart" !!!! ++

Mister Mann - TUNE IT TUNE IT TUNE IT PLEASE GOD TUNE THE GUITAR

Jeff DeSantis - Loved the banjo right away. Nice vocals. LOVE the slapback coming in on the vocals when it kicks in, great touch. Nice tight song, diggin on it. Be cool to hear this guy's voice doubled over itself. Good dynamics coming out of the chorus, nice change. Well produced song, loving the textural change between the banjo and the choppy guitar. This one gets our vote.

Jan Krueger - epic hippies in a field of flowers, arms upraised! Did I mention the word "epic"?

James Owens - Depeche Mode lives! We've been sitting here talking about the various ways to phrase "What King Of Love Are You Looking For" - not an easy phrase to wrap a rhythm around - I like the way it's phrased here. Lyrics are hilarious, great delivery. I like the resonant filter sweeps. And it's true, I do need the kind of love that likes to lick my face. Who doesn't?

The Jeremy Dean Band - pleasant pop rock. If I heard it on the radio here in nu-rock hell, I'd be all excited and happy, thinking it was an underground 80's rock song that I somehow missed when I was actually living in the 80's.

Nobody, et al. - this guy gets props for recording on his iPhone or whatever. A guy I know recently just told me the reason he didn't make this fight was that he didn't have a way of recording himself. I'm gonna point him to this and stare at him until he shuts up and makes a song. This guy did great with the "What kind of love..." line, nicely wrapped around what he's doing. It's a bit standard JackJohnson fare for me, but that's a matter of taste. Would love to hear this with a full band. Excellent performance, great vocal control, great guitar playing.

Signboy - Cringeworthy intro. Great ridiculous stompy bit! Hey, it's cringeworthy again, but I think I like it now... bring back the band! Yay there they are. Like the guitar lick. Oh my god this song sounds like the music from Wow Wow Wubbzy. I have to run away now.

Ross Durand - Is there a "Whiskey And Cigarettes" plug-in with a "Tom Waits" setting on it? That would be perfect here. Nice job.


If anyone's interested, I'd like to hear details of everyone's writing and recording process - who's in a band, who's doing everything themselves, where are people in between, etc. Start a new thread? Post here? Is there already a thread for this kind of thing? Been a while since I did a Fight. Peace - Trey

Listening to these again while sober, I feel like I should mention that the Jeff DeSantis song is instantly my favorite- I still LOVE LOVE LOVE Longellow's tune but I couldashoulda waited to cast my vote..

longfellowstreet wrote: If anyone's interested, I'd like to hear details of everyone's writing and recording process - who's in a band, who's doing everything themselves, where are people in between, etc. Start a new thread? Post here? Is there already a thread for this kind of thing? Been a while since I did a Fight. Peace - Trey

Is there one? I was wondering the same thing.. Anyways, we're a band; technically a duo. We're relatively established here in North Bay, Ontario.. which is to say people have heard of us and we did unload 100 copies of our first album a couple years ago pretty quickly (to all 100 people who know our name, pretty much). We haven't played a show in ages but weve been working on tunes for album number 2 forever now and might even end up keepin this week's entry for it. Anyways, we play a handful of instruments but virtually all of our music is made on a computer with Fruityloops, Audition and a handful of other shit nobody cares about. It's pretty basic but it costs us nothing to record and we like the way most of our stuff sounds; not to mention all we need for our live shows is a CD-R and a couple cheap microphones. As far as writing, we got together on Monday, wrote most of the lyrics in an hour or so, Special-T went home and I stayed up most of the night putting together the music (admittedly,this 'piece' is pretty repetitive but I wanted to make something fresh for the entry and well, I'm a very busy man, man.), we had an IM conversation Wednesday night where we put our lyrics in order and scrapped 90% of what we had originally written. Thursday afternoon we got together and layed down the vocals and wrapped the whole thing up in a couple hours. I forget if that answers the question; but it was very interesting to find that we can put a decent song together with less than 5 hours of actual work.

AwesomeGorgeous wrote:Listening to these again while sober, I feel like I should mention that the Jeff DeSantis song is instantly my favorite- I still LOVE LOVE LOVE Longellow's tune but I couldashoulda waited to cast my vote..

As someone already mentioned, you are allowed to vote for more than one entry. I don't think anyone will complain if you use several different computers (or browsers, or whatever other tricks you've got) as long as you submit votes for different entries.

jast wrote: you are allowed to vote for more than one entry. I don't think anyone will complain if you use several different computers (or browsers, or whatever other tricks you've got) as long as you submit votes for different entries.

Agreed, just waiting til I get to sit behind another computer. I'm not ambitious enough/a big enough computer nerd to bother getting past the one-vote limit.

Spintown wrote:http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2010/05/ ... e-are.html

1. The Jeremy Dean Band - Nothing to complain about with this track. Found myself bobbin' my head along the entire time.

2. Longfellow Street - Loved the vocal performance. The music was simple, but catchy. Allowed me to focus on the vocals without being distracted, and in this case that's a good thing.

3. Jeff DeSantis - Very relatable for most people I would think. I kept saying "What kind of love are you on?" accidentally...

4. Ross Durand - Very sweet song, got a little teared up. I loved the piano.

Nobody, et al. - I like the idea for this tune. I'd like to hear what this guy could do in a studio. He does a solid job with just a guitar & I'm guessing built in computer mic.

Mister Mann - Nice vocals. The guitar is a bit annoying. The music prevented me from getting to into the song unfortunately.

Bad Catholic Schoolgirls - Not too bad for what it is I guess. I mean it's juvenile & it seems like he's compensating for something...but I'm sure the typical white, middle class, middle schooler, who wears his pants around his ankles will love it. So well done, I guess.

Could you please do a review for Country Martyrs. You don't have to edit/make a new thread on your site just do it here in the thread. I really really dislike when bands get left out of the review thread (especially when it's me).

We originally tracked some djembe hits, big deep resonant booms, and I was playing with arranging those in Logic into a structure we could just freeform over. We didn't intend to write the song that came out at all... but when we started working on chords and lyric ideas, the song took off on its own direction. Anyone care to tell me what genre this thing fits in?! Once we'd sat and worked out chords (got frustrating at one point, was a good amount of work, she had a melody and I had to find the chords that fit, and it wasn't standard 1-4-5, so Trey = Fumblin' Round) and lyrics and verses and chorus - and once we found that confounded bridge - we tried to play it to a click track since Cody wasn't around the first day. Ick, didn't work. So I'm playing acoustic and Mallory is singing, without any kind of timing device (always a grand idea!) and we built the track around that. Sorry Cody! He had to play drums to existing freeform tracks. You can hear it push and pull but he did damn well. The "doorbell" sound is a kalimba, a thumb piano that Mallory had laying around for decoration. The glock is Cody's marching band glockenspiel. I played bass while Cody tracked the drums, and we added two more tracks of Mallory doin' vocal harmonies. Neither of our guitarists was available to play, and I had intentionally left the arrangement sparse so there would be room for them. I tried to find something cool to play on guitar minutes before the deadline, but wised up and quit. Recorded in Logic on an Intel iMac. MOTU 828mk2 interface. Rode K2 on vocals, kalimba and glock. Bass DI. Drums with a couple of MXL 603s for overheads, a sm57 on snare and an Audix D6 on kick.

I sacrificed today's practice session for writing these reviews. I hope you appreciate that.
A pretty good round, all in all.
See my signature for details on how my ratings work.

Bad Catholic Schoolgirls -- Youch, that bass in the beginning is evil. Ah well. Reverb on vocals sounds cheap, and it really dominates the mix in a bad way. Some interesting little things in the arrangement, though all in all the arrangement is a bit boring. I don't think that's necessary in this genre, though I guess you see it very often. Telephone effect in the chorus is a weird choice; don't you usually want the chorus to have more weight than the rest of the song? I don't quite see from the lyrics how it would fit to have the chorus spoken into a telephone, either. It sounds much less convincing when the same effect is applied to both performers. AFG's vocals, by the way, could see substantial improvement in vocal technique. They're slightly nasal and they're lacking the little edge that makes vocals really cut through. I think you're trying to "push" the vocals to make them stronger; that doesn't work quite as well as the "right" technique. Ah well. Lyrics are fairly stupid, but at least in a clever way.
C:2 L:2 F:2 P:2 M:3 Total: 11/15

Country Martyrs -- If there is any melody, it's very hard to make out. Rather sparse arrangement, and the chorus is just plain weird. Guitar tone in the other parts is interesting, though sometimes it's so distorted that you can barely make out notes. Pop filter required. Timing could use a lot of improvement. I'll skip the rest; we've talked about it often enough.
C:1 L:2 F:0 P:1 M:2 Total: 6/15

James Owens -- Wow. Powerful intro. Vocals are a little bit flat in places. Great melody/progressions reminiscent of several great songs from the not-too-distant past. Hmm, I get the feeling that you're trying to change your vocal sound into something that it actually isn't. Relax! Overall, it's a little bit repetitive, but well within acceptable limits.
C:3 L:2 F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 13/15

Jan Krueger -- This was pretty challenging. I'm only just getting back into playing keys; I had actual lessons when I was young but then I never played anything again. I had to do most of the keyboard takes way too often. Vocals seem to be getting better, though I only rediscovered good technique about halfway through the recording sessions, and I didn't have time to fix several parts of the vocals, such as the verses. The part that originally inspired the song, namely the instrumental break after the first chorus, ended up being rather boring... I spent too much time nicening up everything else. Anyway, all in all, I'm quite satisfied with this song.
Since someone asked, this was my setup for the song:
Performance: me on everything. Hardware: borrowed old MIDI keyboard without pressure sensitivity, Studio Projects B1 mic w/ pop filter, E-MU 0404 PCI audio interface. Instruments: Yamaha Strat clone (as bass, too, using an octaver). Software: REAPER as DAW, Jamstix 3 on fake drums (using the BonzoKit samples and Jamcussion), 4Front piano module VSTi, Efthimia Organ VSTi 1.4, SIR 1.0 VST reverb (and I realized just now that I had forgotten to turn off the cheap reverb I'd had on the same chain for quicker rendering while I was building up the song... ouch!), my own Stereo Pan VST, plus all kinds of plugins included with REAPER.

Jeff DeSantis -- This wants more bass, and the vocals might have liked a bit more saturation. With how comparably thin this sounds, it doesn't really grab me quite as much as I think it could have. Arrangement in the main parts is a little bit boring: everything is panned dead center and there's only that one rhythm guitar. Perhaps stereo-doubling it might be nice. How about pads? Overall development and changes in arrangements are pretty cool, though. Convincing vocals. Drum part is a bit boring... computerized?
C:3 L:* F:2 P:3 M:2 Total: 12/15

the Jeremy Dean Band -- Compared to everything else in the mix, the vocals sound rather thin. They're slightly nasal, too. Apart from that, very solid performances. Solid arrangement, too, and development as well... the problem (at least as far I'm concerned) is that it all sounds very... well... clinical, or perhaps minimal. It's like a textbook arrangement: everything that needs to be there, and no single thing more. All the little licks and such are just not there. How about little throw-ins, or backup vocals in some parts as the song develops? Just a thought.
C:3 L:* F:1 P:3 M:3 Total: 12/15

Longfellow Street -- Great performance all around. Fitting mix. Nice things in the arrangement/development. I totally don't like this kind of song, so I really don't want to give it full marks, but you just do it too well. Can I suggest something that might be helpful? No, I can't.
C:3 L:3 F:3 P:3 M:3 Total: 15/15

Mister Mann -- I hope you have a good excuse for everything being horribly out of tune. Hmm, looks like you don't. Guitar seems to be really overdominating in the mid-highs. Vocals are good, not great (occasionally a little bit flat; strainy). Timing on bass is not very good, but when it comes in, it does great things to the overall sound of the song. Tip: the panning of individual tracks doesn't have to stay the same throughout the song. The guitar, for example, would only have to be panned right when the pad/string thing comes in. Oh, and now both pad/string thing and guitar are in the right half. That's not so great. Pad in the ending goes on rather long. I love the melody/progressions. Conclusion: would benefit from more work in the arrangement/mix/tune-your-stuff department.
C:3 L:* F:2 P:2 M:2 Total: 11/15

Nobody, et al. -- Ooh, pretty guitar playing. Your recording equipment seems a bit lo-fi, but I won't hold that against you. I've made my opinion on this kind of singing quite plain before, but at least you're very good at it. I like this, though it drags on a bit. With an arrangement as simple as this and rather flat (dynamically and emotionally) vocals, there's not much you can do against that, I guess. Conclusion: this is a very nice songlet; for making it into the voting range, work a bit on development and structure.
C:2 L:* F:2 P:3 M:3 Total: 12/15

Ross Durand -- Great artwork. Nice to hear another piano-driven track from you. Some of the piano hits are comparably too loud; almost louder than the vocals. It feels wrong to compress piano in a piece like this, so perhaps it's more of a performance thing? The soft vocals somewhere in the middle (somewhere around 1:20-1:30) are bordering on wimpy; probably because the voice didn't quite kick in when it should have. Same thing again later.
C:3 L:* F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 13/15

Signboy -- The panning oscillation on the vocals is horrible, and the effect (phaser?) is not very likeable either... but I figure it supports the story. The distorted guitar and vocals seriously obscure each other. Try doubling/panning the guitar. The harmonizing (and pitch locking?) is awesome. Great lyrics. Vocal timing in the chorus is a bit off in places.
C:3 L:3 F:2 P:3 M:2 Total: 13/15

The Weakest Suit -- Sing out, dammit! Easier said than done, I guess, but it's just so frustrating to imagine how great it'd sound and not seeing it happen. This song sacrifices musical interestingness for lots of lyrics, especially since there is no overall structural/arrangemental (ooh, that's a nice word) development worth mentioning. Might not necessarily be true, but I think it gives the impression that the song was written more for the benefit of the writer than the listener. The lyrics do come across as authentic, though.
C:1 L:3 F:2 P:2 M:3 Total: 11/15

I'm voting for:
James Owens
Longfellow Street
Ross Durand
Signboy
and myself.

Ross, your cover for this fight is FFFING awesome!

Yes, that is an awesome cover!
-bill

jast wrote: Country Martyrs -- If there is any melody, it's very hard to make out. Rather sparse arrangement, and the chorus is just plain weird. Guitar tone in the other parts is interesting, though sometimes it's so distorted that you can barely make out notes. Pop filter required. Timing could use a lot of improvement. I'll skip the rest; we've talked about it often enough.
C:1 L:2 F:0 P:1 M:2 Total: 6/15

We talked about it often enough? You mean all 2 times that we've entered counting this song?

Okay, fine. If it makes you happy, I'll go into it once again.
The guitar playing is okay. I guess. The arrangement is terribly boring, terribly sparse and terribly chaotic. Someone posted an interesting article about arrangement recently, naming a couple of core layers of arrangements: rhythm section, pads, fill section. Considering that the connection between the tracks of your song is hard to see in the first place, I can't really say that your song really connects these in any meaningful way... and as jb said recently: if it's done out of ignorance, artfulness is not an excuse. The vocals are horrible. There is pretty much no intonation at all and they are so slurred and nasal and muted that I always dread anything that has your name next to it, and review it only out of a perverted sense of duty. I will never listen to any song of yours with any amount of positive anticipation or enjoyment if you keep doing things the way you're doing them. Also, as long as you keep blatantly ignoring virtually all practical advice I've ever seen given to you, I won't bother rehashing it. In fact I'll be saving this post and I'll copy and paste it whenever I have to.

In fact, I have just decided that I will not review any of your future songs before you review them yourself.

Could you please do a review for Country Martyrs. You don't have to edit/make a new thread on your site just do it here in the thread. I really really dislike when bands get left out of the review thread (especially when it's me).

The music didn't grab me at all, and the vocal performance didn't convey any emotion at all....for me at least.

PS: My "reviews" aren't really reviews as much as they are recommendations. I just link to & comment on my favorites, in hopes that people will go to the Song Fight website to explore more. I don't feel my "reviews" are helpful enough to warrant mentioning the songs I didn't care for (usually). However, you request....you get.

AwesomeGorgeous wrote:

jast wrote: you are allowed to vote for more than one entry. I don't think anyone will complain if you use several different computers (or browsers, or whatever other tricks you've got) as long as you submit votes for different entries.

Agreed, just waiting til I get to sit behind another computer. I'm not ambitious enough/a big enough computer nerd to bother getting past the one-vote limit.

There is no one-vote limit, as long as you do all the voting at the same time.

SPUD