Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

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Lunkhead
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Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

And various other shoe horned car metaphors...
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Niveous »

Looks like we need some artwork. I had started doing some Rad Racer themed work but I've run out of time (on my personal schedule for the day) to finish.
siyl-400.jpg
siyl-400.jpg (66.68 KiB) Viewed 4356 times
"I'd like to see 1984 redubbed with this in the soundtrack."- Furrypedro.
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Miss Moonshine »

Yay, they're up!
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by glennny »

Nick Soma, I loved your tune, and then I had one of the biggest surprises and laughs I've had in a long time. "and oh how they danced......."
AWESOME!

Lunkhead- that song is amazing!
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Jerkatorium »

Not much in the way of reviews yet. Weird.

Or maybe not so weird, because there were so many great entries for this title. I might have voted for all of them.

Cookie Blue: Good singing, and good writing. What a great handle on composing melody, I envy that. I listened twice in a row the first time it came up.

NMDT: Very professional sound. Real talent. Not fond of that hissy, tinny sampled instrument, but other than that it's just an all-around super song.

Moonshine Lullaby's: Is NMDT's vocalist also half of this duet? Pared-down Stray Cats. Maybe a little repetitive, but why not, when it sounds this nice.

inflatable vegetables: For ten heady minutes my brain was in a scattered frenzy trying to figure out what this song reminded me of until it hit me: "Up the Junction" by Squeeze. Then I listened to both songs again and realized the melodies are only somewhat reminiscent of each other. Anyway, I like it. Girl.

Nick Soma: Driving, engaging, and a nice mandolin outro.

Lunkhead: Atmospheric, pleasant, so pretty. Great musical choices - if it had been me recording this song I would have completely ruined it with overinstrumentation, heavy drums and bad harmonies. Instead, Lunkhead made this wonderful, lovely song.

Magnetic Letters: Digging the 60's vibe. Catchy. Reminds me of Love Potion #9, but with a more intricate melody. I really liked it.

Michael Muranaka: I can't figure out what makes this instrumental "Stay In Your Lane", as opposed to any other title. Sounds interesting, though.

toby roktot: Talented singing and a well-produced song, and it would not be fair for me comment any further because I'm not fond of the genre. Like ballet or moussaka; it might be the best ballet or the best moussaka in the world, but I'm probably still not going to appreciate it just because I'm not into it, you know?

Berkeley Social Scene: I like the rambling turns of the lyrics, reminds me of Jane Siberry's writing style. Very nice.

Hostess Mostess: I had unrealistically high expectations for this song (I've had some Hostess Mostess on my playlists since 2002), and because of that I ended up a little unhappy with the uninteresting ballad sound of the first several measures. Fortunately the song came through with that other section, which gave it a good Godley and Creme quality. So I might not be listening to this one through the next decade, but I'm very glad I heard it.
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Niveous »

It’s been a bit of a slow week for reviews, so I figured I would do some quick ones.

Berkeley Social Scene
This really feels like the Postal Service as done by BSS which is a very good thing. I feel like the last minute could’ve been chopped off and the song would’ve been better off for it. Not to say that part was terrible, just that it made the song run longer than it needed to.

Cookie Blue
I really liked the percussion on this and there’s a good guitar riff driving the verses. This is probably by new favorite Cookie Blue song. My only negative is that the song ends very abruptly. I feel like a bridge and chorus with a suitable finish would’ve made this complete.

Hostess Mostess
I like the Pink Floyd vibe to this. There feels like there is something missing in this mix. Maybe some solid bass work to add a little more atmosphere to the mix. All things considered, it’s a pretty good song. It’s not a single but a nice album deep cut.

Inflatable Vegetables
I kinda dig this song. The more I listen the more I enjoy it but at the same time, I feel like it could be tightened up. If there was ever an Inflatable Vegetables full band experience where all the instrumentation gets a bit of an upgrade, I think this would be killer. Still, it is quite enjoyable.

Lunkhead
I enjoy this electro-Lunkhead sound. I think the chorus is a little bright in comparison to the feel of the rest of the song. I wish that it didn’t break the tone of the song so much. Still, this is a very good song. Is it weird to call this electro yacht rock? Like “I Keep Forgetting” if it was on the Drive soundtrack.

Magnetic Letters
An amusing bit of 60’s sounding pop from Mr. Fyshwick. But it is really really short and that makes it a little hard to get hooked on the song. Lots of innuendos in the song and that’s always fun.

Michael Muranaka
Instrumentals are usually a miss for me at Songfight, and this is no exception, simple because I can’t find a way to equate what I’m hearing to “Stay In Your Lane”.

Moonshine Lullabys
A decent duet with a nice little guitar solo in there but it’s way too repetitive. The chorus and the verses are the same musically and that just wore me out as a listener.

Nick Soma
Hard rocking stuff. I appreciate any time someone rocks out the fight, though I don’t find anything special about this. It’s pretty straightforward and generic, but it does have good energy and delivery. I don’t know what’s up with part 2. I don’t know what that adds to the whole.

NMDT
Spectacular work. The “My God” chant is great. I love the song flows, starting with the harmonies over the simple sample. The lyrical flow is exceptional. My favorite song of the fight.

Toby Roktot
It’s all very middle of the road. The vocal delivery isn’t anything special. The lyrics are okay. The song isn’t something I love or hate.
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Berkeley Social Scene
This time we had Ken on drums, Martyr on bass, Glennny on guitar, me on Rhodes, and Sean/Mico Saudad on vocals. I like how this one turned out. We don't usually do songs where the verse and chorus are basically the same part, musically, but it was a good idea that Sean had. Ken does a nice job of differentiating the parts with his drumming. I had a lot of fun playing that weird line on the Rhodes.

Cookie Blue
Good energy in the strumming, gets my head bobbing. The singing's good, pitch-wise, and I think the melody's are good. It sounds a bit harsh to me sometimes, maybe some different EQ and/or compression could help with that. Good choice including the percussion, that helps keep things moving along nicely. This actually feels a bit too short, like the ending is kind of abrupt. You could probably have gotten away with another repeat of the chorus, maybe after a short instrumental section.

Hostess Mostess
It was really interesting to read about your progress as you made this song, thanks for posting that. I'm not really a fan of the phaser/chorus/wah on the guitars, it sort of draws attention to them and distracts me from the main vocal sometimes. I'm also kind of not digging the echo on the vocals in the very beginning, there's just so little going on in that part that they stick out a lot to me. I like the chorus vocals a lot, although they sound like they're all panned off to the same side, might be nice to have those spread across the stereo field. Good song but I feel like the effects and mixing make it all feel kind of "soupy" to me.

Inflatable Vegetables
There is a lot of hiss in the start of your track before the vocals come in (something I have a problem with in my own track this time). You might want to try putting a gate on whatever track that is. I'm guessing it's your main vocal track but not sure. Your vocals sound very lo-fi and muffled, in a way that I'm not really liking. How are you recording, EQ-ing, and compressing those? I like the chorus, nice tonality shifting in there. Sounds kind of like in the verse your melody is dipping down into a range that's maybe a hair too low for your voice. I really dig the chorus though, especially the switch from the first "Stay in your lane" to the second. Good length choice for the song.

Lunkhead
It feels really good to have made an original "studio" song again. I was playing around with my Korg volca beats drum machine and my SH-101 synth, and this song happened. I wanted to try to take some inspiration from the likes of State Shirt and c.layne. I would have done more with the drums (and fixed the hiss with the drums) except that the batteries in the drum machine died and I didn't have time to get new ones. Doh! Since then I have bought rechargeable ones for it. The lyrics are the weak link for me, as I basically made them up as I was going on.

The Magnetic Letters
I really like the style and vibe of this song, the organ, the vocals, the guitars, etc. Sounds great, and everything fits really well together. This is another good toe tapper. I like the chord progressions too. This is probably my favorite so far. Good job on the singing. Oh dang, that was short. Left me wanting more!

Michael Muranaka
I may be entering genre bias territory. Actually this settles into a groove that I enjoy, gets a little more ambient. Oh, it's instrumental. Doh. Maybe try just saying the title somewhere in there once? ;)

The Moonshine Lullaby's
Another good vibe in this song. Ooh, very nice second vocalist! I am digging the duet. Good one!

N.M.D.T.
The beginning kind of reminds me of The Milwaukee Youth Center Choir (an old songfight group), until the rapping. Pretty good rapping for songfight, but I like the singing parts better, just a personal preference. Good one.

Nick Soma
Rawk!! You're really speeding through a lot of words in the vocals in the verses. At first I'm not sure I liked it but then I felt like it helped make the song feel frantic in a good way. Ooh, cool unexpected outro. I like it.

toby roktot
Fine strumming, decent singing. Okay song.
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by Miss Moonshine »

@ Jerkatorium

"Moonshine Lullaby's: Is NMDT's vocalist also half of this duet? Pared-down Stray Cats. Maybe a little repetitive, but why not, when it sounds this nice."

Nope, different guy. :)
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Re: Commence rubbernecking (Stay In Your Lane reviews)

Post by iVeg »

Lunkhead: Congrats on the well-deserved win! Thanks for the review. I recorded vocals late Monday night on break. My co-worker went for some water, and I pulled out the ipad. I was in an office/ storage area, so the noise is air handlers, other hissy equipment. Just making do with what I had at hand. You're right - I think the verses were at the bottom of my range. Glad you liked the chorus, tho.

Niveous and @Jerkatorium. Thanks for your reviews and kind words.

Magnetic Letters: Really liked this one, too. Congrats on getting a fairly close second.
Nick: I had the opposite reaction of Lunkhead. I loved the song, was caught by surprise by the outro, and didn't like it at first. About halfway thru I said, "Yeah this is cool, but maybe would have been better on a different song."
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