Am I My Brother's Keeper? (Leave My Brother Alone reviews)

[Niveous]

You know what band should return for this fight? Cain. That would be apropos, right?

[Smalltown Mike]

Thank Glenny for the Frisbee: FANTASTIC. That is beautiful. I think your vocals could come up slightly, but what a pretty, haunting song.

[glennny]

Thank Glenny for the Frisbee: FANTASTIC. That is beautiful. I think your vocals could come up slightly, but what a pretty, haunting song.

Thanks man! This isn't the usual TGFTF, we got some help from Lunkhead. He plays pedal steel and accordion, which I think makes for a lot of the haunting.

[Lunkhead]

It's a really nice song, I was happy to be able to add a little bit to it.

Sorry I didn't use your art Glen, it's really good but I thought the Mario/Luigi idea (which you had also) just connected a little more readily.

Everybody should check out Glen's cover for this fight though, it's great:

http://www.songfight.org/artpage.php?key=873

[glennny]

No worries, I love the Jerkatorium artwork! I think he nailed that idea better than I would have.
...and thanks!

[hillbilly]

John Denver--- nice to finally meet you. Didn't you do another one years ago. Seems like your attitude has changed a little. Good recording though, solid guitar, vocals. Just can;t dig the content tonight, not in the right mood. Can you send me a tshirt.

[Niveous]

Damn Jerkatorium. Your song fills a Replacements shaped hole in my heart.

[Toby Roktot]

Lots of nice entries this week....thanks fighters !!!

Fake Teak---Lovely song, sang quite well. Nothing to critique, except maybe sometimes the lyrics get a little lost.

Inflatable Vegetables---I like the lyrics here. Nice, dark story...Tiffany seems like a character from a BTRats song.

Jerkatorium---I'd love to see a video of this!! The song has a Foo Fighters quality that reminds me of their videos. Love the 'mom' stomps! Definitely, a BIG VOTE for one of my favorite song fighters!!!

The John Denver Fight Club---I like the simple instrumentation production of this song,(Duh!!). Sometimes the lyrics seem to stumble over the guitar. This happens to me every time I try to record vocals and inst separately. So I don't do that... sayin'

Lighting Shark---Expanded, this would be a nice coffee house number. I like the melody and I think the storyline is interesting.

Nick Soma---Hmmm...Not a bad song (I don't think you could DO a bad song Nick) but, after a while, the "Leave My Brother Alone" yells start to wear a little thin...imho. Nice variety though.

Slickitude---Perfect ending, imo, would be about the 1:35 mark after the telephone voice. Abrupt-Drops Mic!! But, this is still one of my favorites. Just bring the vocals up a bit to lead the drums rather than the drums being on top. VOTE

Thank Glennny For The Frisbee---AHHHHH...Lava Lamps, a proper Bong, maulin' your girlfriend in the back bedroom with a blacklight on and this song on 'repeat'....Beautiful man...Glennny, Thank You!!! VOTE !!!!

toby roktot---Thanks to Hillbilly for the guitar mic recording tips. I think it sounds better than my expensive pickup. I did keep hitting the mic with my fat hand on the neck !! A lead in to the last chorus would help, or, ax it all together. Also, I need to figure out how to properly record the soft spots in the song. Seem to get lost in the mix....

We Are Not Aliens---When I use to be in a real band, we'd do a noodle song to warm up. Sometimes, we would start the recorder (reel to reel, children) and actually get a song idea from the noodling. That is what this entry sounds like. I think it could morph into a descent song with a little polish. Thanks for the memory !!

Zack Facco---Nice guy and guitar song. Sounds like a live recording. Maybe a tad long on the outro, or maybe just shorten the song. Nice though.

signed...
the clown !!!!!

[hillbilly]

yep your right Toby-- On an Ovation if you are to close to the hole, i hear the sound of the AMF back. I think you had a good recording this time. The best playing and plugged sounding guitar i have ever owned was a high dollar ovation but unplugged i didnt care for the sound but wish i had it back.

Glenny----- I really like the mood and sound of this track. Very enjoyable.

[Chumpy]

fake teak---hooky guitar riff, throbbing bass, deep, emo, aggro brother. omg long vocal lines. VOTE
iveg---y u no intro? blow torch, fun zone, cosmetology, plz write lyrics for me. crackle-crackle @ 0:54. VOTE
jankatorium---use a pop filter, k?
JDFC---sparse, muscular rock feeling. brother = bookworm introvert + destroyer of worlds? bass elevates it out of G&G territory. VOTE
lightning shark---lonesome melody, f-bomb rolls a 20, fist thrown line is good. would have given faccoo run for money if longer.
nick soma---groot or cookie monster? :/ the 'get high' interlude & bridge gets me high, but high already.
thank glenny for frisbee--#1 best! omfg lush, folky, beautiful. i wouldn't change a thing, maybe the chimes, i'd get rid of the chimes, but yeah, wow. VOTE
slickatude---love the radar love drum pattern. song reaches peak awesome @ 1:32. i know what i know, i love rock and roll. VOTE
toby roktot---lyrics could tell more of a story. drama high, but conflict vague. faked me out at ending, but guitar walkup at end is great.
squirrels in rick's alien attic---reminds me of those blues songs about floods, like a flood of friendship or something.
zack faccoo---if you vote for just one G&G song this fight, this is the one. lots of character in the vox, the rung/lungs line is so good. VOTE

[josh]

Fake Teak: Fun vibe. The mix is a little clostrophobic. But there are a lot of great sounds. Cool change into the chorus. Reminds me of They Might Be Giants.
Inflatable Vegetables: Song might be a little too low in your range during the verses. Comes off a bit flat sounding (energy wise) and a bit pitchy. I don't think it's a bad song, but compared to other stuff I've heard you do, it's a little bland
John Denver Flight Club: The song has a good tone and feel. Maybe a bit repetative at times.
Lightning Shark: Great vocals. The songs a bit short, feels incomplete.
TGFTF: Another great production from you guys. Lots of great sounds working well together. Vocals remind me of Bon Iver. I for one like the chimes, but I think they're too loud in the mix
We are not aliens: I think this could be turned into something, but there vocals are overdriving, the drums are quiet and everything is fighting rhythmically. Might be better to go for a simpler arrangement first.
Jerkatorium: Loud mix! A real 90's pop/punk rocker, cool guitar lines. Good energy and vocal performance. Bridge reminds me of Weezer.
Nick Soma: Great intro! Love the off kilter melodies and swirly sounds. Not a fan of the repeating screaming part... Otherwise I do like the song a lot. Good mix of dark and bright.
Slickitude: Vocals seem a bit low, but great character. I like the contrasting parts. Slightly rappy pre-chorus is cool.
Toby Roktot: Interesting chord progressions/voicings. Good performance.
Zack Facco: As I mentioned, I really wanted to make a full production out of this. I recorded this take live to a handheld recorder lying on a desk... I think it's a decent song and it's been fun to play live.

@toby: Yeah, I'm not so sure about the ending myself. I've been trying to work that out.
@chumpy: Thanks for championing this one! It's funny, toyed with other lines for the rung/lungs part, but you've inspired me to stick with the original

[iVeg]

Yeah, verses were a couple notes too low
Will post lyrics now. Will review later.

[Lunkhead]

Congrats to Jerkatorium, and Thank Glennny for the Frisbee!

[Jerkatorium]

Social media muscle? Neither Chumpy nor I mentioned the "Leave My Brother Alone" submission on Facebook or Twitter (or Instagram or Snapchat or anything else). I did announce it on my blog, as I do with each of our Song Fight entries - are people actually reading my blog and clicking the hyperlink to SongFight.org? Hard to imagine; my blog is painfully boring, and my pageview counts are comically low.

Congrats to Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, that's an awesome song.

[Lunkhead]

I saw these posts about previous fights and assumed something similar had been done to promote the "Leave My Brother Alone" fight:

https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id ... 6155166628
https://www.facebook.com/shares/view?id ... 6407306628

I did not mean for the summary to seem slanderous, so if you feel slandered I can edit it. I'm at the point with writing these summaries where I basically just go with the first thing that pops in my head because I don't really have a lot of meaningful insight into the fights most of the time.

[glennny]

Congrats Jerkatorium!
Good song!

[Jerkatorium]

"Slandered" isn't the word I'd use, but the qualifier does seem to suggest that our vote count was inflated by something other than the strength of the song.

Jerkatorium doesn't post songs anywhere else at this point, so if I'm happy about a new Jerk song and want my friends/family to hear it, I steer them towards SongFight.org. I did post on Facebook about Deterioration and Fashion, and I don't know if/how that affected the vote count for those fights. But I didn't do that for "Leave My Brother Alone" (I forgot to), and I would be happy to delay those types of posts until after the results are in for future fights if people think that would be more proper.

[AJOwens]

"Slandered" isn't the word I'd use, but the qualifier does seem to suggest that our vote count was inflated by something other than the strength of the song.

Jerkatorium doesn't post songs anywhere else at this point, so if I'm happy about a new Jerk song and want my friends/family to hear it, I steer them towards SongFight.org. I did post on Facebook about Deterioration and Fashion, and I don't know if/how that affected the vote count for those fights. But I didn't do that for "Leave My Brother Alone" (I forgot to), and I would be happy to delay those types of posts until after the results are in for future fights if people think that would be more proper.

Having placed a strong second in Fashion and Deterioration, I'd just like to say that I don't use Facebook, and I don't have a blog -- or even a modern cell phone -- and I don't go out of my way to let people know I have a Song Fight entry, and I never outright ask anyone to vote for me, probably all because I'm a Luddite and a misfit. But I know that others have stronger and more active social connections, and I know Song Fight wins are at least partly due to that. So I take the results for what they are, and I'm happy with whatever second-vote overflow I may get. In fact, because of the distorting dynamic of friend-flooding, I'm much happier getting reviews than votes; they mean a lot more.

When all is said and done, there were certainly no flies on Jerkatorium's entries. If some really slack-assed entry were to take a big lead over a good song, that would be different.

It also helps that I churn out masterpieces on a regular basis, so I don't have to get possessive; I can always just write another one.

[Niveous]

Ugh.

Social media is a part of our daily lives. It can help bring new ears to the fight. Use social media, it's not a dirty practice. Just don't be a dick when you do it. Don't go online and say "vote for me and pick one other random band". That's dickly.

[AJOwens]

Ugh.

Social media is a part of our daily lives. It can help bring new ears to the fight. Use social media, it's not a dirty practice. Just don't be a dick when you do it. Don't go online and say "vote for me and pick one other random band". That's dickly.

Not having a Facebook account, I don't even know if that's what happened, but It's academic.

If I enter this fight, I may well take the optional challenge, because it's there. Also because nagging suspicions are all part of the fun at Song Fight!

[Chumpy]

If some really slack-assed entry were to take a big lead over a good song, that would be different.

Oh man, that would certainly take the piss; it'd be a slippery slope, from which no good could possibly come. I'd probably still harbor a grudge if that had ever happened.

[AJOwens]

If some really slack-assed entry were to take a big lead over a good song, that would be different.

Oh man, that would certainly take the piss; it'd be a slippery slope, from which no good could possibly come. I'd probably still harbor a grudge if that had ever happened.

Yeah, you'd definitely need to get over that.