melvin wrote:
Zipline: I’ve loved some of your entries, and I really dig the live band sound of this. The vocals are rough in spots, but I like their intensity. Solo around 2:40 is wicked! Is that Glenny? If so, you continue to be awesome. The other highlight is the riff kicking in at 3:21. That’s really hot. Overall, another cool Zipline track. And I wish I could play the drums. Good work, boys.
melvin,
Yes, that's Glennny and his killer shredding at the 2:40 mark! Actually, I say that tongue-in-cheek, because even though he is a technically outstanding guitarist, what I really love about his playing is his versatility and creativity. Take Maki for example: after two very Asianesque introductory riffs, how tasty is his rhythm guitar work at the 0:25 mark! No that's what I call a groove! And then at 1:17, I totally love the way he approaches the chords, which were essentially created on the fly, as was the A-section.
And thanks for the kudos about the rhythmic change at 3:21. My drumming was horribly off, but I was trying a rhythm that I don't recall playing in years! It was inspired by the solo section of La Villa Strangiato by Rush, except that Neil was playing in 7/8. Actually, that made it challenging to play in 4/4 as I felt like there were too many eighth notes in each phrase!
I will really try to get my reviews posted on Tuesday.
I've been listening to the fight all week, and alot in my travels across the country, I managed to write a few reviews on my way to Boston, hopefully i can finish up on the way home to Oakland (I board in 10 minutes).
Blues Manufacturing Facility- Way too long. Pretty tedious over all. I like the vocals although the effect is tired. Anyone else get the Gram Parsons Project “Eye in the Sky” sparse noodling? The lead guitar is disappointing considering the band name. I like the whole tone part, other than the vocals telling me and the lead guitar.
Carl Sabacka- Part of our Zipline jam was me singing all the Japanese coworkers names I knew. Didn’t make the cut. This is enjoyable. Has a very shoe gazer Manchester vibe. This reminds me of MTV Asia. I spend way too much time in Asia. Nice entry.
Carpetburn- Freaking AWESOME! I love Carpetburn, and this is among the best. I’m feeling the Braid a lot in this one. Pedro sings better than Robert Nana (no offense Robert, if you ever read this). The song is a great composition, however I’d like to hear more Pedro guitar trickery “solo” if you will. I hope we lose to Carpetburn if anyone. I’m a fan.
Cynthia Size and the Eclectic Sp00ns- This is hilarious! I love it. Sometimes your stuff doesn’t work, this one rally works well. I always think Brian Eno Nerve Net and beyond when I hear your brand of techno. Makes me want to play Frippertronics over it. Good track!!!
Doom and Destruction- WTF? Horrible recording, horrible playing. Almost to the point of being funny but not quite. I hope this only took you the 5 minutes it sounds like.
Jimmy Jet and his TV Set- Nice vibe. I wish the playing was tighter. Verse is much stronger than the chorus. There’s some bad notes on lead guitar. Nice singing, needs better lyrics. With development this could be great! That fluttering noise is really annoying.
Lights in the City- Worst recording ever. Not a bad song. Hard to listen to with this recording. There are tips on easy and cheap recording techniques. Buzzes and whines, pops and hisses oh my.
Lockhead Symphony- Ambient. Droney. Ummmm, maybe I’ll use this to fall asleep to on the plane (I’m at the airport now). This belongs in a Hal Hartley film. Guitar is nice when it finally plays. It’s a pleasant listen, just hard to pay attention to.
Lord of Oats- This is what sticks in my head when I’m not directly listening to the fight. Is it because it’s great or it’s beaten into my head. The snarky vocal delivery reminds me of the early Mothers, Hungry Freaks Daddy or something off Absolutely free. The one riff is a good one. The drums are tedious. I wish the 1st 35 seconds were shorter. I don’t care about the lyrics, yet not offended by them. I think this would be stronger with editing. Drop the Oy thing, the chuckle isn’t worth it, I don’t chuckle on repeated listens. I wish you took a few more takes on the solo too. Good stuff, just a little too sloppy to love.
more to come
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
Melvin wrote:Melvin...Apparently, in some schoolyards, that's the expression for a female frontal wedgie.
HA HA HA! That's horrible, but I love it. School-yard taunts can be cruel but often quite funny. Good thing I'm immature enough to enjoy that one. Gotta go, I'm late for my communist party meeting!
glennny wrote:
Anyone else get the Gram Parsons Project “Eye in the Sky” sparse noodling?
I think you mean "Alan Parsons Project". He (Alan Parsons) engineered Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and the Beatles' Abbey Road (as well as starting his own 'band"--there was mostly a different lineup on every album).
And as for the noodling, I'm not sure if it quite went that far.
Carl Salbacka--
best hand-clapper EVAR.
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"And as they say: 'Being an asshole is part of my manly essence.'" - Mime
LOL, yeah I DO mean Alan Parsons Project. Although the more i think about it, maybe it's the meandering piano at the beginning of "Love to Love" by UFO. All I know is you can introduce a basketball line-up to it.
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
Happy Thanksgiving Reviews -- eat turkey not fish!
Blues Factory - Nice meandering blues intro just as promised -- the mix is a bit harsh, but I'm on my laptop speakers. The growling vox remind of Tom Waits. If you smoothed out some of the treble in the mix, this would be pretty good! Some of the breaks and transitions lose focus though. Yeah, halfway through this really starts to implode badly... You: Stick to the Waits-like vibe earlier in the song, and compress/EQ out that harshness! Me: get my headphones for the remaining reviews.
Carl Sabacka - Are the lyrics to this in real Japanese? That's pretty cool. A nice groovy pop noise groove with hooky melody and harmonies. The bass break-down and accapella bit is cool. I want to know what you're singing about. I like this. The bass tone is big and booming. Good length -- leaves you wanting more. Nice!
Carpetburn - I'm yet another in the Carpetburn fanclub. I usually expect Owls-like tunes from you guys, but this is a nice fast change up. This is great! The quarrelsome compu-line through me off, but in general the composition and execution here is simply excellent. The melodic locking in the vocals breakdowns a bit towards the end, but the intensity holds it through.
Cynthia Size and Electro-spoons - The key intro is also a bit treble-heavy. Cynthia's voice is excellent and the growling keys have very nice boomy tone. I like this a lot -- this is probably a top-5 altime spoon entry. I really like the Yum Yum Yum Yum Yum part. Nice! Is Cynthia a VST? I want her so badly.
Doom and Destruction - Nice ominous guitar intro. Oh no vocals are in satanic warning growl format... Some song titles call for this, but being worried about Maki killing everyone is a stretch.. It's alright -- not the worst -- you certainly executed well with what you were trying to do. The ending is good.
Jimmy Jet + histvset - Nice folksy indie love song. Very emotional and moving. Great.
Lights in the City - Click drums, ok rhythm guitar. Guitar 2 sounds out of time, and the vocals are popping all over the place. Vocals sound like they are whispered way too close into a PC mic at 3am to avoid waking the neighbors. Is this recording on a classic 4-track tape deck? The latter half of the vocals are better than the beginning. The composition is actually alright here, but the production and performance problems overshadow the song itself.
Lockheed Symphony - Creepy mood intro with water stick and monk ohm. This is a meditation song about fish wrapped in rice. Perhaps buddha heard something like this before he touched the ground, flowers fell from the sky, and he escaped into enlightenment. The guitar comes in a touch loud. The solo fits, but I would have preferred something a bit more Floyd-ish. The keys, moan, and rainstick are mixed quite well however. Pretty good!
Lord of Oats - Thumbing pub song intro. Not into the political rally throng of Maki chanters. The guitar / vocal unison line is also not really inspiring. This isn't doing it for me. It is really trying to support a bunch of hot grating vocals on a fairly complex pinko lyric. I would suggest adding a chord progression. Try again, sorry!
Lymph - Cool little ditty - 80s new wave styling. Well crafted.
I like the turn-around, and the rhyming Unagi! with Maki - Sushi - Happy.
Why hasn't there been more such rhyming in this fight? Good length. Nice!
Melvin - I'm so glad you came back. I noticed you didn't enter last fight, and got worried... "What happened to Melvin?" I asked. Glennny reassured me that you skip a fight every now and again -- do 3 drop 1, enter 4 drop 1, ... I was nonetheless worried as any given week we await your next release. This one doesn't let us down. I do have a slight complaint I'd like to start with though -- the intro lyric isn't suddective or mysterious enough for me. I think the first line of a song is so important, and "I like to sing" doesn't draw me in. I like the rest of the lyrics a lot though, and all the bits about just singing along with Maki (Maggi?). I understand the context the first line sets up, it just turned me off slightly from the start. I get quickly drawn in though as a listener. The song hooks quickly, and reels me in with little resistance. Best part? The post-solo bridge -- the swirling flanged dirty guitars -- how she gave purpose to his life -- the driving vocals -- the distant effected vocals -- the ohhh ohhhs on top -- the crazy effects that make the main track sound like it gets turn-table scratched for a split second -- and the ringing outro fade. Ends with a upper cut to the chin. Phenomenal!
Mexican Chimps - Drum machine loop based on wood block clicks and a sparse electro key line. Sampler vox clips of "Maki" sung like a Costa Rican jungle Macaw. 30 second video game sound scape.
Mime - Looping some big band inspired electro horn quickly erodes into total crap in the mouth. I was embarrassed that this came on at work even though it was in head phones. Junk!
No Horse Town - Decent pop composition with good guitar hooks and highlights. The vocals start okay but drift in the middle. Do we care all that much what she and you ate? That part would work once or twice through, but it goes on too long. Good elements!
Punglect - Swiss and swirl sound scape. Like watching waves at the ocean front. Spacey sounds from the UFO that comes, picks you up, and swishes you to outer space. Then in space you get cold and bored. There is no oxygen and you die. A sun explodes next to you and some ancient mechanical sattelite starts singing from the rust that developed between its moving parts. Oh wait -- I got bored and died about 2 minutes ago...
Reist - Shaker doubled acoustic and a solo voice on top. This folksy rock pop number isn't making a mark on me. There is nothing wrong with the production, it just isn't especially relevant to me as a listener. Whoa now it transitioned into a heavy metal thing -- working all day and not getting paid -- that has proletariat political themes that has nothing to do with what came before. I'd cut that entire intro bit out of this. I'm still not fully drawn in. The high vocal part has potential for something else. The voices that creep out at the end is silly. This just goes on forever and has like 5 songs in one. It's only half over!? The yeah-ah songlet was the best one so far. In general I'm not into this overall.
[Ross Durand] - Powerful intro. The next part reminds me of Alice in Chains. The chorus has a good harmony too. I like the sound scape created in the backing track of guitars / piano line / deep bass. Do the chorus so many times at the end is a good choice -- hypnotic and engulfing. The lone acoustic at the end may go on a few times too many however. Nice overall!
Suburban Bear Quad - Low budget click and effects growl. The musical line for about 10 seconds before "ready to rock" is good. The rest is meandering and unfocused. Self-indulgant and not interesting. The vocal growls are grating and difficult. Bad!
Weakest Suit - Sad reflection on missed opportunities. 20 second tear jerker.
Zipline - Thanks to all that commented/reviewed -- all positive and critical comments are appreciated. Zipline got a lot better once Super Ken joined on. I really like his keyboard tones / lines, and he made the recording of this one so easy by bringing his 8-track laptop firewire setup, and mixing down the entire ~2 hour session. Finally, Ken is also a secret weapon in the lyric department. He basically wrote all the lyrics for both Anomaly and Maki, with the exception of small "performance mutation" I introduce to the raw DNA he supplies. Maybe he has more time to think because he doesn't eat the carnivore pizza, or maybe he prepares them ahead of time, or maybe he's just a good lyric writer! So things just gelled using the classic Zipline techniques with the writing of Maki. The song title came out early relative to our Tuesday night, and there was a full weekend to mix/edit. Everyone was in town, and some wives/kids were out of town. My favorite parts of the track are Glennny's swish /swirl guitar patch when the entire band kicks in in the late intro. I also enjoy the mutated intro line "Maki meets a Mochi" -- now that's seductive and mysterious, but a bit comical and hard to take seriously too... The vocals on the first verse are a bit 1st take -- not quite locked wrt timing and ptich. I love the high-hat work Prisoner is doing throughout, and just how busy he keeps the drums in general -- no sparse 4/4 lines out of that guy! Prisoner always has something to say and contribute to the conversation, and that trait comes out when he controls the clicks/pops/thuds as well. The guitar / key interaction is tight, and I like the breakdown part -- the sort of swing that is introduced after the low register "Maki takes the Micon the lips".. Finally, many thanks to Glenny for the hours of pro editing. One of these days we need to find time to overdub the scratch vocals!
martyr wrote:
Carl Sabacka - Are the lyrics to this in real Japanese? That's pretty cool. A nice groovy pop noise groove with hooky melody and harmonies. The bass break-down and accapella bit is cool. I want to know what you're singing about. I like this. The bass tone is big and booming. Good length -- leaves you wanting more. Nice!
I'm glad you liked the (fairly) prominent bass; my friend Brandon (whose recording equipment I was using) is a bass player, and he was also glad that the bass was audible in the mix.
As for the lyrics, I think I've mentioned it before in response to someone's post, but I have the English translation of the lyrics posted in the lyric archive. All-in-all, they're pretty facile, but I'm fairly proud of the way they turned out.
Regarding the length, I toyed with the idea of making it longer, but it always ended in my head with some kind of solo. Guitar is hardly my forte, so a solo there was pretty much doomed to inadequacy, and I decided that a saxophone solo didn't really fit the song. So, it stayed short.
Carl Salbacka--
best hand-clapper EVAR.
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"And as they say: 'Being an asshole is part of my manly essence.'" - Mime
....OK been across the country, had tofurkey, finished a Frisbee and the Swing Set collab, let me finish the reviews:
Lymph- This is a keeper and very fun! One of the best of the fight. Playing is very good. Production could be improved, but it’s not bad. This is cute and short. Good job!
Melvin- Week in and week out you have the best recordings. So the only thing to criticize is the writing. Well at the beginning of the week I didn’t really like this song. But it has grown on me all week. I love it now! Lyrics don’t do it for me, and I think the chorus is weak. That bridge is something special though. Great melodies! Always stellar singing. As your manager, I wouldn’t make this an album cut. I think this is a B-side, or a sound track song. Every time you enter I feel like you Should win. I’ll never be surprised with a Melvin win. Just awesome! I can listen to this repeatedly, and I do.
The Mexican Chimpanzees- Mercifully short. (Like my review.)
Mime- Actively terrible. This maybe the best example of how to do everything wrong and superiorly suck.
No Horse Town- That distorted key sound is great. I don’t think the vocal melody fits the riff. I don’t like the drum machine, but I understand the restriction. It’s all kind of a mess with some good underdeveloped ideas.
Punglect- New toy? I’m bored. Go listen to Eno.
Ross Durand- Nice production! Nice verse, pre-chorus is alright. Chorus is really weak. Good riffs, reverb is a bit much for my tastes. This is missing the clever wit of the Ross Durand I’m used to. Not bad, just doesn’t make my keeper Ross Durand collection.
OOOOH that bridge is GREAT! The piano almost saves it, but then the underwhelming chorus takes us out.
Suburban Bear Quadrant- Did the Kinky Wizards break up? I guess the other guy had the talent. That lead guitar is painful. Bass isn’t bad. Bass player needs a new gig. Why do you hate us? Yikes.
The Weakest Suit- This is a very pretty intro to a song that will only live in our imagination.
Zipline- You know I love Martyrs vocals. That’s why I always work with him. I suppose it’s a Kinsella / Enigk sensibility. Anyway this is one of his better performances. He sings his ass off too. So Prisoner is of course the star of Zipline with his frenetic beats and melodic fills. The reason some of our songs are miles beyond others is Ken, we disparately need his pop sensibility, probably more of it. I really enjoy the effects battle at the beginning between Ken on Keys and myself on guitar. You think Zoom will give me an endorsement deal? My other favorite part is the end where Ken goes into the sparse riff and I join him. I think this one of our better entries; I can’t wait to play it live!
So this fight had some shameful crap in it, the kind of stuff that makes me not want to play Song Fight at work.
On the bright side there were some of my favorite entries as well : Carpetburn and Melvin are the contenders for this one, I think Zipline has a shot, but it’s tough to compete with the awesomeness of those guys.
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
Reist/ Jolly Roger- Man I'm sorry. I only got one listen in to your epic. When it was 1st posted. Most of my listens to the rest of the fight have been on the podcast, which your track missed. I did enjoy most of it. The vocal hook still remains in my hed 10 days? later. The playing was great, I like prog rock epics better than most, but this one's story didn't grab me. There's some great guitar and drums, and some of your best vocal work. The downfall is the composition, I was into it the whole time, so I suppose that's saying a lot. Good effort, I hope you continue with the epic prog genre, someday you'll be inspired and give us the next Cable Beach.
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
So these are a bit late. Most have been done for a while, but this is the first chance I got to finish up. Not sure I even agree with most of what I wrote anymore. Oh well. Boo-hoo. Take it or leave it, you know?
BMF – Intro sounds pretty aimless, but it becomes a nice build that releases when the twelve-bar comes in. I'm really liking the transition between the two. After that, it's okay, but it goes on way too long. Nice bass throughout, but it really gets down during the whole tone section. Words are a bit mumbly and/or off pitch in sections, and it sounds like there weren't enough words to fill up the whole thing.
Carl Salbacka – I typically feel like I should like foreign language more than I do. It usually makes it something like an extra instrument, not having any idea what it's saying. I did look over the translation. It's pretty nice and simple either way, lyrically. It's nice and short and not too bad, but it doesn't do anything special for me. I could do with or without this one.
Carpetburn – Well, I still think you have an unhealthy obsession with jangly guitars, but they seem a little less bothersome this time. Otherwise, this is completely awesome and great, and don't change anything. I really like when the band comes in instrumentally, at first. I don't really understand what's going on, lyrically, but that sort of thing doesn't really bother me. I like your voice a lot, and if that thing at 1:27-28 is what you were calling a “mouth fart,” keep that; I like it quite a bit. The only thing I can think of that this might need is some shredding, but that's not to say that this song feels like it's missing it. You know, just if we had to add something. But I guess that's really an extension of me and your approach to guitar not getting along too well. Anyway, I don't have any real criticism of this. Second best entry of the fight. This is one of those weeks I really wish SF worked like an Australian ballot or whatever, because I really wanted to vote for this, but I'm only allowed one vote.
Cynthia Size et les Sp00ns – Holy crap, dude, get a less cumbersome band name. But otherwise, you're a genius. If I understood correctly, your approach was, “Well, everybody's going to sing about sushi, so I might as well make it ridiculous as hell.” And it worked quite well. If that wasn't what you were doing, it still worked. You've got a very good sense of dynamics. I love when it comes back in after the breakdowns, the drums and bass pounding my ass. Very well-executed. Great work. I prefer real singing, but I'm alright with Cynthia. I think it works alright with what you're doing. If I had three votes, I'd give you one.
Doom and Destruction – This is stupid. Your guitars sound too weak to be convincing, especially the lead guitar, as far as tone and phrasing, especially as the song reaches the end. Sloppy, ridiculous, overall bad. There's been much worse here, so not horrible, really. Just very, very bad.
Lockheed Symphony – I love the atmospheric ambient approach, and I love even more when it's shattered by a huge drum beat. Nice guitar stuff in the big section. Reminiscent of Pink Floyd, but in a good way. Nice bass, texture sounds, vocals, you know. Good stuff all around. Okay, if I'd had four votes, you'd have gotten one.
Jimmy Jet – This is very good, but doesn't do enough to excite me. You're good at what you do, but I think you need a band. What is the second instrument here? That adds a lot, actually. But not knowing what I was listening to all week has bothered me. If you don't tell me, I'll never review your songs again. It's that serious. Plus, I already hate your band name for at least two reasons. Anyway, this was quite good, but didn't speak to me personally enough that I would have considered voting for it.
Lights in the City – Unbelievably bad production and sloppy performance, but great songwriting, even if not terribly original. I wish I was this good at songwriting when I was this bad at performing. Good chorus, good verse, good breakdown = good song. The 'he's a legend' part reminds me of 'You're a legend, Dave,” from that Flight of the Conchords song, but not in a 'you're ripping it off' way. If I had five votes, I'd give you one.
Lord of Oats – I was pleasantly surprised to see the vote count on this fight, especially on a somewhat underdeveloped song. Thanks a lot, folks.
Lymph – So, like, this is okay, but I think it's overrated by the community. This doesn't do anything in particular for me. It's not good just because it sounds like it's from the 80's. That said, it's moderately well-executed. But the lyrics don't interest me, and it's too short to be a real song. Liking the song would only end in disaster, leaving me wanting more than there is. The ending sounds surprisingly appropriate, and not at all abrupt, but there's probably not enough repetition of the elements that are there. But maybe I'm just contemptuous toward this song for being so liked when it sounds like such an hour-or-two job.
Melvin – Objectively, the best song of the fight. Coincidentally, also my favorite. This is very obviously Melvin, but it's very different from anything I've heard so far. I could tell you, specifically, what worked well, but then I'd just be listing all the elements of the song I could think of. The ABC structure is good, but of particular interest is the shouty hip-hop chorus. The guitar solo reminds me of Kurt Cobain. Nice bridge. Good tricks to extend the life of the chorus! The scratching, especially, is very neat. If I'd had one vote...oh, wait, I did...
Mexican Chimpanzees – I'm not sure if this is a song. I guess it's not, in the traditional sense. So it's alright for what it is. Okay novelty entry. Kind of neat sounding in places. Sliced sample is sloppy! Aren't you using software??? WTF? Why is it off the beat? Everything else is robotically tight! Yeah, if anyone votes for this, they're not right in the head.
Mime – Beat is pretty good, but for some reason, it sounds like it's in a different room. Are you saying, “Fuck me, Maki; mock me, fuck me.”? You're definitely putting an extra m in Maki the second time, unless you're actually saying what I wrote out there. Not sure about complaining about the title within the song, or the subject matter overall. Rapping is okay, I guess. Seems a little all over the place. But not in a way that makes it sound like you're an experienced rapper playing with rhythms. It just sounds like you don't know what you're doing. Stick to the rhythm of the beat a little more. Try to make it sound like the beats and the rhymes were meant for each other.
No Horse Town – Your most coherent (and best?) entry so far. You still don't seem to understand (or you choose to ignore) conventional pop structure. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The pop sensibility is there. The story feels like it has some holes. This is pretty good overall, really.
Punglect – This is quite a departure from the previous Punglect entry, yet enjoyable in a different way. I like the soundscape, but I'm glad it switches gears and goes into some semblance of a pop song. I think the droning chord actually helps it establish its mood, which seems to be a reflection on whatever happened in the first half. Interesting statement on “progress.”
Reist – Too long, too ambitious. You're really good at the short pop song format. There are actually a few of these hidden in here. Maybe you should release all the movements in this separately. There's a lot of good in here, but I don't see myself spending a ton of time listening to this in the future, because it's such a cumbersome piece to be putting on a mixtape or something. I'm not crazy about the mix, and it desperately needs bass. I think some of your frenzy entries have better production values.
Ross Durand – This is another one of those good songs I don't like. Actually, it's not bad. I might like this more than most of your entries. Unfortunately, songs here aren't directly compared to the artist's other works, but to the works by other artists that were made the same week. So this didn't really stand out in the fight for me. But this might be one of the better Ross entries in my book. Yeah, I really like this, but at no point was I considering voting for it, due to the overwhelming presence in this fight of material that I was enthusiastic about. Lead guitar meanders a bit. Tell your fingers to be more confident. Listen to some Paco del Stinko or Steve Vai, and just listen to how authoritative they sound when they play. At least shoot for that. The most important thing is to not be too ambitious. Know exactly what you're capable of playing, and play the hell out of that. I should probably take that advice myself, especially going back and listening to my entry from this fight.
Suburban Bear Quadrant – This is almost enjoyable, but my objective analysis says that this song is an indulgent piece of garbage. Intro wanders instrumentally, first verse wanders lyrically, whole tone section is a little bizarre, second verse is awkward (I don't know if I should add or subtract points for using the phrase “big, succulent nipples”), bass solo seems a bit long, third verse is openly plagiarist, the big ending could do without the vocals, except for the “thank you” at the end. That was a nice touch.
The Weakest Suit – Very pretty song. I can feel your pain, man. Equipment failure is the worst. Not a whole lot to comment on. The mix could be a little better, actually. But I really like it. Just long enough. Not something I would vote for, when there are fully developed songs competing against it, but nice, nonetheless.
Zipline – Congratulations. This was alright. What do you need to tell the winner? Keep doing exactly what you did here, right? Good playing all around. This Martyr fellow, in his upper register, sounds a lot like Steve Taylor to me.
Bye.
"81 songs and 569 posts in 4 months. You don't mess around when it comes to messing around." - fluffy
