Astroid Strike! (a credible threat)

[jackfrost]

it took me a minute to figure out melvin wasn't in this one too. when i downloaded the fights i threw all the songs into one folder on my mp3 player and it has been playing all 30-some songs in alphabetical order by artist. most of the time, unless i look, i can't tell which song is from which fight. there seems to be a lot of "writing a song and throwing the title in where ever" instead of "writing a song around the specific title".

[Saucalito]

yeah

[Adam!]

Ha! Pwnd by Rone.

The term is Rwnd.

[Billy's Little Trip]

HaHa! That just makes perfect sense in any language.

Rock & Rone
Chris

[rone rivendale]

You guys

[JonPorobil]

I've listened to most of the songs in this fight a few more times, and I've come to the following conclusions:

1.) I wasn't hard enough on Jimmy Jet and his TV Set in my review of their song. It's a great song, but its length does it a severe disservice. Especially because the long instrumental passages appear to be just treading water until the next verse, and they're not cool enough to carry the amount of weight they do. I think this same song could be cut down to 3:00 without any of the good stuff being lost. And it would be so much the better for it.

2.) Merisan song is still probably the best-produced in the fight, but repeated listens reveal the singing to be fairly soulless. Like she's working so hard to enunciate every word and be perfectly on-key that she forgot the meaning of the lyrics.

3.) I may have failed to give The Humanists a fair shake in my review due to relatively poor production values (like I'm one to talk, right?) and an appalling first line. The rest of the song is pretty good, actually.

4.) Peter Piper Picked a Pack of Parliament Lights really ought to be taken off the site. Seriously. It's Green Day reversed. It's copyrighted material that was in no way inspired by the title, and knowing it's on the site makes me mad. (But hey, the fightmasters have a longstanding policy of not banning even the most annoying farters-into-microphones, so whatever.)

5.) Pumpkin Buzzard's track grows on me, but not so much that I'm considering voting for it.

I was going to vote for Merisan, but maybe I'll give it to the Idiot Kings or schmlurgh. (I usually procrastinate on my voting for just this reason.)

[jeff robertson]

4.) Peter Piper Picked a Pack of Parliament Lights really ought to be taken off the site. Seriously. It's Green Day reversed. It's copyrighted material that was in no way inspired by the title, and knowing it's on the site makes me mad. (But hey, the fightmasters have a longstanding policy of not banning even the most annoying farters-into-microphones, so whatever.)

AFAIK the Green Day cover that was reversed to create this song is the one here:

http://www.last.fm/music/decline

The MP3 is actually still *tagged* as being by decline.

Now, unless the Peter who is in the band decline is the same "Peter" who submitted this song, it is stolen not just from Green Day but from decline as well.

Also, FWIW, it sounds like they reversed it using something like the "reverseness" plugin that comes with Reaper, rather than by truly reversing the whole file.

[Lunkhead]

Jon, you're being reactionary. We should be encouraging people to work on being on key, not discouraging them by deliberately not voting for someone because they tried "too hard" to sing on key. Obviously emoting is very important, too, but I think that for the vast majority of folks off key singing is like nails on a chalkboard. It's a major turnoff that would make people want to never listen to SongFight! again, and that's not just speculation. I'm saying that based on feedback from people who I've gotten to listen to whole fights.

[erin.]

Jon Eric Said:
2.) Merisan song is still probably the best-produced in the fight, but repeated listens reveal the singing to be fairly soulless. Like she's working so hard to enunciate every word and be perfectly on-key that she forgot the meaning of the lyrics.


Fairly soulless? Wow.

If you listen to pretty much all of my singing (please see Loyalty Day, Tiny Robots, Merisan ect...) my diction is "fairly" consistent. I am not forcing it at all. Perhaps you just don't like my style or voice? As far as connecting with the lyrics, I didn't write them. This is pretty unusual for me, as I almost always do. 15-16 Puzzle kindly contributed them to Merisan for this fight. Hopefully he doesn't find this entry as "soulless" as you do. At any rate Jon Eric, your constructive review has been noted

On the subject of "Judging". This is the first fight I have participated in since NUR EIN! I have actually been involved with SF! now since December of 2003 and I have read my share of reviews. This whole.."I was going to vote for so-and-so but NOW I'm going to vote for bla-dee-blah" is rather strange. Why bother telling us that at all? It's like saying you'll give someone a ride to who has been waiting in the rain, and then not picking them up because you decided that you didn't really like the color of their shirt.
A bit sad really, but folks can and often do change their mind.

In case anyone ever wondered...I judge each song on the quality of (and in no particular order)..the recording, arrangement, lyrical content, musicianship and finished product. In other words...the entire package. This seems like a pretty standard way to go about things to me, but maybe I am missing something? That is just my own particular style...I know. Call me crazy, or soulless.

[jackfrost]

in all honesty i thought roughly the same thing about the vocals seeming to be emotionally disconnected from the lyrics when i first heard it. it was disappointing compared to the remarkable nur ein 2 songs i heard from you. i wouldn't call it soulless, but same difference, right?
anyway, just be happy someone listened to your song (it sounds like more than a couple times) and took the time to type something more informative than just a little quip to make himself look clever. he at least told you why he changed his mind, and now you know what effect your song has had on someone who didn't just sit down and listen and review at the same time. i find that my opinions usually change a bit after a few listens. sometimes things i liked seem kind of cheap, and things i didn't "get" the first time, i understand better. it's been said many times before here, and it's probably the only real piece of wisdom to be had from these boards: it's better to NOT respond directly to reviews. really, it's all just opinion.

[adamadamant]

I just thought I'd make a quick response on behalf of the Humanists. The drums were terribly mixed in, whilst I think I would stand by the distorted drums the cymbals at least are too loud and drown out the lyrics, which probably could have been louder, I think this is probably what most of the people meant by poor production as the sound quality of the rest of the instruments was ok (well imo at least). Also the structure of the song was a bit plop as well, all herky-jerky and too short.

And lastly, to Jon what do you mean by 'the first line'? The lyrics, I guess, but just to clarify.

[erin.]

I was introduced to SF! in December of 2003 when I sang for KNI at a SF!Live show. My first official fight was for "The Puppet's Dream" on 4/13/04. I have commented a total of 49 times now.

I am trying to say that I don't often respond to comments and reviews. I usually speak up on the boards when I feel like I have something relevant to say, or when I feel I should defend my self/song. People are always explaining themselves or their actions after they get a negative review...how am I any different?

If I actually cared about what some folks on SF! opinions were, I would have stopped participating long ago.
To me SF! is a place where creative outlet meets craft. People can learn and grow so much as musicians and artists from this website, and the review process is an important part of that.
See, everyone is entitled to an opinion...even me.

[Lunkhead]

it's better to NOT respond directly to reviews. really, it's all just opinion.

Very true, and I was hesitant to reply. However, I'm replying more to Jon's opinion that on key singing doesn't matter as much to him as emoting, and his desire to make that public on the boards. If he had made the same comment about someone else's song, I think I would have had the same reaction. I think emoting is definitely important, however I think singing on key is a much more important skill for most people here to develop if they want to improve their music. Off key singing is going to make people not want to listen to you in the real world. You can get away with it in SongFight! land, because people just accept it as the status quo. But most people who are accustomed to "professional" music are not used to off key singing and it's very surprising and unpleasant to them. (I have seen this when trying to play fights for people.) That being said, and as I mentioned previously, emoting is important. For me, trying "too hard" to be on pitch means using an autotuner and almost literally sucking the life out of the vocals. Obviously you want to find the "sweet spot" where you've got enough emotion and/or accuracy to get by.

[erik]

Fairly soulless? Wow.

If you listen to pretty much all of my singing (please see Loyalty Day, Tiny Robots, Merisan ect...) my diction is "fairly" consistent. I am not forcing it at all. Perhaps you just don't like my style or voice? As far as connecting with the lyrics, I didn't write them. This is pretty unusual for me, as I almost always do. 15-16 Puzzle kindly contributed them to Merisan for this fight. Hopefully he doesn't find this entry as "soulless" as you do.

I've really liked this song, even before I wrote any lyrics for it. To me, the music suggests a melancholy and reserved singing voice here, and I think what you did really compliments the song. I don't think that emoting is something that necessarily compliments every piece of music. Especially with pop music that sounds a bit twee, I think if you go painting on all these emotions where they don't belong, it ends up feeling like a pretty girl who doesn't know how to dress: like a letdown. You end up distracting people from something awesome (like a great song with a nice singer). I think the way that you sang really added something to the song, instead of proving that you gots soul in a song that really ain't about that at all.

[erin.]

Thank you Erik!
I enjoyed putting a melody to your lyrics, and hope to work with you more in the future. Remember way back in the day when JB put together Fightmaster's choice- Cover Fight/ September 2004? Loyalty Day covered "Secrets".
With the exception that I have complained about the way that the verse sounded, (either the guitar, bass, or vox are not all in pitch together) I have always thought this was one of our best covers. The chorus is super great! And even though we really changed it from your original, it was cool to work with your lyrics.
Awe gosh.

[JonPorobil]

it's better to NOT respond directly to reviews. really, it's all just opinion.

Very true, and I was hesitant to reply. However, I'm replying more to Jon's opinion that on key singing doesn't matter as much to him as emoting, and his desire to make that public on the boards.

I think they're both equally important, and both absolutely necessary.

[Lunkhead]

I think they're both equally important, and both absolutely necessary.

...
2.) Merisan song is still probably the best-produced in the fight, but repeated listens reveal the singing to be fairly soulless. Like she's working so hard to enunciate every word and be perfectly on-key that she forgot the meaning of the lyrics.
...
I was going to vote for Merisan, but maybe I'll give it to the Idiot Kings or schmlurgh.

Sounds like you're not voting for us because of lack of emoting. No offense to the Idiot Kings or schmlurgh but I don't think those songs have more singing that's on key. So, it seems to me like you're placing more importance on emoting than singing on key.

But whatever, at this point, I don't care. I just think it's sad that SongFight! doesn't have more listeners, and as I've said repeatedly in this thread, I think off key singing is a big factor keeping people away. To everyone who tried really hard this fight to sing on key, I salute you.

PS Thanks for listening and taking the time to write reviews and post followup comments, Generic. Thanks jackfrost for reminding me to be thankful.

[Reist]

Singing on key is the iced cake. Emotion is the little icing flowers that make the cake beautiful. Cake is delicious by itself, but icing flowers aren't. Combined, they are much more attractive than just cake.

[martinblasick]

I agree. The Merisan song was too good. They have to go.

That Jimmy Jet and his TV Set song is still sticking in my head despite some arrangement quirks.

[JonPorobil]

I think they're both equally important, and both absolutely necessary.

...
2.) Merisan song is still probably the best-produced in the fight, but repeated listens reveal the singing to be fairly soulless. Like she's working so hard to enunciate every word and be perfectly on-key that she forgot the meaning of the lyrics.
...
I was going to vote for Merisan, but maybe I'll give it to the Idiot Kings or schmlurgh.

Sounds like you're not voting for us because of lack of emoting. No offense to the Idiot Kings or schmlurgh but I don't think those songs have more singing that's on key. So, it seems to me like you're placing more importance on emoting than singing on key.

You may be right, but I didn't think either of their songs were off-key at all. And bear in mind, this is the first fight I've reviewed in a while.

And hey, don't take it too hard; you'll definitely have more votes than I will, right?

[loopio]

In my opinion I feel that Merisans song raised the bar to this entire forum. It was a well thought out song and sounded great. No complaints here. I think it was the best of the fight as a whole.

All I could think of for "credible threat" was a song about farts!

Nice Work
Loopio

[Paco Del Stinko]

Someone call me? Oh, I thought I heard someone say soul-less singer, or something. Great tune Merisan, and if the singing isn't soulful, it's certainly very well done and charming, without being cutsey-wutesy. More sunny-white and yellow than brown. But man, that Lunkhead is a great guitar player: clean and articulate, tasteful. I think that occasionally I play some good guitar, but he's a good guitar player. Him the man!

I listened to all the songs both yesterday and today and liked the fight better than I thought that I was going to. Yesterday, I had it playing while I was puttering around in the next room, when I heard someone sing about a wet dream and I thought "Oh boy. This oughta be interesting...wait a minute-I wrote those lyrics!" Bad, but kind of glad they showed up. Max the Cats review said it well, for me.