All good songs. Very listenable throughout. I don’t envy the judges. I wish we could all go on. In assessing pros and cons, here’s what I’ve got. Presented in rough order of preference. Defend away!!!!
SAFE
WSA - Your pieces all come together here. Best WSA piece yet. I get the impression you have Frisbee singing some bits he didn’t write, am I right here? It works well. And Pete’s flow is well placed. Great backing vox and Glennny’s guit is right on. Immunity deserved (of course I called it for Paco last week).
Jim Tyrell - More great rawk. Did you play those quick little lead riffs? Great verse, chorus transition/contrast. Damn you’re a good singer. I would have loved a piece of color change for the verse coming out of the guitar solo.
Ken - nice and tuneful. I wish your vocals didn’t sound quite so deliberate on this. I agree that it conjures some of hte quality alt rock of the era when there was real alt rock. Nice and hooky and fun. Some day I’ll learn how to use my keys better. VEry nice!!
KA - interesting choices throughout. I like this at so many levels and yet am left feeling wanting the last 10%. I think it’s a little forcing in the chorus aimed at getting the title in.Have you ever worked in a classroom where a kid said or did something that makes you genuinely wonder whether a kid might come back and blow some people away? I have - it is a terrrible position to be in. I like how you worked the backwards guitar in to a lyrical piece.
Paco - ooh, a backwards crescendo!! I like this song - I almost went for this theme, too. Glad I didn’t, yours is better than I would have done. Excellent use of your guitar sensibilities and vocal stylings. Excellent grooooove change.
VERY GOOD
BLT - as always great groovy rock. “Only a Lad” - The theme of the song doesn’t grab me but I do like the “killed a rabbit” line. nice use of silence at the end of the main backwards bit - reminded me of Everclear or something. The affected and slightly imprecise vocals do work against this a bit for me - especially in the recapitulation. you are always good and hooky.
Glenn and a little bit of Rachel - Some pretty interesting concepts here lyrically and musically. The backwards drum thing kinda grated on me after a bit - but I get the idea that in this post apocalyptic world, you were going for some harshness. If you were - it worked. You always have interesting melodic ideas and they come off well here. Perhaps one degree to abrasive for me (and I liked Jesus and Mary Chain). I hope you don’t drop your glasses.
DECENT
Adam Adamant - I like the overall construction of this - layering, etc. Pretty interesting bass line - by the “instrumental” near the end I felt the song had been a bit too long. I like the “guitar” sound that comes in as the first song starts. I hear the backwards keyboard stuff.
Andrew Reist - pretty catchy little bits. Catchy Rock is a good thing. I’m curious about your guitar/effects set up - mind pm-ing it to me? A few stilted bits in the words. I like this one pretty well, although the lyrics don’t exactly grab me that much. Is the backwards part the whispery stuff? odd little ending.
ADD - I’m torn on this - some things I really like - the overall sound, structure, and sentiment. And yet a bunch of it sounds like jumble, as if you didn’t have time to refine the lyrics and/or delivery. I get that it is probably exactly the aesthetic you were going for - but it’s not really working for me - based on the groove my ears want the voc part to blend better, put accents in different spots. I think it also had the effect of making harder to “hear” the lyrics since my ears were distracted by the delivery. I really like the choir patch. I do wish there had been more obvious musical elements that were backwards in addition the vocal bits. Oh, a little backwards keys there.
GOOD BUT IN DANGER
Bryan Kandel - great guitar work and vocals. The backwards thing is well done within your idiom. I enjoy many moments in this song but also had a difficult time putting all of the impressionistic lyrics into a unified whole in only a few listens - including the disaster piece that is the chorus and title. Beautiful, though. A second time I feel harmonies could help - especially to fill in the spaces in the chorus. Perhaps I could try to do some harmony for you sometime via collab. (do you live in a noisy place? not a criticism, but at the end I thought I cold hear a lot of ambient noise - especially on the right).
FBF- It definitely rocks and I love that part - the lyrics are a bit over-obscured for me, I’d like to be able to decode them without having to look them up. I really was enjoying the jazz/prog in the middle, but the joke and rewind seemed like a bit of a non sequiter to me. Great feel, content eh.
Tex - wow, took Revolution 9 - k. You’re songs are certainly catchy and fun. Is this written from the point of view of Charles Manson? Oh, I guess not. lyrics ok. A bit too long for my tastes. I put four below you - so I can hear your fun song next week, too. but if it comes down to you or me - I hope I guet tot stay in instead. No Apple loops were harmed in the making of this song.
Starfinger - I found this slightly off putting. nice key sounds and perc layering, and I like that you committed to the vocals. Lyrically it sounded sort of like brainstorming that had not been edited. I think I have a stylistic issue here that is mainly personal preference.
Cock - Another one I’m torn on - reminds me of New order or something from the 80s and yet it didn’t quite hold up to that standard - in particular I felt the phrasing in the chorus was a little awkward. nice build and work in this idiom. good textures as well. A bit long, too, I thought.
Octothorpe - Inspired by “The Martian Hop?” Given that I know that song, this sounds quite derivative. Unfortunately, # is not my thing. Given the idiom I do think the words should be more up front. other than that - interesting sort of Residents colors in the instrumental backing. A little forcing getting the word “Disaster” into the song????
15-16 Not a big fan of this. Could be due to genre bias, but it just didn’t tickle my funny bone and parts seemed to lag a bit, not rhythmically, but in energy. Some interesting sounds and a few clever lines. The main “backwards” sounding part at the end of the chorus sounds like faux reverse, although I feel I definitely hear other actual reverse stuff as well - such as the moan at the beginning and some other assorted sounds. Not my thing perhaps.
BONUS TRACK
JBB - do you use a mac? I use Logic Express academic and it works pretty good (now htat I have decent headphones). For some reason I recall you mentioning mac a while back. Heavy, Man! and great vocal range. I envy guys who can sing like you. Fun song! Thanks for continuing the Immunity submission tradition.
Sorry if I overreacted, but you did encourage us to be defensive!
That kind of sucks, but hey - there's always gotta be a loser. 