Walking through Shadowy Reviews (In The Valley Reviews)

[The Weakest Suit]

I think my friends friend flooded me on the Tomato fight. I told 2 people to check out my new song (1 of which knows how cheap friend flooding is) but a week later, people I don't even know had heard the song.

ah, the tomato fight. my entry was one of my favorite songfight entries ever (even with the pun in the chorus). it was written right in the middle of FAWM along side one of my other favorites: Daunting Meditation From Mars (which was nicely test-covered by Plain Songs who sings it much better than me). tomato and dmfm are the only two of my songs that stay in my mp3 player.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Better late than never?

Judgeblood - In The Valley

Yeah, Niv posted it in the "hey listen to my new song" thread. I left comments there. Great tune.

[HeuristicsInc]

favorites: judgeblood, flvx, glennwood, ip, j$, melvin, osha, trips, noah (these people get votes from me)
hon mention: earth's core, donkeypunch, mceric

hmm, earth's core has a lot going for it, but too much swearin'. i'm torn.
there's all these songs that make me feel conflicted... donkeypunch makes me
uncomfortable, but it's a good song. flvx has a good tom waits vibe. i
quite like glennwood. one of my favorites here. there's a lot to this song.
hand formula doesn't seem to be about the computer graphics concept. ip has
really nice trumpets. also, good ending. love j$ song - another favorite.
great 60's (?) vibe. kruegen is too much collage and not enough song.
mceric should go low on silicon valley instead of high. good horn bits and
some really nice turns of phrase, but not a favorite. melvin is not as
polished as usual, nice song though. i didn't expect to like osha, but i do.
the backing vox da da da is quite good and the vox in general - well done.
the tv story is particularly good. Plain's pitch is all over the place, very
distracting. Perhaps you should try Melodyne. Same goes for Scow. Signboy
has some good quality, reminds me of Blondie, but the guitar parts are way
too repetitive. So's the guitar on sgcn - think this one is too long.
weakest's voice is in a very different place from the rest of the music. the
chorus is too repetitive. i can appreciate those waves of guitar though.
Trips is a good collab. I particularly like CR's parts. another favorite.
Adamadam's best part is the lalalalas. cutie pies - ken and bjam I think.
Love the instrumentation & the duet vox are great. Another favorite. Best
line: "ghost stories both funny and bizarre." pigpen's vox should be louder
for clarity's sake, the parts with the echoed vox are the best. noah's synth is
great back there behind the music. not a good start to rone's song, claiming
that it's awesome. unfortunately it's not working for me.

The best tracks in the fight: glennwood, j$, osha, trips, cuties

Again, judgeblood: That's potent. I would have given it a vote if it was entered in the fight. The stereo separation on those sounds in the beginning was kinda distracting on headphones, though; better when I turned it down a bit.
-bill

[nyjm]

favorites: judgeblood, flvx, glennwood, ip, j$, melvin, osha, trips, noah (these people get votes from me)
noah's synth is great back there behind the music.
-bill

thanks for the vote. i think it's the first time anyone's ever declared they were voting for one of my submissions on the boards.

for the record, it's all guitar: i just run my crappy acoustic pick-up through Clone Ensemble. Best organ sound without an organ that I didn't have to buy.

[HeuristicsInc]

oh, cool, i loved that sound. it really seemed to fit there.
first time? really? granted it is easier to get votes these days, but...
-bill

[rone rivendale]

not a good start to rone's song, claiming
that it's awesome.

Unfortunetly, you missed the point of the song. I was playing the part of a 'valley guy'. Kind of like a valley girl only it's a guy. I was useing alot of valley slang like awesome and dude and stuff like that.

Not a problem though, the song kinda sucks.

[Caravan Ray]

In order of preference:

VOTEWORTHY:
SGC Noel: Awesome! I love this one. Great guitar. Great vox. Great mood.

Melvin - This is very, very good indeed. A standout in your considerable fine catalogue. Great vocals. Catchy as buggery. You can't beat a good "live on my feet, die on my knees" chorus to get the drunks singing.

Johnny Cashpoint - Welcome back sir! This is very cool. A mellowness vocalwise I have not heard from you before. Reminding me of something I can't quite put my finger on, but I suspect it is something from the early 80s that involved narrow ties and a black&white film clip. Well done.

FlxxvmFlorm - Great lyrics. Dry bones is awesome. A guitar solo may have been nice - but this is very cool

BLT.etc - Weird hearing my voice on this. You did a great job putting this together, and the production is sensational. Love how the drums really kick in. Oh - and that is an awesome sitar solo! If you half-close your eyes it's just like Ravi Shanker is alive again!

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR:
Weakest Suit - Wow - this is all over the place! Great! Some pretty dodgy vocals in there, but this is a great effort. That chorus is very cool. I'm even loving the doof doof bass by the end of it . Well done.

PiGPEN - This would have been really sweet - but - yes, as everyone else has said - your organ is far too prominent. There is some great melody there, good vocal delivery and beat. Really like the chorus bit with the descending piano. Just remix it and pull that synth back a bit

Doves & Tigers - This really grew on me the more it went on. Very strange. Very good

Cutie Pies - I like the song a lot, but the production/arrangement is letting it down a bit. The appegiator-o-matic button of your keyboard seems to be getting a big workout. Voices don't seem to be blending well - it sound like you are in 2 different cities - which I suppose you are, but it shouldn't sound like that

Noah McLaughlin - Nice mood created, probably needs a bit more kick in the vocals towards the end to build it up - Get all worked up and righteous in the "Si je devais traverser la vallée des épaisses ténèbres, je ne craindrais aucun mal, car tu es auprès de moi" bit.

Osharenistas - Not at all bad. Very well done in fact - just not really grabbing me

Signboy - Not bad. Like the vocals, but the song seems to drag a bit. Needs more hook in the chorus.

AdamAdamant - I like this. Cool riff and beat. Lose points for the line about picking pineapples from a tree. WTF!?! A pineapple is a bromeliad! Oh well, I suppose you're a Pom and have only ever seen them in tins.

Glennwood - Very pleasant. Not at all bad. Could grow on me with further listens

Donkeypunch - sounds a bit too generic 1990s-American-angst-rock for me

i.p - Been really enjoying your recent entries. Not this one though.

THE REST:
MCEricB - Good songs should be about either sex or death. Preferably both. Not computers.

Kruegen - Nice effort, has its moments, but not really pulling it together

Hand Formula - Not grabbing me. (Didn't you sing about Penny Lane last week too?)

the Scow - Sounds a bit like what the Flight of the Conchords might sound like if their songs were completely pointless.

Rone - Not good


So - votes for SGC Noel, Melvin, Johnny Cashpoint, FlxxvmFlorm, BLT.etc

Well - that is how it would have worked in theory - but I voted before I got a chance to finish reviewing them all, so I only voted for the ones that I could remember which were Johnny Cashpoint, FlxxvmFlorm, and BLT.etc. Sorry Some Guy Called Noel - you should have had a vote from me but I forgot. You too Melvin - sorry I didn't break the deadlock for you.

[rone rivendale]

I was excited when I saw I had 6 votes. But then I realized 6 is still last place. Alot of peeps must have voted for everybody this time. *shrugs* still appreciated.

[j$]

2% of the vote as compared to 1% of the vote in your last fight. A definite improvement. Of sorts.

[Kill Me Sarah]

A Few reviews...If you didn't get one and really want one, PM me.

Cutie Pies
Uber catchy. Sounds like Strangle Disco. Really fun song. In some places the vocals are too, umm...clear lol. It seems like some words are a little over-enunciated. But overall I dig it.

Donkey Punch
I don't expect to like this at all, but there's something about it. Sounds kind of like some of Beck's earlier deep tracks, but kicked up a notch. Then the second half is almost Smashing Pumpkins-esque. Wow, a Beck/Smashing Pumpkins mash-up.

Flvxxvm Flvrvm
Really like this. Got a low down Tom Waits feel to it. I'm really happy it resists the temptation to turn into a scream-fest. I can hear this on a soundtrack.

Glenn Wood
This is a nice arrangement. The whole thing sounds very sincere.

Hand Formula
Really lovely lo-fi.

i.p.
I know we tell all the new people around here to "please be awesome" but sheesh guys. The horns and harmonies on this are ridiculous. Sorry again for the "friend-flood" comment earlier, this is really, really beautiful.

MC Eric B
Who'd have thought from your earlier stuff that you'd start pumping out Daniel Johnston-y stuff? You're showing really rapid progress.

Melvin
Nothing like Weezer and really awesome Great harmonies. I'm gonna beg you to sing harmonies on one of my songs one of these days...This is one of my favorites of yours.

Osharenistas
I'm a sucker for Eukelele. This is really pretty, and the arrangement is very tight. I may have to refer back to this next time I record, it sounds like our vocals may have a similar range, but I like your sound better. Is that you doing the higher harmony vox as well? If so, then I lied and you have way more range than me, I couldn't do that without moving into head voice.

Plain Songs
Oh man, I don't think I've heard your stuff before, but I love your voice. Very unique, awesome.

This was a ridiculously strong fight. I'm sorry I didn't listen sooner and vote. But I would have voted for i.p. and Melvin (among others) so wouldn't have changed the outcome.

[adamadamant]

AdamAdamant - I like this. Cool riff and beat. Lose points for the line about picking pineapples from a tree. WTF!?! A pineapple is a bromeliad! Oh well, I suppose you're a Pom and have only ever seen them in tins.

Ha, no I know, I recently found out to my distress. The valley in the song is supposed to be a dreamy happy place so pineapples there grow how they seem like they should (or how I thought they did).