You Spin Me Right 'Round Baby Right 'Round (Spin The Bottle)

[adamadamant]

Adam Adamnt- David Bowie! Time takes a cigarette, and puts it in your mouth. I freaking love Bowie. So I’m a sucker for this song, but it’s just not right. You’re a Rock N Roll Suicide : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jg4ekLG9Zo

Ha, guilty! That was the first (and pretty much only) song I learnt (well I tried) on the guitar. I don't think I know any chords which aren't in that song.

[furrypedro]

YEAH! I GOT MORE VOTES THAN YOU JEDI SPACESHIP!! F**KIN' EAT IT!!!!!!
(ahem)

Word to the BD's
and also to Paul, who came second but doesn't get a mention on the front page. A wee bit mean I think.

[Spud]

and also to Paul, who came second but doesn't get a mention on the front page. A wee bit mean I think.

Not mean at all. Just an oversight. Fixed. Congrats, Paul. XXX.

SPUD

[deetak]

Thanks for the comments/reviews. I'm not really familiar with Dirty Projectors or J. Buckley (though a friend once made a Tim Buckley comparison, glenny) but I'll check them out.

[[[[The cover art is pretty cool, Teplin.]]]]

Adam Adamant – Nice song. Feels like it’s building up to something very big but pulls away.

Andrew Reist – I like the jumps to falsetto in the vocal melody.

Ash Kanna – Melody from 1:15 to before the chorus is my favorite part

Berkley Social Scene – I like the lyrics. The texture is cool at parts. The “suck it in, pucker up” part is a good change to the atmosphere, maybe something else like that to break things up?

Billy’s Little Trip featuring Quimby – Singing is great. Good intensity throughout.

Bourbon Drops – Chorus is sweet with the backup vocals. Bridge feels like it could have another instrument in it or melodic line? End is strong.

Charles Cack & His Little Cack Surprise – Whistling part . I wish the scratchiness effect wasn’t so loud, since the song doesn’t need it that much – the song itself can call back the aesthetic fine.

Deetak – I think this is the best song mixing wise I’ve done for songfight

Drew Styles and the Blue Velvet Band – Verse is not very interesting because of the short melody’s repetition. Atmosphere brought out is good, though.

Jedi Spaceship – Personal bias desiring more harmonic changes, sorry

Jim Mccarter- Little guitar riff in 2nd chorus is nice

Ka Mua Hana Punahele – Texture is great.

Lynette Lewis – I like the chorus melody much more than the verse. The instrumentation/riff in verse is cool

LSK – I see this played by distorted guitars. Would be an alright riff for a larger song.

MCLK – Voice good. Bass could have more interesting groove?

MC Joebudy – Maybe I’m not familiar with the genre, but the quicker rapping could use more emotion, I think.

Noah Mclaughlin – Backing up vocals part is my favorite part – most interesting melodically

Paco Del Stinko – Bass is great. The 0:26 – 0:50 is my favorite (and when it repeats). Guitar riffing during verse is cool – kind of thing I wish I could easily throw in my songs.

Pathetic Wannabees- Instrumental breakdown in the middle is a good turn

Paulotteson – Harmonizing part is nice

Sky Looks Pissed – The 1:43 – 2:00 part is cool, I mean that first kind of stuttering guitar note that comes in there

south sycamore wheelbarrows factoire – It’s hard for me to make out what’s intended here, might just be the mismatched rhythm

Those Meddling Kids – I like the chorus and the instrumentation/texture. Cool atmosphere.

Toasted Sandwich – I like the melody and that other instrument in that scat part

Wages – Interesting structure.

Weakest Suit – Change in strumming/melody at end is nice.

[Manhattan Glutton]

Sometimes I wish I had an accent so I could make songs like this.

I found this comment confusing, songs like what? that sound like an english person, cos you don't need an accent to play guitar and blip over it. Anyway you do have an accent, I'm the one without the accent .If you have a lyric that you want to borrow my pitch-imperfect voice for you're more than welcome.

I guess I should explicate a bit. First of all, you, sir, have the accent! And along with the accent comes a lot of musical influence that I don't necessarily have.
Further, the voice lends a lot of authenticity to the sound as a whole. I tried being a brit-pop band for A Scary Thing, and it didn't really work out that well.

Anyway, I liked it, I voted for it.

[Lunkhead]

Just a warning, I'm a bit harsh in some of these reviews. Hopefully I won't come across as too much of an a-hole.

Adam Adamant
I wish you'd tuned up your guitar better. This starts out pretty rough, with the out of tune guitar. Your singing starts out a bit shaky though it gets a little more solid eventually. The part where you name the people who play spin the bottle makes the song for me, though, I really like that part. The synth bit could probably be half as long. Your second verse lyrics are a little bland. That chorus part could use some "aah aah aaaaah" backup vocals.

Andrew Reist
Those guitars are a bit overpowering. I don't like the "bottle"/"lotto" rhyme. The slow thudding dirge feel isn't really doing it for me. I keep wishing it would kick into thrash mode, like have 20-30 seconds of the dirge intro, then thrash for a a couple minutes, then maybe revisit the dirge briefly, then thrash again...

Ash Kanna
Your intro is too long. It's like 45 seconds till you get to the first verse. Your singing is good and the arrangement is good. I'm not really getting into the lyrics, unfortunately. "I'm your hot dog, you're my hot" wha?

Berkeley Social Scene
My apologies for my sloppy interminable noodling in the right channel here, but I really didn't think anybody was ever going to hear this jam. I think there could maybe be a touch less reverb on the vocals, for my tastes.

BLT+Quimby
That chorusy effect on the clean guitars is making them sound out of tune. I think that Quimby's bass and vocals could be louder. Takes a long time to get to the chorus, and that part doesn't last long enough for me. I think the vocals could use less reverb here, too. This is feeling pretty repetitive after a couple minutes... I wish the guitar solo shredded a little more.

Charles Cack etc.
This does nothing for me, sorry. I don't find it to be clever or humorous.

deetak
I like the lyrics. I like your singing but sometimes when you're really getting into it it sounds a bit affected, and I get pulled out of the song a bit. The background vocals are really nice throughout though. This borders on meandering sometimes, but it's short enough not to feel too directionless. I'd have liked some more instrumentation, like maybe some sparse percussion or something.

Drew Styles et al
You need to tighten up those doubled vocals, or just go with one vocal track. Takes a while to get to the chorus and then it's kind of short. It's a nice chorus, you could probably make it twice as long. The second verse sounds better than the first. I like the lyrics more, too. I like the addition of more voices but I wish they were a little more in tune. And while I enjoy the chorus that's way too many repeats of it all at the end (a whole minute of it?).

Jedi Spaceship
Cool riff. This reminds me of sonofsupercar. (Your other stuff generally doesn't.) The bass solo is a little weak, I wish it shredded a bit more. Is everybody playing bass in this?

Jim McCarter
This isn't really jumping out from the millions of guy-and-guitar songs I've heard on here. The lyrics aren't really grabbing me. The singing and playing are mostly just OK.

Ka Maua (Durands Bros.)
This is a really fun song. I liked it a lot. Great work! I liked when Ross's vocals came in, it's nice to hear you guys singing together.

LML
This is one of my favorite's from this fight, for some reason. Lots of the elements would normally seem bad (the bored sounding singing, the cheesy lyrics, the 80's dance music) to me but they all fight together to really create a coherent vibe that just works. It would have been cool if you'd changed how you were singing the second set of four lines in both the second and third verses, like you did during the first verse. That would have helped keep it from feeling a bit repetitive. That and/or trying to trim the whole thing down a bit in length somehow. That third verse is a bit weaker than the others, maybe you could have taken the best bits from that and the second verse and combined them, to just have two solid verses.

LSK
Bullshit.

MC and LK
This was alright for a reggae song. Not a genre I'm that into, though.

mc joebudy
You need to work on your flow and your beats. Also your vocals sound a bit muffled and like they're coming out of a tin can or something. Are you using a laptop mic or something? You sound like you maybe need a pop filter, and a hi-pass EQ on your vocal track. This was quite a bit too long, too.

noah mclaughlin
Ooh, French. That drum beat is a bit odd. The snare roll gives this a sort of military feel to me. I like that distorted lead guitar part that comes in. I think it holds out the last notes a bit too long over the next part, though, and gets kind of dissonant there. Something sounds off about the "group" vocals, like one of the tracks is really over MP3 compressed or something. Anyway, decent song.

Paco del Stinko
I liked this one. Nice synth in the left channel. Good chord changes going into the chorus. I liked the bass playing, too.

Pathetic Wannabees
"La bamba"? Just kidding. I wish the guitar was louder. I wish the vocals were quieter, and that you'd used a wind screen and a hi-pass EQ on them. I like the harmonica. This is very mono sounding, too, was this recorded live with one mic? It's a fun little jam.

paulotteson
Awesome, loved it. I really enjoyed your FAWM stuff and I'm glad to hear you on Song Fight! I hope you come back some time. This is the kind of guy-and-guitar song that I really enjoy.

The Sky Looks Pissed
Not quite as stellar as paul's GnG song. I'm not really into the echoing lead guitar. The acoustic guitar playing is good. I think you need a better signal path for your vocals, too, for them to really shine.

South Sycamore etc.
I don't know why it happened to you, and please stop asking over and over again.

Those Meddling Kids
I wish your vocals weren't so lo-fi. They kind of get lost in all the cool instrumentation that's happening. I dig the glockenspiel. I like the song overall. The instrumentation is really creative, which is nice to hear on Song Fight!

Toasted Sandwich
I suspect this is "oddbod". I really liked this one, though I felt the scatting was a bit dubious. Mouth horn was pushing it, buddy. Anyway, I also liked your FAWM stuff and your other SF! entries, so I hope you come back for more, too.

Wages
Oh man, what's that buzzing noise? It's unpleasant. Maybe it's my mp3 player. I'm not really into the singing, there are some pitch issues, and since this is just singing and guitar that's taking a lot away from me. Also the lyrics feel a bit rambling. >4min. is waaaay too long.

The Weakest Suit
I enjoyed this one. "It's like 'Eyes Wide Shut' for 15 year old kids" is a good line. Good use of "sexting".


The Bourbon Drops
I'm surprised we won, but thanks for the reviews and the votes. The lineup this time was: Erin on lead vocals, shaker, and handclaps; Amy on uke and backup vocals x2; Kat on guitar, backup vocals x2, and awesome recorder solo (I can't believe no one mentioned that!!); me on uke, backup vocals, and handclaps. This time we recorded in stereo! And we did a couple overdubs!

In summary, my favorites were Ka Maua Hana Punahele, LML, Paco del Stinko, paulotteson, Those Meddling Kids, and Toasted Sandwich. This is the first time I can think of when the that got the most votes were the ones that I voted for, or almost voted for.

[jast]

Sorry for being late! I'm not going to really review lyrics this time because I'm in a hurry. You'll all get what my first impression of the lyrics is. Sorry for that, too.

Adam Adamant -- 12/15
C:3 L:2 F:2 P:2 (Guitar is out of tune. In some of the chords, the high E string in D minor in particular, you have half-open strings. That means you have to practice playing chords. Pretty good and fitting vocals. Occasionally off but it's not that bad.) M:2 (I find the staccato synth rather shrill. Some people are reviewing these songs on headphones! Guitar sounds a little bit boxy.)

Andrew Reist -- 9/15
C:1 (almost boring arrangement and no musical variations. Suboptimal combination.) L:2 F:2 P:2 (the falsetto isn't very accurate and you often mess up the timing and/or pitch when you go back to normal voice. Rest is good.) M:2 (I think the crunch thing is a bit too loud. Bit less early reverb on the vocals? I dunno. In some places I think the reverb on the drums a bit too much.)

Ash Kanna -- 13/15
C:3 (I don't normally like this sort of stuff. Good thing you did it a cappella, that almost makes it an automatic win. ) L:2 F:3 P:2 (So your lead vocals are very good. I'm starting to think I'm doing something wrong in recording my lead vocals... or maybe I just suck. Everything else though sort of muddles together a bit. I think that's because you're using a rather soft vocal style in all voices. Especially since I think you could do rather awesome things with a bit more power, I'd really like to hear you experiment with that.) M:3 (I find the reverb on the lead vocals pretty bright; I'd have used a low-pass filter on it, I guess. Considering the things I said in the previous category, though, the mix is pretty punchy.)

Berkeley Social Scene -- 9/15
C:1 (arrangement sounds improvised. If it isn't, that's a bad thing. Not a fan of the overall composition.) L:2 F:2 P:2 (unsteady vocals. I have the same sort of problem, I guess. There are a fair number of notes you don't hit right away. Interesting contrast between guitar tones. I'm not sure if I like that. I guess it doesn't gel too well. Could be a problem of the mix, though.) M:2 (I'm not quite sure but I think there's a bit of clipping somewhere in there. Backup vocals in chorus are too far up front to my ears.)

Billy's Little Trip featuring Quimby -- 13/15
C:2 (I find the intro a bit weird. Fun guitar stuff! Reminds me of Lovin' Spoonful and Beach Boys at the same time, if that makes sense, though the song clearly isn't close to either. Cool!) L:2 F:3 P:3 (Lead vocals are a bit off sometimes. No biggie.) M:3

The Bourbon Drops -- 14/15
C:3 (I like this sort of composition a lot. Not too predictable either... nice.) L:2 F:3 P:3 (awesome live feeling, too. Well done!) M:3 (if this really is live, it's great. If it isn't, it's still more than good enough.)

Charles Cack & His Little Cack Surprise -- 11/15
C:2 L:2 F:2 P:2 (bad timing. Otherwise you pretty much succeeded.) M:3 (it's obviously what you were going for. Can't say I like it that much, though. I think the whistling is not thin enough, compared to everything else.)

deetak -- 11/15
C:2 (some of the chord progressions sound a bit far-fetched to me.) L:2 F:2 P:2 (rather poor intonation; vocals are fine apart from that, I guess, though they're probably a matter of taste. Good guitar playing.) M:3

Drew Styles & the Blue Velvet Band -- 12/15
C:3 (This isn't really all exciting or anything but somehow I still like it a lot. Probably because of all the stuff in the chorus.) L:2 F:3 P:2 (The doubling isn't very synchronous in places. Vocals sometimes sound rushed. I think many things are actually badly timed, mainly the lead guitar. I like the drums very much though.) M:2 (vocals are a lot weaker in verses than in the chorus. I think the verses would also have sounded cooler without all the doubling. Clean mix.)

Jedi Spaceship -- 12/15
C:2 L:2 F:2 P:3 (I don't personally like it but it does what it's supposed to do. I think.) M:3 (pretty dark and grimy mix, if that makes sense. Cool.)

Jim McCarter -- 12/15
C:2 (pretty standard stuff. Not to say it's bad, but it's not genius either.) L:2 F:3 P:3 (your vocal sustains sound a bit wobbly. The vocal style fits very well with the song, though, so I'll look past that for now.) M:2 (try avoiding handling noises especially at the beginning of a track. I don't like how the guitar panning changes. I would suggest cutting low end from the vocals, not just because of the plosives. I think you have way too much bass in them. Or, if you've got a microphone with proximity effect (very likely), try a bit more distance when recording.

Ka Maua Hana Punahele -- 14/15
C:3 (this is really fun. Nice to distract me from all the rain outside, too.) L:2 F:3 P:3 (lots of genius in this.) M:3

LML -- 12/15
C:2 (I think the bass line really doesn't fit the verses. I like the overall song, very 80's. That's normally not a good thing as far as I'm concerned, but sometimes it is.) L:2 F:2 P:2 (this song would have needed vocals with power! I'm pretty sure of that.) M:2 (bring up the vocals a bit, and turn down the reverb a little bit to compensate. Rather sudden ending.)

LSK -- 2/15
C:0 L:0 F:0 P:1 (bad timing, weird vocal tone, doubling isn't too great either) M:1 (clipping)

MC and LK -- 11/15
C:2 (it's great in the beginning but doesn't get even better. Too bad, really. You don't start with your best bit!) L:2 F:3 P:2 (I guess the out of tune instruments are sort of okay for this kind of music. Timing is a bit unsteady. Did you double each of the singers? I think that doesn't fit well with the styles.) M:2 (plosives.)

mc joebudy -- 6/15
C:0 (That's just two alternating loops. You can auto-generate this sort of stuff.) L:2 F:1 P:1 (if all you're going to do is speak over a loop of stuff, casual style talking like that doesn't cut it. Speaking is almost an art; it doesn't show in this song. M:2 (could have compressed away a bit of the dynamic unevenness of the vocals. Bad plosives.)

noah mclaughlin -- 11/15
C:2 (I dig the arrangement. I don't like the vocal melody quite as much.) L:2 F:2 P:3 (I'm not much of a fan of the vocals, as you might have noticed. There's not really anything wrong with the rest, though, and vocals aren't really bad either, so I'll just shut up.) M:2 (the fake choir sounds pretty fake. No complaints apart from that.)

Paco del Stinko -- 13/15
C:3 (interesting changes in this) L:2 F:2 P:3 (vocals sound a bit rushed sometimes, but I've heard some songs of yours where I liked the vocals a lot less.) M:3

Pathetic Wannabees -- 10/15
C:2 (it's actually pretty fun) L:2 F:2 P:2 (a lot of the vocals is just a matter of taste, I guess. The parts that have a melody are a bit off.) M:2 (pretty bad mics, I guess. The vocal reverb sounds cheap/artificial. Clipping at times.)

paulotteson -- 13/15
C:2 (I don't like this as much as I think I maybe should. Too bad.) L:2 F:3 P:3 (great vocals in particular) M:3 (kind of minimalistic)

The Sky Looks Pissed -- 11/15
C:2 (I don't get the double notes on the guitar.) L:2 F:3 P:2 (sing out!) M:2 (is that the same mic on the guitar and the vocals? Anyway, the vocal recording isn't very good... thin and boomy at the same time, if that's even possible. If you can, try another mic. At the very least, use a high-pass filter to get rid of the very low end, not least because of plosives.)

South Sycamore Wheelbarrow Factory Ensemble -- 7/15
C:2 L:2 F:1 P:1 (either the vocal timing is really off, or you're just way more experimental than I am. Same for pitch.) M:1 (awfully fuzzy mix. Tons of clipping? Not convinced.)

Those Meddling Kids -- 13/15
C:3 (I really love this. Great chorus. I'm not so sure about the ending. I tend to like it, I think.) L:2 F:3 (great pads in chorus!) P:3 (extra points for real glockenspiel playing!) M:2 (this may be a gear issue, but somehow you have slight plosives while the vocals sound rather thin otherwise. Try getting closer to the mic and cutting more low end in the mix. Or get a different mic. The second alternative will probably work better. What's that almost constant buzzing doing? It doesn't help the song if you ask me.)

Toasted Sandwich -- 14/15
C:3 (fun, lots of it. Excellent arrangement.) L:2 F:3 P:2 (you sound like your nose is stuffed. Otherwise great. I wouldn't normally go for vocals that are this weak and falsetto-y, but it sort of works for this song.) M:3

Wages -- 10/15
C:2 (this really would have livened up with a fuller arrangement. As it is, I think it should have been a bit shorter.) L:2 F:2 P:2 (vocal timing is off in a weird way, pitch is off in some parts, too. Since other parts were fine, I think you might want to practice your parts better, and concentrate. I know, It's easy to get carried away...) M:2 (weird noises in the mix. Bad mic amp? Sometimes the guitar is too loud compared to the vocals. Too much delay in the bridge, I think. Clipping/stuttering.)

The Weakest Suit -- 12/15
C:3 L:2 F:2 P:2 (I think you've done better singing before. The guitar really helps drive this.) M:3

Votes would have gone to Ash Kanna, Billy's Little Trip feat. Quimby, The Bourbon Drops, Ka Maua Hana Punahele, Paco del Stinko, paulotteson, Those Meddling Kids, Toasted Sandwich... but I missed the voting period.

[LML]

I hope people understand that I was trying to emulate an 80's song as best as possible. Horrible lyrics and all. The title was crap, so I made a cheese tastic song. I'm not sorry about it. K?

[Billy's Little Trip]

The title was crap

We don't say that here. It's forbidden. There are no crappy titles, only unimaginative douche bags.