Nur Ein IV Round One "Bullets & Lovers"

[frankie big face]

Rabid, you got shafted. I liked your song a lot.

Congrats to Meris--, I mean Ken and the--, er, Tiny Robots. That was a superb song and you deserved to win. Enjoy your immunity!

[glennny]

Bullets & Lovers

I really enjoyed this fight. I think the challenge forced some serious composition contemplation. I love that we got to hear solos too. So off the bat I had a favorite top five. I’ve had a good 15 or so listens to the fight. The same 5 are still my favorite. Each of them has spent time on the top of my list. It was really tough to order them. Any one of these 5 could’ve been number one for me.

Top 5 with their associated points-

23- Signboy- I mean you open in 13/8!!! AWESOME! I like the verse better than the chorus. To be honest I was ho hum about the chorus at 1st but it has really grown on me and I love it. This also has a fantastic solo. The intensity continues to build and climaxes at the end! This song reminds me how much I love Tool. I love the bass tone, drums sound great. There’s some wonderful music going on here. Very impressed!

22- Frankie Big Face- You also deserve a win for this entry. Your vocals are amazing! How can you pull off that register and sound so good? The ending is the best part. This wasn’t an issue for me, but this track sounded very clippy on my computer, and headphones, and ipod. However it sounded just right in my truck. This hits the sweet spot of great sounding guitars playing simple so the tone can be really enjoyed. It’s the vocal melodies that put this on the top. The solo is really safe, but you got lots of other goodness going on. EXCELLENT!

21- Paco del Stinko- So the riff is mediocre for you. At 1st I thought this would be a middle of the road entry for you. Then the backing vocals come in, crack me up. They’re so entertaining! The closest musical parallel I can think of is Zappa, who’s like my favorite, no wonder I love this. So then we get to the solos, they are tasty and tight! Then there’s the scat solo, especially the scat lick at 1:25 that shoots you to the top of my list.

20- Tiny Robots- By far the best produced song of the fight. Although I agree with Ross, I don’t really care for the 1991 Susan Vega megaphone vocal effect. I LOVE the verse riff! The chorus is really catchy. Every instrument is a delight to hear. Sam’s solo is perfect to be expected, but perhaps a little too low in the mix. I think the low register male vocals are perfect. This track is evidence of how professional you guys are, I can’t imagine a challenge that would make you guys even hesitate. Well done! Oh yeah, Erin sounds pitch perfect and sweet as ever (sans the megaphone shtick).

19- Swilington- Wow this is fresh sounding! Your “sing-talk” could be tighter. This is a delightful journey. What kept you from the very top was the strength of the solo. It’s a little sloppy and not as interesting as the rest of the song, it passes, but doesn’t really elevate. I love Brook’s vocals in this track. Strained vocals they say? Maybe I’m too much of an Emo guy, I think they sound great. This reminds me most of TMK, I wonder how Mr. Meddling Kid will enjoy this. Well done!

The rest as they descend on my list-

18- Todd McHatton- Nice solo! I especially like the vibrato on the sustained notes. That riff in the chorus is really infectious! Kind of an abrupt ending, makes me wonder how it would’ve ended given no restriction. Your voice and melody is always your strong suit. This is no exception.

17- Sheail- I admit I had to discuss it with the judges to decide whether this was eligible. 2 of us (myself included) initially were going to disqualify it. I was eventually convinced it met the challenge. So I’m happy about this, because A) this is very different from your 1st entry, what’s next? B) this just rocks! I like the dueling guitar solo. This is very metal instrumental. Done very well!

16- Andrew Reist- You’re kept from the top by conspicuously cheesy lyrics, and an annoying rhythm guitar tone: sooooooo much fuzz. That said, what rockin’ tune! Your signature vocal octave jump for “run… hide” work really well. The drums kick ass! Turn up the soloing guitar, turn down the rhythm guitar! Bass is safe, but not very interesting. I like your vocal performance a lot. This meets the challenge perfectly, I don’t feel like it was a strain, and everything feels natural. Ends very well!

15- Ross Durand- I think you played super safe by doing a guy and guitar track. Granted I hear a 2nd guitar doing some very pretty stuff! The production is fantastic. The acoustic sounds amazing. Your voice is strong and has a good melody to carry. Lyrics are among the best. I imagine the lyricists on the panel (all the other guys) will rate this very high. It’s impressive to hear a harmonica and to have it sound like an instrument rather than incidental breathing. (However a harmonica is the best instrument to place in a 3 year olds hand, such breathing is in key and forcibly somewhat melodic). Great chord pattern!

14- Tex Beaumont- Tragedy plus time = Comedy (Woody Allen) I find the comedy a little too overt here to be funny. However the backing vocals are soooooooooo tasty! And your vocals are engaging and well done. Have you heard the Zinkline track “I Don’t Like Tuesdays Either”? http://fawm.org/songs/5760/ It’s good to have you back Tex! I really like this track!

13- Nouveau Pauvre- Now that I know who you are and what vocal chops you possess, I hope that I get to hear some far less effected vocals. Is this the NP persona? You have such a killer voice, why clamp it? OK, that’s off my chest. This is a catchy song! Nice bass line! I think a little syncopation in the drums could elevate this song immensely. The synth solo sounds obligatory. If I were you and I could sing like you, it would’ve been a vocal solo. Anyway, good song! I’m excited to hear your next entry.

12- Cock- Wow I hate this genre. It’s undeniable how good of a vocalist you are. I’m curious, do you like the Faint? I love the Faint, I’ve always wondered why I love the Faint so much yet cringe at all of their influences, you sound like you could be among them. This is the kind of song that sounds really dull due to the synthetic nature of it, but if I imagine a band playing these notes, it’s a killer song! I forgot to put on my peeve list- going up a step, I love key and mode changes, but that one has been killed. I actually like the solo a lot.

11- Howl down the Chimney- This reminds me of Grant Lee Phillips with a drum machine. That solo is very good. It makes an otherwise dull song very interesting. I really like your voice, the song seems uninspired. With repeated listens, I just long to hear the solo. The synth pad makes me sleepy. Cool stuff!

10- Student Band- Charming and unassuming. There are some performance flubs, but they’re kind of endearing. The production is dirt simple, which is refreshing as well. This reminds me of early 90’s MTV 120 minutes. I like the low vocals. Cute song!

9- Wreckdom- I like how huge you guys sound. However there’s sooo many cymbals and open hi-hats. This is about the most uninteresting vocal melody I’ve ever heard. Just a little melody would go along way. I like your voice, I just wish you gave yourself something better to sing. I enjoy the rock, and this rocks.

8-Adam Adamant- The riff is great! A very weak solo I’m afraid. Sounds like you had a hard time coming up with something to accompany the big riff. I always like your heavily English vocals. This is very danceable, just a great beat with a great riff. Otherwise kinda thin.

7- Test Week Hiatus- Cute song. That’s not a solo. However I don’t think it assumes to be. It’s like a Lou Reed solo. There’s some nice bass line runs in there. I guess the guitar is doing some proper solo licks briefly. The good sign is this sounds pretty tight. I enjoy this, I feel bad where it lands on my list, tough competition.

6- John Kloberdanz- I like the guitar playing a lot. Too much reverb for my tastes, but very pretty. The vocals aren’t bad but they don’t seem to really fit with the guitar. There are some awkward breathing moments. Generally I think a breath should come at the end of a line, or sentence. There are several times where there’s a breath mid line-sentence-thought. It’s a little distracting.

5- Jon Eric- Out of tune guitar is really annoying. Pretty weak guitar solo. The out of tune guitar dampers everything. Everything sounds a bit sour. You sound very unsure of the chords during the solo too. This track needs a re-record, however it’s well written, just performances issues.

4- Nigel- I count on you for strange and quirky beats and production. This has the vocals in a weird over effected place. The music is much thinner than expected. I like the chorus much more than the ascending verses which are rather grating.

3- Chopped Liver Meat God- Drum machine. Snore. Pitchy vocals, unsure and lost. Sorry man, this just doesn’t work for me. I hate the song, but kinda love the solo at the end.

2- MC Eric B- I kinda like this solo actually. Well chosen notes, performed well. The rest is non-offensive, but not so good.

1- Rabid Garfunkel- Sloppy and unoriginal. I like your voice, but it is sloppy as well, could use some timing improvements. Slide guitar sounds incidental and not very melodic. This doesn’t work for me at all.

[frankie big face]

22- Frankie Big Face- You also deserve a win for this entry. Your vocals are amazing! How can you pull off that register and sound so good? The ending is the best part. This wasn’t an issue for me, but this track sounded very clippy on my computer, and headphones, and ipod. However it sounded just right in my truck. This hits the sweet spot of great sounding guitars playing simple so the tone can be really enjoyed. It’s the vocal melodies that put this on the top. The solo is really safe, but you got lots of other goodness going on. EXCELLENT!

Thanks Glenn. I'm still a hardware guy at heart and learning how to make music using software has been a challenge. Every time I get a really good loud track happening and then I use onboard compression and dithering (or whatever), I lose tons of volume and sparkle. So this time I just recorded everything loud and left it that way. On my big studio speakers, it sounds good, but on little speakers (like headphones and computer speakers), not so much. So I'm not surprised your truck liked it but your iPod did not. I'm glad you like the guitars--they're just stock modelers in Logic! (and my Paul Reed Smith, of course)

P.S. For vocals, I started feeding everything through my old Joe Meek VC1 before putting it into the computer and I've been much happier ever since.

[Nigel (spOOn) Clements]

Phew! skin of my teeth, thank you judge 5!

Rabid? c'mon... un-b-loodly-leavable!!

[Lord of Oats]

I hate you.

[ujnhunter]

I want a revote... Rabid had one of my favorite songs this week... :\

edit: thanks glennny, we'll try to stay away from your genre bias this week.

[bambamoozle]

I'd like to thank everyone for the feedback. As I mentioned earlier in this thread I threw out what I started with and wrote something of a completely different style, on Saturday. I'm very happy to move on to Round 2.

Thanks to the judges for their effort, this can't be easy.

NUR EIN!

[Henrietta]

Somehow the effect feels like it fits the vocal quality here - but same question as for Tiny robots - why? not a put-down a genuine question.

Mostly for texture, like from cotton to burlap.

[Lunkhead]

We used the telephone effect to create more contrast between the verses and choruses. Ken wasn't into it, though, and if he had mixed the song he probably wouldn't have used it.

[frankie big face]

We used the telephone effect to create more contrast between the verses and choruses. Ken wasn't into it, though, and if he had mixed the song he probably wouldn't have used it.

FWIW, I liked that aspect of the tune.

[furrypedro]

Some reviews.

Howl down the chimenia: Nice string pads. I was enjoying this and then I thought "moby?". I'll erase that from my brain, this is a bit more like Grandaddy or Mercury Rev really. I dig. I love that solo, but since it's at least a quarter of the song I found myself going back to make sure there were enough verses and choruses and stuff to satisfy the challenge. You're okay (obviously you know that, you wrote the song and you're clearly not an idiot), I guess the song passed by so pleasantly I had to be sure. Anyway, good solo, got an oriental vibe which I enjoy. sttaaattticicctccc......

Todd McHatton: This is probably the best sounding song of the fight, and the song's actually not bad too. My favourite bit is the bridge with the delay on the guitar and the organ in the background. Strangely I have no idea what you're singing about but i still like it.

Ross Durand: I'm sold on this by the time you say the "...in a field of gold was all they found" bit and the harmonica and 2nd guitar makes it all the better.

Cock: I think squelchy synths need to be way dirty if they sound cool, this just sounds like a 2nd rate preset. Anyway, this song is good, good vocal performance, it's popariffic, the solo is coolio. And well done for squeezing a key change (or should I say 'Manilow modulation') in there, even if it was cheesy as fuck.

PDS: You are my hero. You might be thinking why, with an opening statement like that, did you not win the round. Well, the reason you're my hero is that your scat solo made me wet myself, but unfortunately winning songs make me cry, not laugh. Isn't life a bitch?

Swilington: Ooh, I think I've heard that drum patch in something, can't remember what. Ha, sorry, good sounds. This is a nice soundscape. I'm not sure I should say this cos I don't wanna put you off and it's good to hear you singing some nice strong vocals, but they do sorta border on the Fall Out Boy a bit. The guitar solo starts off way sketchy. I like it, but there are a few holes.

Tiny Robots: Good again. I prefer the verses to the chorus where you seem to settle into tried and tested TR territory. There's a part in that keyboard line that sounds just like Madonna's 'Beautiful Stranger'.

Sheail: Panterrific. I do wonder if you'll get marked down for doing an instrumental, it's a bold move. Personally I think you pull it off. Not that I'm a massive cock-rock fan or nuffink. The samples definitely help bolster what could have been a bit of a one dimensional track. Solid riffage.

John Kloberdanz: Song and singing are okay here, they don't drag the song down, but what I really love is your guitar playing. It's the sound as much as the melody, and the way the tone doubles up for the solo is really nice even if the chorus on the lead guitar is a wee bit cheesy. The solo should've been longer.

Tex Beaumont: This does well in my book for 3 reasons: 1) the lyrics 2) the samples 3) that little electric piano or whatever it is at the beginning. There are times when you're vocal delivery grates a bit, mainly in the chorus.

Jon Eric: I'm agonising over this. I think this is a good song but too many little things about the recording stop me from enjoying it. The acoustic guitar sounds a bit out of tune, the kick drum seems to drown out the snare, and the fills sound stuttered and midi-ish (as in I don't like the sound of the toms and your playing isn't very fluid at the changes). The sound of the lead guitar is just plain and boring. I guess you're rushed, but it's well worth re-recording this.

Frankie J Caravanserai: Yeah, getting better. No point in blowing your creative load too early. Still not firing on all cylinders yet but this has plenty of Built to Spill-ishness to get the thumbs up from me.

Wreckdom: What's this song about? The laugh makes me think of Tap's Rock n Roll Creation.

Nouveau Pauvre: Kind of anti-MC Eric syndrome here, or rather since Sleep Tight I have towering expectations of you. This is okay but the backing track doesn't hold together that great; the drums sound a bit thin, and the casio lead is too overused for it to be effective. Good vox, and I like the opening line.

Signboy: It's a cruel twist of fate having you and Sheail right next to each other when you're so similar stylistically. The fact that it's not a style I'm into generally doesn't help, and unfortunately it's your vocals which push this into pop-metal territory and ultimately further down the ranks. The rest of the song I can't really fault technically.

Adam Adamantium: Diggin the dirtalicious funkadelic bassline. The vocals occasionally remind me of J$/Dan le Sac but too often it sounds like you lose confidence in yourself and it just creeps into "a bit limp" territory. Potentially really cool but needs a bit of polishing/tightening up before I pay/download/vote for it.

Reist infection: Nice album name, "Kristin is a buttock", only one? harsh. Um, yeah, generic stuff from you here. Albeit well recorded generic stuff. You're seriously gonna need to step out of your comfort zone stylistically if you're gonna survive long here. Sorry, I never promised objectivity (cos it would be pointless). I'll give you a freebie, trying to sound like Neutral Milk Hotel will do you well, do you know any theremin players?

Student Band: I want to like you guys, you remind me of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and I LOVE them, but the sloppy recording/performance stops me from enjoying what may have been a nice song. You do sound seriously amateurish and considering there are 4 of you I'd expect a bit more technical proficiency. This seems incredibly cold of me. I hope that you do both of the following things, 1) survive this round 2) get way better at playing in time for the next round, then I'll be on your side.

Rabid: I wouldn't want to be you when glennny reviews these. I think Quentin Tarantino would make this song cool, but where is he now? Not here, that's where.

MC Eric B: I'm marking you up this week purely for not submitting a track as bad as last round. Your vocal stylings are still quite creepy but at least behind it you have a track with the kind of rhythm and melody that Rone would kill for.

Test Week Haitus: For a moment I thought this was okay, it doesn't piss me off or anything but there's about as much inventiveness as a piece of cheese. I don't know if the solo can even be called a solo since the bass probably plays more notes during.

Nigel: Is that a real guitar?!

Chopped liver: This makes me glad we went for the under 2 minute challenge. The last 10-15 seconds are by far the best bit of the song (in fact, better than that, even "quite good"), not for the superspeed arpeggio, I just like the sound of that synth. But your id3 lied to me and said 1.48, then when the song carried on past that I was thinking "go over 2 minutes I dare you, give me a reason to disqualify you", maybe I'm an evil bastard, this really wasn't painful to listen to or anything, and I like the "ammunition can be bought at walmart" line.

Billinda: Hard Rawk! And a possible anthem for paedophilia/rape? (it's not a crime if you shout "surprise!" first). I'm sorry you're out cos I would've ranked this high, and part of me feels like if other Nur Ein-ers don't mind you being in then we could've been lenient but hey, the rulez is tha rulez yo. Anyway, the tune, it doesn't hit any of my special buttons but in spite of that I think it's killer. I wanna put it on a mixtape and drive around really fast with it on and pull up next to grannies and pull a Kiss face at them.

I think we've had better rounds though there was some alright stuff here. I find it funny that one of us ranked Teplin highest and one lowest.

[JonPorobil]

Jon Eric: I'm agonising over this. I think this is a good song but too many little things about the recording stop me from enjoying it. The acoustic guitar sounds a bit out of tune, the kick drum seems to drown out the snare, and the fills sound stuttered and midi-ish (as in I don't like the sound of the toms and your playing isn't very fluid at the changes). The sound of the lead guitar is just plain and boring. I guess you're rushed, but it's well worth re-recording this.

This might be the most accurate review of my song yet, as far as I'm concerned. I spent most of the recording period this round packing up for a move, and then my entire Saturday actually moving. Started the recording process at noon on Sunday (the deadline was 11:00 P.M. my time). I was already aching all over when I started, so it was easy to let some errors slide for the sake of being done.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, though. My "Schadenfreude" should be a lot cleaner and more precise.

[adamadamant]

Adam Adamantium: Diggin the dirtalicious funkadelic bassline. The vocals occasionally remind me of J$/Dan le Sac but too often it sounds like you lose confidence in yourself and it just creeps into "a bit limp" territory. Potentially really cool but needs a bit of polishing/tightening up before I pay/download/vote for it.

Thanks I was kind of hoping it might come across with a bit of a Scroobius Pip vibe, but I know I need to not be afraid to raise my voice occasionally. Only who knows who will be listening when I do that, I am still quantifiably nervous of signing too loudly in my flat.

EDIT: Thought I'd add (a rhetorical question), who put Howl in last place?! I wonder if that was because he posted the alternate version? I can't imagine anyone would place it that low on it's own merit (or lack of).

[Nigel (spOOn) Clements]

Nigel: Is that a real guitar?!

Yes!!

[Student Band]

Student Band: I want to like you guys, you remind me of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and I LOVE them, but the sloppy recording/performance stops me from enjoying what may have been a nice song. You do sound seriously amateurish and considering there are 4 of you I'd expect a bit more technical proficiency. This seems incredibly cold of me. I hope that you do both of the following things, 1) survive this round 2) get way better at playing in time for the next round, then I'll be on your side.

Thanks for the comment. We know our sound is sloppy, we haven't recorded much and are still trying to get used to it. Glad to hear you want to like us, haha. We will try and clean up our sound a little on this next one. Just listened to a little Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and I must say I do like it.

[Teplin]

I find it funny that one of us ranked Teplin highest and one lowest.

Yeah, me too, I wonder if that's ever happened before. I always thought my music was love-it-or-loathe-it, and now it seems I have proof.

EDIT: Thought I'd add (a rhetorical question), who put Howl in last place?! I wonder if that was because he posted the alternate version?

Yeah, I'd definitely want to know if it was because of that, or if I was disqualified because someone's media player showed it as 2:01.

[Niveous]

I'm pretty sure that the lowest-highest thing has never happened before. And there I was, worrying that having the other 4 judges all from the same band would produce very similiar votes. Boy, was I wrong. As for the reason behind the hi-lo. Everyone passed the time requirement. It happened simply because one judge loved your tune while the other thought you crapped the bed this round. Can't please everyone.

[Teplin]

I'm pretty sure that the lowest-highest thing has never happened before. And there I was, worrying that having the other 4 judges all from the same band would produce very similiar votes. Boy, was I wrong. As for the reason behind the hi-lo. Everyone passed the time requirement. It happened simply because one judge loved your tune while the other thought you crapped the bed this round. Can't please everyone.

Cool Niv, thanks for clearing that up. That's what I was hoping. I'm cool with the fact that my music can have a polarizing effect. I'm happier with that than if I'd lost points due to a technical glitch or a thoughtless post.

[Eric Y.]

I am still quantifiably nervous of signing too loudly in my flat.

Hm, don't know if this got lost in translation--or maybe it's a cultural difference--but where I come from, signing is generally silent.

[Paco Del Stinko]

I'm pretty sure that the lowest-highest thing has never happened before.

Maybe not, but I came close last year, a couple of times. Like, second to last and first or something. Different strokes, and all that. Paging Dr. Lunkhead, Dr. Lunkhead to the statistics room, stat!

[Lunkhead]

Ha ha. Sadly I don't have the individual judges' rankings dumped out somewhere where I can easily figure that out. But now I feel like I should...

[glennny]

Here's the standard deviation among the judges for the 2 minute round. We agree most on Sheail and differ most on Howl Down the Chimney.

0.55 Sheail
1.79 Chopped Liver Meat God
1.92 Tiny Robots
2.00 MC Eric B
2.19 Nigel Clements
2.68 Rabid Garfunkel
3.44 Test Week Hiatus
3.61 Student Band
3.77 Wreckdom
4.02 Jon Eric
4.28 John Kloberdanz
4.32 Ross Durand
4.39 Cock
4.45 Adam Adamant
4.56 Frankie Big Face
4.71 Paco del Stinko
5.45 Nouveau Parvue
5.54 Swilington
5.59 Andrew Reist
5.81 Signboy
5.90 Todd McHatton
6.19 Tex Beaumant
8.02 Howl Down the Chimney


The Unnatural Disaster round last year, the WSA was 2nd to last and 1st (twice). There were only 20 contestants in that round.

And there I was, worrying that having the other 4 judges all from the same band would produce very similar votes. Boy, was I wrong.

Would you really expect Paul, George, John and Ringo to all vote the same?
or Robert , Adrian, Tony and Bill?
or Gordon, Andy and Stewart?
or Trey, Mike, Jon, and Page?
or Nick, Roger, David, and Richard?
or Lou, John, Sterling and Maureen?
or Justin, Chris, Joey, Jason, and JC?
or Jane, Charlotte, Gina, Kathy, and Belinda?
or Kirilola, Fuzuki, and Keikos?