How much blood did you spill? (Let's Get Bloody Reviews)

[ujnhunter]

What say you?

[asperse]

Reviews/opinions: by Asperse www.aspersemusic.com etc. etc.

Mr. Mann: There are some weaker spots early with the vocals, passable fore sure, but yea. I like when it kicks in a little more, interesting instrumentation. Effects usage is pretty solid.

The Weakest Suit: I would like it more if there was a clean layer of vocals in addition to the dirty one. Percussion sounds nice. I like the swingy feel that sorta creeps in...

Baby Jaguar: Nice intro, it stretches on a bit long, but being so nice, I actually think it works. Vocals are smooth, keys sound sweet. I like this track a lot, is this your typical sound? I think genre-wise we have some things in common, altougth this battle might not be a great example on my end. Great work. Respect.

Anni Albers Quilts: Sweetness. I feel like I'm on a you'd make sargent pepper proud soldier! I like it. The phrasing with the percs etc is nice. Fresh arrangement too.

Jonathan Mann: 3 enjoyable tracks in a row, competition will be stiff. Visual lyrics, awesome percussive elements. Chorus is freaking sweet, maybe a few holds on souls and knows, like souuullllllslssss knowwwwwsssss. It's a good song, you aught be proud.

Eurotrashjuice: everyone has good drum sounds, yourself included. vocals are good, synth too. Yea, 4 in a row.
"Give me a lager, give me a pint, someone take me home tonight" <--- perfection.

Flvxxvm Florvm: I like what you're trying to do, it doesn't grab ME however. I like when the key sounds come in. You guys seem fun, I guess my main issue is that it's hyper busy... the interludish thing is nice. I think if you had like 6-100 tracks of vocals on this track it could work, with the rest of the sounds a bit more subdued. Nice solo btw.

Chthkinny Kitten: I remember when people had trouble making their tracks loud, man, it's nice to know that people can pump up the gain these days. This song is pretty solid, i like the "they're raise you up too......" it could use a little bit of flavor, maybe some flanged/phased vocals spacing the f' out in the background of that part?

The Hell Yeahs: i knew someone else would put bloody and buddy together. You guys are pretty tight (assuming it's a live band), considering the amount of time... Not a bad song. Not my thing per se.

Bax: Horn durring intro is nice. Vocals are a bit quiet. I like how the verse utlizing phrasing, the whole song really, like the vocal line followed buy and instr. measure... whatever you call that, maybe phrasing isn't too accurate. I feel like beck and rem got into a car wreck, you guys might climb out of the wreckage.

torrentz: the beat is pretty solid, the sub sound is sick. vocals are well performed, nice back and forth. chorus is pretty experimental feeling, but if any part of this song could get tweaked a little bit, this would be it. The verses are top notch though, for real. Nice job.

Ross Durand: I like the multi tracked parts of vox. I can't say this song gets me going really. It's well performed/recorded, it just really doesn't feel too convincing. I hope I'm not offending you. I hope you also rip my shit to shreds.

Jon Eric: cute. If you wrote this about a real girl, she'll probably dig it. The chorus could use some low end vocal support perhaps. The break down shows promise as well.

State Shirt: Spacy and well executed intro. I hope a beat comes in. This is pretty cool so far though, reminds me of the beta band. Still holding out for a sick beat to come in. Oh man. I hope so. Come on guy... okay, the keys changed, now... give me a beat. come on. oh, geeze. is it ... is it gonna come in now? oh boy here it... oh... no. dang. you are such a tease! i like this, but i really do feel like if it built towards a sick percussive and moving beat (off kilter even) super digitized beat, with crazy 64th note things man. i'm sure it's just your style or whatever. the sounds/instruments you used are fantastic, and the vocals are good as well. honorable mention.

Asperse : self critique: turn the f'n vocals down a-hole!

The Big Let-Down: Live bass, perhaps in a basement. I'm happy already. Vocals have a few weak spots, but are solid over all. The bass line is nice man. Nice synth sounds. Okay. Maybe you'll give me a beat? Yep. Thanks. I appreciate that. This is pretty creative sir(s). I like the arangement a lot, how you build a bit more after each of the early verses, like each post verse (chorus) has a little more flare. Very cool. I'm sold.

Jayne Dreams of Thornfield: The acoustic guitar could have a little more bodied sound... if that makes any sense. I wish the lead guitar would either fade out entirely, or down in volume while the vocals are going on. Vocals themselves are pretty solid, I think a little less reverb would be gravy. Not bad.

Internet Famous: Wild. F'n wild. Will you be my life coach? Sick instrumentation. Ikea is scary. Vocals are a bit quiet at times. You drive for a living? Nicely done you freaking animal(s).

Berkeley Social Scene: Not catching me. The mix is a bit distracting, but beyond that, it's just pretty average imho. I hope you don't take that the wrong way, a lot of people would have to stive for average. The breakdown. I think if this song had a little bit of time in between vocal phrases it could improve, sorta give it time to sink in maybe.

Scrap Heap: Nice so far, intro is really well put together. Vocals could use a little more gusto, reminds me of having to record late night in an apartment building (which I often have to do). A little work and this one could be a lot better. Some more variety too (instrumentally).


Underlined = Liked/voted for

I'd appreciate feedback from some of you too, be brutal, I know i deserve it. Great fight folks, nice work overall.

[JonPorobil]

Jon Eric: cute. If you wrote this about a real girl, she'll probably dig it.

You didn't listen very closely to the lyrics, did you?



Thanks for the feedback.

[stateshirt]

yes i do have a video this week! My entry was recorded live using a couple loopers (nothing prerecorded, nothing overdubbed after the fact)

[Ross]

Ross Durand: ... I hope I'm not offending you.

I've been submitting here for a bit too long to be offended by much - disappointed sometimes, but not too offended. BTW - I really do have relatively strong feelings about the song topic - sorry it didn't come off here.

I hope you also rip my shit to shreds.

Only if it deserves it

[JakeDeLorey]

Some quick first impressions from a newbie to the site.

Asperse – When this song started I was quick to reach for the fast forward button. I didn’t though. Something hooked me, and although I can’t quite put my finger on it, I’m gonna say it was the vocals. Musically it was meh, but the vocals and lyrics are what I feel is the main focus of this tune. Cool tune overall, the solo at the end closes out the tune nicely.

Baby Jaguar – Cure melody meets Daft Punk Vocals although without the success of either. Concept is there, just needs to be hashed out a bit more.

Bax – Cool. Vocals on this are great. The style of voice really suits the songs. I would up the tempo just a smidge. The Trumpet and its hint of wonkiness really breaks up this song nicely. Overall a quality tune.

Berkley Social Scene – Right away this stands out from the previous 3 songs I have listened to, just in production value alone. The vocals don’t sit quite right in the mix for me, but overall, really well done. Nice bg vocals and a well constructed song, especially on such short notice.

Chthkinny Kitten – hmmmmmmmmm. I want to like this song, I really do, but I can’t take the vocal seriously. The same way I can’t take the vocals for She Wants Revenge, Lincoln Park etc. Its hard to bring myself to critique a song and call out the things I don’t like. This song has very cool elements in it, but as soon as I heard the vocal delivery, thats all I heard.

Anni Albers Quilts – from the get go this song put a smile on my face. Cool lyrics, original delivery. I get a “Clap your Hands Say Yeah” feel to this. Quirky enough to make it cool without going overboard. The breakup of the song is well thought out. Great production, and so far this has my vote. Alas I still have 15 tracks to listen to.

The Big Let-Down – Wake me when its over. Simplicity can be awesome sometimes, but in other cases it can be boring. This is such a case. On the bright side, the guitar solo at the end dripping with effects is nice, then the pads come in and overpower everything and it loses me again. It was a bit of a big let down.

The Hell Yeahs – Great band name, suits their sound. The vocalist is great, she has a great delivery. Vocals however don’t sit right in the mix for me. This is a quality tune for its genre and with some polish could really rock. I mean it rocks now, but it could really rock.

Internet famous – Cool Cool Groove. This is an original to say the least. The quirky lyrics work awesomely with the music. WOW! Did I mention this was a super cool groove. The use of samples is great. This is someone who I will be keeping an eye on. I think Internt Famous and Asperse should do a colab.

Jaye Dreams of Thornfield – This was a tough one to get all the way through, but I promised myself I would give everyone a full listen. You can’t take anything away from someone who submits a song. They took the time to complete a song on a tight deadline, and kudos to Jaye for getting it in on time. Unfortunately this song did not sit well on my musical palate. The vocals were just a haze of reverb and pitchy’ness. The Acoustic guitar had no bottom and were overly tinny.

Jonathan Mann – Another Song that makes me think that maybe I should not contribute a tune to next weeks competition (my first...hopefully). This is a great tune. Vocals sound great, and lyrics work. Good dynamics in the song, the drums really help drive it and give the mix a very nice driving bottom. Superb tune.

Jon Eric – Nice sound on the Acoustic Guitar. I feel there may be some timing issues that throw the song off for me. The verses work well for the most part, but sometimes I feel eric is trying to cram a few to many words in. Decent tune, the quirkiness is on the cusp of being to much, but still a good submission.

Ross Durand – Decent sounding tune, nice and clean tone on the guitar, especially on the solo. Decent Voice although not my style. I sorta think of Jack Black putting on his rock voice. The Drums sorta bring down the rockiness of this tune, they sound two digital and harsh, especially in relation to the other instruments that sound really nice.

Scrap Heap – The intro Keyboard tone makes me want to run away screaming. I’ve never been a fan of that sound. But wait a catchy beat, maybe I’ll listen some more.....no wait....maybe I won’t. Wait I promised I would...DOH! This is a tough one. Very repetitive, which is fine if the thing repeating is interesting. Unfortunately this is not the case. Put this one on the scrap heap and hit the drawing board again.

State Shirt – This is the tune that Baby Jaguar was trying to make. State Shirt Does a great job of creating some nice sonic landscapes. Vocal textures are really nice in the song, maybe a bit of overkill in some spots, but for the most part they work. Great submission

The weakest Suit – Production is what ruins the song for me. Its just a wash of quite distortion. I would like to hear some bottom end on this.

Flvxxvm Florvm – If anything this puts a smile on my face. It is what it is. The hard wankin solo at the end puts another smile on my face.

Eurotrashjuice – The artist name says it all. Can’t critique anything on this one except the use of some very common loops. I also feel its missing a good hook, which every Euro Trash dance song needs.

Mister Mann – Good lyrics, not a fan of the voice but thats just a question of taste. Interesting tune.

TOrrentz – Nice Production, decent groove. The “Cypress Hill” vocal breaks make me roll my eyes though. I’m guessing this will be the winner but not with my vote.

Well this was tougher then I thought it was gonna be. Everyone did a great job, and its very intimidating knowing that I will be submitting next week, and “competing” against some really talented individuals. So tonight I gotta dig out my motivation that has been lost for so long, attempt to write some lyrics (my downfall), and get some work done. Hoping this site will be the “getupandgo” I need to start writing and recording again. The deadline will keep me focu........look a shiny bird.

[Madren]

Mister Mann – Good lyrics, not a fan of the voice but thats just a question of taste. Interesting tune.

... tonight I gotta dig out my motivation that has been lost for so long, attempt to write some lyrics (my downfall)

You want me to send you some good lyrics for Please Stop with a bass line/chords and then you can record the instrumentals/mix/produce and all the whatnot I don't have time for this week?

[JakeDeLorey]

Thanks for the offer Madren, very kind indeed. In the futre I think I would be up for a colaboration of some sort, but for now I gotta put on my big boy shoes and attempt this on my own. I am a hardcore procrastinator and I have found this site in the hopes that its the motivation I need. You have sparked my interest though so I am off to listen to all your submissions. Cheers

Jake

[Spintown]

Ross Durand: I've only listened to half the songs this round so far, but I just finished listening to your track & it's easily one of my favorite song fight songs I've heard. Completely awesome & going in my MP3 for countless plays in the future. Thank you.

[Ross]

nice things

Cool! I'm glad you like the song!

[ken]

muthafuckas they call me flapjack
ladies like the size o my sack
flapjack he don't take no crap

4 teh winz!

[jack]

Well, it's probably been years since I reviewed a whole Song fight. I think it's been years since I actually did a Song fight. Oh well. Take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Bax
Kind of loose and ragged feel, but that’s ok. I like the doubled harmony vocals. Song itself is ok, kind of forgettable but not bad. It’s got kind of a Pil feel to the singing, but not angry enough.

Internet Famous
Ok, now I remember why I don’t do reviews much anymore. I guess something inspired this, maybe I’m not in on the joke. Oh well. It’s not making my ears bleed but it seems kind of empty with a bunch of loop beats and not much else.

The Weakest Suit
I like this. It’s raw but that works for it. Is that Hoblit singing? Is Hoblit still around? Where’s the Funeral Dazies entry? It’s called “let’s get bloody” after all. Ok, sorry, I liked your tune.

Anni Albers Quilts
Ha, is this Carol Cleveland Sings? Ok, I’m showing my age now. Fun. I dig.

Mister Mann
I like the piano but the singing was a bit too twee for me.

Chthkinny Kitten
Well, it’s not the kind of music I’d normally choose to listen to, but for what you’re doing here, you do it pretty well I guess. Not that I’m an expert on angsty techno metal but that’s the best I got.

Ross Durand
Been listening to some Zappa? I like this. Solid tune, good songwriting, and well executed. It needs some black female backup singers getting all Supreme like in the choruses. Dude, this is got some serious zombie woof going on.

Scrap Heap
Not big on the distorted drums on this. They just don’t seem to fit the rest of the arrangement. Seems like you kind of shoehorned the lyrics here too.

Baby Jaguar
It’s a MIDI muffin slathered in Autotune.

Jon Eric
Wow, it’s been like 10 years since I heard a Jon Eric song. Ok, maybe like 5 years. Your production seems to have really improved a lot. Your timing still seems about the same. It seems in and out of the pocket. And you’re still overly ambitious with your arrangements and trying to pull them off. But props for continuing to stay true to your craft.

Jayne Dreams of Thornfield
The DI tinny guitar against the overdriven lead guitar doesn’t work for me here. I like the vocals actually, in a cowboy junkies kind of way. Strip this down to an acoustic arrangement and I’d be diggin it.

Berkeley Social Scene
Nice clean recording. Quirky arrangement. Nice panning on the guitars. That sounds like Lunkhead singing. This kind of reminds me of the feelies, one of my favorite bands from the 90’s, but has a Radiohead feel to it as well. Great execution on the bass, guitars, drums. Very good.

The Big Let-Down
I dig that bass. I like what you were going for here, stripped down. The vocal adds help too. And I like how you phase in the beats, not sold on the beats, but they aren’t terrible. When you bring in the phase shifted guitar, it kind of kills the intimacy of the track for me. I guess you could say it was the big let down.

Torrentz
The verse flow is pretty solid and tight, but the chorus flow seems kind of dumb. The backing music is pretty ite.

Asperse
I dig this. It’s spare, you work an arrangement that works well, and you don’t try to pull off something you can’t. Pretty good for guy and guitar.

State Shirt
And we get a video again! Not only do you create stuff good enough to win each and every week, you give us great videos! Love the layered vocals and the looped arrangement. Very Eno like.

Flvxxvm Florvm
Klownhole wannabes. It’s like a pirate song.

Jonathan Mann
I think it’s got the pieces to a pretty song, but the production seems kind of all over the place. Mostly in the drums and the levels of the other instruments. The timpani kind of overpowers the track.

The Hell Yeahs
Ah the Hell Yeahs. I love the Hell Yeahs. Hi Heather and Phil. Long time. Too long.

Eurotrashjuice
Ha, I recognize all those Garageband loops. That synth patch makes me think of Thriller. In a good way. This is ok if you like this kind of thing. Unfortunately, I don’t really.

I think this is the first time I've ever voted for more than one legally!

[asperse]

State Shirt- hey man, long ago I would submit really sophomoric looping sessions i did with just a simple long delay. Galaxies Floating on A Dark Mater Stream was one of the song fights I remember doing this for. Your work is clearly more sophisticated, but luckily my looping has advanced as well. You ever hear of sooperlooper? it's an au plugin that is out of this world. i do a lot of live improv looping at shows, people enjoy it (when they can figure out wtf is going on). Ilike has several of my older looping sessions up if you want an example, or just wait till next fight, as you've made me realize one doesn't have to commit time to a fight, if he can do all his punching in 5-12 minutes. I think adding a video element is a great idea, show people what you're creating, that it's all out of you.

Oddly enough, had i figured out it was looping it may have tipped it over the edge.

Questions, comments, concerns?
Ass Purse (asperse)

[Madren]

Mister Mann
I like the piano but the singing was a bit too twee for me.

I don't think I've ever heard the word twee without the suffix pop on the end (twee pop). Could you elaborate on what you mean? Singing was too poppy-feeling for you? Singing had too much/too little reverb/effects on it?

EDIT: Hopefully reviews will be soon. I've given everyone a listen-through while working last night and will review the next time I go through.

[Fortunato]

Hi everyone!

Reviews!

Anni Albers Quilts: I could use a more interesting melody from the singing; the verse is pretty much same same same CHORUS. The drums aren't very interesting. Also you don't really take advantage of having two vocalists; you both kinda sing the same line. So key points: variety variety variety. Would vote with more variety and stronger vocals.

Asperse: Very nice drums, considering how exposed they are in this bare-bones arrangement. If anything yes pull your vocal back, but really it's a good start. I really like the effects on the guitar in the closing solo. Would vote for a better, more deliberately chosen vocal style.

Baby Jaguar: Better synths. And don't use autotune UNLESS it's a deliberate stylistic choice and not covering up shortcomings; songfight isn't really the place for it.

Bax: Just not a very interesting song. And that trumpet, though it sounds good, doesn't really do anything. Good start but just not polished, from a musical perspective.

Berkeley social scene: Voted. The bridge at 1:52 seems gratuitous. High level of polish. Too much noodling under the singing in the guitar.

The Big Let Down: Your voice isn't really strong enough for this kind of exposure. The bass is nice. Gratuitous solo; we have 15 songs to listen to here. Woof, and leave the wacky, random finish drums alone for a serious submission.

Chthkinny Kitten: Good intro. More variety in that bass drum. No major objections to the synths. Fix your vocal.

Eurotrashjuice: Smiled for the synths which are very smart and organized, though the mix feels a little hollow. Very easy to understand the lyrics, which is a problem, since they're not very good and the singing could be tighter.

Flvxxvm Florvm: Liked this immediately, though I will probably never listen in any other context. Great direction to go in for the title. It's interesting that it works so well, since it's so weird. I really like the vocal approach. Not sure what I'd change since a wild, chaotic sound fits the song well.

The Hell Yeahs: Good if you like punky girl stuff. The group (is it a group?) clearly has chemistry and you're pretty tight. I like how together your sound is.

Internet Famous: GAH. It's tough for me to listen to my song with everyone else's around it. I feel like the mix is just pulled too far back. Along with the fact that even though there's more variety and less time (i.e. it's shorter) than in the past, it's still not enough variety. Still, at least a few of y'all have said kind things, which I appreciate.

Samples include Javanese Gamelan, President Eisenhower's farewell address and the Wilhelm Scream, along with a variety of bits and pieces from Freesound.org.

Jayne Dreams of Thornfield: Ohhhh the pitch on that guitar at the opening is just wrong enough to drive me crazy. And The sweet singing doesn't work well with guitar as aggressive as this, especially since you had to pull it so far back. And the build at the end is kinda broken by the weakness of the vocal which is too loud and the pullback on the distorted guitar, which ends up being kinda impotent since it's so quiet.

Jonathan Mann: Cool percussion. I like it most on the verse before the synths get really aggressive. I probably would have taken out the weirder synths and brought the piano forward, because I think the piano is the strongest part here. I like that weird, gurgly bass synth, though. Also interesting lyrical take.

Jon Eric: I have a hard time with your singing. Guitar works. Chorus feels kinda crowded, verbally.

Mister Mann: Your voice is not strong enough to sing this song. The elements are nice ie. I like each instrument (except for that out tune solo at 1:35 yeesh) of but they do not gel at all. Mix better and know your limitations vocally.

Ross Durand: Opening the songs with very basic synthesized drums doesn't really play to your strengths. If you would open with them, I'd say work on your programming. The organ is pulled pretty far back, which makes me wonder why it's there? Not inappropriately so, but it's so hard to hear that it doesn't seem to be necessary.

Scrap Heap: This is like all redline, dude. Figure out how to turn up your drums without ruining your mix. Also, you need better synths.

State Shirt: Well those underlines were already in place with the first few notes. Could you tell me how you approach mastering? And I'd also like to know what you use and what you think about when you design synth sounds. It's just working so well for you. Although one small thing: The lyrics are so hard to understand you could be singing about anything. I mean, from what I can hear this song could be about toasters that keep running which you address in the second person.

Torrentz: Keep all your promises was stronger. I'm not sure that time signature change works, especially with the rapping over the top of it. Good work taking risks but the result just isn't as strong as you're capable of.

The Weakest Suit: Sounds pretty much like you got exactly the sound you want. Makes me feel like I'm fifteen and partying in my friends basement while their friends are out of town and you are so the band on stage. That much fun deserves a vote.

[stateshirt]

i'm no good at music reviews. but i like the chord changes and the bridge on the berkeley social scene song. nice. i'll predict that there will be a real battle between ross and bss!!

You ever hear of sooperlooper?

i'll have to check that out. i've tried out just about every looper except that one! you should definitely do some looping next week for your entry.

Could you tell me how you approach mastering? And I'd also like to know what you use and what you think about when you design synth sounds.

i've actually never really bothered mastering my stuff until recently. Right now I'm trying out Izotope Ozone... some of the presets are good enough to get you in the ballpark, some of them are terrible. If you spend the time to tweak it's actually a very good plug-in. I'm still wrestling with making the songs overall a bit louder without killing the dynamics.

i have crap synths. my yamaha dx21 is fun to create sounds on. most people think it sounds like garbage but i find it pretty unique. other than a $10 casio SK8 and a yamaha PSS140, i use Reason. With Reason I usually avoid using the stock instrument samples. I'll go with synth sounds or drum machine sounds, or tweak instrument samples so they don't sound so real. a lot of the other synth-y or percussive sounds that i use are actually just vocal sounds processed through a shit ton of delay.

thanks for the reviews!

[reve]

a $10 casio SK8

Excellent, excellent deal!

[JonPorobil]

Jon Eric
Wow, it’s been like 10 years since I heard a Jon Eric song. Ok, maybe like 5 years. Your production seems to have really improved a lot. Your timing still seems about the same. It seems in and out of the pocket. And you’re still overly ambitious with your arrangements and trying to pull them off. But props for continuing to stay true to your craft.

Oh, holy crap, it's jack!

Hey, you know, it's inching on ten years since the first time I attempted to record something. I wish you had come back during a week when I wasn't dealing with all kinds of technical issues...

But hey, I guess that just drives the lesson home: Songfighters, bring your A-game every time! No excuses!

Even so... Might I suggest some of my other recent songs?

Also, I know it's poor form to gripe, but... Guitar, bass, drums and vocals is "too ambitious" an arrangement? You know as well as anyone... no one wants to hear my attempts at guy-n-guitar.

When's your next entry? C'mon, jack, show me how it's done!

[j$]

Hell yeah. That's all.

(also, Jack, JitC? Come on we neeed something to play in LA )

[Ross]

we neeed something to play in LA )[/size]

Long Beach?

[mcmilkplusuk]

You guys are so lucky

It's -3 degrees in London

[jeff robertson]

You guys are so lucky

It's -3 degrees in London

You're trying to confuse Americans with Celsius, aren't you?

It's -4 C in Atlanta right now!