TAKE SOME PEPTO, FARTY (ease your storm reviews)

[jb]

POST THE SOOOOOOOONGS!!!

[Spud]

POST THE SOOOOOOOONGS!!!

If you would be so kind as to post some AAAAAAAAAAAAAART, I will get right on it.

LOVE, SPUD

[jeff robertson]

Some reviews, in no particular order:

Dan the Man Band: I'm having a hard time believing that anyone involved in this band's entry for "Double Life/Half Life" is involved in this. This is good. Be aware that anything that smells like country has an uphill battle on songfight. Your song isn't strictly country but has some elements close enough that I bet at least one bastard will play the genre card in his reviews. Anyway I plan to vote for this if I remember to vote.

The New Original Titans of Songfight: the start makes me think it's going to be really silly, but the singing is sincere and really good. Love those folksy harmonies. This is maybe my 2nd favorite JB-involved song after "Plastic Rose" which was so good it should be played on the goddamn radio. (Atlanta's only true oldies station, my ass!) Assuming this is a collab, who else is in it?

Stu Jordan: rain and thunder sound effects like that only belongs at the beginning of "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath, and just inherently makes me disappointed when the song kicks in for it to not be that song. The music is well done; I've been meaning to get into more of a soft style like this for some future fights (though I'd probably go more for yacht rock than this), and you're way ahead of me. This is the kind of thing where ever since I was 12, I'd probably switch the radio station if it came on, but now I can see the value in it. The vocals should probably have really, really obvious autotune or vocoder or something. Like what happens at 1:25 in this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ90664JTv4

.. more later ..

[jeff robertson]

Stucco Lobster Breadbox - I don't know if this is supposed to be a parody of or a tribute to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzMDcL0aiEk But it surely do remind me of it.

[floatingman]

Dan the Man Band: I'm having a hard time believing that anyone involved in this band's entry for "Double Life/Half Life" is involved in this.

It helps to be mildly schizophrenic.

[jb]

The New Original Titans of Song Fight are: JB of the JBB, Ken Flagg (aka Vic 20 aka Melody Generator), Brandon Patton (aka Bl4K L0TUS or something), Sturgis Cunningham (aka The STURGENIOUS), and some other guy.

JB did the woodshedding on songwriting, sang lead vox and mixed the entry after the rest of the band headed back off on tour.
Ken Flagg consulted on chord structure, did backing vocals, and played ukulele.
Brandon Patton consulted on song structure, played guitar, and played bass.
Sturgis Cunningham played drums and said "OOh it. He likes to DO it." at the beginning.
The other guy did some fancy sprechstimme and was the recording engineer.

[Stu]

The Weakest Suit – Reminds me of when Elliot Smith wanted to be all lo-fi. I think it’s a really cool chord progression. The singing is a little weak, but not bad. The form is a little repetitive and could benefit from some contrasting B section. Right now it’s just something like AAAAA etc.

Enter It In The Art Show – That’s actually a really fun riff. Probably didn’t need that intro section, but once the song kicked in, it was really catchy and good background vocals. I find myself blocking out the drums most of the time to focus on the song itself. Yeah, if you subtract the first 10 seconds or so, this is a good song. If the guitar were distorted, it would sound like the Get Up Kids or something. Vote!

TheArmiesOfTheWorldMarchAgainstUs – Hmm, not doing much for me. It’s nice to hear piano, but it’s just a bit bland for my taste.

Rycehat – This is produced well and has a lot of really fun sounds. Not really vote-worthy though, sorry man.

Ross Durand – I don’t mean to offend, but this song really reminds me of that song “Heartsick” from School of Rock. You know, the one Jack Black’s old band was playing live at the battle of the bands near the end of the movie. I think it’s mostly the vocal delivery and maybe a little bit in the chord progression, but I haven’t checked the two against one another to be sure, haha. It’s a perfectly decent rock song, though.

Stu Jordan – My quiet storm genre experiment. The longest pop song I’ve ever written. Inspiration drawn from these songs: “Seems Like You’re Ready” by R. Kelly, “The Look of Love” by Isaac Hayes, and “A House Is Not A Home” by Luther Vandross.

Stucco Lobster Breadbox – Dirty.

Hostess Mostess – Yeah, this is hitting all the right spots for me. Love the emotional delivery of the vocals and the ebb and flow of the dynamics. That build up and drop off near the middle is awesome. This song makes me wish I had a decent sounding keyboard. Vote!

The New Original Titans of Song Fight – A catchy song. Great vocal harmonies. I like that you use a different range of the guitar during the rap section, but that rap section is a little unfortunate.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders – I see what you’re doing with the synchronized guitar, bass, and vocals, but I’m not digging the sound that much. Love the guitar tone. How do you get it all fat and dirty sounding like that? Double tracking the solo? I’m fairly new to recording techniques. The vocal delivery is a detriment to the tune again here, but I can look past it. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for a nice meaty guitar solo, so you won me over here with that in the outro.

Steve Durand – I really enjoy the mellow keyboard sound. Also, the heavy reverb muted guitar sound. Basically, you kept a mellow muted sound with all the instruments, which is awesome for the tune. The vocals are not highlights, but hey, everything else about this tune is really doing it for me. Vote.

Herbits billahhweetig – This is the best melody of the fight so far. There haven’t been a lot of standout melodies, but this one is good. I like the two guitars one in each channel thing. I never mess around with channels much. The backwards sounds are also pretty interesting. When the drums kicked in, I thought “Yeah, nice job holding out on those ‘til then.” I’m also a big fan of melodic bass playing, and there’s a bit of that here too. The rapid 16th note guitar counterpoint stuff at the end is a nice sound. Vote.

Dan The Man Band – I like the pedal bass at the beginning. This is very different from your entry last week, but I like this even better. Another pretty melody with some good melodic bass after the chorus. Nice slide guitar action. That post-chorus chord progression is great, really draws me in. Vote!

Top 3
1. Herbits billahhweetig
2. Hostess Mostess
3. Enter It In The Art Show

[Stu]

rain and thunder sound effects like that only belongs at the beginning of "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath, and just inherently makes me disappointed when the song kicks in for it to not be that song.

That's interesting, I didn't even think of that song! I sorta grabbed that "intro rain" idea from a number of these types of songs, but "In The Rain" by The Dramatics in particular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRK4AwS3dh8

[jeff robertson]

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders – I see what you’re doing with the synchronized guitar, bass, and vocals, but I’m not digging the sound that much. Love the guitar tone. How do you get it all fat and dirty sounding like that? Double tracking the solo? I’m fairly new to recording techniques. The vocal delivery is a detriment to the tune again here, but I can look past it. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for a nice meaty guitar solo, so you won me over here with that in the outro.

Excruciating details about the guitar sound, because you asked:

The rhythm guitar actually is recorded twice and split hard left and right.

The solo is just one guitar. It might sound double tracked because of the "stereo" plugin that is supposed to make a mono track sound more "stereo" by delaying and messing with phase and stuff.

All three guitars are recorded direct, clean, and dry and run through a couple of plugins to get the sound heard here. In other words, it's all fake. The "tube screamer" from Simulanalog GuitarSuite in front of Reaper's built-in "amp model" plugin, which is set to "Dumble Overdrive".

The only differences between any of the guitar tracks is which pickup is being used and what the tube screamer's "gain" parameter is set to. All three guitar parts are a Mexican-made Strat with HSS pickup configuration. One rhythm guitar and the solo at the end use the humbucker; the other rhythm part and the "solos" between the verses use the middle pickup.

All tracks except vocals were sped up by 6% before recording the vocals, as if the speed control on a tape machine was nudged up slightly. This obviously affects the tone of the guitars as well as the pitch.

[Spintown]

I'm sure these aren't that helpful, but here's what I thought of some of the entries.

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2010/04/ ... storm.html

Herbitis billahhweetig - Beautiful song. My only complaint was one of the sounds that repeated during the chorus. I have no idea what it is, so it's hard to communicate what sound it is. At 3:29 it starts & makes me grind my teeth. Aside from that...loved it.

Stu Jordan - Loved the mellow opening with the rain & relaxing music. I was relaxed before the vocals even started. It did run a little long, and even worse; it felt long. I'd suggest cutting it down a little, but good work.

The New Original Titans of Song Fight - Another crappy name, but the song was enjoyable. Odd, but enjoyable.

Ross Durand - It grabbed me right off, but at the 25 second mark things got slightly epic. Honestly this felt too short, and in my opinion it needs another verse. Even though this was clearly inspired by the title/challenge, I didn't hear the phrase in the song. That's the ONLY reason this isn't getting my vote, but great work.

Steve Durand - I liked the idea for the song, but the vocal performance just didn't seem to fit the song. I think I would have liked the song if someone else sang it, or if you approached the performance different.

Dan The Man Band - Like I said with Stu, this 'felt' long. This also felt repetitive...so that might be why it felt longer then it actually was. Not a bad entry, but it just didn't hold my interest throughout the entire song.

[Spud]

Even though this was clearly inspired by the title/challenge, I didn't hear the phrase in the song. That's the ONLY reason this isn't getting my vote, but great work.

Mr. Spin, that's just wrong. Ross wrote a great song, clearly inspired by the title/challenge, and you don't vote for it because the phrase "Ease Your Storm" isn't in the song? Where in the rules does it say that the name as to be in the song? "Write a song based on one of the titles posted" is as close as it gets, and you've already acknowledged that Ross did this. Are you gonna beat David Bowie up over "Space Oddity", too? Or maybe Nirvana for.. well pretty much everything they did? Give the dude a break man, no rule was broken, and you liked his song. Man up. VOTE.

[Spintown]

It is a great song, and I've given Ross a lot of props lately for other songs. Liked his "Lets Get Bloody" song enough to use in one of my YouTube videos & listen to it almost daily. I even gave him the completely worthless title of "Spintown’s Song Fighter Of 2009" on my blog awhile back.

I just like it when the title is used in the songs, and there were 3 other songs I really liked as well (that did that). So in my mind it elevated them a bit higher this round. May sound like a stupid reason (probably is), but I've always said in my blog that stupidity, ignorance & fans will always play a role in online voting systems if the public is allowed to have a vote. My stupidity can now be included.

It is a great song though, and Ross is one of my favorite singer/songwriters from any of the song writing competitions I follow. Song Fight, Song Fu or now Nur Ein. So no slight was intended.

[ujnhunter]

I'm of the opposite mind... I like it when the title is not used in the song...

[Mostess]

And we used the title to make a whole new title using only the power of poor memory!

We wear our "error" as a badge of creativity and feel we should get extra votes for our ingenuity, albeit unintentional.

[floatingman]

TheArmiesOfTheWorldMarchAgainstUs
This would be cool in a soundtrack, maybe Requiem for a Dream.

Dan The Man Band
Pure Fucking Bullshit.

Enter It In The Art Show
Were you poking fun at nerdcore with that intro. Sneaky sneaky. I'm not
digging the trashcan lid cymbal, but that's just like my opinion man, it
doesn't make it a bad song.

Herbits billahhweetig
I'm getting a little of that "World I Know" vibe from parts of this song.
I kind of wish the vocals were a little louder, but that could just be
my speakers.

Hostess Mostess
Warren Zevon type vibe in the chorus is very cool. Like the changes
in dynamics, very stormy. Outro may be a bit long, but I'm not going to
lose focus like a squirrel in Planter's factory.

Jeff Robertson
I'm thinking of the early 80s type rock songs, maybe The Knack.
Thanks for the great tip on the Reaper plugins. I never realized it
had all of that stuff included.

The New Original Titans of Song Fight
Song Fight supergroup, no fair. I'm hearing some Barenaked Ladies
influences. I like the ukulele. I need to get me one of them
gitfiddles one day.

Ross Durand
I feel like I've heard this song before, which is not a bad thing, because
I usually have that feeling right after listening to a song multiple times.
Great job hitting those high notes, really nut wrenching.

Rycehat
Nice intro to Steve Durand's song. I kid. This will be my get out
of bed and get ready for the day song.

Steve Durand
Did you intend to write such a low range, cause it seems like it would
have worked an octave up. Never the less, very good melody and nice
horns. Do you record them by yourself or do you have help?

Stucco Lobster Breadbox
You should be ashamed... I envy you.

Stu Jordan
I love that blue eyed soul. Someone mentioned yacht rock, but this is
clearly a Hall and Oats type song. Wait a minute they were the enemy
of the yacht rockers, weren't they.

The Weakest Suit
I don't know why I always think of Home Sweet Home when this song
starts. I kind of makes me want to cry. Great lyrics, I wish they
were louder for me to hear them better. This is going on my next
mix tape. (Why'd you have to break my heart, Susan!)

All in all fantastic efforts by everyone.

[jb]

My wife liked your song.

(me too.)

JB

[Steve Durand]

Steve Durand – I really enjoy the mellow keyboard sound. Also, the heavy reverb muted guitar sound. Basically, you kept a mellow muted sound with all the instruments, which is awesome for the tune. The vocals are not highlights, but hey, everything else about this tune is really doing it for me. Vote.

Steve Durand - I liked the idea for the song, but the vocal performance just didn't seem to fit the song. I think I would have liked the song if someone else sang it, or if you approached the performance different.

Steve Durand
Did you intend to write such a low range, cause it seems like it would
have worked an octave up. Never the less, very good melody and nice
horns. Do you record them by yourself or do you have help?

Yeah, the vocals did not turn out as I had hoped. The low range was intentional. Imagine a smooth Barry White voice. I could perform it adequately when I sang it in the shower in the morning. Unfortunately I was constrained to recording it at 7:00 in the evening after my vocal cords have tightened up.

Thanks for reviewing!

[Spud]

The next fight posting is delayed until these songs get their due. Review away, peeps.

[Ross]

The next fight posting is delayed until these songs get their due. Review away, peeps.

Does this imply An extension to the due date?

[The Weakest Suit]

The next fight posting is delayed until these songs get their due. Review away, peeps.

thanks. i could use the break.

[Spud]

The next fight posting is delayed until these songs get their due. Review away, peeps.

Does this imply An extension to the due date?

Maybe. Probably not. The real reason is that I got up this morning to do the update on time, and there was no review thread, no art, and pretty much no reviews, so I said to myself "what's the big hurry? If no one else cares, why do I?".

SPUD

[Ross]

The next fight posting is delayed until these songs get their due. Review away, peeps.

Does this imply An extension to the due date?

Maybe. Probably not. The real reason is that I got up this morning to do the update on time, and there was no review thread, no art, and pretty much no reviews, so I said to myself "what's the big hurry? If no one else cares, why do I?".

SPUD

I shall do my best to post reviews before the day is out.