Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

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inevitableguy
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Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by inevitableguy »

Art: Check

Review Thread: Check

Let's start a few rumors!
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by joshmillard »

I heard from Sally that Lauren told Keith that you gave Kayden a handie behind the bleachers but Lauren is such a liar that I don't believe it but did you actually do that because I heard from Lauren that Kayden is totally hung.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by king_arthur »

inevitableguy wrote:Art: Check
Rumor has it that FM may be waiting to see whether TJ is going to fix the date at the top of his art...

I guess not... hooray, me.

Hmm, am I going to be the only person who used the actual title in their song??? No, check that, I see Wages did...

Charles
Last edited by king_arthur on Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by wages »

FYI Our (Hoglen and Wages) track this week is experimental in that we started with the point of the song before writing any lyrics, so it should be somewhat cohesive. :) Also, I play some e-bow induced lead guitar, backwards recorded some vocals, and Hoglen plays those "fake" trumpets (no, they're really real my friends!), lays down added drums on top of the base drum machine, plays almost inaudible organ, and carries lead vocals.

We're interested in how the experiments sound. Where they effective? Should anything be omitted? Is it missing anything?

I'm also interested to hear views of the lyrics. Who knows what it is about? At what point did you know?

Good luck to everyone!
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by reve »

king_arthur wrote: Hmm, am I going to be the only person who used the actual title in their song??? No, check that, I see Wages did...
*coughs*
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by joshmillard »

In my defense, I used what I thought was the title in my song.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by inevitableguy »

joshmillard wrote:In my defense, I used what I thought was the title in my song.
Funny, I did the same thing. All week, I swore the title was The Rumor Holds Strong. "Lives" would have fit just as well, so everyone should just pretend that's what I actually sung. :wink:
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by joshmillard »

I think my brain may have just rejected what felt like some under-the-table Lance Armstrong astroturfing. That must be it.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by BBABM »

votes went to:
me, cause i dont wanna be the loser with 0 votes
the elephant choir
the chthriplings
the hate noise
ill review em all later, but i was sad to hear so many "you cheated on me" songs.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by Spintown »

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2010/09/ ... trong.html

Berkeley Social Scene - The music felt precarious, dangerous, insecure.... All good things since that's the way you feel when you're performing a balancing act trying to keep a lie or rumor going. Well done. (voted)

Steve Durand - Great music, fun song & I enjoyed the ending. I wish I could be constructive & not just give you a well done...but...well done. (voted)

King Arthur - Loved most of the lyrics...aside from the last rhyme with 'strong'. King Kong felt phoned in. The story telling was great, and you once again contributed one of my favorite entries. (voted)

Rik Gerblick - Most people wrote from the POV of someone being talked about or having heard rumors about a significant other. Enjoyed the fact you decided to write from the POV of the person who accidentally started a rumor. I'm guessing you recorded this with the volume low or something? I had to jack mine up just to heard it. New recording would be cool. (voted)

Josh Millard - Was thrilled about the vocals...but the music was alright. Could have done without the short instrumental toward the end. Really dug the lyrics though.
I misread the title as "The Rumor Is Strong" - Josh Millard
I know it's not required that you use the title of the fight in the song (although I generally knock people who don't). I'll be nice this time since you had a misunderstanding of sorts... (voted)

Bad Boys At Bat Mitzvahs - Maybe it could use a little bit of an intro? Enjoyed the song, but the story feels a bit rushed. I looked up the a bit of the history this song references and there's plenty of material to add a little to the story:
"On the morning of April 7, 1869, a fire spread at the 800 foot level in the Yellow Jacket Mine. Firefighters entered the mine but the smoke and flames pushed them back. As the fire burned, wood timbers collapsed and poisonous air expanded into the adjacent Kentucky and Crown Point mines. The fires persisted and mine sections were sealed off and remained hot for several years. At least thirty five miners died, and some bodies were never retrieved. The Yellow Jacket Mine fire was the worst mining accident in Nevada history up to that time." - Wikipedia
Neat idea using the Virginia City gold rush & the Yellow Jacket Mine fire. (almost voted)

The Chthriplings - Was starting to dig the song, and just when it starts picking up....it ends???? Go back & finish it.

Bob Lazo - I liked this entry, but the recording seems a bit muffled? I wanted the vocals to pop more, because unless you really focus you don't pick up on most of them. I know NOTHING about recording or mixing, so I don't know what to tell you other than that.

Feat - I felt like I should have been in some dark smokey coffee house listening to unwashed longhaired nut jobs reading poetry. Well done, not really my try of music, but it was entertaining the first time around.

Hoglen And Wages - Enjoyed the music.
"I'm also interested to hear views of the lyrics. Who knows what it is about? At what point did you know?" - Wages
I have I feeling I'm in the vast minority...but I didn't know. I know it's about the Beatles...but I don't know much about them.
Last edited by Spintown on Tue Sep 07, 2010 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by tuuur »

Firstly, let me state that I hardly listen to lyrics, unless they strike me for some reason.

There we go:

Bad Boys At Bat Mitzvahs - Nice folky song. Vocals could be more up front but that's just nitpicking. Voted!

Berkeley Social Scene - very pro sounding, stretched a bit too long for my taste; but voted still.

Bob Lazo - nice garage rock tune. Bass could be fatter, especially in the higer parts. Voted!

Cannibal Parrot - essentially a single melody with samples. Doesn't rock my boat, sorry...

Chthriplings - I love that guitar sound! Gritty but still sharp and clear. Great, but why so short! still... voted!

The Elephant Choir - that's an awefull quiet recording you got there. Could do with some mastering and eq-ing. Song wise, not much for me there.

Feat - reminds me of Frontalot's Yellow Lasers. Well done, but not my cup of tea.

The Gnorling Snormal of Eloise - er. Another simple riff with samples. Not my thing.

The HATE Noise (featuring Anonymous) - Talking bout falsetto... that intro, wow. Don't care about the rap though; bragging about guns doesn't win my vote.

Hoglen and Wages - I don't listen too much to lyrics but I heard Abbey Road and Strawberry Fields. My guess it's about Paul's reported death and replacement by that impersonator? Song's quite ok. Voted!

Josh Millard - I like this, very well done. Voted!

King Arthur - I like the harmonies here, plus the guitar sounds. Drums are a bit plasticy. Voted!

Naked Philosophy - That bass-intro is too long I think. Sounds a bit muddy overall.

Rick Gerblick - Well done, just not my thing.

Steve Durand - Oooh, trumpets, nice! The distorted guitar sounds a bit out of place, and overall it sounds not entirely tight.

Ux Mpuzm - .sdrawkcab gnos eht ot netsil ot 44:4 eht tog tn'evah I tnemom eht ta ,yrros ma I
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by BBABM »

Spintown wrote: Bad Boys At Bat Mitzvahs - Maybe it could use a little bit of an intro? Enjoyed the song, but the story feels a bit rushed. I looked up the a bit of the history this song references and there's plenty of material to add a little to the story:
Neat idea using the Virginia City gold rush & the Yellow Jacket Mine fire. (almost voted)

i'm glad you enjoyed it, it does need an intro, and the story was extremely rushed. i started out writing a song about the california goldrush, and the rumor of "gold in them hills." but as i progressed, and did a little research (being i am on the east coast, and know hardly anything about the gold rush) this story caught my eye, and i kinda wanted to write a ghost story with that setting, so there could be two different types of rumors in the song. i wish there was a real ghost story associated with that place, but there's not, so i tried to make one up. i wanted to put more in there about the trail across, and the events in 1869, however i also didnt want a 5 min song with only 4 chords and a little hook, that bored the crap out of everyone with a school lecture, and history lesson. it could still use 1 more verse, which i tried to cram into the extra line in the chorus "but when word of the fire / went out on the wire / she knew that his body would never be found"... however, it was enough details for you to figure out that there was more to the story, make you look up the events, and learn something cool american history. and the internet can probably explain it better than i can in a silly 2 min song.
thanks for listening, and giving your opinion... i plan on finishing this song, and using your input, so ill post the link when i do... and ill get your vote next fight.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by joshmillard »

Reviews in the order the site threw the songs at me:

The Gnorling Snormal of Eloise: I'm an easy sell on weird collage stuff so I enjoyed this, but there's a real lack of any cohesiveness or development here. Moving from dial to dial on a weird radio doesn't really feel like a song per se. Is that an issue? How literally should I hew to the "song" in "songfight"? I dunno.

Bad Boys At Bat Mitzvahs: not much to say about the music; guitar sounds fine and motors along solidly for what it is, vocals fit in well. Dead sprint start would be fine if it felt more intentional and less like you just started there for lack of a better idea; even just a really explicit "and here we go" token like a deep breath before it kicks off would have helped, say. Solid story justifies the minimalism, though the choppy syncopated strumming at the turnarounds feels more like a brainstorm for a full mix than something that works all that well by itself.

Bob Lazo: felt like the main fuzz-guitar stuff crowded everything else out of the mix through most of the song; I like the pieces and dig the motoring groove but it felt sort of HELLO THIS IS MY DISTORTION PEDAL throughout. Bass tone felt a little weirdly round and conspicuous too, especially with those I-liked-the-idea-but-not-the-sound turnaround bits.

The HATE Noise et al: I like how this feels like something prescient from a 70s psychefunk band. Weird angular flow of the the first big vox segment had me not so sure for the first few lines but then I was sold. Rest of the track carries the momentum along nicely, dig the breakdown to the backing track at the end after such a frenetic main stretch.

The Elephant Choir: spot on Tom Waits drink-hall production. Love the weird warble background vox, though I think they're more effective when they're half-buried in the full mix than they are during the drop out at the end.

The Chthriplings: like the ballsy lead line, but it felt like it was pushing the beat all through the intro. Jack White jokes make themselves so I'll skip that part of the program. It's good rattly straight-up rock, and I can't fault you for length. Biggest complaint is that in what's basically a style that screams FUCK YOU from every element, the vocals weren't quite angry or loud or unhinged enough to keep up. The singing's fine, but fine doesn't really carry the mood. This is criticism I could easily end up directing at myself if I tried to pull off the same thing, so I know it's not a gimme to just magically bust out crazy badass pipes; I think it's solid work in any case.

Rik Gerblick: weird pitchy moment with the vox early in the first chorus, but seems like that was just a bad moment. Sort of thing I'm constantly guilty of not going back and fixing in my own stuff. Guitar playing is solid though I really don't care for the actual guitar sound here. Drums feel overly attention-getting -- combination of being a little up in the mix, a little busy, and conspicuously stereo, I guess. Overall it's not a sound that grabs me very well, but it's unquestionably well sung and solidly constructed so I think that's mostly just a matter of personal druthers.

Ux Mpuzm: ridiculous from moment one, which sets up the backmasked vocals well I guess. As a weirdo commentary on early Dylan folky tropes it's likable, and intro aside I think it actually falls into listenable territory for me, but I wonder if that's just me being odd. Sounds like you're strumming a banjo in the background there? I approve, but it sounds like it's not tuned that well. And I think you would have done well to cut the run length in half or so, the novelty of the weirdness doesn't really last as long the recording does. If part of the experiment was to see if backwards vocals could work as a functional rather than novelty song element, I think you got at least halfway there -- you've got singerly melodic and phrasal elements clicking along fairly effectively, which was neat -- but making it not distracting seems like the harder half of the deal.

King Arthur: man, I'm loving this. Lead vox line is great, vox harmony cowboy callbacks in the verses putting a big smile on my face, just-barely-breaking up lead line fits really well. Whole thing is taut. Nice fucking work.

Hoglen and Wages: I was thinking "British Invasion" and then started attending to the lyrics, so, heh, go you. Nice piece of work. Synth lead thing (is it a synth? or really heavily processed guitar?) off on the left side feels a little weird and sounds a little pitchy, about 2/5ths in and again near the end. Was waiting for those backmasked vocals at the end, points for form on that front. Can't be bothered to reverse this right now but may do so later if you don't put up a link in the mean time.

Naked Philosophy: this is like an alternate universe where David Byrne started the Pixies.

Feat: noir-hop? I like. Only complaint is that there's just not any change across the song -- it's a nice minimalist groove that works really well but a little bit of movement or novelty in the arrangement as it goes on would have been refreshing and it was kind of disappointing to not have that happen. Even just dropping a harmonic element for the first half the third verse before bringing it back in would have been enough to be like "hey, I know you've been listening".

Steve Durand: construction is totally strong and I like the oldschool Bond flick vibe, but I feel like this really doesn't flatter your voice; the sort of shaky tremulousness of your voice is at odds with the sort of slick dangerous tone of the production. Not sure what there is to do about that, we've got the voices we've got, but if there's a way for this to be a little more snappy and slick vocally I think that would sell it a lot better.

Berkeley Social Scene: lead guitar running through the vocals in the center portion seems overly busy. Really like the vox on this, the harmony vox stuff in the center section is nice. Has sort of a Synchronicity feel to it between the smooth harmony vox, the touch of dissonance to the arrangement, and the driving bassline.

Cannibal Parrot: tail off the intro clip feels a bit futzy. Either a smoother longer transition into the piano or a decisive cut and pause would have been better. Piano is too bright in the mix too; it's piercing, especially when it's still just the one part. I like the feel of the piece in general, hard to go wrong with sample collage with me, but I just don't want to spend that long listening to piano plinkery as the front-and-center element of a song that doesn't aggressively go somewhere with it. Formally speaking it's a nice piano line, but too much.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by wages »

joshmillard wrote:Hoglen and Wages: I was thinking "British Invasion" and then started attending to the lyrics, so, heh, go you. Nice piece of work. Synth lead thing (is it a synth? or really heavily processed guitar?) off on the left side feels a little weird and sounds a little pitchy, about 2/5ths in and again near the end. Was waiting for those backmasked vocals at the end, points for form on that front. Can't be bothered to reverse this right now but may do so later if you don't put up a link in the mean time.
Thanks! The lead thing is an e-bow (it replaces a pick by vibrating the string) on my otherwise unprocessed guitar. I never "get" how panning should work, so I tried what seemed good to me. :P

On the backwards words, what I did was, I first take the phrase I want to hear in the song. For instance, "I Buried Paul". Then I figured out how to pronounce it backwards (as best I could) and sang it that way. In this case, "laaupp deerib yi". Then I digitally reversed the reverse pronunciation to get a strange sounding "I Buried Paul". That phrase appears near the end just before the "swell up".

I won't tell you what the other phrase is saying, but I will say that you won't be able to hear it backwards because of how I did it. Ergo, just listen to the final seconds over and over again until you hear what it seems to be saying. :)
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by joshmillard »

Ah ha! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by inevitableguy »

joshmillard wrote: Naked Philosophy: this is like an alternate universe where David Byrne started the Pixies.
Thank you!
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by reve »

joshmillard wrote:Ah ha! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
Or perhaps the owls are not what they seem.
-- reve mosquito.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by BBABM »

joshmillard wrote:Bad Boys At Bat Mitzvahs: not much to say about the music; guitar sounds fine and motors along solidly for what it is, vocals fit in well. Dead sprint start would be fine if it felt more intentional and less like you just started there for lack of a better idea; even just a really explicit "and here we go" token like a deep breath before it kicks off would have helped, say. Solid story justifies the minimalism, though the choppy syncopated strumming at the turnarounds feels more like a brainstorm for a full mix than something that works all that well by itself.
I'll buy that. it starts that fast because i recorded the guitar in one shot before i even had one word written. and sitting there listening to it over and over i just wrote too many words to fit in.
the turnaround is going to change... it was my biggest problem with the song, but it would have taken me longer than a week to come up with something better. i tried to just throw another track over it at the end and it adds an almost unnoticeable change. either way the song has grown on me, so i am going to redo the whole thing with an intro, and a different/fully mixed turnaround, and vocals that don't sound like im singing through a paper towel tube. unfortunately, i spent much of my time on this song working on research rather than production. guess it's a project now. thanks for listening
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by ujnhunter »

reve wrote:
joshmillard wrote:Ah ha! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
Or perhaps the owls are not what they seem.
Perhaps, but where we're from, the birds sing a pretty song and there's always music in the air.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by reve »

Select comments. Not sure who all will get voted upon, as there were a a number of good tracks this week. However, it is clear to me that there is one

*ABSOLUTE, COMPREHENSIVE WINNER*
Elephant Choir -- Really, with a song like this everyone else should have stayed home. There is no contest.

Bad Boys - Bass needs to come down on the guitar. Seriously. But it needs to come up on my guitar, so hey... could I borrow some of your bass?

Bob Lazo - This was pretty awesome at first, but it was like there was going to be a big power chorus and it never arrived. And then you busted out with the name game and it became difficult to ascertain whether you were being serious or ironic. And if the listener is left wondering that, you're in trouble.

Cannibal Parrot - Hey... I used that sample from Network in a songfight, too! "Shut Up and Sit Down." Still never saw the movie, though. :P

Feat - This has more in common with word jazz artists such as the wonderful Ken Nordine than songfight-class nerdcore. So congratulations!

J. Millard - Josh, this is really well done.

Naked Philosophy - Also excellent. But the vocal equalization makes it sound like you phoned it in -- it detracts from such an otherwise strong track. And I could live without the REM-ish background vocals. But that's simply because I've grown to hate REM.

Ux - Seriously, though? Five minutes?
-- reve mosquito.
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Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by JonPorobil »

Disclaimer: I'm getting some really bad buzz in my left earbud; it probably needs to be replaced. This is making the listening experience in general less pleasant than it ought to be. This might be the cause of anything in my reviews that winds up getting perceived as undue surliness.

Bad Boys at Bat Mitzvahs - Eh. This is probably closer to "my genre" than your entry last week, but I think I liked that one better. The guitars sound weirdly muted, and the vocals sound bored. Where's the soul? Where's the the punch? The oomph? The zip? Give me a reason to care about this character you've created. Make him remarkable in some way, or at least sing about him in something resembling an empassioned manner. For reference, try Ross Durand's "Green Eleven."

Berekley Social Scene - I suppose I should expect lyrics about melodrama with a title like this, but it rubs me the wrong way here. A very slick production job, though. Every instrument is played perfectly, and the vocals are strong. I like the harmonies, and I really enjoy the "digging deeper and deeper" bridge. Especially that synth that pops up in the background. Keeps things lively and involved.

Bob Lazo - Is this Sven Mullet in someone else's recording studio? The guitars are crunchy, but also indistinct. The vocal needs some extra punch to stand out. Sounds like you're lost in your own band. There are random spots (like around around the 1:00 mark) where the bass pops up distractingly loud in the mix. The "Cupid/Stupid" rhyme has been done to death; avoid it.

Cannibal Parrot - At about 1:00 I gave up on trying to place the samples in terms of relevance to the title. Later on, they get more obvious. The Glassy minimalism of the piano is nice, I especially like the parts where it wavers between harmony and counterpoint. However it sounds a little *too* clean (i.e. fake). Just a little too sterile. I don't feel like this progresses satisfyingly. At 3:00, I notice that it's overall a little louder than it was at 1:00, but in no other way is it significantly changed. There's just too much repetition - it's all crescendo, all build, but it's all staying in one place. Needs a B-section.

Chthirplings - I only got the first two seconds. I guess I'll try again later.

The Elephant Choir - This reminds me a little of Beirut. The vocal is WAY too soft in the mix - and hard-panned to boot; ouch! I can't make out the lyrics. The interplay between the piano is cool, and your melody is quite distinctive. I feel like I could like this, but it's not there yet. Was this a live recording? Nice job on nailing all the parts and harmonies and such without the benefit of isolating takes!

Feat - Boy, when you rap the title, the mix just BEGS you to incorporate some new element into it. This is highly creative rapping, but the mix is just a tad too low-key for my tastes. I like the restraint here, and I wouldn't want to ruin that vibe, but I feel like it would be more engaging if there were maybe one more element here. Oh well, I'll probably vote for this anyway.

The Gnorling Snormal - Cheap-sounding instruments, awkwardly horned-in samples, and a distressing lack of variation by the 35-second mark all combine to convince me to skip.

The HATE Noise - Your voice sounds a little like MC Chris. I like the "Rumor Has It" structure, but your bragadoccio doesn't impress me. A pretty nice music bed. I really dig that bass trill; those aren't easy. At no point is this particularly offensive, though it also doesn't really impress, either. It definitely doesn't justify its length. Cut about a minute and we'll talk.

Hoglen & Wages - I'm not following the narrative of your lyrics. After the first couple of lines, I envision a potential entry for this song composed of a single line that morphs "telephone"-style throughout the song... Oh well. Hah, now I get it. I think you could talk about the Paul Is Dead thing without beating us over the head with obvious lyrics. I mean, you basically list the clues verbatim, resulting in fairly prosaic lyrics. Hey, remember how everyone was complaining about your horns last week? They're great this time! Did you mean to fade out, then back in? Oh, then you do a little "A Day In The Life" freakout, only not nearly as awesome. Oh well. I'd have chopped into that coda a little more.

Josh Millard - This reminds me, vaguely, of a Gary Jules song called "Barstool." That banjo sounds fake. Then again, my banjo sounds fake too, even when I'm sitting there playing it. How'd you get the lap steel sound? I gotta say, although this is very well-executed, this is the first Josh Millard song to not really resonate with me. Is it the genre? Maybe. I think I feel a certain restraint in your performance here which I haven't heard in your other work. That might be because you're working in an unfamiliar genre, or it might be unrelated. Who knows? I like the line "I've been a wide open book / That you can't be bothered to read." Cut the solo; it doesn't add anything. I would absolutely love to hear King Arthur cover this. (Which reminds me, you should totally enter the Coverfight.)

King Arthur - Oh my god, what wonderful harmonies. This is the best song of the fight so far, and it might even be the best King Arthur song I've heard - at least, in a long while. You definitely deserve another win for this. The little trills on the lead guitar, the lush harmonies, the lyrics, the tension in that tug-of-war melody... oooh, this is very very good. Vote!

Naked Philosophy - Welcome back! You should also do the coverfight, if you haven't signed up yet. Your songs often have elements of strong musicianship or songwriterly craft which your mixes fail to live up to. In this case, you went a little crazy with the effects on your lead vocal. The backing vocals are REM-ish. In fact, I guess the whole song is kind of REM-ish. I wonder if you were trying to evoke the sound of a garage band playing into an old 4-track? If so, mission accomplished. Good lyrics, nice harmonies and interplay there. I'll be voting for this, but you need to work on that mix.

Rik Gerblick - On the middle eight after the first verse, you sound a little out of key, which is not something I associate with Rik Gerlick. "It's not a lie / I guess it's just the kind of truth you ought to keep inside." Great line. Musically, this sort of reminds me of several songs that got used as misleadingly radio-friendly singles on albums consisting of harder material - think "Hemorrhage" by Fuel, or "Take a Picture" by Filter. Not really my cup of tea. Aside from some of the pitchy vocals, this is executed with a professional sheen; I especially like the mood evoked by the drums. Nonetheless, I'm just not particularly compelled by the overall package.

Steve Durand - I didn't know you could play flute! Whoa, workin' overtime on that bass, eh? I wish there were just a little bit more growl in your voice when you get to the point where you sing the title (I hear a vague hint of the kind of delivery I'm talking about later, in the line "Cause honey, two can play that game"). Knowing you, I highly doubt you're holding back, but it kind of sounds like you are. How come you and King Arthur both mentioned Facebook in your songs? Aren't you the two oldest guys in this fight? :P Sudden ending. Huh. I'm voting for this.

Ux Mpuzm - It couldn't have been easy to record this many vocals such that they'd sound on-key when reversed. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel like all that effort went to waste. This would have been a mildly diverting piece if it were about ninety seconds long. At its current length, it's just a waste of time.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito

Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
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glennny
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Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:39 am
Instruments: Guitar, Bass, Mandolin, Dobro, Banjo, E-Bow, Glock
Recording Method: Garageband
Submitting as: Berkeley Social Scene
Location: Castro Valley, California

Re: Rumor Has It That You've Lost This Fight (reviews)

Post by glennny »

The Rumor Lives Strong

Bad Boys at Batmitzvahs
- I like this. I don’t love it. Nice strumming! You’d be surprised how often people can’t strum a guitar well. I was joking with Ken the other day “Folk music is rock music without a catchy chorus”. Are you a Rush fan? The hook of this song is the guitar chords after the tagline. It sounds just like Bastille Day, okay slightly different; I’d never get away with it. I enjoy this listen; I don’t find the melody compelling enough for a vote.

Bob Lazo- Pretty cool song. The chorus is rather weak. This is one of those pulsey, hop on a train songs. I like nodding my head to this. Verse is adequate. The story is fine I suppose. Nothing grabs me. Good drum beat I suppose. Non-offensive, but rather weak guitar solo, as short as it is, it’s sullied by vocals. You could’ve really had a raging solo over this one.

Cannibal Parrot-
This makes me want to cover “Love to Love” with you. If you hadn’t have told me this was you (my friend Paul, the genius sax player from BSS & Ziplore “When did you know”). Regardless, I love it. This has got really nice dynamics. I appreciate this much more on headphones than I did on speakers. This is a keeper, and grabs a vote from me.

Chth Riplings
- This sounds soooooo drunk. White Stripes school of guitar and drums. Why no bass? It seriously needs some bass. That guitar tone is so trebly and bristly. I like the last 35 seconds better than the 1st 89 seconds. Lyrics I try to ignore, but sometimes a clever line or an offensive line jumps out. You’ve offended me “…I know it’s just another song”. I hope you get beaten up on the boards for that. A lot. Not bad, just needs bass, a more lively 1st 2/3rds, better lyrics, maybe some guitar tuning. Who’s in this band? Is that really Cock on vocals? That makes me suspect Noah is on guitar. All you New York song fighters play together right?

The Elephant Choir
- The recording leaves something to be desired. However, what a great song! Oh, 1st take? Well bravo! That was awesome, especially for a 1st take. It’s a shame the recording is so quiet and far away. I love everything about this song writing. Piano, and acoustic are played well. I like the lead vocals a lot too! Big Vote! Well done!

Feat- Okay, genre bias. So far I like the music. The flow of the rap is like unto Rod Serling. Now I want to go watch the Twilight Zone. Not quite an interesting story, not quite groovy enough for me to want to keep this and give it a vote. I didn’t mind the listen, but this ends up as a filler track in this fight. Not bad. I wish there was a catchy chorus to hold on to.

The Gnorling Snormal of Eloise-
There’s some serious clipping which is very unpleasant on my headphones. This sounds like undergrad art show music. Accompanying this installation of a giant toilet a barbed wire monkey sculpture and tissue box with dollars coming out of it, is the noise sculpture of Gnorling Snormal of Elouise. Some good ideas, moments here and there. I don’t buy the composition.

Hate Noise- Martyr asked me “who’s hot right now on Song Fight? Anybody new”. My response was Hate Noise. I’m looking forward to your entries every week. This has a catchy chorus! Funky beat! Swearing! I don’t think the song writing is strong enough for the vote. On the other hand, lots of really cool stuff going on. I couldn’t care less about the rap. However I really like the delivery! Yeah this gets a reluctant vote, but a vote none the less.

Hoglen and Wages
- I like the idea of the song. The vocals sound really nice. However they could use a stronger melody. The horns are a really nice touch. Why the fake fade out? Oh, number 9. The beat is boring and the chord pattern is too static for me to really get into. I really like the vocals! “if the story is true, it could really have happened” yikes, talk about filler lyrics. You guys missed the mark on a few things, but I enjoyed this.

Josh Millard
- When a song is so straight, I go a little crazy waiting for it to unfold. Excellent performances! Slide is about the most difficult instrument to play (for me anyway) so you have much forgiveness, but I would have redone that bit around 1:29, it’s a bit sour as a resolution not as a journey to the note. Nice banjo plinking! Great singing! Guitar clips a bit. Nice solo. The song is just way too obvious for me to like. It makes me want to drink beer and beat up a queer. I respect this, but I don’t like it.

King Arthur
- Great singing! Nice guitar licks! This is not very memorable to me. I like the production and the performance. I don’t really care for the song.

Naked Philosophy
- All of your melodies start to sound the same. You have a distinctive sound. I would never mistake this for anyone else. There’s not a lot going on in that long intro. I think you need to turn up the punk knob. You’ve got the down strokes down, I think you need to sing with less clarity. This needs more raw energy. I wish I couldn’t hear the lyrics so well. I enjoy the atheism of them, but I don’t find them to be very poetic, nor good storytelling.

Rik Gerblick-
Hot damn! Great vocals man! Your solo has no solo. Your verse is pretty strong. The chorus is really weak. Good playing, production is okay. All my issues are songwriting. I’m singing “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. Why did you have to make me think about my ex-girlfriend like this? This is way too “quality rock” for me to like. Were you in the Bay area this song would be damned to KFOG.

Steve Durand-You had my vote in the 1st 10 seconds. Let’s see if you lose it. Digging the verse. Love the horn punches! This is great! I’ve got quite the smile on my face! FLUTE SOLO! Okay this is the belle of the ball! Big super vote!

Ux Mpuzm- You accidentally recorded this. The hiss track is excellent! I haven’t heard hiss played this well in ages! The backwards vocals sound a little forward. I find the bass line to be perfectly reserved, if only the rest of the band followed the lead of the bass. I mean coming in at 4:52 in a 4:56 song, that’s restraint! The hiss player, may be over playing, I think maybe he needs to back off in the pre-chorus and rethink the chorus.

Berkeley Social Scene-
So I was in Maryland during this session. My mandolin and guitar solo tracks were over dubbed. The Rhodes playing by Lunkhead is the best part of this track. I think the Mandy is way too low in the mix, but the producer wasn’t such a fan of it. It’s really nice to hear Ken’s voice. The singing is excellent. The harmonies are well done. I think we could rethink the chorus melody to make it catchier. As it is, it’s good and solid, but sounds like another verse (to me). They told me they were going to leave space for a solo for me. They lied. I really like the bundle of licks that made it in to the bridge. This gets a vote for Awesome production, Kens stellar vocal performance, Sams phenomenal Rhodes playing, also Ryan and Martyr are super solid. We have way too many of these low tempo tracks. This borders on plodding, 100bpm? WTF?!

Okay, here’s the required listening to fully understand all of my reviews:

Rush- “Bastille Day”
UFO- “Love to Love”
White Stripes- “Ball and Biscuit”
Rod Serling- “Life is Grey”
Beatles- “Revolution #9”
Natalie Imbruglia “Torn”

My votes go to:

Berkeley Social Scene
Steve Durand
Hate Noise
The Elephant Choir
Cannibal Parrot
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
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