Might as well call this a review thread, I guess. (HBFY)

[Andy Balham]

Billy & The Psychotics
For me, the music is missing that vital hook and I found the chorus somewhat underwhelming. I did like the breakdown and build up after the first chorus. I just wanted a hookier chorus.

Thanks for the review, Andy. You being one of the accomplished musicians here I like that puts out some great music, let me ask you point blank. If you were in charge of this production, what would you have done for a hook? And if you want to just leave it at "it just didn't grab you" that's cool too. But if you could, what would you do for a hook? Thanks.

For me, the main descending chord riff isn't interesting enough to make it memorable. The result is that I struggled to recall how the song went soon after listening. Contrast this to you entry last week, where a week later and after only a handful of listens, I could easily recollect how it went. Stating the bleeding obvious, writing a catchy riff is quite an art. I thought you managed it well last week, but not this. Could I do better? Probably not, but I would try to make either the rhythm or chord progression less predicable. As people have mentioned, there's lots of great music that isn't hook-driven. I just felt this suited a big hook and didn't quite have it for me.

Production-wise, I fear I am also judging you by last week's high standard. I thought the overall sound last week was very good, with good stereo and instrument separation. This week the overall sound strikes me as much narrower. Maybe I am getting too used to hearing stereo-widening effects or doubled guitar parts or maybe you just had less instruments to play with on this song. All I can say is I'd like more of what you did last week. All pretty subjective of course.

[RangerDenni]

Stating the bleeding obvious, writing a catchy riff is quite an art.

Paradoxically, sometimes writing a catchy riff can be waylaid by trying too hard to write a catchy riff - and by the quest to make your statement fit things as perfectly as possible. I am struggling to produce those happy accidental and magical mistakes which are seemingly so troublesome to produce now on demand. How does one reproduce improvisatory magic in an effortless, call-to-mind fashion? I guess this is That Next Step. Putting oneself into a Zone.

Comments appreciated.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Billy & The Psychotics
For me, the music is missing that vital hook and I found the chorus somewhat underwhelming. I did like the breakdown and build up after the first chorus. I just wanted a hookier chorus.

Thanks for the review, Andy. You being one of the accomplished musicians here I like that puts out some great music, let me ask you point blank. If you were in charge of this production, what would you have done for a hook? And if you want to just leave it at "it just didn't grab you" that's cool too. But if you could, what would you do for a hook? Thanks.

For me, the main descending chord riff isn't interesting enough to make it memorable. The result is that I struggled to recall how the song went soon after listening. Contrast this to you entry last week, where a week later and after only a handful of listens, I could easily recollect how it went. Stating the bleeding obvious, writing a catchy riff is quite an art. I thought you managed it well last week, but not this. Could I do better? Probably not, but I would try to make either the rhythm or chord progression less predicable. As people have mentioned, there's lots of great music that isn't hook-driven. I just felt this suited a big hook and didn't quite have it for me.

Production-wise, I fear I am also judging you by last week's high standard. I thought the overall sound last week was very good, with good stereo and instrument separation. This week the overall sound strikes me as much narrower. Maybe I am getting too used to hearing stereo-widening effects or doubled guitar parts or maybe you just had less instruments to play with on this song. All I can say is I'd like more of what you did last week. All pretty subjective of course.

This is exactly why I asked you this question. Thank you for taking the time.

....blame fluffy for the weirdly shaped winky face, he's weirdly shaped too.

[faight]

but that kind of "setting soul on fire in flames of desire" stuff needs better musical support to work.

Godescalc,

what would you recommend?

Faight

[Dejected_Motives]

All in all, not a bad fight! I enjoyed listening to several of these songs! So, let's get rioght to it, shall we?

Berkeley: This reminds me of a song by Brand New. I don't hate it, but it doesn't impress me much either. I do like the guitar swells towards the end though. Bonus points for that.

Billy: Funkadelic meets grunge meets alt-metal. I enjoyed this! Very nice.

Dejected: TERRIBLE recording of an otherwise descent song (if I do say so myself.) Not spectacular, but it shows potential. A better recording could have brought in more votes I'm sure...

Dirge: I grew up on Bush, nirvana, Alice in Chains, etc. so, naturally, I like thisSome more layers (and perhaps backing vocals) could have really made this shine..

Faight: Whereas my entry lacks in the vocal volume and clarity, this one has the vocals a bit too loud.At least they're clear (until the rap part,) but the music levels need to come up. The vocal melody sounds a bit like Greensleeves..

HATE: This made me laugh in a good way! Score one for sampling! What you lacked in actual music production you made up for in lyrical awesomeness!

Ken's: I'm diggin' it! Very well composed with a good lyrical story. Barenaked ladies, is that you?

Klown: The music overpowers the vocals (which I didn't particularly care for either.) Sorry, I'm just not feeling this one..

Monkey: Typewriter snare drum at the opera? Sorry, I'm not a fan of this type of music either..

Paco: Tom Petty meets Toad the Wet Sprocket. This is another song that takes me back to the 90s and in a good way!

Pig: I don't mind simple guitar and vocal songs, but I don't care for these lyrics. Also, the 'Out of a Hat' lyric gives this song's true identity away.Isn't that kind of like cheating to use a song idea that you started last week? Either way, I'm not a fan...

Shambles: I don't generally enjoy this type of music, but it could probably find it's place in an 80s type B-movie. Clever lyrics though, I'll definitely give you that.

Sign: Awww yeah, I'm liking this one! It's funky and well-composed. Too bad it was late because I would have definitely given this a vote.

Sports: This is well composed with a good lyrical story. Well done!

Tye: Jack Johnson is in the house! And he's doing a good job! Nicely done!

My votes go to: The Sportswriters, Paco del Stinko, The HATE Noise featuring Mean Gene Goatee, Billy & The Psychotics, Tye Lemery, Dirge & Sara, and Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff

[Dejected_Motives]

Further proving that my motives are indeed 'dejected,' I now feel a bit like an ass for 'pre-empting' my entry while not reading a single review before listening to this week's entries.. I see what you are all saying about the couch cushion now that I hear what you are all hearing; what a terrible vocal recording! Some time after Halloween, I WILL make a better recording of this song! Thank you all for your honesty. I appreciate it. JB, even though you come across as being a total prick, I can understand and appreciate the point you are making. I should have just said the song was only 5 minutes long and left it at that. I do want to thank faight, dirgetheband, Pigfarmer Jr, godescalc, and sara957 for their positive feedback. I'm glad you could at least see and appreciate the song's potential, albeit 'auto-tuned garbage.' Maybe some day I will meander from the auto-tune and show you all my lousy natural voice.. or submit an intrumental... either way, no auto-tune.. or go the other direction and get all Daft Punk on your asses

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Pig: I don't mind simple guitar and vocal songs, but I don't care for these lyrics. Also, the 'Out of a Hat' lyric gives this song's true identity away.Isn't that kind of like cheating to use a song idea that you started last week? Either way, I'm not a fan...

I'm an idjit. I clicked over on Saturday and clicked away. When I started to write the song it was to the previous title (you know in big letters above all the entries that you can vote on.) And didn't realize it until I went to send in the submission. So I overdubbed the one line (making sure the old line was up enough that you could hear it in earphones as not to pretend I didn't screw up) and sent it in. I spent less than 90 minutes total (and that included fixing breakfast.)

So, I'm silly and lazy and not giving Songfight the proper due. But I ain't cheating.

[Dejected_Motives]

I'm an idjit. I clicked over on Saturday and clicked away. When I started to write the song it was to the previous title (you know in big letters above all the entries that you can vote on.) And didn't realize it until I went to send in the submission. So I overdubbed the one line (making sure the old line was up enough that you could hear it in earphones as not to pretend I didn't screw up) and sent it in. I spent less than 90 minutes total (and that included fixing breakfast.)

So, I'm silly and lazy and not giving Songfight the proper due. But I ain't cheating.

That's an honest mistake. I didn't spend much time on my final submission either. All the hours that I spent working on the song throughout the week were in vain because I decided at the last minute to start it all over and take it in a totally new direction. I'm glad to hear that you didn't cheat though. That makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, hahaha!!

[godescalc]

but that kind of "setting soul on fire in flames of desire" stuff needs better musical support to work.

Godescalc,

what would you recommend?

I realise that was an ambiguous comment - it was an offhand remark sparked by sportswriter's criticism of the line, I was thinking about whether it was indeed ridiculous and thought, no, it can work if it's forcefully delivered, but the lyrics fall a bit flat given the defects of the song. What I'd suggest is what I mentioned already, tightening up the song so the good sections sound better (where the vocals are lower, you really need something more going on in the bass - these sections could easily have more drive and power), and the bad sections sound less awful - the higher vocals really do not sound good (cf. sportswriter's snark), and this wrecks the quieter "fears/tears/it has been for years" bits where the higher vocals are front and centre. I've got nothing to suggest regarding the structure and composition of the song (...well, I feel a desire to argue with the first verse for its attitude on life, but that's not strictly a matter of quality) which seem pretty sound; it just needs to be executed better and tightened up.

[hillbilly]

Signboy---- that sounds all some thru my new headphones

[Spintown]

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2011/10/ ... ement.html

Sammy Kablam's latest review has been posted.

[jast]

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2011/10/ ... ement.html

Sammy Kablam's latest review has been posted.

Looks the same, sounds the same. I made it through the first twenty seconds, mostly on the wings of my incorrigible optimism, then I gave up. White noise is more entertaining than this. Even the freaking still frame the player shows at first just tells me: "this is more of the same and if you press the play button you'll be sorry". I should have listened to it.

[Spintown]

He listened to twenty seconds, and says it's 'more of the same'? Well, it's another Song Fight review, so...duh? Besides, his last comment said he listened to 22 seconds; now he says he listened to 20 seconds. So, his feedback is 'more of the same', so that renders his argument impotent, correct? That, or he's just a hypocrite. Or maybe both. - Sammy Kablam (via Skype chat)

[jast]

Last time, some time after I commented on the review, I actually let myself get talked into looking at the rest, and... suffice to say, my first impression was confirmed. Just for the sake of my current level of boredom, let's assume that you are actually interested in what people think of your "reviews". If so, here's a somewhat less concise explanation for you.

"More of the same" is not inherently bad. Some people regularly write Song Fight reviews and their reviews are consistently pretty damn insight- and helpful. The real issue, then, is the content and the presentation of the review. And in that regard, you indeed delivered more of the same: stuff that nobody in their right minds would bother watching twice (or even all the way through).

I have no idea what your goal is in posting those reviews. Perhaps you're simply trying to sucker people into wasting time. If so, wow, that's definitely not the mark of a person headed for success in life. Perhaps you simply aren't aware that your videos are horrible. We can fix that if you have some basic skills of comprehension (though I guess it's not a good sign that you're having serious trouble understanding what makes an argument valid or not). There is no other case I can easily imagine in which someone of sound mind would actually upload videos like that. You had your chance of being treated as someone trying to improve after the first time, but despite the overwhelmingly negative reactions, including concrete complaints, the second set of reviews still has the exact same horrible delivery of and approach to content. I mean, sure, if it seems worthwhile to you to complain about how horrible others are whilst spending not even a single moment on improving your own stuff, be my guest.

I'm not going to review every little aspect of your video separately because that's both pointless and time-consuming. Suffice to say that there is just one big underlying message: you don't value subtlety and you are not capable of using it (there's a reason why poor actors overact everything: they can't do better than that). There is nothing less interesting than something that's relentlessly in-your-face, chiefly because it's the easiest possible thing to do, and also because sustaining interest requires contrasts and change.

It doesn't look like you plan on changing that, so there isn't really any point in me going on any further than this. So, unless you bother to actually make the next set more interesting or appear to be genuinely interested in trying out new stuff, this is the last post I'm writing for your benefit (potentially, anyway). I'm already shaking in my boots thinking about the incredibly mean and incredibly boring review you'll probably give my next song (TBA).

[hillbilly]

What he said, and nother vote Signboy

[hillbilly]

What he said, and nother vote Signboy

[Billy's Little Trip]

You can say THAT again, hill.

[hillbilly]

Billy, check out the sign back up chick, digging this

[Monkey Touchers]

I think jast is really missing the point, possibly on purpose.

I thought the video was funny.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Billy, check out the sign back up chick, digging this

I know. I like that song. Sign generally makes good creative music.

....and how is it that I understood you?

[Billy's Little Trip]

I think jast is really missing the point, possibly on purpose.

I thought the video was funny.

Well, Jast is German. Their idea of funny is a man in lederhosen getting poked in the eye with a knockwurst.

......knockwurst in the eye.

[Spud]

I am happy that my comment finally caused him to get creative. I thought that last part was great. I didn't know he had it in him.

SPUD