Tuners Union
The production on this is fantastic! The acoustic sounds amazing! The banjo is killer also! Drums sound great! Vocals are crazy good. I don't like the telegraphed rhyme : " ......Let her!", ".....better!". Is that a female backing vocalist? I dig the "Ain't No sunshine When she's gone" : "I know, I know,....". I love the funky breakdown musically, the vocals make me cringe a bit, but I admire the ambition. I just listened to your back catalog. You've always had good songs, but wow you really stepped up your production skills on this one! Impressive! The solo section on this song is great! I love the production and the performance, but the song just isn't speaking to me, I want to like it more than I do. What's wrong with it? Not much at all. I hope the production values keep up, I'm sure there will be a song that gets to me one of these fights. Normally I'd vote for this, but in such a strong fight, I'm holding back.
The Tiny Paws of Fury
Oh I miss that Casio! This is clearly J$, who else is in the band? I really like the riffs! This would be a fun angular groove to get Frippy over. I like how short and sweet this is, but I think the ending could have been written a little stronger, the stop is effective, but a little bit of a let down. I love these quirky little tunes in my i-phone playlist. This is a keeper. Not sure about the vote in such a strong fight. Still considering it. Would normally vote for this.
sausage
I dig the rock power! The vocalist really sells it and is the best part. What I don't like about the song writing is the main riff. It's a good riff, it sounds a lot like a sped up version of "Optimistic" by Radiohead, but then there isn't another riff for the pre-chorus or chorus to juxtapose to it to keep it as strong as it could have been. The drums have good energy. Oh wow! Great solo man! I wish the solo was louder in the mix. Exceptionally good ending to the solo, I like how the drums and guitar hit those accents together to wrap it up! Another song that I would normally vote for, but I'm holding back because the fight is so strong.
roymond
Oh man! This is soooo Crimson! Is that a zoom pedal effect I detect? The weakest link in the vocals. They are alright, but sometimes feel a bit unsure. It's a timing thing, all the instruments are so tight and complicated, then the vocals sound like they needed another take in parts. I like your voice and delivery, I just think another take may have been in order. These riffs are so delicious and inventive, and full of good vitamins, tri-tones, and fun time sigs. This has been my most listened to track from this fight. Yes you get a vote, it's not flawless, but the good parts are so very good. I love it!
Ross Durand
Okay, the intro is rather Bad Company "Feel like Makin Love". Your voice is awesome! I love the performance! I really really hate these lyrics. You often live and die by your lyrics, I will bring your name up when people ask about the best lyricists on Song Fight. This however is everything I hate about lyrics. I see you didn't post your lyrics, you must not have been proud. You know I love you man,but just because you use the "they say...." mantra doesn't mean I want to hear those cliche's. Then the summation line that you're relying on for your cleverness is probably the biggest cliche' from all song writers" yadda yadda yadda, but they ( dont know, haven't lost, never seen, been with) you. This is nice to listen to if I can A) stop singing the Bad Company song, B) manage to ignore the lyrics. I think I know the solution. If you sang this in French, it would be profound. All that said, I really like the melody. The organ kicking in is really cool too.
The Real Sign
The production leaves something to be desired. It's a lot quieter than all the competition. The rapping sounds like Madonna in the "Vogue" song. I don't think the rap was a good choice. The flow is not there. It takes what is mostly speech and then invokes awkward stresses. Is the opposite of groovy ridgy? I will call the rap vocals ridgy. The lyrics are wrought with cliche's too. I really dig the chorus, and the backing vocalist. The music is pretty cool in an incubus/ linkin park kind of way. I imagine Linkin Park might do a kick ass cover of this. Nice playing. The song isn't that long, but it kinda feels long. I think maybe more development from one verse chorus to the next verse chorus would help. Oh and the ending is cut too abrupt. I think it needs a long fadey noisy ending like "Climbing up the Walls". Some good ideas, but doesn't work as a whole for me. Perhaps I should claim genre bias, but I think with some tweaks I would have liked this.
Pillar of Paprika
Nice moody intro. This is really cool. This sounds like a B-Side from Earth,Sun, Moon. Love and Rockets fan? The E-bow is tasteful. I like the alternative plodding bass line. The dynamics are good in the music, but the vocals stay David Jay. This is ambient enough that it feels super short, I look at the time and I expect 90 seconds, but it's a full 3:14. I like this a lot. This gets a vote. I really like the shoe-gazy atmosphere this creates. Good stuff!
Paco del Stinko
This is not flawless PDS, but it has many of the strengths I've come to know and love. The verses are very strong. The production is awesome. I LOVE the bass line and especially the bass tone. I think the chorus isn't as strong as it should be. It just isn't that catchy. The bridge is really strong. I really love the solos. Nice strong ending. Not one of my PDS favorites, but certainly vote worthy! VOTE!
Longfellow Street
By principle, I don't want to vote for this. Playing a 12-bar is not song writing. That music is for musicians who are meeting for the 1st time. It's for a live setting. Hell, maybe it's for a video, or a movie vignette. There needs to be something else to hold my attention. I hate knowing the map ahead as a listener. It also traps the lyrics into a lot of repeats. All that said, this is awesome. The song is too long, but the singing is stellar! That female vocalist is awesome! The production is incredible! What instruments are real, which are fake? You guys are great players! I love all the bloops and bleeps too. The guitar tone is great too. I like the solo. I think the sax is the best part. Maybe her vocals are the best part. The lyrics are fine, but nothing special poetically. The vocals are good too. Repeated listens are difficult and have diminishing returns due to the 12-bar factor. I am going to give this a vote, I think the production and the playing s that good.
Jon Eric
This is beautiful. The subtle double bass is a great touch, or is it cello? Anyway, I love the piano playing. This is clearly not played with a click, and I think that’s to its merit. The dynamics are great. I don’t like the “forget ‘er”- “…better”, ..”wetter” rhyme. This is a really strong song. I have to say, this deserves a vote. It says a lot in a short amount of time and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Bravo! Vote.
The Chocolate Chips
This is really cool. This hits that Ween Mollusk note rather well. Unfortunately, it seems to be a couple ideas short of a complete song. What’s there is grand, but it’s way too short. The vocals sound a little unsure, especially in the verse. I think you ran out of time maybe? The effects are cool. Nice job! More song next time please.
Billy & The Psychotics
This intro is nice, but I have to say when the strutting riff kicked in I was taken for a left turn. The dynamics are awesome. DJ is kicking ass on the vocals! The riffs are huge. I do miss a PDS kick ass solo, but the breakdown is nice anyway. I could stand for this to be longer, preferably with a solo. I still yearn for some Billy background vocals. The DJ harmony touches are good! The production is great. I have no idea what the lyrics are and I don’t really care. The melodies are great! Great performance! VOTE!
AntBut
This is a pretty song. The drum machine is a little grating. The hiss factor is pretty bad. The piano sprinklings are great. This song is so positive I feel like I’m watching Fame, and Bruno is cheering up Julie with a little number he wrote to make her feel better about that episodes conflict. This is a well written song structure and chord wise. This lacks all rock. Well done, I’m just not that into it. Way too mellow and safe and positive to be exciting.
Berkeley Social Scene
I’m really proud of this one. This was collaboration at its best. I originally wrote this in 7/8, but I couldn’t make convincing demo drums, so I acquiesced to 4/4 to finish the demo to present to the band. Originally the chorus was another vocal call and music response section, like the verse and pre-chorus. Ken and Martin voted against that chorus and we tweaked it in to what it is. Also Martin came up with the tweak that is the vocal hook to me. “Hide in your room like a leper” became “hide in your room, hide like a leper”. That little tweak made all the difference in the world. That session I did the rhythm guitar and we were a power trio. Ken overdubbed the Rhodes, and I overdubbed the lead guitar bits and the E-bow solo. Ken did a fantastic production job on this one. Once the Rhodes was there the vibe of the song totally reminded me of “Touch of Gray” by the Grateful Dead. Shooting the video was super fun. Martin and I turned 40 in February and we dressed in light shirts and ties, I thought it looked good, so that was our “look” for the video. Ken and I brought a few hats and we had fun. I love the low harmonies. I especially love the solo section with the Rhodes and bass doubling (tripling) the riff. I am voting for us.
Strong fight! I liked them all!
Votes go to:
Berkeley Social Scene
Billy & the Psychotics
Jon Eric
Paco del Stinko
Long Fellow Street
Roymond
Pillar of Paprika
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
Got plenty of mic clamps that would hold them if I wanted to get all tripod-standy. What camera did y'all use? What video editing software? Would you describe how you went about it? It looked like it was pretty laid back and fun to do. Where's your jam space? Is that one of the new Rhodes? If so I'm more than a bit jealous 
