Songfight at the Grammys (We Are All Famous Reviews)

[Poor June]

honestly... one of my fave songs of the week... and i really do dislike the beach boys... but something about jims song... it's awesome man
i can't really stop listening to it...
had to let ya know... how you can sing all those harmonies and it just be you... amazes me...

[A_Likely_Mike]

Dopant - If Courtney Love was singing this it would be great. The voice needs to be a bit more lived-in. Specifically really reminds me of 'Celebrity Skin' Hole which features a song called 'Hollywood', natch! The singing is fine but it sounds like you've never been drunk, nevermind drunk on someone else ... needs a hangover before recoding in other words

I see what you're saying in that afterwards I was like "This is polished grunge" but then I was still happy with it all the same. I was hungover last week and got ripped on for off-key singing. I wasn't going to repeat the feat this week. I'm proud of the tight harmonies.

[Jim of Seattle]

honestly... one of my fave songs of the week... and i really do dislike the beach boys... but something about jims song... it's awesome man
i can't really stop listening to it...
had to let ya know... how you can sing all those harmonies and it just be you... amazes me...

Consider my day made. Thanks, June!

[Andy Balham]

And now the views of that most respected of critics, Andy Balham…

Ants (Invisible)
I see why people have been mentioning The Beach Boys, this is top notch. What a way to start. Really nice length too.

The Daughters of Zelophehad
Hmm… I’m sure Zelophehad is really proud.

Dopant
I’m enjoying the listen and the harmonies are really well done, but there’s nothing in there that is really grabbing me. The title seems a little tenuous too; “Still Drunk On You” would be a much better fit.

Eight Legged Oedipus
I like the change to the processed voice and there’s a nice rhythm to it as well. Little short, I was just getting into it.

Heuristics Inc.
Nice 80’s feel going on here. With this and 8LO I’m enjoying a change of pace from guitar-based work. I’m left waiting for a little variety; will it come by the end of the track? No.

Johnny Cashpoint
Nice ice hockey style intro. I’m reading the words and I’m lost too, though there is a certain poetry to them. I like the synthy thing in the background, but the feel is a little slow for my tastes. I want another ‘Let It Be’ or ‘Elvis In Space’.

Kurt Pistov and the Ryan Wells Trio
I like the intro. Not sure about the vocal style, it jars somewhat against the smooth backing. That, of course, could be the desired effect. Nice axework, but in general it left me cold and was too long too.

Leaf 62
The guitar sounds good, but a little too formulaic. Something about the way the vocals are mixed makes them seem a little disembodied to me. Another very competent entry that leaves me unmoved.

Manhattan Glutton
I like that bass riff, I would have made it a little more prominent as it’s much more interesting than the guitar strumming. Nice use of the little stops. The take on the title strikes me as a little obvious (I’m a big fan of twists). I like the change at the end.

Pileus
The guitars need a little more definition; they sound too much like static for me. Maybe it’s my headphones, but I can hardly make out the rhythm section behind them. Not much melody to hang on to either (hark at me ). Another nice bit of axework on the solo though, just the overall sound is a little incessant for me.

Sausage Boy
The intro is reminding me of “Bela Lugosis’s Dead”. The spoken verse work reasonably well, though I was waiting for a big breakout come the chorus. Alas, I am left unsatiated. Nice idea, but I would have liked more variety to keep me interested

The Sleazy D Collective
Nice scene setting at the start and the build up is nicely done. The chorus is good, but it is reminding me too much of Heart FM (a schmaltzy British radio station played in my gym changing room). I much prefer the verses; I guess I would have liked some bitterness in that chorus.

Spy Vs. Pie
Ah, this is refreshing. Some nice rhyming going on here and there is a good general feel going on that is carried on well into the instrumental. Short and sweet.

waypastfrown
At last, B ‘n’ G. It would have been nice to read the lyrics for this as I could then judge the song better. As it is, it’s fine until the handclapping.

Overall I was somewhat disappointed with this fight. I guess the title was difficult to move away from in vastly different directions (J$ apart). Anyways, my top three are:

3. The Sleazy D Collective
2. Spy Vs. Pie
1. Ants (Invisible)

[Gazelles]

Seeing as it's been said twice now that the lyrics make no sense, let me clear that up. I didn't have anything in mind to write about. They don't seem to be about anything mostly because they aren't. I found that in the past when I tried to write a song about something in particular, I wasn't at all happy with the result. So I tried just writing and coming up with rhymes and words that sounded good together and I came up with this. I really like these, especially the chorus, and I'm really glad Johnny liked them as well. It was very cool finally being able to make a worth while contribution to the Songfight community and I hope to keep writing at least one set of lyrics every week.

[j$]

I want another ‘Let It Be’ or ‘Elvis In Space’.

two songs of mine which were incredibly unpopular at the times of the fights ... never go back.

Oh, just cos it's you ... here's two new songs that might be more to your liking ... ashtrays and end panto

j$

[johnsonic]

Seeing as it's been said twice now that the lyrics make no sense, let me clear that up. I didn't have anything in mind to write about. They don't seem to be about anything mostly because they aren't. I found that in the past when I tried to write a song about something in particular, I wasn't at all happy with the result.

I do the same thing. In a month or two, they make sense and seem to be about what I was going through at the time (although it's probably just 2 months of rationalization)

If this quote tag works, I'm psyched. (2 SECONDS LATER - I'm PSYCHED!!!

[sausage boy]

Hello guys. Bit out of practise for this, but here we go.

Ants (Invisible) - Nice harmonies and use of the lounge type piano and drums sound. Vocals seem to be overpowering the music a little though.

Daughters of Zelophehad - I was interested at the beginning, but really wanted it to go somewhere. Sounds kind of like a 3min 40sec intro.

Dopant - Not bad. Good quality recording. Kind of lost interest some way in, but I can't really talk.

Eightlegged Oedipus - I like the ending part. If you worked on this song a bit more it could be really good.

Heuristics Inc - Do I really even have to say anything? You know its good, I know its good. Winning so far.

Johnny Cashpoint - In some way myself and J$ are similar. We can't sing, but we don't give a shit. I like this too, but you are just a tad behind Heuristics Inc.

Kurt Pistov et al - Sounds a lot like everything else I have ever heard.Theres some guitars, some drums and some screechy guy. I'd hate to go on a ramble now, but what happened to all the original Song Fight sounds?

Leaf62 - I like the timing of the verse. But again, a little bit sounding like everything else ever.

Manhatton Glutton - This has grabbed me from the start. Cool bass, I'm a sucker for cool bass. The acoustic guitar fits in well too.

Pileus - Gets repedative a little quickly. That solo sort of comes out of nowhere.

Sausage Boy - I ran out of time for this. I meant to include guitar, but ah well, thems the breaks. It's nice to get back into the thick of it.

Sleazy D Collective - I don't know if I am qualified to say anything about this song. Excellent, excellent singing.

Spy vs Pie - Now this is Punk Rock. I love the 'Monkey Island'esque xylophone thing.

Way Past Frown - Again, so so. It's a song alright. Maybe if you did something to make the lyrical content interesting?

[j$]

Johnny Cashpoint - In some way myself and J$ are similar. We can't sing, but we don't give a shit.

What is this? Johnny Cashpoint Flashbacklash week or something?

j$

[sausage boy]

You are as bad as TV News programs J$. You only quoted the bit of my post that made it sound like I was slagging you.

I actually quite enjoyed your song, and it has found its way onto the playlist of my computer.

[j$]

I was only joking Not very well, clearly!

I am a big Sausage Boy fan too, though not so much this time round because I wanted to hear something like the guitar you mentioned you'd left off. Still would have voted for Bill i think, but you'd have been a close second ...

j$

[Bolio]

Ants (Invisible) - Beach Boys

No no no nooooo! This is The Association. Beautifully done.

I'll take full credit for convincing JoS to record more frequently in Seattle last year

[jack]

sausage boy vocals make me think les claypool on ludes. and we go back to the jonny juice days so i know your vox....

there is nobody that sounds or reminds me of johnny cashpoint. he is a monopoly of style and enunciation.

[Gazelles]

Reviewwwws:
* indicates a keeper

Ants (Invisible)*: This is pretty great. All the harmonizing vocals are great. This is very good, however I wish it didn't feel so much like you wrote a one minute song and simply played it through twice. Overall, very nice little song. 4 stars.

Daughters of Zelophehad: This is has a vague structure to it. I like the slap bass. Unfortunately right when it feels like it's going somewhere, it digresses again. I really like it though when someone can make something sound insane and structured at the same time. I agree that it sounds a bit like a gigantic intro, with no climax. All in all, it's good qualities even out it's bad qualities. 2 and 1/2 stars.

Dopant: This is pretty alt rock by the numbers. It's done well though. It's got a nice hook. The chorus is the best part. Right when you start feeling really bored with the verse, the chorus comes in and you're interested again. 2 and 9/10 stars.

Eight Legged Oedipus*: This has some nice moments lyrically and musically, especially. The piano is excellent (though it doesn't sound like a real piano.) I would've really liked to hear a longer version. Very nice job. 3 and 4/5 stars.

Heuristics Inc.*: The robotic voice sounds great with the music. The music right before and after the chorus sounds pretty techno-y, but the actual chorus is great and creepy and makes up for it. I like this much better on the second listen. 3 and 2/3 stars.

Johnny Cashpoint*: I really like the organ intro. The chord progression is weird but it grows on you. And the sliding organ stuff is great. The ending part is my favoriteI wrote the lyrics on this and I like parts but some are no good. The rhyming in the 3rd verse is non existant. I like the chorus alot though, I'm proud of that. This is a great song. 4 stars.

Kurt Pistov and the Ryan Wells Trio: This has a nice groove. The bass is real nice, you should brign that a titch more. It's pretty repetitive though. And the vocals don't align real well and it's not working to your advantage. It's far too long for not a whole lot of song. 2 and 4/5 stars.

Leaf 62: I want to like this. I don't know, it just really really doesn't grab me. It's just really cliche and boring to me. I'm generally a huge Redcar/Leaf 62 fan but this doesn't do the trick at all. 2 and 2/3 stars.

Manhattan Glutton: The riff in this is real nice. The arrangement isn't nearly intricate enough to really hold my attention. The bridge/ending part is real nice. Good job, but do a little more, this had real potential. 3 and 1/4 stars.

Pileus: This is pretty average. The only good part is the solo, but repetition brings it back down. Pretty boring overall. 2 and 1/3 stars.

Sausage Boy: Wow I'm really surprised I gave this 2 stars to begin with, that was lame of me. I'm glad I'm listening to this much closer now, it very well might be a keeper. Yeah this isn't quite a keeper, but it's certainly very nice, it just starts to lose my attention near the end. 3 and 2/5 stars.

The Sleazy D Collective: I'm not sure I like you're voice tomorrow. The style is kind of cheesy too, but it's done quite nicely. It's got a real nice build up, but the cheesiness throws me off too much. You did a pretty good job though. 3 and 1/2 stars.

The Spy Vs. Pie*: Return of Spy Vs. Pie! The lyrics are real clever. The arrangement is great too, but background stuff is great, it really adds to the song in a big way. 3 and 2/3 stars.

waypastfrown: Well you certainly brought the boy and guitar. It's real pretty. It's hard for boy and guitar to be real interesting though, sometimes it's I find it very compelling and sometimes I find my self bored. This leanign a little more to the bored side, but it certainly has some compelling element. The hand claps could go. At least add some backing guitar to them or something. You have a great voice though. 3 stars.

Top 5:
1. Ants (Invisible)*
1. Johnny Cashpoint*
3. Eight Legged Oedipus*
4. Heuristics Inc.*
4. Spy Vs. Pie*

I think I'm gonna vote for Johnny Cashpoint.

[sausage boy]

there is nobody that sounds or reminds me of johnny cashpoint. he is a monopoly of style and enunciation.

what an excellent way of putting it.

If I get around to the guitars for this song, I'll let you know.

[Leaf]

Leaf 62: I want to like this. I don't know, it just really really doesn't grab me. It's just really cliche and boring to me. I'm generally a huge Redcar/Leaf 62 fan but this doesn't do the trick at all. 2 and 2/3 stars.
.

Wow. This is in fact the hugest compliment I think I've gotten here!



The song is really just a mishmash of silly random ideas...some I really like mind you, but I was just trying to push something out with little real inspiration from the title... just answering Hip cola's challenge really! ...and I 've paid for this all week with progressively more tired days!!! Starting the week on three hours sleep is no longer some kind of manly statement on work ethic, it's just dumb. I think I'd like to use some of those ideas in a real song... I must say, I was mystified at myself for creating so many odd time figures unintentionally... the intro is bars of 11, the verse is 9's, the chorus fours, and she told two friends...and so on, and so on , and so on... so whippity doo, I sloppily showed I can play random incoherent ... eeps. So basically, I wrote a musical version of one of my goofy latenight rambly posts... wicked.

anyway, thanks for the review man, appreciated.

[j$]

Johnny Cashpoint*: This is a great song.

Ah cool, I am so glad you liked it. That was my sole motivation in writing it, to be honest. As everyone's favourite lurker-in-residence finally crossing over onto the receiving side (as it were), I wanted to write you a song based on my vague memories of things wot you have said you liked; and while it didn't end up at any of those reference points, it looks like it worked out anyway!

j$

[Gazelles]

Haha, it definitely worked, and I really appreciate that Johnny. Finally being able to make decent contribution with one of my favorite Songfight artists to the Songfight community has been a great experience.

[HeuristicsInc]

ants - now this is cool. i like the bassline a lot. i like this sort of 60's vibe. i really appreciate how you took the ants aesthetic into a longer format. it works. the blah blah part is especially cool.

spyvs - the music is quite cool, the guitar and percussion move things along nicely. the voice is ok, but isn't my favorite. the ending solo is excellent.

daughters - the vocals are kind of all over the place. when the vocals stop the music loses its direction. this song is a soup of unrelated things. bad sound too, everything's muffled. sounds like it was recorded on a walkman in a room with the tv on.

sleazy - i don't feel like it works that well with only the vo0ice. when the music comes in you got me, though. the chord thing (piano?) sounds great. i like this.

leaf - this is cool, but feels kind of unfinished. which i guess it is? i like the guitar tone a lot. nice.

heuristics - my song! this is a tapegerm track. as such most sounds are from our latest free loops set. i was inspired by the title right away. i'm glad people are picking up on the circular nature, i worked to bring that feature to the fore. thanks for all the great reviews so far! and the couple of votes !

manhatt - hey, this is way cooler than the band name suggests. "we're all famous / in our minds" vs. my lyric "in our own minds / we are all famous" interesting. good.

kurt - good guitar. this is fun. multiple vocals don't mesh together well, feels kind of sloppy but not too bad. gives it kind of a jamband feel. i'd prefer it if they were more together.

pileus - can't hear the vocals very well. i'm not a fan of the vocal style.

8lo - hmm, mastering seems a little harsh on the top end to me. the distorted spoken vocals are good, but seem a bit rushed at points. also, feels like it ends too abruptly.

wayp - the g&g's not grabbing me. it's got to stand out more to make it via that genre, i think. this is too quiet. handclaps are way too loud for the rest of the sounds. sorry, didn't do it for me.

dopant - heh, good buildup in the beginning. this one sounds like a demo of a song that could be nicely polished up, recording-wise. good. chorus is quite good. i think you end up repeating it too many times, though. what you did to extend the "you" at 2:48 is great.

johnny - "stop starting" seems to start a little late. great organ (?). i like the lyrics, gazelles. odd but good. good use of echo there. the music vs. words don't seem to be together as well as you usually do... pretty good tho.

sausage - welcome back. great bass. and the drums. maybe the vocals should be sung a bit more "out"? haha self reference, normally annoying but good here. the vocal scat part isn't really doing it for me, but i like the rest.

1: ants. sleazy. leaf. hinc. manhat. dopant.
2: spyvs. kurt. pileus. 8lo. johnny. sausage.

my favorite song here is between ants and mine. close one. but i'm generally disinclined to vote for myself without damn good reason, so congrats, jim. many thanks to those that said they were voting for me!
-bill

[Jim of Seattle]

Ants (Invisible)*: I wish it didn't feel so much like you wrote a one minute song and simply played it through twice. [/b]

Uhh... you caught me. Good ear. The only reason I did that was because I was liking it so much I didn't want it to be over. When I sing "Good God" that's my favorite part, though. And I like how the first time I'm singing "Just a little bit", 5 beats over 4, and the second time through it's "BUT Just a little bit", 6 beats over 4. I dig that kind of crap.

[Pileus]

yea i know this weeks entry has some problems, but i lost my voice, and made my buddy tim sing, and he's never recorded.. i didnt feel like training him, nor did we really have time.. hopefully this wont happen again, thanks for the reviews tho were trying to avoid the rap songs...

chazz

[thehipcola]

reviews, no time to bold or italicize, sorry about that. btw, some really great freaking moments in this fight...here's how it stacked up for me....



spy vs. spy
like the melody...that bass is huge and growly...like that. this sounds kind of unbalanced, but its quirky and a neat mash of sounds i'm not used to hearing...good job.

ants (invisible)
this has, wow! what a great tribute to an era gone by, Smile comes to mind, among other things. And that's a real compliment...I wish I had your's and Leaf's knowledge of music...you guys are killing me! this is definitely a possible vote. Great job!!!

leaf62
this is great..snare is kind of hollowy, but for a one night allnighter, awesome job man! I love your influences and the crazy modes you play in, and the ease at which you cruise around in them. Nice f&**ing job. I'm impressed. very possible vote, though maybe cuz I'm biased towards the herculean effort and result of the sunday night push. I'm glad to have had a hand in your motivation.

j$
wow..this fight is kicking ass so far...j$, somehow this sounds so sincere. I like the slow-tempo, slow strummed...nice. Like the use of the word wilting... you are growing on me. something early floyd here, but just enough to make it tasty, not enough to make it anything but you. well done..might be a contender too...hmm.

Heuristics inc.
like the ominousity of the first few seconds...the dischordant vocoding bothers me a bit...this might be a tad electronic for me. I like the ravey break. this is like a remix of something...but I'm guessing it isn't. it grows on me...and bears more listens for sure.

kurt pistov and the trio
like that groove..not so keen on the intro. it's hard not dig a good funky groove isn't it? not sold on the vox..either there is some bad harmonies, or a poorly set vocoder...either way, not doing it for me. Now the problem with funky $hit is that it sometimes doesn't really dynamically go anywhere..this is good for a good time, but it doesn't take me home.

way past frown
heavied up, with a cookin' band, this could be the next Jimmy Eat World track. Which is a compliment btw...i'd like to hear you belt it and balls it. Get a band and RAWK. Something about the chorus progression doesn't support the tension of the verse pattern...imo.

dopant
this is alright...lacklustre production helps not sell it to me...i kind of like the verse pattern...but it doesn't speak to me guys. i'll be intersted to hear more from you...

8L0
alright beck...there are good moments in this, some nice resolves and turnarounds, but there are some loosy performances that really detract from it. less funny noises maybe, more attention to vocal detail...suggestion only..but I dig the vibe.

Sausageboy
sorry, there is not nearly enough going on in this song to keep me listening. Lofi ain't my thang. The beat was phat tho, in a "i need my radio" llcoolj kind of way..

Pileus
arghh..guitars are super buzzfest and they don't make me smile. i'm not really keen on the total non-production focus of this...is this intentional? technical limitation? I hope so. Desperately needs another part.

The Daughters of Zelophehad
ahhh yes. i sure hope this was completely improvised. Tell your uncle to shut off the tube when the red light for recording is on...

Sleazy D Collectification
I like this, and your voice, though I think the register is a smidge too low..maybe a higher key? some pitchy moments, but das alright. I like the elements of this track...it could be a smokin' pop song with some edge to it..


wow, tough job to vote. My fav's were definitely Leaf, J$, and Ants (invisible). Great fight, replay required to review the finish.