You Gotta Put A Ring On It (Hitched Reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Write 'em. Share 'em. Explain 'em later.

[dirgetheband]

I think I have worn out the refresh button on my browser...

[Lunkhead]

I hope to get the site updated tonight.

[dirgetheband]

I hope to get the site updated tonight.

...But didn't you get married this weekend? You're supposed to be galavanting around the Galapagos islands, not posting the aural lunacy of a us delinquents.

That being said, I remember the day after my wedding. Specifically that I went to work the next day. It sucked about as much as one could imagine.

[king_arthur]

Thank you Lunkhead! Reminder, this thread still needs to be pinned, and it looks like the "your vote has been recorded" list needs to be reset. Whenever you get a chance...

[Lunkhead]

Thanks for catching that. I really need to have my instructions as a checklist where I have to check each step one at a time to be able to proceed. It's too easy for me to miss a step as it is. Anybody know a good app for that ... ?

[dirgetheband]

Listened to the tracks on the way into work; will listen again on the way home. Quick impression is that this fight wasn't as strong as the last. I did crack a smile at Pigfarmer's house-hillbilly mashup and full on LOL'd at Wreckdom's tribute to everyone's favourite Will Smith character. Glennny, King Arthur, and Paco turned in very Glennny-, King Arthur-, and Paco-esque performances, so good on you guys. My song just seemed to meander too much to convey what I really wanted; had I given the lead lines about 2 more hours of attention I might have been able to eek out a melodic theme to tie it all together. Alas, I did not.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Glennny - I liked the depth of the musical track, the tinkles and whatnot. But the melody just didn't do enough for me. I did like it more as it went on, but I stopped listening to the vocal as much and started listening to how it was put together.

Dirge - Holy shit, 6:12? This better be worth it. I do like guitars, though. So the intro was cool enough for me. The worst thing I could say about this first vocal section is that it sounds like something I would try to do. Sorry, but it does. It's that bad, although I couldn't do it that well. (Although I like the guitars well enough.) Okay, the first 2+ minutes went by faster than I thought they would. I like the discordant notes thrown in the second instrumental bit. And I like how you used that repeating guitar lick. I think you could have found a more enticing metal drum loop to throw in there. This was kind of cool, a nice change up. Glad you did it. I'm not sure how much I like it, though.

Paco - wickedly warbly to start, which is cool. Groovy. I dig the music but the vocals aren't a stand out for me. I like the bass a lot. Really dig that lead guitar... well all the guitars, really.

Pepper Jane - dang, woman. your vocals are too damn good. Your seducing the lyric and making do things it shouldn't ought to do in polite company. And I love it. A little production and I'd be spending hard earned beer money on your record.

JRS2 - Hey, you done did pretty good. Nothing much constructive. Maybe mix the vocals in the singing sections going back into the verse a bit more smooth, but it's a nit I'm picking. Sounds just a hair slow in the verse sections, maybe? probably not.

luntar - I liked the lyric. You didn't grab me musically but I didn't hate it.

WreckdoM - You had me smiling right from the start, but even at 2:00 it seemed a tad long.

King Arthur - I like the guitars, although they don't really stand out. lots of them, though. Four or five tracks? They fit together well enough. I like the chorus melody, I like the more miles each time around (although 20 seems a little low to start.)

[king_arthur]

Thanks for getting the reviews started. Two rhythm guitars, lead guitar, bass, organ and drums. Two BVs on the chorus, mixed low. But I'll take your comment as an indication that the sonic space feels crowded, too much reverb or not clean enough. I'm trying to work my way back into my clever recording trick, which is to start out recording a scratch rhythm guitar track, then add a couple of guitars doing interesting things, then mute the scratch guitar so there's more space, but it may be another song or two before I have that working.

[dirgetheband]

Dirge - Holy shit, 6:12? This better be worth it. I do like guitars, though. So the intro was cool enough for me. The worst thing I could say about this first vocal section is that it sounds like something I would try to do. Sorry, but it does. It's that bad, although I couldn't do it that well. (Although I like the guitars well enough.) Okay, the first 2+ minutes went by faster than I thought they would. I like the discordant notes thrown in the second instrumental bit. And I like how you used that repeating guitar lick. I think you could have found a more enticing metal drum loop to throw in there. This was kind of cool, a nice change up. Glad you did it. I'm not sure how much I like it, though.

Haha, well, you reserved your longest review for the longest song. Apropos, eh? I'm seriously laughing out loud regarding your comment on the vocals. 35 years into this life and probably 20-ish spent trying to sing I'm still looking for my voice. Maybe I'll find it someday and front the most awesome post-grunge band you've (n)ever heard of. Cross your fingers but don't hold your breath. Thanks for the words on the middle section; I'm actually really disappointed with that bit. It got way too muddy on the 4-track and the meandering lead line just sapped all the mystery out of it, me thinks. Like I mentioned earlier, future "touches" on this song will help focus this middle section. What I really envisioned was some melodic theme that would tie the opening solo, the middle instrumental, and the finale all together (see how I did "Who Said I'm Dead" a number of years back). For demo, ahem, I mean, Song Fight purposes, my drums loops typically will be not much more than rhythmic placards. You should hear them when I do them on the computer; they actually sounds pretty cool.

Again, thanks for the review! Eventually, maybe tonight, I'll get around to reviewing everyone's submissions.

[dirgetheband]

Here we go... bolded songs got a vote.

Dirge - I think I've said all I have to say about mine in previous comments. I have better ideas for this tune. Again, happy I got it done and submitted, but it could have, and will be, much better.

Glennny - This sounds a lot cooler through my cans at 1AM than it did in my car during rush hours. So, good on you. Later I'm going to gripe about King Arthur's drum tone; there's something about the way the drums work, or don't work, on this tune that I can't put my finger on. Too busy? Maybe. Seriously, what do you listen to? Two weeks in a row now I've heard some of the most progressive elements I think I've ever heard in Song Fight come from you. I almost think this would have been better without drums. They kind of make the song lurch along. The heavily chorus'd/flanger'd arpegiated guitar at 1:36 is a cool, cool touch. Regarding the lyrics, did the protagonist pull a rival's girlfriend out a ditch and thus win the fair maiden's hand? Is that what happened?

JRS2 - Unless I completely misunderstood, I've heard more convincing arguments against getting married, including my Sunday D partner's refrain of, well, "DON'T GET MARRIED". (He's been married twice. He also tells anyone who'll listen not to have kids; he's had four. Whelp.) I love your guys tunes under the vox; it's always so varied and musical, which sometimes you don't hear in hip-hop. The chorus, being a little less intense that the verses, seems to sap a bit of the energy from the tune, and if the whole point is trying to convince someone to avoid doing something many people end up doing, well, I don't think the energy should ever back down. I don't like the "lalalala"s at all; they're like "yeah yeah yeah" in rock music; unless you are John/Paul or Kurt Cobain or the Byrds, it's just filler. Great phrasing in the verses.

King Arthur - This is one of the better songs I've ever heard you do. The late-era Garcia-like tone to your voice really works well for this tune; I guess I've always heard indecisiveness in your voice and somehow it works perfectly for a song about deciding to leave (but maybe also never deciding to stay). The instrumental work is nice and light like usual, but there's a slight dissonance in the acoustic guitar that seems to add a little bite to this song that usually isn't there in your tunes. I think I might have to sit down and jam along to this one some time. This would make a great grungy cover. Great, great work this week. And you almost didn't submit this? Shame on you, KA.

Luntar - Not sure what to say. What were you going for here? This sounds like a lot of the songs that were being submitted to the site 15 years ago.

Paco del Stinko - This is just Paco being Paco. I love the tremolo'd guitar. Effect or actual whammy action? Would have loved the solo at 0:59 to have been all slide work, and spookier. I'm going to talk about the word "hitched" later and I think this song is the perfect example of why it just sucks as a word. This song is cool, but a refrain of "you HITCHED" just sounds blargh. Do you use acoustic drums? If so, do you also do the drumming? If so, you are a good drummer, too. Very cool song that could really use a completely different lyrical idea.

Pepper Jane - I wish last week's effort received the production this one did. Outside of the solo, the performance is really, really good. I'm just not hitched to the lyrics this week. Ahem. Sorry for the pun. Like King Arthur's voice on his tune, I think your voice is so perfectly suited to this tune. I suspect this one will win (Song Fighters love GnG acoustic tunes). To me, this one just suffers from that damn word, which I will bitch about below.

Pigfarmer Jr - This still has me laughing. I really do hate the acoustically simulated electric guitar (I'm assuming that's what the rhythm guitars are). That sound is like nails on a chalkboard to me (which, funny enough, the actual sound of nails on a chalkboard doesn't really bother me). It would have been so much better with either an acoustic or just a snappy blackface sound. Hand claps are a nice touch. All the crazy Atari effects, while adding to the general mashup-iness, don't really add much to the longevity of the tune.

WreckdoM - So, third time having listened to this, and I'm still smiling, although I'm not almost driving into the ditch on I-64 this time. I think I just like hearing white dudes say "'cause his shit is LEGIT". You don't have to pay Kevin James any royalties for this, do you? No real complaints here, maybe there could be some more variety in the drums loops, maybe the bass line could be a little flashier, whatever. I really like this because it is funny.

In the course of listening to these tunes, I've come to the conclusion I really, really don't like the word "hitched". "Hitch" is okay, a little jerky sounding, sure, but the past tense? Ugh. It's just so plosive. There's almost no way to roll it smoothly off the tongue. It's also one of those two-syllable words that I for some reason want to roll into three, so I always sound unsure saying it. Synonyms? Clamp, tether, yoke? Barf. It's almost like the verbal representation of tying one object to another has to sound ugly. Why? I think this Fight was behind the 8 ball before it ever started. Bring on Young Blood already.

[glennny]

Seriously, what do you listen to?

I love nearly all genres, but my favorite is progressive rock. My all time favorite band is Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. I listen to a lot of King Crimson and Genesis and Jethro Tull as well. For the newer bands I love Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, LITE. I was a metal head growing up, but I only really still like Iron Maiden and Rush. (So my only issue with your music is those damn double kick drums)

Regarding the lyrics, did the protagonist pull a rival's girlfriend out a ditch and thus win the fair maiden's hand? Is that what happened?

Mostly I liked the showed up, broke down, showdown, break up part. The ditch is a metaphor for depression. The protagonist pulls his wife out of depression when she's down, but when they fight ( the showdown) they don't have the option of breaking up, because they're married with kids and mortgage and friend circles etc (too tightly hitched).

I'm not shocked by divorce among my friends, but I am shocked when I see someone leaving their kids too.

Hopefully I'll get some reviews in soon.

Thanks for the review!

[Paco Del Stinko]

Dirge: Thanks for the comments, mine are forthcoming. The tremolo guitar is two tracks of the same guitar doing the same part. Jazzmaster vibrato, which just gives wiggle, no bombs. Very chorus effect sounding via double track. Drums are indeed me on my kit. I woud never dare call myself a drummer, or a guitar player for that matter. I say that I play guitar or drums, ya know? But I do...ok, by keeping it simple. Simple by necessity!

I hear you about the word hitched. I thought of 'done got hitched' first, but wanted to go somewhere else. Not somewhere good , apparently! Heh. Gotta try, anyway.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Dirge - Very epic demo. The sections all work together well and although the atmospheric middle section meanders, it still manages to send you off into space. The chimey guitar in that section could be played on piano and sound great, I think. Heroic ending.

Glennny - Life inside Twinkle Town opening. Slightly dissonant too, but I'm good with it. Vocal lines work well, held notes, over very mobile rhythm section. The underwater gonzo lead section moves into a briefly unstable section, but nice that you reeled it in to end. Very you, very good.

JRS2 - Another tight and well put together song. Very impressive. The backing tracks are well balanced and easy to process while taking in the various, and excellently performed, vocals on top. Somehow, I'd love to hear you guys do something this intense but less serious sounding, if that makes sense. Not a joke song, but lighter somehow.

King Arthur - Super intro, hook laden. Settles right in like it's been patiently waiting to go and it's time is now. I really can't believe that you wanted to sit on this song, it's catchy, easy going, ready for (maybe an older) radio presentation. Can see this one being performed live, that would be fun.

luntar - Almost creepy, and just weird enough. Casual air that says "I can do more but don't need to" and you don't. I like that this gets to the point and doesn't overstay its welcome. Lyrics are interesting even if I couldn't explain them back to you, exactly. Good mood piece.

Paco del Stinko - I wanted the "you hitched" lines to sound all screamy, but am not really built for doing that. How's this for wrong though: intro/chorus chords are Em - G#m - Em - Cm. Ugh.

Pepper Jane - Lite swing, longing with some airy light in there. Very nice. I like this song better than the one that you last won with, as fine as that was. This flows and strolls feeling settled and content with itself. The vocal has a bluesy feel without going full-tilt that way. Lucky whoever is getting hitched to you. Aww...

Pigfarmer Jr - Pigfarmer styles mash-up, like your past few entries at the electric ho-down. Points for reaching beyond your comfort zone or 'routine'. The chorus straddles between being catchy and annoying, guess that listeners could go either way with that. The guitar drags at times, rhythmically, I'm not sure if it's the playing or some digital edit to make it fit the other tracks.

WreckdoM - ALWAYS glad when you guys show up. Ya know, I used to succumb to Will Smith's charm, but have grown to dislike him very much. As far as celebrities go I suppose. So, I am taking this as a nice commentary on his vast over-ratedness. Great impressions, by the way, among the very funny lines and B- porn bass line. All adds up to me!

[glennny]

Dirge- There’s a lot to like about this. I have some nitpicks. I mentioned how much I dislike the double kick stuff. The guitar tone is a little sludgy too. I like the harmonic squeals. The grouchy vocals work well. The vocal melody could stand to be more melodic, but it’s genre appropriate where it’s at. I like the dynamics a lot. Nice to hear the mellow section that comes in at 2:24. I think it could use some Bruford sprinkling of cymbals and percussion, but it is nice percussion-less. I wish there was more of a hook, you know like a catchy chorus to grab on to after all this dramatic build. All said, I enjoyed the full listen several times.

Glennny- This is me. I really tried to make a good melody. I’m a bit bummed it didn’t work well enough for Pig farmer. I shall keep trying  I like this one, it sticks in my head. It’s fun to do ¾.

JRS2- Nice beats. Nice groove. I’m not really into the genre. So the rapping doesn’t entertain me much, but luckily the backing music is quite pleasant.

King Arthur- you write good songs. You write good lyrics. I like your vocals a lot. There’s something really stale about the music to me. It’s mostly the drums. Sounds very drum machine. I’d love to hear Paco as your back up band. So kudos on the song, but yawn on the recording. (I think this is my usual criticism).

Luntar- This is a nice weird quirky song. Do you like Sparks? There’s something so new wave Sparks to me about this. I think the vocal delivery could be more flamboyant (now I want you to be Sparks). Cool song.

Paco del Stinko- Ah yes! Someday there will be a paylist where this comes after Wedding Song. Your recordings are immaculate. Do you practice recording much? All of the instruments have a lot of life and inventiveness. You’re a hero of mine. This song is a great one! I love all the little guitar solos! The zany vocals are just awesome. This sounds like the winner to me.

Pepper Jane- SCHREECH! Ack! String squeaks are killing me. I get the impression you can bust out stuff like this out at a moment’s notice. I’m not into the lyrics very much. It’s nice to hear a guitar solo, it was tasty. The backing vocals are nice too. You’re a fantastic vocalist, but this song doesn’t grab me. I look forward to your entries every week.

Pig Farmer Jr- EDM four on the floor with flangy vocals and guitar. This is really strange coming from you isn’t it? Have you gone this direction before? This feels like a Ween track. I think your vocals are a little too buried in effects, maybe just volume.

Wreckdom- You guys are hilarious. I dig the groovy bass line the most. It took me a long time to figure out why the Hell you were talking about Will Smith. The internet told me he had a film called Hitch. I guess you told me in the lyrics too. This is not your most ambitious song, but it’s fun.

Favorite is Paco del Stinko
Honorable mentions: King Arthur and Wreckdom

[king_arthur]

Glennny - yeah, it's your usual comment, but you're entitled, 'cause you're right. Drum machine, played by Band In a Box, every week. You'll hate my "Young Blood" even more, I let BIAB play the piano part as well, 'cause it does a better job than I could. And that's kinda what's behind me and the drum machine, it plays better than I could, and it puts drum sounds on media better than I could.

Hey, I used to live in Castro Valley, '69-'76, up on Proctor Road at the top of the Redwood Rd. hill. The house we lived in was the one all the neighbors wished would get torn down so they could build more fancy houses up there. Happened at some point 'cause our old house is long gone...

[dirgetheband]

Drum machine, played by Band In a Box, every week. You'll hate my "Young Blood" even more, I let BIAB play the piano part as well, 'cause it does a better job than I could. And that's kinda what's behind me and the drum machine, it plays better than I could, and it puts drum sounds on media better than I could.

King Arthur, what program is it? Or are you using the looper function of your Yamaha DAW? Either way, I've had success adding "life" to drum machine patterns by running them through odd pieces of outboard gear. I think one of the coolest sounds I ever created was running a Casio keyboard drum loop into a Boss DS1 and printing it direct to tape. Just my $0.02.

Mildly-unrelated note... It sure is crazy what the DAWs are capable of nowadays. I'm checking out that Yamaha... My God. It does a crazy amount of stuff and it looks like they can be had for a couple/few hundie. Remember when nice 4 tracks were close to a grand? We've come a long way, baby.

[king_arthur]

I'm using Band in a Box which generates a MIDI signal to a Roland XV 5050 rack synth, which then feeds analog into the digital recorder. I haven't been able to find a "randomize" either rhythms or levels function in BIAB.

I used to record to a Tascam 388 (eight tracks on 1/4" reel tape). I don't think Glennny liked my drum parts then, either . The Yamaha was my Christmas ';04 present to myself, it was just about $1k at GC at the time. It has served me well, although the CD recorder that originally came with it was very, very flaky. One day my wife was tearing apart and old laptop and I realized that the DVD-writer in the laptop was the same shape as the one in the Yamaha, I swapped it in and it's been great since, only a couple write failures on cheap blanks. When it comes time to replace this, I'll probably compromise down to 8 tracks, but I'll insist on a unit where you can transfer the mixes via USB, this having to write and then rip an audio CD is a pain. My first multitrack machine was a Teac 2340 (four tracks on 1/4" reels) that I think I paid $750 for... in 1975.

By the way, I'm not sure just how old that XV 5050 synth is, but I saw the other day that Windows 98 drivers exist for it...

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Pigfarmer Jr - This still has me laughing. I really do hate the acoustically simulated electric guitar (I'm assuming that's what the rhythm guitars are). That sound is like nails on a chalkboard to me (which, funny enough, the actual sound of nails on a chalkboard doesn't really bother me). It would have been so much better with either an acoustic or just a snappy blackface sound. Hand claps are a nice touch. All the crazy Atari effects, while adding to the general mashup-iness, don't really add much to the longevity of the tune.

Acoustic guitar, line in with some sort of stock boss effect on it (flange or phase.) Not the best sound, but I was trying to get something that fit with the synth sounds. In retrospect I should have recorded dry. Thanks for the review.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Glennny- This is me. I really tried to make a good melody. I’m a bit bummed it didn’t work well enough for Pig farmer. I shall keep trying  I like this one, it sticks in my head. It’s fun to do ¾.

Went back and listened again. I misspoke on the melody slightly. It's the delivery more than the melody. It just seems to make the melody seem much more narrow than it is. I apologize for not being clear. And honestly, I like this better the more I listen to it.

[king_arthur]

Okay, so I get that SF isn't supposed to be a "production fight," but I do find that my votes go with the songs that I'd like if they came up randomly on my playlist, so... votes this week to WreckdoM, Pepper Jane and m'self. I also realize that some of my comments below DO relate to production issues, so I'll just say my comments aren't (entirely) the reasons I did or didn't vote for a particular song, but they're things I thought I could say about the song...

Luntar - the song just didn't grab me, but if I may offer one suggestion: give us a second or so of silence at the start before we jump into the song. When I click that play icon, I need a little time to switch into "listening" mode and when a song jumps right in like this one does, it's hard for me to get on board with the song. Mileage of others may vary, and I realize that's not a reason not to vote for a song, but just a little production suggestion.

Pigfarmer - the multiple 12-string guitar tracks seemed like they filled up the sonic space too much for me, though at least they were spread out in stereo... and it just seemed like things fell off the rhythm a lot. As I said, I'm trying not to treat this as a production fight, but when I feel like the production gets in the way of me hearing the song underneath, well...

Glennny - tuning issues right from the start made this hard for me to listen to...

Paco - somebody commented about how my stuff sounded so sterile (drum machine complaint, so it musta been glennny), and, yeah... you have a raggedy style and I have a... I aim more for precision. You've won a lot more fights than I have, so maybe you know more about this than I do... so in that sense I have no suggestions...

Dirge - when the intro to a song lasts for 30+ seconds and then the singing finally comes in and it's... not in tune... I kinda tend to bail at that point. As a Deadhead, I don't object to six minute songs on principle, but if it's going to be this rough a demo, maybe just get to the song.

Pepper Jane - good lyric, and while it still sounds like it was recorded on a laptop (and I realize it was), there's a good song in there. So I guess this is where I can get beyond it being a "production fight," if there's a good song there, I'm willing to accept a recording like this.

WreckdoM - immediate vote. I'm not even familiar with the movie "Hitch", but this is just brilliant, and the movie title makes it so that it was inspired by the title, and that's enough for me.

JRS2 - I'm still working on understanding this stuff... I am an old white hippie, and I didn't get rap at all until I heard "Release It" on Prince's "Graffiti Bridge," so... keep doing what you're doing, you'll get me one day.

And I voted for me because I vote for myself. And maybe because the music I make is the music I will want to hear in a few years when I'm in the rest home with my mp3 player. Thank you to those who encouraged me to submit, even if I wasn't 100% satisfied with how it came out...

[Paco Del Stinko]

you have a raggedy style and I have a... I aim more for precision.

Well, I aim for precision, but my skills or, rather, lack thereof, never quite hit the mark. So long as I don't miss by too wide a margin, I'm ok with it! Thanks for the comments and keep the songs coming please.