No Consonants Allowed (Sarah Vowell's Motto reviews)

[HeuristicsInc]

because i was:
1) at work
2) about to leave
3) reviews are a gift, not a right
but since you ask i might be inclined to help out. i wasn't actually planning to review any of those, but i found out i had some things i wanted to say.
-bill

[HeuristicsInc]

ok, i have said words. appreciate me! DO IT NOW

ants: this is a nice renaissance for you. i mean the whole ants thing. ooh lovely duet vocals. i don't like the end of "strange country" but mostly the vox are great. this is so moody and nice.
tvsk: this sounds like a cellphone ringtone in the beginning. this totally reminds me of something. i think some of this could be improved. the song has promise, though. it's pretty catchy.
losh: i like the guitar in the intro but the bug-like cymbals are kind of not so good. they don't fit in. good vox. the guitar is my favorite instrument in this song. this solo is v good. i like it but man those cymbals are ruining it.
land: great electronics. bass - good, arpeggio - great. vocals, ok - not as good as some others of yours. use of samples is good and not overpowering. or maybe they're not samples at all. v enjoyable.
thby: you get points for using "accordance" in a song. don't like that "changing," it takes me out of the song. i think you wanted me to be moved by this, but i'm not, really. it's pretty good. ending is good.
-bill

[diode]

ok, i have said words. appreciate me! DO IT NOW
-bill

Thanks Bill. Those of us who do this for the feedback appreciate it very much. Part of the fun is hearing what people think and being left out is a bummer.

[deshead]

Ants: This has a Dan Bejar/New Pornographers vibe (which is O.K. by me.) I think there might be too much 'room' on the snare, but otherwise the mix and production sound great. That bass tone is fantastic! Is it a bass guitar or a synth?

Figure 8: I'm surprised no one else went with this take on the title.

Landfills: The arpeggiated track is compelling, but overall the song would sound more immersive if you panned things out. The kick drum needs to be a lot louder too, give the track a backbone. In the end, I like this, just not as much as Ants ...

Los Hermanos: Probably the best-produced song of the bunch, though the vox could be a notch louder. The guitar playing is great, and well-recorded. The song as a whole doesn't really have a hook. Maybe a great B-side.

Rio mondo: I don't hate this the same way I hate screaming children.

R. Mosquito: I don't think there's anything wrong with the levels in this. The production seems flawless to me. Unfortunately, I just don't like the song ... I want to, for what that's worth.

Scott Helm: I didn't realize The Barenaked Ladies offer classes in lyric-writing. Others have commented on the song itself, so here's some mix feedback: the track needs more high-end, probably a combination of better EQ on the piano, and louder cymbals and hats. The vox are definitely too loud, and the drum track is buried. I'll bet you could change each by 2 or 3 db.

Thornberry: <pedant>Shouldn't it be "in accordance with the motto?" ... </pedant> The piano has no beef. I don't know if the all the reverb is washing out the bottom end, or if you deliberately EQ'd it out. Your song is nice overall, but without the bottom end on the piano, it sounds ... airy.

TV's Kyle: Perfect length. Good fun. As others have mentioned, a bit erratic mix-wise, but that could be what you were going for. It also has a tambourine. Heh.

The second time through this fight it was obvious that Jim & wife's track is the best one here, so I voted for it.

[adjuster]

Rio Mondo: Lots of Songfighters write one of these, so I don't fault you for it. "The Landfills" did it in our second week, though we didn't mention our dicks and didn't attempt to do a "real song". The hiss and lack of the fidelity is painful. I waited it out and did not feel rewarded for doing so.

Los Hermanos: A technical gripe... that high hat is f'ing PIERCING in my car stereo, and more than mildly annoying on the PC speakers. I'm such a sucker for heavily effected vocals... Distortion-- yeah! I'm not groovin' to the lyrics much, though. The guitar at 1:44 is a disappointment in both the tone and content of the solo. Hell-- I could've played that, and I can't really play guitar. The guitar at 2:25 redeems you somewhat, but I'm wishing for more reverb on it. Goddamn, that high hat is killin' me...

R. Mosquito: You've drawn me in in the first few seconds. Mmmm... synths. Yes... synths! I *hate* to make artist comparisons, but this has a bit of a Future Boy feel (no crazy xylophones, though-- nobody can pull that off 'cept Future Boy) both in the music and in the lyrical delivery (lyrical delivery-wise I am reminded slightly of Future Boy's "I Want to Get Better"). Fun song.

Ants (Invisible): Mmmm... this is very pleasing, musically. I like the instruments and their mix is very sweet. Not a lot to say-- just groovin'. Ohhh!! 1:48! Yeah! That's sweet. Very nice.

TV's Kyle: I am, of course, enjoying the little square wave-ish instrument in the intro. This has a very loose feel to it that's a lot of fun... rockin' tambourine. Who is Sarah Starr, anyway?

Thornberry: Far be it from me to critisize reverb (as everyone knows I am of the "drown it in reverb" school of vocals), but I feel like the vocals had just a *bit* too much reverb. I enjoyed the piece, musically, but didn't get much out of the lyrics. The fidelity on the piano suffers slightly, but that's only a technical gripe-- the actual *playing* is very entertaining.

Scott Helm and the Incoherent Mumblings: Thirteen seconds into this and I'm bobbing back and forth in my chair, but I'm sure that I like that I'm bobbing. The "A E I O U" is *great*, except that I'd have EQ'd it to be tinny and buried it a bit in the mix. Very amusing. Likewise on the EQ with the on the "Leroy" bits. I think I could've done w/o the "Thank you Sarah..." bit at the end.

Figure 8: Oh, no... acoustic guitar. Must... be... strong. This is nice... the guitar is catchy... I'm a little disturbed by the mix after 2:13 w/ the second instrument (piano?) entering-- it sounds a little too cluttered for me. Mmmm... I like the strings at 3:00 - 3:03 and on a *lot*. The ending is very appropriate, and works well.

The Landfills: Yep-- I'm still around, and *still* writing the same song, over and over again. I find the characterizations of my vocal delivery in this thread amusing-- I don't actually *try* to sound "goth", that's just my voice. In retrospect, I recorded this at too slow of a tempo, and probably needed to transpose it down a whole step or so to handle my wimpy vocal range. Oh, well-- I got to say "whiskey-tango-foxtrot" in a song... *smile* Fun fight. I hope I can find enough time to start playing more regularly (and thus have some material for Boston).

[Mediocretes-RioMondo]

: Lots of Songfighters write one of these ...

Have you heard ANY other Rio Mondo songs? It's what we do. Thanks for not "faulting us" even though we deserve it because we did it more than once. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to face those consequences.

-J

[Leaf]

Lot's of good stuff here, but I voted Los Hermanos. I really liked that tune.
Ants was a close second, I found myself humming TV Kyles chorus a lot and I enjoyed basically most of the rest. REally, a few jokes and styles not to my taste, but a fun fight, and I listened to it a few times this week at work... so thanks for the tunes.

[joshw]

Quickie: Like Cow Exchange, TV's Kyle also tried to spoof a geek band this week, but it ended more Weird Al than TMBG. So Figure 8 gets my vote. The lyrics and vocal delivery aren't top-notch, but very nice music and guitar work.

[deshead]

Sweet, congrats Kyle!

Nice voter turnout. If wonder how much of that is BoingBoing-related?

[adjuster]

I just saw that I was a "Fightmaster's Pick" in this 'fight. Wow. I'm blown away. W3rd!