Nur Ein XIII Round Four "Never Knew The Guy"

[Niveous]

Welcome to Round Four of Nur Ein XIII

Title: Never Knew The Guy
Challenge: A biography

Songs are Due on: Sunday, June 3rd @ 11:59 PM Eastern
Send your MP3 to nurein.sidefight@gmail.com

NUR EIN!!!

[noma]

OK, clarification needed. Does this have to be the biography of a person who exists or has at one point existed in real life, or can it be a fictional person's biography?

[HeuristicsInc]

doesn't say it has to be a real person.

[Caravan Ray]

OK, clarification needed. Does this have to be the biography of a person who exists or has at one point existed in real life, or can it be a fictional person's biography?

It has to be about a real person. And that real person has to be Kanye. Or at least, not some old wanker from Pink Floyd.

[roymond]

If you never knew him, how could you know if he's real or not?

[Caravan Ray]

If you never knew him, how could you know if he's real or not?

You seem to be implying that “guy” relates to a person- and not a rope or an effigy to be burnt?

[roymond]

If you never knew him, how could you know if he's real or not?

You seem to be implying that “guy” relates to a person- and not a rope or an effigy to be burnt?

Or a sock puppet. My bad.

[vowlvom]

Submitted! I've managed to obtain some guest backing vocals from my Vowl Sounds pal for this one.

[noma]

Submitted a song. It's more of a typical Nick Soma kind of song than my submissions in the last few rounds. (Although the upbeat music vs. grim subject matter would make for a good Matchy Matchy song, too.) Lyric mentions a bike accident leaving the guy's "left hand crippled", unable to play piano forever, that is, which was inspired by John Linnell's "South Carolina". Also, I believe my song sounds like something else I can't put my finger on. Not sure.

[Caravan Ray]

Owl Chemist in with a biography of St Peter the Apostle.

[vowlvom]

My lyrics are an attempt to explore the awkwardness that would ensure if Clark Kent was tasked with writing Superman's biography.

[carlo bruno jr]

Sent

Sometimes when reciting our own biography we may come to feel that we have no idea who we are talking about.

Good luck all !!

[arby]

Submitted. Ours is about a deadbeat dad, from the perspective of the kid he left behind.

[Niveous]

The songs are up!

Iveg's song isn't up yet and that's my fault. I'll post that up later. Enjoy the rest of the pack in the meantime.

https://nurein.songlander.com/titles/97 ... 81AF2C38C3

[glennny]

We Cavedwellers made two songs.

Official entry is a biography of Adrian Belew
Shadow entry is a biography of Django Reinhardt

[noma]

Let's start reviewing!
Interestingly, many of these songs didn't feel biographical to me. Like, I wouldn't think of them as a biography of Jesus or St Peter or Superman (that's three mythological characters in one sentence!)
Maybe that's just me. I don't view the Beatles' "Mean Mr. Mustard" as a biography of Mr. Mustard, rather just a momentary portrait of the guy without giving him much of a back story. Same goes for "Maxwell's Silver Hammer".
On the other hand, I would say Queen's "Good Company", TMBG's "James K. Polk", Don McLean's "Vincent" are all biographical songs. (On second thought, "Vincent" doesn't sound too biographical either, more like a tribute than a biography. OK, I'm being nitpicky.)

Carlo Bruno Jr: Love the lead guitar sound. Lyric too, but I am puzzled about the biographical aspect. The horns blend very well with the rest of the song.

Cavedwellers:
Belew: I like the odd time signature - is that 7/4? - and how you still made it sound so catchy, as well as the tribute to Adrian Belew. This feels most like a biographical song to me out of all these tracks. One of my favorites in this round.
Django: This sounds fun. Love the thematic backing track. Would have made for a good first entry, though I prefer the Belew one, so good decision on that. Hats off to you for writing and recording two great songs within a week's time!

Grumpy Mike: My absolute favorite lyrically. I love that tempo change and the angry chorus especially. The music is cool as well. Great falsetto!

Inflatable Vegetables: I'll add a review later when your song is up.

LW&RG: Ominous chord progression, which I like. Very strong lyric, too. The music on this one seems a bit drowned in effects (reverb, delay, filters / phase shifter or whatever). The vocal and, I believe, the drums, mainly.

Mandibles: One of my favorites. In this round there's some super strong competition. Beautiful harmonies. I like everything about it.

Matchy Matchy: This is very much a biographical song. Very catchy. Again, I don't really have anything bad to say about it.

Nick Soma: For my song, I thought up a character and four different situations in which the phrase "never knew the guy" applies. Musically, this uses an Ibanez CF7 pedal prominently (chorus and flanger). The pre-chorus has triplets in the synth and drum parts, which are less prominent in the mix than I had originally planned.

Owl Chemist: The bass and congas (bongos?) on this are absolutely fantastic. This is really cool in its smooth, laid-back grooviness, and my number one favorite in this round.

Rob From Amersfoort: Didn't enjoy this one too much. Too monotonous for my taste, plus it has an effect that annoys me, perhaps bit crushing, which I can't stand most of the time.

Vom Vorton: Good production, solid track. I prefer your immune entry of last week to this, though. Is there an accordion in there? If not, you made that synth sound very accordion-y. Or maybe there's something wrong with my ears. Anyway, it sounds great.

My top 5 are, in alphabetical order:
Cavedwellers
Grumpy Mike
Mandibles
Matchy Matchy
Owl Chemist

[vowlvom]

I was going to wait for the Inflatable Vegetables song to get posted, but what the hell, I'm impatient.

Carlo Bruno Jr. - love the intro, great vibe and the horns sound very cool. I found the vocal melody a bit uninspired / monotone though which stopped me from loving this quite as much as I thought I was going to.

Cavedwellers - this falls into “superb execution of a genre I’m not terribly fond of” category for me. The proggy vibe makes perfect sense for the biography you’re telling but I can’t help wishing this was a bit more Tom Tom Club and a bit less King Crimson, hehe. Kudos for a really catchy chorus though.

Grumpy Mike - really love the verse for this one, the electronic stuff and the chopped up melodies are great. I’m not as fond of the chorus, although this is just personal taste again as you’ve done a good job of shifting the rhythm and vibe. Liked the lyric a lot, interesting choice of subject!

Inflatable Vegetables - (to be reviewed)

Lucky Witch and the Righteous Ghost - really sludgy recording, I think the distorted guitar (?) has overwhelmed your practice-room sound a bit here. I think the song is pretty good but the sound makes it difficult to fully enjoy. The chorus melody is really strong and I like the atmospheric bridge.

Mandibles - layered vocals sound good and the chorus melody is very memorable. I can’t make up my mind whether I like the repetitions of “nondescript” in the lyrics. There’s not a huge amount of variation in the music but you’ve done a superb job of adjusting the dynamics so that the song never feels repetitive. Possibly my favourite of your tracks so far.

Matchy Matchy - I like the quaver in your voice here, reminds me of Feargal Sharkey - haven’t noticed that before. Another catchy MM song and this is one of my favourite lyrics this round, definitely raised a smile!

Nick Soma - sweeeeet jangle. I’m not 100% crazy about the verse - I find the flangey muted guitar part a bit overbearing… in fact in general I think I’d prefer a slightly “cleaner” mix. But once the pre-chorus kicks in this is wonderful, and the chorus is so catchy. It kinda reminds me of something too but I have no idea what it is.

Owl Chemist - really interesting vibe: bongos, melodic bass, atmospheric guitars and biblical lyrics! I don’t like it quite as much as your last couple, maybe, but it’s very well done.

Rob from Amersfoort - lots of catchy melodies in the music here, I like the distorted lead after the chorus in particular. Good stuff again.

Vom Vorton (me) - really pleased with this one, I’m not sure how I came up with this concept but I had a lot of fun executing it. Pleased I was able to get my Vowl Sounds buddy in for some bonus gang vocals.

Cavedwellers (shadow) - this is very charming and a well-executed tribute, maybe more to my taste than your Adrian Belew song but I think you chose the right song to submit!

My favourite bits from this round are Carlo’s intro, Grumpy Mike’s verse and Nick Soma’s chorus, but Matchy Matchy maybe my favourite song overall.

[vowlvom]

Vom Vorton: Good production, solid track. I prefer your immune entry of last week to this, though. Is there an accordion in there? If not, you made that synth sound very accordion-y. Or maybe there's something wrong with my ears. Anyway, it sounds great.

It's a sampled (transistor?) organ I think, so not a million miles away. Thanks!

[bennyharv3]

Hey everyone!

Due to some scheduling oddities, the New Ugly won't be live streaming our review of this round. We'll still release a podcast episode as usual.

Looking forward to hearing all of the entries!

[thirdcat]

:First Listen Reviews:

Carlo Bruno Jr: Loved the horns. The intro was really cool. Your guitars as usual sound fantastic. On the negative side I'd say the vocals didn't really grab me on this one.

Cavedwellers: I didn't catch all the lyrics, but I like the references to Brian Eno, David Bowie, Talking Heads, & King Crimson. Pretty cool sounding song, but I'm not sure I love it. Could be a grower. I always figure these kind of one listen reviews are interesting more from "first response" sort of thing. A lot of my favorites to listen to are stuff that I didn't initially love but then grew on me.

Grumpy Mike: Really like the breakdown talky section with the synths towards the end. That bit grabbed my attention.

Lucky Witch & the Righteous Ghost: I dig the vibe. Cool keys. This sounds almost like basement rock instead of garage rock, song does feel a bit lost in the lo-fi. But ... the chorus might actually be my favorite bit of these songs so far. Not as sure about that "go to hell" bit.

Mandibles: This is well done, well recorded, well played, and well sung - but kind of nondescript to steal a line from your song. Although I do find I'm enjoying it more as it goes along. There are some nice melodies in there and I like the harmony vocals that come in on some lines.

Matchy Matchy: This Guy Fawkes. Ha. Amusing, clever lyric, and I learned some stuff. Guy Fawkes is really why we say "guy"? Neat.

Nick Soma: This is good, I like the production/mix. Cool backing vocal thing on the chorus.

Owl Chemist: The "you will be the rock" bit is pretty catchy. Like that. Cool percussion and I dig the bass guitar and how it really carries the song at times. Nice use of space. Fun song; might be my favorite so far. Really dig the instrumental breakdown at the end. Tasty.

Rob from Amersfoort: Cool production but I have to admit this one didn't really grab me this time. Maybe on a second listen?

Vom Vorton: Catchy, bright mix, nice licks. I'll be surprised if this one doesn't make it to the next round. Good stuff.

+++

So my favorites are probably Owl Chemist, Vom Vorton, and Carlo Bruno Jr. Cool stuff everyone!

[carlo bruno jr]

Lyric too, but I am puzzled about the biographical aspect.

More than doing a biographical story, in my very brief lyrics I have taken "a biography" as a fact and I have talked about it considering certain aspects that I believe may have in common the biographies of almost all living beings.

Thanks for the review.

[BoffoYux]

tonight's LP - late link but still happening now!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG-xYI55kXQ