Stop saying (I Am Very Busy reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

and post your thoughts below.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Please post your lyric here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11818 assuming you aren't too busy.

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[neutronflow]

Songs posted!

It doesn't look like my song went up. I got an email confirmation that it had been received.

[Toby Roktot]

Listened over coffee this morning. Just a quick run through.
Reviews later...
The cream rising:
Paco
PC Army
Toothdreams
Phlebia
Sweeeney Toad !!!!

[sleepysilverdoor]

I've just gotta say with this fight that listening through alphabetically is a SURPRISINGLY coherent listening experience. Somehow the songs with similar moods would up alphabetically next to one another. Even Deep Orb's doesn't feel out of place because it's weird computer MIDI metal after...actual black metal.

[neutronflow]

Here's my song via SoundCloud:

[neutronflow]

I've just gotta say with this fight that listening through alphabetically is a SURPRISINGLY coherent listening experience. Somehow the songs with similar moods would up alphabetically next to one another. Even Deep Orb's doesn't feel out of place because it's weird computer MIDI metal after...actual black metal.

I listened in the random order the main page presented to me and that flowed pretty well too. I had the MIDI metal just before the actual metal...

[BoffoYux]

I'll be hosting the Nur Ein/SongFight LP Monday night for 'I Am Very Busy' at 9pm EDT.
Drop on in to the chat if you have some time!



https://youtu.be/u48othrn5lg

[sleepysilverdoor]

Cthonic Black is the best

[claytantor]

berkley social scene.
talking heads meet early echo and the bunnymen.

boogerslol
Totally our esthetic. Love the noise attacks you busy bee. You are the bees knees.

brownword and the big whine
super punk. busy in the garage. Great guitar lines.

cthonic black
super psyched to have our dark metal brothers play beside our robots. I think its especially hard to have lyrics come through on metal.

gizofeatlollypops
Great guitar breaks and the singing on top of this are mystical and mysterious. Having the duet/two voices on this really help make it feel dreamy and big.

hostessmostess
Nice rif. You can really hear the lyrics come forward on this. A good way to layer the chorus.

pacodelstinko
Fun ditty. It's really fun to bop along with this. The busy and dizzy connection good.

panacotta army
Superfolk meets Don Ho. I was transported back to 1964 sipping Mai Tia. I could spend my whole daydreaming about you, that goes really well with the steel guitar. Almost a Hawaii feel. Island eyes can never see.

phlebia
Why do I think of a more sane Residents who know how to play the guitar? The pile on in the middle is strong and works.

pigfarmerjr
Great intro.

sweenytoad
YAS! nerdcrore anthem. Love the 8bit noise sawtooth waveforms. Right up our alley.

thirdcat
Electro wonderland meets a sweet reminder of life. No one is too busy to kiss. I like how it reminds us to live.

wreckdom
Super fun song. I like the day call outs. Like I want to drink a case of the cheapest beer I can find and drink a bottle of Robo.

[sleepysilverdoor]

Lol, you got The Residents out of that? I don't hear the comparison at all, but I definitely take it as a complement...the Icky Flix DVD may the best concert film ever made.

[gizo]

gizofeatlollypops
Great guitar breaks and the singing on top of this are mystical and mysterious. Having the duet/two voices on this really help make it feel dreamy and big.

First off - i'm going to assume these are genuine comments and not more AI-generated content

Secondo - thank you for this feedback.

Point un Three - I'm so happy someone likes the guitars, because I like them too (although imagine if I could convince my boy to blow his trumpet over that solo)

The one after 3 - Yeah. the original take with my vox was okay, but I love the way Lollypops made it something more beautiful, and allowed me to pretend it has a call/response happening between two protagonists in the verses and the outtro. The kid's got some good sensibilities.

[reve]

The following tracks really stood out for me and warranted multiple listens. Not being listed below doesn't mean I don't love you.
I just love you slightly less.

BOOGERS LOL!!
This song was the grinning, gaping maw of the Christ and easily my favorite of the fight. Please tell me everything about all of your sounds.

Gizo x L. Pops.
Objectively, this was probably the best song of the fight. Easily one of the best songs of the last month, frankly. Sooo lush. I'm in awe.

Pannacotta Army.
The harmonies here are soo great. Do you write them out or do you just freewheel 'em? Ditto with the counter-melodic lines, particularly at ~2:45. Can you break down the instrumentation for us? The mix here is fantastic, and I can tell there's a lot more going on here than meets the... ear.

Phlebia.
This is probably the best conceptual take on the title -- you're always a treat! And it just built and got better and better as time went on. Well done.

[gizo]

Not being listed below doesn't mean I don't love you.

But, being listed means you definitely DO LOVE US!!! Huzzah!!

I'm feeling pretty honoured to be ranked in that shortlist. Wow. Thanks! <3

[the panna cotta army]

The harmonies here are soo great. Do you write them out or do you just freewheel 'em? Ditto with the counter-melodic lines, particularly at ~2:45. Can you break down the instrumentation for us? The mix here is fantastic, and I can tell there's a lot more going on here than meets the... ear.

Yes I just worked the harmonies out as I went along

The instrumentation was 7 tracks -
picked acoustic throughout
resonator joins in after first chorus
twangy counter melodies
tremolo chords
slide bits
another guitar bit in the middle 8
tambourine

[sleepysilverdoor]

Phlebia - This is probably the best conceptual take on the title -- you're always a treat! And it just built and got better and better as time went on. Well done.

It came kind of naturally, topic-wise. I'd just gotten off work and had spent the past 8 hours working on a UI for displaying archived hydrological data. I couldn't sleep, and well, I'd been very busy all day basically staring into Eclipse.
I'm not sure Golfpunk will come as naturally.

[Lunkhead]

Tim Hinkle's song has been added to the fight. Sorry I missed your song Tim! Looks like I accidentally deleted it, while intending to delete somebody's older version of their song that they submitted.

[neutronflow]

Tim Hinkle's song has been added to the fight. Sorry I missed your song Tim! Looks like I accidentally deleted it, while intending to delete somebody's older version of their song that they submitted.

No worries! I'm glad to see it up now.

[gizo]

rxwv - I am Very Busy

Berkeley Social Scene: Always dependable to throw in a polished number. Well done.

BOOGERS LOL!: You win the Lollypops favourite award. This song sounds like fun is happening.

Brown Word and the Big Whine: I don't think I'll ever claim to understand what you're doing, but I really do dig this chorus.

Chthonic Black: This is so far away from what I understand that I feel a bit weird reviewing it. It's pretty damn tight and crisp and well put together. But scary. yikes.

DeepOrb Steel: I used to know a guy who made music that sounded like this. It's pretty weird to see his approach replicated by machines.

gizo feat. lollypops: It's good to be back, even if I am a sad sack. I still need to make louder musics. This sounds so much better with Lollypops singing than my initial version.

Hostess Mostess: I have some old Hostess Mostess numbers saved to a spinning disc somewhere from my mid 00's existence for a reason. You're solid.

Paco del Stinko: Relentlessly pounding the pavement like a perpetual motion groove automaton.

The Panna Cotta Army: I think this might be The One. Sounds beautiful, the take on the title is sweet. It's a wonderful winter warmer, thank you.

Phlebia: I really like the way this builds, and builds, and how the vocals stay steady.

Pigfarmer Jr: Not my favourite PfJr number, but I quite like how you have delivered "I am ve ry bu sy!"

Sweeney Toad: The chorus sentiment is lovely. I feel like this is a pretty solid track, but could benefit from more rhyming and alliteration - I feel like we're mostly just hearing couplets, and would love to hear more rhymes and alliteration all through the verses to take this to a new level. Also consider investing in a second voice to hype you. I am big on the hype. Lastly, I feel like your chorus could benefit from a tasty singer drifting along the chorus behind you. Probably my favourite S Toad number to date. Thumbs_up.emoji

Third Cat: This is sweet, and I'm always a big fan of your vocal delivery. Lollypops says - "it's nice, but I can walk away. It's not very hooky".

Tim Hinkle: Oh gosh. So happy this one made it's way back into the list.

toby roktot: I wish I had the restraint to be this simple and clean, this is sweet.

Toothdreams: I would love this more if it were a little bit longer and the harmonica was just a little bit better. But boy oh boy it's pretty.

WreckdoM: I used to be this guy with another guy and we made tapes of stuff we did and called it the Amnesia Sessions and you kinda remind me of that but different and yeah sure I thought it was pretty right-on when I did it so I guess carry on.

[sleepysilverdoor]

I've been *very busy*, sorry about the delay.

Berkeley Social Scene: Ohh, sunshiney vibes with the guitar and drums. I’m not entirely sure that I’m feeling this vocal style but I am feeling this college rock vibe in the music...I think it’s just the delivery feels more hammy but I want it to sound cool and detached. But the beat is nice? Reminds me of something that I’d hear back when I worked college radio. I imagine that this is playing on “Local Shots” because you were friends with Laura or Max or something and you’d probably do a couple shows on campus but I’d probably leave and go to the hookah bar with Dru instead. You don’t know any of these people.

BOOGERS LOL!: This is entirely too much fun. Was this recorded on a toy keyboard? Sounds like it. I like the background hi pitched recording squeal and the pitchshifted vocals. I am very busy too...weeee!

Brown Word and the Big Whine: RAWKKKKKKKKKKKK. Vocals are really high in the mix. This would be tremendously fun if I were at a house show run by some alternative types out of their garage who hand drew all of their flyers and distributed them in a big pile at the local record shop and they’d be selling screen printed t-shirts and selling them at a booth while smoking rollies. This is like Hole, but a bad trip.

Chthonic Black: This isn’t lo-fi enough and I don’t want to burn down a church when I hear it so it misses the mark. Nah I’m kidding, this is delightfully intense and dark and a very well executed piece of black metal. I even dig the vocals, and usually black metal vocals don’t work for me at all. That kind of atmospheric breakdown at the 1:30 mark is absolutely glorious. What font do you write your name in? Does it look like a defoliated bush? If not you need to re-do it.

DeepOrb Steel: “It sounds like Munchausen By Proxy” says my wife. I totally understand why she would think that and it definitely has a particular bizarro off kilter vibe, but isn’t that’pretty what would you would expect from an AI writing a metal song? I maintain that it would sound a whole lot cooler if you found a way to feed the MIDI through VST instruments rather than the general MIDI vibe. It’s like Alexa-lent! (excellent, get it?) I liked how it went down to just the vocals for a bit and then came in with the blasting cymbals, that was neat.

gizo feat. lollypops: Slow, dreamy dirges usually appeal to me and this is no exception. And you and lollipops voices meld well together. I ought to try and get my mom to submit a song with me while she’s here next weekend, I bet she’d love it. The round and round and round and round bit works well, though maybe some limiting could be applied to the vocals to get them a bit more evenly in the mix. I can’t understand what either of you are saying throughout most of the song but it’s got like a grungy slowcore vibe so I hardly care cause the atmosphere is key here. Tight, tight.

Hostess Mostess: That breakdown at the end of the verses is GREAT and I love your chord progression. This has this sort of jazzy acoustic mid 2000s feel to me. Vocal harmonies are tight and well executed, and the change up in the back half of the song is just delicious. I am having a hard time time finding anything negative to say about this song...maybe the “Iiiiiiiiiii” bit is a little wobbly pitch-wise but this song would please me if I stumbled across it in a live setting and I’d probably stay and drink a local brew.

Paco del Stinko: This sounds like a few other Paco del Stinko songs which is by no means a bad thing. You remain songfight’s king of chromatic chord modulations . Performance is tight as usual. Sometimes I find your songs hard to critique because I can never really find anything bad to say about them! You nail the bouncy distinct slightly campy indie vibe and you are definitely a champ at it. The only thing I’d say is missing from this song is a really catchy chorus or hook or something for me to melodically latch onto? Maybe it’s there and I’m just deaf to your ways tonight.

The Panna Cotta Army: I’ve been obsessively listening to The Everly Brothers this week, so this folksy traditional country inflected number with the close harmonies and those sweet sweet steel guitars is REALLY hitting the spot for me. Not that this sounds particularly like any single one of their songs, I mostly just mentioned that to point out that this is where my musical headspace has been all week (though my upcoming entry would *not* indicate that at all). I do feel like the tambourine came in slightly too loud? But the structure and chord shift that came in around there is delightful. I could just listen to an entire album of nothing but steel guitar instrumentals and be happy.

Phlebia: I’d been doing a *lot* of computer programming this week and came home from work and couldn’t fall asleep and so I wrote asong about getting completely absorbed in trying to structure code. In this particular case I was writing graphical utilities for managing a couple decades’ worth of archived hydrological data. And then I wrote a song. Tremolo picking is fun, isn’t it, Chthonic Black?

Pigfarmer Jr: Ringaling, who’s there? My toddler is next to and pointing at a picture of a phone in a book about colors. It’s a black phone! I hate it when the phone won’t stop ringing. THis song makes me want to hang up on a telemarketer. No, I don’t want to take your damn survey, quit calling me. I like the energy of this, and while you often add some edge to your delivery and lyrics, it really works here. One of my preferred Pigfarmer songs.

Sweeney Toad: I am almost always satisfied when I hear 8 bit beats. Have you ever listened to Quarta 330? They had a few releases on Hyperdub back in the day and sort of mined similar sonic vibes to this only with a whole lot more garagey feel to it. That string synth that comes in for the chorus is tremendous and probably creates my favorite sound palette of the fight. And this straight 8 note flow is super simple in terms of structure but dadgum is it effective. This may actually be my favorite Sweeney Toad song. Well, solo Sweeney Toad song Mrs Phlebia says she would play Ski Free to this. She does not like being called Mrs Phlebia lol.

Tim Hinkle: The guitar work in this is positively fantastic. I love the thumb piano or whatever it is you’re using. And the slide guitar that you’ve using for the main riff tickles my ears in a delightful way. You have this kind of vintage folksy psych vibe that I admire in every fight I hear you in. The production here is really clear. I’m trying to com up with a sonic touchstone to which to compare this. This song possesses a strong melodic sense and I enjoyed listening to it quite a bit!

Third Cat: Beep boop drums. I’m not entirely sold on this at first but then you bring in that wall of reverb and gradually fade in the acoustic guitars and move into this dreamy electro acoustic jam. I’m always a fan of reverb washes. This sort of feels like 2 songs at once, and I will say that I kind of like the middle bit (the “you may be true” part) a little bit better...I don’t know why that is, but it just be that way. Something about the beat and tempo reminds me of Daniel Avery quite a bit --check out “Water Jump” if you haven’t.

toby roktot: This makes my wife want Guinness and taters. I sort of see why she says that. I think? Maybe hashbrowns. Or just hash. Heh. This is a clever number about death, and I really like the use of the harmonica here. If I saw this performed live I’d probably sit and appreciate it. Your lyrics are nice and evocative and I dig the mood you’ve set here, as well as those gravelly low notes you reach down for. I can’t really critique this too hard because it’s musically and lyrically too solid to say anything bad about, great job!

Toothdreams: I like the way this sounds, though the chord progression feels very...generic? I think I may just be allergic to the standard I-IV-V progression but the lyrics here are really poignant and paint a picture. This really reminds me of I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning, but I can’t tell you which song. Something about the folksy, intimate lyrical vibe. The tune kind of ends abruptly, I was expecting more resolution. But...it is what it is?

WreckdoM:
I can’t make out what random voice snpitte that keeps on appearing throughout the first verse is. This has a certain kind of muddy slacker vibe that’s fairly common to most WreckdoM entries. Oh it’s saying the days of the week. I want to like this more than I do. The ending kind of gives me Locust Abortion Technician vibes, but you probably know this already.

OKAY:
Top 3 this week:
Chthonic Black
Sweeney Toad
Uhhh. Pannacotta Army? Toby? I don’t know.

Runner up would be Gizo I guess.

[Toby Roktot]

Ok, I’m about half way through the songs. Yes, a lot of really good submissions !!
I’ll post my thoughts in the next few days. Going to the Mountains for the hot July weather. Well, kinda like mountains ....
Sayin’