Nur Ein XIX Round Three- "My (blank) are the Best People"

[sailingmagpie]

chewmeupspitmeout - that’s a heavy theme. The cohesion of the sample and the music is good, but i don’t feel the title requirement is met.

I think you missed the joke in my title. You'd expect a song called "My Family are the Best People" to be a nice song about my loved ones but, in this instance, the Family are actually Charles Manson's cult.

[Spintown]

Spintown & Company - the vocal lines are sometimes kind of awkward. Where did you get a goat? Also not exactly my thing.

I agree with pretty much all that. The only line that bothers me is "Sheep want to sleep, but donkey sounds". I had reached my deadline for lyrics & that was the only one I was still working on. As for the goat, well that's part of the music video. I'm doing these songs with the end goal of doing a video for each of them, so I'm generally storyboarding the video at the same time I'm doing lyrics. It's also how I justified to myself at the time to let that line slide. I figured it would be clear enough in the video despite being awkward. Either way, the contest is about the songs, and not extensions of the song, so both are valid critiques I have to agree with.

If you're interested here's a link to the music video. I think the goat part at the end is justified IF you were to take into account the video (which YOU shouldn't), but that donkey line still bothers me & I should have just missed my deadline to fix it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V--Sr15GVtM

Thanks for reviewing, it's much appreciated.

[furrypedro]

Balance Lost - this is another one i feel is kind of samey throughout. Lyric wise i’m not sure the grandad part comes across. Can’t tell if you had a guest.

Thanks for the review. Can't tell if I had a guest? Are you serious? You think verse vocalist and chorus vocalist are the same person? Do you literally need me to write down who sang what before you understand? Jesus fucking christ. Thanks for getting your results in on time btw

[frankie big face]

Balance Lost - this is another one i feel is kind of samey throughout. Lyric wise i’m not sure the grandad part comes across. Can’t tell if you had a guest.

Thanks for the review. Can't tell if I had a guest? Are you serious? You think verse vocalist and chorus vocalist are the same person? Do you literally need me to write down who sang what before you understand? Jesus fucking christ. Thanks for getting your results in on time btw

I’m sensing some frustration…

I understand judging is time-consuming and difficult, but the timeliness is important to the competition. It’s Friday, guys. The last time I did this, results were posted on Tuesday night. With apologies on Wednesday morning, occasionally. The long wait is a momentum killer and is definitely impacting my ability to enjoy this experience. And truly, this is my absolute favorite competition! But the lack of interaction between judges and contestants (not to mention contestants to contestants) is noticeable and makes me sad. (I was looking at a thread from NE3 the other day and, while it was tense and contentious at times, it was vibrant and exhilarating to read, even 16 years later.)

Can we pick up the pace and maybe chime in once in a while? Poor Bill is the only person sharing timely reviews. Feedback is important. Not to winning the competition, but to understanding why you come in first for one judge and 17th for another. Sending songs into a void isn’t very much fun.

Thanks for running this competition and for making the effort.

[Aciniform Artifice]

I’m sensing some frustration…

NUR EIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[frankie big face]

I’m sensing some frustration…

NUR EIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA! Yep.

[starfinger]

The main problem is the guest part isn’t real integral to the song.

Wait a minute.. do you mean like a collaborator? I don't make my guests do anything they don't want to do.

craig

[eargoggle]

The Friends - so the challenge says to fill in with something other than a person. I suppose you think you’ve satisfied that because it’s plural people? No.

This is what we were going on for the challenge-
Round Three
Title: My (blank) Are The Best People
Challenge: Bring the most interesting guest

I didn't see anything about the (blank) not being a person (although, is "people" a person? I would say no. Discuss). But also, nothing about the actual song? Or our guests (some killer flute from Kevin's wife, some killer vox from my daughter)?

Anyway, whatevs. I really like the Frankie Big Face and the Moss Palace song from this week, and the Kamaura is interesting. I haven't listened to everything yet though.

[Siebass]

MechaKarp - my favorite part is the 1025. I agree it’s pretty crazy there are two songs about pokemon. It’s well done although not quite to my taste. I’ll try not to let it sway my ratings.

Thanks for taking the time to write and post reviews! For what it's worth, the 1,025 pokemon part is also my favorite part.

[Siebass]

Man, I gotta say, I did judging for SpinTunes last round, and after that, I cut the judges A LOT of slack.

1. It's a volunteer (!) gig
2. It's hard work
3. It takes a fair bit of extra time, especially when writing reviews
4. There is NO PRIZE for winning

This is my first Nur Ein, so I don't know what it's supposed to be like, or what it was like in the past. I will say it does feel a lot like flinging songs into a void without much feedback other than a score and a new prompt, but I don't know how it worked before.

As far as deadlines for reviews, I think simply having expectations set, like "Scores and Reviews will be in by Friday/Saturday" or "we're running late, gonna be tomorrow" or something would help. The rigourous schedule of this sort of competition almost ensures that we won't know if we're passing or failed until we've already completed another song, which I think is kind of nice as a baked-in encouragement to shadow, so you make perhaps one more song than you would have otherwise if you knew you were out.

For community and chat, it does feel a bit quiet, but I'm hanging out in the discord seeking work procrastination almost each weekday, if folks want to shoot the breeze or talk shop on music.

- Just 2c from your friendly neighborhood Siebass

[furrypedro]

All good points, Siebass.

I do appreciate that judges are volunteers and that it is a thankless task, so I'm grateful for the sacrifice that they are all making.
That being said, having been a judge here on multiple occasions; it's not that hard, especially when you don't have to write reviews, which the majority of judges are not doing this time. I don't mean that as a criticism, just a statement of fact. Everybody has their own lives and pressures, so getting reviews is a bonus and I don't expect them.

[arby]

The Nur Ein continues with Round Three- the infamous guest round

Title: My (blank) are the Best People

Fill in the blank with something other than a person

Challenge: Bring the most interesting guest

Create a new original song from the prompt by Jun 2 at 11:59 PM Eastern.

Email your song to nurein.sidefight@gmail.com

seems like a bunch of people failed reading comprehension this round:

"Fill in the blank with something other than a person"

People:
- friends
- family (even the Manson family!)
- people (as in BL's title)

Not people:
- books
- regrets
- instruments
- demons
- Pokémon
- periodic cicadas

honestly Brown Word got the closest to what the judges had discussed with the challenge this round. too bad she was a shadow so couldn't benefit from it.

also, the guest is NOT optional! and cannot be a sample! the whole point of the guest round challenge is to get you to record something new from someone or something (in this case we were thinking an animal) not already in your band specifically for this song. if samples were okay then it would be a massive cheat for all guest rounds! of course since we don't actually eliminate for failure to meet the challenge, we just down ranked you if you either didn't use the title correctly or did not have a real guest. and yes, more points were given to those who incorporated their guest's contributions in a holistic manner throughout the song, rather than tacking it on at the end like an afterthought.

I am sorry I have not been on the forums as much lately, or I could have tried to clarify these points before the deadline. I am also sorry I have not done reviews. I honestly did not like most of the songs in round 1 and did not want to pull a Grumpy Mike and be mean to everyone. this is no excuse for Round 2 and beyond, however. I'll try to be better going forward.

[starfinger]

I would like to make sure it’s clear: I do not think corporations are people.

[Spintown]

seems like a bunch of people failed reading comprehension this round

Hrm...

- Title used word for word...check.
- Got living guests....check x2.
- Fill in the blank with something other than a person...check.

All challenges met dead on...nearly eliminated. I think I officially know what it's like to be a Nur Ein & SpinTunes competitor now. ;p

Seriously though, looking forward to the next round. And don't fell bad about laying into us with negative reviews. We can take it. I appreciated Mike's reviews from the prior round, as I do any feedback.

[frankie big face]

I would like to make sure it’s clear: I do not think corporations are people.

That made me laugh. Not LOL. But, you know, internally.

I would 100% nominate you for the Supreme Court.

[ujnhunter]

also, the guest is NOT optional! and cannot be a sample! the whole point of the guest round challenge is to get you to record something new from someone or something (in this case we were thinking an animal) not already in your band specifically for this song. if samples were okay then it would be a massive cheat for all guest rounds! of course since we don't actually eliminate for failure to meet the challenge, we just down ranked you if you either didn't use the title correctly or did not have a real guest. and yes, more points were given to those who incorporated their guest's contributions in a holistic manner throughout the song, rather than tacking it on at the end like an afterthought.

Good thing that I didn't get dinged for any of these things, or else my (our) song would have been a complete failure. Sorry chaps!

I would like to make sure it’s clear: I do not think corporations are people.

I resemble that remark!

[arby]

I would like to make sure it’s clear: I do not think corporations are people.

correct! I agree. I forgot to put that in the list of not ppl

[arby]

Hrm...

- Title used word for word...check.
- Got living guests....check x2.
- Fill in the blank with something other than a person...check.

All challenges met dead on...nearly eliminated. I think I officially know what it's like to be a Nur Ein & SpinTunes competitor :p

yes, you did everything right, but I still didn't love your song. sorry dude.

[Spintown]

yes, you did everything right, but I still didn't love your song. sorry dude.

All is good. I expected to be out round 1, everything from here on is a bonus anyways!

[arby]

I would 100% nominate you for the Supreme Court.

Starfinger for president!!!

[frankie big face]

Eliminations this round:
The Ujn Corporation*

This breaks my heart a little. I think you were making some of most interesting music in the competition.

[starfinger]

I did not expect this thread to give me a reason to create my very first phpBB post signature.

by the way, I really liked the bluechip ashram song.

craig