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

[arby]

Moss Palace ... My only beef with this one is friends (even imaginary ones!) are still people. That’s literally my only issue. Otherwise stellar.

Glad you enjoyed it although I find this last part very interesting. Coincidentally there is a big summer movie out right now titled "If" that's all about imaginary friends, none of whom (afaik, I haven't actually watched it) are people. Then there are famous imaginary friends like, Harvey the rabbit from "Harvey", Mr. Snuffleupagus from "Sesame Street" for decades (until they decided that wasn't ok and changed it to make him real), the weird rabbit thing from "Donnie Darko", the imaginary friend from from "Inside Out", Winnie the Pooh, Hobbes, The Wild Things, etc. etc. etc. Maybe we have different definitions of "people" or something.

huh. yeah I guess you're right! many imaginary friends aren't people! objection rescinded. I didn't down rank you anyway so there is no harm done.

[WreckdoMelle]

I was up in the middle of the night so I thought I'd re-listen to the tunes (I listened Monday but I was also drawing). So many great guitar players, a lot of band and orchestra instrumentation and family fun, also some profoundly dark stuff - ya gotta have variety right? I didnt assess whether anything met a criteria but I did try to listen for anything that stuck out and offer some feedback as folks had remarked. Obvs I'm not a judge, and making no comment on criteria, just insomina-ing it up.

Balance Lost - Multitextural, sonically lots to explore, guitar sounds really good! That jangliness tone is very good in particular. What is the solo instrument? Yes to gang handclaps.

BSS - Opening instrumentation has my interest, I've been away awhile, is this a different singer than a couple of years ago? Regardless, vox and guitars sound great. I like when the 2nd vox come in in the hook, really pretty. Y'all play together? I like the instrumentation in the breakdown, the strings are a lovely touch.

Bluechip Ashram - Okay a lot to unpack and all good. 80's sounding hits, very tasty, rotodrums, weird swirly effects, yesss; excellent vocal delivery. Only complaint is the drums are a little aggressive in the mix and fatigued my, admittedly, tired-from-song-fighting ear.

Cavedwellers - Guitar city, awesome. Cute singing, this is a delight. The 8-bit synth sound is so fitting. Really catchy. This is mixed nicely, as these sounds together could be really sharp on the ears. Missle Command-style explosion sound at end, cool!

Cybronica - Forboding and beautiful opener, the chant is hypnotic and vaguely threatening. I love how it epically opens up in the chorus and your delivery at the end of the phrase matches the droning rhythm of the chant. Awesome vocals!

Frankie Big Face - More really cute singing and multitextural loveliness! Oh my goodness; trombone, my heart has swelled. Autotune sounds cool in the coda. I love the whimsy, one of my favorites of the fight.

The Friends - Really pretty vocals in the chorus. Live flute a welcome sound! I like the rhythmic and droning quality for this sad-sweet tune.

Glennny - Interesting chord progressions, and I appreciate the prominent bass as instrumentation. These lyrics - someone is cutting onions in here... ya got me

Kamakura - Intense opener. Intense topic, I got physically ill for a minute there thinking of Omaha Beach, so very effective. The music is serving as a machine-gun dotted landscape until a bizarre end that actually really really fits for me.

MechaKarp - How fun to have many Pokemon in the studio with you - was it dangerous? This is super fun, and it's kinda like a cartoon, I can see all of these in my mind. This is one of my faves of the fight.

Moss Palace - Gorgeous vox, the mix on this is smoooth. and the synths are sumptuous, you know, like you could lie down in them, tastefully and artfully applied guitars!

Spintown & Company - Great guitars! I love the whimsy, and I think kids will love this song especially, it's super catchy and cute. I want to visit each animal, even goat.

Starfinger - Heck yes. This is my kind of thing. Strong vox plus spot on lyrics - that hook is perfect. Wild synth, killer corporate sponsor ad at the end, I'm on my 9th can of ravioli. This is kind of a masterpiece man, best one of a really strong fight. Let's have our people talk shoes soon.

The Ujn Corporation - Creepy intro sounds, kickass epic opener, metal riffage, yesss! The summoning breakdown riff is particularly sick. I had to check the horizon for looming tentacles.

Brown Word and the Big Whine (shadow) - For this I wanted cicadas to be part of the music and needed something ethereal and earthy that would reflect the marvelous journey of the cicada and the tale of its mass emergence. Of course we have cicadas sounding off in the coda and they are very excited to be here for this is the party they have been waiting a lifetime for.

chewmeupspitmeout - The music evokes for me 60's shopping mall, inoffensive with some undercurrent of decadence rhytmically in the the background of well, I see what he's saying, but this guy sounds insufferable at a party.

[gizo]

Okay, here are my reviews.

Glenny - Which one is A Single Pint of Failure? Is he singing lead, or is that Gizo (? Stacking Theory?)? I didn’t love either of their vocals, tbh. This song is perfectly meh. Like it was decently written and performed, but it didn’t stick in my mind after I finished listening to it. (PS I just read your song bio and awwww. I’m not crying!) Challenge was met on both fronts, however, which is why I ranked it as high as I did.

Hey there!

It's me, gizo! A while back I entered SpinTunes as two bands - Stacking Theory, and A Single Pint of Failure. One of the bands was kinda rocking, and the other was my layered emotional blah blah.

It turned out glennny liked them both, and wanted a bit of each in his song. So I tried.

Shame you didn't like it, but such is life. Thank you for listening and giving feedback, I appreciate it.

[eargoggle]

But also, nothing about the actual song? Or our guests (some killer flute from Kevin's wife, some killer vox from my daughter)?

Sorry. That was two nights in a row falling asleep early and last night I got up at 3am and finished my reviews and ratings. I was probably not in the best mindstate. i may have also been put off by lack of lyrics? anyway, yes, i do like the flute and the the way it builds to the ending. also 3/4.

So this is a couple times reviewers have mentioned lack of lyrics- we are sending our lyrics in for each song in the same email as the song, are you not getting those? And if so why? I was assuming that email was forwarded to all the reviewers. If there is somewhere else we are supposed to post our lyrics please let me know. Probably too late but here are our lyrics for that song, for what it's worth

Everyone sucks in their own way
Yeah I know what they say
But we aren’t all that great
In our own way we’re just lame
Everyone blows and that’s ok
Just felt like I needed to say
Yeah we’re all kinda jerks
Everyday be that as it may

My People are the best people

Everyone breathes the same air as me
just more than their share
But I guess that's all right
if there's some for me
and i don't suffocate
Everyone dreams different than me
and thought they're all wrong
I suppose it's just fine
we're all kind of blind
except when I see that

[WreckdoMelle]

Hey eargoggle The Friends can post lyrics to the appropriate thread in Ye Olde Lyrics Archive directory viewforum.php?f=5 Sorry that was not more clear I think a lot of us have done this awhile and already knew.

[Lunkhead]

I am going to sound like a broken record here but I think the handling of lyrics puts newcomers at an unfair disadvantage. Maybe folks dismissed that as hypothetical before, but here it is actually happening. So maybe it is time to add information to the rules post and "about" page explaining clearly that submitting lyrics is required and explaining how to submit lyrics, and maybe it is time to allow folks to submit them via their emails with their songs, so that they don't have to know about or join the boards and know about the ways of Song Fight.

viewtopic.php?t=12650
https://nure.in/about.php

[Spintown]

Spintown - This reminds me of Journey? I finally realized what I don’t like about ST’s sound. I cannot STAND Journey and their ilk. At least this lead singer doesn’t sound like Weird Al. I see the attempt at humor but it didn’t land with me. This is fine, I just personally really did not like it. I’m sorry.

I'm completely cool with it just not being your thing. I actually expect that a lot since this is aimed at kids & made for a Minecraft video. The ONLY thing that hurts me a little is to know you don't appreciate the greatness that is "Weird" Al. ;p Literally my hero! Thank you for the review.

Spintown & Company - Great guitars! I love the whimsy, and I think kids will love this song especially, it's super catchy and cute. I want to visit each animal, even goat.

Wear padding if you visit goat. After HeuristicsInc's review I made the decision to not include spoken word at the end of my "Crush Season" song. Because the mention of the goat in the song only makes sense if you hear the song while watching the music video. I was going to do something similar with the "Crush Season" song, but I'm just going to do a poor edit later to add that in for the video I think. Did you watch the video or just hear the song? Thanks for the review btw.

I am going to sound like a broken record here but I think the handling of lyrics puts newcomers at an unfair disadvantage. Maybe folks dismissed that as hypothetical before, but here it is actually happening. So maybe it is time to add information to the rules/about explaining clearly that submitting lyrics is required and explaining how to submit lyrics, and maybe it is time to allow folks to submit them via their emails with their songs, so that they don't have to know about or join the boards and know about the ways of Song Fight.

I think having the being required is the way to go as well. But speaking from experience with SpinTunes, even if you tell people they need to be in their e-mail, you'll get a lot of e-mails without them & have to remind them.

[WreckdoMelle]

Wear padding if you visit goat. After HeuristicsInc's review I made the decision to not include spoken word at the end of my "Crush Season" song. Because the mention of the goat in the song only makes sense if you hear the song while watching the music video. I was going to do something similar with the "Crush Season" song, but I'm just going to do a poor edit later to add that in for the video I think. Did you watch the video or just hear the song? Thanks for the review btw.

I went and watched. Super cute! I would still visit goat but yes, padding would be worn

[eargoggle]

I am going to sound like a broken record here but I think the handling of lyrics puts newcomers at an unfair disadvantage. Maybe folks dismissed that as hypothetical before, but here it is actually happening. So maybe it is time to add information to the rules post and "about" page explaining clearly that submitting lyrics is required and explaining how to submit lyrics, and maybe it is time to allow folks to submit them via their emails with their songs, so that they don't have to know about or join the boards and know about the ways of Song Fight.

viewtopic.php?t=12650
https://nure.in/about.php

Yeah as a newcomer I have to say there is a lot of assuming that everyone knows what's going on and not explaining things...I thought I read that we're supposed to put the lyrics in the email, somewhere, but nothing about the lyrics thread. I'm not mad or anything but this could be a lot smoother. Why a separate lyrics thread? Why not a lyrics thread in the Nur Ein section of the forums (like, here), if you want them in a thread? That would seem to make more sense. But songs don't always make sense so why should a song competition.
Anyway, we'll post them there from now on.

[frankie big face]

Yeah as a newcomer I have to say there is a lot of assuming that everyone knows what's going on and not explaining things...I thought I read that we're supposed to put the lyrics in the email, somewhere, but nothing about the lyrics thread. I'm not mad or anything but this could be a lot smoother. Why a separate lyrics thread? Why not a lyrics thread in the Nur Ein section of the forums (like, here), if you want them in a thread? That would seem to make more sense. But songs don't always make sense so why should a song competition.
Anyway, we'll post them there from now on.

The lyrics thread is in a weird spot because you have to navigate out of this Nur Ein section of the boards to find it. I would recommend the judges make a new thread in Ye Olde Lyric Archive for each fight and then post a link to this thread upon posting the new title.

[Siebass]

I had three hours on a work flight to Austin, TX today, so I took some time to do some reviews while procrastinating my final Crush mix. I tried to try to find something constructive to say for everyone. Just some thoughts from your friendly neighborhood Siebass, I hope they are helpful.


Cmusmo

cool samples and aaahs, claps, textures and percussion, I particularly dig the vocal layering. Fair bit of white noise on the audio clips, probably artifacts of old audio I'd guess, but a little distracting when it's cutting in and out. Very cool vibe piece here. Not a lot of notes, clean production maybe goes on a little long

Brown

Screaming cicadas against distorted guitars, electronic beats, another interesting vibe here. We're all taking to the heavens. I tried to make a synth out of samples cicadas previously, but hated the sounds so I gave up. You came up with some cool textures from the sound here, and made it not be annoying, so well done on that. Transition to the dark metal bridge was a bit abrupt, maybe a smoother transition or extra swell or something to ease the listener into that part would be cool? I enjoyed this

Ujn

Interesting intro, with the space and beeps. I love guitars but admittedly metal is not my jam, however I think the guitar work is well done here. I think the drums stick out as a bit repetitive and might not quite fit with the verses. I'd expect some double kick or something like that rather than just quarter notes from a metal tune like this. I like the tempo/vibe change for the outro. Solid tune, I think more care on the drums would probably improve this, but I dug the guitar work and feel.

Starfinger

Doing cool weird absurdist sh!t is definitely my jam and sense of humor, I really enjoyed this. My favorite part is the attitudes you take on the aggressive vocal portions played against the relaxing at the horse ranch style delivery. Also excellent care taken with arrangement cutting things back, adding elements to keep the listener hooked. Lyrically poignant too, so well done on that. Trying to think of constructive criticism, I'd say the ending feels a bit tacked on and a little out of place, I would have loved to finish up back with starfinger designing the next Yeezy footwear, or relaxing in his seealy posturepedic bed, etc. I really loved this one though, hits my absurdist sense of humor/satire/parody.

SpinTown

Musically I'm always here for a late 90s early aughts pop rock jam. No one is friends with the goat, that tracks. I dig the drum hits leading into the verse. The rhyme scheme seems a bit awkward/surprising sometimes, like it goes further than I'd expect. Every day is so surprising up to sun rising is where I get a little tripped up. Killer solo, I'm a sucker for a good guitar solo. Lyrically, I get that you are describing elements for Minecraft videos, but I'll say the lyrics feel a bit more like a listing of your farm friends, and not what makes them the best people per se (upon self reflection I think I was guilty of this as well this round). Just a thought on the constructive end for you to consider, anyhow. Cool tune.

Moss Palace

I think I should have used a different handle for this contest, bc I keep having to go right next to y'all. This one was a super groove. I dug the vibe a ton, the simple electronic drum beat, the synths, new wavy stuff, 80s vibe, kind of Eurythmics ish, and the vocal harmony in the verses really nailed it, excellent vocal delivery too. I enjoyed the twist/juxtaposing from best to worst from the first to second verses. My favorite oart of this though is honestly the vocal melody for "my imaginary friends" line, it just kills, and hits just right, I keep coming back for that. I thinks it's because it starts just a half step higher than where I think it should, similar to the lead guitar line, and it sound so cool like that. Very polished. For a constructive criticism, hmm, I'd say it wasn't clear how the narrator ended up on the outs with their imaginary friends, nor how they reconciled for the last layered chorus/outro.

Mechakarp

It's me, I think this likely to be my best entry of the contest, and it also corresponded to my highest score. I was happy with how clean I got this, as well as with my rap, and speedy rap in the 6/8 section. I also thought I did well on keeping the arrangement interesting, and I didn't replay any section more than 3 times. I rather like this one and my kids also like it, but I am a silly person and enjoy silly things.

Kamakura

Some heavy stuff here, WW2, cool audio clips, getting ready for war. My favorite line was though the Yanks suffered the worst of it. It's a bit hard for me to dig into this since it's really a lot of spoken words, and no singing, so it feels more like a spoken word piece, like snap judgement on PRX, rather than a song in the same way. The outro for war is a terrible thing from the church was some singing, but it did feel a bit jarring and out of place to me( kind of like war, so perhaps it was the intended effect?) Honestly this kind of song is not necessarily my jam, so I don't think I can offer too much in terms of insight, all I'd say is that I think the spoken clips along with the spoken verse might just be a bit much on balance, if I could have my druthers, I'd ask for more from the war survivor talking about his platoon and the war and less of the historical clips, that story part was the more interesting part for me, at least.

Glenny

Oh hey, I recognize that vocal, Gizo came over to play! Guitars are great here, lyrical content tracks with classic sad beach music from Gizo, you guys did a great job working together in this. Lyrically a gut punch, you dug deep here Glenny and it works well. Reminds me of a dark underside of the custom Alaska camper song. Great emotional vocal take here, really sells this for me. Hangin' around to haunt you so you won't be lonely, very powerful imagery. I enjoyed this a lot. I saw a note that you were trying to do some SPoF and some Stacking Theory style stuff, but I think I don't know enough about what the differences are to pick it out. For something constructive, I'd say while I love the turn the page have to go I'll turn around and haunt you cound be considered for shortening. I liked it a lot on first listen, but on repeats it feels like it overstays a bit, IMHO. Very solid.

The Friends

Flute and acoustic to start, interesting. Nice vocal melody/pattern/progression. Transition to the my people are the best people feels a little jarring, perhaps start more sparse with the arrangement and vocals on the first chorus, and build up more like you already do towards the more fulsome version as you go? Just a thought, or perhaps a short lift or pre chorus, short transition to get us into the my people part, since it sound like a key change to my ear, anyhow? Just a thought. This was a neat one.

Frankie

Can't not hear The Seaweed is always Greener here, like Under the Sea, or Disney Lion King type stuff. Great full multivoice chorus. Lyrically I particularly enjoyed the interweaving of the instruments with the descriptions timely. Very creative. For constructive thoughts, I think this likely runs a bit too long. I think you've said all you wanted to say before the autotune solo. The empty chunk before the vocal solo could also potentially drop I think without hurting anything, even if you keep everything as is. The autotune is a little jarring on the vocal solo, but I know it can be tough to coax littles who are shy. Very happy song, I enjoyed it a lot, really well done.

Cybronica

Stellar vocals as always, I don't think I could ever say anything on that front for you. Lyrically it's also an interesting exploration of the demons, trying to decide which to listen to, who will overcome, how you will power through. I think it works and works well. The two four ish marchingish beat takes me a bit out of the enjoyment of the song personally, I think I prefer the instrumentation in the A section, but that could just be my personal preferences, or it could also be because I rather really like the layering and drone in the verses, but I think the tempo change feels a bit out of place. I think that'd be my only note, I thought this was cool. Strong song.

Cavedwellers

Ah, my eternal pokemon song rival. At least you guys went for the cards. I enjoyed this a lot. I've got little kids, and I love getting mine involved as well when I can. Really did a good job capturing the vibe of being a kid and savoring the hobby. The chorus is a bop too, really great and catchy. My kids are also learning math from their Pokemon cards , so I particularly enjoyed that lyrical bit, it was spot on. For notes, I think already said, but I'd also say a few timing issues and hard hit autotune notes on the vocal take me out of it a little, but really solid otherwise. Still shocked to get two Pokemon songs this round.

Blue chip

Taking us all back to the disco. I'd have to say groooooooove with all the extra Os in it. Really solid chorus on being as fast as I can be. For constructive criticism, I'd only say the timing is a bit noticably off on between the vocal doubles in the chorus, I think tightening that up would make the song sound better, at least IMHO. This song put a smile on my face though with an upbeat groove. I'm writing these reviews on a plane, so I don't have the lyric sheet, but based on title I bet there is some dark content juxtaposed against this smile-inducing smoothness, but I can't quite pick it out here. If so, I'd give bonus points as I do love songs that sound happy with hard hitting downer lyrics. I'll have to check back later after I land. Slick track.

BSS

Cool intro, verse vibe is a bit Randy Newman (in a good way), very upbeat, happy tune about demons on the shoulder. Part I liked the most is the "giving their free advice" in the chorus, violin solos and support being a close second. Wish I knew how to play as I love the sound. For a constructive, I'd say the verse vocal can be a bit tough to understand, but I'm on a plane on my pixel buds so far from ideal listening environment, so I'd say see if that holds any water for you when you listen.

Balance lost


Really nailed a kind of Paul Simon diamonds on the souls of her shoes vibe, Call me Al. Really fun song. Sounds like it might be a 12 string? Is it? Sounds cool. Solid percussion and bass in this too. For constructive, I'd say the most noticeable to me is in the chorus lyric, on the he was in the wrong....place in the wrong time, feels a bit awkward each time it hits. I think you could have moved the "place" left to be "wrong place" together, and then left "At the wrong time" on its own line without suffering from the change. Only other note I'd say is the vocal in the first verse can be a little hard to understand due to the doubling or chorusy effect to my ear, but again could be my pixel buds in this unideal airplane environment. Just worth your listen and consideration if you think so as well. This was really fun with a good upbeat energy, I really am feeling Paul Simon on this, really well done.

[Spintown]

SpinTown

Musically I'm always here for a late 90s early aughts pop rock jam. No one is friends with the goat, that tracks. I dig the drum hits leading into the verse. The rhyme scheme seems a bit awkward/surprising sometimes, like it goes further than I'd expect. Every day is so surprising up to sun rising is where I get a little tripped up. Killer solo, I'm a sucker for a good guitar solo. Lyrically, I get that you are describing elements for Minecraft videos, but I'll say the lyrics feel a bit more like a listing of your farm friends, and not what makes them the best people per se (upon self reflection I think I was guilty of this as well this round). Just a thought on the constructive end for you to consider, anyhow. Cool tune.

Yeah, you're right about the lyrics. I'm not a good lyricist to start with, the 1 day deadline isn't helping me. As for not saying what makes them the best people, yeah guilty there as well. I picked the what, and forgot to define the WHY part of it. Technically the why isn't part of the challenge, but yeah probably would have been more interesting. Thanks for the reviews!