ST23 Round 2 Challenge

[BoffoYux]

ST23 Round 2 Challenge

The judges are still finalizing their rankings and reviews of your Round 1 entries. While you wait, you get a head start on your Round 2 song. Now, I know that the uncertainty of not knowing whether you'll be moving on or not can cause some strong feelings. Feelings so strong, in fact, that you may not be able to put them into words. If that's the case, you might want to dig deeper into them, because... well... read on for your Round 2 challenge:

I Didn't Catch That: Write and record a song that makes prominent and creative, though not exclusive, use of scat, wordless singing, or nonsense lyrics. Your song must also include some amount of standard, linguistically meaningful lyrics as well.
Examples:

"Minnie the Moocher" - Cab Calloway
"MMMBop" - Hansen
"Hooked on a Feeling" - Blue Swede
"How High the Moon" - Ella Fitzgerald
"Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas)" - Jimmie Rodgers
"Witch Doctor" - Ross Bagdasarian
"Prisencolinensinainciusol" - Adriano Celentano
Many musical traditions throughout the world, including:
Irish lilting
South Asian sargam
Sacred Harp
Sami joik
See also "Non-lexical vocables in music" on Wikipedia

Submitting Entries:
Your entry must be received by Sunday, September 22, 2024 @ 11:59 PM EDT. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox (spintunescontest@gmail.com) by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail. One minute late is too late.

You are allowed and encouraged to submit a draft of your song early just in case something horrible happens and you miss the deadline. Then you can add polish to your song and send in a better version closer to the deadline. The last version received prior to the deadline is your official entry.
Lyrics are mandatory. No instrumentals. Having no lyrics will get you disqualified.

SUBMITTING BY EMAIL: Send your file in a format that BandCamp accepts. (.wav or .flac) (at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) Do not send MP3s.
Name your file the song's title + your band name, without punctuation.
The subject line of the e-mail should identify the challenge and your band's name. Something like this would be fine: "ST23R2 - All the Robots".
Include the song lyrics in the body of the e-mail.

Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collaborated with someone.

ALTERNATE FILE SHARING OPTIONS: If your file is too big for an email attachment, you may email me a link to where I can download the song. The email still needs to land in my inbox by the deadline.
If you have a Bandcamp account you can just send me a link to your song if you include all the info I mentioned for emails. Info such as lyrics and song credits can be included in the email or on the song's Bandcamp page. Make sure you have it set as a free download, and have it set so that I don't have to put in an e-mail to download it if you pick this option.
You may also use a file sharing service such as DropBox, WeTransfer, Google Drive, etc. Include in the email any required information (such as lyrics) that you couldn't include in the file. Make sure I have permission to download the file, and please follow directions so your file doesn't wind up in my spam or trash folder accidentally.

SONG BIOS: In addition to lyrics and any necessary credits, you are welcome to include a "song bio", with any information you feel is useful. This could include your inspiration for the song, citations for any obscure references within the lyrics, an explanation of how your song met the challenge, etc. Some challenges may require you to supply certain info in your song bio. Since the judges are volunteers with lives outside of SpinTunes, song bios can help them zero in on aspects of the song you feel are important. However, if your song requires a multi-paragraph explanation in order to understand and appreciate it, this is probably a sign that it doesn't stand up well on its own, and its ranking may reflect that.

Side Notes:
You can send in an entry to SpinTunes 23 without competing. Just tell me it's a "Shadow Song". It will be played at the listening party, but won't be ranked and you might not receive feedback from the judges. Check the FAQ if you don't know what that means. You can even complete past challenges from previous contests. It's a nice way of playing along if you can't commit to the schedule or you just want to get your feet wet.

The only other way to get your music played at the listening party is to cover "Today's The Day" by Inverse T. Clown or "Right Again" by Mandibles.

[Siebass]

Well, it was going to be a slow week for work anyway, then I rolled and sprained my ankle on Tuesday bouldering making the week even slower. So with all that extra time, happy Friday, y'all. Here's some reviews from your friendly neighborhood Siebass.

For my usual caveats, I'm just some dude on the internet that owns a real or imagined talking dog. These are just my thoughts and opinions, so take everything I say with a few pounds of salt, or for those in Australia, a few kilos of Milo. I try to be kind in my reviews, but sometimes I fail, or don't properly express things in the best way. I want you to know that even if I failed, I INTENDED to be kind, and hopefully helpful.

And now, here are some of my terrible opinions:


1. The Pannacotta Army - Oxford Blue 02:59 – I think we talked about your standup-bass plugin but it sounds great. Tim in the first 20 minutes and Sober in the last 20 minutes are always better than I can ever do. Slinky, and nice snare tone; subtle vocal double in the main verse is nice. Head bop here, excellent leading on the bassline with the walk ups and downs. Mouth trumpet-like sounds make me laugh. Lyrically a classic tale of falling for someone that’s no good for the narrator. Nice rhyme of leave with joie de vivre. I’m laughing again at the scat the second time. It’s nice in stereo having two lines going. Relatable line on clickbait and subscribe, a nice run over the simple to pleasures I once knew. I know you were crunched for time, but I think all the examples work well too on the lyrics, stars don’t twinkle, spring gone from step, sun won’t shine, I think the triad set up of that works quite well. I hope you enjoyed your vacay and are back relaxed and ready for whatever you have next on tap.

2. ▷ - Jibber Jabber 03:46 – The lyric here sticks with me as very strong; this is kind of like what I was talking about writing a song that is very personal (this sounds personal to the narrator) but also really relatable to a wider audience (the feeling of alienation that I think everyone feels sometimes). Jibber jabber bit is also delightful in the contrast for the white noise of the unrelatable family talking. I think this is a very strong song.

3. My Broken Demo Tape - Die Happy (Content Warning: Suicide) 04:10 – Another really strong one, Joy, and I’m sorry it comes on the tail of what sounds like a really tough experience. If it were me, these songs would be so hard to write, but I would feel a lot better after getting it out; I hope the same is true for you. The music is upbeat, uplifting, and insistent, and the core of hope that the narrator is not gonna let themselves die, getting out, and getting help to protect themselves from themselves. Juxtaposition of dying happy surrounded by friends and just getting through the weekend is great. The instrument choices and mix are great here too, especially the mandolin (or mandocello? I dunno what everyone has) is excellent, as is this whole song.

4. Profestriga - Commercial Thanatology 06:09 – Neat audio clip intro; spoken word over some interesting textures. The meter is strong in this one, and I think the flow is much better than your last entry. I do think it is excellent that you have something to say here as well. I think the strongest part of this piece is the monologue from the mortician themselves, while a lot of the rest is interesting backstory in service to that core. I wonder if this could have been boiled down and edited down more potentially to that really strong core, and had more impact with fewer words. To me it feels like the first and third parts go together, and the second really is where the rubber meets the road. I almost think this could have been a very powerful and focused song with only the best parts of the second portion, which I think capture the broader essence and issues the narrator has with the first and third parts. Just my thoughts from a random dude on the internet, anyways. I enjoyed the listen.

5. Spintown & Company - Herobrine (Sound Of Evil) 03:22 – Once again incredible music, production, and arrangement on a topic I know nothing about. I think Joe’s scat is my favorite part of this, he did a great job emulating the Minecraft damage sounds. Lyrically, this is a solid take, Travis. I think the repetition of the I can feel your eyes works, though on first listen I wanted another word to rhyme, on later listens I had no issue. The chorus is catchy and gets to the confusion of whether this mythical creature is friend or foe. I particularly like the finding random structures left to taunt. For Joe’s part he did great here on tones, structure, buildup, and everything. Strong song.

6. The Moon Bureau - Runcible Spoon 02:08 – To my ear, something sounds off in this mix, but I’m not able to tell what it is right away. Perhaps it’s over compressed? Maybe it’s just levels aren’t quite balanced? It’s a bit distracting to open the song. I like a lot of the choices of instruments; is that a runcible spoon on a washboard? I also enjoy nonsense and mashed all up together, as I have been known to do a cover medley or two. Got a fun happy nonsense vibe to it, and I think you nailed that with the lyrics, which flow quite well. Extra points for pulling many nonsense words from classic other media and stories too, that was quite fun.

7. West of Vine - (Made Me Say) Woh 02:12 – Hoping still that this was the Keanu “Whoa”, though I always imagine it from Point Break, but I will accept alternate “wohs”. Great turn of phrase with “you had nothing nice to say/ you said it all anyway”. The “You” in the song comes across as a huge bag of d*cks quite well, “you said when it’s time that I could never fly by your side.” “My pain won’t make yours any less”. Lots to love here, I think the clever turn of phrases and solid choices in instrumentation make it for me, particularly the arpeggiated chords on the guitar, the organ around the 1 minute mark, and the bend on the distorted guitar in the build. The dude abides.

8. cardamom seed - an exemplar study on how not to be a pop star 03:14 – Another great one here. Haunting background vocals with that falsetto and other vocal textures, and an interesting topic lyrically. Not sure if it’s a hitchhiker’s guide ref to hurling at the ground and missing for flight, but if it was, I enjoyed it. Nice breakdown at the end when everything is quiet at the end of the day, and the question of just fading away. Lovely song here.

9. Stacking Theory - Deep 02:42 – Speaking of people making songs that only they can make, this vocal slicing and automated panning is a great effect, whole note pads really help build up the oceanic vibe here, with the sliced vocal vibes lending themselves to bubbles popping in a really rich musical texture. I like how it keeps panning around like the moving waves. Horns on the sinking are a nice touch, and this just builds and recedes in lovely way. Glock/xylophone/bells add more nice textural layers for different sections. SO MANY LAYERS like a million layer vocal bean dip. Tempo change for the outro, and the breathing like the end of a night’s sleep. I love the structure and shape of this, building rising and falling like the waves of the ocean. I feel like I should listen submerged deep underwater to full effect. Loved this, great imagery in the lyrics, great work.

10. Siebass - I Taught My Dog to Speak 03:50 – This is me. My goals lately have been just to make the music I want to make, and have fun. I plan to be one of the people having the most fun in SpinTunes. So far it’s going great! I know I read the reviews for everyone else, but I'm not sure if other folks do. If you read this, DM me a star emoji (or just say star, even, since php BB can be weird), I'm simply curious who else goes through and reads everything. Last round’s stars were Glennny and Chumpy. Once again, I’m pleased with my song, and I hope you all like it, and truly hope it makes you smile, even just a little bit. I had a lot of fun making it.

11. With Joe - Know Better Next Time 02:46 – Man, polished, love the emotional vocal take, and possible multiple interpretations of the narrator, one the one hand tuning out the haters, and the other possible as a disillusioned narcissist insistent on their own coddled world view; the dichotomy adds a depth to this. Beautiful piano playing, layering of vocals, snaps, and emotive vocal take really elevate this for me, particularly the evocative gibberish that feels imparted with meaning and interesting melodic decisions. For constructives, I am not sure, this is really nice. Perhaps a bit more percussion past a kick drum and snaps might help to make the builds build up a little more? Perhaps worth considering, but I thought this was great. Engaging, great.

12. Celestial Drift - Anbesol 02:59 – One of my other ideas for this round was to do marble-mouthed singers lamenting their inability to enunciate their lyrics, was thinking Pearl Jam/STP; Hootie, and maybe Louie Armstrong. This hits the same gag in a way that I enjoy, the marble-mouthedness from too much medical numbing of the mouth. For the music, I think you nailed the butt-rock genre you were going for, and the vocals are intelligible and gritty, except for where they are supposed to be unintelligible. You’re probably giving me a run for my money on the fun quotient when you are shrieking balalablabalaja anbesol. I bet you had a lot of fun making this, and it Is fun to listen to. Great work.

13. Cavedwellers - Oaktown Races 03:44 – I enjoy the da da das balanced against the do doo doos in the right, and also when the bass drops toward the end of each verse. Nice driving drums to this too work well to keep things moving, I also enjoy the vocal melody going up and coming back down, it’s a nice shape and works well. The breakdown to just backing vocals and main vocals keeps working well throughout. Great line in here too, mistaking powerful for loud. For my one constructive here, it’d be that the lyrics didn’t quite cohere into a story or message, talking about the writing on the wall, pulling a fast one, selling someone a poison pill, and misleading. Plenty of REAL FAMOUS bands do just fine with lyrics that I can’t quite grok, so it’s certainly fine to do, just my pref when I can figure it out; anyway, just something to consider not necessarily anything I thought was wrong. A great toe tapper from the Cavedwellers.

14. Sober - Plastic Paddy 02:53 – Some fire picking which I’ve come to expect from Sober; I enjoyed the twist with 0.3 percent Irish. I had to look up what a Plastic Paddy was, as I hadn’t heard the term before. Excellent diddlies as well. For constructives here, all I got is that the song feels a bit front loaded; all the lyrics are done by 1:52, and then we have a minute long instrumental. It might have been nice to have some of that in between verse 3 and verse 4, to break things up a little, and still have the same length song. Just something to consider; this is a fun one.

15. Berkeley Social Scene - Not Doomed 03:09 – I feel doomed like off of the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack, like this reminds me of Metric or some such similar band. Great backing oohs and whistles. For constructives, the low pitch bum bums to my ear sound a little off, possibly on timing and possibly on tone/emotional delivery doesn’t quite fit to my ear, but that is fairly minor. This is a lovely emotional, head bob, downtempo emo rock ballad, and I do enjoy it. Chorus is great, not doomed, dancing in the dark. Very apt solo. I also enjoyed the line lost in reverie until everything is fine. Kind of feels like the denialism of the movie “Don’t look up”. Captures a mood and does it well.

16. See-Man-Ski - Cross These Silver Linings 03:11 – Got kind of a musical-y vibe here. Piano work is driving, progression is fun, I particularly like the more major key vibe to the chorus (is it the relative major of the key? It works). For constructives, I know you were trying to do something different with the vocal take, so all I’ll say is that, to me, the vocal affectation to my ear is a little grating and nasally compared to your normal singing voice. Only other minor is that the music and instrumentation get a bit cluttered possibly too busy to my ear when the harmonica comes in on the right around the 2:20 mark. You deliver a lot of lyrics in a short time well, nice to have the violin. You have an excellent sense of how to craft a catch melody and chorus, and I am rarely disappointed in being able to remember them; that’s a critical skill and you’ve got it. I wish you and the new band luck, and hope it all comes together for you guys!

17. The Alleviators - Break Through 04:27 – For me this bassline and hi hats have me hooked, as I said during the listening party. It’s refreshing; I can’t recall another track this or last round that was really bass-driven in the same way, except for maybe OutLyer, but the vibe of a real bass is very different vibe from that 808. I’m a sucker for a good bassline, and this one is great. Great vocals from Beka, right in a soulful vibe too, on that pop-R&B threshold. Great harmonies in this too, also the metaphor of being crushed up against the glass ceiling, also the need to give back what you get and being sick of it. The singer trying to break through and be accepted.

18. glennny - Who Am I? 04:00 – Oooh, an answer song to DNSG, great choices in the choral elements mixed up with the robotic talkbox builds a really great groove; feels very epically created, but possibly epically created in the lab. Building up to the emphatic WHO AM I? Really great. I died on the I am possibly, maybe, probably Glennny call back line. Unexpected answer we all didn’t deserve, but the answer we all needed. Lovely slide solo; I enjoyed this a lot. No notes.

19. Also In Blue - Tenebrae 02:31 – Lovely idea, if deeply sad, and really powerful imagery with the cradle in the room, dark night, just waiting, waiting, for great or terrible news. You captured that emotion and moment really well, there are no moments that can feel longer. Light touch, lovely instrumentation and vocal. For constructives, I have two that are surely minor; firstly I think the song might, MIGHT be improved with a bit more fuller instrumentation that just the (mandolin?) on the part with the layered vocals after the lyrics finish, and I’d say the same thing as I did for Sober, that this feels a bit unbalanced in that all the words are done by the 1:20 minute mark, and then there’s a full and long solo afterward; and I wonder how it would have felt, if as impactful or not, if some portion of this was visited in between the 2nd and third verses to break things up. Lovely, lovely song, great work again. I like the ambient crickets at the end as well. Great work.

20. Governing Dynamics - Stay Dreaming (Plaguesong) 05:18 – Lovely layered vocal harmonies to open this, nice choice on the reverb, great riff too to open with the strum washes and the organs supporting this riff. Instant downtempo sad groove established. Some nice lines for cautious or crying wolf, and if you can see the bottom, you can bet it’s not too deep; and also the just stay dreaming if you can still sleep. Truly a lovely one, Travis. I appreciate the extra context in the liner notes, but this is still great even without the notes.

21. Boffo Yux Dudes - One Fine Evening at the Jazz Club 02:37 Great Shaggy, Scooby, and Zimmerman impressions here. This track feels like I ate too many scooby snacks myself, like a scene ripped out of a brief moment of clarity in the middle of an acid trip. I also like the anthropomorphic mystery machine at the end. For constructives, I only have two; first is related to the vocal; to my ear, it sounds like there’s a lot of room reflection getting picked up by the microphone, like the speaker is really close to the wall, to the point that it’s a little distracting. Dunno what the setup is, but if possible, getting towards the center of the room to record, and angling off-center so that the singer is not speaking or singing directly at the wall and sending the reflections at an off angle might take care of that. Second one was minor, but it was that I didn’t particularly care for the joke about Daphne and Velma; that could just be my personal preference, it may not bug anyone else. My fav parts were the scolding from the mystery machine with the pitch shifter (Reminded me of Aqua Teen Hunger Force), the harmonica playing, and the Dylan impression; solid sketch all around.

22. Definitely Not Secretly Glennny - Scatterbrain 03:39 – What a wild one here. Nod and a wink to DNSG here for not trying to follow up on last week’s entry. Some wild and ever increasingly wild slide guitar set against the beach at Ipanema doot doot doots. I am getting Black Keys vibes, which I dig. I particularly enjoyed the line about can’t slow down a fast romance, and the mirroring from the “I” and the “You” in the song in the 2nd compared to 4th verse . It does tickle my love of absurdist humor each time the pleasant scat comes in after the dirty rock guitars. I am left feeling a bit confused and whiplashed, but perhaps that was the whole point?

23. Flintsteel - The Shape Of Things To Come 04:34 Impeccably crafted, shredded, drummed. The narrator seemed to have survived some horrible auto wreck, then spirited away to some higher or alien world. Shape of what’s to come fits quite well in the gaps between the new lyrics, narrator wondering and searching for why they’ve been saved. Some nice ooohs and aahs as well, and the big build to the ending. For constructives, perhaps the ooh and aah section starting at 2:52 could be cut in half, it’s about four repeats of the same section, with really only the fourth one feeling a bit different with the lead guitar coming in; I bet that section could be just the 1st and 4th repeat and possibly be better for it. Just a thought. Well-polished, well-crafted song.

24. Falcon Artist - Botany Bay [SHADOW] 02:29 – Gotta mention the tuning again. Nice work on the gibberish, particularly I enjoyed the fa la la la lay descending melody. I also appreciated that this was a story song. For constructives, in my humble opinion, I think you are telling instead of showing here; personally I think if you painted more pictures your songs would be better for it. Like you specifically said there were 60 prisoners, I liked that. Then later, for example, instead of some were old, how about “With beards below their knees”, for some were young, “Boys with no stubble on their face”, things like that. Just my thoughts anyhow. A nice light one for a trip to botany bay, but not an easy trip for those 60 prisoners.

25. Joshua Enb. Drake - Unspeakable Things [SHADOW] 00:36 – Fun little sketch here. I was hoping that we got to the line “Unspeakable doesn’t mean you literally can’t speak it!” before Satan took over, but it was a fun little sketch I enjoyed.

26. Definitely Not Secretly (Definitely Not Secretly Glennny) - ThunderRiff Mountain and the Gee-tar Slide [SHADOW] 05:03 – I heard a rumor that there were some creative differences on the direction for DNSG on the second round, so this band that is Definitely Not Secretly (Definitely Not Secretly Glennny) was formed to pursue other ideas. This is one of the few songs of the round that my wife has asked me to play repeatedly from any SpinTunes; I think it’s related to her love of musicals and musical theater, as this sketch-and-song feels like something ripped out of an insane absurdist musical where the only way to save Glennny is by composing and performing a slide guitar line dance song. This one cracks me up each time I listen, but leaves me in anticipation. If you listen very closely, you will hear the slide guitar also follows the dance instructions, and shakes to the left, shuffles to the right, shimmies, and slides side to side, which was a nice touch. The thunder fx and the gritty “We’re on our way, Glennny” get me almost every time.

[Spintown]

5. Spintown & Company - Herobrine (Sound Of Evil) 03:22 – Once again incredible music, production, and arrangement on a topic I know nothing about. I think Joe’s scat is my favorite part of this, he did a great job emulating the Minecraft damage sounds. Lyrically, this is a solid take, Travis. I think the repetition of the I can feel your eyes works, though on first listen I wanted another word to rhyme, on later listens I had no issue. The chorus is catchy and gets to the confusion of whether this mythical creature is friend or foe. I particularly like the finding random structures left to taunt. For Joe’s part he did great here on tones, structure, buildup, and everything. Strong song.

Thanks for the review. I actually didn't hate my lyrics this time, so I'm glad at least 1 person thought they were ok. I was hoping to get across a feeling of unease like you're always being watched by this unknown person who may or may not be evil & looking to harm you. While throwing in a lot of references from the first couple Herobrine "sightings".

For the scat part, Joe really threw me for a loop. I told him I wanted the song dark song, probably hard rock. Lyrically I didn't actually write anything down for the scat, but gave him the scat from Korn's "Freak On A Leash" as an example for what I was thinking for the bridge. I was planning to have Herobrine do the scat for the music video, and have it sound really evil (hence the subtitle "Sound Of Evil"). I didn't go into that much detail with Joe, so he did his own thing. I ended up liking it, and just keeping it. I probably should have removed the sub title afterwards though.

Also, read some of the other reviews. Instead of a DM, here's your star *.

[Chumpy]

The Jerks are back with our good pal Brian, with some ill-advised hot-takes on all the songs and shadows!

Here's the deal:

• Download or point your browser directly at the mp3
• Point your podcast software at the feed
• View the podcast on iTunes

INDEX

• 00:00:00 - Theme Song
• 00:00:43 - Initial Yammering
• 00:08:39 - The Pannacotta Army
• 00:12:01 - Distance
• 00:15:22 - My Broken Demo Tape
• 00:19:22 - Profestriga
• 00:23:52 - SpinTown and Company
• 00:28:55 - The Moon Bureau
• 00:32:08 - West of Vine
• 00:35:16 - Cardamon Seed
• 00:37:54 - Stacking Theory
• 00:40:54 - Siebass
• 00:43:46 - With Joe
• 00:47:45 - Celestial Drift
• 00:51:17 - Cavedwellers
• 00:55:16 - Sober
• 00:58:18 - Berkeley Social Scene
• 01:00:59 - See-Man-Ski
• 01:04:42 - Alleviators
• 01:08:35 - glennny
• 01:12:13 - Also in Blue
• 01:16:16 - Governing Dynamics
• 01:20:42 - Boffo Yux Dudes
• 01:23:24 - Definitely NOT Secretly Glennny
• 01:26:35 - Flintsteel
• 01:30:11 - Falcon Artist
• 01:31:28 - Joshua Enb. Drake
• 01:32:49 - Definitely Not Secretly (Definitely Not Secretly Glennny)
• 01:37:25 - End-of-podcast blathering

[Spintown]

Thanks for the reviews guys, but how am I supposed to pick which is my favorite jerk if you both give me the same ranking? ;p

[Siebass]

It's definitely Matchy.

[BoffoYux]

Once again, thank you for the time-consuming task of reviewing and ranking all these songs in a short turn around. Yeoman's work, and you guys get kudos all around.

Background on the BYD entry.

I sent an email to Allan early Sunday, figuring we were a shadow with very slim shot we were back in officially. I sent a few ideas to flesh out, including this 'odd jazz club thing with the Scooby doo gang that I can't get out of my head' and left it with - if we're a shadow, we need to make this happen.

It was touch and go if we'd have any time to put something in, but both of us hadn't done a skit-based bit in a while and figured people might get a laugh out of it. At least they'd be scratching their heads and going 'what was that thing?' 'Why is Scooby advocating eating human flesh?'

I will say, don't knock the difficulty of ironing an ascot. I'm guessing you never even knew Fred was wearing one, let alone the time involved in pleating one if you go extra fancy. Here's some tips for how to tie and wear one if you are deficient in such standards. Fred is nothing if not helpful on such occasions.


https://youtu.be/Ffi3dkQBlqk

While skits generally don't have the repeatability for playback as songs are, I'm glad we added a little mirth and strangeness to the proceedings. Considering how long you 3 tried to parse that skit's universe, I think we succeeded here.