Nur Ein XX Round Three "Once More With Feeling"

[Niveous]

The Nur Ein continues with Round Three, the infamous guest round.

Title: Once More With Feeling

Challenge: Call and Response with a guest vocalist that you've never collaborated with before

Create a new original song from the prompt by June 08 at 11:59 PM Eastern.

Email your song to nurein.sidefight@gmail.com

[WreckdoMelle]

Obvs question, do you mean a guest I personally never collabed with? Or my particular project? Brown Word has used a guest vocalist twice (once was periodic cicadas) while WreckdoM has collabed vocally with just about everyone we know IRL.

[Lunkhead]

Boy, these challenges are tough to spell out without any ambiguity, especially in a short sentence. Speaking only for myself, I'm fine with anything that at least meets the letter of the challenge as stated, and it would be greatly helpful if I could read an explanation of how folks decided to meet the challenge.

[glennny]

So as I read the challenge , the call and response is in the vocal line with the 2 vocalists. It's not the typical jazz call and response between bass and guitar for example. Or is it Call and Response in any form, and as well have a guest vocalist?

like in my Spin Tunes Call & Response challenge song:

https://soundcloud.com/glenartrock/glen ... al_sharing

"you've" is that me Bob Dylan or me Robert Zimmerman?

So I'm a part of BSS, Faster Jackalope, TGFTF all of which have collaborated with Melvin, but Melvin has never collaborated with the Cavedwellers.
I'm going to play it safe and not have Melvin collaborate with the Cavedwellers, but if i knew it was well within the ask of the challenge, I'd want to do that.

[roymond]

c.layne had a bird outside his window that appeared in many entries. Some people talk with their dog. I think there are many opportunities “outside the box”.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

So as I read the challenge , the call and response is in the vocal line with the 2 vocalists. It's not the typical jazz call and response between bass and guitar for example. Or is it Call and Response in any form, and as well have a guest vocalist?

You read the challenge. You implement the challenge. The judges criticize you harshly no matter what you do. The only real option is to make a good song with an honest attempt at the challenge.

[Mysteria]

For what it’s worth, I will consider the challenge met if the guest has never appeared previously with the submitting act. Of course I am just one judge on the panel, and my view does not necessarily reflect the views of the others.

[BoffoYux]

Listening Party for 'Once More With Feeling' - I'll be starting at 8pm EDT (yay no meeting!)

Monday 6/9 Round 3 - 8:00 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsKWe6GdD_8

[Caravan Ray]

I'm in. And to give my song some context -

Frankie Moodle vs Brush Tail Possum

Screenshot 2025-06-08 at 8.50.23 pm.png (199.14 KiB) Viewed 1076 times

Frankie and I have never collaborated before. Unless stepping in his shit when he is too lazy to go outside is considered collaboration. And we have of course possibly collaborated on possum management. He barks like a fucking idiot and I ignore him. And build a possum house in the back yard. Why is life so difficult? BTW - the possum is still in our ceiling. Arsehole.

[WreckdoMelle]

And here I thought Texas possums were cute, y'all's possums are simply adorbs. At a distance, I'm sure!

[Niveous]

The songs are up!

[roymond]

Charles Ives wrote “The Unanswered Question” in 1908. Although the responses to the question ("The Perennial Question of Existence") break down in frustration, he met the current Nur Ein challenge brilliantly. The woodwinds respond to the question a number of times.

Some submissions don’t seem to have a “call” and a “response”. It’s more than a guest vocalist.

[WreckdoMelle]

Doh, I'm gonna miss the listening party - to be fair I almost always miss it because I forget to set a reminder but tonight I have a late-running meeting and won't be home in time. I feel we have a bunch of strong contenders and the call and response-iveness did vary so I'll be interested to see other takes on this guest round. I admit, guest round is tough for me because I don't collab on BWATBW, and since WdM died last round and I have some other creative outlets with materials coming due, we didn't do a shadow on that one which was relief, we might have had to invite a strange dog, or sample the neighborhood wild boar since everyone we know personally (including my mother) has been on a WreckdoM tune.

[roymond]

Props to the cover artist this week. Sweet!

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Props to the cover artist this week. Sweet!

Thanks!

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Sorry for the late reviews. (And don’t expect any from me next week due to prior commitments but I will try.) These notes are cobbled together and edited down from scraps of paper in the studio, in the truck and at work.

A word on the challenge. I think a response is an answer rather than repetition. That being said, I don’t think anyone deserved to be dinged too much but doing the challenge well should earn a bonus point.

Berkeley Social Scene - The open verse vocal sounds just a hair tentative (but not bad.) The second verse has a nice attitude to them and they sound good in the chorus. The guitars rock (and sound good.) Dropping them out in the verse is cool and lets the bass shine. Nice use of the sample and the guitar solo after it is humorous but fits so well as a result. The gang vocal answers work well for me, too.


Brown Word and the Big Whine - I like the dirty bass and the low horn sound. The production isn’t bad (especially on my 7506’s) That kick in is cool and I love the not exactly matching guitars in the semi-dissonant outro. I think this song is getting lost in the shuffle a little. It’s not bad but it’s not standing out.


Carlo Bruno Jr. - Musically, this is great. The doubled vocals are tasty. I would love to hear more of that from you in general. The slow phrasing in some of the lines should work better for me than they do and I’m not sure if that’s me or you. The production seems stellar, the arrangement perfect. The conversation definitely checks the challenge box. Simply put, I really, really liked this one.


Cavedwellers - This one felt good right from the start, on first listen. The production is very good, I like the doubled vox. The bass is good. The bridge worked for me but I would have loved to have some more attitude in that vocal delivery.


Eric Novak - I think the simple arrangement works very well for this song and there are some dynamic changes in here but I feel I’d like something more at some point. I do think that any out of key notes will be exacerbated by this type of arrangement. But I did like this song.


The Friends -I rather like the sparse intro/first part. It makes the impact of the full arrangement hit all the harder. And the brief outro makes a nice bookend. The acoustic sounds good and I love the layered vox. The call and response is nicely done. The almost tentative vocals sound vulnerable and appropriate to the story. Just when I was wanting something to change it kicks in. The bass sounds good, too. Did I mention I like the arrangement?


Glennny - The vocals seem maybe a bit more muddy than usual. Maybe a touch on the whole mix, although I can hear most of the parts well enough. (It sounds fine/good on the 7506’s, though so..) The almost stilted rhythm is interesting. Most of the song is question and answer so the angle for the challenge is a nicely creative hit. The call and response in the banjo and guitar was tasty and a highlight. There is a lot to like in this song but it’s not hitting me quite as well as I want it to. I think the light-hearted melody is good but maybe is not holding up quite as well on repeated listen as some others.


Grumpy Mike - I’m loving the intro. That almost plaintive vocal take might not work for me in some settings but it hits me pretty well here. Not sure if the chorus is really a call and response in the technical sense but it’s cute and interesting. This is a cute song and I like it. I absolutely love your guest vocalist and how you put this together. This one might be wearing a tad thin on repeated listens.

Jellyfish d'Amour (and the Banjotron 5000) - The bass and guitars and drums all sound good when I listen for the individually. Usually the upfront guitars are a turn on for me, but here they seem a bit out of place. Level or effects? Not 100% sure. The dog barking sections and that extended outro seem a little better than the others. The outro section with alternating lines hits the challenge for me. PUtting words in the lyric page for the dog is cute but a little disingenuous as far as the challenge goes. Still, it’s a fun idea.


Ken Mahru - The synth/flute is a good implementation of a call and response and reinforces the challenge for me. The different processing on the vocals seems a little.. Incongruous to me. It makes me feel almost like a guy duetting with Siri or something. I think getting a little closer vocal treatment (not necessarily the same) would go a long way in resolving the tension I feel when listening. I like the arrangement and I liked the call and response instrumental break. I thought you nailed the challenge: Vocal guest call and response. I think this is a lovely take that I hope doesn’t get lost in the stack.


Le Tits Now - I like the rhythm. I like the vocal tone/inflection. It/they sound layered/thick and is a nice touch. I like that it is definitely an answer/response challenge-wise and seems natural. I like the one more with a feeling line/hook. I feel this would be firmly in the 80’s movie soundtrack feels if it had more pads than active guitars and rhythm. I also think I like this arrangement better even if this makes me a little nostalgic for that 80’s feel.


Lucky Witch & the Righteous Ghost - I don’t know if the challenge of call and response was technically hit dead on the head but the outro section is my favorite part of the song. It works extremely well for me. Loving the vocals on both sides of ‘call and response.’ That being said, some pitchy notes in spots took me out of the song. I think the live music production almost always suffers from a lack of clarity and I don’t want to make too harsh of a criticism for something that actually sounds pretty decent. I like how the vocals cut through. I think the vocal treatments also cause a little disconnect between the verses and following sections. It feels like volume but I can tell the spatial effects are tasty and probably making it sound more “off” than it really is. And it’s not terrible, just noticeable. I’d be interested in hearing how this is recorded and mixed at some point.

Micah Sommersmith - I like the accordion as a texture instrument. That sounds like a backhanded compliment but it’s not meant to be. It just works extremely well for me here. Is that a hammered dulcimer? It sounds hammered and I like it. Call and response seems more like repetition here but it works for the song. This has a cool sing along vibe but doesn’t really stand out from the crowd. A nice enough song, though.


Sober - I love that pedal steel and think it’s the perfect touch here. This song hits my wheelhouse in a lot of ways. Challenge-wise, this seems more like a refrain of voices rather than a true call and response but it works very well for the song. I like the arrangement. I like both the melody and the lyric. And I like the dynamic contrast in the bridge. While firmly in the traditional/old timey camp it feels a little more modern than it could have.


Max Bombast - Cute idea. The step down riff reminds me slightly of “Don’t Bring Me Down” by ELO but that disappears rather quickly. (And almost completely after repeated listens.) I’m digging this.


Lean Mean Groove Machine - I liked this. Challenge wise, simply repeating a word with gang vocals (repetition) isn’t the greatest implementation of call and response. You’re not the only one that did similar things and I wouldn’t have dinged you for it but you also wouldn’t have gotten any bonus points. All that being said, this has a lovely, endearing quality to it that is hard to capture.

[Lunkhead]

I'm working on comments but probably won't have them posted till tomorrow.

[MicahSommer]

Micah Sommersmith - I like the accordion as a texture instrument. That sounds like a backhanded compliment but it’s not meant to be. It just works extremely well for me here. Is that a hammered dulcimer? It sounds hammered and I like it. Call and response seems more like repetition here but it works for the song. This has a cool sing along vibe but doesn’t really stand out from the crowd. A nice enough song, though.

Thanks for the review! I don't take the compliment as backhanded at all. Between my playing ability, the sound of the instrument itself, and my recording/mixing capabilities, I'm rarely satisfied with my accordion as a lead instrument. But this kind of rhythmic background playing - I think it sounds great and I'm pretty good at it. So thanks!

Yes, it is indeed a hammered dulcimer. I got it from a friend a while ago and have recently started learning it in earnest - I love it and I'm pretty excited about the possibilities of the dulcimer + accordion combination in particular.

[Lunkhead]

Here are my very late comments that lost steam halfway through. Oh well...

BSS
Good lyrics and music and performance and production. Great guest choice! I like the response gang vocals, which are something BSS can do better than most everybody else since you can actually get the band members in a room to shout together. Minor nitpick but I hear some autotune artifacts in the lead vocals sometimes. I don't think I get how the sample introducing the guitar solo is relevant. The solo doesn't quite match the high octane gas of the band, it could use some more oomph, like maybe more passages with faster playing. I look forward to seeing or playing this one live with Chumpy.

Brown Word
The first, slow section of this song is tough. It sounds like "the band" is on heavy sedatives or otherwise just not feeling it. It goes on a while and starts to drag for me. I guess the speak-singing is your thing but in this song it doesn't sound as confident as in other songs and the lyrics aren't strong enough to support things without melodies. I'd like this more if the fast part came in a lot earlier, maybe it could be sprinkled in throughout rather than being the latter half of the song. I like the "chorus" of the fast part.

Carlo
I dig the riff and groove of this one. The guest does well and it's a cute pairing. The ending is great. For me I wouldn't necessarily say that you're doing "call and response", it feels more like a conversation, maybe because of the structure and how the number of lines you're trading with each other is not the same every time. I wish the lyrics had a little more bite or spice to them, they are fine but a little bland. Your daughter could have made more funnier meaner comments about your music to really push the concept of the songs.

Cavedwellers
Very solid lyrics and music, although I feel like the Eminem name check and reference take me out of things a bit. The band is rocking and Lee sounds great. Good one!

Eric Novak
Nice lyrics and I enjoyed the overall instrumentation and pretty sound of this. Nice guitar playing. Good progress on improving your vocal pitch in this song. I think though the note at the end of the 1st and 3rd lines of the "The atmosphere is..." and "The sky beings..." stanzas ("verses"?) should probably be a half step higher.

The Friends
This one is giving me a bit of Elliott Smith vibes. I enjoyed the lyrics and the simple instrumentation in the first part. The group vocals sound really nice. I love when the song bursts into the full band second part. That really shot this up higher in my rankings. The drums really propel that whole section. The final call/response section reminds me a bit of The Rentals.

Glennny
The sketch is ok, some parts are cute and funny. Solid music, performance, and production.

Grumpy Mike
Nitpicking but this would feel more like call and response to me if one singer called with the "awoooooo" and the other singer responded with the "I love you". That wouldn't necessarily make sense in this case with the lyrics and the narrator I guess but I'm just using that as an example of more like what I personally consider to be "call and response". Anyway. Good work by your guest, cute song, nicely done.

Caravan Ray
Nice guest choice and I chuckled at the translation of the barks in the lyrics post. Solid song. I would have liked to hear Frankie to come back more in the final section of the song.

Ken
Another cute one. It sounds like you probably put a lot of polish on your guest's vocals in post but that withstanding they did a good job and it's cool they played flute too. That instrumental back and forth section is really nice. Solid tune.

Le Tits Now
This one's really solid too. The energy keeps it driving along and I enjoy the different voices and the way they're arranged and the whole flow of the song in general. Good stuff.

LWRG
I enjoy some of the punk energy of this and it reminds me of the B-52s in a way that I like. I didn't connect with your lyrics that much for whatever reason this time and sometimes the vocals took me out of it. Sometimes the way they would get way more emotive they'd just sound a bit out of control and off to me.

Micah
Like others I enjoyed the hammered dulcimer. Good use of group vocals for your responses. I like the conceit of the lyrics but something about the first bit about when the narrator was 5 felt a little less solid than the later verses. I bet this one will be fun to play live and get the crowd shouting "Once more with feeling"!

Sober
Great response group vocals. I guess I'm a sucker for that. Well composed and performed and produced. Nice to hear some pedal steel! But for me while I felt like the lyrics were well written they felt very much playing to a genre and it's one that I guess I have a little genre bias against. It didn't feel as heartelf/earnest to me as it probably was.

Max (immune)
Awesome guest choice! OK song.

LMGM (shadow)
I thought this was pretty good! For what it's worth I voted for you to be resurrected.