You cut me deep with your (Witty Retort reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

I’m litty baby, you know me I’m so witty baby, pop a xan cuz I've been feeling pretty shitty lately
But that’s okay tho, sometimes I’m loco, Yeah I’m a sinner these are horns not a halo

Lyrics go here: viewtopic.php?t=12913

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[Aciniform Artifice]

I guess y'all were too busy giving each other Covid at the live show to write any reviews for these songs?

Add: The blend of the guitar rhythm and rhythm rhythm is interesting. For the first few seconds the first time listening, I wasn't sure if they were actually fitting together correctly, but then it suddenly made sense, and continues to do so on repeated listens. I love how the joke here is that the joke completely doesn't live up to the hype, so stretching it out as long as you did before hitting the punchline makes it work way better than it would have if it had been stretched either less or more long.

DC Prox: It's difficult to pick out the words here (other than the spoken/chanted refrain), but having read the lyrics I still don't quite understand, so that doesn't really matter. I'm more fascinated by the relationship between the two alternating keys here. Essentially the song is just two chords -- although the two-note bassline from the introduction where the tonic drops down by a fifth continues through the "distorted power chord" section, so while those sections have the same chord throughout, the bass of it alternates between the root and the fourth. And when the key jumps up by one whole tone in the "verse vocals" section, based on a major chord that's rooted on what would have been the second of the original key, the major third of this chord is the same as the fourth of the opening chord -- and that shared note ties the two sections together in a way that's strangely satisfying. This analysis probably sounds crazy (and I've spent way longer than the song's 2-1/2 minute running length discussing it!); I wouldn't be surprised if none of this was intentional -- but rather just a case of "I'm going to play these notes and then those notes because I like how that sounds" -- but sometimes going against what music theory tells us "should" work can result in happy accidents.

Johnny Cashpoint: Haha, you said "ass." Drum sample sounds good, I like the way you've incorporated it. Not sure if the guitar lick in between lines was (consciously or otherwise) inspired by "In the Hall of the Mountain King" or the "Underdog" theme song -- and honestly, I don't think either of these would surprise me very much.

The Pannacotta Army: Funny how often thinking about a witty retort is done in hindsight. Nice job overall -- I typically don't dig on contemporary country but something like this that just barely has a toe in that arena, sort of to the same extent as, say, certain bits of the Toad the Wet Sprocket or Meat Puppets catalogs, I can appreciate.

timtambit: I like the early/mid 80s synth vibe, but (this is purely chalked up to personal preference and can be disregarded) I would've liked to see it embracing more of a darkwave sensibility... more reverb on everything, more synthy blips and bloops, more of a minimal approach to the piano part, and lots more vocal effect fuckery.

V4nnim3l: The opposite problem a lot of people have: the vocals (and harmonica) are VERY present and audible, almost to the detriment of any other parts of the song.

[Lunkhead]

The results are in and the fight has been won by ... The Pannacotta Army and timtambit!

[drproximo]

DC Prox: It's difficult to pick out the words here (other than the spoken/chanted refrain), but having read the lyrics I still don't quite understand, so that doesn't really matter. I'm more fascinated by the relationship between the two alternating keys here. Essentially the song is just two chords -- although the two-note bassline from the introduction where the tonic drops down by a fifth continues through the "distorted power chord" section, so while those sections have the same chord throughout, the bass of it alternates between the root and the fourth. And when the key jumps up by one whole tone in the "verse vocals" section, based on a major chord that's rooted on what would have been the second of the original key, the major third of this chord is the same as the fourth of the opening chord -- and that shared note ties the two sections together in a way that's strangely satisfying. This analysis probably sounds crazy (and I've spent way longer than the song's 2-1/2 minute running length discussing it!); I wouldn't be surprised if none of this was intentional -- but rather just a case of "I'm going to play these notes and then those notes because I like how that sounds" -- but sometimes going against what music theory tells us "should" work can result in happy accidents.

While your analysis is valid and interesting based on listening to the song after the fact, it doesn't reflect the composition or the process. I started out just working with various chords in C major, possibly the most mundane of keys. 6 beats of C and 2 beats of F (the i and the iv) became the "main" riff, and nothing but Dm (the ii) for the verses.

(sorry for the late response, I only discovered today that these review threads are active)