SpinTunes 25 Round 4 - 'Keep It Simple'

[▷Distance]

theres no thread for this. so i made it. here it is.

ARTIST / BAND - SONG TITLE

- topic

- topic
- extra stuff to the topic

- topic

NITPICKVILLE!!!
- nitpick

MENTIONED SONGS:
SONG NAME BY WHOEVER: a link goes here
SONG NAME BY WHOEVER: a link goes here



HUGE SHARK - WISH ONE FOR ME

- this song needs a sub-bass, atleast in the chorus. in the realm that i come from known as- weirdo electronic music and bass music theres the concept of a "Sub-bass", this term apparently means different things but to me its essentially a lowww sine wave played as a bass. this song feels like it could use one, the whole song feels very mid-range to high-range forward with little to no bass that i can hear.
- a comparison here that i made in. a few minutes:
- you could probably do other stuff to this bass as well, like dip the volume to the kick drums, or do some other things to it. of course you could do things like- actual bass, or some kind of analogue for real bass, but to my ears i think just a sine wave is good enough, you can get quite a lot done with just a sine wave as an instrument you should try it. perhaps you could even have it played quiet so that the bass is there but not in the front
- im actually also gonna use this set of paragraphs about sine-bass to mention a very important difference between more complex bass tones and the sine wave. sine waves are a single tone, which means they are missing any higher frequencies that might interfere with other instruments. this allows you to play almost any note with a sine-bass and it'll sound in tune. this isnt exactly important to the song but i think its useful information.

- this song has such a distinct vibe that i love to death, that chorus is uplifting but also super impactful in this emotional way i cant describe. all the high pitched details are lovely, i love the effect (?) you have on them. the rhythm of the chords is infectious and your vocal harmonies are incredible to listen to. A+ for the instruments at play, they work well together.
- the kick in the verses are very dirty, some people might consider this a problem but i personally love it. its a +1 weird point for me. i especially love the contrast between the verses and the choruses. i think it all very well serves the concept of the song.

- i find the meaning of the song a bit vague. i just think its missing some kind of "squishing my light", you know? musically im getting that idea of sparks being suppressed, but the words arent saying this. from my perspective hearing this song im hearing a lot of "everything is fine and bright", and not a lot of... "your darkness is crushing my matchsticks and i cant light them when you're around", just a little something like that to help get that idea of "luminousness being supressed by the people you're around" across. i do think vague songs have a place, and i do love me a vague song, and i do love this song partially because of its vagueness actually- its just that the idea you described in the song bio isnt the thing that im getting from the song when i listen to it.

- the bridge is a bit weird, not because of the bridge itself but because i feel like its missing something. a solo section could do wonders, a sax solo maybe! plus the transition from the bridge to the last chorus is a bit jarring, it just kinda goes from the bridge to the chorus with nothing to bridge(haha) them together. this could probably be resolved with- well, a solo section, the melody of the theoretical solo section could be the bridge to the chorus, and perhaps that sax could also merge with that last chorus and join in to the very end.

NITPICKVILLE!!!
- "i believe in love fire for ever" is a bit awkwardly sung, "fire" sounds like "at".


THIS BIG OLD ENDLESS SKY - FALLING DOWN

- hey! tboes.

- this song is a journey, and i love every part of it. whatever the "chorus" is is a euphoric ride and its genuinely so awesome to listen to. your vocal harmony is very well put together, and i love the fact that your backing vocals sound very far away, like your yelling out to this big old endless australian sky. like you're in a desert, basically. i love how all your voices overlap as well, falling fallingfalling falling, its so euphoric. i love this quality of the song.

- the songs message is simple, and its simply put, and its simply understood. i dont really have much to say about it, but this isnt a bad thing.

- this song gets a bonus point for not having much to criticize, its just a really really well made song, there are some nitpicks in nitpickville but they arent that much of a problem. i could relisten to this song over n over again and i probably wont get tired of it.

- i also love how each chorus is longer than the last, the first chorus is literally like- ONE measure long, which is insane, i think that might be one of the shortest choruses i've ever heard, it rivals my 8 second chorus on my tune Ripples. the second chorus is two measure, the third and last is four measures. i like this kind of structure because it makes each sequential chorus feel more euphoric and rewarded. the backing vocals coming in the last chorus also help with this.

NITPICKVILLE!!!
- in the last part of the song you pronounce it broKEN, the stress is in the wrong place. this isnt a problem, if anything i actually can find an argument where it makes sense to pronounce it this way, the word is literally broken.

- the ending is a bit weird to me, i feel like you could have just ended at "hand in hand!!". basically what i think is happening is that you've implied a fourth chorus that doesnt exist. this might just be a me issue.

MENTIONED SONGS:
Ripples, off my album M I C R O T O N E S: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1051331


HOT PINK HALO - MOVE THROUGH THE WORLD IN WAVES

- i absolutely adore how this song starts, that background noise mentally puts in the right headspace to process the rest of the song and i appreciate this. that piano part at the beginning is also cool- although admittedly i can only imagine playing Peggle Nights, because that game has that song in it.
- cant lie though i did kinda think you were gonna play Move Mountains when the piano started playing that low A.

- this song is really slow. this actually isnt a problem to me! but i will point out some things that i think could have helped make the song *FEEL* less slow.
- for one i think the chorus' can be halved, atleast the first two. you could split one half of the "send your voice through the (what)" for one chorus, and send the other half to the second chorus. you might have to cut a few lines but i think it'd be worth it, cutting the first two choruses in half not only speeds up the song without much hassle, it also makes the last chorus feel really rewarding, it'd become a final euphoric ride- basically. a great example of a song that does this is... uh, Falling Down by TBOES. i bring this up in that review actually. :3
- theres a lot of empty space, i think there are a few cases where you could have a quiet flute or something responding to your vocal melody, panned to one side or the other. empty space is great, but it can often lead me just kinda... waiting for the next chord to roll around. a little call and response can go a long way.
- you can also just add a quiet element of the song that is faster than everything else, like maybe a plunky synth, or a fast chord stab, again played quietly. this gives the song a feeling of being slow but the quiet fast elements make it flow a little faster. another example of a fast element that could have been slotted in is actually morse code, which i know can be vaguely war related, so maybe some morse code saying some secret sentence could have been warranted.
- polyrhythms could have also been used, even just a 2:3 polyrhythm in some instrument can be really helpful in pushing a song forward without actually speeding it up. plus polyrhythms just sound cool.

- the harmony of the chorus is really well done, all the vocals are locked in and are super consonant, even when you're singing two different lines on top of each other at different times. this is ridiculously impressive to me. theres one single moment in the bridge where your vocals clash, but this isnt a problem to me. your voice surrounds me like its giving me a hug and i wish i could hug it back. theres also just the fact that your vocals are so clear despite overlapping in that cool way, i dont need to look at any lyrics to understand you.

- the way you end the song with the beginning piano reversed is interesting, i like it a lot actually. i have a feeling it has something to do with the book i havent read, but from a pure musical standpoint i think its really nice to have the song end this way.

NITPICKVILLE!
- the bridge is kinda jarring on first listens.

MENTIONED SONGS:
Falling Down by This Big Old Endless Sky: https://spintunes.bandcamp.com/track/falling-down-4


DAVID TARO - HUG YOUR CHILDREN

- your falsetto is out of tune, atleast in the beginning, dont think thats the case in the later parts of the song. some people might argue this is a bad thing, and in this case i will probably rank you lower because of it, but i wont lie i actually kinda like the way it sounds. my autism is going to now actively encourage you to sing out of tune.

- the "bridge" confuses me. it feels incredibly out of place on first listen. on repeat listens it works though, which means that this is not a problem. however there is still a problem i have with it:
- i think the sudden shift at when you sing "sending you to school felt pretty cool" is too jarring coming out from the solo, in my opinion the sudden shift should occur when you start counting "one two three four!". if i was writing this song- i cant, but if i WAS writing this song i'd have the start of the first half of the bridge sound closer to the part just before, and slowly get faster and more intense as it goes on, and then drop out for the count to 4. at THAT point is when i think the song should shift gears.
- i also think the transition out of this "bridge" and into the last chorus could have been smoother. im not saying include a minute of droning ambience although that would sound pretty cool- but maybe an extra second or so to pick up the song you just threw on the ground with that chromatic movement would be nice to have.

- the songs message is pretty clear, and its a lovely message, the chords and instrumentation, and especially the timbre of your voice all work together to amplify that message. the bridge being a metaphorical gear shift of life is pretty cool, i love especially the timbre and tone change of your voice for said bridge. it all perfectly serves the tone of the song. i also appreciate the fact that your voice is super understandable, i can hear every word you say. very very very cool and good and amazing and all of the above!

NITPICKVILLE!!!
- i feel like a really. really. large amount of this song is panned to the left. this doesnt change much, but i would have prefered some kind of chord thing on the right as well. maybe an organ?

- theres a falsetto "ahaaah!" in the last leg of the bridge and its really awkward.


THE ALLEVIATORS - SHADOW TEETH

- this song makes me zone out. i really like it, though i will admit that the lyrics are kinda nothing to me, i cant tell if its just me or not but i have a lot of trouble really parsing them, maybe its just that they're vague, but i have a feeling theres a mental thing in my brain happening that isnt at the fault of you thats making me struggle with this.

- you two have amazing voices, and im so happy that you sing this the way you do, its clear and i can understand you, and the panning of your voices is very very well done. instrumentation is also really great. i love that fuzzy quality that i can hear if i pay attention, it feels physically warm, it unironically gives this song a feeling of being soft, i can almost touch that fuzz. it is a bit of an autistic sensory quality, but its something i deeply appreciate it anyway knowing this likely wasnt the intention. i love the vocals in the bridge too, that rising aaah is really cool to me for some reason.

- i also deeply love the fact that you went minimalist for the drums, i think i can hear a hi-hat in there, and thats basically it aside from that tommy G drum, tom drum, tom tom, whatever idunno what they're called. one of my favourite obscure songs that i've ever listened to is a song called Buzzard and Kestrel, by James Blake; it makes use of an insanely quiet organ in the middle section of the song that you actually have to strain your ears to hear. despite being almost non-existent it plays a huge role in the song because if it wasnt there you would notice it wasnt there. its a really cool detail about the song that got me thinking about how volume can be harnessed as an instrument by itself, and this song's hi-hat kinda reminds me of that. there might even be other drum sounds in this song that i've missed because of it and that thought is awesome to me.
- that quiet organ has also become one of my favourite tricks to incorperate in my own music- for example the organ in my cover of Frostbitten Hearts by Winterloper (spintunes 22 round 1) is played in all 3 drops, but is only properly audible in the final one.

MENTIONED SONGS:
Buzzard and Kestrel by James Blake: https://hessleaudio.bandcamp.com/track/ ... nd-kestrel
Frostbitten Hearts, originally by Winterloper, covered by ▷ (me): https://spintunes.bandcamp.com/track/fr ... interloper


RANKING

as a contestant i am obliged to rank each of the songs and cast my vote to the wind where it'll journey across the midwest and find its way into the waters of the river by chernobyl and be picked up by xray paper left by the rain.

the songs in this pool range from "incredibly good" to "very good", which is absurd and i cant believe i have to put up it, like come on ONE outlyer! sorry. ONE outlier! anyway, i decided to include this part to walk through my thought process in what made what go above what and why what went above what.


i'll start with what i placed at #1, because of how close every song in this round was it was frankly helpless to find a middle ground, so i built my ranks from the top, starting with
#1: Falling Down by This Big Old Endless Sky
i placed this one first because it was the song that basically has no problems, this song is exactly how it should be with some minor nitpicks that dont change much about how i feel. its deeply euphoric and i feel like im riding the waves listening to it. thats pretty cool.

now...
ranking the rest of the songs. the rest of the songs are basically all equal in terms of how much i like em which is impossible. so i sat through all the songs multiple times and collected up all the problems i had with them. Hug Your Children by David Taro was 2nd place for a while because it was so well put together, its also very meaningful, but eventually the problems i had with the song solidified instead of dissipating into nitpickville, so i dropped it to 3rd. the song that took its place was Move Through The World In Waves by Hot Pink Halo.

originally Move Through The World In Waves ranked a little low, however the more i listened to it the more i gained a huge appreciation for the vocal arrangement in the chorus and the general soundscape of the whole song, which eventually pushed my love for it up to 2nd place. this pushed Hug Your Children to 3rd place.

Shadow Teeth by The Alleviators and Wish One For Me by Huge Shark are the two songs left over from this. if i could rank any two songs the exact same it would be these two because they are genuinely both good for their own reasons. however i think Wish One For Me is missing a very critical piece of its arrangement and thats the bass, which is going to be my excuse for why i ranked it lower. truthfully though, both of these songs are on the same level, i cant decide at all; Shadow Teeth is better because it feels more complete, but Wish One For Me got the awesome weird point of having that insane kick drum texture, Wish One For Me had that textural blipping in the higher frequencies that i love, but Shadow Teeth also has that fuzzy quality that makes me autistic. these two songs are both 4th to me.

if anything, i would even argue that Hug Your Children is on the same level as both Shadow Teeth and Wish One For Me, these 3 songs are so well put together its impossible to decide.

so the rankings are as follows;
1. Falling Down, by This Big Old Endless Sky
2. Move Through The World In Waves, by Hot Pink Halo
3. Hug Your Children, by David Taro
4. Shadow Teeth, by The Alleviators
5. Wish One For Me, by Huge Shark


BONUS SHADOW REVIEWS
for fun i've reviewed the shadow(s) i particularly liked.

SIEBASS - TOP 5

- i love this song for its absurdity, it reminds me of the default samples on my keyboard that go "yo, hey!" for some reason, they have the same cadence of "of to! of to!". i especially love the "the and be to of", the way it just falls is so satisfying.

- the harmony of the the final section is well done, if a bit loud. thats the only problem i have with this entire song.

- you think its possible to get meaning from an absurdist song like this? yeah sure fuck it, let me give it a try; i am going to interpret this as a child just being born. "theeeeeee" at the start is them coming into existence, the be be be be is just like- a fly that was in the room at the time for some reason. the "of to! of to!" sounds like its like, a classroom? i dont know why? but ima interpret it like that, of to of to is them in a classroom learning mathematics. when everything drops out to drop the bombshell of "the and be to of", the child has learned how to form sentences, those are all the major parts of the language it has learned. the end with all the harmonies is the kid becoming friends with a bunch of people and learning the glorious parts of life.
- i have just interpreted an absurdist work, the money should be on my desk by friday /j