Hey! It's Crispin Glover! (Pasty White Man Reviews)

[MintyHandy]

12:10am in a hotel room. Why am I not asleep yet? Because I'm dying to hear the songs for this fight. Let that pasty white flesh hang out! Whoooo!

Hey, it just kind of stopped. And...

...NCP.

It just kind of stopped = CMP.

j$

It's only a CMP if it starts back up again -- did I miss a pause earlier in the song? If so, shame on me. The "Hey, it just kind of stopped" comment was about the end of the song, though.

Phunt Your Friends ...no clearmountain pause.

...I must point out that there is a definite Clearmountain pause, right after the pasty white man says "You get the picture, don't you?"

Argh. Okay, this reinforces the idea that I missed it in J$'s, since I missed it in yours. Sorry about that.

[j$]

It just kind of stopped = CMP.

j$

It's only a CMP if it starts back up again -- did I miss a pause earlier in the song? If so, shame on me. The "Hey, it just kind of stopped" comment was about the end of the song, though.

I was joking. Well, the built-in joke was that the CMP was between the end of my song and the beginning of the next. Hey these challenges are optional, you know!

And imo there is no other way to stop an exercise in repitition than just to stop! It's not like there's a choice ...

[MintyHandy]

And honestly, I was just trying to get the vocal track to sound decent, then ran out of time. I really think that I'm just out of my league here, since this is only my second song ever (the first was last week's mess), and it turns out that I have a lot to learn about the recording, and songwriting.

All you need is a few hours, and to accept that you may not produce the "best" song each time. You say you need to learn a lot about recording and songwriting, and I say this is a great way to learn it; we're strangers, so the feedback you get is honest, and if you have a bad week (or eight) it doesn't matter.

I sincerely hope you stick with it. Mind you, if in a given week you feel like you're stuck to produce anything for the fight (be it for lack of time or writer's block, which I've had for a few weeks myself) don't force it -- but please don't let a feeling of being "out of (your) league" get in the way of your music. Based on your submission this week, you're NOT out of your league, not at all. I personally look for a song to entertain me, and yours absolutely did. I mean, come on, listen to my "Pig Sticker" entry -- it doesn't have to be good to be good, know what I mean?

And I still have J$'s "Man Speaking German" entry rattling around in my head, and nobody would call that high art... (hey J$, it showed up on my mp3 player this morning and improved my outlook on the day)

EDIT (to avoid another post):

Well, the built-in joke was that the CMP was between the end of my song and the beginning of the next.

I just laughed out loud in the middle of a very quiet group of clients. Well done.

[Niveous]

Niv's Review Paragraph

Fight on! Hostess Mostess is up firstess. You don't ask for directions from a pasty white man? why not? Why am I trying to decipher HM lyrics. He's our Mars Volta. I'm digging this despite the lyrics, much like the aforementioned At the Drive In offshoot. Next, Fancy Boy & Ry Guy bring the rhymes. I wish I hadn't already given out the "Well at least you had fun recording it" award. Hell, here's another one. Nice line about stem cells, though. I wanna hear you two battle rap each other. Next up Jack Mary-Kate and Johnny Ashley. Straight up PiL. This collaboration has gotten better with each passing week. this is very well done. BCC is next and is experimenting with this annoying "Summertime Blues" sounding riff. The lyrics are bad and the song is all over the place. Next, please. RG & the Albatros are up and have brought Ghostbusters! Yes! Don't cross the streams! Runs a little long but good fun. Wait, what is this....Clearmountain f'n pause. OK now this too long. Phunt don't tell is next. This is very sparse. Needed a better speech to work on any level. oh, someone's bringing big acoustic guitars next. It's Your Momma's Muzak. Killed it as soon as he spoke. What is the deal with musical comedy? How many comedic bands do you know that are successful? Very few. Next, SFO. That was bad even by SFO standards. Just another piece to the mishmosh. Smalltown Dyke is next. I'm sorry, J$ was right. That's a much better name. I feel like someone needs to grab up your song and sample it into a new version of "Going Back to Cali". This is an okay tune. Not a keeper but a song I'd visit occasionally for listens when i wanna nod my head to the beat. Luco Brazzi w/ Brad Sucks is next and brings more rap. I must say in rap land, Luco has been far outshined by Fancy & Sponge this week. This is pretty weak. Must immerse myself in Gangstarr to purge out the bad rap. Lastly More Phunt. The soundscaping is better but the speech is still boring. Vote time. It's a photo finish in this race. Hostess is definitely in third. But who wins? Twins or Screwheads? This will take some kind of run-off....maybe even a conclave. Twins take it. PS gets the silver.

[Mostess]

Love:

The Molsen Twins: Hello. This is great. Poetic and gripping. Drums make it lovely: what an airy sound, full of space.

SongFight Orchestra: You have indeed raised the stakes. And you may indeed crush us all. This is a solid gem. I'm eager to see how it fits in to the whole SFO project, and even more eager to see what the next
writer adds to it. A very intimate sound.

Luco Brazzi w/ Brad Sucks: I love this. All the heart and fun, lots of neat stuff going on, but not overly busy. Nice Brad solo. I'm a little bored by 3:00, but it's almost over anyway.

Appreciate:

Smalltown Mike: This is endearing. I like the vocal timbre contrasts.

Primitive Screwheads: He needed an homage of his own, and he got one. A little less tone-deaf than the "Who Ya Gonna Call" official one. Playing is pretty tight.

Phunt, Don't Tell/Phunt Your Friends: Nice use of silence and an interesting contrast of sounds. Listen to Byrne's "The Catherine Wheel" recordings for some ideas on how to make this rock. It starts to get off it's ass at the 1:00 mark of the "Your Friends" recording, but it kind of just sits back down again. I like how the take on the title is entirely implicit.

Do not appreciate:

Battle Cry Creek: Rhythmic dissonance is annoying. Vocals sound careless. This is flat and loveless, like you're making a very bad joke as dryly as possible. Doesn't let me in.

MC Fancy Boy/Sponge? and Ry Guy: I'm finding the meta-level stuff uninteresting. We all know you're recording a song and posting it to SongFight!, lost of us stay up late and do many takes. In general, adolescent and stupid; real funny is harder to do than this. Watch the clipping. Go listen to Half Japanese: they do ironic with heart.

Your Momma's Muzak: Your time can be better spent.

Self:

Hostess Mostess: Written in my head, practiced in my head, recorded in about 20 minutes while the baby napped. Surprisingly pleasant for me to listen to, but I wish I hadn't rushed so much after the bridge. Melody is almost non-existant. Of course a big hat-tip to Croce, but I think my main borrow was from The Eagles "Life in the Fast Lane". Anyone motivated to add drums or bass is more than welcome. I have some backing vocals ideas that I might add if I have some time later.

[Mostess]

But since I can only devote a few sparse hours a week to this (family man and all of that!), the results have been fairly pitiful.

So for awhile at least, I think I need to take a break but I want to sincerely thank everybody who took time to hear me out and give the criticism, that's a lot of work too.

Sincerely,
James

From one family man to another, I hear you. I have to do a lot more planning before I record these days: baby naps last only so long, and my wife takes the kids grocery shopping only once a week. I suppose it's more like recording in a professional studio: having to start recording at a specific time, and trying to keep the number of hours in front of a mic to a minimum. That feels like an art all by itself.

Don't let folks here (myself included) get you down. No one ever got better by quitting.

[Bolio]

Battle Cry Creek – Canned noises get very annoying. Must vary them or they get old fast. Melody decent, but lyrics sound forced & are uninteresting.

Hostess Mostess – I really like that guitar and I really like your singing and I really like your words [/inside joke] The progression with all the fun chords thrown in, great melody line with an exceptionally soulful performance… you have put on a clinic ‘The Right Way To Do B+G.’ Great production helps too.

Luco Brazzi feat Brad Sucks – Love the backround, excellent for the style. Save it & use it for something ELSE because it really is cool. Profanity is forced & predictable, as are all the typical gangsta references, except you forgot to mention a gun.. and I don’t think I heard the word ‘Ho.’ The high (alien) & low voices suck.

MC Fancy Boy & Ry Guy – After the great production of the last track, this is just crap. I don’t want to hear ‘well we recorded it live blah blah blah blah blah’ you chose to do it this way & really suck. Even recorded well in the studio, I’d still hate your over the top cockiness. Same comments about the last on predictability, except you got the ‘Ho’s in there. That improvised outro has brought Songfight Rap? to a new low IMO. We could all use another 'Def Author' tune right NOW.

Molsen Twins – Good Melody. Fun song, entertaining. Only gripe is no solo, no breaks, it’s a trio but comes off as featuring only ‘J$’.. , would like to hear the backround vox & guitar a little louder, some extensive drum breaks & yes.. now there are three sitting in the circle…

Phunt Don’t Tell – If you’re not even gonna disguise the fact you entered 2 songs

Phunt Your Friends – In the same fight then I’m not gonna bother

Primitive Screwheads – I like the style very much, dictated mostly by the guitar tone & rhythm, and it begs for backround vocals. Don’t know what else could fill in some of the empty space without ruining the style. Since you were the first to remind me of ‘clearmountain pause’ just now, you win those bonus points. The fill & bass line back into the song is a pleasant surprise.. very good listen overall. this song is a keeper.

Smalltown Mike – Sounds good but nothing to sink my teeth into… initially anyway. The vocal breaks are a welcome change. Is this Greg Kihn? The effects on the vocals make you sound just like him IMO. That’s a compliment btw. Your vocals make me look forward to hearing more of you. Work on the melodies.

Song Fight Orchestra – So lush, so engaging, so well produced, so effing short. I know it’s part of a master plan, but why even enter this? I look forward to hearing the finished product but I don’t need to be reminded of that fact with a :44 advertisement mixed in with my Songfight regimen.

Your Momma’s Muzak – Can’t finish this. You aren’t Adam Sandler. You aren’t even David Spade.

Tough call between Hostess Mostess & Molsen Twins but I’m voting for Primitive Screwheads because it’s the one I’m most likely to go back & listen to first.

[jack]

Molsen Twins – Good Melody. Fun song, entertaining. Only gripe is no solo, no breaks, it’s a trio but comes off as featuring only ‘J$’.. , would like to hear the backround vox & guitar a little louder, some extensive drum breaks & yes.. now there are three sitting in the circle…

i don't really understand the "featuring only j$" comment. it's true that johnny is the lead singer but beyond that, how do you see this as a solo j$ effort? that just sort of disses leaf's incredible REAL drums. i personally was amazed at how much this sounds like a real "band" song, as if it was recorded in a studio with a real band, instead of by 3 guys living halfway around the world from each other. that i think is the real strength in this tune, at least thats what i walk away from thinking.

[Leaf]

I took it as if Bolio's just hearing the tune as a showcase for Johnny... but frankly, I think that's the right way to hear it! The band supports the melody line and story, so that nothing detracts from the song. If anything, the review read like "I like it but I want more..." which I'm sure we can accomodate!!!

When Johnny wrote (and perhaps this was in a PM, I can't remember) "Leaf's lead drumming" I was both incredibly complimented AND worried... obviously, I LOVE DRUMMING , especially on SF collabs. In truth, unless it's a gig, I really only drum these days on SF collabs... (too busy pretending to be a guitar player!)... so I was worried that the drumming could take over the tune and take away from the story and all that.

Stewart Copeland once did this clinic somewhere in the states, many years ago, and said "I'm gonna play the most difficult thing I know". He then proceeded to play this simple 4/4 rock time... turned out he played the entire drum part to "every breath you take"... and that 's pretty straight forward. People were getting antsy listening, cause they didn't realize what he was trying to tell them. Some kid in the crowd accuses him of being a dick about it (though not in those words I bet!) and he says, "yeah, but the whole time I'm doing that, here's what I WANTED to do " and then proceeds to wank allover the drums (metephorically... not literally, get your mind out of the gutter).

I love that story... cause it's true. It's hard to not cram in every idea you got and stick to the story... but songs usually sound better when you do.

I really dig this collab. It was a lot of fun to work on, and it when I'm jamming away on tracks from guys overseas and accross borders... man.. and it feels like they are in the room... DAMN I LOVE THAT!!!!!

...uh... I 'll be reviewing later in the week.

[Conventional Wisdom]

Luco Brazzi feat Brad Sucks – Love the backround, excellent for the style. Save it & use it for something ELSE because it really is cool. Profanity is forced & predictable, as are all the typical gangsta references, except you forgot to mention a gun.. and I don’t think I heard the word ‘Ho.’ The high (alien) & low voices suck.

yo G, once my Ho gets back wit my gat, i'm a come lookin fo yo pasty white ass....

[Bolio]

disses

I dissed a few songs pretty bad this morning, but yours was not one of them. Enjoyed it, almost voted for it. Thought the mix made it sound like a J$ song, which is not an insult. Relax & read it again. Perhaps the reason reviews are so down is because people have to defend every word & that stinks. If you must respond to a review (a percieved negative one anyway), at least give it 24 hours to calm down & see if the true meaning of the review gets across. I'll try to be clearer the first time, but it really is a time issue. I could have spent THIS time reviewing another fight.






.... still wanna collab?? please??

[Mostess]

I love that story... cause it's true. It's hard to not cram in every idea you got and stick to the story... but songs usually sound better when you do.

That's a great story. Discipline is hard, and worth it.

For what it's worth, I thought the drums on that track gave it the atmosphere and space it needed. J$ sounds better for it (though he'd be damned fine without it, too). The sound keeps reminding me of The Sunday's "Blind" album (except you can understand what J$ is singing); the reverb is delicious---how is it made?

[jack]

disses

I dissed a few songs pretty bad this morning, but yours was not one of them. Enjoyed it, almost voted for it. Thought the mix made it sound like a J$ song, which is not an insult. Relax & read it again. Perhaps the reason reviews are so down is because people have to defend every word & that stinks. If you must respond to a review (a percieved negative one anyway), at least give it 24 hours to calm down & see if the true meaning of the review gets across. I'll try to be clearer the first time, but it really is a time issue. I could have spent THIS time reviewing another fight.

.... still wanna collab?? please??

yo J, i wasn't offended. just didn't understand the comment but leaf seemed to clear it up. i know you weren't dissing the song. i never said that. and the reason that reviews are likely down is probably due more to people being either lazy or busy and not to do with having to defend their opinion. although defending an opinion is not necessarily a bad thing, as it creates sometimes (the key word here) meaningful dialogue.

yeah. so what's up with the hams tease anyways?!?

[Mostess]

Hostess Mostess – I really like that guitar and I really like your singing and I really like your words

Thanks for your helpful insight. :)

[Mostess]

why not?

Because he doesn't get out much.

Why am I trying to decipher HM lyrics. He's our Mars Volta.

Never heard them before. I like what I'm finding. Thanks for the tip.

[Bolio]

defending an opinion is not necessarily a bad thing, as it creates sometimes (the key word here) meaningful dialogue.

Amen

[jack]

the reverb is delicious---how is it made?

for this track, leaf mixed his drums to a stereo track and may have added a bit of reverb to them, but i'm fairly sure he gated/compressed the track at least before giving it to johnny. the stuff i did (guitar, synth, backing vox) i added a touch of D-Verb. like i said earlier, i think johnny did an excellent job mixing this to make us all sound in the same room together, and his use of reverb is pretty dreamy, i agree.

[Leaf]

I run my kick flat through a mulitband compressor, get rid of the useless highs, and trim a tad off the bottom... on the toms, I use a vst compressor/gate combo and a similar reverb for each tom... probably used a small room setting that I then reduced the reverb level on... for the snare, I think I used the korg plugins for compression. an eq and verb. The overheads had a mulitiband compressor on them to bring out the highs and stuff. The whole thing in stereo had a limiter on it, and a korg plugin setting.. either "mastercd" or "laremix"... can't remember off the top of my head, and some other "tape simulator " plugin... then I sent it to Johnny as a 320 k mp3 file. If we 'd had a tad more time, I would have sent him each track to mix... the overheads are a bit too hot on it.. but I think Johnny then eq'ed the whole track some to get it to fit better, and I don't know if he added verb to the drum mix, or to the whole mix,or if he compressed it again (which would beef up the reverb no doubt)... I dunno.



Uhh.. reviews later.



BOLIO: YOU ARE A POrK-TEaSE.

[Egg]

Phunt Don’t Tell – If you’re not even gonna disguise the fact you entered 2 songs

Phunt Your Friends – In the same fight then I’m not gonna bother

It's not a double entry, but I guess that doesn't matter all that much.

On another note, I didn't know what was going on with the Song Fight Orchestra entry. Now that I've been clued in on the concept, I can understand why it didn't sound like a full song to me. Interesting ideas getting thrown around all the time...no wonder so many go over my head.

[RBHID]

Song Fight Orchestra : Nice, short, funny. Didn't care for the :metronome: sounds

Your Momma's Muzak : The acoustic guitar sounds like the strings are made of tin-foil. Singing is great (Adam Sandler esq.), which fits with the sloppy guitar.

Smalltown Mike : Not sure the drumbeat fits the song. Quite breakdowns are cool. Song really doesn't take me anyway...nor go anywhere itself. Vocals seem a bit burried...Might benefit from some good compression.

MC Fancy Boy and Ry Guy : Lo-fi white rap (hip hop? excuse my ignorance)...hmmm...I think Radioshack sell better microphones. Sounds like you had fun at least...which is what it is about anyway.

Hostess Mostess : Guitars have no attack...muffled direct line-in sound. I'm bored... Once again...compress vocals

Phunt Your Friends : sorry...wasn't listening...sounded interesting thou///funny?

The Molsen Twins : I was hoping you were gonna say "hello" thru the whole song. Cool Clash'esq singing.

Luco Brazzi : Kid Rock? Barf. Not sure I like the whole synth thing... and that "guitar" makes me cry.

Primitive Screwheads : Devo fan huh? Get a more convincing snare. A fade out into a pause isn't very dramatic.

Battle Cry Creek : Musically lame...off tempo. Too much repetition.

Phunt; Don't Tell : haha...alligator...wait...crocodile. Is that a rubberband!! I don't care what you are saying...but you get a vote, cause this doesn't suck.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Primitive Screwheads : ...A fade out into a pause isn't very dramatic.

True. That's why there ain't one in there. See also, "Optional Challenge".

oxox
rg

[j$]

reverb???

Hello hello

I'm pretty sure there is no reverb on the drum track apart from what was there before I received it. As much as I know Leaf squirms when I flatter him, the great drums turned out exactly how I imagined them. I did run a little mid-range EQ on the finished file, because the cymbal was a little dominant in the mix, but i was loathe to turn the drum track down. Jack's backing vocs, there's a tiny bit of reverb on them (like 5%) just to match my own standard setting of my own vox. His guitar there is none.

This is basically one of those songs that came together very easily, which I take as a good sign. I wrote the basic chords / lyric in two hours from the titles being posted. Jack came back to me with some great backing vocs and guitar work. Leaf came through with some first take drums - they both offered to do more stuff - but I didn't need it - what I had was great. Then jack sent me some synth stuff which I stuffed in gratefully. My vocal is second take. And it is one of my own personal favorite songfight songs of all time.

And yes, it is reminiscent of PIL. This is deliberate

[/mutual backslap]

j$