See you later alligator (I'm Going Away for a While reviews)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
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See you later alligator (I'm Going Away for a While reviews)

Post by Spud »

I'm Cliff. Drop over some time.
Last edited by Spud on Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by tonetripper »

Big Swell - I can totally see the angle that you searched for in the title and it comes across. Even with the occasional pitchiness it works as it contributes to the message.

Carol Cleveland Kings
- I love the falsetto moments. Quintessential CCS especially with the downward movements in orchestration. The uke is such a great sound. Excellent.

Comfort - The bottom end is a bit much in the mix. It sort of takes over the mix in many ways. It's alright I guess, but it generally just sounds like a big jam out with yourself. IMO it doesn't really construe a song but more a piece.

Corn on the Cob - I don't know why but the "Going to Jail" and "Jail sucks" delivery just makes me laugh. Being drunk and jamming rules. And this makes no exception.

Dark Liberty
- Got to watch that digital distortion on the vocals. Back off or try to get your hands on some kind of compressor to give yourself a little more comfortability behind the mic. The tune's alright.

Divorce - The vocals could use a little sharpening in the highs. That being said I do kind of like the behind energy that slowly invades with them so far in the back and at the level they are at. Reminiscent of some mid 80s bands in energy. Depeche Mode comes to mind. My biggest beef is that this song IMO doesn't seem to have anything to do with the title. It sounds like a different song that has been put into Songfight. I'll have to listen again to verify, but it seems to have little to do with the title.

Goatsong - Holy noise floor. Advice is to get closer to the mic. Great energy in the song especially with the warped out low voice that permeates. Sounds like the mic is too hot and you are too far back. Turn the mic down and get closer to it and you'll solve the horrendous noise floor that is occuring in this tune. I dig the delta energy for the title, but the noise floor and fidelity is attrocious, to the point of distraction.

THC feat. Luke Henley - I love the drama in the music versus the narrative in the song. Sounds like a 1940's pulp fiction movie with the gumshoe's informant on the lam from the gangsters. The sonic movements are great in keeping with the dialogue. Keeper. Potential vote.

Kapitano - Sounds like goth music. That being said this style doesn't really move me most times. The monotone vocal with the two chord movement just generally bores me and doesn't really make me want to uderstand or listen to the lyrics. I skipped the rest of it.

'Over - I love the mandolin. The tones for the guitars are great. Nice recording. At the break it sounds like another tune and not another added movement to the first part. I literally checked to see who was next on the player because I thought the tune was over. Sounds more like a musical journey than a song. Like a three song movement. I still very much enjoyed it. It was great from a story perspective.

R. Durand - This is great in it's tribute to the style that you are embracing for the title. It's a great hook in the title. My minor issue with the recording is the mic or digital distortion at points in the tune. However, the energy of the performance makes me let it go, but it's something that you should try to work on in future so that you can keep those moments pure. Potential vote.

Stubby
- The bottom end is a bit strong. I think it's good in the bottom end, but maybe you need to add some top end to the mix so that it sonically works. Somewhere around 2.5 k about 3 to 5 db. The solo sounds good. The song's alright, but it doesn't really move me for the title.

Tonetripper
- Well this was all last minute. I was messing with Live 5 trying to get a handle on it and came up with a cool groove I couldn't let go. Hope you all enjoy it. I could have spent another week on it.

Wreckdom - This is just great and so far may be my favourite tune for the fight. I love the suit concept. I want to take some really great acid and listen to a whole Wreckdom album. You guys seem so much like Butthole it's scary. I wish you'd release an album on the public. The world needs Wreckdom.

My vote is going to either Wreckdom, R. Durand, THC feat. Luke Henley or the CCKs
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Post by the idiot king »

tonetripper wrote: Divorce - The vocals could use a little sharpening in the highs. That being said I do kind of like the behind energy that slowly invades with them so far in the back and at the level they are at. Reminiscent of some mid 80s bands in energy. Depeche Mode comes to mind. My biggest beef is that this song IMO doesn't seem to have anything to do with the title. It sounds like a different song that has been put into Songfight. I'll have to listen again to verify, but it seems to have little to do with the title.

the lyrics are nonsense.
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Post by jack »

the idiot king has done enough songfights to have at least earned the benefit of the doubt in my book.
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Post by tonetripper »

I never condemned mon frere. I was merely reviewing upon first experience which as you know can be a little problematic.

Listening to the tune again I have a better understanding, but maybe where I went wrong was with the chorus section that does seem to go on a little long and tends to be a little over-used. On first listen I missed the citing of the title in the lyric prior to the ending and was confused about what the song was about which is a fault of mine for not listening and just hearing. But hearing has a large part to do with the subconscious of how a lyric can be interpreted by a listener and by my standards this one stretched me a little, even on second listen. I'm a fan of The Idiot King, but this one didn't do it for the title for me. Ofcourse this is a first impression game we're playing right now Jack. I'll give it fair play. I never vote til the end anyway (if I vote at all) and it still might make it for the vote. Keep posted (groan).

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Post by jack »

while i certainly appreciate the folks that try to find significant correlation to the title (which in and of itself sort of constitutes a review by just pointing it out, and as we know, reviews are a good thing....), i think it can be overemphasized and therefore overrated.

if it's obvious the song is recycled (like in the ID3 tag it has a different title), then i'll most likely question it or at the very least offer up a gentle ribbing. if it's a matter of interpretation, i can accept that and defer to the artist.
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Post by thehipcola »

good points both of you, but did anyone notice the man himself declared his lyrics as nonsense? :)
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Post by fluffy »

tonetripper: You realize that light years are a measure of <em>distance</em>, not time, right?
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Post by jack »

if that's true, what's the distance of a "year"? it's a measure of time. not trying to start some big, deviant, argument/discussion/discourse here. i'm really curious. i realize the expression "light year" is a measure of distance expressed as a measure of time.
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Post by fluffy »

A light year is the spatial distance a photon can travel within one chronological year. Technically the two are equivalent due to the time-space duality predicted by the theory of relativity (read up on Lorentz time dilation and so on) but unless you're a physicist or an interstellar space ship they are distinct things.

(Four-dimensionally-speaking, everything travels exactly at <i>c</i>, the speed of light, including the transfer of energy between things. As mass-bearing packets of energy such as solid matter speed up in space, they slow down in time, so non-mass-bearing packets of energy such as light always appear to propagate away from a relativistic frame at <i>c</i>. But it's all relative to everything else, and can get pretty confusing.)

Anyway, my point is just that it being "light-years since I've seen you" makes no sense unless you are a photon, or perhaps a super-intelligent shade of blue.
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Post by jack »

fluffy wrote:
Anyway, my point is just that it being "light-years since I've seen you" makes no sense unless you are a photon, or perhaps a super-intelligent shade of blue.
or magenta. :)
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Post by Kapitano »

Big Swell
Okay, it's a man with an acoustic guitar. No production, just a song. The lyrics are clever in that the way the protagonist denies his guilt suggests he may be guilty as hell.

The wandering pitch on 'smile' needs work - it's too much wandering and not enough pitch.

Good but far too ordinary. Take a listen to Ross Durand's song.

Carol Cleveland Kings
Cue this week's comparison with TMBG.

Comfort
If the vocals were loud enough to understand, they'd be incredibly annoying. Too many guitars, which are overdistorted and badly mixed.

Corn on the Cob
The instrumentation is nicely melodic and mellow. The vocals are okay most of the time, but too loud. Not much of a song, but what there is I like.

Dark Liberty
I've never heard a slide-sitar on a grunge track before. There's a good track in there, but it needs a damn good remix or rerecord - bring up the rhythm guitar, distort and bring down that 'sitar', and re-take the vocals.

The Divorce
A lot of good ideas in here, and the vocal I like a lot. But it doesn't gel.

What's with the boingy synth sound? Take it down or drop it. And maybe guitars up a bit. An inventive band in need of a producer.

Goatsong
Is there an aesthetic movement calling for out of tune guitars, mumbling distorted vocals and improbably large amounts of tape hiss?

This can't be the result of doing the best you can with truely crap equipment and instruments. Sounding this bad has to be deliberate.

Perhaps you think it's a statement of some kind.

The Hipcola/Luke Henley
Kind of atmospheric.

Kapitano
Me. Didn't work really.

The 'Over
Sounds like a medley of three songs. Why are you doing an impersonation of Johnny Cashpoint? Nevermind, I like this one.

Nice clunky guitar tone. Drums and claps are good but not very noticible. Synthy bell-guitar at 1:30 a bit cheesy. Great distinctive voice.

Ross Durand
Pastiche of a style that doesn't exist this side of the pond. Could have been performed 'straight' and worked as well.

Nothing surprising, just very well written, played and sung. Stands a good chance of winning.

Stubby Phillips
Ah, politics! Good. The story of a man who can see exactly what's wrong with where he is, but thinks it must be better elsewhere. Musically it's played okay but the mixing is a bit flat. Good voice, appropriate to the song. If I voted according to lyrical content you'd get mine.

Tonetripper
Beck?

I like pretty much everything about this. Vocal sound and harmonies, lyrics, fuzzy guitars and effects.

Only criticism: the drums could use reverb and slight lowering. Vote.

Wreckdom
Kermit the Frog muses about living the low life. With burts of sequenced noise.

Either do comic monologues, or write songs, or record grungy soundscapes. Chose one.
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Post by tonetripper »

fluffy wrote:Anyway, my point is just that it being "light-years since I've seen you" makes no sense unless you are a photon, or perhaps a super-intelligent shade of blue.
Well actually the lyric is "I Might never return it seems like light years since I ever did love you". I don't think I pigeon-holed myself with this line considering I say "like". Besides it's poetic, artistic license. :shock:

Heh, anyway I reviewed like a bitch in my reviews. I think I have crabs. Full moon and all. :twisted:

BTW, thanks Kapitano for the vote. Beck has a lot to answer for in the music world, but I honestly never try to go out of my way to emulate an artist. I might emulate styles, but let's face it there are a lot of styles that rock that people borrow from including people like Beck. Just sayin'.
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Post by tonetripper »

jack wrote:while i certainly appreciate the folks that try to find significant correlation to the title...
I hope you don't think that I have to find a "significant" correlation to the title, but merely a correlation. I think finding a correlation with the title, even if the title is not in reference or used in the tune (see draft - hiss and hearse), is as important in why we identify with a song towards a title. There are many cases where the names can somehow be contradictary to the piece of art, but we accept it nonetheless in some cases and others not. Now I'm not defending myself as I am the concept of finding a correlation with any piece of art and it's name, in this case music developed for Songfight titles.

Even as vague as an artist can get with lyrics, delivery, and music there is still, I think, a fundamental, inherent, individualistic, emotional sense in why there is correlation in the first place. A subconcious correlation you might say. I digress. I guess I agree with you except for me needing to find a "significant" correlation to a title. A correlation sure, but significant makes me feel dirty like mainstream (although I'm a closet bitch for it sometimes - Britney rocks!).
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Post by jack »

well, it was "significant" enough for you to post something about it. and then defend your position on it. i'd call that "significant". at least for you.
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Post by EightLeggedOedipus »

I just got back from Japan onthe red eye, so I was gonna do last week's reviews and then go to bed BUT I can't resist new CCS.

The Big Swell
+++ It's a pretty good song, man. Normally a simple GnG wouldn't get this from me. Glad you kept it short +++

Carole Cleveland Kings
+++ Holy shit instant classic. Best CCS vocals in quite a while. Never heard you switch registers so well. All those dates with the Spinto musta done you good. +++

comfort
+++ Fun +++
--- But nothing to give second listen to ---

Corn on the Cob
+++ The bass is kickin' +++
--- But those "goin' aways" are just annoying ---
+++ It sounds a lot like Boltoph improv'ing lazily +++

Dark Liberty
---Hey my ten year old cousin made this while he was in a coma from head trauma. He was hit by a delivery truck that was delivering his birthday present. ---

The Divorce
+++ Cool. This weird loop actually gets better with each repetition. +++
/// This sounds like it was unintentionally really good. ///
--- A little long, though ---

Goatsong
--- Suckage in sector 7! Close the main hatch! ---

The Hip Cola w/Luke Henley
+++ Oh yeah, bitches! This is the combination! I always wanted to work with Luke, but I think ourstyles wouldn't mesh. THC is perfect for you, Luke. Moody, eerie, but present. +++

Kapitano
--- Sorry, Kap, not this time ---

The 'Over
+++ It's a nice song I guess +++
--- Kind of like a Mellencamp B-side in a muzak time machine gone haywire. Oh and you should work on your vocal intonation. ---

Ross Durand
+++ Ross knows music +++
--- Ross doesn't know hip ---

Stubby Philips
--- bashing homos doesn't make you cool or distract us from insantly recognizing how much your song sucks,fag. ---
:)

Tonetripper
+++ Oh sweet... loop. Killer bass. And wow this is way better vocally than anything I remember from you before. Like somebody last week said, this is the kind of track that makes you go dig through the archives +++

WreckdoM
+++ Laughing my ass off!!! Oh my god, Geoff you're a genius of character. And that other guy, Rick? Rich? Nice track for sure. Wicked, amusing, disturbing, and surprisingly grooving. +++

Well kids, my heart goes out to WreckDOM, Tonetripper, and THCAshok for putting such great songs into a fight where I will invariably vote for Carol Cleveland Sings. You know which song I'm replaying. :)
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Post by the idiot king »

Kapitano wrote: The Divorce
A lot of good ideas in here, and the vocal I like a lot. But it doesn't gel.

What's with the boingy synth sound? Take it down or drop it. And maybe guitars up a bit. An inventive band in need of a producer.
it's funny, when i first started putting this song together, it had a million parts and a lot of guitars...then i realized i was very bored of that kind of music and deleted most of them and went a little crazy with the drum programming.

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Post by h »

hahahaha
fuck you all
:lol:
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Post by boltoph »

EightLeggedOedipus wrote:I just got back from Japan onthe red eye...
Corn on the Cob
+++ It sounds a lot like Boltoph improv'ing lazily +++
I just got back from my friend's place with red eyes. Thankth tho much for notithing. Like my new hairdo and makeup?

For a limited time ya'll will ONLY get the Boltoph 4 three-shot-margaritas and two-big-fatties-in recordings. I'm saving the shine for the expensive knobs.

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Post by over »

Kapitano wrote: The 'Over
Why are you doing an impersonation of Johnny Cashpoint? .
Well thank you, I think that's very flattering considering how good his songs are!! But just to be pedantic, The 'Over did start submitting a bit before Johnny, so maybe he's impersonating us?

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Post by Egg »

boltoph wrote:Thankth tho much for notithing. Like my new hairdo and makeup?

For a limited time ya'll will ONLY get the Boltoph 4 three-shot-margaritas and two-big-fatties-in recordings.
Hahahahaha

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Post by Stubby Phillips »

EightLeggedOedipus wrote: Stubby Philips
--- bashing homos doesn't make you cool or distract us from insantly recognizing how much your song sucks,fag. ---
Thank you for your kind words.
Yes -- I know the song sucks.
The line you evidently referred to -- "God sent a storm to punish us because someone was gay" -- was intended as a denigrating reference to the absurd and hateful opinion expressed by a homophobic Evangelical group that said that Hurricane Katrina was God's way of punishing New Orleans for planning some gay pride event scheduled to take place around the time the storm hit. That whole mindset sicken me. Anyway, I'm sorry that you were offended and took it personally. I was actually more worried that my use of (intended) humor while referencing the human tragedy that was and is occuring might offend. Definitely NOT funny.
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