Uh...why did i make this thread? (Trouble Concentrating...)

[JachS]

Yer, it's good intrumental and i look forward to listening to a fully completed song in a future fight. I mean this, as you say wasnt complete, and yet it held my interest more than some of the completed songs of past fights. Like i said, nice interesting groove! !

[hockinfinger]

MyVirtualBand.com ... its amazing how you can come up woth this stuff within the time frame...

Thanks for the kind words. How does anyone come up with what they do in a week? I have a slight advantage in that I am recently unemployed, so I have a little more time to spend twiddling.
Those folks over at myvirtualband.com are kind enough to host a whole song creation/collaboration forum, in which this song was discussed and constructed. Our vocalist on this piece was Ronnie, of "Save New Orleans" infamy. The guitars parts were played by another MVB member (and my former non-virtual bandmate), Mikerman. There were two other versions , one with me singing and one with another MVB member, and we voted on which one to submit.
Same song, different vocalists:
Mine
Liquidnoise's

[mkilly]

cow exchange - I like cow exchange. this is pretty good. a little short. rocks, though.
draft - this is kind of aimless noodling. I guess maybe it's a play on the title. not really doing it for me, sorry.
echobox - your vocals are real quiet in the mix. that's a common songfight problem. why can't people listen to their song and say, "gol dang, my vocals are quiet," and then fix it? jesus.

fuck i am having trouble concentrating on these reviews. three songs just went by. lemme back up.

eddiebangs - it's all right. kind of conventional. that's not bad, but. yeah.
glory hole - people also can't be bothered with id3 tags that aren't stupid. geez, I thought eddiebangs was conventional.
kamasutra - I love your voice but you have to work harder, man, to have it be as awesome as it should be. it should be awesome like punk rock vocals and r. mosquito's "sarah vowell's motto" and future boy's vox and stuff. your voice could be used to great effect but you must learn to master that shit! adventure, excitement, poorly mastered vocals... a Jedi desires not these things.
monorailRT - kind of a kicking bass line but it doesn't really go anywhere. with some more work (and guitar) it could be a serviceable White Stripes track. you have a nice voice, nice drum (looped, I must infer), lyrics are okay... this is all right.
myvirtualband.com - got an 80s r&b sort of vibe here. it's good but it's not for me.
phuntyourfriends - what is this. ugh.
smalltown mike - your voice sounds like mc frontalot! the guitar sound gets a little old. ah... this is good, though. sounds like a smalltown rock band should sound.

so ultimately I'm voting for... smalltown mike. over monorailrt.

[Dan-O from Five-O]

You seem to have picked one of the more peurile and ultimately unsatisfying routes.

Um, not to be childish or anything, but you misspelled puerile.

The main problem here is that there isn't much said to help the artist in question.

I wasn't trying to be helpful. No lyrics = no song = no review.

Although you use the word "nice" here, your sarcasm is thinly veiled

See, and I thought I was laying the sarcasm on fairly heavy. I wasn't attempting to hide it.

Also, when saying one dislikes a song, often important information to include would be "why" or perhaps "how" you didn't like it. Example: "I did not like your song because the piano in it was bullshit."

Actually, that's less helful than my review. I can't tell if you think the piano playing is bullshit, the piano as an instrument is bullshit, or the sound of the piano is bullshit.

If you haven't anything good to say, say nothing at all.

Thanks mom, I'll try to remember that. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. Nothing at all.

This tone can often be seen as confrontational. Watch out!

Are you practicing your parental skills or what? OK, I promise to be careful out there.

What you seem to have missed here is that this is a very good entry.

And what you seem to have missed is that I found the clicks annoying.

Don't just choose life. Choose POSITIVE LIFE!

Tony Robbins everybody! Give it up for the man! OK, be sure to stick around for "Up with People" coming up next.

Well this was fairly non-compelling.

Amen.

[WeaselSlayer]

Now we are truly in the realm of exploring what a review is. I feel we've really peeled this onion a new one.

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Now we are truly in the realm of exploring what a review is.

Step 2 is actually writing them.

[Eddiebangs]

My reviews. Don’t take any negative remarks to heart, because I am an asshole.

Glory Hole-
I really like this. I only wish I could hear the snare- it’s buried so deep in the mix it’s almost not even there. Otherwise I love it. Great jammy groove, dark mood. Nice!

MonorailRT-
Weird bass sound. I like the verse, but the chorus is a bit too nerdy for my taste. INXS meets Devo. Not bad.

Phunt Your Friends-
I read the lyrics before I heard the song, and I must admit I was very disappointed. Interesting work.

Draft-
I remember I really loved your entry for Chaos vs. Order, so I have great expectations from the start. I am diggin’ the funky groove. I would have let it end at 1:40, it just seems to go on forever without much variation. OK, finally at 2:30 something new. Uh oh, getting a little too much like Mr. Bungle. Not necessarily a bad thing, but… Not your best work, but pretty cool.

Echobox-
Nice intro. Sets a slick mood. I like the monotone vocal- this all fits together well. I am diggin’ it. Slight Beck feel to it. It needs another part- like a big chorus or something. As is it’s cool. Nice job.

Smalltown Mike-
Nice Nice Nice. I love this. I wish in the chorus you sang it a bit more- it would have differentiated it from the verse better. That’s my only bitch- I really liked everything about this. Great job.

MyVirtualBand.com-
Great intro, Overall sound is a bit too compressed I think. I like the jazzy feel to this- with a twist of fusion. Nice. Not my cup of tea, but I totally recognize and appreciate the quality or writing and performance.

Kama Sutra-
Cheeeeesy right off the bat. Becomes charming when the vocals kick in. Not bad. It grew on me.

The Cow Exchange-
We have a winner. Awesome. Great job. I am jealous


Great Fight. I don’t think anything totally sucked, which is a good thing.

[tonetripper]

Cow Exchange - This is a great pop tune and I love how the vocals sound in the mix. The drum programming is stellar. I have no criticism in production, but there is something about the song that totally doesn't move me for the title. I think it's all too easy. Still a keeper and a contender.

draft - One day, one stone. I love the scissors that thehipcola gives into in the jizzed out middle parts.

echobox - The monotone nature of the vocal totally works for me for the title. Especially with the constant drone of the bass line and sporadic tasty sonic morsels strewn throughout the mix. I'm dying to know what is being said and that adds to my confusion. Kind of hangs around like blue fungus. It's excellent how it kind of tweaks out at about 2:30. I think the mix could've been sharpened up a hair in the final mix. A little more treble. Hell, that's a sweet groove and then it's done....... contender.

Eddie Bangs - There is a note that doesn't quite make it and it's at the end of the phrase of each stanza in the verse. It's a little flat or not quite on top of the note. The Alice in Chains chorus movement is cool, but I think the big issue I have is that the vocals need to come more up front and build in power. That might have got me pretty good for the end. Not bad Eddie. Not my fave of yours, but good on ya for getting somewhat inside of the title.

Gloryhole - Wow, the energy in the vibe of the drum and bass when they get going is pretty sweet. Obviously you are aware that with some better fidelity this would rock pretty hard. I like it, especially the minor 2nd you get into the rocked out sections with. For the title I'm ambivalent. It was mostly there.

kamasutra - Holy frijoles! That keyboard line is really hot. Alright, I guess, but cartoons are an odd topic of distraction.

MonoRailRT - Production wise the bass tone, performance, and groove are tres sweet. Pick on the bass or a sample? Very hooky and this is a tune that I can definitely get the right side of. Just wish you tripped it out more sonically at moments in verses as it feels to somehow gets a bit monotonous, even with the hooky repetition of "I like". That being said it has a feel like a record that I've been listening to for a while now by a French Production team that does a bunch of punk tunes Bossa Nova style. Nouveau Vague. It has that feel, but also emulates that tune "Putting on the Ritz". I liked it. Keeper. Contender.

MVB.com - Great production for sure, but boy I'm definitely not into the idea of the vocal and musical energy for the title. It seems like a chicken and wing band trying to do SF with all their little bag of tricks from doing endless nights of Stevie Wonder et al. Na, no dice. Great performance, just a little beige for my liking.

PhuntYourFriends - Hahaha, that clicking sound merged with the spoken weird are very distracting bits of tone. Interesting end. Not a song, but respect for getting me to the title.

STM - "I can't keep focus on the task at hand" is my favourite lyric for the title. The sounds are all pretty cool. It's a good mix. The delivery is so STM that it is a song that has grown on me over the week and I am definitely all about the delivery. The little patented STM moments in radio voice land is just so excellent. I find the snare a bit boxy. A little more snare sound would be cool. My main issue is not in songwriting, but in composition. I just feel like there should have been a bit of a leap in groove somewhere in the tune. Pretty straight ahead rock for me. Nothing really popped out. Still a well written song and for that I might vote for it.

After relistening to my faves for the title my vote is going to Echobox.

[j$]

why can't people listen to their song and say, "gol dang, my vocals are quiet," and then fix it? jesus.

Just noticed this ....

Clearly because they already know what they are saying and therefore it is loud enough ...

[my remedy for this solution is to get the volume to where I would like the vocals to be and then up them by 5%-10% until they sound 'just too loud' to my ears. That seems to work.

Of course some might say - i should get them to the volume to where I want them to be and then turn it down by 100% but hey ....]

[Eddiebangs]

Congrats Cow Exchange- you deserved it.

I made a video for my song. It is my first attempt, and it's weird, but we had fun.

Eddiebangs Trouble Concentrating Video

[MonorailRT]

MonoRailRT - Production wise the bass tone, performance, and groove are tres sweet. Pick on the bass or a sample? Very hooky and this is a tune that I can definitely get the right side of.

Thanks tonetripper, the bassline was real (for once). Thanks for your reviews everyone, and congrats Cow Exchange

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Congrats Cow Exchange- you deserved it.

I made a video for my song. It is my first attempt, and it's weird, but we had fun.

Eddiebangs Trouble Concentrating Video

That's cool as all get out Eddie. I would love for you to make me a "wierd" video sometime.

Nice work.