Them Dukes, them Dukes... (Moon Shine Reviews)

[ken]

Makin' their way,
The only way they know how,
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

I see I'm not the only one, heh. Bummer that nothing came of it.

Now that the deadline's passed, I can ask:

Did anyone else have Van Morrison in their head singing the Dukes of Hazzard theme?

[TheWilsonHeightsGang]

does anybody else get weird text after voting for Moon Shine?

[Hoblit]

Makin' their way,
The only way they know how,
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow.

Ha, I actually reference them in my song... nice

[Thylacine 9]

Moonshine

White Hat - For me it seemed a little too repetitively depressing. It had a lot of good qualities though.

Hoblit - Dug it, lots of energy. Wish I understood better what was being said. I'll give it a few more listens and work it out.

Dave Stiles - Great song, very clean-sounding, nicely produced, a lot of fun to listen to.

The Wilson Heights Gang - Man, I liked the song - especially when it breaks loose at the end - but the mix made it a little rough; too much distortion.

Max the Cat - lol.

Southwest Statistic - Another terrifically-produced song. Bit too "dance mix" for my tastes, but .

Likely Lads - Too short! Okay, side note = How does everyone here have so much Goddamn talent?! It's just not right.

Pookah - Oh, man. That song hit me. Why you gotta make it so hard to vote for Astrolamb? Why you trying to steal his votes? What is this?!

Astrolamb - Such a strong song. Love it, dude. The lyrics seem so epic, reminds me a little of Leonard Cohen around the time of "I'm Your Man" and "The Future". Your singing is so wonky it's cool. Don't take that as an insult.

(note: didn't comment on every song though I did listen to every song. Currently I am listening to Astrolamb and Pookah on repeat, trying to decide which way my vote goes.)

[Hoblit]

I'm digging on southwest statistic and Henrietta... pretty good ...pretty dang good.

[TheWilsonHeightsGang]

Baker - ooh, me likey. There's something about the vocals that don't rub me the right way. I really like the "instruments", though. nice work...maybe a bit short, though

Pookah - Very nice...very...elliott smith. and that's a good thing. The vocals may be a bit loud, but I like it. Also a bit short

The White Hat - ooooh pretty intro. again, vocals seem a bit loud. I was about to cry, but the "accordian" came in and seemed to interrupt things. Nice ending

Dave Stiles - hey, what's up Trent Reznor? This song f-ing rules. The mix is pretty perfect. I would just cut down the outro a smidge.

Southwest Static - You make me want a piano, but you also make me wonder what you've done with the other boys from N'Sync. Wow, you guys are really making this a good fight!

Joshua Fenn - music is good. the vocals irk me. I'd say that this is a joke, but the music is too well thought-out

Hoblit - I've been waiting for this one all week! If I took acid, and if I had fish, my fish would dance to this while I trip heavily. They'd do that Russian leg-kickin dance. Trust me. Then I'd probably shower for about a week.

the Midiots - Its fun, but no words except "Moon Shine"?

Astrolamb - My mother once told me that in the 60's, she would sit in her room with a candle lit just to cast the shadow on a small tiki-shaped pencil holder onto her wall. She claims that drugs were not involved, but be that as it may, I imagine she listened to music like this during her weird ritual. As for a review, I'm not too fond of the way the vocals sound.

Henrietta and the Hoodlums - I don't know if you're familiar with Steven Sondheim musicals, but this sounds like it would fit perfectly in one. The echo on the vocals at the beginning may be a bit too much, but overall, it's a really sweet song.

The Likely Lads - much like good sex, this song is rough and nasty. take pride in that and hold it in your hearts forever

Poor June - another much anticipated song this week. The song is great. I wish the recording was better sounding. The ending's a bit nutso, though. wow, i just got deja voux

Max the Cat - haha. this is some funny stuff, man. for more, re-read what I said about Hoblit's song

Caravan Ray - i really like your voice and guitar work. not your strongest song, but it's still really good.


This is going to be a great fight. I think we should put out a CD with all of these songs on it. Maybe liquor stores can give it away with jugs of moonshine!

[Richard WreckdoM]

I don't have time for full reviews now, but they will be coming. I wanted to welcome Pookah to songfight with a solid first submission. I am honored to have had the chance to record them at WreckdoM studios. **Rock out with your cock out**

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Late again, naturally. I'll see if I can get a link if anyone is interested, but with all these songs it will be a tall order asking for any reviews. I'll be back later with reviews.

[A Bootleg]

Happy to be back, gentlemen. I still have dues to pay, and they will be paid, I was just whacked upside the head by a muse or two for this one, so out it came. I'm getting together with my violinist tomorrow to remix, I'll post a link eventually.

Anyway...

Astrolamb: 60s creepyrock. Monstermash in the mississipi delta. The vibrato is a bit excessive, and the lyrics need work. It's very possible to keep the lyrics conversational and uncontrived whilst adhering to meter/rhyme.

Baker: Raise the vox please. Don't stress unconventional syllables. Cool harpeggio.

Caravan ray: Hisssssssssssssssssss. Raise vox, cut high band. Singing in key, though. I like that.

Dave stiles: Totally phased, man. Cool analog synth riff. Percussion's a bit too electropop for my tastes. The outro seems a bit long.

Henrietta & Hoodlums : I dig. Cool picking pattern. Henrietta has a jazzy voice. She should sing something jazzy next time. Possible vote.

Hoblit: I can't make out what you're saying, but then again, I may also be deaf. Hah. I like the hillbilly breakdown.

Joshua Fenn: Can't stop laughing. It's like a Muppet Halloween special. I don't get it.

Likely lads: Good stuff. Mix the drums in a bit better.

Max the cat: Very good stuff. I like. Get rid of the weird synth stuff at the beginning. Arlo Guthrie meets fruvous. Where's the punchline?

Midiots: The theme's a bit bland, but what you did with it is nice sounding.

Pookah: Eh, the doubled vocal track could stand to be singled.

Poor June: Digging the piano from the start. The delay puts me off. Certainly a possible vote. Damn that delay, though.

SWstatic: Wow. Very electropop. Very well produced, a bit too vocoded, though.

The white hat: Wow, that was really sharp.... as in #. Learn to play your accordion better before putting it in a songfight... and get it tuned.

Wilsonheights: Your guitar will sound better if you used your mic, rather than plugging it into your computer. All I hear is quack quack quack. Not a bad song, though. Coherent lyrics, a little to blatant, though. May want to mix the dist guitar in a little better.


Tough fight. Not sure who won.

[Hoblit]

Now that I've had another night to work on post production I can offer my song as it was INTEDED to sound. So here is a copy of <a href="http://chris.hoblit.net/sound/Hoblit-Moonshine.mp3" target="resource window">Hoblit-Moonshine.mp3</a> for any of you who *might* want a better version if anyone wanted it at all.

[Dan-O from Five-O]

In honor of Halloween, ratings will either be TRICK or TREAT. I’ll leave it up to you to decide which is good or bad or whatever.

Astrolamb: This gets pretty tedious in a hurry. The slow tempo with only 2 chords back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until I barely notice a couple of other chords in there breaking up the monotony. The various tones on the instruments makes it kind of interesting, just not enough. TRICK

Joshwest Statistward: I like the mix, the instrumentation (except the drums), and the melody. I don’t like the heavily camouflaged vocals that make the lyrics difficult to make out. What I did make out lyrically was interesting, but not to be too picky, technically incorrect. Moonshine is a noun, “as the full moon shines” is used as a verb. It doesn’t cost you much, as this is still a TREAT, just a sucky one that sits around until Thanksgiving before someone throws it out.

Pookah: Double tracked vocals work so much better when the parts match closer than these do. I’m not quite sure what happens at about :50, but Yikes! It’s plenty short so you got that making up for the less than memorable lyrics which lack a reference to Moonshine and the so-so guitar playing. Speaking of that guitar, I’ve found they record a lot better when you don’t use a beer soaked B grade mic. TRICK

Casiots: Intersting premise. Here’s another one. Lyrics. TRICK, and a stupid one at that.

The Likely Lads: Great beginning, it reminded me of the WHO (I can see for miles). So do the drums. They sound like what I would expect from Keith Moon …………… returning to the studio from one of his legendary binges and not really remembering how to play. Pretty good guitar parts and interesting melody, the lyrics are unimaginative and predictable. TREAT, but watch out for razor blades.

Dave Stiles: I don’t like drum machines that sound like a drum machine or bass lines that use modulation of an effect to change notes. I do like that tremolo on the guitar though and the vocal effect is pretty cool. I can’t tell if the harmonies are real or another effect, but they’re cool. The lyrics are solid and well performed. Overall this is an interesting mix of things I like and don’t like combining for an interesting buzz, kind of like Moonshine. TREAT, one piece of candy corn.

Joshua Fenn: Well Lothar, you don’t sing very well, but that guy at the end sounded like he could a little bit. Maybe you should let him sing more of this song. On second thought, why waste his mediocre voice on these pointless lyrics? Sing on Lothar, and tell us more stories about you and the hill people. TRICK

Baker: Harp and popular music don’t usually mix, but you pulled it off. The vocals are the weak link in this song, well that combined with the lyrics which aren’t all that good either. It’s a short song so I’ll give it an appropriate review. TRICK

Caravan Ray: If you fixed that leaky air hose I’m sure I would enjoy this a lot more. It’s a pretty good song in search of something. I wish I could tell you what it is but I’ve lost a considerable amount of my hearing with all that hissing going on. I’ve also lost my desire to keep trying to find it. Sorry, TRICK.

Hoblit: Wow, did you improve that guitar sound over the last week or what? I’m hoping you got the lyrics posted so I can read them along with the song. I hate to say this but they’re difficult for me to make out, which is really too bad because the song is very interesting sounding and I’m betting the lyrics are too. I really like the chord progressions and the various tones on the guitars. This is good, a TREAT.

The Wilson Heights Gang: Using a tuner before recording an acoustic guitar is not just a good idea, it’s a mandate. And so is getting someone who can actually play acoustic guitar to do it for you. And when the electric guitar comes in toward then end, the whole song becomes impossible to listen to. I’m not going back to see if I missed anything, I’m pretty sure I didn’t. TRICK

Poor June: I like the melody but I’m not real wild about your vocal delivery. The lyrics are darker than the melody and from what I expected from the title. It’s pretty interesting what you doing with the vocals at the end. I think you should try some different delay times on the vocals. The timing of the delay and your vocal delivery don’t seem to be mixing. TREAT, but it’s a Rice Krispie treat made about a week ago.

Henrietta and the Hoodlums: Fantastic vocals, well Henrietta anyhow. The Hoodlum is pretty good too. I love the beginning. The guitar is very well played and sounds terrific. The lyrics are pretty good, it’s a difficult story to follow though. They’re walking along having what would seem to be a pleasant evening but by the morning "See ya. Have a nice life". It’s a minor gripe on a good song. TREAT, and a Snickers at that.

The White Hat: The guitar sounds good and is well played. The vocals are nice and the accordion was a pleasant surprise. Another sad take on the title though, I just don’t get that. I’m kind of running out of steam here. This isn’t a bad song, but there’s nothing jumping out at me either. TREAT, but it’s probably not going to get eaten.

Max the Cat: My first thought when this started was “It’s way too late for this song” but the talking part came in just in time to keep me from shutting it off. The story is not all that good and this is mainly an exercise in “looky what I can do on my computer mommy”, but at least it’s not DWG. TRICK

[Caravan Ray]

Apologies for my entry this week - major microphone problems. Normally I would have given this the 'delete button' treatment, but as I had foolishly posted the lyrics before I'd recorded the vocals - I thought I better deliver something.

The idea had been for a very sparse simple song with a subtle 3 acoustic guitar entwining melody sort of thing happening. The guitars came out very nice - then the hiss from the vocals destroyed everything. The more I tried to fix it the worse it got. One of these days I gotta get me one of them microphone pre-amps.

Anyway - there's a lot of songs in this fight so please feel free to give mine just a 5 second listen or skip all together. The reviews above have pretty much told me everything I needed to know this week (and confirmed much of what I already knew)

I will review when I get back to my office tomorrow (so I can download and listen on company time)

[Hoblit]

Now that I've had another night to work on post production I can offer my song as it was INTEDED to sound. So here is a copy of <a href="http://chris.hoblit.net/sound/Hoblit-Moonshine.mp3" target="resource window">Hoblit-Moonshine.mp3</a> for any of you who *might* want a better version if anyone wanted it at all.

In addition to the clearer version posted above I posted the Lyrics as well.

<a href="http://www.songfight.net/forums/viewtop ... =4500#4500" target="resource window">Moonshine Lyrics</a>

Sorry about that ya'll...I needed just a little more time.

[Future Boy]

Southwest Statistic

Your already good song would be hella better if you used a different sound in place of the piano. The piano sounds too much like a fake piano to really work in your very electronic mix (ie, it sounds like it wants to be a real piano and fails, as opposed to sounding like a through and through synthetic instrument). If you used some sexy morphing synth sound or something I think the overall feel of the song would be much improved. Good jorb playing with the pitch correction though.

[DELETED]

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[Richard WreckdoM]

Pookah: ...It’s plenty short so you got that making up for the less than memorable lyrics which lack a reference to Moonshine and the so-so guitar playing. TRICK

I must say that before you point the finger in the direction of this song, you should look at the many entries that ignored the fact that the title was "Moon Shine" not "Moonshine." I've noticed many entries about booze, and very few, Pookah included, about the shining of the moon, which incidentally is just a reflection of the sun. Interesting title to work with. I thought that this was a damn good entry, and I'll more than likely be voting for it. I need to sit down and listen to everything though, which I promise I'll do tonight.[/b]

[Hoblit]

dave stiles... your guitar parts remind me of the sprint pcs commercials

I like yur song though.

astrolamb... your recording is improving...still need to get some top on those vocals but your song is much more listenable this week based on production alone. (as to say I don't think all of your other songs suck or anything)

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Pookah: ...It’s plenty short so you got that making up for the less than memorable lyrics which lack a reference to Moonshine and the so-so guitar playing. TRICK

I must say that before you point the finger in the direction of this song, you should look at the many entries that ignored the fact that the title was "Moon Shine" not "Moonshine." [/b]

You mean like when I said "What I did make out lyrically was interesting, but not to be too picky, technically incorrect. Moonshine is a noun, “as the full moon shines” is used as a verb. " or "Interesting premise. Here’s another one. Lyrics." or "The story is not all that good and this is mainly an exercise in “looky what I can do on my computer mommy”. Interpretation of the title is one thing, I can pretty much ignore that. But it should at least be in the song, and I didn't notice a reference to it if it is there at all. But just to be on the safe side, I'll listen again.

[jack]

astrolamb
i like the guitar better than the singing. the mix is pretty rough but the song arrangement seems to have potential. i think even your singing has potential. everything seems way too centered to the point of sounding mono. try better panning. and less clipping. it's not bad though. seems a bit long too, considering the arrangement and lack of any real bridge or breakdown or dynamic shift.

baker
actually, i have alot of respect for folks that struggle with their vox for putting them out there for everyone to hear. the synthy stuff is kind of cool and pretty well done. keep working on the vox. actually, if you had done something really warped with the vox, like super flange/reverb/delay/tremelo, this would have been very cool. good length for what you were going for. not bad but the vox sort of take the wind out of it's sails.

caravan ray
the hiss is pretty distracting. otherwise, i like the song ok. guitar and vocals are pretty decent, as is the bass. could maybe use a bit of percussion, congas or even intermittent claps would be nice. pretty simple arrangement seems to really need more things going on in the mix, instrumentally or dynamically. i actually like the sparse production and think it works well, except for that damn hiss. the hiss is the piss.

dave stiles
that intro percussion loop sounds really familiar for some reason. did you swipe that from starfinger? i like your voice, singing's good. production is pretty heavy on the loops but it's still good. interesting mix of styles (electronic and rock) but it sort of drags as it progresses. i'm a sucka for the tremelo guitar but man you are making me dizzy with your panning on this one. kind of reminds me of brad sucks, which is a pretty big complement from me.

henrietta & the hoodlum
hey, cool departure for you vocally on the intro. you belt it out pretty good. as always, your production and execution is awesome. that hoodlum hostage dude is one badd-asss guitarist. and his harmonies are good too. i always love your stuff. a little more exposure and you guys will get signed. really killer tune.

hoblit
i already told you what i thought earlier. for the rest of you, this rawks. killer production. loved it. love the ska riffin! it's stan ridgeway fronting for the meat puppets!

joshua fenn
why didn't you just sing this straight up instead of mocking your own song? it's got potential and you go mucking it up with those dumb-assed vocals. congratulations!

likely lads
woo hoo, this is great! this sounds soooo much like old vintage Who, i'm kind of blown away by the Daltry in your vox. and the thumping bass and guitar riffing just add to the Whoness of it. good drums too (not as good as Keith, but not bad at all). nice job! i dig your sound!

max the cat
while i can appreciate the work and effort that went into it, i didn't like it that much. i'm not real big on story songs, unless it's being done by arlo guthrie.

the midiots
decent production that frankly nearly bored me to sleep

pookah
this is pretty ok. the mix could be better (less clippy). guitar is good, so is the singing, and i like the doubled vox but here they add to the boominess in the low end. bring the vox down at least a few dbs. nice in a nick drake sort of way but everything seems to be drowning in the mix and the reverb.

poor june
this is one the best tunes i've heard from you. your production still suffers but i think you're learning to work with your limitations. singing is good. i like the synth stuff coming in. keep working on that production.

southwest static
i caught future boys comment about the piano before starting these and i think i have to agree with him. the piano sounds oddly out of place within the mix with all the other digital stuff going on around it. otherwise, the production is really excellent on this. great singing too. the whole package is really strong here.

the white hat
nicely done. great guitar playing. good singing. no beefs. the melodica (or is that harmonium?) sounds cool but might be a bit high in the mix.

the wilson heights gang
this might be better if you had taken the time to multitrack the vocals and guitar. as a one track live track, it suffers in the mix pretty bad in spots (like when that electric comes in). singing sounds a bit bored, and sometimes the guitar playing seems like you are making up the arrangement as you go along. now it seems multitracked when the electric comes in again. now the mix is really going south.....

ok. so this was a pretty decent fight.
faves in no particular order: SWstatic, hoblit, henrietta, likely lads. vote goes to hoblit.

[Hoblit]

hoblit
i already told you what i thought earlier. for the rest of you, this rawks. killer production. loved it. love the ska riffin! it's stan ridgeway fronting for the meat puppets!

ok. so this was a pretty decent fight.
faves in no particular order: SWstatic, hoblit, henrietta, likely lads. vote goes to hoblit.

Yes ! and thanks again mah man!

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