Chillin' in my Granite Crib (Stone Palace Reviews)

[Thornberry]

Thornberry
... guitar tone seems a little DinoJr influenced. Where were you in the early '90s?

Learning to walk...

[jseavers05]

Steve Gamble. i swear that the line about that the rivers tell secrets is from something... i know it. but i just cant think of it. im sure its from something.... IKEANB$EW@ i will research.

[rone rivendale]

I hate to say it, cuz it's going to sound like a flame... but I didn't like any of the songs in Stone Palace.

With that said, the best song was Thornberry's. I won't say it's a diamond in the rough but.... you know when you are a little kid and you are playing in your driveway and you see that one shiny rock in the sea of other normal rocks? Thornberry was a shiny rock.

I couldn't help but get a Kurt Cobain vibe from your singing effort. I don't know if that's this song or if you always sound that way but I liked it.

[a bebop a rebop]

Dark Liberty - as has been mentioned, this is a punk song. I'm not really picking up on the lyrics, they're kinda buried. I don't care for the guitar riff around :50, and the fact that it's just basically in unison with the bass. Why would you give the bass a massive solo if it's clearly not a real bass? I like the breakdown at 1:42 a whole lot, I don't know why, maybe because I can hear the lyrics here, and I quite like the vocal style. Overall it's just really simple, not doing much for me.

Deux Freres - I like the guitar noises in the left ear. Your voice is pretty nice and I like the horn touches, but I guess I just really don't care for this overblown singing style. It's not just you, a lot of people do it, and a lot of other people seem to like it, so keep on by means. The story is kinda neat. I'm glad you varied it around 2:45, and I really like the horn stuff here. Are they real? They sound great, just maybe slightly too perfect. Anyway, perfectly solid song.

Doscientos - I like the guitar sounds and that acoustic bass jamming away down there a lot. Your vocal stylings are of a school not my own but they fit the song perfectly well. Sounds like it'd be a lot of fun to play in your band. Why is there a minute of silence at the end of your song?

Jeff Robertson - guitar tone: awful, but that's already been addressed. I actually kinda like how it sounds when the solo comes in... I look forward to hearing your stuff with an amp. Also it's kinda annoying when you get off the rhythm of that bassy noise (which might be unnecessary) towards the end. Re: voice, read the Deux Freres entry.

Luke Henley - you have some kind of lyrical genius, with words and with melody. I would be surprised if you ever tried to write anything catchy, but you manage it every time anyway. The break around the minute mark doesn't have to be there, you masochist. Wow, that singing around 1:25 is awesome... we should collab. The acoustic slide guitar solo is sort of a what the fuck moment, but it works much better than you might think if you heard the words "plinky-plunky acoustic slide guitar solo in a piano pop song". That's a compliment.

Pumpkin Buzzard - I like your noises, both of the different voices work for this song. I'm looking around for the corpses falling through the ceilings and the spinning blades popping out of the floor. That creepy sax solo is just great man. Was that recorded for the song? I like the song. Stoonnnnnnnee........

Steve Gamble - you sound like a goofy, happy guy. The music is neat but it got old for me pretty quickly. The lyrics... meh. The song is just fine.

Thornberry - pretty cool song. For what this is, essentially radio rock, there's something... imperfect... about the production. I couldn't tell you how to fix it, and whatever, that's not what we're going for anyway. I like the break at :57 a lot. Nice solo. I like your voice a lot except when you're saying whoa whoa. Solid song.

Wages - this is a lot better than your previous entry. Seriously, make some friends who play bass and drums. I like your lyrics, particularly at the very beginning. Tune your guitar a little better, if ya don't mind.

Wreckdom - this could be really cool if I could hear the lyrics, I think. I like the noises at the beginning and I think it's cool how the drumset sounds like it could fall apart at any time. Make a song out of it though.

so...

So definitely voting for Luke this time, honorable mentions to Pumpkin Buzzard and Thornberry.

[furrypedro]

There was very little in this fight that caught my ear even slightly. That's not to say they were all shite but lacking inspiration somewhat.

not bad stuff from doscientos, and Thorny surprised me after last time so fair play there.

Vote goes to Luke Henley by 500 miles and through a wormhole.

I really love that track, a couple of distinctly different feelings in it, those chords on 1:34 are pure magic. like a Joe Hisaishi moment in the middle of the song which just lends this totally enchanting fervor. keep this up and chances are you'll have a classic album on your hands, which would be nice. I'll put it out

[nyjm]

dark liberty
--- too much reverb on the vox ---
--- repetitive and unoriginal passionless punk ---
+++ good beat, tight arrangement +++

deux freres
--- un peu lent ---
+++ bonne histoire +++
+++ la differenciation des guitares +++
+++ belle fanfare +++

doscientos
+++ bounce +++
+++ solo guitar +++
--- one minute of silence? ---

jeff robertson
+++ atmosphere +++
/// vox need to be more differentiated from the music ///
+++ lead guitar bouncing around (can i have that plug-in?) +++

luke henley
+++ sudden fade mid-way though +++
+++ doubled vox +++
--- solo attempt ---

pumpkin bizzard
+++ stone-dragging sound +++
--- wussy vox ---
--- becomes repetitive ---
+++ sax +++

steve gamble
+++ filk +++
+++ panning +++
/// maybe not enough over the top; really compotent writing and production, but not monty python funny ///

thornberry
+++ guitar +++
--- drums (too much cymbal) ---
+++ vox +++
///winner of the "most radio friendly" award for this fight///
--- meanders ---

wages
/// there's a good song in here; finish it and come again ///
help and how to thread
The Sonic Spot downloads of all kinds
hammerhead rhythm station a basic and easy-to-use drum machine for the PC
Leaf Drums a slightly more advanced but more natural-sounding drum machine for the PC
and if you like, i'll drum you :-)

wreckdom
/// i missed wreckdom ///
+++ atmosphere (aka, noise assault) +++
--- "2006" ---

[jeff robertson]

+++ atmosphere +++
/// vox need to be more differentiated from the music ///

Hmm. I sort of did that on purpose, because I wasn't particular impressed with the vocals. I actually added the other instrument shadowing the melody to try to obscure the vocals a bit.

+++ lead guitar bouncing around (can i have that plug-in?) +++

No plug in, just some mousework.

1. apply standard echo to guitar track
2. copy and paste entire track into new track
3. pan the the original and the duplicate hard left and hard right
4. time-shift one of the tracks by a fraction of a second

[LukeU]

I love your song, Luke! (Henley, of course)

[jimtyrrell]

Stone Palace reviews.

Darkliberty – I’ve heard worse. Can’t make out much of the lyric, but it’s got a good feel. I especially like when the guitar comes back in after that bass break at about 1:30. Good ending, too.

Deuxfreres- I found the ending a little disappointing. With a story song like this, I think a fadeout lacks the required finality. But that’s a small gripe; this is mostly all right. I like the bridge especially; the chords are a timely change-up.

Doscientos – This is fun right from go. Is this seriously 32kbps? That’s what my crappy mp3player says. Those background sounds are great! …Oh wait, there’s a lot of blank space at the end of this, isn’t there? I gotta check to see if it’s intentional. Skipping ahead…no, this is really weird. My mp3 player just can’t seem to figure this one out. But it played the whole thing for me, which is cool. Fun song. Nice work.

Jeffrobertson – Sounds pretty muddy. Not a bad song, and I like the arrangement too. But it’s tough to listen to. It sounds like my neighbor is playing it with all his doors and windows shut.

Lukehenley – I don’t much like this until the doubled vocals come in, then I start to like it a bit. By the end, the song hasn’t done much to dissuade me from feeling like this is a pretty halfhanded effort. It has a sort of charm though, and that might be diminished by overworking it. I dunno. I’ll probably listen to this one again, which in itself says it’s not all that bad.

Pumpkinbuzzard – The vocals hold this one back, which is a real shame, because everything else about this is topnotch. Especially that low ‘sliding stone’ sound.

Stevegamble – Now here’s a goofy little number. Clever enough, but it could have been a full minute shorter without losing any of its impact. The end made me laugh though.

Thornberry – Hello! The cymbals are kind of distracting. But once they lay off, in that part that starts around :57, this sounds real good.

Wages – The Ultra-Demo version. Hehe. I’m going to give this the benefit of the doubt and assume that a fleshed-out version would be much better. This falls flat with me, but I can hear some promise in it.

Wreckdom – Dudes, this is just caustic. I feel like I’m listening with my teeth. Maybe that’s a sign of success, now that I think of it.

[Niveous]

Since no one else loves this little fight, I figured I'd do one of my stream of conscious reviews. Usually I would do these reviews using my first listen to a fight. This is my 3rd listen to this fight, so it'll be a little different:

Deux Freres: Slow start for this. It's very Bruce Springsteen minus the gusto. The backing needs to be bigger. If The Boss and the E Street band got a hold of this one, this would get the Jersey girls wet. It's a song with potential but it's too minimal to be really effective. It also needs more punch. Real horns would work for this too. This just needs to be bigger, lusher, arena rock.

Luke Henley: This is Luke and his piano week, huh. For a second there, you lost the rhythm. You sped up. So far, it's not bad but no interesting. Ok, what happened at 1:03? It's like you cut and pasted on another song. The second is better but the guitar solo is fluff. Get rid of the beginning. Develop a whole song that sounds like the second half and you've got a winner (or "Prayer For Pancakes, pt. 2")

Steve Gamble: Set Reviews on Kill. Nice guitars, they are clear and crisp. But what the hell. Unicorns prance?? I guess this is this week's "I'm here to amuse myself" song. And then when it should've stopped at 2:30...no, it drags for another minute and there goes the tell-tale laughing at your own joke. Where the unicorns fly??? Unicorns don't fly. Thanks for wasting JB & Spud's webspace for your own amusement. See, there is a difference between making a funny entry and making an entry to amuse yourself. This is the latter and that doesn't fly with me. Shoo.

Pumpkin Buzzard: Sometimes PB is hit or miss. I enjoy them generally because they are willing to take risks and often make them succeed. This time, it doesn't pay off. The lilting high voice just doesn't work. I like the sax section. The drums are very weak for a PB tune. It was okay but not great. It's not gonna sit on my PB greatest hits CD between Lonely Lives and Important Nightmare. Hmmm. (Stops himself from leaving the page to go listen to Important Nightmare).

Wages: One of my co-workers just walked by and said she liked this song. That oughta make ya happy, Wages. As for my view, as a G^2 guy like you, I've learned that you can't phone in your performance. You have to put yourself into it or else, it'll just drag and be lifeless. Even when the song has lyrics like this one, you have to put more feeling into it. The chorus screams out for some Eddie Vedder-esque oomph. The delivery is too middle of the road to work for me. Either strength it up or go really depressed.

Jeff Robertson: I would've loved if this song would've had some of the guitar. This has a Who feel to it musically and that could work. The vocals are bland. Lost my attention after a while.

Wreckdom: Is this the beginning of another year full of Wreckdom. This is just odd. But I kinda dig it. This is gonna scare the co-workers. I think it's the fucked around with vocals that won me over.

Doscientos: I love the rockabilly. This is just such a fun tune. The band is tight and you can see a band playing this at a sock hop (or take out Buddy Holly from the Weezer video and place this song instead). What's with all the silence? I think this gets my vote.

Dark Liberty: This reminds me so much of Strawberry Pancakes (http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Strawberry+Pancakes/) and then you play Mary Had a Little Lamb as a guitar solo. I can't take this seriously. Mary Had a Little Lamb!!! WTF! Okay, I'm back to trying to take it seriously. It's a weak punk song. The vocals are just too far back and that solo has to go. It's not egregious but not good either.

Thornberry: Thornberry plays Melvin or perhaps the Goo Goo Dolls. Is that a bad thing? No, not really. Pop rock is okay. This is a good, well-produced song but it has one flaw, it's not catchy. Pop needs to be catchy. If this had a decent chorus, this would steal my vote. The end of your verses keep falling flat too but overall, it's a good tune.

Win: Doscientos
Place: Thornberry
Show: Wreckdom

[Thornberry]

Pop rock is okay. This is a good, well-produced song but it has one flaw, it's not catchy. Pop needs to be catchy. If this had a decent chorus, this would steal my vote

I agree with you. BUT! Hopefully my entry for Too far away wont let you down as much

[Francois]

Wreckdom: I like industrial music and this gestures at that, more than gestures, actually. But I can’t tell if this is a spoof or just crap. Perhaps a bit of both. I guess just feel like the vocals and the theremin thing just don’t work together with the Ministry underpinning. I also have basically no idea what you’re saying.

Wages: I like your Vedder-esque vocal sensibilities, If you reign in the intonation the vocal performance could get you a long way. The song structure doesn’t feel all that firm to me, but it also sounds like you’ve got a whole band in your head. Investing in a few tools to simulate that might help get the song across. [others have suggested you get an acoustic guitar if you don’t have a whole band – I say, if what you’re after is a band sound, don’t bother, invest in those other tools. One writer reference the great solo acoustic performers of the late 20th century. I have always thought that Cobain was just like those guys, but he played a whole band – follow your muse, not your resources – my two cents]

Steve Gamble: You seem way too entertained by your own ideas. But your idea in this case is pretty nice. This is like what we might have gotten if Fairport convention were in the fight. It is weird that you actually announce that it has a different title than the title this week. I think the song is too long. It’s cute but didn’t really engage me in much.

Jeff Robertson – Interesting sound, I like the texture underlying this. Production issues have been discussed. I kinda like the old school distortion. It’s almost like Buddy Holly on a too-slow turntable.I like the impressionist lyrics and I think it works pretty well as a package, but the delivery is a little apathetic and other than the cool texture the arrangement does not add much top the shape of the song.

Pumpkin Buzzard – I like the sliding stone sample a lot as well. The flute, too. The voice really puts me off. The words are pretty ridiculous. Lost me. Too long. You work with sounds in an interesting way, I wish the composition was better. I’m glad you counted off that entry for your band.

Luke Henley – This has interesting aspects to it. The lilt of the lyrics is interesting. I think it reminds me a little of Syd Barret. Decent shape – would make for an interesting Schenkerian analysis. Not a fan of the anti-virtuosic guitar solo. I’m feeling a weak link to the title.

Doscientos – Feel excellently captured. Is this your specialty? Great chorus for this genre. I like this take on the title. Sound effects are a nice touch. Not much substance here, but successful at what it seemed to take on. Backing vocals “oohâ€

[wages]

I appreciate all those who responded to my pouting. I also appreciate all the earnst help and useful tips. I've decided that I was simply being lazy. In fact, for the song due tomorrow, I have spent some time putting together some very simple drums (using Hammerhead), playing the guitar and vocals IN TIME, and doing tweaks including compression and other goodies.

Once you try new and improved Wages, you'll never want the same breakfast cereal again!

[HeuristicsInc]

so only one songwriter posted lyrics in the thread. well, then, your songwriting won't be rated.

pumpkin - i especially like the slowed down drum, but the warbly/low vocals aren't doing it for me on this one. actually i like the cadence of the low vocals. it's driving.

steve - uh, is this song about unicorns, or stone palaces? ah, the lyrics mention it. leave out the falsetto bits. the regular vocals are pretty good. i think this should have more instrumentation.

dark - i think your music has improved, but why did you enter both fights? bad person.

wages - i realize this is just a demo, but it's not capturing my attention.

luke - the vocal parts here are kind of interesting tho chaotic. better early on than later.

wreckdom - weird, as usual, but refreshing, because it's pretty good weird.

deux - i don't think the two vocals work quite well together. the song is pretty cool, though. the horn sound is pretty fun in there. the bassline is probably a little too samey.

jeffr - not fond of the vocals. the guitar solo is good, though.

thornberry - singing a little too hard at :30 or so? this is one of the most complete songs in the fight, though. sounds good. this fast part is quite good. i think the echoey vocal effect is cool but it comes a little too much out of nowhere and goes back there - it's not inherently incorporated into the song like it should be.

doscientos - these songs are always fun. i think i'm hearing too much of your room in the vocal. it sounds like its recording isn't quite up to snuff. the clapping is good stuff. silence?

the best songs in this fight are deux, thorn, and dosc, but there are no flawless songs in this collection.
my vote's for thornberry - the best song here.
-bill

[Eric Y.]

okok hi guys. i listened to all these a couple times in my car yesterday, and now i'm going to write down my thoughts for you.

dark liberty - the really clean-sounding metronomic drums and bass really don't match the dirtiness of the guitars and vocals. i like the yelly singing ("it's a palaaace, a palace made of stooooone") but not the talky parts. especially not "lets have a jam session". also, the lyrics seem very uninspired: i'm singing a song about a stone palace. it's about a palace. and it's made of stone. it's a stone palace.

deux freres - coming from somebody who has a daughter (seven years as of last month), i can appreciate the metaphoric sentiments expressed here, fairy tale disguised as elegy about the desire to shelter one's children forever. however, the lyrics, while approaching cleverness at times ("a house of straw.........a palace made out of stone", and "when she wasn't looking....turned into a prison"), but more often than not it's just really blunt about what you are trying to say ("under his watchful eye" and -- paraphrasing now, i don't remember the exact words -- "wouldn't have to experience the outside world at all", you seem to keep stressing the point more than necessary). also, in the first line the father is a builder, but for the rest of the song he is a king, and it's hard to tell how much is literal and how much is figurative. i loved the horn parts on the chorus, by the way.

doscientos - man i've missed you! i think you were a little too successful in creating the illusion of a live bar recording, because it detracts somewhat from the enjoyment of listening, although i love the song itself.

jeff robertson - is that a metronome just before the song starts? that keeps going throughout? i really like the driving pulse of this song, actually. and the second layer of guitar that comes in is rather cool, especially at the solo, but the mixing is pretty lousy, because everything is so overdriven it's hard to discern anything else. especially what any of the words are. if this was cleaned up i think i'd like it.

luke henley - i enjoyed the piano part for the most part; the singing is not so great, but the arrangement is done well, especially in the second half. the hiss is annoying, but if it was constant i could ignore it -- when it goes away and comes back (perhaps turning off a mic and turning back on, i don't know) it makes the hiss a lot more noticeable. the guitar sounded awful, sorry. keep writing songs, because it sounds like you've got something here, and keep working on the performance and recording aspect.

pumpkin buzzard - i love this song. the lead (first) singing part is not terribly well-done, but the meekness and isolatedness of it, placed against the other vocal part and the scary echoey noises and music, really works in this context. i like the other (deeper) vocal part better, but i'd have liked it more if there was less of it and a little more of the other part. that doesn't make sense, i know. the first lead synth part (right where the deeper vocal starts) doesn't seem to match anything else in tone: it sounds more like a cheap keyboard lead compared with all the other parts. i love the synth-sax breakdown and the "1234". and the ending.

steve gamble - disqualified. the title is supposed to be "stone palace" not "unicorn prance". thanks for playing.

thornberry - (this one, the file seemed all corrupted on the cd in my car, so i'll be hearing it for the first time here.) the snare hits seem way out of time with everything else, and it's very distracting. the singing and guitar have a decent tone to them but the mix could really use some work, giving the parts more sonic space so they aren't all fighting for attention (and ultimately all the parts end up losing). otherwise, sounds like it could be a nice alt.noise.rock thing.

wages - the singing is good, and i like the creative story, but this guitar is so so so sharply muted it's almost physically painful to listen to.

wreckdom - man i remember when you guys were brand new... the old message board is long gone, but i vaguely remember saying something about your song being a waste of my time to listen to. i just wanted to say this is really fantastic. for some reason the "and now it's two thousand and siiiix" part makes me keep hearing (in my head) "and now i can start writing POETRY again" -- (speaking of which, i think you could pull off an awesome cover of "machine", my favourite violent femmes song). and geoff, you really have mad theremin skillz. not like "wow you have a theremin that's so cool" but like, there's a lot of actual talent there. and the guitar that comes in towards the ending is awesome too.

edit: holy crap, i spent so long typing this, i missed the deadline, and the new songs are already all tabulated and stuff. sorry wreckdom, you got cheated out of a vote.

[jeff robertson]

is that a metronome just before the song starts? that keeps going throughout?

The sound at start of the song is a 4 Hz sawtooth wave that is heard as a click every time it peeks. Once the instruments start, it is replaced by various MIDI drums beating straight 8th notes for the rest of the song.