your song is perfect in your dreams (reviews)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
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rone rivendale
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Post by rone rivendale »

I haven't had a chance to listen to the songs yet, but I did listen to Basket's cuz Posyden told me about it.

Honestly, I love it. The fact that someone wrote a song that's 2/3'rds about me is an honor despite the digs. I don't take it seriously, I believe he was just tryin to do what alot of rappers do in the mainsteam. I think Posyden was planning to retort in his next song but I won't be. :P

Heck, I might vote for it no matter what else I hear this week... cuz I'm vain like that.
From spoken word to actual singing, I can screw up any style with style. :D
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Post by TruthAndRegret »

Truth+regret:**1/2
sounds like a dance song for people who don't like to dance ( i mean that in the nicest of ways really). The vocals are a little loud in the mix for my tastes. To test this i turned the volume way down, and when i couldn't even make out the music the vocals where still pretty audible. Not a horrble song tough. The distored part is pretty cool and was needed. The vocals are not that great altough at 136 they improve greatly. The double vocal thing is always good in my eyes. The chorous is okay, but not that well executed. Not too bad.
Yeah... vocals were a bit loud. Blame that on my brother who kept telling me to turn it up.
Truth-Regret Italo-disco frothy fun! This got my vote!
W00t!
Truth and Regret- Snappy song.
Yeah... snappy...
Truth and Regret - crazy dance song. cool. cher could sing to this song.
By the way... if you run a VST compatible program... check out GSnap... it's a freeware VST, so you really have no excuse not to. It's the only freeware pitch correction that I know of.
Truth & Regret: The only time I hear music like this is when I get my hair cut at a place that also has tanning beds. That’s not to say I don’t like it, because I kind of do. And I’ve had some girlfriends who would LOVE it.
Yeah... I kinda like it too... I needed some trancy tracks to even out my normally harsher EBM/futurepop tracks. I tried to keep a harder edge on this track, but I think I failed at that. Regardless, I'm moderately happy with what I came up with it.


And what's this optional challenge of "steal from JB"?? Who is JB? Jimmy Buffet? James Brown? Jim Beam?
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Post by Spud »

TruthAndRegret wrote:And what's this optional challenge of "steal from JB"?? Who is JB? Jimmy Buffet? James Brown? Jim Beam?
Interpretation is up to the contestant...
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jseavers05
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Post by jseavers05 »

jb = john benjamin
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jb
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Post by jb »

jim fallope's file has been replaced with a new one. i haven't tested it, but perhaps this one works.

jb
blippity blop ya don’t stop heyyyyyyyyy
jseavers05
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Post by jseavers05 »

Image

i stole from jb
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jeffhenderson
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Post by jeffhenderson »

jseavers05 wrote:Image

i stole from jb
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :lol:
Last edited by jeffhenderson on Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by jeffhenderson »

jb = john benjamin
That is actually how I initially stumbled upon this website. JB happens to share his name with a main actor, Jon Benjamin, from a hilarious show called "Home Movies". I googled one John Benjamin and got another.
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Post by Edge of LA »

why is everyone using jb's avatar? Aaaargh!
Maaah SPOON is TOO BIG! ----

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Post by Spud »

I suspect that they are being clever and "stealing from jb".
"I only listen to good music. And Octothorpe." - Marcus Kellis
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Post by neutronflow »

Here are my impressions of the songs:

Return of the Dankity Dank: I think this put me to sleep last night; I couldn’t write any intelligible reviews after I played it. I’m somewhat digging it now. I’ve got a version of Tetris that will use any mp3 on my machine for the background music. This would be good for that. Except that the ending is very abrupt which might put me off my game.

@eclectic sp00ns: I don’t really like this because it is repetitive and annoying, and yet, the energy just sweeps me along.

the zero effect with Maya: Reminds me of the New Pornographers. Very fun.

Jim Fallope and his Fallopian Dudes: I don’t like the warbly vocal effect much, though maybe it would grow on me. Nice little tune.

Hostess Mostess: Last night this reminded me of Phil Collins. Today I’m thinking of his old boss, Peter Gabriel. I love how all the vocal bits go together.

Jordan Seavers: Wow. I love this. There. I’ve voted for it.

Melvin: Nice sounding production. Pleasing vocal harmonies. It rocks a fair bit. I like the fade out ending.

Truth and Regret: This is really nice. I go for this kind of thing.

Thornberry: I really like the vocals. One of my favorites.

Jeff Travis Henderson: I would have liked to hear some more of the recorder playing that opened the song. One of my favorites.

Tim Hinkle: Me.

Ken Woodard: Low volume. Reminds me of solo Syd Barrett.

Radio North: Hard to focus on the vocal. I like the sort of spacey sound that I don’t know how to describe properly. The song itself isn’t pulling through the recording, I think.

Those Meddling Kids: Interesting and probably well done, but also fairly irritating.

Destruction Enterprise: I don’t think the rapping is always quite on the beat.

Basket of Hands: The noise that opens this is hideous! Actually it and the next section remind me of the opening of the 80s video game Alternate Reality. I hated this last night but it seems mildly amusing the second time through. (Also, I knew to keep the volume low for the first several seconds).

Level Nivelo: Great lyrics! Made me think of Tom Lehrer.

Wreckdom: “Getting rid of the albatross! I know you very well!â€
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neutronflow
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Post by neutronflow »

Is that guitar out of tune a little?
Quite possibly. It doesn't stay in tune long. I bought it very cheap at Media Play during their going out of business sale. It's somewhat crappy. This is my first attempt at recording with it.
Is that a kazoo solo or what?
Yes, it is a kazoo. :D
Great lyrics! I dig the sound. Huzzah.
I really like Tim Hinkle's dark-side-of-early-Squeeze sound.
Well done! This track evokes Elvis Costello for some reason. Maybe it’s the good lyrics. Very strong voice, too.
Thank you!!! :D
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More reviews needed ITT

Post by Tonamel »

asperse
I like this. It's got some mix issues, such as it lacking a bit too much high end, making it all sound a bit muffled, but it's keeping me interested regardless. 3:45 - The drums are way too loud. They're a bit too loud the whole way through, you didn't need to make them louder. Cut off ending is kind of off-putting.

Basket of Hands
AUGH. I like noise, but get some control over this. Use a distortion plugin, don't just turn the volume up. U rappin': bad. Tremolo on the choir was nice, though a bit "wah-wah"-esque. Again, the flow needs work. I just don't feel what you're saying. I don't mind the dissing, it has a long tradition in rap. Work on your mike handling, and get/make a pop filter. All in all, this song gets marked as having multiple personality disorder.

Destruction Enterprise
Is this supposed to be rap? I can't tell. No, really. If it is, then you need to get beat under this, and then you need to rap to tempo. But right now, it just has a kind of "William Shatner spoken word" quality to it.

@eclectic spOOns
Vocals are very quiet, and weirdly out of sync. Actually, the pacing as a whole is quite odd. Almost as if some instruments have gotten to the next part of the song before others make it there. I don't really like this. Sorry.

Hostess Mostess
Payback time! Heh, no, this is totally awesome. I need to learn to do the multiple vocal stuff as well as you do (Brand New Car <3). Right now, I'm afraid to even try it. I absolutely love this. Great job.

Jeff Travis Henderson
Recorders! But wait, where did they go? Now it's just kind of generic sounding. Not at all bad, but there's nothing to distinguish it as unique in any way. (edit: That sounds kind of harsh, but I'm liking this more and more every time I listen to it. So, hooray!)

Jim Fallope and His Fallopian Dudes
I'll get back to this when I have the new file.
Alright, it's working now. That's a crazy effect on the voice. Chorus? This whole thing is crazy in many ways. I dig the sound, but there's not quite enough variation to keep me into it. I look forward to hearing more!

Jordan Severs
I hear an electric hum at the beginning. You may want to check your cables. This is kind of fun! I think the break should be even more sparse. No drums, no bass, just the guitar and claps. Right now, it's a little too similar to the rest of the song. Still nice, though!

Ken Woodward
I didn't realize there was any playing right away. This may have been mentioned before, but Normalize is your friend. Since it's just G'n'G, the lyrics would really be what sell it, and these aren't doing much for me.

Level Nivelo
More G'n'G? Alright... These lyrics are disturbingly expicit! Not that that's bad, but it's very disjointed with the sweet music. And I like it!

Melvin
The first word that came into my head was 'overproduced.' I think some of the guitars might be overcompressed? I'm not sure what it is that makes me think so, but it just sounds somehow... plastic? Clean? It's a well done song, regardless. I still like it!

Radio North
Vocals are being absolutely swallowed by the guitar. The vocal delivery sounds kind of kitschy, but since I can't make out what you're saying, it's more annoying than entertaining.

Retun of the Dankity Dank
Odd instrumentation at the beginning. But I like odd instrumentations, so we'll see if this works. The bass is too loud! Not bad, but you need to work at getting a sense of cohesiveness between your instruments. Right now, they all sound very seperate. They don't sound like they [/i]belong[/i] together. Also, words of some sort would be nice.

Thornberry
Great intro. Voice is well performed, but a touch too quiet. I'm kind of disappointed when the drums come it. I was really liking how spare it was. The countermelody is good, but the backing singers seem tossed in. The rest of the song is nice, but all I can think of is how much I miss the empty feeling of the beginning.

Those Meddling Kids
Love the beginning. Why is it I can never get vocoders to work? I love the way they sound, and want to use them! (edit: on further listening, that's just phasing, isn't it? But I'm hearing some chords, so I assume vocoding is involved somehow?) I like everything but the vocal delivery at 1:51. It's a little far back in the throat, and not quite hitting all the notes. I love the little glitchy blips, whatever they are. Well done!

Tim Hinkle
Lead vocals should always be centered. And I hate hard panning in general, so you've sort of hit a peeve of mine head on. The song is okay, but nothing is really grabbing my attention. I almost skipped to the next song, but then I would have missed the kazoo solo! Some redemption for that. :)

Truth and Regret
Sounding kinda trancy. Your synths need work, they all sound a bit thin. Distortion, chorus, reverbs, etc., can all help with that. Effect them up! Otherwise, I'm digging it! I actually really like where it winds up. Good stuff.

Wreckdom
I'm getting some kind of odd phasing issues with this. Is that intentional? What can be said about this? It is exactly Wreckdom. And like all things Wreckdom, I have no clue if that's good or not.

The Zero Effect with Maya
There's something wrong with the high pingy guitar notes. Aha, the solo informs me that it's out of tune. Or poorly played. This has the potential to be awesome in a lo-fi kind of White Stripes way, but I never feel like you really got into it. Throw yourselves headfirst into the music, and see what happens!

Stuff about my song going into new post...
Last edited by Tonamel on Wed Feb 08, 2006 3:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
Tonamel
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Post by Tonamel »

asperse wrote:the string or whatever
Mostess wrote:the oboeish melody recap
TruthAndRegret wrote:I especially liked the clarinet
Mostess wins! It is, in fact, an oboe. Well, oboe samples, but it would totally be the real thing if I had access to one. In fact, ALL of my faked instruments [read: everything] would be real if I had access to them.
melvin wrote:I was hoping the guitar would break into a bendy and feedback-drenched slo-mo solo
Yeah, if it wasn't samples, it probably would have. I need real instruments in a desperate way.
TruthAndRegret wrote:Tonamel: I'm thinking Nine Inch Nails on this one. I love it. Nice instrumentation. I can feel the quiet angst. I might just vote for you...

...Also, this song dares to stray from the path of the conventional.
I hate the conventional! (And the conventional hates me!) I'd actually never heard any NIN (other than "Only," because they won't stop playing the music video. Maybe "Closer," too.) before you mentioned this, so I borrowed my roommate's copy of With Teeth. And if you're comparing me to the last two tracks of that, then I'm quite flattered. This song was actually based more on the sound of Low, Mogwai, and Sigur Ros than anything else.
jseavers05 wrote:your name reminds me of toenails.
Yeah, I get that a lot. But I've had this nick for eight years, so it's not changing. (And my brain goes "EIGHT? can that really be right?!")

Thanks for all the good comments, people!
melvin wrote:Awesome. I’d buy an album’s worth of this.
:shock:

...maybe I'm in the wrong line of work?
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Post by furrypedro »

some thoughts...

Renedo: I did write a review for this but didn't bother posting cause I presume it'd get cut. can I say I liked it?

Tim Hinkle: Something about the guitar tone and your voice is a bit jarring, it’s like Fugazi trying to play showtunes which frankly is a concept best left untried. The solo shows up you guitar playing a bit, I’m skipping it. The drums aren’t going to go anywhere are they. Kazoo solos are always good. The verse ain’t bad but there’s nothing else to this song apart from the solos. This song could use A) a chorus (or different section at least) B) some dynamics; I spent the whole song waiting/hoping for the drums to kick in (or something more imaginative but equally dramatic) and when they didn’t it was a bit disappointing.

Homostessess: woah, cool. Nice picking and chanting action. Your songs are always pretty robust and I’m the kind of person who tends to want for more texture and stuff so this is great. I reckon a few people will think there’s too much going on here but I like the melody, backing vox, percussion and all that stuff. Well-formed, well-played. my favourite of your songs, Up there

The Zero Effect w/Maya: Does a good job of sounding like Guided by Voices in the absence of sonofsupercar (:( ) but it's probably just because I want it too. This isn’t bad but it’s not really holding my attention, and the mix is kind of clouding some elements. I try not to let production get in the way of how good a song really is but I can imagine this souding so much more interesting, with some work it could be great.

Radio North: Interesting stuff. The guitar and beats approach reminds me of Beck in a way although you don’t sing like him. The vocals could be louder. This is okay and there are some fun bits.

asperse: I’m liking the laidback morose fell to this. the cheap beats are good apart from that bit where the kick starts pounding away, it sticks out a bit too much and starts to get annoying. But all the sounds in the background are cool. I’m probably more into the concept than the actual song here, though I like the transition between incidental beats and strummy chorus.

Jim Fallope and his Fallopian Dudes wins band name of the month! Which is just as well because with that broken link he ain’t gonna win with his song. Ah no! it works now, cool. um.....this is ok. that's an interesting little beat going on there, the verse is alright, reminds me of Manitoba, clue to Kalo type stuff. after that this is way too repetitive. with more ideas it'd be okay but it goes nowhere.

Ken Woodward: I’m expecting acoustic guitars. And what’s the first thing I hear? There must be something about the name Woodward (or something about songfight). There’s some pretty downbeat chords here, reminds me of Automatic-era REM (and sorry for this but nobody does – or will ever do - that as well as they did). It has it’s moments but I think one listen is all this can ever get from me.

Level Nivelo are by contrast, much more whimsical and I wrote that before you sang the line about sucking cock. That intro is directly lifted from ‘El Presidente’ by Drugstore. I like this, it’s all about the lyrics which are Slightly mountain goats-ish (and that’s always a good thing) but the guitar helps lend to the whole feelgood vibe I think it has. Good song

Thornberry: This fight seems pretty stripped down so far; surely Thorny can turn that around. Ooh, he’s in Elton mode. Your piano stuff definitely sounds more accomplished than your guitar stuff, erg, bit of a slip there when the drums kick in. There are places when the drumming seems just a touch too enthusiastic for the song, like the drummer’s used to playing in punk bands, minor quibble tho. Solid stuff here, and this is probably the wrong time to say but I kept singing your Adonai the last couple of days, so maybe I should let this one sink in a bit before I vote. I agree with Melvin though, I’m way more excited about your entries than I used to be.

Wreckdom: That sample at the beginning was cool, but dude this is just sinister. Haha “I was a hotdog and everybody wanted meâ€
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Post by jb »

Edge of LA wrote:why is everyone using jb's avatar? Aaaargh!
because it is awesome
blippity blop ya don’t stop heyyyyyyyyy
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Post by TruthAndRegret »

Jim Fallope and his Fallopian Dudes: This song might have been a contender if there wasn't that weird vocal effect on your voice. Give it much much less of the strange effects next time. It seems like you can sing, so there's no point in hiding behind strange effects that ruin the mood of the song. And I'm a big fan of this style of music, so this song really might have won me over.
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Post by Edge of LA »

jb wrote:
Edge of LA wrote:why is everyone using jb's avatar? Aaaargh!
because it is awesome
Awesome, it is. But a jb tease it creates.
Image
Maaah SPOON is TOO BIG! ----

http://moxieprophets.com
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Re: More reviews needed ITT

Post by Thornberry »

Tonamel wrote: I'm kind of disappointed when the drums come it. I was really liking how spare it was....... but all I can think of is how much I miss the empty feeling of the beginning.
...
The reason I didnt keep it just piano is that whenever i do, people scoff at it.

But no really, I remixed the song and i held off the drums until the chorus (comes in with the back-round vox) and i held the bass off until the second verse. I think this creates a nice build-up. My biggest regret is getting sick the day (Sunday) i had set aside to record. This prohibited me from ad-libbing at the end, cause i couldnt really go any higher than the chorus, but maybe that was a good thing, i dunno.

Thanks for the reviews everyone....mine are coming probably this weekend!
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Post by Tonamel »

Furrypedro wrote:Tonamel:...I really like that fuzzy sound tho I’m sure it would grate with many people, reminds me of Khonnor in a big way and the vocals kind of do too...
That's exactly what I was listening to just before I started writing it, so... no surprise there. Tarentel and Khonnor (particularly his "i, cactus" incarnation) are both awesome, so I don't mind being compared to them. :D
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Post by blue »

i voted for Marcus.
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Post by jseavers05 »

jimfallope+hisfallopiandudes - dude this stuff sounds pretty funky. really dig the intro. i think the effects were a little overdone on the vocals. but oh well, it still = neato
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