At least the sonofabitch left me breakfast (April Morning)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
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At least the sonofabitch left me breakfast (April Morning)

Post by Albatross »

Peachy.
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Post by boltoph »

This fight is small, but very sweet. Brody, Smalltown Mike, Wreckdom...

I'll be doing some reviews, I think.
Last edited by boltoph on Wed Feb 15, 2006 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by furrypedro »

oops! well, I guess I'm not the first person to forget to post their track in for a fight; and it's not like it would've won or anything.

Still, for those who like their tunes clicky here is April Morning, With a Peach by Those Meddling Kids.

damn
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Post by jb »

send it in, you fucking moron, geez
blippity blop ya don’t stop heyyyyyyyyy
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Post by boltoph »

Smalltown Mike
I like the harmonies. Seems the vocals could come up a little bit. The guitar and drums are rocking. Esp. the drums, and I like the radio voice, never heard someone double a real voice with a radio voice before, that's cool. Psyched to hear doubling and harmonies. And that solo. I like the subject matter, it's a little dirty. I might think the guitar can come down a notch, and the vocals up a twiddly-hair.

Brody
Man this is glued to my face. Those drum tones sound familiar. I love the laid back slinky vibe. That one verse line repeat fashion is great. i was hoping for a big bang, slam into it sort of thing, but I can appreciate how it's subdued the whole time. The title line feels really natural, this reminds me of the Dead meets the Police. I really like the guitar tones, and the way the lead snakes in and out.

Chuck the Bear
Nice groove, nice bass line movement over smooth soothing music. Another case of dry production over a great hooky tune. Vocals a bit too loud, could use some reverb or stereo treatment to sound larger, on the whole mix, or just the drums / bass perhaps. Nice stops, this is a great little tune, nice chord changes as the song moves on. Man i crave to guitar solo over this. Work that key change! And nice ending...

Wreckdom
Nice anticipation in that guitar during the first minute...I hear that this could be much larger during the heavy part. Needs bigger, louder drums and grittier guitar maybe...nice contrast, I love how you guys always drop the heavy bomb at some point.

Monkey Tennis
Some good lines mingled with a bunch of vocals that could use work, your chorus line is that song "pulling mussels from the shell" but at least it's catchy and I can appreciate that. Good work on the title line, the rest of the vocals are whack though. Except for "I don't give a fuck about may".

Ecclectic
I'm finding the instrumentation is cool, the vocals need work. Lots of work. Working all three titles into one song is a cliche thing that's been done many times before.

eEquals
You must've ripped off a childhood nursery rhyme song of some kind...I can appreciate that you sort of do what you can with what you have, and there are very few a capela entries in songfight. You have a refrain, I can give you that. You really need to at least tap on a desk or something along with your voice, or something.

It's a fight, between Smalltown, Brody, and Chuck.

Maybe I'll get to add more comments later about the rest of the songs, but honestly, my ears are offended by some of the other songs I didn't mention.
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Post by philtr »

Smalltown Mike: I love the stereo separation on the guitar. I could have sworn it was coming from behind me.
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Post by The Anchors »

Prediction: Smalltown Mike as victor.
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Post by Geoff WreckdoM »

This week on Songfight, the study of "Peach" as a metaphor for the fairer sex, next week "Melons"...


@eclectic sp00ns: Starts out sounding cool but treads the same ground excessively. The music is redundant hoping the story will carry it, and the story is too hard to make out to pay attention.

The Anchors: Sweet guitar tone, upbeat and feelin’ good. I don’t mind at all that I can’t make out half of what you’re saying or that it crackles up in lo-fi land because you pulled it off nicely, those things are the songs attributes. You grabbed my attention quick, kept it, and slipped out long before your welcome was worn. This ones a real crowd pleaser, fun stuff.

Brody: Dig the guitar riffs and especially their dueling interaction starting at 1:21. Cool, low key, and almost funky, almost jam band but not obnoxious. Drums sound great, it’s a tight performance. Vocals are o.k., they don’t grab me so much. Overall it’s nice and easy going and undemanding, but not all that memorable.

Chuck the Bear: This has appeal, the wording is very pleasant, the chorus is especially catchy. Not exactly what I would go for but you pull the genre off well.

Danny Geary: Is this all one take all recorded at once into one mic? You’d get a much better vocal performance if you didn’t have to play guitar or drums or whatever at the same time. Your recording “styleâ€
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Post by The Anchors »

Thanks, Wreckdom. It's nice for someone to recognize the lo-fi of the vocals as an attribute of the song because I realized that it would turn some people off, but it is done intentionally.

And if you're at all interested in the understanding the vocals I did post the lyrics up. http://www.songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1999

This fight really has some good songs. And that E Equals song is begging to be remixed...
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Post by furrypedro »

jb wrote:send it in, you fucking moron, geez
you're so great jb, I love you :D :lol: :oops: :roll: :D
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Post by Leaf »

Anchors: I liked the vibe right off. Reminds me of the Dead Milkmen. Production is not stellar, but it so reminds me of cassettes I’d pick up and listen to when I was 14, 15… a raw punk vibe. Fun, I liked it. Second Listen: I like it more. I think that things like tightening up the playing and better production are important, but the vibe and the song are good. Arbitrary rating: I like meat and potatoes.

Brody: I drummed on this, and it was fun. It has a real jam vibe, and I really dig duets, especially with male voices. Online collabs that feel like a live jam, especially whilst recording those makes me wet. And it’s got a catchy chorus. I like. Arbitrary Rating: Watermelons and black licorice, lollipops and a bowl of Jell-O.

Chuck the Bear: Very nice, right off. Good song and I like the sound. I like this. It’s raw, but has good vibe, it rocks. Nice vocals. Arbitrary Rating: Pasta with sauce…meat sauce. And one slice of cheesy garlic toast. I like cheesy garlic toast…usually prefer two or three slices though.

Danny Geary: Nope. Arbitrary Rating: eggplant with a side of liver.
Man, this is … not good enough.

No Id tag person: Nope. Arbitrary Rating: hmm…man, this is like you only got a loonie or two and you haven’t eaten in three days and suddenly you’re offered day old rice… and they take your money and you got gummy, old, crunchy rice. Not.

Eclectic Spoons: A relief after the preceding works. One small problem, and perhaps this has been mentioned. Aren’t you in the wrong fight? Pickle juice. You’re singing pickle juice…isn’t this April Morning? Ahhh…the old “Let’s be clever and use all three titlesâ€
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Post by Clats »

Leaf...your arbitrary ratings are one of the funniest things things I have read Song Fight. You are either high, hungry or a lovely combination of both. Keep chewing.
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Post by Albatross »

Leaf wrote:Arbitrary Rating: eggplant with a side of liver.
Ouch.
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Post by Smalltown Mike »

brody

Love the groove. At first I wasn’t sold on the vox, but you got me by the end. Some variety would have helped, but this is definitely a keeper.

Chuck the Bear

The intro for this sounds so much like Cake’s Comanche that it’s distracting. Luckily, I’m a big fan of Cake. I like the chorus more than the verse; it’s clever and it doesn’t sound like Cake as much. I like the laying in bed with a a peach line. Another keeper. But seriously, if you don’t know Comanche, listen to it and you’ll be amazed.

Danny Geary

One big fast forward.

Monkey Tennis

The lyrics add some good contrast to an otherwise pretty squeaky clean tune. I’m a sucker for the word fuck, too. Good production, but it sounds unfinished—two verses, two choruses—and is that a weird splice at 1:44? Yikes. But good basis.

Those Meddling Kids

I’m not sold. It’s good and interesting, but some of the vocal phrasing seems off. I don’t like the “felt like someone was here last nightâ€
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Post by jack »

ken woodard
any song with lalala used as part of the verse shows a lack of effort. i do like the mandolin though. hate the recording. vocals have an endearing neil young quality about them, but not enough to make me really like them.

dawn treader
repetitious arrangement, lacks dynamics, gets old quick. dude, are you ken woodard? another productionally challenged entry makes me like my chances.

danny geary
gah, what the hell is this?!? where the hell are the songs this week?

eclecticsp00ns
this isn't too bad. or maybe it's a relative thing. mix is actually pretty solid, and the rap has it's moments. using all the titles is teh cliche.

brody
brody is me and e-money, with t-money (leaf) on drums.

e-equals
wow, this is pretty cool actually. a very bold move to submit an a cappella track so points for that. i'd like to remix this actually.

chuck the bear
cool arrangement, very jazzy steely dannish. great bass. great drums. yeah. great.

monkey tennis
this is pretty good. your vocals sound really good tone wise, but it seems like you're almost over enunciating at times to the point of sounding a little too sincere. but when you double them up, they sound really awesome in an old 60's sort of way. guitar, bass, and drums are all fine but your strength here is really your singing which is pretty strong. nice job.

smalltown mike
nice. rocks all the way around. vocals sound excellent, could even come up a bit in the mix. guitar sounds excellent. great dynamics in the arrangement. i almost wish that by the second verse or definitely by the bridge that you'd have some noodly lead guitar playing off that main riff. leaf, awesome lead dude. hell yeah, smell the fucking glove brother. :)

the anchors
well done but frankly painful to listen too.

those meddling kids
the mix sounds very sequenced and disjointed without any seeming linear arrangement. maybe that's what you were going for. same with the singing. sounds like you listen to U2.

wreckdom
i think i always review you guys last. anyways, i like to review you last because i like to be able to give you my full and undivided attention knowing that i won't have to listen to any more songs. i'm digging this. it's got a cool butthole surfer feel and vibe to it, and as an unabashed fan of the harmony vocal, that deep-ass effected vocal you have going warms my heart like buckshot from the rifle of dick cheney. good job gentlemen. and i gotta say i totally dug your peace train as well.
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Post by Leaf »

Clats wrote:Leaf...your arbitrary ratings are one of the funniest things things I have read Song Fight. You are either high, hungry or a lovely combination of both. Keep chewing.

Why thank you. I find that your review of my reviews has generated an arbitrary rating of: Leopold's smack the baby chicken.


I'm watching you.



(And I was at "work", not high or hungry... and sadly, not even a lovely combination of both. But I thank you sir.)
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Post by Ratt Poizon »

hello
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Post by Nigel (spOOn) Clements »

Nice is not a word I usually attach to stuff that I really like, i guess it's just a polite way of saying it isn't bad, and a lot of these songs are really nice, and would probably rate higher on most weeks, there just seems to be a lot of samey nice type songs... sorry that's not constructive I know, but I can only really comment on what I like and what I don't.

The Anchors: White Stripes meets Atom & his Package, really really good, though woefully short, I would have loved this to have gone on for another minute. 6/10

WreckdoM: The slow bits are superb, all wobbly and eccentric, Lyrically weird (which is cool) the rocking parts needed to rock a bit more, though highly entertaining and original. 7/10

Smalltown Mike: A touch PUSA, really cool vocals, somthing I could easily listen to over again, professional production too, my personal favourite this week. 7/10 (should be 7 and a half but I can't find the half key).

Monkey Tennis: Lyrically excellent, easy on the ear, definately needs an uptempo break, just a bit too pleasant for my tastes, also sounds a bit over-rehearesed perhaps. 6/10

Ken Woodard: I take it all back, really pleasant, gentle melody, plaintive vocals, very wistful, not really my cup of tea but good nonetheless. 5/10

E Equals: I have to applauded you for that repeating "April Morning" I would have got all tongue-tied, lovely breathy voice, just a bit rushed in places, sounds a touch Cheese on Bread. 5/10

Dawn Treader: TOO QUITE! sorry this is probably a good song, but I download the tracks to my player and then listen to them at work and I can't be messing around with the volume control or other songs will blast my ears, (have you tried MP3Gain?). 3/10

Brody: This isn't your fault but it just seems that there are more than the normal quota of pleasant soft rock/easy listening type tracks this week. 5/10

Chuck the Bear: Genuinely cheesy, I like that! though very easy listening again. 6/10

Danny Geary: Sounds like Tap-dancing! sorry this isn't for me. 2/10

Those Meddling Kids: I like your voice, the inflections on "I felt someone was here last night" are spot on! Though you've fallen victim to the gentle melody disease that seems to have affected everybody. 5/10

@eclectic spOOns: Umm! better?

Cheers everybody.
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Post by Moose »

Hey Chuck the Bear- listen to Cake much? Man, that song sounds exactly like "Comanche" from their album Motorcade of Generosity. Not in the same key, but it has the same melody line for a bit, and the same groove and everything. I'm curious to know if that was intentional or not.. because if not, that would be a pretty wild coincidence.
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Post by GlennCase »

smalltown mike wrote: Chuck the Bear

The intro for this sounds so much like Cake’s Comanche that it’s distracting. Luckily, I’m a big fan of Cake. I like the chorus more than the verse; it’s clever and it doesn’t sound like Cake as much. I like the laying in bed with a a peach line. Another keeper. But seriously, if you don’t know Comanche, listen to it and you’ll be amazed.
Moose wrote:Hey Chuck the Bear- listen to Cake much? Man, that song sounds exactly like "Comanche" from their album Motorcade of Generosity. Not in the same key, but it has the same melody line for a bit, and the same groove and everything. I'm curious to know if that was intentional or not.. because if not, that would be a pretty wild coincidence.
Justin and I both really like the entire Motorcade of Generosity CD, and we were actually AIMING to have something with an early era Cake-ish feel on the verses. As we were writing it, I was afraid that the verses sounded too much like Comanche, but we both figured that the song was different enough to not be a problem. Heh. Apparently it sounds more like Comanche than we anticipated. Both of you noticed, too!

We still like how the song came out, mind you. It was a one day song with no further mixes. If we had it to do over, we probably would have re-considered the verse structure, and turned the vocals down a bit in the mix.

ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)
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Post by furrypedro »

Anchors: I love short songs and I (nearly) love this. great sound even if it could stand a bit of tightening up, and great lyrics. One of my faves.

Brody: Cool and funky. I like the way this meanders in a Karate-ish type way. Drumming is really good, the way you use the hi-hats, guitars have some nice licks. I can take or leave the vocals but overall this is good.

Chuck the bear: A fairly good song here; it’s quite jazzy and whimsical. The guitar solo fits really well. You’re lyrics are kinda catchy, probably better than Brody’s but the tracks not as interesting.

The fights sounding hella good so far…

….and Danny Geary’s about to change all that. It has a charm for sure but none of the elements seem to be even aware of each others presence. Sounds very much made up on the spot. Are you slapping your thighs? If you are then excellent.

Dawn treader: I turned this up as far as it would go and didn’t like what I heard. It might have sounded like it resembled something edgy 15 years ago.

The Spoons: This starts off sounding like a robot Tom Waits (sober, mind you) freestyling over a Spice Girls backing track. I see how you got all the weeks titles into one song.

Eequals: a modern nursery rhyme maybe? I can see kids in playgrounds singing this in the year 2025.

Ken Woodward: I’m not really digging this, but while I was trying to be subjective it was doing okay until that whiney bit around 2:37 which really grates. I kind of like the guitar tone, though I imagine that’s possibly not a guitar, but it’s cool. I suppose the song makes up in imagery and mood what it lacks in production and technique.

Monkey Tennis: I was so pleased to see somebody has finally decided to call their band Monkey Tennis; Carpetburn came so close to being called that. The tracks solid too, I can see this winning on the strength of the vocal performance. I’ll be filing it next to Mr Man & Dr Funk and Pipefist.

Smalltown Mike wins most distinctive voice of the fight prize. Stock chunky guitar sound, I expect nothing less, and it may have put me off slightly (I’m a bit anti-cock rock) if it weren’t for the song structure and stop-starts, which are good. Nothing wrong with this at all, and there’s some good sing-a-long bits too. Nice job

TMK: thanks to the admin for putting this up in spite of my mistake. I can see how the signature changes would throw people off but I thrive on stuff like that so I guess this one’s all for me. I don’t usually go falsetto but I like the way this works too; not too many glaring off-key moments and it excels in it’s glitchyness so I’m pleased.

Wreckdom: surprisingly listenable so far. I like the alien vox, that sounds like smalltown mike in places too (not the freaky vox, the normal ones…..what am I saying, normal?!) This is ok, cos I think the weirdness becomes a lot more palatable and has more impact when you lure the listener into that false sense of accessability. Make ‘em settle in and THEN melt their faces.

In conclusion
An up and down fight, some pretty good stuff in there. So thanks Anchors, Brody, Monkey Tennis and STM
And thanks to the people who didn’t get their entries in for not making this fight a marathon.
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Post by Justincombustion »

GlennCase wrote:
smalltown mike wrote: Chuck the Bear

The intro for this sounds so much like Cake’s Comanche that it’s distracting. Luckily, I’m a big fan of Cake. I like the chorus more than the verse; it’s clever and it doesn’t sound like Cake as much. I like the laying in bed with a a peach line. Another keeper. But seriously, if you don’t know Comanche, listen to it and you’ll be amazed.
Moose wrote:Hey Chuck the Bear- listen to Cake much? Man, that song sounds exactly like "Comanche" from their album Motorcade of Generosity. Not in the same key, but it has the same melody line for a bit, and the same groove and everything. I'm curious to know if that was intentional or not.. because if not, that would be a pretty wild coincidence.
Justin and I both really like the entire Motorcade of Generosity CD, and we were actually AIMING to have something with an early era Cake-ish feel on the verses. As we were writing it, I was afraid that the verses sounded too much like Comanche, but we both figured that the song was different enough to not be a problem. Heh. Apparently it sounds more like Comanche than we anticipated. Both of you noticed, too!

We still like how the song came out, mind you. It was a one day song with no further mixes. If we had it to do over, we probably would have re-considered the verse structure, and turned the vocals down a bit in the mix.

ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)



Actually,Funny story: I was using an idea from Matchbox 20. I know I know, but this girl used to listen to them where I worked. Anyway there's this song called "3am" and I was doing the line call back thingey from the beginning of that. So I had to change it so I wouldn't sound too much like Matchbox 20 (because who the hell wants that?) and must've Caked it up too much. Damn.
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