Don't Tug on Superman's Cape (A Friendly Reminder reviews)

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:51 pm

etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

veGetar Ianra Ge · Post by **veGetar Ianra Ge** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:50 pm

Great entries everyone!!!! It will be hard to pick!

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:03 pm

veGetar Ianra Ge wrote:Great entries everyone!!!! It will be hard to pick!

Um .... confused....what have you heard? Or are you being a provacatouer?

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:00 pm

SPOILERSSPOILERSPOILERS

frickin Hazy Shade of Winter

jackfrost · Post by **jackfrost** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:19 pm

another nice sized fight.
the artist list is somewhat unexpected.
it looks like it could be:
a bunch of new people who submitted 1 minute soundscapes or 1 and a half minute poorly recorded non-songs (like about half of the Memphis fight)
or a flood of songfight "super groups" tyring to cash in on the BLT/Wages successful collaboration (like all the sci-fi shows greenlit for primetime tv this year to cash in on the success of heroes)
or people i will recognize who have changed their submit name
or people from before my time coming back to songfight.

don't bother downloading everything yet, there is at least one song that is cut off (from the three i tried to listen to). unless the song is just supposed to end there. the last word before it's cut off is "laziness" so maybe it's a joke thing. edit: actually two songs sound like they cut off.

anyway, especially after the last fight, this one looks like it's going to be tedious to listen to.

veGetar Ianra Ge · Post by **veGetar Ianra Ge** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:11 pm

SECRET SONG SECRET SONG! WHO'S WHITE HAT?

Post by **Lunkhead** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:13 pm

I see a White Hat entry in the .m3u playlist, but I don't see him listed on the home page or the fight page. That seems to put him at a bit of a disadvantage in the fight.

I liked his song, and Jeff and Melvin's songs.

And yes, Hazy Shade of Winter, definitely.

veGetar Ianra Ge · Post by **veGetar Ianra Ge** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:20 pm

erik wrote:SPOILERSSPOILERSPOILERS

frickin Hazy Shade of Winter

i was pretty sad about that, but i didn't want to rerecord because my organ soloing skill is key dependant, so instead i started adding to the problem. HELLLLLOOOO TAMBOURINE AND DOUBLETRACKING! I also briefly considering entering as the Bongles. It's alright i wouldn't vote for it either.

Msp, who are you? I'm a new fan.

Lord of Oats · Post by **Lord of Oats** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:35 pm

Okay, here's the link for the White Hat, until somebody fixes the list.

http://www.songfight.org/music/a_friend ... at_afr.mp3

[EDIT: FIXED]

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:53 pm

veGetar Ianra Ge wrote:
erik wrote:SPOILERSSPOILERSPOILERS

frickin Hazy Shade of Winter
i was pretty sad about that, but i didn't want to rerecord because my organ soloing skill is key dependant, so instead i started adding to the problem. HELLLLLOOOO TAMBOURINE AND DOUBLETRACKING! I also briefly considering entering as the Bongles. It's alright i wouldn't vote for it either.

I kind of liked it though. Maybe because it had a familiar sound, lol. *shrugs*

Lord of Oats · Post by **Lord of Oats** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:57 pm

Alright! Everything actually fits on one audio CD this week! (You can thank me and Klownhole for everything not quite fitting last week.) Apparently, if you include the White Hat track, we have exactly 60 minutes of music.

Now that I've got my car CD, I'm off to Sam Ash to get a new recording box. It's kind of far; I wish I had a traveling companion. Alas, most of the people I like don't live around me.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:02 pm

By the way, on first listen, I'm loving Paco's tune. Quite the rocking little ditty, although I was a little bummed that the famous Pocketts didn't didn't make it to the session. Also ADD and Ross & the Muthuz of Science are heating up the air waves.
More listing is needed. Some cool songs this week.

A Bootleg · Post by **A Bootleg** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:24 pm

Good fight this week, generally speaking. Few people who were just fucking around.

ADD - Good song. I like the distorted vox and harmonies.
Bang Operator - Yo, La Tengo! I like. Maybe up the guitar a bit.
Big Seed DNA - Creative percussion, but ditch it once the drums kick in. Good falsetto.
Blues Manufacturing Facility - Write your lyrics beforehand. Just because you start your song with a turnaround and mention trains and the blues doesn't make your song the blues or yourself a manufacturing facility thereof.
Cake for Breakfast - No lyrics? No review.
Depski - Porno funk all the way. Unfortunately, no lyrics, no review.
Flvxxum Florvm - Trite lyrics, but it sounds like tom waits so I like it.
Lopez and your Destroyers - I like what you started in the intro, but the lyrics were pretty intolerable.
Lord of Oats - Not a big fan of the doubled vox. Otherwise good. Maybe some harmonies in there from time to time to keep it interesting. Love the similies, though, and the understatement about the grinder.
MC Eric B - OH FUCK THE ENERGY ZOMBIES GET THE GARLIC BATTERIES.
Melvin - Rock anthem to domestic tranquility. Your wife will like this. I'm not your wife, but I enjoy it well enough, I guess.
MSP - This reminds me of everything I like about yaht rock. I promise to make out to this song at some point.
Muppet Qu33f - They made a great muppet porno back in the 70s called "Let my Puppets Come!" Look it up, it was awesome.
Paco Del Stinko - So many of these songs are about friendly remiders as some sort of threat/violent retribution.
Ross Durand - Good hook.
RWB - Good use of the reverse-guitar intro. Not into the unison singing or the lowbrow humor. There's a good way to do it and a lazy way. This sounds like the lazy way.
Senza Valore - This is a good song, but I think you kind of threw away the vocal melody.
SonofsuperDio - You should go to the IV during the verse just to switch things up. Good tone, though.
Steve Durand - Humorous. Inclusion of banjo. Possible vote.
Vegetarian Rage - Good hook, good harmony. The organ really ties it together, though.
Voh - Love the sound of the guitar, for some reason of which I'm not sure.
Wages of Oats - Well put-together. Solid. Sounds like you're channeling Eddie Vedder.
The Weakest Suit - Nice, warm guitar. Sounds like the vox were sung into tupperware. Good light use of backup vox.
The White Hat - Rerecord the harmonica and vox.

senza valore · Post by **senza valore** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:28 pm

Senza Valore - This is a good song, but I think you kind of threw away the vocal melody.

When you say that it seemed thrown away, do you think that the melody was decent but the singing wasn't passionate enough, or that the melody wasn't strong enough to start with? I'm here to improve my songwriting and production abilities all around, but I do feel that my vocals have the furthest to go (and honestly are what I have the least experience with.) I would agree that they generally sound a bit too low-key or casual, but I have a hard time exploring anything more passionate and having it feel natural. I did that intentionally for this song to suit its mood, but all too often I end up with a similar vocal style when it's not as appropriate. I would love to hear feedback from you (The White Hat) or anyone else as to ways that I can explore my voice a bit more, or ideas regarding making melodies a bit more compelling. If this topic isn't the appropriate place, then I'd be happy to have anyone send me a private message as well. I would be happy to give anyone else feedback as well in exchange for their time. Thanks so much!

A Bootleg · Post by **A Bootleg** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:46 pm

Senza,

Listening to it right now, I can identify two things that are going on with the vocals.

1) Recording - One of the difficult things for electronic musicians is that they don't do a lot of recording in the "instrument to microphone to tape" sense. Their samples are either synthesized or professionally produced. As such, when they have to record vocals, there's a very disparate gap in quality between the various loops and the vocal track. Your song suffers from this. As you can hear from my song, I'm hardly an authority on vocal recording, so I can't do much to diagnose, but here's a link that will help you out: http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

2) Inflection - Your own analysis is pretty well on-point. It's not that your singing style is casual, I sense more of an apathy thing going on. You know that your vocals are your weak point, so you're interested in getting them recorded and over with, not as much with telling your story. Please don't take this to mean "sing like nickelback." Don't sing like nickelback. Think about what your song means to you and sing it that way. Add dynamics- right now you're singing everything at a 3 from beginning to end. Maybe start at a 2, bring it up to a 4, maybe a 7 for the chorus, then back down. Rise and recede with the song. Don't do this with your mixer, though. Do it with your voice.

I hope this was helpful, and I look forward to your next submission!

Post by **Spud** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:54 pm

Lunkhead wrote:I see a White Hat entry in the .m3u playlist, but I don't see him listed on the home page or the fight page. That seems to put him at a bit of a disadvantage in the fight.

<B>FIXED</B>

senza valore · Post by **senza valore** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:06 pm

The White Hat wrote:I hope this was helpful

Definitely quite helpful, and definitely appreciated! Better vocals to come..

veGetar Ianra Ge · Post by **veGetar Ianra Ge** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:44 pm

The White Hat wrote:
here's a link that will help you out: http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS EXACT THING FOR AGES! THANK YOU, SIR.

A Bootleg · Post by **A Bootleg** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:40 pm

Spud wrote: <B>FIXED</B>

Muchas grassio.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 9:25 pm

Hey, senza valore, you speak Italian? Your name amuses me.
-bill

senza valore · Post by **senza valore** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:12 am

Bill -
I only know the tiniest bit of Italian (which is to say, essentially none.) I tend to do a lot of genre-hopping so I wanted a moniker that on the surface didn't immediately define me. Then, of course, the translation is how I really tend to feel about my music.

voh · Post by **voh** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:02 pm

The White Hat wrote:Voh - Love the sound of the guitar, for some reason of which I'm not sure.

It could be either the result of recording it with the built-in macbook microphone, or the fact that it's a spanish guitar with only 4 strings.. I promise I'll use my new hardware next time