Perhaps I can guilt-trip a few more people into writing reviews by posting mine?
I had these reviews lying on my disk for ages, the logic going like "I'll just wait until the stragglers have caught up". Not gonna happen, apparently, so here they are.
Compared to the reviews I write for normal fights, you could earn one additional point per category here... seems like most songs would get something in the 13-15 range otherwise. Those are bonus points, mind you. Bonus points may not be traded in for reputation, bragging rights or prizes.
I'm using the Arbitrary Review System, of course.
Apodan -- Do I hear it correctly that some of the guitar chords are emphasized with additional guitar hits that are panned apart? That's neat. Vocals are not very impressive. Cool songwriting; interesting structure. The noodling on the additional guitar adds quite a lot to this, actually.
C:3 L:* F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 13/20
Billy's Little Trip -- Intro is a bit drawn out, but it's got
something. Atmosphere. I dunno. Amazing blend of BLT style and Ace Of Base style. The "look to the skies" vocals are a bit off, and I think sometimes the vocal rhythm is not quite right either. Great development in the song. One can tell you had fun with this. The lyrics... well, you're not gonna win a literature prize with them, but they work wonderfully for this song. Good clean mix. Great job.
C:3 L:3 F:4 P:3 M:4 Total: 17/20
Caravan Ray -- The mix is rather quiet and, what's more important, distant. That seems to conflict with the song's lyrics and everything. Cool background vocals. Cool guitar sounds. Nice beat. When you crank up the vocals it gets fun, but it's hard to really rock with it... due to all the distance, I guess. Less reverb, perhaps? Ending cuts off... and it's a somewhat random ending anyway. I like the chords and melody and stuff, though one might say that the verses in particular are rather generic. Fun story. The "front and centre" is a bit of a stretch, but we'll just file that under artistic freedom.
C:3 L:3 F:3 P:3 M:2 Total: 14/20
Chris Cogott -- Exceptionally good intonation on vocals... almost a bit too perfect. Seems to be lacking interesting inflection and dynamics. It feels a bit emotionally flat. Yeah, I know, people are never satisfied.
When the other instruments come in I still don't like it but at least it's not completely misplaced there, stylistically. The melody and chords feel somewhat generic, but they're not bad. Slight pumping in the mix, I think. The lyrical take is awesome.
C:3 L:4 F:3 P:3 M:3 Total: 16/20
Heuristics Inc. -- Wow, that sounds dark. The effects on the vocals do fit, but they do make it pretty hard to understand you. I find the arrangement a bit busy, a bit like what bugs me about many BSS songs. Gets tiring. I guess you get a lot more points in atmosphere and such here than in songwriting.
C:1 L:3 F:4 P:3 M:3 Total: 14/20
Jan Krueger -- Uncharacteristically, the first building block was not a part of the chorus in this song. It was the vocal counterpoint on "days away". From there the first verse slowly developed, and only then did I write the chorus and bridge sections. My first submission in the Songfightiverse that includes Jamstix drums, I think. When I wrote the chorus, I feared I wouldn't be able to sing the notes in the second iteration (up to A4), but I'm still taking singing lessons and they helped enough; even the Bb4 in the bridge wasn't as horrible as I feared it would be. In retrospect there is still plenty of room for improvement here... particularly since the bridge section was really difficult to sing, and the vocals are a bit dull and strainy on nearly all of the higher notes. Anyway, all in all I'm fairly satisfied with this. I think the best parts are the background vocals in the third verse and the bridge.
Jon Eric -- Cool mixed chords to open with. Nice panned mix of the guitar. Room sound of lead vox sounds cheap. Everything is right here, except for... well. Vocals. There are two problems. Number one: some of the longer notes are pretty flat... as in very noticeable. As in nail-curling. Only some of them, though. It's a bit weird. Number two: you're straining. You
can sing these notes "right", given different vocal technique, I'm fairly certain. And if it's done right, it feels completely different. Way too easy, in fact. And it still sounds powerful. Until you get the hang of how that works, your high notes will always sound somewhat awkward (by my standards, anyway). I know because it was (and still is, to the extent I'm still learning how to sing better) the same for me. Oh well. Back to other topics. Great development (yay, phrase modulation!). Vocals seem to have been recorded a bit too hot. And, for the most important part, I like the songwriting very much.
C:4 L:* F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 14/20
Lithic -- I like the atmosphere created here. The many guitars and roomy vocals work together extremely well. The singer's vocals are a bit nasal, and it sounds like she's trying to belt but not in a particularly good way. Whenever she doesn't, though, the vocals are quite nice. Drum samples sound slightly artificial, but good playing/programming. I find the jump in the chorus melody a little bit weird, but it sort of works anyway. The mix could be a lot more saturated, I think. It lacks punch, too.
C:3 L:* F:3 P:3 M:3 Total: 14/20
Mike Lamb -- Drums (hi-hat in particular) are a bit machine-gunny. Very nice guitar sound and combination. Pleasant kind of song to listen to. Now for the bad news. There's not a lot of development going on (props for introducing the harmonies, though). No change-ups, either (a few melodic ones, granted, but with the kind of samey arrangement all throughout, it's easy to not really notice that). Easy way to give it more structure to hold on to: do more stuff in the chorus... e.g. pump up the drums, slightly distort the guitars. Stuff like that.
C:2 L:* F:3 P:2 M:3 Total: 12/20
Ross Durand -- I don't know. The verses are done in a half-sung and half-I-can't-make-out-a-melody-though-it-sounds-like-there's-supposed-to-be-one way. That's weird. I'll admit that I've got a thing for drop D. Ooh, nice, an egg shaker. It seems to disappear a bit randomly at the end, though. Awesome guitar playing. There's not all that much exciting stuff going on in the songwriting department, though the riffs on "cocobolo glow" are quite cool. Some slightly distracting mouth/lip sounds.
C:2 L:* F:4 P:3 M:3 Total: 14/20
Suckweasel -- It's awesome how you managed to copy a Nickelback song without actually copying it. Great acting. A little bit of clipping near the beginning of the solo, and more throughout. Nice guitar playing... and I can respect what sounds like real drumming, even though it's perhaps not the most exciting drumming ever. It does sound pretty tight. Could have been mixed in a more punchy way, I suppose. But the mix is definitely clean. Fun lyrics. Slightly stolen from Wheatus, though, perhaps.
C:3 L:4 F:3 P:3 M:3 Total: 16/20
Sven Mullet -- I like this right away. Cough. When the vocals come in, that stops. Nothing personal... just not my kind of thing. You're doing it quite well, anyway... and the arrangement and guitar tone and such is just great. The parts with the jangly guitar (chorus, I think) are particularly awesome. Rather sudden ending, sounds like a bit of a cop-out.
C:3 L:* F:4 P:3 M:3 Total: 15/20
