The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Nah, the judges were probably punishing me for causing strife.

I hope not.

Caravan Ray wrote:

Caravan Ray wrote: If Pedro could just pop down to the nearest tattoo parlour and get the words "I AM A DIRTY STINKING CHEAT" prominently inked on his forehead .

Actually - "I AM A CHEATING HALF-FULL BAG OF DICKS" may be better.

Tho I'll stop short of saying I'm sorry. That would imply I wouldn't do it again

Ross wrote:

furrypedro wrote:Oh, and about the being in band with 5 people thing again, yes, I admit we have an advantage.

That probably depends on how you define advantage. I enjoy the freedom to record what I want when I want and not need to balance with utside people's timing etc.... The weeks that require collaboration, while fun, i find stressful along those lines.

The fact that one of your members could actually take a full week "off" and still move on, that part does seem a little luxurious....

I totally understand that, and it's funny cos from the perspective of the rest of us we all thought "we're really screwed if Frisbee can't contribute from now on." But then Mel came back, for how long who knows? Being in a band with people of wildly varying musical tastes does have it's downfalls too, I hope this doesn't read as a justification, I'm just pontificating. We definitely didn't intend to be a tag-team though. At least I didn't.


From the time it took me to start and finish this post it looks like we have results!
Congrats ADD! I'm glad the dude who brought the pain (so to speak) took the spoils.

Now I feel vindicated too. Can I take that picture down?

furrypedro wrote: Can I take that picture down?

Wow, anyone else get a Girl with the Dragon Tattoo feel out of that picture?

Now I have to write a novel, "The Girl With 'I'm A Cheating Half-Full Bag Of Dicks' Markered On Her Forehead".

Lunkhead wrote:Now I have to write a novel, "The Girl With 'I'm A Cheating Half-Full Bag Of Dicks' Markered On Her Forehead".

Hey! What's all this "marker" bullshit?!

My short reviews are here, for what it's worth. I liked this round more than some.

The bottom four in my list simply didn't take me anywhere. While they all satisfied the challenge criteria, they did so in such a straight ahead manner that produced irrelevant uninspiring music (in its current form).

My top four were far above the rest, and has some of the best noise I've heard round these parts in a while. Frankie, part of your bet paid off, I guess. Genevieve, you continue to grow and stretch in unpredictable directions.

I may be wrong here, but the main issue seems to have been the challenge. I was surprised that so many entries followed the strictest form.

This is my take on this whole "omg, they're eating shellfish on Shabatt!" thing. WSA has a two full villanelles (with meters that stray from the strict definition) minus the couplet at the second close, plus a chorus. ADD has a chorus. To suggest poetic forms are carved in stone is pretty insane. This isn't ice dancing, after all! Maybe following the strict form gets you points (if you are successful at writing a good song), but a slight variance shouldn't lose you the round, and here we have a fabulous song using the villanelle form to advantage. This fails the challenge as much as anyone in the "round" challenge who didn't stick to a strick round-only form, which was almost everyone. But that challenge said "must contain" and this didn't even go that far.

The challenge spoke to different people in different ways, and produced some damn nice music!

furrypedro wrote:

Lunkhead wrote:Now I have to write a novel, "The Girl With 'I'm A Cheating Half-Full Bag Of Dicks' Markered On Her Forehead".

Hey! What's all this "marker" bullshit?!

MG snuck into your house with his face painted like a ghastly Navajo brave and tattooed that on your head?!?!

1) Day-um! There is some mighty fine music this round.

2) Day-um! Y'all can work yourselves into a tizzy. I think everyone needs some beer.

</overly-affected southern drawl>

3) Reviews in not-really-arbitrary order:

Genevieve Johnson and the Chiefs
+++ i love the idea of this song +++
--- without the external knowledge that you're referring to Eurovision, the connection between your "funky cassette" and your critique of the Eurozone isn't apparent ---
/// there's a fine line between playing with language in a non-traditional way and just getting it wrong ///
--- this gets it wrong; why change from "vous" to "tu" forms of the imperative? there are several gender and adjective agreement errors ---
--- idioms don't translate well: "fuck off" is Va te faire foutre; the verb baiser is usually used the describe the act of rape ---

Frankie Big Face
+++ lyrics and concept +++
+++ ambition to make something very different +++
--- this song just drags; I keep waiting for the pick-up moment that never comes ---
/// it gets more intense, but that just means louder and busier; there's no there there ///
--- bell (xylophone?): too loud, too often, too much reverb ---
/// it unfortunately overshadows some really good lyrics ///

The Worldly Self-Assurance
/// i've been lukewarm about most of your submission so far ///
+++ this is so full of witty awesomeness, it's hard to explain +++
+++ old school everything at its best; while clearly channeling an era, this still sounds fresh +++
+++ i can't help but dance to this +++
/// i had to look up what a "Nakamiki Dragon" is. lol. ///

Manhattan Glutton
+++ bouncy guitar +++
--- lacks engagement ---
/// this is a song about something whose time has past and your treatment is devoid of sentimentality; basically, why should your listener care? ///

bgm
+++ metaphor: you're playing to strength of the villanelle form perfectly +++
+++ Beatlesque in every great way; that break with its heavenly "ahhs" is spot on +++
+++ "everything's so fake it all seems new" is possibly the best line of this round, maybe the whole competition so far +++

Ross Durand
+++ story: effectively playing against the grain of the villanelle tradition +++
+++ just the write amount of instrumentation; forget what bgm said, that string-swell is perfect +++

DJ Ranger Den
+++ channels Ani Difranco and Adele +++
+++ croon +++
+++ builds right when it needs to +++
+++ metaphor +++
/// "you deserve a nicer word than friend" is really on-the-nose ///
+++ but damn if you don't make it work with dynamics and harmonies +++

ADD
+++ simple pop rock awesomeness +++
+++ instrumentation and counterpoint +++
+++ space and dynamics +++
+++ super catchy chorus +++

furrypedro wrote:Now I feel vindicated too. Can I take that picture down?

You should still feel bad, but not as bad as glennny.

I can't tell if this is a funny, MG.

I'm sure I would feel differently had I been cut, but it's kind of satisfying knowing I made something so polarizing.

Next title, please.

Oh, and P.S. BGM is out? That's fucked up.

Still debating the Round 6 challenge...

nyjm wrote:
Genevieve Johnson and the Chiefs
+++ i love the idea of this song +++
--- without the external knowledge that you're referring Eurovision, this the connection between your "funky cassette" and your critique of the Eurozone isn't apparent ---

hmmm...I wasn't really referring to Eurovision. Just a nod to the anglosphere view of European music in general - which I suppose is Eurovision...

nyjm wrote: /// there's a fine line between playing with language in a non-traditional way and just getting it wrong ///
--- this gets it wrong; why change from "vous" to "tu" forms of the imperative? there are several gender and adjective agreement errors ---

Yeah - I knew you would pounce on the "vous-tu" inconsistency - the shifts were all mainly done to get the rhymes (my 2 rhymes were a "toi" sound and an "ez" sound) And I knew I wasn't careful enough with gender and adjective agreement. That was just carelessness. Sorry Sir.

nyjm wrote:--- idioms don't translate well: "fuck off" is Va te faire foutre; the verb baiser is usually used the describe the act of rape ---

Va te faire foutre then

Thanks for that. It really was foolish to try to sneak that past you. You are right " there's a fine line between playing with language in a non-traditional way and just getting it wrong". I should have gone more Bill Wyman "Je suis un rockstar" - which is more obviously Franglais and intentionally wrong.


Oh...did the Greek idiom make sense? It hope it did - it seemed to fit well.

Niveous wrote:Still debating the Round 6 challenge...

I'm sure we'll all be doing that for the next several days

furrypedro wrote:Now I feel vindicated too. Can I take that picture down?

Just have to re-tweet it a few thousand more times.

Gotta meme you up so you are the new "Ridiculousy Photogenic Guy".

Wow, really happy to be moving on - and in such good company. Also happy to see that even if judge 5 had put me last and one of the eliminees first, I still would have made the cut.

Sorry to see three great acts go, but top eight in no small feat in this fight.

Thanks for the judge reviews so far, happy to have been the one Roymond liked best of the ones he didn't like, but a little dissapointed for the song to be called "irrelevant." it was relevant to me, apparently it was relevant to Glennny, sorry it didn't speak to you.

Hoping to bring my best to round 6, Nur Ein!!!!!!

BTW - is it wrong to say that I was actually very pleasantly surprised to wake up this morning and see Genevieve was knocked out?

I had thought I was a fair chance to get through - and I really wasn't looking forward to another week/another song. So to get an honourable release - AND be able to say that I ended up neck-and-neck with BGM - that will do me nicely thank you very much.

Re. the missing judge - I have done the sums and it really made very little difference. The only way the result would have changed is if the 5th Judge had placed me (or BGM) first and Den last. (or, a one place variation in that would have resulted in a tie). Given that Den beat me with 2 out of 4 judges and beat bgm with 3 out of 4 judges, and that the most that one of us beat Den by was only 3 points, and than no other judge put me or BGM first or put Den last - it appears that any change in the final eliminations would have been a reasonably unlikely circumstance.

Ross wrote: Thanks for the judge reviews so far, happy to have been the one Roymond liked best of the ones he didn't like, but a little dissapointed for the song to be called "irrelevant." it was relevant to me, apparently it was relevant to Glennny, sorry it didn't speak to you.

Yeah, not the right choice of words. sorry about that. It doesn't take me anywhere, lyrically or musically. As I said, well done and all, but I'm not on that train. And of course I need to wrap it up in the "at this stage of the game, there's really very little bad music being produced" qualifier. It's actually very hard to place anyone at the bottom and I sort of agonize over the process a good deal.

roymond wrote: The bottom four in my list simply didn't take me anywhere. While they all satisfied the challenge criteria, they did so in such a straight ahead manner that produced irrelevant music (in its current form).

Upon continued listening, I am happy that my vote didn't put DJRD out, as it has grown on me a great deal.

I'm the fungus among-us. I take a growing on period, I have found. This is both good and bad I spoze

Caravan Ray wrote:

nyjm wrote:
Genevieve Johnson and the Chiefs
+++ i love the idea of this song +++
--- without the external knowledge that you're referring Eurovision, this the connection between your "funky cassette" and your critique of the Eurozone isn't apparent ---

hmmm...I wasn't really referring to Eurovision. Just a nod to the anglosphere view of European music in general - which I suppose is Eurovision...

nyjm wrote: /// there's a fine line between playing with language in a non-traditional way and just getting it wrong ///
--- this gets it wrong; why change from "vous" to "tu" forms of the imperative? there are several gender and adjective agreement errors ---

Yeah - I knew you would pounce on the "vous-tu" inconsistency - the shifts were all mainly done to get the rhymes (my 2 rhymes were a "toi" sound and an "ez" sound) And I knew I wasn't careful enough with gender and adjective agreement. That was just carelessness. Sorry Sir.

nyjm wrote:--- idioms don't translate well: "fuck off" is Va te faire foutre; the verb baiser is usually used the describe the act of rape ---

Va te faire foutre then

Thanks for that. It really was foolish to try to sneak that past you. You are right " there's a fine line between playing with language in a non-traditional way and just getting it wrong". I should have gone more Bill Wyman "Je suis un rockstar" - which is more obviously Franglais and intentionally wrong.


Oh...did the Greek idiom make sense? It hope it did - it seemed to fit well.

CR, for what it's worth, I thought you spoke really nice French. But then again, I think 2 plus two equals potato.

Second and third listen updates, mostly to make up for not really reviewing DJRD last time:

BGM - Can't believe you got eliminated.

DJ Ranger Den - I'm not a fan of some of the bluesy flourishes in the vocal. That's personal taste. I like plainer vocal styles. That said, this is a good showcase for your voice. The pacing and production are nice.

Frankie Big Face - Yeah, I feel like I barely heard this with the one listen. That's my kind of ending.

Genevieve Johnson and the Chiefs - A little bummed you got eliminated for this one, but I also don't know who I'd swap you for. I wish I made songs with a genuine sense of humor like this.

Manhattan Glutton - Ok, the "tore" line is a little weird, but I don't see the problem some had with the rest of the words. I would've liked a more climactic ending. The vocal gets more intense, but not like... arrestingly intense, which would've been cool.

Ross Durand - As mentioned above, I prefer plainer vocals, and I may be misremembering your music, but this sounds like one of your plainer vocals, which is a plus. (For me, at least.)

Worldly Self Assurance - Yup, still good.