The Song Fight Bulletin Board

owl wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:31 pm

Glenn and Rachael should post a picture of their dogs btw, they are not only golden-voiced but also very photogenic. And good at solving crimes.

I just realized that was a bit unclear. By "they" I meant the dogs, but Glenn and Rachael are also golden-voiced and photogenic. I don't know how they are at digging up corpses though.

You didn't hear it from me, but, not abby-shay at the oveling-shay

Big congrats to VOWL SOUNDS! You guys are great. See you next year, I hope!

Thanks Frankie! Thinking about giving judging a go next year but will definitely be around in some form.

mo wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:58 pm

Does anyone have a favorite song of the whole Nur Ein? Like if you had to pick one song that in hindsight, now is the "best" single song, what would you pick?

I've got a few favourites, not sure I could pick just one:
"Message Received" by Boffo Yux Dudes
"Pump the Brakes" by both Frankie and Faster Jackalope
Mandibles' "Shock Value"
Basically everything by Rain

Hoping we get a recap podcast from the New Ugly like we did last year, that was fun.

Congrats Vom and Owl!
There were a lot of great songs this year. I didn't listen to the early rounds very well, so I'm re-listening.

Congrats Vowl Sounds!
I am very impressed with the commitment to the Ouija-verse!
Is the story over? How many more songs complete the concept album?

Congrats to Agony Sauce on a good final song, and a hard faught Nur Ein. One of my bands went for AS, one went for VS. It was a close call. Good job!

I agree that both of the final songs had a lot going for them.

Congratz Vowl Sounds on the win.

glennny wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 12:17 pm

Congrats Vowl Sounds!
I am very impressed with the commitment to the Ouija-verse!
Is the story over? How many more songs complete the concept album?

Congrats to Agony Sauce on a good final song, and a hard faught Nur Ein. One of my bands went for AS, one went for VS. It was a close call. Good job!

Thanks glennny. The story is complete, as far as I'm concerned! Or if you like, you can consider Agony Sauce's song the final chapter (the portal is opened via Ouija board, the world is destroyed) and that should tie everything up neatly. Everyone dies! Exeunt omnes.

oh and I should probably go back and re-listen (especially to the earlier rounds) but here are some of my personal favorites this year that came to mind right away:

• Rain Watt - "Message Received"
• Faster Jackalope - "Pump the Brakes"
• Agony Sauce - "Pump the Brakes"
• BSS - "Color Me Blue"
• Max Bombast - "Where the Streets Have No Name"
• The Sunday Colors - "Where the Streets Have No Name"

Great stuff this year. Congrats to Vowl Sounds!!!

PS- if y'all are wondering what happened to Brookes and I doing reviewing, there is a reason. No, it's not because we got married. That just coincidentally happened during the competition. The reason is because we are planning to do a review podcast. We are going to look at each competitor and how they did throughout the Nur Ein. Hopefully it will be interesting. So stay tuned for that.

Niveous wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:14 pm

PS- if y'all are wondering what happened to Brookes and I doing reviewing, there is a reason. No, it's not because we got married. That just coincidentally happened during the competition.

!!
Congratulations! <3

Niveous wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:14 pm

Great stuff this year. Congrats to Vowl Sounds!!!

PS- if y'all are wondering what happened to Brookes and I doing reviewing, there is a reason. No, it's not because we got married. That just coincidentally happened during the competition. The reason is because we are planning to do a review podcast. We are going to look at each competitor and how they did throughout the Nur Ein. Hopefully it will be interesting. So stay tuned for that.

oh that, nbd...

(OK WHAT! Congratulations!!!!)

Niveous wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:14 pm

Great stuff this year. Congrats to Vowl Sounds!!!

Wow, thanks and congratulations to you too (not to U2, those guys suck).

Looking forward to hearing the podcast!

Congrats Niveous and Brookes!

Nur ein xiv 7

The Mandibles vote went 3-1 for Agony Sauce. Both of the finals songs were really fantastic, so it could have gone either way. Congrats, Vowl Sounds!

Agony: the guitar work is incredible. That intro had me hooked into it from the start. I love how it winds throughout the song tying it all together, and the solo was lovey. What do you do to get that tone on the guitar? I quite liked the choral parts, too (cool idea to collaborate, you guys!). The vocals and instrumentals are great, of course, and I really enjoyed the peppering of the bit sounds. I found the lyrics to be rather vague, though. I get the nod to your competitors; is this supposed to be an AU ending? Or just a fun end of the world song? With really only 1.5 verses, I found it hard find a premise or a story here (of course, maybe not all songs need stories.. what a concept). As the weeks wore on, I found it interesting how you took on each challenge in each song, and I thought some did better than others. I definitely thought this week’s every challenge song was more cohesive than last week’s every challenge song (or maybe it’s just that last week you didn’t bring your A game? Haha). Great song!

Vowl: The thrilling conclusion! I will admit, I have been anxiously awaiting these for several weeks now; I am fully on board the ouija-verse fandom. Did that sway my vote? Maybe, but I was out voted anyway. I love the build you guys have going, especially how it ebbs and flows a bit, getting a little bigger each time (like the tide!), until it climaxes in that great final choral number and then dissipating play out. Owl, your voice is gorgeous. It has this shimmery quicksilver quality, and you are a master at filling your sound with emotion and still sounding beautiful the whole time. I love the high harmony you have going above ouija girl’s dialogue. Vom, I love the orchestration here, especially during the ouija board part; that drone is really great. Also, are you actually playing a sax, or is that a synth? I found the mention of the Bechdel Test followed by a list of things that have nothing to do with ouija boy a little on the nose (plus, no one has names, so it can’t pass anyway...). This is a really excellent ending to your story; I have to ask, did you set out to write one long cohesive story here, or was that something you decided to do at pump the breaks?

Lichen: this is my favorite song of yours. This intro is really fabulous, and the story is sweet and heart breaking. Your vocals have come a long way, especially matching the double tracked lead. I love the instrumental interludes, especially the motive that plays in the high harp sounding instrument. I think this ended a little too abruptly, but I suppose the narrator dies, so it makes sense. The lyrics are beautiful, and match well the music’s spooky shifty nature.

Iveg: to be honest, I found this pretty derivative. It sounds like something off of the 80s top billboards. The music is good, but it doesn’t really sound like you. Is that even you singing? The lyric rolled up all these love cliches, and it really should have been called “Never gonna” instead of survival.


Mandibles: this is my favorite song of ours this competition. In case it wasn’t clear, this song is about the Stonewall Riots that sparked the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement, so it’s especially close to my heart. Estaphonia and I spent a lot of time on this song, and we had a blast with it. I hope you guys like it too! If not, we’ll, I know it’s great at least lol.

Max Bombast: ... really? Ok. I guess I can’t fault you for being really creative AND talented AND possessing of good time management skills.
1. Zombies
I really like the intro! Which is good, because it’s a third of the song. I would play FPSs to this. Love the high vocals.
2. Survival Mode
This is super catchy! I really like the melody on the sobriety/anxiety lines.
3. Be Loud
This is my favorite of the group. It’s the most thought out. I like the politics of it (I think I just like your politics). I like the spoken word bridge- really drive the point down. This one has an excellent build to the orchestration.
4. Tremors
I haven’t seen these movies, so I don’t get the jokes. But the music is goofy, and the end is funny, so I laughed.
5. Survival of the Fittest
“Go anywhere as long as it’s away” is a great line. This is the most bombastic of the group (pun intended).
Most of these felt underdeveloped, but they all have that Adam! high quality. Nice work.



If I had to choose my fav songs of the competition, I would probably go with

Message received - Max Bombast
Shock Value - Rachael Layne
Pump the Brakes - Faster Jackelope
Color me lonely - Vowl Sounds
Color me ____ - Grumpy Mike
No memory - Sunday Colors
Survival - Mandibles (what? I said I really liked this song)

It’s hard to narrow it down this much. I sure I left out other ones I loved (mr. zamboni, 12,000 years...).

Finally a guitar tone discussion!

The main guitar for the Agony stuff is my 1968 RI Gibson Les Paul Custom, an 11 lb beast, which is a 1997 build. Original except the caps are Russian paper-in-oil 0.15 caps, which I find have a more useful taper (I like even my mud kind of bright) and OX4 vintage hot wound PAFs. Tones probably about half (I moved it around to get different frequencies for the harmony guitars) and volumes up around 7-8 for rhythm and full up neck pickup for soloing.

The pedal was an Earthquaker Devices Talons, which does a Marshall type medium-high gain overdrive (circuit based on the venerable Marshall Guv’nor) going into a Fender Deluxe amp sim. For the main solo I had a Fulltone Clyde wah parked about 1/3 up.

Aren’t you sorry you asked now?

mo wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:45 am

Finally a guitar tone discussion!

...

Aren’t you sorry you asked now?

I’m only sorry that I don’t know what half those words mean. To the google!

Cybronica wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:53 am

mo wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:45 am

Finally a guitar tone discussion!

...

Aren’t you sorry you asked now?

I’m only sorry that I don’t know what half those words mean. To the google!

And having done that- that’s pretty awesome! I learned so much about capacitors... what made you go with the paper and oil type? Just how it tapers, or do they last longer, too? Your guitar sounds amazing, and from what you wrote, it sounds amazing because it is amazing (and it is played amazingly, too!).

Cybronica wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:40 am

Vowl: The thrilling conclusion! I will admit, I have been anxiously awaiting these for several weeks now; I am fully on board the ouija-verse fandom. Did that sway my vote? Maybe, but I was out voted anyway. I love the build you guys have going, especially how it ebbs and flows a bit, getting a little bigger each time (like the tide!), until it climaxes in that great final choral number and then dissipating play out. Owl, your voice is gorgeous. It has this shimmery quicksilver quality, and you are a master at filling your sound with emotion and still sounding beautiful the whole time. I love the high harmony you have going above ouija girl’s dialogue. Vom, I love the orchestration here, especially during the ouija board part; that drone is really great. Also, are you actually playing a sax, or is that a synth? I found the mention of the Bechdel Test followed by a list of things that have nothing to do with ouija boy a little on the nose (plus, no one has names, so it can’t pass anyway...). This is a really excellent ending to your story; I have to ask, did you set out to write one long cohesive story here, or was that something you decided to do at pump the breaks?

Thanks for your kind words and feedback, Cybronica!

• First and foremost, a big shoutout to my friend Nate for playing some REAL AND EXCELLENT SAXOPHONE for us! I mentioned this in the lyrics post, but he leads this ska band and he plays in this band that Steve Albini called "Einstein-level geniuses" and also in a million other bands in town. We've been in a bunch of tribute bands together (and will be playing together on Saturday for a Lilith Fair revival fundraiser, I have never seen any of the Madison-area songfighters at any shows ever, as far as I know, but I'm dropping a link to this event anyway just in case). We started with fake horns in the original mix and then I roped Nate into helping with the real deal.
• I'm glad you liked the drone, that was one of my favorite touches in the instrumentation too, it is a combination of some Vom guitar magic and a (fake) sitar I added!
• Yeah nobody has names and 99% of the album is these two women talking about this piece of shit cheating murderer boy they're both into for some reason, this set of songs is decidedly not passing the Bechdel test, but when I sat down to write this one I was thinking about what I wanted to say in this one above and beyond plot exposition, and this was something that (as I mentioned on the board after Ryan said something about it in the podcast) I'd been thinking about kind of uncomfortably for a while.
• So yes the song incidentally ties up some loose plot ends (and as a result, it's unfortunately not one of the songs I think can entirely stand alone), but I didn't want it to be just about that, it's actually largely meant to be more universally about the risks of wrapping yourself up in an obsessive relationship, the panic of feeling hopeless, like you've lost yourself, and the reassurance that there's more to life than that--regardless of where you've been, you can escape it. (The line was actually something I've been trying to put into a song for ages, pre-Nur Ein, and hadn't found a song where I thought it fit until now. I guess whether it fits is clearly debatable, but it made me happy, anyway.) It is a love letter to every drunk girl I've met who was crying in a bathroom over some asshole who's not worth it. And a meta-message about ye olde Power of Musique of course--hearing that song that makes you realize there's life after love, there's more than this, you will survive, or whatever.
• "Pump the Brakes" was the first song that made the connected narrative explicit, and I had to decide after that song whether to carry the story on through every track or not, since we could have left it at that and dropped it then, Vom and I discussed the whole idea a bit at that stage. We threw a few ideas around for "Color Me ____" (including unrelated stuff like the one that became Vom's shadow) but when we settled on "Color Me Lonely," that was the point when we decided to commit to it.

owl wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:44 am

Thanks for your kind words and feedback, Cybronica!

[*]Yeah nobody has names and 99% of the album is these two women talking about this piece of shit cheating murderer boy they're both into for some reason, this set of songs is decidedly not passing the Bechdel test, but when I sat down to write this one I was thinking about what I wanted to say in this one above and beyond plot exposition, and this was something that (as I mentioned on the board after Ryan said something about it in the podcast) I'd been thinking about kind of uncomfortably for a while.
[*]So yes this song... it's actually largely meant to be more universally about the risks of wrapping yourself up in an obsessive relationship, the panic of feeling hopeless, like you've lost yourself, and the reassurance that there's more to life than that--regardless of where you've been, you can escape it. (The line was actually something I've been trying to put into a song for ages, pre-Nur Ein, and hadn't found a song where I thought it fit until now. I guess whether it fits is clearly debatable, but it made me happy, anyway.)

Well, I don’t think you need to worry too much about it passing- Firefly rarely passes the bechdel test, yet I would still call it a progressive forward-thinking program. I really thought you achieved what you were going for with this, despite my comment about what I thought was clumsy placement of a lyric. I was kinda flailing for a piece of constructive criticism.

owl wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:44 am

It is a love letter to every drunk girl I've met who was crying in a bathroom over some asshole who's not worth it.

That’s beautiful.



I kinda feel like this song could stand alone, but I have already heard all the songs, so I guess I’m not a good judge of that!

Cybronica wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:33 am

Cybronica wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:53 am

mo wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:45 am

Finally a guitar tone discussion!

...

Aren’t you sorry you asked now?

I’m only sorry that I don’t know what half those words mean. To the google!

And having done that- that’s pretty awesome! I learned so much about capacitors... what made you go with the paper and oil type? Just how it tapers, or do they last longer, too? Your guitar sounds amazing, and from what you wrote, it sounds amazing because it is amazing (and it is played amazingly, too!).

Oh thanks for the kind words, much appreciated. I think the values matter more than material for capacitors most of the time, to be honest. I’ve A/B tested with poly film, ceramics, and PIO, and they don’t really sound hugely different. The PIO I use do actually have a slightly smoother top end, but it’s not really something you hear unless you’re really listening. The value changes on the other hand are hugely different. So many cheap guitars with humbuckers come with 0.47 caps and those to me are just mud city. The vintage values of 0.22 are really good for vintage tones. I like the 0.15 specifically for the woman tone I get with the tones turned down.

The wiring harness is really the cheapest way to improve an inexpensive guitar (and often expensive guitars can benefit). That flimsy wire they use these days is bs, and the potentiometers are usually crap too. Old ones were built with better tolerances, so you have less of that on/off effects where most of the knob sweep does almost nothing, and all the tones are within only 20% of the sweep.

I change out the wiring harness in most electric guitars I acquire as a matter of course. Highly recommend putting in high quality components with good wire and a good soldering job. Sonically it will help so much!

Wow, mo! I have so much more to learn about this stuff! I’m still having trouble using the Allen wrench to adjust the angle of my bass’s neck... is woman tone typo or a common term I’ve never heard before?