The Song Fight Bulletin Board

No confirmations tonight as I'm currently at an open mic that has run super long. World reopening (slowly) has meant musicians coming out of the woodwork.

Cranked out my shadow and got it in before we left for the open mic. Is it as good as it could have been had I left myself more than ONE DAY to do it? No. But I like it okay.

I’m in with a sweet, romantic tale of two ships passing in the night. One ship only speaks English and the other ship only speaks Mandarin. Thanks, Mo, for taking my vague brief and turning it into an excellent and hilarious vocal!

glennny wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:22 pm

If you're a WSA Brain Trust fan, you'll also like the Cavedwellers song because there is......

"Speaking in Polish!!!"

I am a fan of that song. And it is almost certainly because of the Polish bit (and not the fact that I'm a massive narcissist)

Hot Pink Halo is in with a shadow featuring the inimitable Micah Sommersmith. While Micah was writing and recording his bit, I got distracted from my work and made a little video. (Ostensibly to “figure out how to do some animation stuff for another thing I’m working on”, but honestly, mostly because I just wanted to.)

seemanski wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 06, 2021 10:31 am

Mine is in, this has been the most fun one for me this Nur Ein I really didn't want to let it go because I wanted it to sound better. Massive thanks for Gizo for taking on my google translated French and German, as well as his wonderful little adlibs.

Oh I had so much fun being part of this, I’m so happy to be a tiny part of Nur Ein!

Tonight's LP will be a little late - I'm guessing we'll be starting around 9:30pm - 10:30 pm EST
Looking forward to a bunch of new songs!



https://youtu.be/E3RA1GcNb1Q

The guest round is particularly incestuous collaborative this year...
This is all I could chart based on info in the lyrics thread. What'd I miss?

MicahSommer wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 4:51 pm

The guest round is particularly incestuous collaborative this year...

Nur ein guests.jpeg

This is all I could chart based on info in the lyrics thread. What'd I miss?

Hahaha I love this!

Neat chart! BWatBW and WreckdoM both had separate outsiders helping us.

I'm still in BSS the band but I haven't actually had time to participate at all in their Nur Ein entries this time around, sadly. :/

Lunkhead wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:11 pm

I'm still in BSS the band but I haven't actually had time to participate at all in their Nur Ein entries this time around, sadly. :/

You meant our entries, right???

Still trying to work out lyrics.
I was doing "A Nice Morning Drive", written by Richard Foster + "Red Barchetta" by Rush + a VR rowing machine that was actually bringing people into an alternate reality with Vikings. Or was it the 80's video game Bezerk?

Anyway, like my Round 0 "Lord of the Rigs" messterpiece, it's too screwed up to fix in time for Listening Party, but too cool to totally abandon. Moving on to Round 4.

I know this is irregular, but Crumpart made this swell artwork and though this is only my opinion I think it is superior to the official artwork in the fight. What is the possibility of getting it changed?

furrypedro wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:39 pm

I know this is irregular, but Crumpart made this swell artwork and though this is only my opinion I think it is superior to the official artwork in the fight. What is the possibility of getting it changed?

Aw, thanks! If anyone wants a version with Nur Ein in there instead of mine and Micah’s names, that’s super easy for me to do.

MicahSommer wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 4:51 pm

The guest round is particularly incestuous collaborative this year...

Nur ein guests.jpeg

This is all I could chart based on info in the lyrics thread. What'd I miss?

This is super fun, and I believe I was the Gizo/Seemanski matchmaker.

In lieu of reviews you actually want from people who's opinions actually matter, here are some of my useless thoughts!

BSS: It's cool to hear everyone contributing to lead vocals on this one. I feel Glen's voice in particular feels more comfortable in the lower register. This seems to be a musical step back from last week's entry which was full of interesting flourishes. This one chugs along at a medium tempo, and saves most of its interesting bits for after the 2 minute mark when my interest is seriously starting to wane. If I were your producer in the control room (yeah, I'm doing that thing again) I'd say pick up the pace about 15bpm, cut a couple of sections, and play your instruments in a more imaginative way - more rhythmic ideas, guitar arpeggios, instrument interplay. You guys have been doing this long enough to know just strumming along for 4 minutes is gonna sound like you're phoning it in. I hope that's not too harsh, but I know you are all capable of more excitement and invention in your music. You bust out some decent harmonies though.

Brown Word: Similar vibe to the BSS tune, but this has many of the instrumental embellishments that their tune lacks, such as the guitar arpeggios, additional synths, etc. Can i hear handclaps too? Sorry for the short review. This was decent.

Budget Bears: Lust for Life much? Of course, if you're gonna rip someone off then Iggy Pop is pretty solid ground. I dig the melodies in the chorus, and though it can be done badly I'm actually a fan of the AAAA rhyme scheme. Challenge fulfilled, and kudos for using such a difficult to pronounce language. I like the change of pace in that middle section, but with listening alone it's not clear what the guest adds to the song. All in all a characteristically strong entry.

Cavedwellers: Going full prog for this one. Sweet. I am a sucker for a bit of jazz flute, and when the song kicks in proper it's full of punky energy. It feels like it's pulling in so many different directions with the multiple vocalists and musical interludes, but I feel that adds to the energy and chaos of the song. I think the impact would be greater if the song was in and out in 2 minutes, but when the flute comes back in the final minute I'm obviously pleased about that. So, overstays it's welcome slightly but enoyable nonetheless.

Crowl Shy: Those few notes when you sing the "took shelter" bit seem like a signature melodic refrain for you, it feels familiar somehow. The pre-chorus bit with "as the sun pushed back the rain" is nice. Cool percussion and arrangement in general. It's a sweet little song and has strong imagery and atmosphere which all add to the overall impact.

Ever Keneivel: I thought you were harshly treated by the judges last round, but also going for a downtempo waltz is a brave move this time. Your execution is spot on, nothing is out of place and the arrangement is all very tasteful, also the ghostly guest vocals add a great atmosphere to track. I just worry that the pace of it might put some people off.

Governing Dynamics: As with last week I really dig those clean chiming guitars, and a lot of the chord progressions here are nice. The guest section reminds me of Chilly Gonzalez. It's weird how from that part onwards the drums go 4 to the floor, but the guitars seem to want to keep the same rhythm from the first half of the song so it feels like there's a slight mismatch. There are also various places where you could reasonably end the song, but it just keeps on going and going. If I were a judge I might mark you down a touch for not keeping it concise, though I get that maybe it's not that kind of song.

Grumpy Mike: Since NE started this year there has usually been 1 song per round that has made me want to write reviews so I could share my opinion on that particular song. On this occasion it's this one. It is absolutely hilarious. Obviously you've parked in the "row your boat" camp and the verses are fine in setting up the premise, but those choruses are genius. The massively over the top metal and erotically delivered german are incredibly entertaining. The verses are perfectly passable in a 90/00s alt rock type way but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's just waiting for that chorus to kick back in.

TLB: Okay, now I know for sure you didn't play that guitar, but I do love the African-style riffing. I'm kinda sad that the synthy arps take over more but those are good too, I just prefer the guitar sample. Generally I like this. Might need a few more listens to stick in my brain, as it doesn't have a super memorable bit save for Vom's spoken interlude. It does bop along energetically though.

Max B: Well isn't this a jaunty little number. The narrator's goofy obliviousness is quite amusing. On a technical note I do appreciate your ability to play your instruments in time with the song. Seems obvious but I've noticed a few entries here lately that seem to mess up their drum rolls, so kudos to you for redoing your take until you actually got it right (unless you got it right first time, in which case go back to the factory, YOU ROBOT!)

Moss Palace: Cool 6/4 groove going on here. As always, a classy production. I'm trying to figure out what kind of vibe this is, it has elements of jazz/tropicalia/avant-pop. I'm curious to know how the use of duolingo will be taken by the judges. A leap too far, or will the music save it? I wish you luck with that equation.

Nick Soma: I quite like the borderline minor-key/optimistic feel of this one. It has an understated feel but with some nice textures, though it lacks a strong dynamic shift, the energy level stays constant pretty much throughout. I think this has a similar feel to Third Cat's one last round and they ended up being eliminated. I hope you don't go the same way. I can hear some "other language" in the background somewhere. Feels like it was done to tick the box rather than as an integral part of the song.

See-man-ski: Does your DAW's bpm counter only have double digits? I like your songs but as someone who craves a bit of head-bopping energy I wish the tempo was nudged a few (like 50) bpm higher. Anyway, the guitar and piano play off each other nicely here, the guitar in particular adds some nice lead colour without being overbearing. Cool little snare shuffle in the verses and then ride action in the chorus. I think it's cool to take different lyrical directions with each chorus repetition, but I think I prefer the lyrical flow in the first chorus, so it was a bit of a shame that never got repeated. This benefits from repeated listens though, which is always a good sign. More songs need digestive biscuits.

Wreckdom: This sounds almost like you're trying to write a pop song. There appear to be (whisper it) hooks in the song. I particularly like the bass sound in this. The overall feel is like if the Ramones wrote the song and then took a bunch of shrooms and weed before jamming it.

HPH: This is a bouncy tune. The riff was interesting a first, but it doesn't develop much as the song goes on. The arrangement with the accordion and synthy arps in the background is unusual which scores extra points from me (all-important imaginary points).

Mandibles: So is this Cavedweller's Lee singing? I only just discovered there was a connection there. I probably need to read the lyrics but I don't get the foreign language bit, and fidelity-wise it doesn't sit in the mix at all. Beyond that my opinions are probably useless as you've surely figured by now that I'm not into country. You do your thing well though. The main recording is crisp and clear, and the harmonies are rich.

Virgo Power: My interest continues to be piqued by the omnichord. Sadly the song doesn't do anything for me. After listening to a plethora of pretty accomplished musicians it feels a notch down in quality. But I hope you continue to produce these as I have little doubt there are some diamonds yet to come. On a technical note, you vocal sounds like it has too much low frequency stuff. I would suggest adding a high-pass EQ filter to it and setting the cut-off somewhere between 100-200Hz (play with it a little to see what sounds best to you) to make the vocal sound clearer.

Here’s a generalised nur ein image for anyone who wants to grab it (I won’t be offended if it doesn’t become official!)

furrypedro wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:15 am

Grumpy Mike: .…The massively over the top metal and erotically delivered german are incredibly entertaining…

This is definitely the first time anyone has called a vocal of mine erotic! I’m glad the humor came through- I had a blast working on this with Grumpy Mike, and I think he made a great track!

furrypedro wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:15 am

Mandibles: So is this Cavedweller's Lee singing? I only just discovered there was a connection there. I probably need to read the lyrics but I don't get the foreign language bit, and fidelity-wise it doesn't sit in the mix at all. Beyond that my opinions are probably useless as you've surely figured by now that I'm not into country. You do your thing well though. The main recording is crisp and clear, and the harmonies are rich.

This actually is not Lee/Truth. The lead is done by our other male vocalist, Zidongster. Truth is doing the back up vocals, as are Estaphonia and I. The Czech is a letter from the narrators father, saying he hopes he’s well and has he considered going into the family business, beer brewing? And yes, it is in the lyrics haha.

Thank you for writing these reviews and getting them out so quickly!

I'll properly review another round at some point, but for now I'll just throw a big +1 on pretty much everything Pete said, especially re: that Grumpy Mike / Cybronica song being an incredible amount of fun and a great take on the title / challenge.

furrypedro wrote:Budget Bears: Lust for Life much?

Guilty as charged, I wanted a Lust for Life vibe so I literally downloaded a Lust For Life MIDI and ripped out the drums. The drums on the bridge are ripped out of another famous song as well, since I figured I was already heading down that path!

furrypedro wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:15 am

Virgo Power: My interest continues to be piqued by the omnichord. Sadly the song doesn't do anything for me. After listening to a plethora of pretty accomplished musicians it feels a notch down in quality. But I hope you continue to produce these as I have little doubt there are some diamonds yet to come. On a technical note, you vocal sounds like it has too much low frequency stuff. I would suggest adding a high-pass EQ filter to it and setting the cut-off somewhere between 100-200Hz (play with it a little to see what sounds best to you) to make the vocal sound clearer.

Fair points. I am not nearly as accomplished a musician as most of the rest of you. Regarding the vocals, yeah I can see that. I think I turned DOWN the lo-cut filter or whatever the knob is called in Garageband because I feel like one of the strengths of my voice is that it is lower-situated than most women, so I wanted it to sound warm and rich. But I guess I overdid it because at the LP last night the vocal definitely sounded pretty muddy/muffled.

Cybronica wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:08 am

This is definitely the first time anyone has called a vocal of mine erotic! I’m glad the humor came through- I had a blast working on this with Grumpy Mike, and I think he made a great track!

You and GM DID make a great track!! Nivs and I were rocking out to it at the LP