Some comments overall: Please, please think twice about rapping. 9 times out of 10 times it's a mistake. (Mike's win is the exception not the norm.
) I personally am not weighing the challenge very heavily in my rankings, but I thought a fair amount of the challenge fulfillment felt pretty uninspired, particularly folks whose reference was just using their own name, or shoe horning in one or a few names.
Berkeley Social Scene
As a former Berkeley resident and regular Berkeley Bowl shopper, I appreciate the subject matter, although I don't know how much it will resonate for folks who haven't shopped at the Bowl. I'm a little confused by the fake-out 50's rock sounding intro since the song never goes back to that. If I had been there I would have said the pre-chorus should have just been one time through, not two. Also this probably could have ended with the end of the solo. All that being said it's mostly enjoyable, I appreciate the fast pace and the vocal melodies are sometimes nicely creative.
Brown Word
I enjoy the "low music" vibe (bass, baritone sax, etc.) and spoken word vocals and some of the lyrics. The sax samples or whatever they are seem to hit some notes that aren't in the key in the pre-chorus, as does the lead guitar in the second pre-chorus. I don't like the rap in the chorus nearly as much as the verse vocals. Overall I think this needed to have more variety in dynamics and arrangement, it quickly started to feel a little samey. There is a change up at the end but it feels like that could have been earlier and more integrated into the song.
Carlo B Jr
More lounge vibes, huh. It's a nice vibe. I like the way you repeat the "inspire me" to end the chorus and that there is sort of a little break there before the band resumes. Very nice guitar solo. I think after the solo I could have used some more differentiation from the earlier repeat of those parts, like change the instrumentation or something.
Cavedwellers
More pandering to the former Berkeley resident judges.
In spite of that, that the song is pretty much a mashup of a list of Berkeley references and a list of Miles Davis album titles ultimately didn't do a lot for me. I also didn't like the spoken/semi-rapped stuff. The chorus is the best part by far. The intro feels a little messy. I really could have used some variation in the energy level earlier than the part after the second chorus. The organ solo was a pleasant surprise as an alternative to a guitar solo. Oh wait, there's the guitarmony soloing/melody again for the outro, which like the intro feels a little sloppy.
Cybronica
The music bed sounds like a drum beat and a guitar loop that go together and are funky, mashed with a bunch of other loops with different vibes, and to me it just feels like cacophony rather than a balanced recipe. I do like the strings line in the chorus, that adds a nice tension and variation to the song. I wish the main vocal melody in the chorus had been a little more different from the verse though. For me, funk/rap are not great pairings for your voice. This one just didn't land for me, sorry.
The Dutch Widows
Good music. I appreciate this one is brief. You probably could have even stretched the outro out a bit longer.
Eric Novak
This recording so super desperately needs drums or any kind of percussion at all, even just hand claps, snaps, anything. And/or the vocals needed to be a lot more energetic, vs the laid back vibe they have. Backup vocals could help a lot too or a melodic instrument. There's definitely potential here though, what's there is solid. I am probably missing something but I don't think there's any challenge fulfillment in this one?
The Friends
I like the groove and I like the weirdness in the instrumentation. As half of Moss Palace, I'm going to assume "Moss Landing" is a reference to us?
I like the break after the first chorus and the way the drums bring the band back in. Unfortunately the slow pace is making it start to drag a bit during the second verse, but fortunately you bring in those ahh ahh vocals and the lead guitar and kick things up a notch at the right time. I'm digging the outro. In hindsight I probably should have ranked this a place or two higher than I did. Parting comment, please work on the pitch of your vocals. IMO there is no shame in using autotune to get vocals that are in the ballpark to actually be on pitch, considering how little time is available to record these songs.
glennny
I didn't enjoy the ever-increasing-tempo gimmick, it seems unnecessary. Something about the drums in the second half of the guitar solo sounds a little disjointed with the drums. Unfortunately the lyrics didn't really grab me with this one and I didn't find a ton else to grab onto.
Grumpy Mike
As I mentioned, rap is generally a bad choice, and also I don't usually prefer humor songs, but for some reason this one really landed for me. The lyrics were just ridiculous enough, cleverly dumb, with goofy braggadocio, w/o being outright terrible. You kinda sound like Weird Al in the verses, which I mean as a complement. Hooky chorus, very nice, glad to hear you switch up to singing. I think you repeated the chorus too many times before the bridge. The punchline of the bridge is so silly, though, it cracks me up. But yeah, this is way too long for this idea, you could trim some fat out of the chorus repeats before and after the bridge, and the outro didn't really need to happen, especially when it's a fade out.
Jellyfish name-too-long
I didn't pay close enough attention to know for sure, but, you're just referring to yourself by all the different names you've used, right? This song is pretty weird, I feel like I don't get it, musically or lyrically. It's OK I guess.
Ken Mahru
It's hard for me to hear these drums when I know what it could have sounded like if you'd actually played drums vs sequencing them. Also please say "world" normally.
But this has a fun vibe anyway. Nice guitar solo. I appreciate the backup vocals. I feel very juvenile but the ending makes me laugh every time, but the first time when I didn't know it was going to happen I laughed the hardest.
Le Tits Now
Not a fan of the band name.
Fortunately I like the music and singing more. The synth in the second verse could use some reverb on it. Things get weirdly dry there w/o the guitar. Very hooky chorus, definitely the best part of the song. I especially enjoy the instrumentation and arrangement overall in this one. This is really nitpicky but "intentions never followed through upon"? Do you need the "upon" there?
Lean Mean Groove Machine
I like the drums and bass. I do not like the weird cookie monster voice. Slap that bass though, dang. Disco-licious. This reminds me a little bit of Mr. Bungle, like when the bridge kicks in. Anyway, maybe next time try a Beegees type falsetto instead of cookie monster.
LWRG
I feel like I'm there in the room with you. This almost sounds like LWRG channeling WreckdoM. Anyway, this sounds like just an OK jam. I feel like I got the idea by the 3 minute mark, and it did not need to go on 2 more minutes. Save the stretched out jam for live.
Max
More rap... some of it actually does work for me in this one though. I'm running out of steam here for things to say. This is competently put together and performed and recorded, which is no surprise. Looking for something to say, I think it could have been cool to have some kind of actual transition from the chorus into the verse rather than it being an abrupt change. And maybe the chorus could have used a different bass instrument, the slidey/farty one from the verse I don't think fits as well in the choruses. Weird abrupt ending but I enjoyed the reference.
Micah
It's nice to have a whole different genre/feel happening here, good contrast to everybody else. This is a pretty solid by-the-numbers genre exercise with the highlight being the accordion of course.
Sober
So smooooth. While the bass playing is indeed quite tasty, the overall band sound veers into cheesy territory for me. Also, "mistookin'", oof. That was a miss for me. Overall the lyrics and vocals are putting me off. I enjoy the instrumental bit with the bass/organ/guitar playing in unison.
WreckdoM
Please post your lyrics in future rounds. This is pretty much what I expect from an average WreckdoM song.
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