The Song Fight Bulletin Board

You all admit to weakness and submission at the feet of the mighty Aphunk!?!?!? WE EXPECTED AS MUCH AND DEMAND SACRIFICE!

WeaselSlayer wrote:You all admit to weakness and submission at the feet of the mighty Aphunk!?!?!? WE EXPECTED AS MUCH AND DEMAND SACRIFICE!

We bow down, beg forgiveness and admit our frailty and inability to comprehend the marvels of Aphunk. We will try to better ourselves and see the true path. Please accept this left over piece of wholemeal toast as humble (healthy!) homage. (sic)

stueym wrote: We bow down, beg forgiveness and admit our frailty and inability to comprehend the marvels of Aphunk. We will try to better ourselves and see the true path. Please accept this left over piece of wholemeal toast as humble (healthy!) homage. (sic)

Geez. That's way more than I expected to get... I guess Luke was right.

Reviews written as I listen to the song:

comfort- uh...is this going anywhere? I'm chilling here at around 1:00 and the song's sounding like I have my headphones halfway out and i'm only getting half the range, which (i just checked) isn't the case. It would have been nice if you posted lyrics in the archive. I'm afraid I just don't get this. 3/10

The BeWells- This is exactly what I expected when I heard the title this week. It's well done, and I like the lyrics. Not exactly my cup of tea, but by no means a bad song. 7/10

Aphunk- 21:05? what in the world. 45 seconds in and I don't like it. Well, this beat is kind of nice. Yeah, that voice is kind of grating in my left ear and I don't want to listen to 20 more minutes of this. 4/10

WreckdoM- Well, this is interesting. Interesting is really the word to describe this. I'm not sure what to think. 6/10.

Stueym- I like this. I don't really like the sound of the vocals, but I like the lyrics and I like the musical aspect of it. 6/10

Song Fight Orchesta- SFO songs are always a treat. This isn't one of my favorites, but it's pretty good. 8/10

Ice Weasels- Seems like every other song in this fight. Slow, soft and oh so emotional. Hooray. Typical and what I expected, but not bad. 7/10

Hillbilly- Well, the name suits the type of music. I'm assuming there's a story that goes with this, but as no lyrics were posted (and it's all of 6 hours before the deadline for the next week's songs, people), I can't really understand the vocals or get the story. 6/10

King Arthur- Cool! Lyrics! This is well done and I can tell there was some thought put into it. 8.2/10

Phunt, Don't Tell - Oh my gosh, this is terrible, I can't believe I'm still listening to this. Amazing tacos. This song was like a train wreck but I couldn't turn it off. 6/10 for pure entertainment value.

Evil-e - This is nice and relaxing to listen to. I could fall asleep to this song. Which isn't a bad thing. 7/10

Big Mouth- Big Mouth gets my vote just for breaking out and actually being one of the only songs in the fight that grabbed me. 8.5/10

Thornberry- Ooh, my toes are tapping, but I'm not really liking the song. Too bland. 7.5/10

Vote goes to Big Mouth.

Some review comments...

Aphunk - That's a bit long, but I did make it all the way through. Thanks for posting the explanation...I didn't quite catch what was happening while listening. I do like some of the parts with the sampled vocal, but the singing is a bit too odd. Otherwise, there were some enjoyable moments with the backing music.

The BeWells - This is me. I went back and forth on sending in what I had recorded (didn't get to the extra vocals and mandolin parts) and finally decided to go for it. Seems like I never get around to the mandolin parts...maybe I should try doing a song centered around the mandolin next time.

Big Mouth - This song has a fun feel to it. I like the mix of vocals and the heavy and funky instrumentation...and nice bass. Stylistically, there are things I normally wouldn't go for, but the song has such a fun vibe that it makes for an enjoyable listen.

comfort - There are some interesting things going on tonally, but it doesn't quite come together for me. The vocal is especially too weak and muffled sounding...no idea what the song was about. Things don't quite sit in the mix and reverb the way I'd like, but there is a nice mood to this song.

Evil-E - I love the chord structure and the ethereal quality of the backing vocals and music. There are little bits that could be tighter, but it doesn't detract for me. After the first few listens this one is in the lead for my vote.

Hillbilly - The recording of the guitar does sound better this week. That's a nice groove on this song. I like the guitar playing and the background vocals add a nice touch. Your voice and style have such a great laid-back feel that brings back good memories of old country and blues singers. Production could be better, but I enjoyed this.

The Ice Weasels - I like the nice, mellow sound of this one. There wasn't really any hook or aspect that pulled me into the song, but the general feel of the song is good and things are put together nicely. Possibly adding more rhythmic elements would give it more life...the droning is nice, but could use a little bit of a pulse to it. Overall this was nicely done.

King Arthur - This is a good song. I like the lyrics, melody and structure. The flute adds some nice flavor. This is a close second for me, well done.

Phunt; Don't Tell - This has a cute aspect to it, but is a little outside my tastes. I do like the playfulness of the backing music. The vocal works a bit better when it has that sing song rhythm going, but loses something in the longer rambling bits. The vocal affectation also is a bit overdone (or too put on) at points. In general, not enough of a song for my tastes.

Song Fight Orchestra - I've lost track of what's going on with these bits, but this one came off well. I would have liked to hear more of this sound. There is some nice vocal work on this track and the sparse instrumentation fits well.

Stueym - The melody keeps reminding me of "Every Breath You Take". I'm not catching much of the country references due to the lazy island type of feel. I think that's the bit that pulls this down for me. Everything has nice sound to it, but I think I'm wanting it to be a touch more vibrant. Thanks for mentioning the recording aspects...it does sound good and it is always nice to put specific instruments and technique with the sound.

Thornberry - The arrangement of this song is well done. The vocals are nice and the parts all seem fitting. As far as the mix goes, there is too much reverb on everything. It all ends up sounding a bit distant. Other than that the song is nice, but I'm still not sure about the lyrics. After listening several times something still feels awkward and I'm not sure I caught everything yet...there's something I don't like but I cannot put a finger on it.

WreckdoM - Great start for this song. As much as I liked the first fifteen seconds, I wasn't quite into this song once the main part kicked in. It does get fun again after the first minute, and that talking coming in both sides at once as the song winds down is so wonderfully disconcerting.

After several time through all the songs (well, only one time through Aphunk's), I will have to stick with my early impression and put in a vote for Evil-E. Thanks to everyone who took the time to include lyrics in the lyric archive thread.

Remiss wrote:Aphunk- 21:05? what in the world. 45 seconds in and I don't like it. Well, this beat is kind of nice. Yeah, that voice is kind of grating in my left ear and I don't want to listen to 20 more minutes of this. 4/10

It doesn't change a bit over the whole 21 minutes, I promise.

WeaselSlayer wrote:
It doesn't change a bit over the whole 21 minutes, I promise.

Behave.



Thanks for reviewing, everybody. I like both fights this week.

no time for reviews! fight time was too short.

favorites: bewells, evile, iceweasels, kingarthur, sforch
are also good: hillbilly, bigmouth, comfort, stueym, thornberry, wreckdom

aphunk: 21-minute songs don't work in the songfight format. some parts of this are interesting, but not enough of them.

i voted for evile. it was interesting!
-bill

Evil E easily got my vote.

Hillbilly nice job on the mic'd acoustic dude. Waaaaayyyyy better. Sounds more real than your other submissions like I was in the same room while that jam was going on.

Aphunk......... sigh.......... does whatever mean anything to you.

BeWells was a good song, but not very original.

Props to King Arthur especially for the Gordon Lightfoot harmonies and melodies. Sweet. Drums...... oops. Easily could have gotten rid of them and been more effective IMO.

Phuntdonttell.....hahahahahahaahaha........ you guys are hilarious.......

SFO - J$ nice job buddy. Very cool space.

Comfort was cool. Came a close second.

Stueym - Pretty close to the Police in Every Breath You Take my friend.

Wreckdom....... my sphincter muscles tightened as I listened. It was weird.

Pretty good fight. These are the ones I felt like reviewing.

Thanks for the reviews. I was expecting everyone to hate the Ice Weasels track, since it's so different from the usual pop, so I was pretty surprised to get a few positive comments. Thanks for the requisite Ben Gibbard comment too, wouldn't be a songfight without that comparison.

Also, I too wish I had better keyboards & synths. Most of my keyboard stuff is done manually through a Casio SA-39, sometimes with effects added. This time I added a few background texture tracks from Garageband because the SA-39 was so embarrassing.

reviews:

wreckdom: random and spastic, frank zappa would be proud.

thornberry: turn up the transistor radio, it's thornberry! i'm diggin' this one, the endorphins are kicking in and everything. it sounds like the 60s but in a good way. chorus at the end is exactly what the doctor ordered. +1

stuey m: it's about time we had stephin merritt homages. but different enough to keep my interest. i rarely say this but i think your vox might be a bit too loud. otherwise this is ready to be played in the background at the bar during a breakup scene in a joss whedon show. i got slightly bored during the last minute because i have a short attention span.

songfight orchestra: fun! i love when it sounds like the band is having fun. cute and makes me want to hear it again.

phunt; don't tell: i'm telling: your singing got irritating by 0:02 into the song. stop! oh god this is making me laugh/cry because i hate it so bad. the other ice weasel doesn't want me to let it finish, but i must. i must persevere! livejournal is all set for its 15 minutes of fame by being mentioned in an emo song, but this isn't it. oh thank the gods it's over! -1

king arthur: i'm at a ren fair. the music is pleasant and paced well. you can play instruments really well and i'm jealous. only downside for me is that i don't care about the lyrics so much. +1

hilbilly: bluesy, which means i'm not really gonna like it. sounds okay, though.

evile: wow, what an intro. i'm hooked! you lost me a bit after the first minute, but i'm still enjoying it. the dreamy quality is nicely done and the song isn't predictable at all. +1

comfort: background music. which doesn't mean it's bad, but it didn't grab me and i didn't notice it until halfway through. pleasant, which means it's better than about half of the typical songfight entries.

big mouth: grabbing intro. and then, oh blech, this goes downhill really fast into some kind of glam-metal that leaves me cold. i've had to sit through this before at bars but it didn't make
me a happy weasel. -1

bewells: thank you for saving me from big mouth. this is exactly what i needed. smooth to listen to, but won't stick with me very long probably. or maybe it will, i'm a sucker for these sweet little songs.

aphunk: irritating start. irritating first 3 minutes. it's not bad, it's just also not good. i know you probably had a lot of fun cooking this up all night long as the room became dense with smoke, but it doesn't translate, and i bet everyone yelled at you for making it 20 minutes long. this is a board where a FIVE minute song will get you yelled at. next time, chop it up into a bunch of 4-minute segments and submit it to the next N fights. you won't win anyway but you can look really prolific. i let the whole thing play out (for what it's worth) while i worked on other stuff, but i doubt anyone else did. stop.

probably voting for thornberry.

Glam metal????


Weird. Must be the silly screams at the end.

ice weasel wrote:aphunk: next time, chop it up into a bunch of 4-minute segments and submit it to the next N fights. you won't win anyway but you can look really prolific.

We very briefly considered doing that, but... why have 11 tiny songs, when you can have 1 great amalgamation?

Ashok the Almighty has fallen!! Let those who subscribe to his still unproven might be forsaken! Let the great foulness, brought forth by the great Demise of Justice and Posterity, overtake and obliviate those who still project doubt to the glory of The Lecturer!! A'lehk saliva'ar traa'lihm!!!

Mogosagatai wrote:

ice weasel wrote:aphunk: next time, chop it up into a bunch of 4-minute segments and submit it to the next N fights. you won't win anyway but you can look really prolific.

We very briefly considered doing that, but... why have 11 tiny songs, when you can have 1 great amalgamation?

Ashok the Almighty has fallen!! Let those who subscribe to his still unproven might be forsaken! Let the great foulness, brought forth by the great Demise of Justice and Posterity, overtake and obliviate those who still project doubt to the glory of The Lecturer!! A'lehk saliva'ar traa'lihm!!!

............

....

.... ya!

Mogosagatai wrote:

ice weasel wrote:aphunk: next time, chop it up into a bunch of 4-minute segments and submit it to the next N fights. you won't win anyway but you can look really prolific.

We very briefly considered doing that, but... why have 11 tiny songs, when you can have 1 great amalgamation?

Plus, that would be against the rules.

jb wrote:Plus, that would be against the rules.

I mean, we would've waited till new titles were posted each time, had we done it that way. But again--why bother?

<b>The BeWells</b>: Excellent performance, as usual. I like the warm sleepiness of this, although I would actually prefer a little less tenderness/sentimentality, if you know what I mean. A darker or rougher edge, perhaps. But that's just my certain taste, and perhaps not yours. This is masterfully played, no doubt. I feel like I should be watching a sunrise.

<b>Big Mouth</b>: Raunchy rawk! Thank you! The bass is so thick and awesome. Great job on the vocals too--the swapping back and forth is cool, and I really like the violence in the guy's voice that isn't Leaf (that <i>is</i> Leaf, right? sure sounds like him...). I dig the shifting between musical styles, too. Everything just works here, and very well.

<b>comfort</b>: That fast, singular strumming is cool--it's more percussive than it is melodic, which has a nifty effect. Your lazy sinisterness intrigues me. I'd say your vocals should be louder, but they actually are kinda cool how they are. So yeah, nice job.

<b>Evil-E</b>: It's a groovy circus! Those background vocals are haunting. The more I listen to this, the more I like it. Very cool.

<b>Hillbilly</b>: Mmm, tastes like good wheat bread. I don't have much to say, but I like it.

<b>Ice Weasels</b>: You're a synthy Death Cab, and that's cool. That metronomic drum tick isn't necessary. The song is good, what else to say?

<b>King Arthur</b>: Nice woodwind--it really helps to make this song. The lyrics are pretty cool, too. The drums could stand to be a notch louder. I always find that I like your mellower songs (like this one) much more than the upbeat ones. Keep 'em comin'! This reminds me of "Fool on the Hill", even though it doesn't sound like it.

<b>Phunt; don't tell.</b>:

hillbilly wrote:You'r crazy.

<b>Song Fight Orchestra</b>: Does it count to only quote lyrics, not music? Well whatever. I like this a lot--very well done. What's that honk at :18? I guess it adds character or something.

<b>Stuey M</b>: "Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I'll be watching you..." That's okay; nothing's totally original these days. This is nice and relaxing. All these drum fills are making me expect more drums to come in, but they never really do. I'm glad they don't--this is better off without them. The fills are a cool way of pulling the listener along--It's as if you're offering me candy but never giving it to me, only come to find out, <i>I had the candy all along...</i> in the form of this song, being good and all.

<b>Thornberry</b>: Nice self-harmonizing. I feel like this should either rock more, or be more mellow. The mellowness at the beginning is pleasant, but then later you start to throw in dashes of aggression, and I'm not sure that they work with the rest of it. I like the guitar solo though.

<b>WreckdoM</b>: That is perhaps the grossest growling (at the beginning) I've ever heard. That jumpy sirenish noise is awesome. This whole thing is pretty brilliant.




I feel like I didn't actually say anything useful for most of these songs, but that's only because I liked them all and saw little room for improvement. This fight was ridiculously good. Way to go, everyone.

Mogosagatai wrote:<b>Song Fight Orchestra</b>: Does it count to only quote lyrics, not music?

Jim of Seattle wrote:for part 2, each piece should quote something from a first half entry, be it music or lyrics or an actual sample ...

Ex-User wrote:What's that honk at 0:18?

It's me saying 'huh!', actually.

A Delicate Flower wrote: Well, whatever. I like this a lot

Thanks!

j$

WreckdoM-I can already tell I will be able to appreciate this, but probably won't like it. Prediction coming true... Well it sounds like you had some fun making it, and its short enough that I enjoyed it for that one time. I do like the double vocals in the left and right ear, saying different things at me.
Big Mouth- Like the wah-wah a lot. I like the cleaner part more than the distorted part. The chorus is very close to being catchy, but might be a little to spacious. Thats a nice little break down in the middle there, with the bass. Probably the best part in the song.
Phunt; Don't Tell- hahahahah. I like the little video game music in the backround. Theres nothing to say, this is awesome, i really enjoyed myself. So random. Your voice sounds like JOhnny Depp as Willly Wonka.
Aphunk- Oh man, its 2:30 AM, do you think i really have time to listen to a 20+ minute song? Well ill give you 1.5 minutes to catch my interest. Not happening, sorry.
Thornberry- Tis me. I just wanted to try something simple and this is what came out.
Song Fight Orchestra- Do0 d0o doo. Good stuff.
The Ice Weasels- Probably my favorite name on this fight. I like the vocals better than the music itself, although thats just a matter of taste, its still very pleasent. I like the drone at the bottom throughout the song. A bit repetitive, but very well done, very honest. Good job.
Hillbilly- Ah, good ol' Hillbilly, always happy to see your songs coming up. I would enjoy seeing you in a Cafe' or something. I love acoustic stuff, and you are the acoustic exordinaire. This one is no different. Short and sweet. Another solid one from you, Good Job.
Stueym- I see a lot of people have been givin you lip for sounding like the police. It does sound like it, but it sounded more like a Youth Church song, when they are trying to be overly emotional and contemporary and stuff. 12 string? Sounds good. Song just isn't catchy me much.
Evil-E- This feels like I am looking at the future from the 1970's, probably high. I do like the backround "Tigerlilly" part. In fact, I like the whole backround phalsetto part in general. It is getting slightly repetitive, but so far that is my only complaint. Ok you changed it up a bit here around 3:00 to finish out the song. Not my favorite, but very well done. Good Job.
comfort- One of the late editions. Ah man, I dont really like this at all. Some good ideas in here, just doesnt sound very well excuted. Makes me rather uncomfortable
King Arthur- Hey a flute. makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. acoustic plugged direct? Sounds like it, so if so, try micing it next time. Gives it more space. This is another good Cafe song, which is good thing. We all need some good music while eating our Muffins and drinking our Iced Mocha Fraps. I do love flutes, so you had from the get-go. This was a nice song. I enjoyed myself, and thats the point right? Good Job.
The BeWells- Ah, the other late edition. Very nice guitar sound. Very fitting voice, works extremely well. Goin for a bit of Sentitmental Tigerlilly. I also like the solo very much. Man, very nicely done. Good Job. I think I need to go tell my Girlfriend I love her or something now.

Very enjoyable fight. Give yourselves a hand.

Having achieved the magical status as honorary "Norwegian" of the week ("Nul Point!), I now have to work out if I:

a.) angered the ghost of Police with my totally subconcious rip off of "Every Breath You Take"

b.) offended the sensibilities of the Songfight crowd by writing lyrics about a 'forbidden love' (oooh err Missus!)

c.) Was the only one silly enough to pay homage and sacrifice my left over dry wholemeal toast to the mighty god APHUNK who scored 2 votes with their mighty 21.05 fantasy opera?!?! (hmmm maybe I should have put a little bit of butter and marmalade on it ?).

Oh well there is always next week

PS if you dont get the Norwegian reference just as a Brit (or other sundry European with a sense of humor)

stueym wrote:
c.) Was the only one silly enough to pay homage and sacrifice my left over dry wholemeal toast to the mighty god APHUNK who scored 2 votes with their mighty 21.05 fantasy opera?!?! (hmmm maybe I should have put a little bit of butter and marmalade on it ?).

Whoa!! Thank you so much!

I had a tickle in my throat something terrible after that toast!