The Song Fight Bulletin Board

jeff robertson wrote:Finished, submitting as we speak.

Negative reviews anticipated:

repetitive
too many damn guitars
clippy vocals
boring drums
parts "a" and "b" related only by being in the same key
unimaginative lyrics
chord progression similar but not identical to something by Billy Squire
guitar converted to bass by digital pitch shifter just sounds "off"
every so often one or more guitars plays the wrong chord

Well there's one review no one has to write. Someone, who shall remain nameless once told me not to "pre-apologize" for my work, and that doing reviews would endear me to the folks here quicker than anything else.

And then a big "discussion" broke out about whether the reviews here were the "point" of Songfight and blah, blah, blah.

I'm not going to tell you how you should handle it, or about how I've "endeared" myself to the folks here. What I will say is that if you write the Fightmaster's and tell them that you have an improved version of your song that you would like to supplant the previously submitted entry, they probably will oblige you being that it's still before the deadline.

They're kind of nice like that.

Sometimes.

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:
....... Someone, who shall remain nameless once told me not to "pre-apologize" for my work, and that doing reviews would endear me to the folks here quicker than anything else.

And then a big "discussion" broke out about whether the reviews here were the "point" of Songfight and blah, blah, blah.

it's one big vicious cycle really.

Our "We Are Perfect In Our Dreams" is pretty much finished. Needs a bit more polish. I love SongFight!

Polish? Like sausage?

Actually poolish. Like for french bread.

jack wrote:

Jack, thank you for this

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:Someone, who shall remain nameless once told me not to "pre-apologize" for my work

I wasn't apologizing.. I was pre-establishing that criticisms in certain categories were futile, to encourage the reviewers to find something else to talk about.

As for the deadline being Monday instead of today, well I've got other shit to do this weekend.

doesn't matter. if there is something to be complained about, it will be complained about. if you know there is a problem in advance, you should fix it in advance.

note: i don't know what you were whining about in the first place, i'm too lazy to look back. i'm only responding to the most recent message here.

roymond wrote:

jack wrote:

Jack, thank you for this

couldn't resist......

tviyh wrote: if you know there is a problem in advance, you should fix it in advance.

My review-prediction is: "Not my kind of thing. Not as good as other stuff you've done. Pretty good, but I'm just not getting into it."

I'll work on it up to the deadline. But that's it.

jeff robertson wrote:I wasn't apologizing.. I was pre-establishing that criticisms in certain categories were futile, to encourage the reviewers to find something else to talk about.

Reviews that have been filtered through a game of Taboo aren't more useful than regular reviews.

"Okay, review my song, but don't mention that it's repetitive, has too many damn guitars, has clippy vocals, or has boring drums. GO!"

"Ummm... this song is... nice... and is... over 3 minutes long."

If I'm discouraged from talking about the obvious shortcomings of a song, than any positive thing I mention will be grossly exaggerated in terms of importance. Do I like the keyboard lick in "I'm in Love with a Stripper"? Yeah. But I hate the rest of the song. If I couldn't talk about everything I hate in that song, I would probably mention the keyboard part. But I really, really hate that song, and to say that I like part of it (the keyboard lick) is kind of misleading.

erikb wrote:Reviews that have been filtered through a game of Taboo aren't more useful than regular reviews.

Point taken.. if you hate the fakedrums, say so.

i'm in for "crack in my heart" with a little nod to noir desir this time 'round.

Well my second Songfight entry, We Are Perfect In Our Dreams, is complete. I wasn't really planning on doing anything, and then I was bored today and thought "heck, why not?". This time instead of a band I have overdubs and GarageBand drums (yay) and instead of seven minutes I have less than two.

This is actually the first song I've ever recorded by myself (without a band), so I guess I'm pretty proud of that.

My intent is to submit something for We Are Perfect In Our Dreams. (Gasp! Me? Submit a song?!)

Mmm... slowcore.

nyjm wrote:i'm in for "crack in my heart" with a little nod to noir desir this time 'round.

If you can get your song to sound like "Aux sombres héros de l'amer", my vote is yours automatically. (I used to love that song back in the day)

Niveous wrote:

nyjm wrote:noir desir

If you can get your song to sound like "Aux sombres héros de l'amer", my vote is yours automatically. (I used to love that song back in the day)

well, i'm not betrand cantat, but a rock-out chorus is french is something.

isn't it?

- njm

I sent one in for "We Are Perfect In Our Dreams"

Three fights, eh? Two just wasn't enough?

ooh, I dunno why I assumed the deadline was Friday and thought I wasn't going to have time to get my thing done. but I'm in the house for 'We are perfect in our dreams'.
Boo-2tha-Yah

Does anyone ever think, the day before songs are due, "I feel like doing a song. But which title? Oh, WAPIOD sounds awesome" Then you begin to make a song, but just as you're checking the boards, you think, "Oh, they're already doing this title. And them. And them. And oh god Hostess Mostess too. Well. Let's have a look at those other two titles!"

Is that just me? Or do others fear competition like I do?

update:

i've taken a break from fixing up the spare bedroom i'm converting into a studio, because a former collaborator asked me to help out with a song for this week. so i threw together a temporary recording setup amidst all the mess, and am throwing myself into the fray for the first time in almost a year.

Bjam wrote:Does anyone ever think, the day before songs are due, "I feel like doing a song. But which title? Oh, WAPIOD sounds awesome" Then you begin to make a song, but just as you're checking the boards, you think, "Oh, they're already doing this title. And them. And them. And oh god Hostess Mostess too. Well. Let's have a look at those other two titles!"

Is that just me? Or do others fear competition like I do?

I would rather have a good competition than a clear-cut victory. If I was one of those people that wins all the time, I would probably get bored with songfight. Or I would get addicted to fame... one or the other...