The Song Fight Bulletin Board

3d - kinda haphazard soundin'... but interesting.

j in the c - nice and funkalicious... a smidge sonically redundant.

jordan seavers - i love the 'nintendo' soundin' keys. pretty cool tune. a bit long though.

lmnop - cool intro riffy thing. this needs a bigger drum groove and less noodly guitars. awesome solo

melvin - really nice vibe. great production and style choice. fun fun. vote?

pics - i tried to listen to this but couldn't.

ratt poizon - yeah! kick ass vocal effects and bass sound... yay! big metal! i need my mullet back right now! a little long but... vote?

rio - interesting take but doesn't quite pull it off... i love the sound effects.

ryan rickenbach - nice voice... decent song but not great. too bad about the mix...

sissy fist - nice production and interesting tune... the vocals are nice but some of the note choices are a little questionable.

special relatives - what a noodle fest... sounds like ya maybe had fun makin' it... more fun than i had listenin' to it... 8)

frisbee - another solid tune. i dig your vocal melodies tons, man.

tmk - nice... i love the drum machine sounds... great lyrics and singin' and guitarin'. love when it kicks in. cool tune. vote?

i think i'm leanin' toward the kids, but not sure... some nice stuff here.

Here's what I have (sorry I didn't get a chance to do 'em all):

Thanks for the Frisbee: Guitar parts are thrilling. I love the built-up steam when they fill in at 1:55. That's some real simple energy. That little bit makes the whole song shine. Well crafted lyrics fit well with the gentle melody. An excellent song.

Johnny in the Corner: Fabulous sense of space. You're patented isochronous rhythm works wonders here. "...photograph" falls flat, especially when rhymed with "...graph", which is really the same word. I like the "make a movie" imagery, given the wah-heavy background. Catchy, funny, and cool. Top stuff.

Dublin Duck Dispensary: Nice change-up around :35. Middle part flows much better. Needs some performance commitment to get the song across. Some of the odder changes (especially at 1:08) need more clarity. Doubling the voice with synth is a nice trick, but a double-tracked vocal would work a lot better.

Jordan Seavers: Melody at the start is a perfect heartbreaker, and the Nintendo polyphony is sweet and innocent. Lots of 60s stuff, with your layered "la la's" and understated guitar work at the middle part. Dwells too long on the basic progression; aching for a B-section (at least) by 2:40, though I like the vocal entries. Could have been half as long with no real loss and probably some gain.

Ryan Rickenbach: Smooth drum sound. Nice mix. Though the rhythm seems a bit empty; the empty third beat makes it sound like it's limping. The secondary dominants at 1:56 are welcome, but they don't take this far enough from the main road. Too safe overall.

Sissy Fist (Dert): I really like the texture of this.

JSeavers: dude, are you sure this isn't one you've submitted already? okay, obviously not but it sounds a lot like you've used that chord progression or melody or something here before. also , by the time it gets into three minutes it's not really broken down or rocked out or anything in a significant way. I was liking it until it became apparent that it wasn't really going anywhere and that made me change my opinion quite a lot. Good execution but I was bored as hell by the end. You could have done so much more in 5 minutes but the drums don't change at all. The instrumental breaks all do the right thing but it sounds like they're all just having they're turn to do a solo and then blending back into the same old going nowhere track. You are capable of so much more if you challenged yourself even slightly; I think now that you've got an albums worth of cool little songs under your belt you could branch out a bit. Don't get me wrong though dude. this is still one of the best tracks here

Melvin: haha, Johnny definitely had a point when he said you are to indie what Steve Durand is to retro pop, only now you've gained some of your own retro pop sensibilities. I could hear the Spinto band playing this, it's catchy and stuff but in a more whimsical and bouncey way than usual and it gets even better when it kicks in. I could never really dislike a song by you when they have such quality backing vocals. even the next track would be cool with some of your "oooaaaahhs" over it....

pics chat brutal teen petite: ....but it doesn't so meh. although it does actually sound like you wrote a song and then hacked chunks out of it with a pick-axe and kept the hacking sound in. One thing about this track is it gives away the secret that you can play guitar (or at least that you own one). I like the fact that you do lots of instrumentals (I don't count speaking as lyrics personally), but I do wish there was something easier to get stuck into amid the sonic fresco. should I get over to the Peppermint Patty fight? perhaps I should....yeah, see that's really lovely (unless I'm just plain wrong in assuming 'pics chat..' is another Phunt incarnation in which case what's this all about eh? if it is though then lucky you for getting 2 reviews in 1)

Rattpoizon: Your stuff doesn't always have the most convincing sounds in it (y'know 'real' drums and stuff) but it does a great job of creating an atmosphere. This sounds pretty high-concept which can be a sign of a lack of discipline but I think you pull it off well. I'm never really bored for any of the 6 minutes that this lasts; once it's kicked in, I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the sludge metal but this gives off a kind of Kyuss type vibe which is pretty cool, the widdling doesn't just sound outright shit which is a small achievement on it's own. All the feedback and swells are really cool, it's the first couple of minutes of this that I like the most I think. sorry if that review read like i listened to the song backwards, I don't know why I did that.

Rio Mondo: haha, fucking brilliant. the bass is pure Beverly Hills cop. the gunshots and tyre squeals are a work of genius.

Ryan Rickenbach: for the record, I think anyone who marks this down for the panning issues is perfectly entitled to their opinion (and also an arse). The song's solid but it passes me by a bit, and I don't think the oohs are as robust as they could be. You've definitely done better oohs in the past. I don't think the harmonica adds much personally. the overall feel of the song is really nice though, the guitar playing and singing are spot on.

Sissy Fist (Dert): I thought this was well recorded and it stomps along in a fairly satisfying way. didn't grab me in any way until the spaz outro

The Special Relatives: There are some bits in this where the instruments connect up in a kind of cool (and more than likely accidental) way. Most of the time they don't seem to be trying to add to the song much, y'know, like the parts are gonna become more than the sum.

Thanks for the frisbee: I'm glad you're still here. First off, I love the sound of that guitar and the way it jangles in a c86 type way (that probably means nothing to you, but I mean it sounds kind of thin and chorusy, but manages to capture this sunny and ethereal feeling which I associate with the Stone Roses and Smiths, that kind of stuff. 80's brit indie basically, but early r.e.m. sounding too). Also, this is immediate and melodic but not in an overly melancholy or a cheesy way; it's not trying harder than it should to be sincere and so doesn't come off sounding like crap acoustic emo. I like hearing stuff that's well played but less than amazingly produced because it sounds like it was recorded years ago, and this is like that. thanks!

those MEddling kids: there are things about this that I think are better than some of my other submissions. I spent more time on the song than the production. I hope nobody (melvin) was disappointed by the relative simplicity, because I find a lot of opposition to my penchant for shifting time signatures (from those who don't know what a time signature is), but I hate to think that I'd worked myself into a corner where if I try something complicated many people won't give it the time to sink in, and if I do something simple all the musos spot it straight away and think I'm selling out (or something). I strongly suspect this track won't ever be heard outside songfight so here's its week in the sun. I would love to do it live in Yamagata though, I can just picture the crowds

LMNOP: More cowbell!! yes, I'm immediately on your side because of that. This ain't at all bad in that nice laid-back jazzy way. Some of the guitar parts feel a bit awkward, this could possibly be a tiny timing or rhythm issue, it doesn't always sit perfectly in the groove. There's some nice little fills in there which are cool and the vocals do the job.

Johnny in the Corner: The backing track doesn't do much for me. It's put together well enough but the chords and melody lines don't sound very inspired. I like the breathy vocals, I should've known someone would use that lyric. C U Next Tuesday

Dublin Duck: It's got a bit of a hook. I think the vocals are far too dull tonaly, they're indecipherable in a mumbly way which doesn't really add much. There's probably an okay song underneath this that needs to be fully realised.

Frisbee and Melvin are the strongest here

Furrypedro wrote:<b>p</b>ics c<b>h</b>at br<b>u</b>tal tee<b>n</b> peti<b>t</b>e:...One thing about this track is it gives away the secret that you can play guitar (or at least that you own one).

Shit! Next we'll find out I'm a virtuoso cellist, and then we'll have to bring <i>that</i> to the table too.

You spelled "brutel" wrong, btw.

i never finished my reviews and accidently entered them??? oh well. real reviews are below. and i cant delete this one. oh well.

jseavers05 wrote:Johnny - oh very gay. .

Fuck off, twat.

Duck - needs some good mixing. good structure but needs help in certain areas

Johnny - oh very gay. it could be a good song if it was better. it kinda reminds me of some nice music for kids. but i dont like this song too much.

jordan - im probably gonna do some major repairs to this song to make it better. as for now its not nearly finished but oh well. mabye ill tell you kids when i make it good and not so long. ill make sure to mix it up a lot more.

LMNOP - oh the funk. its funny. haha. "tuesday yeah!..." Awesome trumbone solo. i love the simplicity of the song. ultra funk to the max. 100 points for the crazy ending.

Melvin - One of the top songs ive hear from you. im jealous. hope you win. you gots my vote for this one. votified.

Pics - oh the noise + my headache = crap. your "song" or whatever it is... it sucks. "i want to make me fertile! you there, i need some soda." k this really sucks. im gonna show all my friends.

RAT - draggs a bit. a lot.

Rio - what the... this is so cool.

Mr Rickenbach - good song. seems like you always have something pretty good whenever you enter a song. anyways, fun stuff yo.

sissy - i think this song is crappy. you sing like all those kids on alternative radio. like pearl jam. like all the country singers and their fake accents.

relatives - almost cool but then its a little bit too much noise and vomit.

frisbee - i can hear your family talking in the background. very emo.

kids - this one is cool. i think you always seem to serve out a good song each week. good job kiddo.

melvin gets the vote this week. he will win. the end.

jseavers05 wrote:im gonna show all my friends.

You could phunt them too, while you're at it. ns

Mogosagatai wrote:

jseavers05 wrote:im gonna show all my friends.

You could phunt them too, while you're at it. ns

i listened to it like 3 more times... it gets funnier each time.the song still sucks, cause its not much of a song. just random sound effects, but the talking in the background is hilarious

jseavers05 wrote:frisbee - i can hear your family talking in the background. very emo..

very funny j-dawg...sorry i didnt do that on purpose...that was the t.v.
my wife blasts it when she runs...and thats usually the only time i have to record anything so there you have it
emo...ouch!

Real emos don't have wives, so don't worry about it, Frisbee.

hey melvin, i saw a music video you did a while back on like a website or something. with the garage door and all the fog and stuff. anyways, do you still have a place on the web with some of your music stuff?

Haha! The ol' suicide in the parent's garage video, eh?

Check out:

melvinrock.com (old songs and CDs)
myspace.com/melvinrock (SF songs)
myspace.com/thehandsomeband (a recent demo)
zed.cbc.ca/go?c=galleryHomePage (search "melvin" and you can see both of my no-budget videos)

I once did a big-budget video, but who knows where that went? Not me.

So, wanna be myspace friends?

well... I refuse to vote for myself before listening to the competition first. so I figured I'd review while I'm at it. (I haven't had time earlier).

disclaimer: I am drunk. I am eating one of those microwaveable pot pies. I want to sleep.

dublin duck dispensary
well, this is pretty cool. lo-fi... as the kids would say. I wanted it to start again with mega drums and distorted guitar.. but was still pretty good.

Johnny in the corner
hey, you're english. or british? boo be bo boo boo. quality sounds good. haha you said "drawering." wah pedals are cool. I like masturbating.. but don't tell anyone, ok? mmmm..... pot pie. I like the organ the most.

Jordan Seavers
keys sound good. not liking the singing. I supose it's good though. I have pot pie gravy in my beard. production is pretty cool. ohhhh ohhhhh uhoh uh oh uh oh ohhhhh..... uh oh!!! haha!
wow!!! for not having many changes this is pretty long... it's not really keeping my interest... but it's not losing it, i guess.

LMNOP
I like it so far... not exactly what I can say about the pot pie I just ate. ewwwww.... guitar sounds good. oh yeah... you probably should win so far. I think. you beat me, however it's not "evil" so I might still vote for myself..... but maybe not. especially if you have a wicked guitar solo... well, that is a solo... it's not necesarily wicked or a guitar... hmm... I like.

Melvin
come on melvin. stop it. hahahahaha.... alright I'll listen... I will admit the hand claps had me goin' for a bit..... just a bit though. the ending bit WAS fucking cool.... it really reminded me of some old captain beefheart.

picschatbrutelteenpetite!!!
ahhh yes..... me likey.... some how this is a breath of fresh air. ohhh yeah... that part's nice... around 1:40 or so..... experimenting is cool. I'm going to put in a chew of snuff now. if I can find it....... oh good I found it. haha!!!! my ears hurt now.. but I won't take my headphones off... personally I think this was cool... however some actual normal sounding music bits in the middle would have made this "the shit." as they say.

RattPoizon
josh drinks his own pee.

RioMondo
haha!!! I like the noises. well, that was faster than I thought... pretty cool idea. humorous, and enjoyable.

ryan rickenback
ahh... I bet you were the guy saying how everything was to the right side because computers are stupid. I wish I could play the harmonica. I don't really care for music like this... unless it's something "special" which this doesn't seem to be... it sounds good though.

sissyfist
at first I was hoping for some ween sounding stuff. well... this went downhill somehow... maybe it'll get better... I'm not sure how to describe why.... oh... I guess it sounds like it's something that would be on the radio, which I don't like.... but I guess 9 out of 10 people do... well right there a little after 2:00 min. it starts to get cool.... and cooler... YES!!!! THANKYOU!!! I like.


special relatives
uhhh... no opinion.... sounds like you had fun doing it. and that's what it's all about isn't it.

thanks for the melvin
you sing gay. quit it. haha!!! I'm sorry, I'm joking. do I hear a 12 string in there? maybe not.... I've never played a 12-string. I do like "whipin' out" stairway every now and then though. nice production.

those meddling melvins
I like the percussion noises. for some reason I don't think this is too bad, however I don't usually go for shit like this. weird percussion noises are my favorite part. hahaha!!! and the shoot shoot shoot kill kill kill..... hahaahah thats not fair! the ending had a distortion/guitar swell sound.... and then nothing well, I guess that was cool too.

I might actually vote for lmnop..... I'll have to listen to mine and that one again.. but you have a pretty good chance, because I didn't like mine.

Ratt Poizon wrote: sissyfist
I guess it sounds like it's something that would be on the radio

well now i have to commit Seppukku. thanks.

come on now..... that was my first impression of the first part..... it got alot better! seriously.

late reviews again...sorry.
great fight. here ya go

Jordan-there is a college station up here in Washington state that plays all kinds of indie music.
They have no sponsors besides charities and that sort of thing. By saying I could hear this song on that station is not a slam* they play a lot of cool songs. 90.3fm.
Song is a little long for song fight I guess but it’s a great addition to the collection of songs you have amassed so far here. Great job…again

Rattpoizen-sounds like a song you would hear while being walked down to your solitary confinement cell
Glaring at the other inmates as they grab the bars and scowl. Very rob zombie there in the middle, any song that mentions beer has got to be a masterpiece* your entries are always different…holy crap that solo was phat but short, awesome!! Good job killer

Melvin-man these lyrics on paper didn’t really catch me last week, but when I heard this song I freaked out!! I think this song is the best one of the fight. And there are some really good songs here.
The music and melody totally bring the lyrics to life and the whole sound is spot on man. You win this fight or else what I love about your entries is that they are unpredictable and creative. You have it, whatever IT is you have it!! Great song !winner!

Special relatives-sounds like some buddies sitting around the living room plucking around and thinking
“ dude we should just do this for the song…im hungry…I had the weirdest dream last night…..or was it real…haha….what was I saying…whatever just hit record…â€

No ratings, just reviews:

DDD
Sounds like the riff from "American Woman". It doesn't really engage me. I think I'm distracted by the difference in mood created by the guitar and keyboards. I think you could cut the guitar all together in this song and it would be a little more compelling.

Johnny
Nice fake British accent, you sound like that other British guy... kidding. This is pretty fun, the guitar effect (can't remember what's that called, is it like an auto-wah?) is a fitting effect, but it seems timed wrong. Like it could be sped up 2X.

Jordan Seavers
I'm not taking the time to go back and listen to your other songs, but it seems to me that a lot start the same way? The voice/keyboard going together and the drum popping in like 1 or 2 verses in. You might want to switch that up, just because it seems predictable, but as always your hooks and melodies are lovely. You should listen to some Ed Harcourt. I think you'd dig him. I'm liking your guitar in this one too by the way.

LMNOP
Hooky. I like the guitars a lot. The vox seem mixed a little low. I like the congas. This one's pretty fun too. Nice job.

Melvin
Are you the one I once said sounded to "commercial" or something and then someone jumped on me and said it was just cuz my taste sucked or something? I don't remember if that was you or someone else, but at any rate, with the last few songs I've heard of yours you're becoming one of my SF! favorites along w/ Seavers and Frisbee. Oh, the drums and claps came in! This is brilliant, I love it. It's like a blend of Beach Boys and old Weezer. Favorite so far and a keeper.

PHUNT
Noisy, almost Kid-A-ish. The song, not the whole album. Only I'll listen to the song Kid-A because Radiohead won me over with three prior albums. This one I'm skipping, sorry.

Rattpoizon
Your band name makes me think you should have big hair, spandex and maybe a sweatband and an Ace Frehly guitar. The sound is much different than that though. I'm not thrilled by this. The music could be compelling on it's own, but the vocals are a little too obvious. I'd like to hear music like this combined with some real heart-felt singing or something, something to make it less predictable. Also, the change at around 2:00 brings the whole song down for me, it pushes obvious into ridiculous. Though take all that with a grain of salt because clearly I'm not your typical fan base anyway.

Rio
Umm...

Ryan
I think if you get a last name like Rickenbach, you're pretty much guaranteed to be pretty decent This is a nice mellow song. Nice vocals, harmonica. Not a song that shakes anything up too much, but honestly I can listen to stuff like this all day long. Good job.

Sissy
Liking the intro, drums are tasty. Vocals are pretty good. They have a mainstream-y feel but not overly so. A little Fuel-ish (remember them?). Pretty well done. Watch out for those off-key moments. And stop listening to Metallica. Seriously, like right now.

Special
Shame on you. You got my hopes all up and didn't deliver. The vocals in this are awful. Not the actual performance but the way they sound like you taped somebody singing in another room. This is one of the few occasions when a mix really kills a song for me. I think you could re-do this and make it stand out a lot more, it's not a bad sounding song in itself. Just a little too careless.

Frisbee
This guitar catches me off guard whenever I listen to it. I can't place it at the moment but the riff is so familiar. Like 90's Soul Asylum or something, I'm not sure. As always your vocals and lyrics are superb. Oh lord, I just realized what it is. It's that signature Goo Goo Dolls sound. This isn't one of my favorites of yours but I'd still like to have written this more than pretty much anything else I've written

TMK
I think you could pull the guitar out in the opening parts a little more, and push the percussion back a bit. The guitar seems better a little farther in. This is a nice song. Actually I think you could pull the percussion completely out, or else just do something different. It's too electronic-y for the rest of the song which seems very like 80's new wave, in a good way. Like in the vein of the Cure.

Good job all. I think Melvin's my fav of this fight. And it's now 1:10 so I probably missed my chance to vote for it.

favorites: lmnop, sissyfist, johnny

sissyfist: the song is way cool but the breakdown near the end doesn't work for me at all. i think that's the only blemish.

so, i voted for johnny in the corner.
-bill

kill_me_sarah wrote:And it's now 1:10 so I probably missed my chance to vote for it.

Please try anyway! I could use the boost. And thanks a lot for the comments, KMS.

Well I submitted my vote, hopefully it goes through.

PM me if any of you want a proper review. Thanks. ('Proper' for me. Your mom might disagree).


J$: Funk me all night, baby

Jordan Seavers: New hero

Sissy Fist: Post-punk moody anti-rock!