The Song Fight Bulletin Board

NatchDan wrote:PigPen: I do pretty much despise country music, but this has got such a sense of humour to it it's slipped into my armour. I especially like the opening. xD Almost a touch too short, even. I'd also bet that the yeehaws were fun to record.

Ehh......mixed up reviews i presume? Which is mine!?

PiGPEN wrote:

NatchDan wrote:PigPen: I do pretty much despise country music, but this has got such a sense of humour to it it's slipped into my armour. I especially like the opening. xD Almost a touch too short, even. I'd also bet that the yeehaws were fun to record.

Ehh......mixed up reviews i presume? Which is mine!?

http://www.songfight.org/music/ten_lies/pigpen_tl.mp3

http://www.songfight.org/music/ten_lies ... ins_tl.mp3

A mixup on the FM's side?

Hey Pigpen------that is soo different than your usual style. it works well for you.

Overall the songs for this week are all strong on their own, and actually go together fairly well as an album. Well, some song order magic would be needed to smoothly transition in the major genre changes brought on by Klonwhole and MC Eric. I'm impressed with the collective effort that went into the 10 lies song week. Also the artwork is excellent!

Billy's Little Trip
Strong bass is always good by me so the intro is solid. The initial vocals remind of Offspring. Then the chorus has some off timing characteristics reminiscent of The Street. Your production skills are really consistent and solid at this point. I don't hate your songs Billy! They're about me??? Oh that's a lie.

Jack Shite
Is that a real last name? This folksy blues number is a wholesome reflection on an honest man facing a world of liers. A relationship broken, lost to dishonesty and bitterness as a high vocal backing and thumping bass riff just keeps marching on.

Klownhole
What is this exactly -- Death Metal, Dark Metal, Black Metal? The Rumsfeld sample is quite appreciated, though those words are some of the most quoted and trusted to ever come out of that failed leader. There is nothing more true than "There are unknown unknowns"!

MC Eric B
The "Men Lie" chorus is great. This reminds me of the very first rap that started it all -- uggh - can't remember the name of the guy -- like one of the first super funny rap songs that came out right before the Run DMC in the 80s Dr or MC someone? I'll edit this once I come up with it.

Monte Carlo
Thanks for the At The Drive In comparison. Yes, we're still working out the studio, and the clipping is annoying. I enjoyed putting this together. The main twist is that the phrases that break folks apart are the lies. This tries to turn it all around in an optimistic way and say things like "we were a mistake" is a lie. Drums and guitar recorded in one take in the basement, then spliced together and overlayed with bass and vox. The focus was on song craft over production, but improving the system will help i know.

Natch Dan
I like this haunting number. Other songs transition into it quite nicely. This one folds nicely into the album with creepy whispers on "deep" lies -- remember all those times I said "I love you" -- they were all LIES!!!

The Odoriferous Valley
This must be the Paco del Glinco entry. I'm all too familiar with Glenny's guitar work and vocals to miss it. The solo is sweet!

PigPEN
Cool industrial riff. Hypnotic and driving. The vocals fit into haunt album feel quite well. They lied, they're gone, but now our mind is wrapped up missing them. 5:55 is probably about a minute or two too long for this though.

Primitive Screwheads
This is like a split the Odoriferous entry. Its as if there was a short acoustic bridge that got pulled out into its own song. Interesting lies!
Are there exactly 10 of them?

Ross Durand
This song got cut off in my download. I'll have to edit the post when it completes. The intro is like "Eye of the Tiger" meets 8 bar blues. The synth swirl reminds me of a 80s boxing movie soundtrack.

Signboy
This could have been on a Seal album. Powerful vocals/harmonies and production.

Those Meddling Kids
Ahh.. onto one of my favorite Songfight regulars! I'm very partial to this Britpop Alternative genre. The vocals are kind of Bloc Party on top of a light Figurine keyboard backdrop. The chorus is a bit busy, but I not suggesting you change it -- I'm a fan.

Wes Davis
Folk acoustic pop solo. Good. The verse is even a little reminiscent of Badly Drawn Boy (mostly in the guitar tone) which makes me like it more.

County Blumpkins
Spoof country madness. 1:31 is the right length. The 18 year old verse is funny.

Finding Nemoy
Frisby is another songfight regular superstar. The vocals are so great. I like the lyric too -- "I want to feel the warmth of another body". Also good is "my training wheels need to come off". The vocals and lyrics are super solid and beautiful over a well produced progression -- the only suggestion for the future is to explore new (for you), interesting chord progression and melody changes.

Melvin
Sort of country rock intro cuts into a straight rock verse and poppy chorus. The arrangement has good changes and good implementation, but the central verse/chorus needs a little something somethin to dig the hook in a bit deeper. I like the "trade one love for ten lies" line. The bridge is well placed too.

Steve Durand
Wow funky bass and horns to start this one. I like the groovy verse and talk over vox. I like how you push your vocal range on the chorus -- it almost breaks down, but that you push to the edge and pull it off actually works! The lies list is good too.

Wages Feat Project D
I don't know... Some mix issues here maybe? Also the band intro is too early in the song. I'm too distracted by that to focus on the rest. The guitar is just buried in effects and makes it seem more like a scratch track than anything. The vocal performance is experienced -- good control and mic awareness and all that.

martyr wrote: Ross Durand
This song got cut off in my download. I'll have to edit the post when it completes. The intro is like "Eye of the Tiger" meets 8 bar blues. The synth swirl reminds me of a 80s boxing movie soundtrack.

I'm not sure what I'd make of the song after just the intro - I'm looking forward to hearing a more complete reaction

martyr wrote:Wes Davis
Folk acoustic pop solo. Good. The verse is even a little reminiscent of Badly Drawn Boy (mostly in the guitar tone) which makes me like it more.

You know, I kept thinking that while I was recording it, but I couldn't figure out specifically which song it was reminding me of. In any case, thanks!

martyr wrote:Primitive Screwheads
Interesting lies! Are there exactly 10 of them?

As written, yes. As recorded, no.

MC Eric B wrote:Klownhole - I like the vocals, but the music just seemed like a lot of noise/feedback/distortion to me. Not my kind of thing.

DING DING DING DING DING DING WINNER WINNER WINNER!!

for better or worse, here come the snarky reviews........

by the way, i did these reviews over the course of 3 days this weekend, about 7 right after the fight went up, another 7 yesterday, and 7 this morning. it was pretty painless. you should try it. it was almost like having 3 fights!



king arthur
ripping intro charles! ripping guitar throughout. good stuff. sounds to me like your vocals sit slightly behind the rest of the mix, and sometimes i wish you were actually in front of everything. really nicely done. the backing mix is very well balanced.

steve durand
cool and sophisticated in a whacked kid creole kind of way. as always, your horns are awesome. you are easily the songfight king of horniness.

mc eric b
wow, as much grief as you seem to get around here, i think this is actually the first time i've heard one of your songfight tunes. frankly, i don't think your flow is as bad as blue paints it, but man, that backing mix is awful.

billy's little trip
excellent. it's got an endearing looseness to it, maybe it's the live feel or the loopy bass or the shuffly drums, but it all works for me. nice harmony vocals over the chorus.

wes davis
it's pretty well done, maybe a bit too earnest for me but that's my genre bias talking now. good seperation on the hard panned guitars and scatty harmonies. you've got a strong voice, and you showcase it nicely here. wow, those deep reverbed vocal harmonies that come in are nice. that lead guitar hard panned left would do well with more counterpoint on the right instead of such a hard switch, but thats just my 2 cent. overall, a pretty nice job for guy and guitar. you filled the space well.

pigpen
it might not be the best tune here, but damned if this isn't the best thing i've ever heard from you.

primitive screwheads
dude, are those armpit farts? anyways, fred schneider is apparently alive and living in portland, oregon.

jack shite
that's me. if you do reviews, you'll get payback. karmic and otherwise.

the country blumpkins
cool build in. good vocals, and the driving bass pushes this along nicely. reminds me of early U2. a bit long in the bridge section maybe. also, i'd like the vocals a little more out front, at least on the second pass. cool tune though. the bassline really pushes this along.

project d
not bad. cool arrangement. the mix could use a bit of tweeking i think, as it's really low in volume overall. the dirty guitar is maybe a bit too prominent for me. the harmonized vocals in the verse are nicely doubled. same in the chorus. mix itself just sounds really overcompressed.

monte carlo
either you are very resource challenged or recording this was kind of an afterthought.

melvin
good stuff. i dig the country overtones. nice and hooky. it's just a matter of time before you are a star melvin.

signboy
pretty good but it's mostly buried under the reverb. vocals are real good. with a better mix, this would be real good. the drums sound like they are out of synch with the rest of the mix. either that or they just seem way to be busy on the highhats. i just think a more subtle drum arrangement, maybe more stripped down and sparse would be better served. really makes me think of toad the wet sprocket. songwise, it's good, pretty good execution, but could use a production remix.

wages d
might be a little too heartfelt for me but sounds like you had fun. yo d, one entry per fight brah. big enough already.

those meddling kids
not really the kind of thing i'd listen to much, but it's well done. too much bleep and not enough bite for me. it's got a cool kind of early talking heads feel. and live handclaps are always a good thing. nice job. guitars are real nicely done. the whole thing is very well executed in fact. i guess my issue is really more my issue (genre bias)

odiferous valley
interesting tune. the intro is real nice and pretty. solid arrangement. solid vocals. ha, this smells like either woodward or des. either way, it's certainly a compliment and very tasty and well done.

finding nemoy
man, the simpleness of your arrangement is really effective for this. maybe it's because you pull of the harmonies and pan and mix the guitars so well here. yes, this is very nicely done. the arrangment also perfectly compliments your vocal style here, so good call on the arrangement. excellent.

klownhole
it's like someone dug up an old soundgarden tape from the badmotorfinger days.

ross durand
wow, this is a departure from your usual guy and acoustic guitar stuff. love the thumpy bass. the phased out synth washes are cool, if not a bit loud. but i like the pitch shifted vocals. gives it a very zappa feel to it. strong vocals and guitar too. yeah, excellent ross. a cool departure and you execute it really well.

natch dan
it's got some production issues, but you pour yourself into it so points for that. the organ might be a bit loud. i think you've got the makings of something here, but the production brings it down a little. part of it seems to be the vocals are hot and everything seems to sit in the mids here, so you don't have alot of dynamics (frequency or otherwise) to hold my interest too long.

lymph
hey, this is great! fun and well done. great recording! love the random simple percussion. excellent vocals and guitar! lot's of exclamation because this is the last song and you end this fight on a really high note!


well, good fight overall.

my faves in no particular order: lymph, ross, billy, pigpen, smelly valley.

jack wrote:primitive screwheads
dude, are those armpit farts?

Hand fart duet, actually. Yes, we farted into a mike. Take that, cliché! Heh.

might be a little too heartfelt for me but sounds like you had fun. yo d, one entry per fight brah. big enough already.

Don't blame me man, Wages is the real artist here, I'm just the session bass player.

Project-D wrote:

might be a little too heartfelt for me but sounds like you had fun. yo d, one entry per fight brah. big enough already.

Don't blame me man, Wages is the real artist here, I'm just the session bass player.

This is true, he "only" played bass (pretty darned good, if I may say so).

Reviewing on super-crap headphones, so my mix comments may be suspect:

BLT: Love the vocals on this. Big time! I think this is within an inch of being amazing in every way, but the chorus melody falls just a touch short for me. But still, great vocals and lyrics, great groove, catchy progression, accomplished production. I think if the vocal melody lifted up in the fourth and eighth bars of the chorus, that would be the icing on the cake. Great work. 9 out of 10.

Country Blumpkins: Those are some pretty horrible sounding keyboards. I thought the vocals were going to save this, but not really. They sound uninspired and lacking in melodic direction. This is wanky. 2 out of 10.

Finding Nemoy w/TFTF: You guys are a natural duo. Beautiful vocals, great melody. Nice warm sound, too. Lyrics a touch twee for my taste, but that’s only because my heart has grown cold and hard with age. Very pleasing entry. E-mail this to Zach Braff and prepare your mailboxes for royalty cheques. 8.5 out of 10.

Jack Shite: I’m glad to see your name in the play list. I’m always anxious to hear whether the highly opinionated message board veterans of SongFight can actually make music. And the answer in this case is: yes. My critiques would be that the guitar noodling sounds a bit amateurish, and even in these crap headphones, I can tell the mix is muddy. Also, the song is a bit flat in terms of structure and melody. But the lyrics and vocals – especially the falsetto towards the end – are quite nice. Not a bad entry. 6.5 out of 10.

King Arthur: This is obviously the work of an experienced musician. Great guitar playing and singing. The fake drums sound awfully thin and… fake. I have a bit of a personal bias against bluesy-rock, but I have total respect for the talent and effort involved in this track. Good job. 7 out of 10.

Klownhole: As is often the case with the ‘hole, I might have enjoyed this more without the vocals. The skull-crushing instruments are adequate to keep me amused, while the vocals have a certain nerdy quality that detracts a little bit. I guess it’s like having your skull crushed by a nerd. Oh burn! 7 out of 10.

Lymph: This just doesn’t sound authentic to me. And, as a novelty, it’s really not that novel. Also, it sounds like it has the living shit compressed out of it. It’s performed pretty well, but I really can’t find much to like about it. 4 out of 10.

MC Eric B: This reminds me of SF honky rappers of yore. Same problem: you MUST have a tight rhythm in the vocals, or your rap song will suck. There’s really no room for negotiation on this matter. 2 out of 10.

Melvin: This is the first Melvin entry where I’m playing real, live drums. It was a lot of fun, and I’m really happy with the results. Oh yeah, 9 out of 10.

Montecarlo: Was this recorded live off the floor? I absolutely love the riff through the verses. But the chorus section seems to fall apart, and everything from 2:08 onwards is painfully bad. So, too bad. I thought I was going to like this for a couple of minutes there. 3 out of 10.

Natch Dan: Wow, this is boring. Dull lyrics, plodding pace, irrelevant melody. You get a few points for being able to play and sing pleasantly, which is never a given. 3 out of 10.

Odiferous Valley: This is awesome! Gorgeous guitars and vocals! And you know, I really want to believe many of those lies. Solo section is brilliant – is that an e-bow? Love that sound. Production is great throughout. This is my favourite track so far. 9.5 out of 10, only because I’m saving 10 for something that causes me to break through to the other side.

PigPen: That opening line is hilarious! Actually, the whole thing is pretty funny. I like it. Unlike the Lymph entry, this is unabashed novelty, and it is indeed novel. Good for a chuckle. 6 out of 10.

Primitive Screwheads: Why bother? The music goes absolutely nowhere, there’s no melody, the jokes are obvious, and the vocal delivery is awkardly square. 2 out of 10.

Project D: Eh, I feel as though I should like this more than I do. Solid pop sensibilities, well-played, well-sung. And yet, it just doesn’t grab me. The fade-out is a little bizarre. I’m giving this 5 out of 10.

Ross Durand: Some cool production details, and a pretty good story. Not much melodic interest here for me, as it’s kind of paint-by-numbers blues stuff. Vocals are decent. Like Project D, there’s nothing bad about this, yet I am unmoved by it. 5 out of 10.

Signboy: This is good. Great singing, cool solo tone. I think the song could be about a third shorter without losing much content though. Solid entry, if not exactly my cup of tea. 7 out of 10.

Steve Durand: You continue to be one of my SF faves. Great horns as always. Everything about the writing and arrangement is on point. Actually, the keyboard stabs in the left ear slightly undermine the otherwise acoustic/organic sound of this, so I would probably nix 'em. A solid 8 out of 10.

TMK: I love these lyrics, and all the guitar and key melodies are catchy as always. Super-fast vocal delivery is an impressive physical feat. Clappy section at the end is fantastic. There’s something a little more accessible and straight-ahead about this than usual for a TMK track. Not a bad thing in my books. 8 out of 10.

Wages f/Project D: Not really buyin’ this. The right-side guitar sounds pretty bad, and the yelly vocals in the left are aren’t adding anything good. Song seems to just kind of wander around without any compelling sounds, melodies or lyrics to take it somewhere worthwhile. Having said that, I think Wages has progressed noticeably as an artist over the last year or so. This just isn’t your best work. 4 out of 10.

Wes Davis: You are easily one of the best singers around these parts. You have a very clear and melodic delivery. However, I was hoping for more from the chorus of this track. By the 2.5 minute mark, I was really itching for a change. The reverb-drenching didn’t really do the job all by itself. Anyway, you have good chops, but this track just suffers from needing an additional idea or two, and a little more focus. 7 out of 10.

Ten Lies reviews

Overall, I find these songs A LOT less inspired than the King Me Songs. Cudos to those who addressed ten actual lies instead of just saying “ten lies” over and over without explaining what they were or why there are ten of them.

Finding Nemoy – You were one of my favorites last week. This is a better song than your King Me, but it sounds almost exactly like that one, especially in the beginning, up to and including the first few lines of the chorus. I do like the fuller band sound that kicks in though.

Melvin – You were one of my favorites last week, and you definitely deliver again. There is something a bit Frank Black-ish about this number that I really like. I like everything about this song.

MC Eric B – I was pretty hard on you last week. But this week I really enjoyed your entry. It definitely stands out from the mediocrity of most of the songs this week. This song is light and fun and a pleasant change from all the boring entries this week.

Ross Durand – Nice, nice first line. I like this song a lot more than your King Me. Great guitar sounds throughout.

Signboy – Here’s another one I really like. Nice harmonies. This song is one of the stand-outs this week.

Wes Davis – Another solid entry. I like your songs. Nice guitar work throughout.

Summary (alphabetically):

Love It (3)
-MC Eric B
-Melvin
-Signboy

Like It (3)
-Finding Nemoy
-Ross Durand
-Wes Davis

Klownhole
What is this exactly -- Death Metal, Dark Metal, Black Metal? The Rumsfeld sample is quite appreciated, though those words are some of the most quoted and trusted to ever come out of that failed leader. There is nothing more true than "There are unknown unknowns"!

None of the above. Pure unadulterated punk rock. Except for the complexity of the lyrics, this is a Discharge song.

Pierre Menand wrote:

Klownhole
What is this exactly -- Death Metal, Dark Metal, Black Metal? The Rumsfeld sample is quite appreciated, though those words are some of the most quoted and trusted to ever come out of that failed leader. There is nothing more true than "There are unknown unknowns"!

None of the above. Pure unadulterated punk rock. Except for the complexity of the lyrics, this is a Discharge song.

I've been surprised that no one commented on the obvious homage to Discharge. Even the mix is a tribute. Though, there are way too many words to be a proper Discharge song.

jackfrost - Thanks. It is hard to tell which songs people will end up liking, so I try to do something different each week. Next week (Clause 5) will be a total change from anything I have done.

jackfrost - I think the resume song was by King Arthur. I had the same problem, since the mp3 file was not tagged correctly, but I went to the songfight home page and figured out which song was theirs.

jackfrost wrote:Ten Lies reviews

Unknown (resume song) – I like this one. Who are you? You would have been a contender for my vote.

Hi, that one is me. You'll notice the name of the file itself is kingarthur_tl.mp3 - you can always tell who the artist is by the file name; the ID tags, sometimes they're there, sometimes they aren't. I'm working with a new person doing the mix for me, and I haven't 'splained to him about ID tags yet, we'll get there. Thanks for the positive comment, though!

Charles (KA)

NatchDan wrote:

Initial impressions:

Signboy: You've got a great voice, and a wonderful sort of prog thing going on here. Some of the cymbal work seems a bit odd, but otherwise very good indeed. English like myself, I take it? xD

Would you believe I've never even been to Eng Land? I live way up north, and while writing this song, I was working at a site on Birley rd. A squirrelly, single lane, washboarded logging road that runs through the oilpatch. I wanted to throw a little tribute into the song, that's all.
After your comment, I googled it, and I am completely flustered at the odds of there actually being a Birley St. in London. I will never try to do anything original again.
btw, thanks for the review.
I intend to start reviewing as soon as work slows down a bit for the summer.

And here I thought you just had a good singing accent. xD

I've been totally demoralized by some of your reviews of the Monte Carlo song -- 3/10?! Haven't you ever heard of those scratchy demos of a hit song recorded by the original writer in their basement that get super-produced and re-performed by some blond pop goddess and become #1 singles? I thought Songfight listeners were looking for that diamond in the rough -- that brilliant gem with lots of potential only stifled by a thin layer of dirt. Is the polish and shine the only thing that is important, or is substance something more than secondary? Anyway, I really like the song (but totally understand the recording issues raised like excessive screaming in second half), but perhaps I'm victim of self-obsession syndrome and am the only one bringing my "times played" stats to the 100s.

jackfrost wrote: Monte Carlo – Nothing stands out here.

jack wrote: monte carlo
either you are very resource challenged or recording this was kind of an afterthought.

I guess to these I can simply say "you don't know jack"!

melvin wrote: Montecarlo: Was this recorded live off the floor? I absolutely love the riff through the verses. But the chorus section seems to fall apart, and everything from 2:08 onwards is painfully bad. So, too bad. I thought I was going to like this for a couple of minutes there. 3 out of 10.

Melvin, I always appreciate a review with meat behind the evaluation. The sub-failing grade does hurt though.

P.S. I'm totally stoked by all the love in the <a href="http://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.p ... >songfight west coast tour thread!!</a>