There's Something Odd About This Thread (Anomaly Reviews)

[A Bootleg]

Flvxxmflorvm - All songs that begin with "at the edge of space" are worthy of a grammy. Reminds me of early kid rock, minus all the toolishness. Good runs on the solo. Entertaining samples.

Gurdonark - Dig the dissonant part. Seems to cut out.

Kbbren - Intro a bit long. Maybe could use violin or some leadish instrument to fill in the space. Otherwise good. If I were at a bar and your band were to play this song, I'd stop talking that I might listen.

Kraziez - Ah, nerdcore. Wooooo! I like the beats, but I can't hear the vox over 'em at times. Slap an officer with a trout and you're likely to get your head nightsticked in.

Melvin - There's something about distorted piano that I can't get enough of. The distorted piano was the only reason I enjoyed watching Sunshine, but that's neither here nor there. Here is your song. I finished typing that right when the dance beat came in. The vox are a bit monotonous, but they're broken up pretty well by the chorus.

Piratebingosteakhouse - So this computer rapping thing. I never really got into it. I appreciate, however, that you switched up the backing tracks a couple times.

State Shirt - I went to a hardcore show when I was in high school. It was at a roller rink. My girlfriend had just dropped acid and was really into whatever hallucination she was having at the time, so I had little choice but to listen to the band. Trying desparately to find some aspect that I could appreciate, I latched onto syncopation and dynamics. You do these two things much better than that band did, and I got the added bonus of not having to babysit a hallucinating girlfriend whilst listening.

Take950 - The beautiful people? Rich baritone, though, when I can hear it. I like the guitar riff towards the end.

Wages - Fifty seconds not enough. Right when it was supposed to pick up. Want more.

Weakest Suit - Vox sound like they're coming from a can. Nice minimalist percussion. Flute? Good touch. Perhaps give it a more dominant part, rather than just filling harmonic space, have it add to the harmony and complicate it. This is good.

The White Hat - I'm going to refresh myself on the art of recording pretty soon. I, too, am tired of my recordings sounding poor. Also, will find a vocalist.

William Parson Project - Rhodes. Rock. Not sure how much I like the falsetto vox, but I love the lyrics. Sci-fi similies. Nice breakdown. Hah hah hah - 'bridge' to captain kirk. The captain kirk section sounds a little sparse.

Wreckdom - Was the fred phelps? I think it was. Awesome. Song in riddle form. Cool.

Zip Line - Very cool. Nice guitar harmony. Perfect dynamics. Love the progression. This gets my vote.

Finalists: ZL, WPP, MELVIN

[wages]

i think there may be somthing wrong with wages song. it cuts off at around 50 seconds. maybe ts the anomaly.

That's very frustrating, especially since I didn't have a chance to see the reviews until now! I don't know what happened. Here is the full track that should be audible:
http://www.philwages.com/music/wages_anomaly.mp3

I know my mixes tend to be a little low in the volume department, but it's mixed to around the same db as any other solo entry, and it sounds fine here. Perhaps it was because of my track being chopped off for some reason. Ugggg!

Anyways, I know I won't win, so it doesn't matter if the fightmasters fix it (but it would be nice ), but I would still appreciate it if yall could review the full track as linked above.

[Æpplês&vØdkã]

Anyways, I know I won't win, so it doesn't matter if the fightmasters fix it (but it would be nice ), but I would still appreciate it if yall could review the full track as linked above.

Who knows, you COULD pull an Akterdekk.

[wages]

Anyways, I know I won't win, so it doesn't matter if the fightmasters fix it (but it would be nice ), but I would still appreciate it if yall could review the full track as linked above.

Who knows, you COULD pull an Akterdekk.

I don't have that many friends.

EDIT: ...that would vote for me.

[trevbot2]

actuly we din ask for anyone they just like us meh

[Actually, we didn't ask for anyone (to vote for us), they just like us. Meh.]

[wages]

actuly we din ask for anyone they just like us meh

No offense meant. Twaz actually just a jokin' reference to past "friend flooding". Really, just because I didn't like it doesn't mean its not good, just means its not my thing. Welcome to songfight!

[wages]

<b>---------------------------
My Entry
---------------------------</b>
Incase you missed the full track I submitted (its actually around 3:20 long), here it is:
http://www.philwages.com/music/wages_anomaly.mp3

Um, I got a decent take here w guy'n'guitar, so here we are. Let me know if you like. If anyone wants to provide the music, I would be happy to re-record vox to go with.


<b>---------------------------
Reviews
---------------------------</b>
<b>Dublin Duck Dispensary</b> -- If I can't say something nice.... 2/10

<b>Embers of Autumn </b> -- Good guitar. I'm not liking the vocals, but with some work it could be better. 4/10

<b>Flvxxvm Florvm featuring Jolly Roger </b> -- I like your style my man. Not your best entry, but not bad either. I like the change around 1:30. Reminds me of Billy Childish vocally, but with better music. 6/10

<b>Gurdonark </b> -- Interesting. 4/10

<b>KB Bren </b> -- The vocals are nice, but the song isn't pullin' me in. Too early 1990s with nothing new to offer. 5/10

<b>The Kraziez </b> -- Beatie Boys meets Fatboy Slim. It sounds good for the type of music, just not for me. 5/10

<b>Melvin </b> -- Another good entry. Starts off a little weak melodywise, but picks up and draws me in. Sweet! 7/10

<b>Pirate Bingo Steakhouse </b> -- Craziness that is remotely interesting. 5/10

<b>State Shirt </b> -- Screamin' yeah! Great guitar work too! Sounding like a big POD/Rage Against the Machine influence, but the guitar work sounds Nirvana influenced. It makes for a great combo! Congrads! 9/10

<b>Take950 </b> -- I like loud guitars. I like your vocals/melody. But I think the two are the wrong contrast. I would either let the vocals rip a lot more, or soften the music quite a bit. I'd like to see more entries from you though! 6/10

<b>The Weakest Suit </b> -- Startin' off with a stock chord progression/strum pattern doesn't help. I like the chorus bit, though it only steps outta the mold a little. I think you could have a much better verse melody, even if you threw in some 7th chords or something. Anyways, there's a lot of promise here. 6/10

<b>The White Hat </b> -- Nice guitar work. Oooo, banjo! That really changes the dynamic a lot. I like it. The verse melody is better than most of the chorus, but it's still very good. 7/10

<b>William Parsons Project </b> -- Pretty cool soul groove piece. 7/10

<b>WreckdoM </b> -- What the fuck! What the fuck! What the fuck! Is It? CRAZY! 6/10

<b>Zipline </b> -- Yes, it does sound like Yes. And then the nice groove. It's flawed, but it's also magnificent. OK, it's flawed, but it's also pretty cool. 6/10

<b>---------------------------
The Final Wurd, G
---------------------------</b>

<b>State Shirt</b> will get my vote, though I wonder if its fair to vote for them just because its the "best" song?

Honorable Mentions go to <b>Melvin</b> and <b>The White Hat</b>. Good job guys!

[The Weakest Suit]

why is the title of the song spelled wrong in the artwork?

[Spud]

why is the title of the song spelled wrong in the artwork?

It's an anomaly.

[Spud]

Anyways, I know I won't win, so it doesn't matter if the fightmasters fix it (but it would be nice ), but I would still appreciate it if yall could review the full track as linked above.

Full track re-posted from link provided.

SPUD

[wages]

Anyways, I know I won't win, so it doesn't matter if the fightmasters fix it (but it would be nice ), but I would still appreciate it if yall could review the full track as linked above.

Full track re-posted from link provided.

SPUD

You rule! <chant>fight MASTER! fight MASTER! fight MASTER! </chant>

[Billy's Little Trip]

Anyways, I know I won't win, so it doesn't matter if the fightmasters fix it (but it would be nice ), but I would still appreciate it if yall could review the full track as linked above.

Full track re-posted from link provided.

SPUD

You rule! <chant>fight MASTER! fight MASTER! fight MASTER! </chant>

<< Phil

[gurdonark]

Thank you, everyone, for the comments on the songs thus far. I'll give my comments this weekend.

My song inexplicably "cuts off" well before it finishes, although when I play the mp3 on my system it seems to play all right. I'll have to work next time I enter a fight to make sure I don't make the same error, assuming that I must have made an error somewhere.

[Mostess]

State Shirt is way out in front. Excellent job. For the first few seconds, I thought it was just some sophmoric statement about the previous fight. But by the rhythmic shift from :39 to :48, you had me nodding. I love how this keeps changing up, but stays so tight. Some real attention to detail here.

Kudos to William Parsons Project. Shave the last 30 seconds off this (most of the breakdown must go), keep the drums all through, and re-record the vocals with some extra commitment (this sounds like a "let's not wake the baby" recording) and you've got a hit. This has moments of Bowie's Hunky Dory among the general sloppiness. But it's got a great hook, and a lot of charm.

Worthy of note: WreckdoM (as usual, a feast of conceptual anger), Melvin (a fun high school vibe), KB Bren (sounds great, palatable song), Flvxxvm (sounds pretty vintage somehow, though I really don't like the song it's well crafted).

[gurdonark]

My song got artificially cut short. Here's the full song:

http://www.box.net/shared/mg7vsdnixh

[WilliamParsons]

why is the title of the song spelled wrong in the artwork?

It's an anomaly.

Unfortunately the GNU image processor doesn't have a spell check feature(maybe someone could write a plug-in)

Fixed images are available if the powers that be want them...

[the_prisoner]

DDD - Nice experimental electronica, but left we wanting more composition. Keep going for it.

Embers - Where did Extreme go anyway? Well performed tune with nice duet creation, but the rhythms weren't as original s I think you're capable of playing.

Flvxxvm/Jolly - It's the lost track from the Metallica Garage project, only as teenagers! Good metal here, nice cutting solo, with drums very good in selected spots.

Gurd - No, really, everyone's encouraged to enter. Will need more for the Songfight tour though . . .

KB Bren - Like Embers, guitar rhythms a bit hackneyed. However, I did like it the cut, even if the "drums" were not much of anything, maybe even distracting. I liked the vocals, with parts reminiscent of Cat Stevens/Gordon Lightfoot.

Kraziez - Good Beasties style fits the genre, and performed well. Loud recording also a bit addictive. Good job.

Melvin - That could have actually been 1984! Could use some more compositional development, particularly with the guitar line (maybe some 16-beat rhythms toward the end it spice it up a bit), but appropriate to the track. Good 80's style pop tune.

Pirate - Stephen Hawking w/an analog patch and drum machine! Intriguing, but needs more development.

Slate - Now that's good anomalous death metal! Nice job, good cut.

Take 950 - This was that ZZ Top High School metal experiment single, right? I'm glad they went back to their Southern Fried roots! Drearily decent.

Wages - I liked the way you captured the fight. Nice job all around, from guitars to vocals, including phrasing. Good song form too.

Weakest Suit - Bass comes in a bit too high in the mix. A pleasant tune, but could have used a bit more development, particularly with the percussion, but nice chimes at the end!

White Hat - Excellent strings not quite matched by the vocals on this cut, but a very nice job nonetheless. Overdid the harmonies (those were on banjo, right?). Good song!

W. Parsons - I like the Rhodes-style riffs in there, guitars ok, but vocals admittedly a bit wanting. When you're done, please return that keyboard patch to The Cars for their upcoming reunion (RIP Ben Orr - bass/vocals, sang Drive). Two Star Trek references in this fight! Entertaining.

WreckdoM - Metal asked and delivered! Composition needed more development. Overall ok. I always appreciate stereo effects on solo guitar!

Zipline - Our cut. Drums admittedly off during opening section; vocals a bit muddied in the mix at times; some transitions need to be smoother. That being said, the composition on this track is adventurous (I'm sorry if it wasn't your typical 3:30 pop tune, but we like playing a lot, good or bad ; - ) and right up there with some of the best prog. I've heard on this site. All tracks were played and recorded live, with very few "takes" as we had to wrap everything up in about 2 hours from start to finish. Live, this will be an 8 - 10 minute song as we further explore the opening and closing sections, particularly the Robert Fripp-like 11/8 at the end!

Glennny - penned the song, gorgeous guitar writing; Ken - excellent guitar work; Martyr (who always sings and plays bass at the same time on all of our cuts!) - great job keeping it together; Me - drums needed to be more in time, but overall, very tasty. Time signatures played - 4/4, 5/4, 7/4, 6/8 (3/4 feel) & 11/8.

A solid set of submissions!

Sam
(Zipline drummer)

[WilliamParsons]

Special thanks to Mostess and Hans Gruber(Ultimate Villain) for their suggestiosn.

http://www.williamnewhall.com/%7ewillia ... _remix.mp3

Tomorrow, time permitting, I'll do the "no falsetto" version.

[The Sleestak]

Flvxxvm Florvm featuring Jolly Roger
The Goods: Stays crunchy even in milk - love the guitar track, good separation of instruments including the vox, the riff was nice, awesome change in the middle, blistering lead, and a touch of Kirk need I say more?
Opportunities: the progressive distortion on the vocal tracks was a little distracting. I thought the vocal track could stand on its own without that.

Gurdonark
The Goods: My son thought the opening was a music box and he sat and listened to the tune with me (bonding time, so thank you!), interesting use of the keys, Roald Dahl called, his oompa loompas want you to join them in song
Opportunities: too short?

WreckdoM
The Goods: WoW! I like it. Like eating lead based paint chips, the cadence of the rap reminded me of a VU track I can't put my finger on the name but it was similar in a good way, nicely done.
The Opportunities: Polish up the balance in the mix

Pirate Bingo Steakhouse
The Goods: Stephen Hawking called he wants his voice back
Opportunities: Too short, didn't go anywhere, and sadly Stephen Hawking can't rock

The Weakest Suit
The Goods: liked the subtlety of the percussion tracks, the harmonies reminded me of In Outer Space era Sparks - loved them, loved the lyrics, liked the bridge, I enjoyed this tune
Opportunities: Vocal track didn't really grab me and yet for some reason it really did grab me so scratch that - well done

[chris]

Dublin Duck Dispensary- I thought it started off pretty good, but then it was kinda a dissapointment. And now its over. Weird... A good try though.

Embers Of Autumn- If this song had tighter vocals it would kick ass. But its not bad... And I actually dont mind the vocals for the last 30 seconds. Nice.

Flvxxvm Florvm ft. Jolly Roger- Starting off really fuckin cool.... Long instumental break... a solid track.

Gurdonark- not something I could see myself ever listening to again. Weird stuff dude.

KB Bren- Really good. I really enjoyed this track. Enough said.

The Kraziez- I thought this was pretty damn awesome. Maybe I just dont listen to enough music, but I've never heard anything like this man. And its good.

Melvin- I wasnt liking the vocals in the begining, but once the drums and guitar kick in, its awesome. And now i love this song. So far this has my vote.

Pirate Bingo Steakhouse- Maybe it would have been good if you had a real singer.

State Shirt- I'm not really into this genre, but I actually thought it was really good.

Take 950- Kinda boring for me. But I guess its alright.

Wages- I really like this track. But not enough to steal my vote. But its good man.

The Weakest Suit- This song is good. I enjoyed it.

The White Hat- Pretty good so far... and now theres like a banjo or something that just kicked in and kinda murdered the song.

William Parsons Project- Vocals arnt really doing it for me. It sounds like your trying to sound way different than you actually do... But it like the music, and this track deffinatly isnt bad.

WreckdoM- you sound like strongbad. but by the end of this, I like it. haha

Zipline- its 5 minutes. And its alright.

[Reist]

State Shirt - That intro is pretty crazy - that really caught me off guard. I wonder if the whole song is like this. It is. You guys would be rad to see live. This won't get my vote, since I can't really tell what's going on lyrically or on the drums, but it's definitely cool to hear some heavier stuff on SongFight.

KB Bren - I'm surprised from the start - when I saw KB at the start of your name, I assumed it was MC or DJ - that's just what the 2 letter word at the start does for me. I guess I was expecting bad rap or techno stuff - not folk/rock stuff. I hope you keep putting entries in. Keep practicing the vocals - they'll get stronger with time (I'm pretty sure they will at least). Quite enjoyable.

Take950 - I enjoyed playing drums for this one. Here's some suggestions - on vocals, open up. If you have to yell to get into the song, do it. If you like the drawling tone your voice has now, then keep it - but at least turn the vocals up a bit, and take off a bit of the reverb you've got on them. It's still a pretty cool song. I look forward to see what stuff you come out with in the next few months. (ps - it was pretty close to take 950 for me to get the dang drum tracks for this song)

The White Hat - I loved your Ottoman entry, so I'm looking forward to this. It sounds like you're a bit unsure of what notes you want to sing at parts. That sounds like banjo there - am I correct? That falsetto note you hit a bit before the halfway point is heavenly - as well as the falsetto near the end. That banjo noise is a bit distracting, however - I really liked the song nonetheless. Possible vote.

William Parsons Project - That opening deal is very similar to Wannabe by the Spice Girls. I know this, since my band covered the good old SG in concert a year ago. You may want to ditch the falsetto vocals - I'm always tempted to write my songs in falsetto - just listen to my Ottoman entry (I wrote it singing in falsetto, but I realized later that it would kill the song). Just drop it an octave vocally, and this would be a pretty enjoyable entry for me - I noticed the line "scale of 1-10", your voice was actually pretty good in the other octave. Not bad. I look forward to seeing later entries - maybe without the falsetto ...

Gurdonark - This kind of creeps me out. The unexpected ending was welcome.

The Kraziez - I have heard the words 'Star Destroyer' too often in this fight. I also don't like nerdcore, so what can I say about this one? I guess the song structure was more interesting than typical rap. That ending feedback was cool. I wish I had sounds like that in more of my songs.

The Weakest Suit - I'd like to hear the vocals turned up a bit in the mix - you have a good voice. The tune seems a bit less than polished, but hey - SongFight's main side effect is unpolished songs. The harmony vocals in the chorus are very cool. This will probably be one that I'll listen to again. Possible vote.

Flvxxvm Florvm featuring Jolly Roger - Great drums! Just kidding - I enjoyed playing drums for this one. Suggestions - I would turn down the distortion on your voice, since it feels really distracting. Not much else I can say, since I've already heard this one several times during the recording process. Some of those sound effects you added are pretty cool, especially before the solo breakdown.

Melvin - I love the chorus. Your ooohs always bring happiness to my day. The dynamics are great in this one - starting with the distorted piano and working your way up from there. Although I've been disappointed with a few of your recent songs, since I have such high expectations, but this one surpassed expectations. Well done. Possible vote.

Zipline - Sounds like Rush at the start. I'm a progoholic, so that's good news for me. The Genesis'esque vocal effect was unneeded, but I'm just a hater on vocal effects since I used to use them so much. Some of the notes you hit are very dissonant. Work on hitting those notes - doing 950 takes on a song is not usually a waste of time ... especially on a solid song like this. Good drumming is disguised by the mix. Here's some advice from a fellow drummer - sometimes all the song needs is a groove, even with the odd time signatures. In that section near the end, I'd lay off the crash a bit, except at the start of a new set of vocal lines. Guitarwise, it's pretty solid - better than what I can do, so I have little advice to give. I'd like to hear what you guys would sound like with a bit more practice on this song, as well as if you were recorded professionally. Who knows? We may have an exciting new prog act in the house. I'll check into your SF back catalogue.

Wages - You seem unsure of your vocals. Singing whatever comes from your heart can be good, but in a recording, you've got to be sure of what you're singing. Here's something that helped me. If you like your vocals in the second line of the first verse, memorize the tune you sang in that section, and sing it in the second line of the second verse, and so forth. I think you have some decent songs, but you need to pull the vocals a bit tighter in order for me to enjoy this.

WreckdoM - You guys can be funny sometimes, but this is so offensive I don't think I'll carry on listening. Sorry if I sound like a little kid who doesn't like swears, but this is too over the top for me.

Embers of Autumn - I've seen you around the forums, but never listened to a song. If I did, then I guess it wasn't memorable, since I have no recollection of your songs. This should be fun. Good chord progression from the start. Vocals are in a similar situation as Wages. I enjoyed your trade-off vocals, but you need to make sure you're actually hitting notes and not just whatever you feel right singing. This could be a really cool song if you pulled the vocals off better.

Dublin Duck Dispensary - Are you playing those bells by hand? Or is it a computer effect? Nice and lighthearted. I enjoy the tune, but I don't like the vocals. Even a light singsong voice over this would have made it far more enjoyable, instead of the voices which just threw me out of my state of enjoyment.

Pirate Bingo Steakhouse - The drums sound like Hammerhead. I don't enjoy this. A fan of MC Hawking would probably like it.

--------------------------------

I enjoyed a few of these songs, but what I'll remember about this fight is computer generated vocals, good voices being unsure of the tune, good vocals obscured by bad effects, and a lot of songs with similar lyrics.

If anything, the good thing I'll remember about this fight is the instruments - a lot of good guitarists out there this week.

[glennny]

Jolly Roger Wrote:

Zipline - .... We may have an exciting new prog act in the house. I'll check into your SF back catalogue.

I wouldn't recommend all of the Zipline back catalog with a prog ear, but definitely Wedding Song and Evil April are proggy enough for us to be proud of them in a proggy way.

half of this Zipline line-up is the Semolina Pilchards, you may want to check out "For the Time Being", "Ignorance is Bliss" and "Control Yourself" for some well recorded songs.

Thanks for the guitar nods! means a lot coming from a shredder like yourself!