Fear of a bad song (A Scary Thing reviews)

[echovoodoo]

I keep meaning to get me one of those. Can't seem to find them locally, though.

[Reist]

Latenight reviews! Woohoo!

B. Ellison - Pretty lo fi so far. I'm glad when the drums come in, for sure. Not a lot of variation in the chords, so naturally I'm getting a bit bored. Fantastic chorus though. I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit. Not bad - I like lazy rock, so this is going pretty far. Just for that chorus, I think I'll give this a VOTE.

Berkeley Social Scene - Vocals don`t have much going for them. Which is too bad, because this is otherwise a pretty solid song. But yeah, the vox are killing it. Sorry, guys.

Elaine Di Masi - Not bad, the mix seems to be hiding behind your voice - the whole thing needs livened up a bit. This is also something I`m trying to work on these days, so I don`t have a lot of advice, but here`s what I`m feeling - drums could use a bit of panning, and maybe some livening up in the 12 khz range, I think. At least that`s what tonetripper (I think) told me, and it seems to be helping with some remixes I`m doing. It`s catchy, but the mix is too far back for me to really get into it, even though it`s a pretty solid song.

Jake Lion`s band - I never really liked this kind of stuff. And it`s really long. I think you know it`s a joke too, so ... uh ... peace.

Jeff Robertson and the neo-candylanders - I always like your tunes, and this is way better than your Flxxvm flvomrm stuff that I`ve heard. But for some reason I`m just not feeling it. Just personal taste when it comes to the song, though I guess. Solid effort, man.

Lonbobby - This is good. Really good. Hella good. Is that pitch correction or vocoding? I`d like to know how you did this so I can rip it off in my songs - amazing. This song is perfect. VOTE VOTE AND VOTE.

Lord of Oats - Bass? I don`t remember you having bass in your other songs - if it`s something you just started, congrats. If you had it before, virtual slap me in the face and tell me so I don`t make this mistake again. Pretty decent song, but not enough melodic variation for me to be won over. Creative lyrics/rhyming scheme though. Good stuff.

Mags - This mix could use a little tweaking.

Manhattan Glutton - That solo in the intro makes no sense to me ... sorry if it`s better than I realize - I`m just not getting it or the point of it. Good voice ... but that hihat is grating on me. A lot of it seems made up on the spot, if you know what I`m saying - sometimes I write songs like that. This isn`t a bad effort at all, and you guys are obviously talented, but nothing in this song is working for me. Sorry.

MC Eric B - Hey, you sing! Keep practicing it - it makes the song better.

Melvin - What? You`re still rapping? Not sure what I think. The intro`s fantastic, but I`m starting to miss the king of poprock. Uh, one question - have you been listening to a lot of rap? Because when I listen to rap, it`s all I can write for a while.

Naked Philosophy - Mix probs ... snare has very little punch, and feels disconnected from the hi hat (it`s obviously programmed, but you can easily make them sound better than this) - read a drumming book and understand how drummers play what they do - it makes it sound more realistic when the drums are at least playing a beat a drummer would play. Not loving the rest of the song ... mostly because of that hard panned hi hat and lack of cohesiveness in the mix.

oddbod - Nice start. Good songwriting too, I must say. Maybe a tad generic, but that`s just what a song like this begs for. Great lyrics too - I`m jealous ... someday I`ll pick up on the lyric thing. But yeah, this is solid - great voice, great melody and band feel - the mix feels about right for the style too. Great. VOTE

Paco Del Stinko - Creeps at the start. Maybe a bit long of an intro. Your rock is always pretty competent, but I`d like the vocals to sit maybe a bit further back when they`re up front - that snare`s a bit intrusive as well. Maybe some more kick and less snare would help. ps - you`re an amazing guitarist. I`m jealous. Yeah, this song`s good, but not quite doing it for me. Sweet stuff, man.

PigPen - videogamey. This thing should be in a megaman game. All right, I`m envious of your synthey/programmey skills, but the song just doesn`t feel musical enough for me to get into it. It doesn`t give me any vibe ... no emotion is roused in me. Sorry.

Rone - Oooooooooooooooh. Aaaaaauauaaagh. You know what I`m feeling now, right? It`s true you`ve got a distinctive sound now though. No vote though.

The Scary Things - Ah, nice band name. It`s nice when people put huge effort into songfight. Thanks guys.

The Tests - Is that a band in the background? I just wish the mix was strong enough to uphold the sweet stuff going on in this song. Not a bad song, at all ... some of the lyrics are grating on me though - seem a bit forced. Close to a vote, but no cig.

Todd Mchatton - got a nice groove, but the drums never really go full out and bust it. I feel like this song could have gotten a lot bigger than it did. It`s a shame, cause the songwriting`s pretty solid here. It had it`s moments, and once again is close to a vote, but not quite there. This could have been huge - remember that if you ever choose to rerecord or remix it.

The Weakest Suit - I think I told you this last time ... but I think your songs (at least this one) would be better suited to a full out rock band. If this was full out pop-punking it, I would be all over it. Believe me - get a band and go rock. Or start mixing yourself to sound like a full band with crunchy guitars, bass and drums - whatever you prefer.

Where`s Fluff? - I`m gonna be honest - I think I`m enjoying this more than I should. This is like those rabbits on the hallmark e-cards. Pretty much no musical merit, but pretty funny to my inner elementary child who still loves pitch-shifted chipmunk voices. But no, I`m not giving this a vote.

Andrew Reist - Yeah, I'm a real man. I know how to be sappy and sentimental and play the ukulele when the time is right. But my next entry had better have some balls or you guys'll think I'm a wuss. No vote cause it`s me.

Not a bad fight, but not great. Lonbobby should win by a longshot, assuming that the world is fair.

[Spud]

I keep meaning to get me one of those. Can't seem to find them locally, though.

how close are you to the internet, sir?
http://folk-instruments.musiciansfriend ... sku=420616

[jast]

Andrew Reist -- My first thought was, hmm, the vocals are a bit off the mark. The next thought: damn, does this work well to make this song convincing! I think the flute sample sounds a bit too artificial to fit in well but I'm not gonna complain since I'll probably have to do something like that myself at some point in the future, due to limited budget. There are a few background noises in what I think is one of the guitar tracks, you might have managed to get rid of them during mixing. Anyway, this song rocks, and I'll be voting for it.

B. Ellison -- Is that what digital guitar distortion sounds like? No matter, there's something about it I don't like. Hmm, feels like it's suddenly a completely different song when the strings come in. Other than that, everything fits in this song, good vocals too, but without listening to the lyrics (usual excuses here) I don't find it particularly fascinating.

Berkeley Social Scene -- Interesting things you mixed together there, though that's to be expected with you guys, I guess. Technically and performance-wise everything is right about this (except the vocals in verses). Nice guitar tones, etc. etc. I wonder if the singer couldn't sound better at a higher pitch. Even if I don't find the song too exciting, there's plenty of classic horror literature feeling in the lyrics and the chorus is pretty good; it's what's lacking in vocals that makes this an almost-vote.

Elaine DiMasi -- The delay on the right-channel rhythm guitar is a bit weird. I would have wished for a bit more bite in the vocals here in the first couple of verses. Uhh, the delay on the electric organ is weird too. Great job on the harmonizing vocals and the doubled lines fit better with the temperament of the song too. By the way, do keep on experimenting with mixing, I think more power might have done this song a lot of good, too. I would vote for this mainly due to fun with the electric organ, interesting progressions and cool vocals (with very few warts), but really, the thing about the vocals I said earlier really kills the mood I think the song should have had (I read that it's deliberate but my mileage does indeed vary). You get an almost-vote.

Jake Lions Band -- Sounds very much out of rhythm, perhaps due to crowdy mix. I think there's too much delay on the drums. Plenty of clipping, though that may be intentional. Cool organ. Chorus vocals are off pitch sometimes. I guess considering the few pieces of lyrics I made out it all fits but it's not really something I would listen to again. I think the ending got cut off? Perhaps that's a hint that the song should have been shorter.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders -- Again, my main complaint is that your vocals are a bit behind the beat in a couple of places. I find the ending a bit sudden (perhaps you could've moved a bit of solo time there?) but this song doesn't disappoint. Considering the competition I'm afraid it only gets an almost-vote, however.

Jeff Travis Henderson -- Groovy, but do some vocal training. The vocals in the verses sound pretty strained (and they're flat too). Most of the doubled vocals are pretty cool, though. The recording quality is not so hot (is that clipping I hear?) but that's not the deciding factor in these reviews. Random idea on how to do this one differently: more minor chords in the deeper bits. This one is just a lot of fun, so I'm going to ignore the vocal weaknesses and vote for it.

Lonbobby -- Bias alert! You've got me, right from the start. This one just screams "chip" and I already admitted I love chip. I can't really imagine electronic music that's more fun than this specimen. I can't even find anything to criticize. Vote? Hell yes, without any hesitation whatsoever!

Lord of Oats -- The arrangement moves from simple to simply freaking cool. The solo thing rocks. You've got a good rhythm going in the vocals (fun lyrics too, by the way), so that leaves just one thing: the vocals sound strained (and are not accurate enough for the doubling in the chorus to work well). Badly. Still, the rest makes it a vote.

Maggie Kanuka -- Bring those vocals up in the mix, please, they're hard to make out. Are you, per chance, using a crappy microphone to record those vocals? Otherwise, you might want to EQ them differently. The guitar gets a bit grating. Overall rating: done well enough but doesn't hold my interest.

Manhattan Glutton -- Okay, the vocals are great, the playing is good, still I don't think this is all too exciting. I think one thing that spoils it for me is that the overall arrangement is rather simple (too simple?) while the guitar setting in occasionally is extremely hectic in comparison.

MC Eric B -- Arrangement sounds like someone is practicing playing the piano. Again, the vocals lack power and definition, though there's definitely feeling in the chorus. Go. Get. Training. This is just like your previous songs except the arrangement is a lot more boring.

Melvin -- I may have to stop reviewing your songs. I don't know how to review this genre in any useful way. All I can say is that you definitely know how to sample things (and I mean that in a positive way, though this time I think it could have sounded better with less sampling). Sorry and all that.

Naked Philosophy -- I think you've got alternating current leaking into your recording setup (a transformer near an audio cable, perhaps?). Makes it sound awful. Experiment with isolating things or moving components to different places. Pretty good vocals, arranged nicely, great playing. If there's a bass, it's hidden by the AC noise, otherwise it should have been there. I think this song could have used more work in mixing, too, though that may be difficult given your setup, I don't know. The performance and a great song make this a vote.

oddbod -- This reminds me a lot of some Badly Drawn Boy songs. Great performance, great song. Definitely a vote. I'm hoping to hear more from you.

Paco del Stinko -- Is this the fight of weird samples? If so, you win. The clipping is less great. Nice aggressive lyrics and the performance to go along with it. The vocal harmonies on "a scary thing" begin in a weird off-pitch way and resolve into a clean chord progression, so I guess it's deliberate. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though. I would have preferred odd but clear chords. Anyway, vote!

PiGPEN -- More chip tune! I love the idea. It gets a bit tiring though. You get an almost-vote for the fun this one is.

Rone Rivendale -- Seriously? Doesn't do it for me. At all. Yes, it compliments the lyrics extremely well, but I only listened all the way through because it's short.

The Scary Things -- What's that beginning supposed to be? Come to think of it, what's that audio file supposed to be? By my definition, if it sounds like it was designed by dice roll, it's not a song.

the tests -- You're losing your "test"s awfully quickly, but never mind that. Everything in this sounds held back, probably due to unfavourable mixing. The song itself is pretty nice but it just doesn't compare to some of the other submissions so this is just an almost-vote. Bottom line: please keep going, your stuff gets more interesting each time.

Todd McHatton -- I liked some of your other songs better but the chord progressions are intriguing. I still think you could mix your vocals better. You've got a lot of variety in your music and I think this song represents it pretty well, combining three types of wildly different sections in a convincing way. Vote.

The Weakest Suit -- The coolest thing here is the chord on "worst thing". Other than that I have no complaints but I'm not particularly excited either. Could be an almost-vote, I guess.

Where's Fluff? -- Get rid of the plosives! Great lyrics, I feel reminded of Flight of the Conchords. The performance falls way behind, though. I'm not sure if speeding it up makes it any better.

So, vote tally: we hereby dispense one vote each for Andrew Reist, Jeff Travis Henderson, Lonbobby, Lord of Oats, Naked Philosophy, oddbod, Paco Del Stinko, Todd McHatton; on the condition that said individuals and bands continue rocking and improving. Please sign below.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Is this the fight of weird samples? If so, you win. The clipping is less great.

I'm not sure I hear the clipping, but I'm working on my levels lately, so thanks. But there are no samples in this song, so I hope that I didn't inadvertently rip off a melody or phrase somewhere. Thanks for the review, though. I'll get mine in by Wednesday.

[jast]

I'm not sure I hear the clipping, but I'm working on my levels lately, so thanks.

I do most of my reviews after listening to songs on headphones (my speakers are so bad I didn't even hear the AC humming in Naked Philosophy's song on them), so I guess it's not too much of a surprise I hear these things better. An example of clipping is at approx. 0:38 in your song, but it's all over that section. There's lots in the passage where you've got that nasty filter on your vocals, too. Some more at the beginning of the ending. I think most of the clipping is on a single track, but don't ask me which one.

But there are no samples in this song, so I hope that I didn't inadvertently rip off a melody or phrase somewhere.

That's not what I meant. The word "sample" has several meanings, actually. While here it's usually taken to mean taking a piece of some other song (or recording), it often means an instruments recorded (usually at several pitches) and played back with pitch shifting (often by simply altering the playback speed) to generate melodies. Still, now that I listen to your song again, it sounds less like samples and more like synthesized sound. I meant the stuff at the very beginning, by the way.
I'll use a different word next time. Or I'll just listen more carefully.

[himynameisntmark]

Are you, per chance, using a crappy microphone to record those vocals?

I am. All I have right now is my laptop mic and a condenser that's about as old as I am. I've put "new mics" and "macbook" on my Christmas list so the quality of sound in my songs should improve around that time.

[Manhattan Glutton]

Andrew Reist
Good song. It takes too long to kick in the percussion. Love the backing vocals. I want it to transition into a completely different song at the end rather than returning to the original riff.

B. Ellision
It's pretty good. If the lyrics were sung with more energy or more interestingly, this could be really good.

Berkeley Social Scene
I like the backing music. The vocals are noticeably off for the whole song.

Elain DiMasi
Nice guitar riffs. The chorus needs a little more bang. Also, could use some work with the mixing.

Jake Lions Band
I had to laugh. The contrast between verse and chorus, what the hell? It's like a mix of KMFDM and the South Park guys.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders
Musically solid, but too campy for my taste.

Jeff Henderson
The treble assault on my ears is killing me, but I do like the song, and the singing. Fix the EQing.

Lonbobby
The singing reminds me of a famous 80s song I can't name. Anyway, amazing entry as always.

Lord of Oats
Did you steal the drums from NIN "The Beginning of the End"? Once I got past that, I like the rest, except for the campy singing. EDIT: Yes, you did sample it, didn't you!

Maggie Kanuka
The bass line is really cool. The rest is kind of monotonous, and the vocals are off at times.

Manhattan Glutton
Yeah, didn't really know where to go with the song. Obviously I like it, but I think it could use some harmonies. I was trying to be Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Ball-less singing on purpose.

MC Eric B
The vocals are the weak link. The rap parts need to be more solid and the singing parts need to be more nicely sung.

Melvin
I like this. Most likely to be played on the radio.

Naked Philosophy
Surprisingly catchy. You need some hi-def recording equipment cause that buzz is bothersome.

Oddbod
I love the harmonies. Good job overall.

Paco del Stinko
You've got some interesting stuff going on here, but the vocal style gets to me.

PiGPEN
I feel like I'm playing Nintendo. I don't know what to say.

Rone Rivendale
Please stop. This is where experimental cross the line.

The Scary Things
This reminds me of one of those tracks that goes in the middle of an album between real songs. Or a Sesame Street skit.

The Tests
The xylophone is a nice touch, but it needs a little more than that.

Todd McHatton
I'm a bit confused, but you sound like you know what you're doing. I mostly like it, but nothing is really grabbing me.

The Weakest Suit
The vocals are a bit off. If you're going to do a G&G song, it needs to be a little more compelling.

Where's Fluff
Add some more instruments to color the background. Maybe slow and speed up the tracks to give more of the drug effect that it needs. Needs a hook. Reminds me of Ween.

Lonbobby or Melvin deserve the win.

[jeff robertson]

Partial reviews, in no particular order.

Some of you, I haven't reviewed here because I couldn't come up with anything to say. Some of you, I still haven't listened to yet. You'll never know which is which.

Todd McHatton
I think the reason I like this is because it reminds me of a really obscure song that none of ya'll would recognize so I won't bother telling you what it is, but I do like it.

Elaine DiMasi
I think your "Shoelace Soup" was better than this. The music is pretty groovy (can I be in yer band?), and I eventually like the vocals when the harmonies come in, but it takes too long before that happens.


Weakest Suit
It genuinely reminds me of Elliot Smith, which I know for GnG is about as original of a review as saying that all people of a certain race look alike or something, but no it really does. Of which you should be proud. Could use some backup vocals or something. You got multitrack recording capabilities.

Maggie Kanuka
Love that buzz-saw guitar sound. Please tell me how you got it sound like that. I haven't been able to replicate in an all-digital direct-in setup the sounds I used to get out of tinny little amps. This song makes me miss plugging into a Radio Shack brand amp with a Peavey distortion pedal. I'm sad in a good way. Vocals are a out of tune in a way that sounds more like "this song just doesn't mean that much to me" when they should be out of tune in a way that says "I'm so into this that I can't take the time to song on key, I gotta rock! lemme rock!"

Andrew Reist
That's definitely not the synth patch that I would have chosen for this song.. but somehow it works. The lead guitar doesn't seem to fit in, somehow. But it's a good effort.

Paco
Awesome cheap horror sound at the start, like something from one of the 8-bit Castlevania game. You really should have collaborated and got somebody who is (or at least can sound like) a teenage boy to sing this, because this is awesome teenage boy music. Makes me feel young, anyway. Whoever said the solo needed to be sloppier and have more mistakes and stuff, might have had a point.

Where's Fluff?
True novelty fucked-up-ness. Like a Dr. Demento funny five contender with more swearing.

Naked Philosophy
I ike the lyrics, like some of the music. Needs.. something that I can't put my finger on. Sorry, it's almost awesome and I wish I could help. No, it's not that humming noise either you could get rid of that and I'd still feel the same way.

Lonbobby
Not the kind of music I normally listen to, but well-done enough to make me think maybe I should rethink my listening choices. Seriously, you have overcome "genre bias" in a way that makes me want to
learn about what genre this is and find more like it.

the tests
Good. Scott Walker via Beck. Sounds (on my computer anyway) like an extra lo-quality file, but my mind has long since learned to auto-correct for that and try to imagine what the real CD sounded like before being ripped and over-compressed.. that is, the same mental filter that allows one to listen to music on (say) youtube.

Me
Vocals too loud. No, everything else is not loud enough. Realized soon after submitting that I wish I had got a woman to sing lead, somebody who could sing in the same register as the synth that follows the melody, and relegate myself to backup vocals. Timing problems with almost every instrument, probably some kind of unresolved recording latency thing. (Except the vocals.. those are sloppy because they just are). Nevertheless, I genuinely believe this song represents a small step towards what I am going for with "Jeff Robertson" entries (Flvxxvm Florvm being another matter entirely).

[inevitableguy]

I don't know if this will sway anyone's opinion of my song, but I thought I'd set the record straight, at least.

The hum that plagues my submission was not there until I tried to make it into an mp3. A last-minute hardware issue forced me to connect my studio to my computer via the mic jack, producing that god-awful hum. Hopefully, I'll have the issue fixed before my next submission.

I'm still working my way through everyone's songs. I will try to post some reviews tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Paco Del Stinko]

I'll use a different word next time. Or I'll just listen more carefully.

Heh, it's probably me. Anyway, the intro has a couple of keyboard sounds with a guitar underneath which is being played through a cheap harmonizer pedal. The ending is all guitar, through a HOG. I'm on the lookout for clipping now, thanks for the shout-out.

The non-sloppy guitar lead: funny, instead of doing a typical scruff-o-matic lead, I tried to put a bit off substance to it. See what happens when I try? No more trying!

[himynameisntmark]

Please tell me how you got it sound like that.

My guitar plugged into a Boss Metal Zone distortion pedal plugged into a Fender vintage tube amp and recorded using an old Sony condenser mic. I just played around with the distortion on the pedal until I found a sound I liked.

[Caravan Ray]

...my dad's old mini organs.

...snigger I regularly get emails advertising wonderful products that may help your dad. Partially anyway.

[PiGPEN]

How many bits is this? 8? 16? 32?! Whatever, I find this business insanely catchy! Dang. If this were my tune, that change at 1:20 would stay upbeat and go to a really catchy vocal thing.

If it stayed upbeat it couldnt possibly get across that at this point your party is struggling against A Scary Thing's use of ailment attacks. 2 PEOPLE IN YOUR PARTY ARE CRYING AND AS A RESULT HAVE VERY LOW ACCURACY AND YOUR BEST ATTACKER IS PARALYZED IN FEAR. Now how could that possibly be upbeat!? It just cant. A Scary Thing smiled eerily.

videogamey. This thing should be in a megaman game. All right, I`m envious of your synthey/programmey skills, but the song just doesn`t feel musical enough for me to get into it. It doesn`t give me any vibe ... no emotion is roused in me. Sorry.

Cmon thats not fair....just because youre an emo who cannot feel joy doesnt mean i should be blamed for it.

[melvin]

....just because youre an emo who cannot feel joy.

HAHAHAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAA!

[The Weakest Suit]

i agree with everyone's assessments of my song. it was a late night, last minute effort and my wife was sleeping, so my singing is not as full as i would like it, and the song is way underbaked. even if i did sing it better, it would still be a half assed effort writing-wise.

The Weakest Suit -- The coolest thing here is the chord on "worst thing". Other than that I have no complaints but I'm not particularly excited either. Could be an almost-vote, I guess.

when i read this the first time, i had completely forgotten about this song. i was thinking "when do i use the words 'worst thing' in my shoelace soup song". ha. anyway, the chord you mention is a Fm7 that comes in the line: G – F – Fm7 – C
i also really liked the way that chord fit in, but i wish i would have played something slightly different for the second line of the chorus to fit in with the vocal melody better. oh well, another song i won't remember in a month. i actually had to look at my lyric/chord file to find the chords i used here. i couldn't remember at all how to play it.

[Billy's Little Trip]

...my dad's old mini organs.

...snigger I regularly get emails advertising wonderful products that may help your dad. Partially anyway.

Maybe that's why he always called me his little squirt.

[Reist]

Please tell me how you got it sound like that.

My guitar plugged into a Boss Metal Zone distortion pedal plugged into a Fender vintage tube amp and recorded using an old Sony condenser mic. I just played around with the distortion on the pedal until I found a sound I liked.

ps - It's pretty heavily eq'd. Not to take credit or anything though.

[jeff robertson]

Is there any reason why Maggie's "old" condenser mic wouldn't still be considered a "good mic" (assuming it was good in the first place, and it hasn't been damaged)? Its not like microphones wear out from normal use, like guitar strings or something. (Or do they? I'd like to hear about it if they do) I expect my 57 to live longer than I do.

[himynameisntmark]

....just because youre an emo who cannot feel joy

You have no idea how hard I laughed when I read that. I'm still laughing.

Is there any reason why Maggie's "old" condenser mic wouldn't still be considered a "good mic" (assuming it was good in the first place, and it hasn't been damaged)? Its not like microphones wear out from normal use, like guitar strings or something. (Or do they? I'd like to hear about it if they do) I expect my 57 to live longer than I do.

I don't know if it was a good mic to begin with. It's a Sony ECM-737 so let me know if you find out.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Extra super quick reviews. Shout if you want me to explain further.

Andrew Reist - Didn't think I'd like this when it started, but grew and improved as it went. Big points for trying this and pulling it off very well. Our own, lil' budding Elton.

B. Ellison - I like the moody lumber of this. Drums sound kind of pitch shifted down. Patient and mature, has a bit of hay dust blowing about it.

Berkeley Social Scene - I like the whiffs of classical sounding psychedelics. Mar-tan's voice fits well, if wobbly. Rearranged as pure horror would work well here, but the gentle approach is sweet.

Elaine DiMasi - Dig the groove, the one down, two up chord changes. I agree with the mix comments that people have made, as a little punch wouldn't have hurt here. Regardless, the song is well written and performed, loving the vocal harmonies. Could've chopped a chorus off of the end though or added some kind of counter melody or something.

Jake Lions Band - Like this and would lie more if it got the point, or a different one perhaps, earlier. The keys and crazy voice are Arthur Brown lite, but fun the first couple of times. Nutty drums that are sloppily effective.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders - Better and better does you get. I like the intro's feel and the change to the hillbilly Bowie is great. Your lead sound is distinctive and delicious. Nice change-up. Song feels a bit stunted but a great little ride.

Jeff Travis Henderson - Dirk Diggler on vocals. I like the upbeat groovage and energy that carries it all regardless of Digglerage. I also enjoy the extended chorus lines. Good fun not overly pretentious or imitative.

Lonbobby - Nice melody and quietly confident vibe, it's all it's own thing as soon as the song starts. Makes me want to listen to it with a sparsely furnished room made up of lean modernistic furniture. The production is swell also, no filler.

Lord of Oats - I like the low pounding of the intro, and the familiar voice sounding newly energized. Good chorus componants. This song has a strange sexual quality to it, but please don't mis-read that in an inappropriate manner! Perhaps a stronger song as more focus was applied to it then spreading the wealth around. Hmm?

Maggie Kanuka - Made me think of Shone Knife although I only know one older record of theirs. Vocal is sweet but could use a more confident delivery: a bit of rawr! Overall the song rocks and the voice at times adds a dreamy quality to the song. Keep'em coming!

Manhattan Glutton - Love the ping pong intro and trebley riff, although the riff might've repeated too many times. Nice vocals and melodies as well. Drums are neat if a bit swooshy and wimpy, mix-wise. Nice tune.

MC Eric B - Bass line stuff is best here, as the lyrics are similar, thematically, to others that you've done. Pleasant, but not one of your best.

Melvin - Took me a minute to recognize which sample the intro was, but I knew Oscar Goldman the second I heard him. I like the stretched out trippiness here, but maybe a right in the middle upside down change would've been a nice dose of fresh air. Some good lines, of course, if almost a BPM slow feeling at times.

Naked Philosophy - I don't know that I like the hesitation of the intro, but it works well when the band joins in. The song is rather conventional, for the most part, but pleasant and well done, if a little stiff. The little synth touches are nice.

oddbod - Very sweet, all around: Guitars, voice and melody. Confident and without cocky swagger, this is one of the strongest songs of the fight. Very well balanced arrangement and mix-wise as well. Tasty and makes me look forward to more entries.

Paco del Stinko - This is about John McCain. The first chord progression was pulled from the intro section, if'n you couldn't tell.

PiGPEN - I like this a lot. It could benefit from some more lyrics, but not too many. Like Nintendo prog-rock epic in miniature, though there are some sweet melodic nuggets and delightful bits of dissonance to chew on. One of your best, sir!

Rone Rivendale - This is indeed scary, alright. New and old Rone, I reckon. Beat is a little manic, and the stuttering keys under the voice both works and annoys. It's brevity is it's biggest asset and makes it stronger.

The Scary Things - I like the progression as an intro, but not as the body of the song. Good once through, this feels like a tossed off in-joke. Eh.

the tests - Almost a cowboy anthem or something. I don't know if I like it or not, but the recorded down a hallway guitar sound is interesting. Nice changes in the chorus. Pleasantly unsettling, somehow. Ease the tension in your shoulders and keep'em coming.

Todd McHatton - Delicious guitar and vocal lines. I like how this feels like it takes a one-way path instead of just A, B, A, etc. Colorful and a genuine treat to listen to. And so much better than rape.

The Weakest Suit - Good for a quicky: very uh, you. Yeah, pounding drums and a slide guitar coming in or something would be sweet. I like the lyrical ideas as well.

Where's Fluff? - Worth a listen through although the guitar loop starts making me a little crazy(er). The improv sounding vocals hit and miss and the responding (Bert) voice is more annoying than the lead one. Chuckle worthy.

[Reist]

Wow, not many people voted for this one. Congrats to Lonbobby - I called that for sure.