You didn't need that anyway, right? (Sorry to Inform You)

[inevitableguy]

I caught a nasty virus this week (it does not appear to be the swine flu). This has given me time to do reviews relatively early in the fight cycle. I'm not sure if being sick has made me overly negative, or if too many people are too busy with Nur Ein (or maybe both), but this fight seems pretty weak to me. I'm trying to be constructive, forgive me if I step on any toes:

Balance Lost - This isn't a bad little tune. It could use a little more, but I'm not sure exactly what.

Blues Manufacturing Facility - I can't review this without bias...since I wrote the words, I keep thinking, "No, no, no...that's not how it's supposed to be sung..."

Castle - This isn't the kind of thing I'd normally listen to, but it's got a good little groove going on. I'm having a hard time making out the words, but I can't tell if that's due to my blocked sinuses or your mix.

Dollar Bill and the Inkpoints - I love the lyrics. I'm not a big fan of the effects on the alien vocals. I'd like to hear something else in there to break up the verse, chorus, verse structure.

Dust Pipe - The vocals are way off. I'm having a hard time paying attention to anything else.

Jan Krueger - I like the harmonies. I'd like to hear this with a little bit more instrumentation.

Jon Mayor - This doesn't give me a "Sorry to Inform You" vibe at all.

The Knights of Griznacht - This could use a little more variation in the vocal melody, especially during the verses.

Lord of Oats - The music is straight out of the 80's, which I like. The lyrics also feel like they're straight out of the 80's, which I don't like so much.

Manhattan Glutton - Interesting lyrics and well-performed. It goes on a bit too long, though.

Metropological - I like the plinky little into bit, but then the drums come in and the rhythms are too locked together.

Paco del Stinko - This is crazy, in a good way. I love the keyboard solo. The lyrics are a great take on the topic. Easily the best song of the fight.

The Pathetic Wannabees - It was working on a strange lo-fi/garage/noise level for a while, but then it kinda felt like it all falls apart going into the bridge.

Sockpuppet - I think the vocal effects work on this one - it makes it a happy little ditty. I like this as a stand alone piece, but wouldn't want a whole album of songs like this.

South Sycamore Wheelbarrow Factory Ensemble - The electric guitar is really muddy. Given your subject matter, I would have preferred more subtle lyrics.

Wages - This gets old fast without a full compliment of instruments. The bridge is kind of stilted sounding.

The Weakest Suit - Like most G&G, I just feel like this needs more to it.

And the inevitable thoughts on my own entry...

Naked Philosophy - I was really happy with the way the spoken bits fit into the structure of the song. Unfortunately, I went from recording straight to mixing, and my mixes are always better when I can set the song aside for a few days and come back to it fresh. Even now, I can hear all of the tweaks I'd like to make to the mix. Oh well, such is the nature of Song Fight!

[fluffy]

oh, j$ wasn't meant to be a human, really... i see the confusion. he's also supposed to be an alien, but his vocals are clean. it makes no sense if you look at it as a conversation! heh.

Okay, finally got around to reading them, and yeah, now it makes a lot more sense. I retract my previous statement! The inconsistency in the vocal treatment was very confusing.

[deetak]

a few quick comments

Balance Lost - I like that distortion guitar melody that comes in briefly. Also the 1:14 part texture is cool. Not a fan of the vocoder thing near the end.

Jan - I like when it slows down in that last minute

Manhattan G - "Let me go" harmonizing part near the end is nice

dustpipe - I really like the instrumentation, progression, mood. Nice song; the vocals could be stronger, though

Paco Del Stinko - The 0:30 - 0:46 section is my favorite

[furrypedro]

Although these are in alphabetical I can confirm that I listened in a random order.

BMF: The main riff has some swagger, I can imagine some streetwalkin cheetah with a gun in one hand and a boombox in the other pumpin it out. Every other aspect of the track sucks, including the length.

Castle: Man, this is different. It resembles some nondescript piece of rubbish (wait, it's not all bad) I've heard on SF numerous times but there is more. I think the slightly sloppy bass and robo-tard drums don't give a great first impression but it's okay. What gets my attention is your vocals, which at first seem freaky but do remind me of the Dirty Projectors in places, especially at 2.09, and also the way you layer up the percussion and bring the sparse bursts of atmospheric synth. Original and strangely compelling.

Dollah Bill Y'all: This is early 80's science documentary music. The album sleeve for this will have a BBC micro with the periodic table on the screen. I'm bored by the time the 3rd verse comes in, you could've cut that off and lost nothing. I like the tabla at the end, I would've liked to hear more of that.

Up yer Dust Pipe: Nice e-bow solo. Do you program your drum patterns or use presets? I think you use sequenced drums enough to warrant looking for a better set of sounds, I wouldn't know where to recommend tho, sorry. Most of the guitars in this sound really nice, but that one that comes in at around 3.00 is a bit jarring, The lead bit before that is cool though, the one that sounds a bit like a siren.

Jan Krueger: Good lyrics, harmonies are okay but not as good as Manhattan Glutton's. Probably one of the better songs this week but suffers from lack of instrumentation.

John Mayor: I listened to this straight after the Castle track and it sounds like it's off the same album. The drums sound really strangely recorded and usually I don't like an overly loud high-hat but it sounds really cool here. It's like avant garde proto funk and I like it but I probably won't download it. the recorder section is cool. Nice textures.

Knights of Grixasno9ajaacht: Hmmm, random factor, who's this gonna be......The voice is familiar but I can't name it. This ain't too bad, it's not really engaging enough considering how plodding it is and what is it with all the songs over 4 minutes this week? Do I look like I have minutes to spare? I like some of the vocal flourishes, they stray off key a bit but not too much to be emabrrassing. Good effort.

Lord of Oats: Electromorrissey! I actually like this. It's (half) a pastiche and full of cliches but I the synth sound is cool and it's a pretty tight little tune.

Glanhatton Mutton: You harmonise with yourself really well, I wish I could do that.

Metropological: n00b-a-rama! please be cool. Woah nasty clipping there! did you not listen back to the track before you sent it in? So this is a one riff song, if it weren't for the ridiculous vocal clips I'd listen again happily. I look forward to you developing, learning to not break my ears, and writing a 2nd section - that sounds sarcastic, I mean once you can do those things I will probably enjoy your music. Good length.

Naked Philosophy: Opening chords sound promising in a Primitives type way. The drums remind me of (a track you've probably never heard) the intro to 'Niagara' by Braid and hence good memories. The genre bias is totally working in your favour here, not the most interesting stop/starts, but they're there, that's what counts. I'll most probably vote for this.

Paco: Sounds really similar to something you've done before. (rummages through archive....) christ, I'm not listening to all that lot. I find your use of the organ amusing, it's like the ultimate anti-rock instrument. Do you listen to the Horrors? Parts of this remind me System of a Down.

The Pathetic Wannabees: Is this novelty? tuneless. ugh

Sockpuppet: Please be as cool as National Forest.........ooh, nice percussion. lush pads. electrochipmunks. Nearly as cool as National Forest, I might consider voting for this. That opening synth that just plays the one note on the first beat of the bar is a bit boring, if you'd switched that up and added in a bit of rhythm or glitchiness to that this would've been awesome.

South Sycamore: yay, 1.38. You're in my good books already, can you tell I'm in patient mode? 1. Get a pop shield (or do what glennny does and only sing lyrics without P's or B's) 2. Um haha, yeah nice.

Wages: It's got feeling, but unfortunately this week I'm not in the mood for half developed demos of Pearl Jam-a-like (or whatever) tracks.

Weakest Soot: Word. Politics. Rebel. Dystopia! trying to think of things to say about your song. can't.


If anyone wants a vocoder-less version of my song in order to enhance their listening pleasure PM me.

[glennny]

dustpipe - I really like the instrumentation, progression, mood. Nice song; the vocals could be stronger, though

Thanks Deetak! To be fair to Tom, he didn't have much time to write or rehearse or perform the vocal take. I was in Arizona with my laptop and FireOne, hanging out with my old Dust Pipe band mate. I felt like we really had to record SOMETHING while I was there.

We should collaborate one of these days! I've become quite a fan of your vocals!

Up yer Dust Pipe: Nice e-bow solo. Do you program your drum patterns or use presets? I think you use sequenced drums enough to warrant looking for a better set of sounds

When I can't get Ken, Prisoner, Woody or Melvin I resort to my fake drums. It's a combination of presets and programming. If there's a particular hit or accent I want I'll program it in, but the preset is the foundation. Anyway, I hate my fake drums, I've really exhausted them. Someday I'm going to pay Ken to record "Ken loops" , especially the 7/8 and 9/8 and 13/8 loops which are tedious to program and presets don't exist for.

Somewhat on the long side

I totally agree, I think the main flaw was taking too slow of a bpm. I wish it was a full minute shorter, but I like most of the sections. Faster bpm, tighter vocal takes, mix out the piano in the 2nd verse. The track is a mess, but i appreciate the kindness of the reviews.

I hope to review before the next Nur Ein round.

[inevitableguy]

...

The drums remind me of (a track you've probably never heard) the intro to 'Niagara' by Braid and hence good memories.

...

You're right, I hadn't heard it before, but I just checked it out and liked it a good deal. Thanks.

[furrypedro]

You're right, I hadn't heard it before, but I just checked it out and liked it a good deal. Thanks.

Suweeet. You get what I mean about the casio preset beat at the beginning. To be fair it's got nothing to do with the song really but you always know what it is whenever it comes on shuffle. Man, I love that song, so emo, but so many good lyrics. If you like that you should check out "Oh Messy Life" by Cap'n Jazz too.

[Castle]

Thanks to ujnhunter and metropological for the comments. I'll take a comparison to TV on the Radio any day.

[HeuristicsInc]

balance lost - interesting guitar effect. you might want to alter the rhythm guitar when the solo is happening, they interfere with each other rhythmically in a bad way. pretty catchy, though. i miss reading lyrics. the vocoder voice is a nice touch.

paco - i like the two-voice thing. the rejection letter bit was fun. like the outro too.

took a break to watch the end of a hockey game.

metro - good sounds. drums are a bit overpowering. watch the overloading of the mic. this is a bit repetitive, a real feat for a 1:22 song.

naked - woman voice should be louder, it gets lost in the music. gets lost in general. sounds like you're saying that the place you came from you can't call home, but don't you really mean the place you're at now you can't call home?

manhattan - something about the cadence here is bothering me. what does drinking have to do with it? and who's they that we are trying to impress?

weakest - odd fast and slow cadence. not sure what you're getting at. obama's games? doesn't seem too plausible.

sockpuppet - thought of glados right off. this is fun. i like that drum stuff, squishy. this is the thing we all worried about. heh. i feel like something more is needed to finish the vocal part... not sure what.

pathetic - the backing vocals are a little lifeless. i'd like to hear some synths in this one. as usual, i have no idea what your meaning is. but that's not the point. enjoyable.

castle - good groove. the various vocal bits aren't really together...vary the drums more. the groove is nicely hypnotic, though.

sswbfe - enlightened with zen? hmm. not fond of the cadence. oh, and i have no place to store a wheelbarrow so i can't buy one. sorry.

loo - this vocal reminds me of the monster mash, heh. i like your synth bit. some parts of this vocal are a bit awkward. but i still kinda like it.

jonmayor - an instrumental, i guess, which is fine if i can find a compelling reason why it's called "sorry to inform you"... which i can't. pretty interesting, in any case. no vote, though, if i can't find a title connection.

blues - ah, lyricburglar 2. think i liked the original interpretation better. but the vocal stuff during the solo is cool. wow, your voice cracks a lot, heh.

knights - not fond of the singsongy. the solo is fun, though.

wages - the not-so-rhyme of frail and heal stands out after the previous ones. stowed, wane, sorry, the typos are getting to me interesting.

dbti - our song. i was hoping to do more with it but time was tight. a week is not much time these days. j$ did some nice work with the music. i would like to buy an actual tabla.

dustpipe - good guitar effect. vocals seem a bit undirected. keys and guitars aren't in sync, but i like what hte guitar does around 1:50. that undirectedness is getting to me, sorry.

jan - i like these lyrics. though it's weird that you switched from aabb to abab. i'd rather you stayed consistent in the song. enjoyable, though.

votes: balance, paco, sockpuppet, pathetic, loo, dbti, jan

[jast]

I'm very short on time this time, so the reviews are short, too.

Balance Lost -- Sounds thin. Apart from that, nice sound. I like the composition. Work on vocals.

Blues Manufacturing Facility -- oh, hey, it's not even blues. The robot vocals are a nice try but you can't beat those of Flight Of The Conchords. Work on vocals. The song feels rather generic to me, but admittedly well-implemented generic.

Castle -- I don't know what to say about this. Mix and arrangement work, I think. Some things sound a bit random or disharmonic.

Dollar Bill & the Inkpoints -- Awfully bright reverb on lead vocals. Lead vocals (verses) have bad timing. I'm not too fond of them either, but I guess that's my problem. I like the vibe of the chorus thing. Bit drawn out.

Dust Pipe -- Nice arrangement, if a bit overpanned in my opinion. Lead vox stands out too much. Work on vocals! I find the composition a bit boring but I can definitely appreciate parts of it.

Jan Krueger -- Most rushed song I've ever done for Song Fight... two and a half hours, writing and all. I burnt most of the time performing the guitar stuff again and again because it kept sucking. I'm still not too happy with it.

Jon Mayor -- Lots and lots of intro... oh, was that the instrumental? I can see how it works for the title. I don't get the stuff near the end. Good performance.

The Knights of Griznacht -- I think you're overdoing it on reverb. In fact it sounds like you pulled everything through the same reverb. Not so great. Good performance, but work on vocals.

Lord of Oats -- A bit monotonous. I like the chorus, at least partially. Work on vocals.

Manhattan Glutton -- Oh yeah, I remember you mentioning that this one would be acoustic. Great sound. I like the overall rhythm and flow. I have no misgivings worth mentioning.

Metropological -- I guess I don't need to tell you that everything in there sounds artificial. Except for the vocals. Eww, clipping! I don't get this... is it actually a song? I'm not sure. Work on vocals.

Naked Philosophy -- This is quite enjoyable. Sounds rather thin, though. Bring the bass! You have a tendency to include long passages that are basically just one note (the verses in this song, for example). If you mixed it up a bit I might like the song even more. The spoken vocals are a bit hidden in the mix.

Paco del Stinko -- You know I don't really ever have any complaints with your stuff... here's one: the reverb on lead vocals is a bit bright at times. I very much like this, especially the chorus. The best I've listened to so far. Slight clipping in "letter" vocals. I'd suggest to either make it more obvious that it's intended (isn't it?) or get rid of it.

The Pathetic Wannabees -- I like the sound of this. Not too fond of the vocals... the timing is a bit weird. Nice composition. Backup vocals are a nice touch.

Sockpuppet -- Cool synths. Mostly good vocal mangling (some of the artificial warbles seem misplaced). Likeable composition. Drags on a bit, despite the rather good buildup. I was waiting for a chorus or at least something different the whole time. Structurally disappointing, otherwise great.

South Sycamore Wheelbarrow Factory Ensemble -- Work on vocals. They're off quite a lot. Electric guitar sort of just buzzes on. Composition is nice.

Wages -- You obviously play guitar much better than I do. Slight clipping in vocals. Chords lack a bit of definition due to strong distortion. Work on vocals (you're convincing but you miss some notes). Try a fuller arrangement. At the very least an okay song.

The Weakest Suit -- Cool idea. Pretty good guitar playing, hesitant-sounding vocals.

Votes go to: Manhattan Glutton, Naked Philosophy, Paco del Stinko. And, shamelessly, myself.

[fluffy]

Sockpuppet -- Cool synths. Mostly good vocal mangling (some of the artificial warbles seem misplaced). Likeable composition. Drags on a bit, despite the rather good buildup. I was waiting for a chorus or at least something different the whole time. Structurally disappointing, otherwise great.

I actually felt like there was too much variation, considering the theme of a soulless computer reciting a form letter and rejecting a skilled job applicant solely on the basis of stupid stuff they did when they were (probably) 8 years old. Sometimes it's difficult to balance thematic integrity with making an enjoyable song, and this time I went with thematic integrity.

(Of course, most of my songs are just a simple chord progression and a flat "structure" so it's not like this was much of a stretch for me.)

[inevitableguy]

naked - woman voice should be louder, it gets lost in the music. gets lost in general. sounds like you're saying that the place you came from you can't call home, but don't you really mean the place you're at now you can't call home?

No....I really did mean that the place you came from can't be called home. The idea was sparked by an acquaintance of mine who moved to Canada recently. In his blog, he's written at great length about how much he better he likes it there and how great everything is, and he's talking about where he is in the process of becoming a Permanent Resident with the eventual goal of citizenship. I was wondering what would happen if they told him, "Sorry, Canada's full. You need to go back." I think some people here might not welcome him back with open arms after all the bragging about his new country - hence his old country can't really be called home, either. It's a bit of an extreme example, but "place where some people might no longer accept me" is a little less powerful than "place I can't call home." Also, it doesn't rhyme.

[HeuristicsInc]

In that case, I think you probably need to sell that viewpoint better - that idea did not come across to me in the reading of the lyrics... no mention of it except that one line.

Sometimes it's difficult to balance thematic integrity with making an enjoyable song, and this time I went with thematic integrity.

I think that's my problem here too, except I went even farther
-bill

[fluffy]

Huh, that was unexpected.

Thanks, everyone.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Congrats, Fluffypuppet! Sorry I didn't get reviews in, people, but thanks for all that did. Ya gotta love'em!