The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Just a request, as a courtesy to everyone using the playlist / play all function: please appropriately edit your .MP3 file properties.

Hey it's Romer
+++ random beats and tones assembled with proficiency +++
/// interesting way to relate to the title ///
--- i'm not feeling the "song" here ---

Brooke tournoux / lalabrookie
+++ vox harmonies +++
/// i'm generally a fan of the Indigo Girls vibe, but this could probably benefit from a fuller arrangement: the guitar lick gets very samey ///
--- hand percussion ---

Berkley Social Scene
+++ guitar riffage and tones +++
--- strained vox ---
/// i get the impression that the looseness of your recordings/performances is part of the BSS esthetic, but I wonder how much better it might sound if the whole thing were tighter ///

Jonathan Mann and Young Nick Krill - vote
+++ nice chill vibe +++
+++ dynamics +++
/// i'm not a fan of the muffled acoustic guitar tone by itself (like in the opening bars), but it works very well with the rest of the instrumentation ///
+++ tight arrangement +++

Young Strokes aka Young Muscle
/// genre bias alert: rap has be excpetional for me to like it ///
--- tired samples ---
/// i get the satire, but the vox delivery doesn't sell it for me ///

Equals X
/// genre bias alert: rap has be excpetional for me to like it ///
--- yawn: clichéd lines, boring samples and nothing original to say ---
--- also, get a better mic; i can hear the $20 plastic in yours ---

Billy's Little Trip feat. E-Bow Phillips
+++ rawk +++
--- gratuituous euphemisms for fellatio ---

Crack Hole
--- pointless ---

Mantzfield
--- drumming ---
+++ atmosphere +++
--- uh... I didn't order death metal with my soulful acoustic tune... ---
//// full points for musical ambition and dynamics, but it's not a successful mash-up ///

Duderonymus Bosch
--- cool country blues metaphor ruined by compulsive hipster meta-referencing ---
--- production ---

That Guy
+++ unique atmosphere and vibe +++
+++ melody +++
--- humming/oohs ---
/// the lyrics are kind of stereotypically emo, aren't they? "Life is so hard, leave me alone: PAY ATTENTION TO ME" ///
+++ neat idea for an outro +++

The Frolicking Swamp Sparklies
+++ reverbed vox +++
--- some production rough edges: especially the pops ---
/// percussion: neat tonal choices, poor rhythmic ones ///

King Arthur - vote
+++ southern rock vibe typical of King Arthur[tm] +++
+++ title lyric: simultaneous inspiring and crepy +++
/// might like some more dynamics in the overall arrangement; this would probably be awesome to jam to live ///

Night Elf Mohawk
--- this is FMBM music: For Me By Me ---
/// neat break down, even if it does come from left-field ///

Jan Krueger
--- keyboard tones ---
+++ melody +++
--- backing vox: "the bones" ---
/// you and Mantzfield should collab: your sense of melody and prosody plus their death metal vibes could make something pretty awesome ///

Jon Eric
+++ "Does anyone know what to do with all of the blood" +++
+++ dynamics +++
/// not a fan of your falsetto, but props for stretching your range ///

Dancing Front
+++ solid mellow vibe +++
+++ great metaphors in the lyric +++
/// pure genre bias: this kind of hip-hop/pop just isn't my cup of tea ///
--- fasletto backing vox ---

Holgen & Wages
--- lead guitar is distractingly loud in the mix ---
+++ "This is your bag of bones!" great vox delivery +++
+++ wonderfuly sparse arrangement +++
/// ... could still use a nice touch of organ or something ... ///
/// kind of loses cohesion in the bridge/outro ///

Fitzroy
+++ tones +++
/// pull back the vox and push up the guitars for a fuller punch in the face ///
+++ concise but disturbing portrait +++

noah mclaughlin
/// never thought that this would stand out in a Song Fight ///
+++ i love the idea of the the ritual-like repetition +++
/// ... and yet I think this needs more development: a different melody for the second half of the verse, perhaps a bridge, somthing... ///
--- solo ---

TOSHIRO - vote
+++ rockin' vibe +++
/// FX'd vox are too hot ///
+++ a chorus the Clash would be proud of +++
+++ love the "oohs" in the second verse +++
--- outro is a little too on the nose ---

EggNogAdam
+++ solid rock rhythm and neat tones +++
/// gets kind of samey; could use a break down or bridge ///

Hello, how you dazzle the eyes.
Many songs. Brief reviews. Good fight.

BSS
Breakdown at 1:45 is good. Sounds like spongebob squarepants singing.

BLT
Dude. Amazing. Rock. I do not like E-bows. I do not like them in the snow, or on the go, or at the show, I do not like them no no no. Go full synth or get a GK-3, more versatile.

Crack hole
Very cool sounds and LFOs. ratatat feel.

Duderonymus
Barton, you dirty dog. Is this the proper venue for this? Maybe youtube.

Eggnog Adam
Drums are a little buried or blurry. Envelop filter on guitar very cool. Great fills.

Equals x
There is merit in your rapping.

Fitzroy
Pop filter. Cool song. My limited imagination requires better production values to fully comprehend moosical ideas.

F. S. Sparklies
Remind of Zep. Need Page-style riffing on verses.

Romer
Good house-thrash. Arbitrary sound sample earns no points despite observance of traditional techno form.

Hoglen and Wages
Crash test dummies.

Jan Kreuger
Cool song. Need high gain guitar, or maybe full orchestra, to highlight arrangement.

Jonathan Mann
I checked out song-a-day. It is cool and quite an accomplishment. Good luck on the album.

Jon Eric
Quite a voice. check out Dear Hunter.

King Arthur
You track your guitars very well; warm like a hug. Fun song.

Lalabrookie
Good job on harmonies.

Mantzfield
Heavy riffs. Little jerky on transitions. Need more control on vocal tonality.

Mohawk
Song is silly. Kinda long.

Noah Mclaughlin
Song is okay. Vocals lack variation or range. See Hoglan & Wages.

That Guy
Okay song. Shins-y on intro. I do not like vamp.

Toshiro
psychadelic furs.

Young muscle stroke
Quite the motivational anthem. Could even play in the gym.

I love you,
Daring Front

[quote="Generic"]Reviews! Random order based on the front page.


Hyatt's Roamer - Gotta admit, I'm pretty curious about what the spoken-word sample comes from. The techno-instrumental that follows sounds really familiar. Either that melody is built into a loop that I've heard someone else use before, or you copped a melody from somewhere. I know there's nothing new under the sun, but when the melody is basically the entire piece, I have to point that out. Sorry to say it, but at the end of this song, I'm left wondering, "So what?"

[Heyit'sRomer]
The spoken word is Stephen King, reading from his book. All off the rest was either put in individually into the step sequencer or recorded using an external controller within Fl studio. While it certainly sounds like a traditional dub-step type melody I couldn't site a specific one which would warrant plagiarism. This song was definitely more of a pedagogical exercise for me, it would seem that my end product is fairly accurate its conceptual beginning.

Billy's Little Trip wrote:I get that Offspring comment a lot and I can never hear it, lol. I think Wages was the first one to say that. Thanks, Fitzy.

our History of My Broken Heart collab was very Offspring-y

Wages wrote:

Billy's Little Trip wrote:I get that Offspring comment a lot and I can never hear it, lol. I think Wages was the first one to say that. Thanks, Fitzy.

our History of My Broken Heart collab was very Offspring-y

Your brain is offspringy.

I just had to go listen. I haven't heard it since we did it. That's a good song.

This is a pretty intense Review thread! A good read!

eggnogadam wrote:YoungStroke aka Young Muscle Bob - Are you from Georgia? This is simultaneously bush league and pro. I like this a lot! "...abbreviated B-O-B." Hahahaha. I hope you were going for funny with this because it really WORKS on that level (at least with me). Keep it up!

Thanks for the reviews homeskillets!!! No, I'm not from Georgia, I'm from North Carolina, but I kinda bring out an excessive southern accent while rapping. And yes I was definitely going for funny/corny/lame with this song. I tried to channel the same vibe as Lady Gaga's "Love Game" with the beat.

Yay REVIEWS!!! Can I just say I felt like a used up bag of bones after listening and doing all of these reviews...huge fight, and good job everyone!

BERKELEY SOCIAL SCENE: Interesting voice use in this one, but I think you need more of a gimmick or unique style if you're going to use it effectively. The rest of the song was OK but needs to be spiced up a little.

BILLY'S LITTLE TRIP: If I had to assign this to a genre, it would be Fantasy However, it is catchy and fun and the lyrics made me laugh despite my intention to completely disapprove of this song. However, after reading other reviews, I realize I can't try to disapprove of this because you are compared to Offspring, and they are my heroes. (And btw thanks for the comments about the key thing – glad to hear it because “I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem” ) )

KING ARTHUR: Love the bass. Very nice, clean instrumentals altogether. Cute song.

NOAH MCLAUGHLIN: Are those real drums? They sound really good, especially towards the end. Your voice is good but I think maybe it needs more energy and you're a little off in certain places (I can be accused of the same thing as you can see on the boards, so no offense...)...just needs to be tightened up a little.

FROLICKING SWAMP SPARKLIES: I like your sound...very pretty and soothing. Song is a little long, maybe? But otherwise a good listen.

EGGNOG ADAM: I like the effect on your voice. Makes me think Nine Inch Nails, and I adore them. Nice grungy undertone. Good tune.

NIGHT ELF MOHAWK: This is definitely interesting. However, the continuous background synth and weird noise (I don't even know how to classify it) made me unbearably nervous throughout the whole song.

EQUALS X: Seemed a little repetitive to me. Decent sound, just needs more variety in general.

JONATHAN MANN AND NICK: So glad this didn't stay muffled...I was beginning to think there was someone out there with even less recording skill than me haha Nice percussion in here...very nice sound in general.

CRACKHOLE: This reminds me of the music that repeats once the 80's video game is over until you put the next quarter in. Probably a game like "Killer Space Zombies"

DUDERONYMUS: Good job on reducing the idea of this song to the “bare bones”. Dear lord...this was so silly but somehow it worked. I was wondering how you were going to rhyme with tibula but you pulled it off! And I like the fact that you were naming tibula and fibula, and then you mention your “arm bone” haha. The running commentary was great...

HEY IT'S ROMER: Definitely some points here to ponder. Very postmodern and matrix-like. My 13 year old son walked into the room dancing to it, and he really doesn't dance, so you have that going for you, too

YOUNG STROKE: Very amusing! This is the theme song for Mac from “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, right? What's up BITCHES?!

JAN KREUGER: Wow, creepy but I like it!

FITZROY: OK, I did not expect the screaming (although I should have from you, right?!) and I had my ear to the speaker because it started out so quiet. Then the screaming startled me and then I fell into a brief bout of hero worship...not even kidding...your lungage is impressive. I don't have the desire to scream but as a singer appreciate and somewhat covet the lung power, although I am no slouch in that dept, but not at your superhero levels. I love the riffs in this, and the drums are also lovely.

TOSHIRO: I think I like the message of this – sad for people who are true, honest good believers that so many who claim to be believers are false and tarnish the reputations of all believers, and sad that many who want to be spiritual misguidedly end up following these idiots. I had to look up obfuscation – I was making a bet with myself as to whether or not that was a real word haha Turns out it is and good use here. I like the sheep sounds at the end –
that was b-a-a-a-d

MANTZFIELD: Ummm...the part before the death metal has potential – needs to be tightened up and I think you may be off-key a little in a few places? But the transition to the death metal was incongruous. After I got used to the death metal, it had some good parts (the fast talking part sounded good but I couldn't understand a word of it) After that, the groove just didn't work for me, just a little too jumpy. Maybe you can borrow DUDERONYMUS's metronome.

HOGLEN AND WAGES: I don't know why, but every time I clicked on your song it froze my computer up. I tried like 4 times with no luck. Is the MP3 in the right format?

THAT GUY: Sooo love the intro...would've liked to hear the drums a little more up front throughout the song. This is a great commentary. We're all messed up so DON'T JUDGE ME! (That is what you're saying, right?!)

JON ERIC: Keys are beautiful in this. Loved the passion...ending seemed a little abrupt? Also, I like your voice but it sounds a little thin/strained in places. Are you singing from your diaphram? If not, can you do this next time? Otherwise, great song.

DARING FRONT: Very nice in general...love the high harmonies so much. Your voice is great and good job on the lyrics. I noticed a lot of literals in this fight so your abstract concept is refreshing.

LALABROOKIE (ME): Overall, I am OK with this song. I think it's a catchy little tune. I would've liked to perfect the vocals/harmony volume, etc. a little more but I was on a time crunch (curse the early hour that I have to wake up at every morning to work for people that apparently don't understand the fact that I'm not a morning person!) but otherwise, I was happy with the fun harmonies and silly lyrics.

And apparently I'm using too many smilies. Just tried to post this and got a notification that the maximum number of smilies is 4?? Bested by the fucking smily nazis again....this seems to be an appropriate place to put a smiley, but apparently I am out, so I'll just trail off here instead...

nyjm wrote:+++ great metaphors in the lyric +++

lalabrookie wrote:Your voice is great and good job on the lyrics. I noticed a lot of literals in this fight so your abstract concept is refreshing.

Thank you for kind comments. Initially, I wanted an allegory based on Steve Buscemi in Fargo.

Also thanks to all on positive comments on vocals. I am a rocker by day, and prefer to belt and wail to accomplish melody. I am realizing that to breathe life into mid-register, low-prowess singing takes a different skill.

Thanks for the reviews so far everyone. Daunting entering a first fight here, good I'm not torn down too bad. Will definitely work on rhymes for next week! (and expect a little different sound)

good. can't wait to get my listen on.

lalabrookie wrote:HOGLEN AND WAGES: I don't know why, but every time I clicked on your song it froze my computer up. I tried like 4 times with no luck. Is the MP3 in the right format?

Strange. It's in the same format I've used before. Can you computer handle 256 kbps MP3s? lol Seriously though, try this link and let me know if it does the same thing:
http://www.philwages.com/music/Hoglen_a ... s_demo.mp3

"HEY IT'S ROMER: Definitely some points here to ponder. Very postmodern and matrix-like. My 13 year old son walked into the room dancing to it, and he really doesn't dance, so you have that going for you, too '

Yay dancing! I like this style of music because I think it's one of the closest (pop culture) genres to the 20th century approach to music, besides movie music. If we could only just retire the circle of 5ths for a while =/

BAG of BONEs

Young Stroke & Young Muscle- Best rap of the fight. Good production. I’m not caring about the lyrics, but they flow okay. Genre bias, it’s hard to sit through this as a primary piece of art to focus on.

TOSHIRO- Phoned in. (joke) . Cool bass line. i like the backing vocals. I hate the phone effect at the beginning of the verses. Nice bass line! I dislike “-ation” rhymes also.

Barton Lewis serious entry- Wow the mp3 compression is really bad. Your voice is entertaining. Hey i’m in this fight twice as well! I’m still pissed off about your other entry. This one has a lot of merit. The intro is the most exciting bit. It loses that direction with the keys entry. I like your voice in this context. Good song, the whimsy reminds me of “Of Montreal”.

Noah McLaughlin- Nice reverb. The band sounds good. I could stand to hear some guitar licks. The lyrics and vocal register conjures up Lou Reed memories. The guitar solo also conjures up Lou Reed. Dainty solo over a huge band. Good stuff.

Night Elf Mohawk- This is some tedious torture. i recommend anyone listening to skip to the 3:36 to 3:59. That bit was awesome! The rest is cruel and evil torture to the listener.

Mantzfield- This is a mess. Talk about pitchy! Oh wait, there you are. The speed metal is far superior to the folky mess.

Brooke Tournoux- 2 chords and pitchy vocals. The melodies don’t make up for the simplicity. This is relatively enjoyable. Unfortunately I played a lot of coffee shops in the 90’s, and I’ve had quite enough of this stuff in my lifetime. You really need some killer execution or an infectious melody for me to like this.

King Arthur- I can’t believe I’ve never heard the line “in through the ears and out through the feet” before. I think you coined it! This song is heeped deeply in Grateful Dead sensibility. In fact I think I’m going to have a Dead day today. Great playing! Good song, clever lyrics. VOTE!

Jon Eric- Why leave the mistake? it happens 3 times, is it a mistake? Some meta art for the composition to have that dissonant chord cluster in the intro? The register you’re playing
the piano in leaves one desiring a bass line. I think you should add a bass guitar, or turn up the one i can’t hear, or slide your left hand down an octave or two. There’s that chord again. I like dissonant chords more than most, that one that I now think is deliberate is jarring. Pretty good composition, one of your better vocal performances too. Good work!

Jonathon Mann & young Nick Krill- Stellar production. i love the groove. I love both of your voices. My biggest complaint , is the song is too short. it’s a catchy melody, and a catchy melody. Maybe a little too repetative. I could stand to have another couple of verses. What’s there is good , definitie VOTE.

Jan Kruegar Mellencamp- This is the perfect performance, the perfect composition, perfect recording. I can do nothing but learn from this. (vote for WSA). Seriously, the vocals are damn good. The song structure is good too. I find it strange that you have the Wreckdom monster down bends on “Booooones”, which i think you criticized them for. In any case this is good.

Eric & Phil- Wages is sounding better than ever! The guitars sound good too. The bridge and ending sound lost. This is getting there. A bit too bare bones if you will.

H’ey It’s Romer- Kick ass groove! This may get a vote. This is rockin me. takes me back to late 90’s Orbital. This is essentially a dance tune. I think it was a mistake to loose the beat for the sake of the sampled speach that says “.....bag of bones”. It is not that necessary to me, that you shoehorn in the title to this fine instrumental. I’m borderline on a vote for this. I think the overall composition is lacking a good dramatic arc. However the parts are pretty awesome.

FSSK- ECHO ECHo ECho Echo echo. You don’t need this. This sounds pretty cool. This maybe the most non-groovy groove ever. I like the stereo panning. That echo is headache inducing though.

Fitzroy- Terrible recording, obviously. Awesome performance! This reminds me of our Zipline “Cable Beach” from 5 years ago. Was this s improvised? I like the way you guys play together. Cool drums going on.

Equals X- No flow. Painful. Not my thing. Nothing clever enough to get me over my genre bias.

Egg Nog Adam- This seems uninspired. With the heavy effects it reminds me of Ween. I don’t get the lyrics. It’s nice enough background music, but the hook is not very hooky. I think the vocals are way too upfront, especially when they’re so effected up. Sounds like “Dont hate MY___(insert title here)___, that’s how I live”. Nothing really wrong with this, just nothing really right either. I liked your Cloud Cuckoo much better.

Barton Lewis- Sounds improvised. This is tedious to sit through. I like your guitar playing and vocal delivery. This is a crap composition however. It’s not funny. I admire the effort. Now really write something please.

Daring Front- This is dying for some E-Bow. your voice is good, but pitchy. Nice to hear you didn’t autotune it, but the falsetto is particularly sour. I like the composition a lot. This is solid song writing. The music is very cold. I like the muted guitar and the electric piano. This is a bad ass demo, but really needs some better vocal performances, some real drums, and a proper ending. And for Hell sakes this needs E-bow. Lots of warm murderous E-bow.

Paul Weichel- This is a cool instrumental, but it sounds more like “bunny” than “bag of bones”. Short and fun. Belongs on an Eno album.

BSS- We jam on Tuesday nights. We had nothing last Tuesday, the due date was Wednesday (we had taken the previous week off). Could we write and record something in 3 hours? Of course yes. So before Martyr showed up Ken and I jammed out the chord pattern and structure. Earlier that day, Ken had written the lyrics. I particularly like the bridge music. The solo is over dubbed. the verse riff reminds me of Lawyers Guns and Money. With more time I might overdub licks on the verses like LG&M. This was super fun, and it sounds so fresh when I listen to it.

BLT & Glennny- I saw the title, and immediately had a dirty lyric in mind. I thought it was raunchy and funny. It’s about Plaster Caster. The last line of the last verse was the kernel I threw at BLT. I’ve always been a fan of BLTs music and production and songwriting. There’s just soo much rock power. He was kind enough to ask me to play on the song as well. I’m very impressed with how he ran with the lyrics, they’re all really good. Bon Scott would be impressed. I applied my best Fripp “against” style to my parts. I love the way I got mixed in. I look forward to some live show in the future, where we play this song. Well done BLT!

votes go to:

BSS
BLT
Jan Kruger Mellencamp
Jonathon Mann & young Nick Krill
King Arthur

glennny wrote:BAG of BONEs


Jon Eric- Why leave the mistake? it happens 3 times, is it a mistake? Some meta art for the composition to have that dissonant chord cluster in the intro? The register you’re playing
the piano in leaves one desiring a bass line. I think you should add a bass guitar, or turn up the one i can’t hear, or slide your left hand down an octave or two. There’s that chord again. I like dissonant chords more than most, that one that I now think is deliberate is jarring. Pretty good composition, one of your better vocal performances too. Good work!

Not a mistake. It's a B-suspended chord. My voice may have missed the note, which would contribute to your perception of it as a mistake (I'll upload a vox-less version later and see if you still think it sounds like an error). Also, I'm curious what type of sound system you're listening on, because there is a bass guitar here, and on my speakers, it's borderline too loud (it's loudest in the instrumental section after the bridge). Anyway, thanks for the review. It was much more charitable than you normally are with my songs, and I definitely appreciate it.

lalabrookie wrote: JON ERIC: Are you singing from your diaphram? If not, can you do this next time? Otherwise, great song.

Unusually for me, yes I am. It's one of the many things I've been trying to work on with regard to my vocals. Also trying to find a voice teacher who's accepting new students. Turns out that's a lot harder than I thought it would be.

glennny wrote: Fitzroy- Terrible recording, obviously. Awesome performance! This reminds me of our Zipline “Cable Beach” from 5 years ago. Was this s improvised? I like the way you guys play together. Cool drums going on.

Yes, completely improv, live. It is impossible for us to write songs together, because he is a spaz, and I am a control freak. We have been jamming togeather for years, so it's pretty easy for me to follow on drums. As long as I don't screw up, it usually sounds pretty tight. We are slowly working towards actually making a decent recording... As of now it's a mic hanging from the ceiling in the middle of a tiny room packed with drums and amps, and that is exactly how the recordings sound.

ThatGuy wrote:And for Hell sakes this needs E-bow. Lots of warm murderous E-bow.

A malicious e-bow killed my pa back in 'ought four, and from that point on I swore never to use one.

If I ever want to use that effect, I'll just have to use a portable fan from the dollar store.

Daring Front wrote:

ThatGuy wrote:And for Hell sakes this needs E-bow. Lots of warm murderous E-bow.

A malicious e-bow killed my pa back in 'ought four, and from that point on I swore never to use one.

If I ever want to use that effect, I'll just have to use a portable fan from the dollar store.

*scribbles another entry on 'LIST OF THINGS THAT SONGFIGHT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE FOR SOME REASON'*

ok... e-bow... phone filters... vocoders.... check.

Toshiro wrote:

Daring Front wrote:

ThatGuy wrote:And for Hell sakes this needs E-bow. Lots of warm murderous E-bow.

A malicious e-bow killed my pa back in 'ought four, and from that point on I swore never to use one.
If I ever want to use that effect, I'll just have to use a portable fan from the dollar store.

*scribbles another entry on 'LIST OF THINGS THAT SONGFIGHT PEOPLE DON'T LIKE FOR SOME REASON'*
ok... e-bow... phone filters... vocoders.... check.

We don't all hate e-bows. Check out the reviews of BLT's song.

glennny wrote:Jan Kruegar Mellencamp- This is the perfect performance, the perfect composition, perfect recording. I can do nothing but learn from this. (vote for WSA).

Oh, you.

I find it strange that you have the Wreckdom monster down bends on “Booooones”.

I criticized WreckdoM's because he had them in pretty much every. single. line. Also in my case they're sort of in the background, so hopefully I achieved my goal of having them add some very necessary silliness without being overly annoying.

My reviews for this fight are not finished yet but will be soonish.

jast wrote:

glennny wrote:Jan Kruegar Mellencamp- This is the perfect performance, the perfect composition, perfect recording. I can do nothing but learn from this. (vote for WSA).

Oh, you.

He's still in Nur Ein, isn't he?