A few hasty reviews, written on a first listen, on crappy earbuds, while eating. Not ideal listening conditions, but I make do.
Infinity Point Buck
The instrumentation is hopelessly bland, and your singing is off-key to the point of atonality. Your rapping is okay, though. Not sure I understood what you were talking about, but the flow is pleasant enough. Mix your voice a little louder, or try some studio effects to get it to stand out from the backbeat.
Berkeley Social Scene
Slick electric piano. I like that the arrangement is sparse enough to let the keyboard shine. I'm not sure if it was worth it to have Ken spend so much time near the top of his vocal range - it sounds like he's straining a bit there. Oh hey, drums! I like the pacing here. The lyrics strike me as a little too prosaic, but that's a matter of personal taste. The lead guitar part over the last chorus is nice. And the stereo solo (or is that two guitarists?) at the end make for a nice coda.
Cookie Blue
One of my musical pet peeves is when you have to change which syllable of a word takes the accent just to make it fit your melody - you do this a few times in this short song, but at least you don't hang around long enough for me to get annoyed at the fidelity.
John Lampson
Cocky, confident intro. Strong vocal performance. Good narrative. Different percussion in the chorus. This is a little rough around the edges, but it's the most polished entry in this fight so far. Ooh, bad rhyme alert! "Love" and "Sent from above" is strained and trite. Consider reworking that line if you revise this song. Good outro.
Caravan Ray
In typical fashion, you waste no time getting to the business of the song. I like the fast pace. I like the way you fit the melody to the title. This is a little didactic, but I have a soft spot for a fun hate-song, so all's forgiven. This is the one to beat so far. Vote.
ShotPounder
This is a personal preference thing, but I hate vocals that are screamed out like that. The guitars are pretty good, I guess. Something feels kind of "off" about them to me, but I'm not a guitar guy, so I won't venue a guess as to what it is. I like the time signature. Over and done real quickalike.
glennny
I like the transition from the intro to the first verse. It's unexpected, but it works. Not all the rhymes here work, but if you don't like one, just wait two seconds for another.
I think I'm going to need multiple listens to grok what this is about, especially when the spoken-word parts conflict with the sung lyrics. Great e-bow work, as always. As it builds to a close, it veers close to cacophonous disaster, but always stays on the right side of listenable. Vote.
Billy & the Psychotics
Wait, how's that? "You said you'd steal my heart / Not if I see you first"? I'm having trouble making sense out of that. I like the optimistic vibe of the music and the bouncy melody. Great vocal work (and pretty light on the studio effects!) from Denise. I like the half-time breakdown on the last chorus. I can't decide whether or not I like ending on Chris' voice like that.
J.A.N.
A little too much distortion here, making the piece physically unpleasant to listen to. I guess the drums and synths hit a pretty good groove. I just can't get into it. Sorry.
Paco del Stinko
Sweet axe work. These lyrics are nonsensical, but in a silly way that makes me smile. Are these live drums? I think I heard a mistake in one of the drum fills. I really like the call-and-response and the melodic structure. Really excellent balance of guitars, coming to the forefront when needed to keep things active throughout. Best song of the week so far. Vote.
New Image
Before starting the song, I thought "Wow, that sounds like a post-punk band from the 80s." Then I started the song, and thought "Wow, that
really sounds like a post-punk band from the 80s." With better vocals, this would be a strong contender. You're not even technically hitting any sour notes, but you're really straining your voice in a manner that doesn't match the song, and it's not pleasant to listen to, either. I know not everyone has a great set of pipes or whatever, but this is one of the worst cases I've ever heard of an otherwise-passable song being derailed by one bad element.
Tall Walkers
Beautifully sparse. Good vocal performance. There are a couple of parts where you're trying to cram too many lyrics into a melody that would be better served by leaving some space between words. I would also recommend you work a little bit on breath control.
Holly Furlone
I like the live recording. It gives the performance an urgency that might have been missing from a "cleaner" recording. This hits emotionally in a way that bypasses the critical part of my brain. I don't have any negative comments. Vote.
Slickitude
When it comes to rhymes with "first," I've heard worse. I feel like Paco did something very similar to you, but his was much better. I know it's not fair to you that I can't assess your song without comparing it to someone else's, but them's the breaks.
What was with all the short songs? Was there an optional challenge?
