No gag. Just do it. (Save New Orleans Reviews)

[HeuristicsInc]

favorites:
bjam - nice. i like the vocals a lot. this one might be neat remixed with synths and choral bits, like delerium. the vox sound especially good on the high bits. er, didn't like the "bad times" singing, sorry, got off a bit. if you fix that bit up in a pitchcorrector that would be a good thing for the song. if you want it remixed, i might oblige
max - this is fun sounding. nice incorporating that sound into your song. great piano.
mvb.c - nice sax (?), whoa got too loud there. this is nice. but work on the volume leveling. it's either too loud or too quiet.
8lo - the beginning sounds for a second like "hazy shade of winter" haha. but not for long. this is cool. good organ!
hoblit - cool.
small - the beginning kicks ass, and i wish the rest of the song sounded like that. i mean the distorted guitarry thing. j$ is here! i like the singing but maybe it's too much in the background.
roymond - don't like the cadence on "new orleans" but this is generally cool. good guitar. "sin" is good.
dylan - man, i was just thinking this intro is great and looked to see who it is, and it's mr. nau. rockin. this is great. some of the lyrics are kinda "ick" but this is generally v cool. ending fade was a letdown.
wally - good music, and it's a lot of work to organize that many soundclips. nice.

runnersups:
luke - maybe you should try pitchcorrecting your vocals. you're humming a lot out of tune here. believe me, i know about being out of tune. gutar is good. i like the ghostly samples at the end getting stronger. i don't think it should end so abruptly like that.
comfort - nice, but it doesn't grab me - where did the interesting instrumentation from your previous entries go?
phunt - the music is cool, and the lyrics read like interesting poetry, but the way the vocals are delivered makes me cringe and ruins my enjoyment of the thing. also, too long.

do i still get to vote? let's see!
i'm gonna vote for bjam, but max is in second. very close one, i'm voting on an impulse.
-bill

[WeaselSlayer]

Max the Cat - It's like Randy Newman crapped a rainbow in my... anyway this is kind of cool but it has this sort of silly vibe to it which personally doesn't mesh well with me. But that doesn't help you, as you accomplished what you wanted to - I think - really well.

Phunt - Egg already knows I think this is incredible. To me this is anything but a sound collage though, I don't get how it's perceived as such. It has a lot of musical ideas in it that are very far removed from the sloppiness and randomness and boringness of "Revolution 9" I think. I'm still amazed that Egg let me fuck up this song.

comfort - There's this weird vibe going on behind this song. I swear I hear ghosts.

Luke Melee - The result of barely being able to pick up a guitar and sing, and doing so anyway and trying to realize that I'm not the center of the world and that other people have it harder than I do and so I realize while I'm barely able to pick up my guitar and sing that I'm being a selfish prick and I need to get over myself.

Dylan Nau - Stringy. Like well-exercised meat.

Bjam - This song really didn't sit right with me. It's like if Lisa Loeb tried to write a really sad song. And you were like, picturing her crying into her cat glasses and the whole thing was like trying to be really sad but you kind of thought it was a little silly.

Wally Harbringer - I feel like I'm side-scrolling through New Orleans. The clips are creepy and the juxtaposition of the music is really fuckin' eerie. Good job on that.

A Small Majority - Yes yes yes. This opening is fucking incredible. And the whole thing is. The military percussion is so so good and the clip is used in a really cool way and the vocals are awesome and this whole thing is really wow.

Roymond - Baroque guitar opening? I like this, it has a great sensitivity to it that doesn't sound fake in any way. The chord changes remind me a bit of Pedro the Lion, which is great. His sense of chords is incredible.

Hoblit - There are some nice chops going on here, but I'm thinking of GWAR the whole time. And since GWAR love destruction, it's this very weird vibe in my head. But that's all on me. This is real well done. Also I love GWAR.

8LO - I really like the opening and the continuous breathing thing. This song sounds kind of like this band in Tucson. I dig it, though, and I have to admit I think it shows a lot more depth than previous efforts I've heard from the ol' 8LO. It has so many ideas packed into a small space so it's got a great density to it. The percussion gives this a lot of cool urgency and uneasiness. You should check this band out: http://www.myspace.com/barkbarkbark

MyVirtualBand.com - My head was throbbing like an AM radio. I thought to myself, "is this it? Is this hell?" She kissed me on the neck, nibbled my earlobe, and with one last whisper she released me with a click and a boom. Her last words were, "I love ya, babe," but the last sound I heard was the sickening sound of meat being cleaved into.

[boltoph]

Phunt - ...To me this is anything but a sound collage though, I don't get how it's perceived as such.

Eff. Compared to a pop tune? I dunno. This Phunt tune was definitely more a song, in terms of architecture. I guess I was speaking more in response to comments like this:

Any musical talent that may have been used here is obscured by the jumble of noises, and what sounds like a drunken last minute effort.

Which, we know, is not the case at all.

[Egg]

Eff.

Gee,

whatever. You guys and your accurate descriptions. At the point where multiple people seem to like it, I'm worried that a war of words might break out between all two of the fans of this week's track and they deal each other mortal blows leaving me by myself again.

Of course, that's a joke since this week's track has four fans. Whooooo. Four!

Really solid fight this week, folks. Good work.

Keep on.

[boltoph]

...a war of words might break out between all two of the fans of this week's track and they deal each other mortal blows leaving me by myself again.

Oh Lord no! No war, it's not like that at all...sorry, sorry

NOTE: Use of the term "eff" signifies more humor than anger

[Bjam]

if you want it remixed, i might oblige

Feel free to. It'd be strange to hear my acoustic songs all funked up.

Thanks for the vote

I let my friend listen to this fight. She put them all on a cd, printed out the coverart and did a little cd to give to her boyfriend as a gift. This is such a good fight.

[Wally Harbinger]

A Small Majority
Excellent choice of samples. I like the storm opening; I'd love to hear it with more low end so it feels really earth-shaking. Lots of good ideas in here. The result is a blend of the martial, the funereal, like the traditional funeral marching band that instead of turning Dixieland becomes a call to arms. I thought that outro that starts at 1:35 was going to be a bridge, followed up by a bigger ending.

Bjam
Very sweet and heartfelt. I get the feeling you're letting the structure of the song lead you, and you're getting hemmed in a bit by the rhyme scheme and the verse/chorus formula. I think these things are less important than the flow of the song, so if you can't find a perfect rhyme then don't worry about rhyming, or if you feel you need to add more beats to a line to get a message across, there's no rule that says verses have to be consistent.

Comfort
I buy the disappointment, I like your voice, and the production values are decent. But the repetetive chord structure and the stream-of-consciousness lyrics give me an overall "book report done the day of" impression that's leaving me a bit flat.

Dylan Nau
Great groove, nice keyboard lines, great vocal sound, and when the "one night in..." chorus kicks in I really hear echoes of the kind of N.O. funk that I remember hearing when I was there. The tune really opens up for me when you drop the strings out, making me think you might be better off without them altogether -- the extra space lets the groove breathe. Feels a bit incomplete, but if this were the intro and verse I would love to hear what the chorus and bridge would sound like.

Luke Henley
Earthy and evocative. Ghostly even.

8LO
Digging: that square-wave synth track. Not so much: hand claps. Chord progression yes, rhythm track in general... uh, maybe. I don't know.

Here, Let us
There's a lot going on here that I like. I'm a sucker for sample and hold in just about any format, and the "classical" electronic composition elements really hold together. In spite of the fact that I'm really glad someone took that title to mean "except new orleans", I think the vocals are my least favourite part of this composition. Not because I find them distasteful or unmusical, but in my mind they're too disparate, compositionally, from the whole that all the other elements are creating.

Roymond
I don't always know where those chords are going, and I like that.

Max the Cat
I hope that this keyboard style is your millieu, because if you can come up with something that authentic when you're slumming it just isn't fair to the other boys and girls. Voice and production are dead on. Again, much like Dylan's submission, I don't think the strings measure up to the rest of the arrangement. I'm not really a glass-half-full sort of person, but once I got over the good-natured cheer of this I really started to appreciate the lyrical allusions as well, "all your Tuesdays" etc.

Myvirtualband.com
Yes that sax tone is great. This tune creates a real recognizable space, and I can hear influences of dirges like "St. James Infirmary" and "House of the Rising Sun." Stylistically very solid, and good production values. Could use a bridge to give it a bit more structure.

Wally Harbinger
If that electric piano was processed less heavily and mixed back a little so that it blends better with the clav, you'd create a better sense of the chaos and the multitude of voices, which I think is what you were trying to accomplish. The ending isn't really doing anything for me; those exits should be more staggered rather than all stopping at once.

Hoblit
Excellent guitar playing, good harmonies, everything here fits. I like the hi-hats under the solo breaks. It's nothing any drummer I know would play, but it's a nice rhythmic hook.

[roymond]

Bjam
Very sweet and heartfelt. I get the feeling you're letting the structure of the song lead you, and you're getting hemmed in a bit by the rhyme scheme and the verse/chorus formula. I think these things are less important than the flow of the song, so if you can't find a perfect rhyme then don't worry about rhyming, or if you feel you need to add more beats to a line to get a message across, there's no rule that says verses have to be consistent.

That is such good feedback. And it fits Bjam's style and this song in particular.

[h]

i give you more instrumentations in next fight and i'll sing more... but the lyrics won't be audible this time neither!

[WeaselSlayer]

I'd like to thank everyone who voted for me this week.

[jack]

man, max the cat was robbed.

[Egg]

Well, it was a superfight. I don't know who the hell voted for me, but thanks! It's also funny that I accurately predicted 4 fans since I was sort of joking... man, thanks!

Especially considering that you could have voted for some other crazy good entries like Max, 8LO or others still.

I'm also pretty impressed that myvirtualband.com really isn't friend flooding. Because I checked it out and it seems like there are tons of them. If the people at that page are coming to songfight in larger numbers, they're not just default voting for their buddies which is really cool. More interest in songfight is awesome.

Grats on the victory. I really like this fight.

[hockinfinger]

I agree that Max the Cat should have gotten this one. Admittedly myvirtualband has an advantage with over 500 members, but some of the members I have contacted said they did not vote for the MVB entry, and tried to make this a fair fight. I've encouraged members to vote for the best song, and not "friend flooding" for the sake of MVB.

Thanks to all who voted.

[tonetripper]

I have to concur with this notion of Max getting robbed. Not because I voted for it, but I really felt it was the best tune for the title. The reviews say it all anyway. What surprises me most about the outcome is how few votes Dylan got. I always think of him as a contender.

I guess a mild congratulations to MVB.com. The first one that won definitely shouldn't have, but this one was pretty good. Still thought Max owned it.

[Leaf]

...I forgot to vote...but it would have been Nau. Max was quite good though... and so was the virtual band too... in fact, this was a pretty solid fight all the way around.

[Ronnie]

A songs popularity Isn't allways directly porportunate to it's quallity. Just ask Britney Spears. I think this was a close contest.

[max the cat]

I'd like to thank all for the kind words. In our little corner of the net(SF) The Big Easy won this one. MTC

[EightLeggedOedipus]

A Small Majority
+++ Nice noise/acoustic intro. If those are J$ drums, you've gotten WAY better in the last month or so. Drum track is awesome throughout. +++
--- I also am not too fond of the verse vocal sound. A funkier bass could have pushed this track a lot more. ---

Bjam
+++ Nice song. Nice evocative delivery+++
--- Mediocre recording ---

comfort
--- Oh god that "Heavy Noise Reduction" alien sound. ---
+++ It's OK once I get past that. +++

Dylan Nau
+++ Aw my hero. This has a nice Jafunkta groove to it. I've never heard you rap so strong, though +++
--- Man, you fucked the strcture though. You had so many options with the parts. You did this:

Long intro, verse, hook, verse, hook, inst verse, hook, selective fadeout

Why, Dylan? You had so many options to choose...

minimal verse, hook, instrumental, verse, extended hook fadeout OR
hook lead, verse, instrumental, break, hook, verse, hook OR (my preference..)
hook, verse, hook, verse, short break, hook, extended jam / dub

I dunno, man. The ending just left me hanging... So glad to have you back though. ---

Eight Legged Oedipus
+++ Personally I dig choppy drums, especially when it coincides with the subject matter. Straight drums are for real drummers. The bossa nova chords in the chorus are a happy accident. +++
/// As many guessed, this was a kind of experiement. I wrote the whole thing for guitar and then input it as MIDI. I split that one piece across three different synth instruments, and added the beat and rhythmic noises. ///
--- Once again, though, I have vocals and instruments all in the same frequency range at the same time. Boohoo. I swear I'll learn some day. I would love to do this with a full band, though, as it should work quite well as a basic pop rock song, too. ---

Here, Let Us Phunt You and Your Friends
+++ Swoopy reverse sounds. Crying in left ear. Guitar figting a rhythmic telephone tone +++
--- Undeveloped singing. Length ---

Hoblit
+++ Riff. Vocal melody. Bass noodles +++
/// I don't think I've heard you sing so dramatically before. I dig it mostly, but something isn't quite there yet. I DEFINITELY want to hear more of this (new?) Hoblit voice in the future. ///

Luke Henley
+++ I know I've bashed your folky stuff before, but this is quite moving and pretty. Humming is really loose but cool. The fade in at the end is perfect. It comes in and goes on just long enough to be too much in a good way. +++

Max the Cat
--- Most of these sounds are a little too canned. Yeah, like I should be talking. ---
+++ Great lyrics. Great feel. Very New Orleans. +++
--- Fadeout too sudden ---

MyVirtualBand.Com
+++ I was a little miffed to lose so many votes to you, but damn this song is... quite the WOW mama g-dumba dee. Excellent dynamic. Nice sax. Nice bass. Hot jazz organ. +++
--- Only the smallest gripes... Too much (noisy) silence at the beginning. First verse delivery is not as strong. Main vocal color is weird all the way through. I'm no EQ expert, but I think there's a problem there. Drum sound a little weak, especially on that snare triplet - maybe try scaling those velocities up. ---

Roymond
+++ There's a sound to your muted upstroke. It's beautiful and captivating. You are certianly talented. Sweet progression and excellent playing. Your voice is good, and the echo trailoff is nice +++
--- Too much sliding to notes ("food") ---

Wally Harbinger
+++ Holy shit this is funky! +++
--- Does this mean I'm only getting samples? Listen to some Crystal Method (Their first record, Vegas) to learn how to make a song a REAL song using only spoken samples. It's all in the structure of repetition, of which there is none here. ---

[Wally Harbinger]

Listen to some Crystal Method (Their first record, Vegas) to learn how to make a song a REAL song using only spoken samples.

I have Vegas, and it's great. I would even go so far as to call Busy Child a seminal work. You should also listen to Eno/Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, recorded about 16 years earlier. It's a very different way of slicing that onion, and I certainly wouldn't suggest that a song from one is more "real" than one from the other.

[WeaselSlayer]

Oh God that's a good album. Well played, Wally.

[Hoblit]

Hoblit
I don't think I've heard you sing so dramatically before.

I DEFINITELY want to hear more of this (new?) Hoblit voice in the future. ///

---

ha ha...yeah, well <a href="http://chris.hoblit.net/sound/Hoblit-Accelerator.mp3" target="resource window">Accelerator</a> was a bit more 'dramatic' rock n' roll. Trust me, I've been in a punk rock state of mind lately and I'll probably pop out a few more punk rock songfights here in the future.

Thanks for the listen!

[EightLeggedOedipus]

You should also listen to Eno/Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, recorded about 16 years earlier... I certainly wouldn't suggest that a song from one is more "real" than one from the other.

Wally, I'll admit I'm bested as I'm sadly blank in the area of Eno. I will find that track and then come back to compare / contrast. Thanks for the tip.