The Song Fight Bulletin Board

For the record, I was planning to write these tonight even before the rap-is-valid discussion:


Dave Stiles: I like this 90's alt rock vibe. well done, but
maybe a tad monotonous.

Dreamy Mo: This is a great groove-- sloppy as hell. The lyrics
crack me up. Hoblit's backing vox are divine. Very nice.

Future Boy: Is this music a tribute to Oktoberfest? The lyrics are
almost too cute, but the arrangement and instrument sounds are
great.

Grovy Coleslaw: Nice use of the apocalypse to make your point.
This is a nice rocking thing. Really good singing.

Madi: the story is definitely funny. The highlight here are those
awesome awesome backing vocals. It's very Danny Elfman.

MC's D+C: Ridiculously bad lyrics. Way to go.

Sonofsupercar: Bad ass. I mean, it's practically
SOS-by-the-numbers, but that's still great. You make this title
almost seem not-dumb. Man this is great.


Really awesome fight!!

-craig

Woot. Coffee.

I really don't think that discussion that stems from songs posted to SF is pointless or bickering, unless the conversation breaks down into namecalling.

Regardless, here's what I think of these songs:

Dave Stiles: You are brave to attack this title. This song is pretty cool. I like the background singers and the general overall vibe. If I'm not paying too clase attention, you pull off the title, so kudos on that. But the minute that I start to step out of the moment and think about it, it just seems so silly. I hope you made a recording with a different title, like "I can't stay with you anymore" or something, because such a title would make the song better.

Dreamy Mo and the Commoners: This is goofy and kinda cute, but ultimately too goofy and not cute enough. I like the choruses better than the verses because it's not so much it's TIME to RHYME you HEARD my WORDS; it has more of a setup and buildup instead of each line being a beginning and end of itself. I like the words "hookers" and "freaky-deaky". This song is pretty okay.

Future Boy: I like this song well enough, but the Sousa carousel arrangement is just so relentless. It's just so BOOM BOOM BOOM DING BOOM BOOM BOOM DING. I think it would sound better to my ears with a more empty arrangement because the song itself sounds pretty cool.

Grovy Coldslaw: Man, this song could be cool, but you guys sound like you are recording this while sitting on stools. Drink a couple shots of whiskey, everybody stand up (except the drummer) and get excited. The singer especially. I think if you sped it up and had everybody get a little excited, this could be cool.

Madi: Hmmmmm, I wanted the song in the background to come to the forefront and take over the skit in front. Or maybe not even take over, but to become more of a song and less of a refrain. Like after every line of "I don't like eggplant" there was a little spoken-sung line or something. Yeah, yeah, I know, she's 8, I'm not trying to be a jerk. The song is kinda catchy, and the last line is pretty funny.

Denyer and Crapalot: If I wasn't all lazy and whatnot, I'd do some googling and find exact names and such, but a couple years ago there was this "internet phenomenon" that consisted of what appeared to be a junior high school kid making completely wack-ass rhymes about whatever was in his room. Turns out he was really like 29 and had some sort of a disease that made him look much younger than he was. This rap reminds me of that, with the notable exception being that his rap was so awful that it was funny, and this rap is not so bad as to be funny. It's just kind of solidly bad, but it seems that you were going for funny, and it's almost there. Well, not *almost*, but it's close. Oh dear, until you get to the second rapper, that guy's just horrible. Overall, I did not like this.

sonofsupercar: This is pretty decent rock, but I've come to expect some sort of sonic fuckiness, or weirdo noises going on, and there's not alot of that. The singer's voice matches real well on the verses, but then you get to the choruses and it feels too reserved. Or maybe it needs more reverb or something. But it feels too flat and unempassioned. This song is okay.

Starfinger: hahhahha, this is funny. I find it very hard to not laugh as I listen to this. It's kind of hard to make out the words on a casual listen, I wouldn't mind it if they were a tad louder. The chorus is just so bizarre. This song is so very weird. Ultimately, the chorus and the verse parts sound too much alike, and there's not enough of a vocal or musical hook to differentiate the two, and it kind of feels like one big long thing. Which is too bad, because there seems to be some fun stuff in here.


TA-DA

15-16 puzzle wrote:I really don't think that discussion that stems from songs posted to SF is pointless or bickering, unless the conversation breaks down into namecalling.

Excellent point, well taken. Great reviews, I'll work on mine and my muscial predispositions in the future.

Andy Balham wrote:And now the votes from the Balham jury as I listen to them:

Dave Stiles
I like the overall sound, but you've encoded at 160kbps so a minus point
...

Dreamy Mo and the Commoners
Uh oh 192kbps. Minus points already.
...

Future Boy
More 192kbps encoding, did I miss a meeting?
...

You might want to look at the domain name. These days, Songfight is at songfight.org, not .com. .org has never had a specific bitrate limitation.

15-16 puzzle wrote:I really don't think that discussion that stems from songs posted to SF is pointless or bickering, unless the conversation breaks down into namecalling.

That's only cause you're a wang.

Denyer wrote:If someone spends twenty minutes making a mediocre sandwich, and then someone else invents a machine that can make a great sandwich for you in a few seconds, they original sandwich maker would naturaly thing his sandwich is superior.

Directly quoted from the Ray Kroc success guide. Maybe that's why rappers are ususally MC something.

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:

Denyer wrote:If someone spends twenty minutes making a mediocre sandwich, and then someone else invents a machine that can make a great sandwich for you in a few seconds, they original sandwich maker would naturaly thing his sandwich is superior.

Directly quoted from the Ray Kroc success guide. Maybe that's why rappers are ususally MC something.

What was directly quoted?

hey, i tweaked a few levels in my song.

This is for those of you that thought it sounded muddy, or the vocals were otherwise too low:

http://www.kongbalong.com/mp3/crt/starf ... newmix.mp3

-craig

Denyer wrote:

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:

Denyer wrote:If someone spends twenty minutes making a mediocre sandwich, and then someone else invents a machine that can make a great sandwich for you in a few seconds, they original sandwich maker would naturaly thing his sandwich is superior.

Directly quoted from the Ray Kroc success guide. Maybe that's why rappers are ususally MC something.

What was directly quoted?

It's a joke. You obviously have no idea who Ray Kroc is.

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:

Denyer wrote:

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:Directly quoted from the Ray Kroc success guide. Maybe that's why rappers are ususally MC something.

What was directly quoted?

It's a joke. You obviously have no idea who Ray Kroc is.

I know who Ray Kroc is.

edit: I get it now. I didn't even notice a connection between MC and Mc.

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:

Denyer wrote:If someone spends twenty minutes making a mediocre sandwich, and then someone else invents a machine that can make a great sandwich for you in a few seconds, they original sandwich maker would naturaly thing his sandwich is superior.

Directly quoted from the Ray Kroc success guide. Maybe that's why rappers are ususally MC something.

Ha! - nice one Dan-o. But Ray Kroc was a stickler for keeping the toilets clean - he wouldn't have liked the potty-mouth

...reviews coming

starfinger wrote:hey, i tweaked a few levels in my song.

This is for those of you that thought it sounded muddy, or the vocals were otherwise too low:

http://www.kongbalong.com/mp3/crt/starf ... newmix.mp3

-craig

Starfinger, I owe you a huge apology and I'm man enough to admit it. With your re-mix I was really able to focus on the lyrics, which are very inventive, comical and well structured. Sorry I missed it the first 3 times I listened to your song but lyrically, this is a very strong song. I'm also sorry I already cast my vote, this mix might have gotten it to go to you. Great song man.

starf-

the new mix is fucking awesome. if i could vote for you again, i totally would. you are my hero!

Dave Stiles: Very nice sound – as has been mentioned earlier, it’s really got that 90’s slacker-rock feel. Pretty good song that works with the title well. Voteworthy
Dreamy Mo: I don’t like this. Not bad by any means – just not for me
Future Boy: I don’t like this. Not bad by any means – just not for me
Grovy Coldslaw: Some good guitar and some excellent vocals – but the song itself is leaving me a bit cold
Madi: Backing vocals are wonderful – but I lost interest in the eggplant story pretty quickly.
Denyer/Crap: Not good
SoS: Didn’t like this on first listen, but on second listen it started to grow on me. The bits where the drums crank up are great. Overall, it’s not really the sort of thing I’d listen to but there’s definitely ‘quality’ written all over it
Starfinger: I don’t like this. Not bad by any means – just not for me

Apologies to Starfinger, Dreamy Mo, Future Boy and Madi for my negativity – they all sounded like fine efforts, they just didn’t connect with me at all.

Supercar and Dave Stiles both worthy of a vote – I’ll go with Dave because it more closely suits my personal tastes.

fluffy wrote:

Andy Balham wrote:And now the votes from the Balham jury as I listen to them:

Dave Stiles
I like the overall sound, but you've encoded at 160kbps so a minus point
...

Dreamy Mo and the Commoners
Uh oh 192kbps. Minus points already.
...

Future Boy
More 192kbps encoding, did I miss a meeting?
...

You might want to look at the domain name. These days, Songfight is at songfight.org, not .com. .org has never had a specific bitrate limitation.

You mean, apart from when discussing flanging issues in a previous review thread (Hey Ruth, I think, I will try and find it), Josh Woodward reccommended to me that i encode at 192kps and JB posted 'Please don't encode above 128 kps. Server space is always an issue'? A request not a statement, I grant you, but sheesh. Songfight isn't free for everyone!

J$

fluffy wrote:

Andy Balham wrote: Various comments on use of high bitrates...

You might want to look at the domain name. These days, Songfight is at songfight.org, not .com. .org has never had a specific bitrate limitation.

I'm aware that the FAQ only states "Please use the lowest bitrate that sounds decent. 128kbps is preferred.", but I'm also aware that some people are on dial-up and someone is storing these files for me. So, in my scoring system, you get marked down for being greedy. Now to step off the soapbox...

I'd rather have a 6mb Dreamy Mo etc or Future Boy track than two 3mb Denyer or DWG tracks.

Denyer wrote:I'd rather have a 6mb Dreamy Mo etc or Future Boy track than two 3mb Denyer or DWG tracks.

For sure, but that's not the point. It has been requested no-one posts over 128 kps on more than one occasion - so people who don't are, imo, being selfish.

*shrug* i don't run the server, so my opinion's not worth that much.

J$

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:I owe you a Great song man.

it's all good, homeslice. (do you see how i positively ooze street cred?)
glad you liked it after all.

antonymic wrote:i vote for my hero

thanks!

-craig

I don't remember encoding it at 192, but I guess I did. In defense of my terribly selfish actions I'd like to point out that my song is really short so the file is only 1.96MB anyway.

Also, Starfinger, I didn't write it as an Oktoberfest tribute, but now that you point it out, it certainly sounds that way. Perhaps it was subliminiminal.

1: starfinger, dave stiles, sos
2: futureboy, madi, mo/com, grovy

madi: cute.
starfinger: i think the fact that he raps about food and wacky stuff is a strength. i mean, seriously, who wants to hear more songs about hate and swearing? i love the latin. how many rap songs have latin in them?!

anyway, i think starfinger's is the best, and not because he's a friend of mine. ha ha!
-bill

Dan-O from Five-O wrote:I don’t like the struggling of your reading the lines at the very beginning. I don’t’ like the sound of dad’s voice which sounds almost sped up, sorry if it’s not.

It's not, so that stings a little.

Also, there was no "reading" of lines at the beginning or at any part of the song. The whole dialog was improvised.