Bjam - do you have a cold, or is this vocal take #78, or both? i mean, this isn't bad but usually you sound better. the doubled (and trebled) lines really add another dimension to the standard girl+guitar formula; i especially like the second voice on "...stayed awake", although with a hard ending like "-ke" it's really really difficult to cut off at exactly the same time when harmonising with yourself -- the "awake-ke-ke" is a little jarring. i guess my recommendation would be to try not enunciating the final consonent on two of the vocal parts and just fading away, so it will sound more seamless? (i didn't do this, and so learned the hard way, trying to harmonise a four-part chorus (in latin, at that) when i did "god will give you blood to drink"). my only other comment is, you seem to alternate between saying "adonai" and "adonais", while (and here my understanding is far from complete, so i could be totally off-base) i thought "adonai" was actually technically a plural word already. anyway, sorry to be so nit-picky, but this really is quite a pretty song.
Caravan Ray - well, the "adonai-ai-ai-ai" bit certainly is loud! hm, you've got a definite edge over norman greenbaum, as i don't recall "spirit in the sky" mentioning anything about shots of whiskey. i'm not sure what you're doing differently here (besides trying to affect an american accent, it appears?) but this is the clearest i've ever been able to hear your words in a recording. and this is a good thing, these are awesome lyrics. bonus cool points for fitting in such words as "proselytise" and "anthropomorphic", and in addition, i really appreciate how you stress both tolerance (the "in the eyes of the lord" part through "not me, that's for sure") and anti-intolerance (the almost lovely slowed-down midsection, and extra bonus kudos for wording it vaguely enough for it to apply equally to religious fanatic terrorists and also to certain heads of western nations). nice, nice, very nice.
Doscientos - i don't know what kind of weird mp3 magic you are doing, but the past few weeks, your file has had an extra bit of silence at the end of it. this time, when i went to burn these songs to cd, it told me this one was over eight minutes long, so i opened it up in my sound editing software (to delete the extraneous silence), but miraculously, it was only like 1:53 there. listening to the cd, though, and we've got several minutes of nothing. i don't get it. A-NY-WAY each time this song starts playing it seems just a little bit jarring, like there's a little bit too much immediacy to the beginning. i feel like we need some sort of a count-in here. even just a couple of beats would help. besides that... the guitar solo is tremendous, the singing fantastic as always. i would put this song in the same class with something like "crazy little thing called love" -- it's got a very old-fashioned vibe to it, but yet at the same time it sounds totally fresh and hip, not at all dated or "retro". this is probably a very difficult balance to achieve but somehow you've got it.
Dr. Spectacular's Power Circus - well, the drum part is kind of sloppy, tempowise, from time to time. also, the first time or two i felt like the first guitar solo (after the singing is over), followed so closely by the second, much longer, solo, seems kind of redundant, since the two soloes sound so similar. i felt like after the last line of lyric, you could cut to the end of guitar solo #1, where everything drops out but the strummy acoustic, and then it builds, and the solo comes in and takes you through the end. the last few minutes are great, and very epic and ambitious, and i really feel like despite having a not completely professional polish, you more or less acheive what you are going for; i just felt like you could express yourself better if it were focussed a little better, by eliminating the brief first solo. but after numerous listens, i feel like it works in its present form pretty well too. so if you have your heart set on having both soloes, be my guest. the only other thing i want to point out is the lyrics: i love how you have taken such simple sentiments and gave them such deep expressive meaning (particularly "god made puppies, and that's why i think god loves me"), in effect saying much more than you would have if your meaning were obscured by complex discourse. however, i have a complaint about the one line "puppies love the truth", which makes no sense to me no matter which way i try to think about it; it really seems forced in there, simply to go between "i love puppies" and "the truth is written" (both of which work well enough), and by this line sticking out as nonsense, it detracts from the other lines, giving the whole verse kind of an absurd feel which i don't think you intended. in summary, despite a few minor flaws, i feel you have constructed a very good quality song.
fourthgradegladiators - the inclusion of the words "forty ounce" bugs me for some reason. the rest of the song is pretty awesome though. it took a couple listens to really get it, but the dissonant chorus of voices is awesome; the bassline is fantastic; the long instrumental outro where it gets more and more psychedelic... most of this song reminds me of early pink floyd (like, post-syd barrett, but before they really found themselves as a band). i like the bass at the very end, but it really sounds like it's just starting to get into a cool groove, and the song will go on for another several minutes of groovy mellow stuff. that would be pretty cool and i'm disappointed it just ends. maybe this is the radio edit and some day i can hear the full eighteen minute version
fwc - HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSS
ok pretend there is a review obscured by all the hissing.SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Jacob Lynn - there really isn't a lot to go on here. i guess one could argue some sort of case for tying this to the title, but it's not a very compelling argument, which it really needs to be to work as an instrumental on sonfight. besides which, it just doesn't do all that much for me.
Jeff Robertson - you are the godsmack to marcus kellis's alice in chains. feel free to substitute your own analogy here.
Kill Me Sarah - i dig the singing here. unfortunately, it doesn't match the guitar at all. it sounds like a cool a capella performance you are playing on an old 78 phonograph record, and then you play this ultra-clean guitar arpeggio thing plugged directly into your soundcard. i'm not trying to speculate about your recording setup, and please don't try to correct me, i'm just trying to demonstrate what the contrast between voice and guitar sound like to me.
Mab Jonah - man this whole thing is friggin incredible. it seems a little too busy early on, though. i've spent a lot of time grooving to this tune, and i came to the conclusion that the main vocals come in too early. i wish i had more time to get into the funky bass action before i get distracted by the singing (which is really nicely done). here is my suggestion: leave the initial "my adonai" part alone, but i'd delete the first verse (or whatever), the singing between 0:12-0:22, and leave that part as instrumental only. then the second "my adonai" part starts, with additional words, and then the singing after that. i think this would clean up the beginning of the song a lot, and allow the listener enough time to enjoy both music AND vocals, without being inundated by so much all at once. i love the breakdown part in the middle where it gets quieter and there's the guitar part, and then the bass groove comes back and it's awesome. i really like this song.
Melvin - the saw-wave (or whatever) synth patch, at first sounds pretty obnoxious and grating, but then i realise it is no worse than the obnoxious grating lead parts that are all over weezer's pinkerton album. the yelled gang-vocal chorus is rather catchy (i found this song stuck in my head several times throughout this week). i do feel that there are too many different things happening in the solo section: around 1:25 there is a second counter-melody synth part briefly, and then to this you add trombones briefly and then suddenly you also add a loud distorty guitar solo, and i think it's too many parts being added in rapid succession. the trombones would probably be more effective without the second synth part, and also if the guitar came in a couple bars later. as it is, the trombone part doesn't really seem to have much of a point, as it mostly gets obscured as soon as it starts. this is a very fun song, overall.
Thornberry -
(i don't know why your mp3s don't want to be burned to cds, but this is like three weeks in a row i haven't been able to listen to your song with all the rest of them. i'm too lazy to listen now and write a review, so, sorry.)
Wes Davis - if you must do
a song based solely on a cheesy play on words, please at least have the courtesy to include a punchline, because otherwise you've just totally wasted two minutes of my life, times about seven or eight times listening to this fight. kthxbye.
