Heather. Redmon. wrote:I may be totally out of line in saying this (and I'm sure you're going to comment on it), but are we to ever expect reviews from Adnoisium or Wormsweater? Did I miss ‘em? I'm not trying to be a bitch, it's just, you two seem to make comments on other's reviews of your songs, yet haven't offered up reviews of the rest of the songs in the fight. Just an observation...
Fire away!
My Muma said if'n you can't say sumthin' nice... No I'm kidding. I had planned on having a win under my belt before reviewing because it seemed like that would give credence to my opinion.
As for comments that I make on the reviews of others they're simply to clear up any missunderstandings, or to answer any questions possed in the review.
I suppose if you're really want to know my opinion...
Aaron Price - I didn't like the hissing/humming/noise and delayed start. The voice has a quality that Glenn Branca has. That being it makes me want to clear my own throat because it sounds like you need to. As for the quality of the voice I love it. I'm a big proponent of faultering voices, maybee because mine is like that. And it couldn't hurt that great musicians like Biz Markie,Daniel Johnston, and Calvin Johnson (of Beat Happening) do too. Could be mixed with better levels. I dig the lyrics themselves.
Andrew Ayers and Guest - The laughter at the beging and end distract from the true nature of the song. Some of the lyric choices I didn't like mainly The "product placements" (I.E. Cheeze-Its and Harley). They took me out of the song for some reason. Other than those I enjoy the lyrics. Towards the end it sounds to me that you're holding back to much on the singing. Like it's on the cusp of being emotional, which makes it more frustrating than anything else. The guitar is well played, and I assume it's your guest that played the shaker.
Beefy - The Production of the instruments is mayhaps a little to clean for my tastes, also should be mixed a bit quieter as It stands now it distracts me a bit. There are a some anoying high pitched pops. You certainly have enough ego to be a rapper (good or bad your choice). The lyrics are well done, and seem to mirror a style of "Geeky" rapper like MC Chris of all people.
B Ellison - The shaker at a few points is a little high pitched. The vocals could be mixed a bit louder. The lyrics have a tone of wonderment and fantasy. Though the fact that it would seem to be about Adam and Eve is a bit too religious for my tastes. Over all it's well produced sans previous examples.
Blake Walker - Reminds me a lot of 80's movies, namley Labyrinth. If that's what you were going for then you hit the nail on the head. Beyond that it's nice to see an instrumental track submitted, and as an instrumental it does great.
Chin Music - The voice sounds like Tom Petty with a bit of Bob Dylan thrown in and it's not doing anything for me. The part that goes:
I took your Hand, but you took it back
So I fixed it with my glittering eye
reminds me of Neil Young's 'Transformer Man' I think it's the chords the part that goes:
So many things still left to do
But we haven't made it yet
That drove me crazy trying to figure out what song that part reminded me of, but I digress. The mixing could have been a bit better. Beyond those things it's a good song all together.
Hell Yeahs - To say it sounds like The Sonics would be sacralige and quite a stretch. It sounds more like The Donnas or a band of that nature. I probably would have been compelled to squeek a bit on the pronuciation of Chico, but that's just me. I'm not a fan of slant rhymes so I'm not digging rhymes like Dealo, Yearo, Steero. Good song overall.
Jeff Robertson - Hearing it now my brain picks out millions of little problems with the drumming, not to mention it falls out of synch for the last line. But hey you're your own worst critic. I dig the guitar, but as it has been said the vocals are a bit quiet. A good song all in all (cept that God Damned drummer).
Jim Tyrrell - There are some highs, the cymbals I beleive, that are a bit painfully high. Though I think this has been covered. The quality of the drumming itself is good. The vocals could be a bit louder. Guitar is good to. For some reason the song reminds me of one you'd hear on a TV show where "the gang" starts up a band, like on Saved By The Bell, or 90210. It's overall a good song.
Klownhole - Oddly enough it's not my kind of thing. It's to metal for my tastes, and (clearly) not the kind of metal I like (I.E. Black Sabbath). I'm having a love/hate relationship with the vocals. And if you're going for modern metal or Metalica you've got it down pat. It fits that cattegory to a T.
Lack of Sleep - The delivery sounds very emoish or something like Incubus. Unfortunatley I'm not a big fan of this genre either. The layering
of instruments or playing is a bit sloppy and chaotic at points. If you were going for the aforementioned style then you succeeded. It's good for the genre, which might not mean a lot to me, but If you like the genre you'll probably like this song.
The Landstander - The voice reminds me of Kathleen Wilhoite (Voice of Pepper Ann). The noise is a bit distracting. It gets a little to religious sounding for my tastes at some points. But overall it's still a good song.
Paco del Stink - The drums sound a little flat (not tunning wise but sound structure wise). The voice is pretty durn sexy durring the first verse. I would have liked to hear it like that the whole song though, or maybee just verses. A good song overall with a fairly catchy melody.
Radioface in the 9th Circle ov Hell - The buzz at the begining reminds me a bit of some of my earliest surviving work. The name does seem to fit with how the song ends up sounding, very screamo. Which I personaly don't dig. I can't tell if the percussion continues throughout the song because it ceases being audible. It would have helped the song for there to be audible percussion through the whole song, because this foreboding of a guitar can't stand on it's own. Once again if you like this kind of thing you will probably enjoy this.
Raised By Wolves - I can't put my finger on what the music in the begining reminds me of. Maybee Fleetwood Mac w/ Steevie Nicks or Men at Work. When the vocals kick in this is no longer the case however. It starts sounding more like something one might hear on The Current/NPR.
Like the the Decemberists mayhaps. It's a good song, but not quite my tastes.
Ross Durand - I'm not a fan of the bass overloading, and the jury is still out on the vocals. The verse reminds me a bit of Jihad Jerry, but not the chorus. Overall I'm not feeling the funk elements of the Bass. Once again not liking the religious references. It's still a well done song however.
Somewhere Off the Left Coast- TFTF - Very indie sounding. I could see myself enjoying the song if I was in the mood for Indie. Which does happen sometimes. The vocals remind me a bit of The Unicorns, oddly not as much The Islands. A good song overall.
Tam Lin Music - For some reason this song reminds me of the Christina Aguilera song "Beautiful". The organ strays away from that feeling (not nessicarily a bad thing), but everything else keeps that tone.
The strings sound a bit midi-ish, but no one could be expected to have a live string section. A good, well produced song overall.
Wages - I'm on the fence as far as the lyrics are concerned. The Guitar is pretty good, but I don't know if it really stands on it's own well. Some percussioned would have been nice. A good song overall.
Wormsweater - The mixing is a bit off at points. I like the word paradisical. I'm digging the slower drums they have a bit of a reggae feel to them, but I didn't like the sped up drums. The guitar could be louder, but is well played. The harmonica is a bit too high pitched. And the punches are a pretty weird. A the song is a bit too long, it could have ended earlier without hurting the song. A good song all in all.
And there you have it folks yet another reason I haven't reviewed, I can't find a good compromise between really long and really short reviews. I Tried to be constructive in my criticisms (comments really), something pretty much no one else seems to do. That's right I just reviewed the reviews. Oh and the winner is...
Adnoisium. I'm sure I built suspence as well as "Yo Momma" (The show not the insult), but if I didn't vote for me who would. Also kudos to anyone who took the time to read this whole post, because as long as it took you to read it it probably took me twice as long to write it.
Very good.