The Song Fight Bulletin Board

When I record my vocals I do it by reading off the sheet and then doing a bunch of takes until I don't need the sheet anymore.

fluffy wrote:When I record my vocals I do it by reading off the sheet and then doing a bunch of takes until I don't need the sheet anymore.

Hmmm. Interesting. I like.

lOrd of the oats: You wrote a combination of Peace Frogs (The Doors) and Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey) (The Beatles from the White Album)

Just FYI

<font size="1">Yeah yeah, I know...its all been written. I remember when Frankie wrote part of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'.</font>

drë wrote:

Reïst wrote:Anybody got some tips on developing a strong falsetto?

I heard that a guy by the name of Adam might know.

You're not talking about me are you?

*ears possibly burning*

adamadamant wrote:

drë wrote:

Reïst wrote:Anybody got some tips on developing a strong falsetto?

I heard that a guy by the name of Adam might know.

You're not talking about me are you?

*ears possibly burning*

No, he's talking about the artist formerly known as Puce!

anti-m wrote:

adamadamant wrote:

drë wrote: I heard that a guy by the name of Adam might know.

You're not talking about me are you?

*ears possibly burning*

No, he's talking about the artist formerly known as Puce!

That was my guess. No offense to Adamant.

No, I realised soon after actually. Sigh, one day the glory will be mine.

Well, hey, I'd say the Brit Rap glory is already yours. If I ever get told my flow is spotty, I'll look to you for advice.

Lord of Oats wrote:...If I ever get told my flow is spotty...

I took this out of context.

Rabid Garfunkel wrote:

Lord of Oats wrote:...If I ever get told my flow is spotty...

I took this out of context.

ugh.

Uh. Wow.

Yeah, I was aroused too.

[/top that if you can]

Reviews - I liked the fight. here are my critical reviews.

Max the Cat So good to have you back. Man, you know how to make a groovin’ texture, which seems key to the future-scape of the song. I really like the poetry (not exactly sure what it all means, but it seems impressionistic anyway) although the “song” is a bit through-composed to me. I cant tell if this is a build up to a punch line or just ends with one. I find this very entertaining. - good

Mime Genre bias alert. Im not sure if I exactly get this - you’re suggest a marxist revolt. You call this nerdcore, I’m not as sure - you should definitely check out Frontalot - sort of quintessential nerdcore. This reminds me of this number from the movie “Timecode” - “Trotsky in the house/diggy, diggy”. Wow the syllable stuff in verse two is terrible. I like “sooner or...later”. You need to improve your mic set up to match your midi/loops - it’s quite distracting. - OK

Clubs It’s hard to hear the song through the ultra-lo-fi. I like the overall feel - chords, tune, delivery. If you felt strong enough about this song to submit in this condition, I wish I could hear it better. Overall it just comes out monotonous. - thanks for playing.

Kyle as seen on tv I really like your chorus - I have no idea what 20-a-million times means. I like that this hearkens to the party, novelty songs of the past (If you want to make a pretty woman your life). Successful in its spirit. - Good-

Hillbilly Buffalo I get the gist here, quick. Nice approach, but doesn’t quite pay off for me. - OK

Los Chimpos Ok, I like this. I don’t know if I can justify it. Perhaps it’s just the same irony as that guy busting the monitor to “Damn it feels good to be gangster” in Office space - combined with your commitment. you really pull this off. Accountant core - you may just have a new genre here - Good +

BLues Manufacturing... Gave me the blues. it starts off ok, but the idea is just not enough for a complete song to , especially of this length. - Thanks for playing (except the solo)

KA So much right here (changes, phrasing, guit), I wish I could say I like the overall song better. One of the best lyrics in the fight is, “Do times like this even count any more.” but it doesn’t pull a relatively monotonous song into the upper echelon though. - OK

Mock puppet I guess this is a tribute? But I don’t care for this style exactly and don’t feel it’s especially songlike. But thanks for factoring 500 including the complex variations including cube roots of i. - thanks for playing. [don’t bother fluffy - kidding - more when I get to you ]

Sockpuppet (no joke they came up in a row on the version of the page I’m clicking.) I don’t care for this style exactly and don’t feel it’s especially songlike. If you’re hearkening for days when the other fighters recognized the mathematical significance of this piece, I’m guessing you’re deluded, or I’m glad those days are past. Don’t get me wrong, I revere math music, Webern, Berg, and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra come to mind. But the math there produced an artistic outcome I don’t feel this achieves; but I;ve never done X. Feel free to write it off as genre bias, I’d prefer that to a debate. I am merely giving my opinion here, and I know there are others - Thanks for playing.

Dan plus Add Another with appeal in the chords and tune, that doesn’t add up to much for me (pun intended). Nice sounding, but ok overall. The harmonies are nice, too. - OK

Burritos in Space Eponymous? - thanks for playing

Mages hmm. I think I actually like this better that the wages version - I think, you’re melvin. Nice jb on both of these. The lyrics still sprawl either way, and I wish there was more variation in the arrangement. - OK

Chonny There’s a bunch here that I really like as a sort of demo. A lot of interesting stuff. I think this is in my top tier. I’m sure you can learn production tips from a bunch of folks here. But this writing is really good, nice changes, phrasing, melody, structure - perhaps a smidge short. One more chorus after the solo would have been good. - Good plus.

Cute-avan ray You should market this as a ring tone and make a million dollars now - then send me a cut (in euros). Cure as hell, and edited and put together very well! BEst song? Don’t know, but it is infectious and fun as heck. IT strikes me that this is just what you’d expect of Ray and his kid, like mine are probably just what you’d expect of me and mine. - Good + with extra credit. Kiss her on the cheek for me.

Wages You’re best when you are stripped down like this. Unfortunately, I felt this was a bit too much like Cat’s in teh Cradle and a bit too long. Nice singing and changes, though. Editing in the long run could make this a strong song, I think. - OK

Lord of Oats This song is ok. I like how you change the “chorus” each time. Other than that, I find the content really odd. Perhaps a WreckdoM tribute next week... - OK

Sven Market I really like this. Not sure I can vouch for the “Song” piece. Although I think I can agree it has “Lyrics.” It is very well put together for the concept. But as far as voting, for this venue, I want more words

Frisbee, etc.... The words go past, because there is so much style (verbal phrasing, etc....). I often feel this way about Frisbee’s writing, and this arrangement only adds to the effect. The first time through, I thought the break-down was a fall-apart ending. - OK

Klownhole Where’s the referential intro, before the beat comes in. I question whether this is authentic Klownhole due to its omission. Do you guys own a hammond B3? HAve you thought about taking up a collection for one? This is not as much song as we usually get from you guys. Even compared to usual - lost me. I hope you have fun. you. Thanks for playing.

Jolly Roger Ok, I’m just gonna say. I think you do this better than you do the metal thing. Nice chorus. Should you get better at falsetto, sure. But We can still here the song. A key board would thicken a few spots out nicely (even if it’s below the level of the conscious listener). song is ok - but some nice structural things here. - Good -

Punglect Nothing here for me

Melvin I really like your contrast concepts - just waiting for the tambourine (I think we share tambourine concepts) THERE IT IS!! Some nice words here (72 - are you in cahoots with Lord of Oats in song topic?) Melvin in Songfight! reference song - this seems like a first, and you lost me at not counting next week - nothing personal - I think this supports my position that you are a lyric stealer. Song sounds great, means little outside songfight reference grid. - OK

Steve Durand Great structure and all - as always. It’s weird, It seems like you’re always referencing styles, rather than doing them. Fun song concept. You occasionally feel like you’re reaching for the notes, as if you had one-too-few rehearsal takes. In the end the concept is cuter than the song that emerges. Still, it’s in the top pile this week. Good

Dynamic Rhythm Device Great!!!! I’m sure some will be distracted by the production and I think the length could be shorter given that constraint. But you’ve done a great jo writing in a classic “hit” style most of us only aspire to. The opening line may be a bit too referential to “One night with you” - but I forgive you. You should humbly request that Sober Irishman cover this to show how much it kicks ass. Great - contender.

Eric B “hip hop is all about ego” whatever - lost me here. thanks for playing.

Eddie Not the usual voice guy? It’s like when Genesis lost Peter Gabriel. Long way to go for a punchline. So much I would say about this if it wasn’t a thread. PM me if you really want my detailed issues with your text. - thanks for playing.

Bizaaro MC eric B better than Eric B - at least you sound like you’ve got an ego. Thanks for Playing + (nice loop stuff) Melvin again?

Bewells Funny, even before reading hthat other post, I was really wanting your sisters voice in the song - like you composed with it in your head and I could hear it. Nicely done in so may ways. The piece missing is that the lyrics don’t pull me in - so it ends up being some of the highest quality background music I’ve heard in a long time. Good

Me this is what I like to do. I recorded the main guit and vox “live” and I think it resulted in a better vocal performance - I gotta keep working on that. I like this song - but heck, I wrote it The original recording has an additional “tag” - PM me if you’re interested.

7th and main the changes and stuff seem kind of random, as doe the development of the lyric. Singing stronger might sell the lyrics better. Thanks for playing

Asteroids How many can Melvin get in on this week? A lot of good stuff here. nice work of 7/4 - good use of two writers/voices. - Good.

Overall I found this to be a nice fight pretty listenable, but with few stand-outs. I’m gonna vote for Dynamic Rhythm Device. If you have complaints just know that it’s late and I’ve had beer - Oh, and at leas tI wrote reviews

Jeez, do you ever like my songs? I don't know what's so odd about wanting to celebrate Melvin. I don't know anything about WreckdoM, really, so it'd be more likely to be a tribute to Octothorpe. But obviously, nobody here has 501 songs, so that won't work again.

In any case, Melvin and I are not in cahoots (only in my dreams). I think we'd have been a little more organized, and used the same number, if we were, don't you? And he couldn't have stolen my lyrics, because I didn't post them. Speaking of lyricburgling (a practice I've been meaning to take up), as the resident Melvin expert (fanboy?), I think I can pretty safely say that it's not him behind the Bizarro Eric MC, Mages, and probably Mockpuppet, despite the prevalent M's. If I had to guess, I'd say Senza Valore is the perpetrator. But that totally is Melvin on that Asteroids thing.

Oh, by the way, Concerto for Orchestra sucks.

Lord of Oats wrote:I don't know what's so odd about wanting to celebrate Melvin.

A couple thoughts:

1) The only other songs that really celebrate people in this way are like praise songs, and lots of people think praise music is goofy.
2) It's so factoidy and repetitive that by the time the bridge rolls around, I expect that the kicker is going to be that you're a crazy obsessed fan like in King Missile's "Martin Scorsese" and then in the last verse you kill him or something. The use of hyperbolic statements like "we're lost without you" kind of hints that the song will turn that way. Then it turns out the whole thing is in earnest, and it seems like you've been going in circles lyrically, for no reason.

Nice fight! Good to see some acts that haven't been around for a while. Who is the M guy? He's the true winner of the fight.

The Weakest Suit- What’s up with the lo-fi recording? The guitar is uninteresting, the melody is uninteresting. And that’s all there is. I heard a nice chord change. Not a keeper track. I can’t make out the lyrics.

Wages- There’s nothing wrong with the rock country drawl, but it bugs me. I’d like to ban you from listening to American rock especially anything Southern. You’ve got a huge voice. I keep hearing variations of the same melody with you, with the same affectations. This song is alright. Is that you on the guitar? Much better than I’ve ever heard from you. The song is too long to keep my attention.

TV’s Kyle- This is silly and fun. I enjoy this track. I’d probably love this song were it not for the drum machine. Good job!

Sven Mullet- Off the bat this freaking rules! Every instrument sounds great! This rocks. This is a contender. I think I would’ve preferred a variation to the riff for the end, but that’s a nit pick. Awesome!

Steve Durand- I love it! The solo is too short, but very beautiful. The lyrics are super light, I feel like this maybe should be on a children’s album. Good stuff!

Sockpuppet- This desperately needs Peter Gabriel to sing over it. I don’t think it stands up as an instrumental. It is enjoyable. I don’t hear melodies to grab on to. I hear cool beats and noises.

7th and Main- Reluctant vocals, sloppy guitar. Noodle banjo. No thanks.

Ross Durand- Great guitar finger picking! Gas is $4.15 a gallon in San Mateo. Which I understand is super cheap compared to Britain. Your political rant is a little too straight, I think a little more wit would put this over the top. (not that I’m a witty lyricist, but I know you can be)

Reist- You earn the title of the track I went to first, I had the most interest in hearing what you had to offer this week. Drums are great!!! Song is very well constructed. I like the vocal line a lot, I don’t think your vocal chops are there. You can imagine Melvin really rocking the vocals on this song. Very cool song! Great riffs, nice solo. This is a contender!

Punglect- If you’re going to actually count, isn’t it incredibly cliché to start at one. Why not 216?

Mockpuppet- Yes I need a massage. Yes I will buy the time share. Yes Alta has the best skiing. I like this a lot actually. Very Figurine. Yeah this is a keeper. Maybe a vote.

Mime- Your backing music is pretty good, nice production on all that. Your vocals/rap is terrible. Song is too long, no hook. It becomes tedious.

Mexican Chimpanzees- I don’t like the riff. I like the conviction and affectation of the vocals. Dumb lyrics. The beats don’t do much for me. You guys could rock a good song, you just need a good song.

Melvin- The distortion on the vocals is perfect. Is this the hardest you’ve rocked? This is a great addition to the Melvin collection!

MC Eric B- your music makes me sad.

Max the Cat- This is great! When you have such a great voice, why do you do all this “singtalk”? I love it when you sing! The music is very groovy!

Mages- Who is this M-inator? I like the M versions better than the originals. I wish there was a Mipline track this week. That bass line is beautiful! The swirling keys are very pretty too. This is nice!

Lord of Oats- I too am a Melvin fan. You’ll have to fight me to the death for the lead guitar spot in his touring band. Or maybe a Crossroads style guitar duel. What I like about Lord of Oats is the wide variety of genres, I am surprised every week where you’re going to go. This is not your best, which kinda sucks, because an ode to Melvin ought to be really good.

Klownhole- Always huge, this isn’t as inspired as other Klownhole songs.

King Arthur- Pretty guitar lines! Nice vocals. This is soooooooo adult contemporary. This well done, I wish there were some drum fills. The drums really do this well done song a disservice. I hate the lyrics, they just give me that creepy cringy country feeling.

Hilly Billy Buffalo- I laughed pretty hard at “…man I got to pee”. I hate the guitar tone. The playing is good though. This is a great song! Nice singing! This is a great song to cover, because it’s wide open to do stuff to.

Eddie Lance- Pretty piano as expected. Why are you talking? I don’t care about this story. Find a vocalist! Piano is wonderful. I hate this song because of the talking. Shut up and play yer piano!

Dynamic Rhythm Device- This is the obvious song that I thought I’d hear more of. This is done very well. The laid back guitar solo is my favorite bit. Great playing all around, exceptional singing! Contender, keeper, possible vote.

Dan plus ADD- I don’t like the song. I don’t like the Decemberists although I love their genre. Last time I felt this bored was at a Belle and Sebastian concert. No technical problems, so props for that, writing is just uninteresting to me.

Chonny- Wow, good song! Vocals are too loud, drums are way too soft. Bassline is very nice! Guitar is offensively quiet. Good writing, tighten up the production and you’ll blow us away (I think).

Caravan Ray- YES! Great riffs! The kids are brilliant! Very well recorded! This is fun.

Blues Manufacturing Facility- Blues blues blues snore snore snore. Uck.

Bizzaro Eric MC- you do a very poor MC Eric B impression. By that I mean this rocks and you’ve got great flow! I assume this is the M fella? This is really funny. Great!

Burritos in Space- Genius beyond this idiom.

The Be Wells- Just beautiful man! Excellent recording. Every instrument sounds really nice. This is flawless, you really need to submit more often! Vote contender!

Asteroids- This riff has stuck with me all week. Great freaking song! This is my favorite of the week. You all know how much I dig Pedro and Melvin, Apples and Vodka has brought some really great and interesting drumming to the “Balance” . The Dynamics are what makes this so beautiful, I believe that’s Pedro’s genius. Melvins harmony vocals are spot on and give me chills their so perfect. Can we play this song at our WSA concert? You guys rule!

Frisbee and the Swingset- This was my project this week. All of the problems with track are my fault. I had the best musicians to work with on this one. I actually love the result. I thought it’d go over better than it has seemed to. I’ve always wanted to work with Steve Durand, O plan on hitting him up for more collabs in the future. Frisbee writes my favorite songs, I love when I get to treat them. The only playing that was actually 2 people in the same room was Paco Del Stinko and myself laying down the guitar and bass. He’s on bass duties, yours truly on guitar. Otherwise this was a complete emailing of tracks around the country, ultimately I arranged it and mixed it. I’m sure it would’ve sounded 31 times better had Ken mixed it. Anyway, Steve Durand rules! My favorite bit is the trumpet solo. I also loved the tone I got out of PDS’s Les Paul. Paco’s bass line is pretty fantastic too. Ken is always in the pocket, Frisbee’s vocals are great. I’m a little surprised by Ross’s comment on his lyrics, they seem clear as day to me, however I have hundreds of listens in, maybe on 1st listen that’s not the case. I can’t wait to work with all of these guys again!

Whew! Ok Shout Outs and winner:
I love our Frisbee and the SwingSet track, but that’s very biased. I loved: The Be Wells, Bizzaro Eric MC, Caravan Ray, Steve Durand, Max the Cat, Dynamic Rhythm Device,Mockpuppet, Melvin, Reist, My vote goes to Asteroids.

Ross wrote:Mime Genre bias alert. Im not sure if I exactly get this - you’re suggest a marxist revolt. You call this nerdcore, I’m not as sure - you should definitely check out Frontalot - sort of quintessential nerdcore. This reminds me of this number from the movie “Timecode” - “Trotsky in the house/diggy, diggy”. Wow the syllable stuff in verse two is terrible. I like “sooner or...later”. You need to improve your mic set up to match your midi/loops - it’s quite distracting. - OK

I still don't quite understand why people say I'm trying to be nerdcore. I think the only time I've admitted trying to be nerdcore was with my 501 fight. Thanks for the review though. The Thanksgiving time crunch was what really hurt my delivery. I admit, I also hate the delivery I gave in the song. It made no sense, it didn't follow the beat right, and it just felt rushed for me. It all makes sense.

Thanks all.

Re: Oats' homage. I have to say, I was quite surprised. But I really appreciate the fact that you, uh, appreciate my music. Thanks!

Re: Stealing lyrics. If I've ever stolen lyrics, it was by accident, which we all know can happen from time to time.

Re: My math skills. I looked at how many songs I had in the archive and added one, overlooking the fact that last week's fight hadn't been added to the archive yet. An annoying flaw in a song that I otherwise like.

Hope to write my reviews before the weekend is out.

melvin wrote:Re: Oats' homage. I have to say, I was quite surprised. But I really appreciate the fact that you, uh, appreciate my music. Thanks!

BTW - I didn't mean to imply that Melvin (you) isn't awesome and worthy of admiration - it had more to do with feeling a little awkward about the song for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it was just the use of this forum (the fight) to express the admiration that I found awkward.

Re: Stealing lyrics. If I've ever stolen lyrics, it was by accident, which we all know can happen from time to time.

Not meant to be accusitory, just a guess at whoever covered those two songs, and I thought perhaps it could have been you. I'll beinterested if we ever find out who it is.

Lord of Oats wrote:Speaking of lyricburgling (a practice I've been meaning to take up), as the resident Melvin expert (fanboy?), I think I can pretty safely say that it's not him behind the Bizarro Eric MC, Mages, and probably Mockpuppet, despite the prevalent M's. If I had to guess, I'd say Senza Valore is the perpetrator.

Your powers of observation, sir, are unparalleled. While I can see where you could've found me out, I really did not expect anyone to draw any connections or be paying that much attention. I'm seriously amazed.

MC Eric B wrote:I am happy for anybody to do versions of my songs, even if they are taking shots at me.

I really hope that no one interpreted my 'versions' that way. My intentions were just to do something a bit out of the ordinary for the 500th fight, and I thought it would be a fun little surprise to do rough spins on other songfighters' styles. I hoped that the 3 songs that I interpreted would just be entertaining, and I definitely wasn't setting out to poke fun at anyone, or to 'better' them, just to put my own spin on it. (That's despite the name Mockpuppet, which I used simply because it was better than Cockmuppet or whatever else my feeble brain could come up with.)

Anyway, just wanted to say that it was all with the best of intentions and to acknowledge that the Lord of Oats is apparently also the Lord of Super Putting Things Together.

I thought it was pretty funny (and the name you chose was perfect, while if you'd gone with Cockmuppet I would have probably taken it as an insult). I hope my abstract experimentation doesn't sound like that to everyone else though (yours was much more Postal Service-y than I like to do generally, though I guess that's also how your A Friendly Reminder was so it's not such a stretch for you anyway).

Man, I really need to listen to fights more often.