The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Ho hum,

Back to songfight, it's been a while in the internetless wilderness, strumming an accoustic and howling at the moon. Here's my reviews of "Late to a funeral" in no particular order....

The wartly insurance Nice intro, I was expecting a few sad lyric/happy pop tunes with this title and this doesn't disappoint. Nice vocals throughout. Like it!

Embers of December This sounds like a good song, strange choice of guitar sound dudes, nice simple lead guitar on top.

I pee also I think it's the death that makes one dead. Beatiful song, my favourite so far, will check out your other songs. (Just heard "sugar shaker", that was a bit different!)

Projectile vomit D Nice tune, well recorded, I was gonna say the vocals could be less treated but then I can hear all the words so scrap that idea. Nice ending too.

Flav 0 Forvum I like the feel of this one, a bit J.Cash which can never be a bad thing. Yoiks! I spoke too soon. I can't make out what you're yodeling but I'm moshing (I think you call it slam dancing over there) too hard to care. Genius, this gets my vote so far!

Carly Simonback Nice tune there, sounds like it wouldn't be outta place on an Eels album. I'm not sure if recording this clearer would improve it, it has a real lo-fi charm going on there. This one will get more listens.

Adam had a rant This one won't play, I will try it again at the end

Jam no cracker Rawk!!! Great, especially the Alice in Chains sounding middle piece. This has livened up my day no end, a keeper!

Civil Cyril Holy cow bells batman! Yeah I like this but I found myself jamming to the ol' cow bell and ignoring the words, not to diss the words, just upping the bell.

Huge slug yeah so? o.k. the music's started, shame the vocals are so treated all the way through. Liking the tune, want more inteligable words. Dodgy synth chaps. Hang on, second listen to grasp this one... catchy tune, what are the words?

Knitting needle room Nice pop here in a percise pet shop kinda vibe. It's very well done, but it's not rock and roll.

Mel B vin Oh o.k. This is good, Nice building up in the arrangement. Sounds like it might win in a J.W. kinda way.

Clubs This reminds me of earlier Soul Asylum, yeah this is good, maybe a vote...

Wreckin Crew I haven't smoked enough to appreciate this bad boy. Kinda hopin it would change a bit but... This is o.k. but I prefer your back catalogue.

Forkin synths Well this is different. Well put together, lots going on, a little too in-organic for me. Nice vocals.

Male Socks Shame you couldn't get a real piano because this sounds like a great tune. That said it works well, and well sung. Possible vote.

D.J. Veg This is for someone else, I don't really like the rap. Sorry, my bad, not yours.

Adam Adamant Sorry, this just won't play. I don't know if this has been reported as I haven't read the boards.

O.k. vote time, it's between i.p. flvxxvm forvm, Carl Salbacka, Ham no burger, Melvin, Weakest suit, and Mail box.

After another listen, in third place, Ham no Burger, second place Carl Salbacka, and my vote goes to flvxxvm forvm.

Good fight

C.C.

Voted Electric Needle Room. Thanks, sir or madam.

Last minute reviews. - Roughly in order of preference


GOOD SONGS
i.p. – great strings – sound real, perhaps they are. Nicely written in so many ways. Vote

Melvin – Final Date – good line. Nice tune and arrangement as always. Good lyrics, too.

Worldly self assurance – long intro - thought that sounded like pete – another band name – oh, I see Fribee’s in here, too – good combination, guys. Song good, but lacking grab power. Nice sounds. I like where you’re going in the second half – perhaps one too may repeats. Glennnie? Are you here, too? - Good


DECENT SONGS
The Giant Snail – some interesting thick chords here. Pretty groovin’. Ok

Mailbox – been listening to Badfinger much lately? Nice and tuneful.

Project D – nice guitar/bass/layer – sounds good, everything ok, but a bit monotonous – didn’t finish

The Weakest Suit – long intro – catchy – ok, the title thing almost works. The song not quite.

OK SONGS
Civil offense – not doing a lot for me. A few good lines and a neat guitar chord there in the fourth bar of the verses. I like the Dia de los muertes theme.

Flvxxvm florvm – I like the traditional feel of this at the beginning – oh, then it really does become a FF song. And you lose me. I like your more rollicking stuff better thant this with the stops and starts. Groove helps your sound, I think. Too bad it’s not guitar fight

WreckdoM – the random panning is getting to me. The words don’t matter much to me

Embers of autumn – tune doesn’t quite fit in spots. Nice idea for tune and changes. Interesting angle. Just a bit rough around the edges musically and a little onotonous in arrangement.

HARD TO GET THROUGH SONGS
Cynthia size – honestly – you r songs have begun to sound much the same as each other to me. I think part of this is because of the wandery-ness of the tunes. I also wish I could tell what Cynthia is saying more clearly.

Electric needle room – the first line lies terribly, so you lost me right away. Pretty monotonous. – ooh and the “already line” just adds insult to injury

DIDN'T GET THROUGH SONGS
Carl Salbacka – hard to hear/listen to. Like the “You were dead” bit. Too bad it goes so far off track. Didn’t finish.

Adam Adamant – long terrible introduction – bad once it starts, too.

Ham No Burger – nope – boring – not enough adrenaline in it to support it.

DJ green – nope – partgenrebias/partfidelity/partcrap

I couldn't have asked for a more satisfying result!! Congrats IP great song!! Congrats other WSA gentlemen jivers !

good fight!

Zero? Zero?!!

Awww, man, I hope it ain't bitchslap WreckdoM Month.
Because if it is bitchslap WreckdoM Month then bitchslap WreckdoM Month has just begun.
Aw, man.

Man, if I was in that fight, I wouldn't take zero too personally. The WSA, Melvin, IP and Electric Needle Room all nailed it.

thanks SongFight!
Great job WSA, I feel very happy sharing the title with you all. 2 Totally incomparable songs tying is a perfect ending.

b.ellison-the vocal takes seemed like a little bit much. the song seemed kind of solidly written. didn't really stick out as being that remarkable. seems a bit too warbly. probably intended, but whatevs.

buddybuchanen-well, it's already old school sounding by the time it starts. the vocals are just a little bit too low in the mix. i heard something about batman in there. it's not that bad. from the lyrics I can understand, it's kind of cool, but I can barely hear. them. the chorus is even less intelligible when that frog of a bass appears. it seems like a trunk rattler though.

Carpetburn-nice clean guitar on this one. the vocal take kind of needs a little bit of a de-esser, but whatever, it's songfight. the song craft here is pretty well done. that chorus is a mess of 'what she said'...oh, nice electronics in the break. not perfect, but pretty well done.

Da blump-please give me permission to sample that breakbeat in the beginning. while I'm at it though, the mix is pretty good. the vocals could be a couple of decibles softer, but no real problem. i actually like this one a lot. the vibe is pretty groovy...sounds like the type of song that would get big on a college radio station. a very 90's sounding ode to intoxication. i like that line about bambi.

Evil E- catchy. attention grabbing first line. i really like the horns and the clapping (or whatever that is). While its cool, the lyrics aren't really that great. granted, they don't suck. it just starts kind of meandering after awhile. 'will you ever look past the little world that you've created' is a cool line. same with the drugged out whores and dirty hippies part.

Ex + Intact- man, I really like your flow. The snare doesn't really fit the music though. It's not at crisp as it could be. Definitely a laid back groove though. The lyrics have some nice lines in there. quite a few lines. i really like the part when you're describing the academia of the girl or so. I'd definitely give it a high rating if i ran into it on a rating site. the ending is a bit abrupt though. whatever.

The Giant Snail- whoa, this is weird. sounds like the kind of stuff I'd listen to if I were...well, listening to really strange music. it's short. so short I'm almost motivated to write a really long review of it. but I'm not, because there isn't much to review. i actually would have liked a little bit more. whatever.

Gyrdonark- That is delishisly 8-bity. I really like the way that the voice kind of emerges out of it. I'm curious though. Is that a movie sample, or you talking into a band filter. It's actually really cool. One thing that you could have definitely done with it that would have made it better would have been to turn up the voice a little bit. It's definitely an original approach.

Ham no burger- this definitely sounds a bit midi. However, I do kind of like your singing voice. It reminds me vaguely of the guy from mew. That really don't matter. It could be a little bit better done though. It's a little bit too epic for its own good I think. Kind of a put a lighter in the air track. Only it's not a power ballad. You've gotta have a guy with a mullet for that. 'The needle dies without the thread'...doesn't make much sense. eh, oh well.

HEY DAVE!- this is one of the only times I've heard something that's largely in 7/8 time on this site. The distorted tone is a little bit too tinny, but I think that it kind of works. The way that you did the chorus with the vocals was pretty cool, I thought. If it were any longer than it is though, it would really wear out its welcome.

IP-mmm. 6/8 arpeggios. I really like the doo-wop bit. It's cute. The song lyrics seem to fall in line with a lot of the regular lyrics. However, they're wittier, methinks. I really like the 'don't you know I've done it too because I'm a step ahead of you' kind of me giggling. The solo is not that bad either. It's the first time we've talked in months. I like it. That's a really snazzy bit. I actually really liked that.

Jeff Robertson's 3 chord cloud- the mix is very flat, and the distorted vocals really don't contribute much to the track. The lyrics aren't too terribly original either. Not that I can make them out very well. The distortion on...everything makes everything hard to hear...hmm. I guess.

More to come later.

oops. meant for that to be somewhere else.

jeff robertson wrote:embers of autumn - guy-and-electric-guitar always suffers from what I call "wages syndrome". which is, that an acoustic guitar is capable of competently being the only instrument in a song, but an electric always sounds like it needs a band. this effect of the electric even cancels out the ability of the accompanying acoustic to carry the song.

I have a disease of my very own!