The Song Fight Bulletin Board

so, in conclusion, remember folks: a vote for humbert is a vote for decency and family values!

& the delicate flowers
nothing grabbing me here sorry

Creep
Pretty good. If your intention was to shake my booty – then mission accomplished.

Deshead
Smooth – but not reaching these jaded old ears

FreddieLove
Excellent. Very enjoyable song. A lot to like about this. Nice vocals especially.

Future Boy
Wonderful song. I like everything about this.

Hostess Mostess
Great vocals. The bass thingy is quite hypnotic. Good song, but the retro 80’s sound is leaving a slightly bad taste in my mouth.

Iron Clef
Sounds like you’re buggerising about with silly sounds just like I did for my ABCD Puppies.

Johnny Cashpoint
Good song – needs a bit more ‘bounce’ in the delivery – more guitars maybe, more tamborines, backing vocals

Josh Woodward
As with Deshead, smooth – but not reaching these jaded old ears.

Kelvinator
Nice sound – the song isn’t grabbing me much but I love the guitar stuff. I was going to give you extra points for being another Australian Songfighter – but then I saw you were Victorian, so obviously I’ve had to detract points.

Ken's Super Duper Band n' Stuff
Pleasant – but not really memorable

Poor June
Great vocals. This could be so good – just not quite coming through with this production. I agree with Artsa – this would be great recorded similar to “The Mercy Seat”

The Befores
Nice. Can’t see the Christine Aguilera comparison – I’m thinking more Portishead. Very impressive. The break-down percussion bits are great.


The Mod K Crew
I can’t find anything here to like

The Nipple Creek Fairies
Awesome lyrics! Music not quite grabbing me. It’s a little too smooth – it needs to sound like its being played by a band in which each member has seven fingers on each hand.

tripped
Don’t like this one


Higher quality fight then the Puppies stoush. Creep, FreddieLove, Future Boy, HostessM, J$, Poor June, Befores, Nipple Creek, Kelvinator – all worth the price of admission.

I’ll vote for Future Boy

WHAT?!?!? Glenn is reviewing songs?! What the HELL?!!?

That’s ok. After you read a few of these, you will probably figure out why I rarely do this.

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RATINGS SYSTEM IS FROM 1 to 10
1 being poor and 10 being excellent

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NOTE: The opinions expressed by Glenn Case are not necessarily the views of anyone.

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Gil Sans & Jonathan: Nice blending of organ sounds with guitar. There is nothing wrong with the production, but the song is also not providing anything exciting or interesting for me either. The use of 2 words throughout the song might be a songfight record (Least amount of different words in a non-instrumental) but it also feels like you couldn't think of anything better, so you decided to be lazy.

5 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Mazzy Star

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Future Boy: Driving bass synth had me bobbing my head and dancing around in my seat immediately, which is a good thing. Vocals work well for what it is. It is a fun one time listen, and I wouldn't turn it off, but this won't be a gigantic favorite that I will listen to a lot. It is good for what it is.

6 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Devo, using a bunch of commodore 64 computers.

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The Befores: I am a sucker for the creepy basslines like the one at the beginning of this song. This is moody. I like moody. There's something about the vocals that I am not liking, and I can't put my finger on what it is. It's not like it's badly out of key or anything, but it is rubbing me the wrong way. I like the production and the music a lot though.

5 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: The Cardigans

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Creep: I like the vibe of this one, until the rap at :30 comes in. I like a lot of rap, don't get me wrong, I am just not feeling the flow. Music is cool, and this track shows potential, but the switches in vocal style don't seem genuine to me. There are a couple of parts that almost become good hooks within the song, but they just don't carry as far as I think they could have. It's still kinda stuck in my head after it's over, however.... so I will give it an extra point.

7 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Filter

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The Mod K Crew: At least you kept it short.

1 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: A crack junkie on a street corner near you

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Ken’s Super Duper Band ‘N Stuff: I feel too biased to give a fair review to Ken, because I have gained a lot of respect for his hook-writing ability after a few of his songs have lodged themselves into my sub-conscious for days at a time. Then again, I do hold him at a higher standard BECAUSE of this. Nevertheless, this is an example of some good Ken stuff. As far as production goes, the handclaps work well for the song, and the lead guitar is a nice touch in my opinion. I will not be surprised if this song gets played on repeat in my future.

8 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Blind Melon

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Metalmags: It is cute. Lo-fi seems to be the style of this fight. Maybe that was just songfight's way back then (Some would argue that this never changed, I am sure.) I can appreciate this one time through, but it isn't something that I would probably want to listen to much more than once.

5 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Sifl and Olly

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Josh Woodward: Parts of the intro of the song reminds me of a song by Jigsaw called “Sky High”. Good production is pretty much expected of JW tracks by now, and of course this song is no exception. However, I am not feeling any connection to the song at all. It’s like a painting that you can see it well done, but it doesn’t really do anything at all for you. Yeah, that’s exactly what this is. I can’t tell you what you would need to do to make it spark my interest, I can only say that it didn’t this time.

7 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Steve Miller Band

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tripped: Yeah, it’s me. It is also not my best work. At the time of creating this, I just needed to get it out of my system. It took about an hour. Sadly, I think it shows. Stereo version is probably a little better, but I can rarely turn down the optional challenges. If it was a great track, that shouldn’t have mattered much. At least I have probably done worse, and I don’t hate it.

6 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Nine Inch Nails lite

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Drew: Let me just say... NO ONE ELSE HAD A CHANCE IN THE ORIGINAL FIGHT! The fact that this song will probably lose now makes me sad, but at least a new audience is hearing it for the first time. Here is what I initially said: The production of this song is top notch, the lyrics and overall song are fun, and it makes me bounce around in my chair like a maniac. This is a song that I can listen to over and over again without getting sick of it. This is one of my favorite songfight songs I have ever heard, and the first time that I ever gave out a perfect 10 rating.

10 out of 10.

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Apache Indian (still)

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Kompressor As the intro to the song starts, I find myself bobbing back and forth to the beat. It is interesting that Drew sounds more like Kompressor than Kompressor sounds like Kompressor through most of this particular song (if that makes sense). Cool groove to the song, not excellent... but certainly not bad.

6 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: The L.A. Dream Team

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Kelvinator: Vocal quality is driving me bonkers in a bad way. Which is sad, because I don’t think it is a bad song. It is a good effort. You’re not off-key from what I can tell, but I tend to like vocalists who make me believe they are living the words that they sing as they sing them. This sounds like the singer is half-bored, and concentrating more on the melody than the emotion that goes with it.

5 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Third Eye Blind

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Freddielove: Many of the same issues I have with the vocals on Kelvinator’s entry resurface in this track. However, this vocal track doesn’t bug me AS much. NOT liking the kick-in at 1:39 irritates me on a few different levels. I am a sucker for a good kick-in, but it actually took away from any enjoyment I was getting out of the track. It sounds awkward and forced, and anti-climatic. This is not horrible, but could have been more in my opinon.

5 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Azwel

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The Iron Clef: The beat is incredibly fun, the vocals are not, but I think it is meant to be a joke track. It works well for that. I will listen to this when I am in a super-weird mood.

4 out of 10.

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Cradle of Thorns, specifically, this would work just as well as any of the other throwaway tracks on their “Download this” CD that is ¼ great to ¾ throwaway.

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Poor June: Piano isn’t so bad. I am thinking that your songwriting skill might be beyond your playing/production ability at this point. I could hear this as a decent entry if it was someone else performing or producing it. I like that I hear emotion in the vocals, the picky bastard in me wants to hear a balance on many of these tracks between emotion and being on key. Some artists are so great that they can be off-key at times and sound really good. I don’t hear you as being there yet. The good news is that I hear potential. Keep working on your craft, and I can see the time coming where you are capable of some solid stuff.

4 out of 10.

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Candlebox

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Amber Waves of Brain: I can't tell you if were really trying to submit a song, or annoy listeners. This is nearly painful to listen to. While the production isn't awful, I think everything else about this song is.

2 out of 10.

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Depeche Mode... slowed down... and played backwards

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& The Delicate Flowers: I like the shaker and the guitar. OOH and the harmonica too! The vocals are even pretty cool! Here is proof that minimalism can actually work sometimes! I like this.

7 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Bare Jr.

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Johnny Cashpoint: You listen to Billy Bragg, don’t you? It’s charming, and you get an extra point for the ‘bloody pulp’ lyric. Would like to hear this with more of a full band. It’s not the best song in this fight, as far as I see it, but it is certainly not the worst either.

6 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Billy Bragg

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Prickly Pears Now I am almost positive that you were just trying to piss people off by submitting this song. The guitar playing is incredibly sloppy which is not good since that the only instrument in the recording. It is like you took a cheap tape recorder and set it in a room and pressed record while randomly playing things. You can scream ok, and there are times when that works in a song. THAT is the only reason this doesn't get a 1 out of 10.

2 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Pixies Wanna-bes

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Narbotic: The vocals sound out of key to me. Maybe you are trying to make me fall asleep....you are succeeding. The hook of the song tends to annoy me more than it captures my attention. Maybe there is a whole group of people who can get behind songs like these and enjoy them, I am just not one of those people.

3 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Jethro Tull at a campfire

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Deshead: Keyboard sounds in the song appeal to me. I like that I believe you mean what you are singing. Vocal shift at 1:35 gets the thumbs up in my book. Yes, I like this track. I like it a lot, actually. Good production, and good use of dynamics. Guitar solo is nice and doesn’t distract from the piece, it feels like it belongs there. As far as I am concerned, this is good stuff.

9 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Eels

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The Nipple Creek Fairies: The band name gave me low expectations, even if it is a pretty funny name. I hear elements of bluegrass music and the Go-Go’s in the intro. If these are real instruments and not samples? I will be impressed. HOBLIT?!?! HAHAHAHA! NICE! This is nice and fun! I wonder who the other fairies are now, or if this is some sly pseudonym for a solo Hoblit track. It’s not the best I have heard from you, sir, but it’s not so bad. In Poor June’s review I was talking about artists who can go off-key at times and still sound rad. You are one of those artists, as far as I am concerned. You have the advantage of having had your sound grow on me, and like Ken, you have the disadvantage of me expecting big things from you. This is better than your “Birds of our own”, but not as good as your “Moon Shine”

6 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Uncle Tupelo

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Hostess Mostess: You have the severe advantage/disadvantage of being one of the most consistently awesome songfighters of all time in my book. It leans more towards the disadvantage side of things this particular time for me. I think it’s not bad, but it’s not terrific either. I am really trying to be objective here, and not hold you to a higher standard, but it’s difficult.not to. I don’t dislike the song, but it doesn’t blow my doors off like HM normally does.

6 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Berlin

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Chili Magnets: The music sounds very lo-fi, but not badly out of tune or anything. I think there are competent musicians working on this song, but it seems like it was meant as an inside joke, maybe. It is almost entertaining.

3 out of 10.

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: King Missile

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MC Short Bus: I like the piano sound and the beat... The delivery of the rhymes sound uninspired. It's funny, because I can actually imagine another rapper with a better delivery making this sound ok. As it sits, it needs a lot of work. The first place I personally would have worked on is your flow, but the clarity of the whole production would not be far behind in needing some help.

4 out of 10

ARTIST I HEAR COVERING IT: Dr. Octagon
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WHO I WILL BE VOTING FOR:

This is a dilemna for me, but I have to go with Drew.
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ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)

Humbert wrote:check out the following photo:

(img redacted)

ok, to some people, that's just sexy, not being a slut.

dude did you happen to notice her from the waist up?? there is absolutely NOTHING AT ALL sexy about this picture.

(ps: jack, please don't yell at me, i swear my reviews will be done by morning.)

I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks that sex and music are not one and the same. Except for Christian Rock fanatics I guess.

For the record, Humbert, I didn't say you were sexist, just that your comment was. Which it was. "Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender" seems to define it pretty well.

But, like, whatever ....

J$

Amber Waves of Brain - man, that intro sounded all promising like this was going to be some really cool and/or interesting stuff. but then trying-to-sound-dead dude starts singing and goddamn was the rest of this boring.

& the Delicate Flowers - this song is mostly kind of boring too, the vocalist sounds kinda sleepy and most of the music is rather sparse and uneventful. the highlight is the harmonicaist who appears to be playing along with abjure!'s "totally digging your mom" at one point.

The Befores - vocally and musically fabulous. i haven't heard any massive attack since both tricky and tracey thorn left, but i imagine it wouldn't be much better than this. my only complaint was the double-tracked "doot doo doo doo"s at the beginning. that part sounds great later in the song -- i'd recommend just using the lead vocal on that original bit, and bringing in the other parts later on.

Chili Magnets - thanks but no thanks.

Creep - pretty funky stuff. i'd file this in the same genre as white zombie's take on "i'm your boogie man"...

Deshead - sounds kind of like a generic 70's am radio band playing a cover of a dylan nau song. mind you, there's nothing wrong with sounding that way, this is good stuff.

drew - while i haven't listened to the *entire* archive, i'm fairly certain this is my favourite song i have ever heard on songfight!. best lyrics ever, and somehow you got bert (of sesame street) to do some vocalating on the intro.

Freddielove - the vocals sound out of key at the beginning (like, before the music comes in) (not really sure how that works) but then they're fine after that. fairly repetitive -- i was afraid the entire song was going to be the same part over and over again until finally it changed up at 1:40. then at 2:16 the song ended but i think the ending of some other song accidentally got pasted in after that.

Future Boy -

Gil Sans & Jonathan - the tune's a tad trite and not exactly expertly executed; the lyrics are a little lacking, but the singing sounds splendid.

Hostess Mostess - more totally awesome vocals, especially the last couple of lines, but the music here (the bassline especially) is just really not doing anything for me. i mean, everything sounds great, just, i dunno.

The Iron Clef - (oh man, only halfway through the fight!) oh man that "64k mono / mano-a-mano" is sooo bad musically this sounds almost like it was inspired by j$'s electronica side (at times, anyway, particularly the end)

Johnny Cashpoint - i have to say, your singing is in good form this time around (i seem to remember thinking that about another song you did recently, but i can't recall which it was. i haven't been reviewing so often lately, so it may have been a month or so ago, actually). i'm going to check and see if you've posted your lyrics somewhere, because just listening, i can't figure what you are talking about, and i think maybe if i see them written down it could help me along.

Josh Woodward - i like the music in this song a lot. your vocals are as great as always, but i think i'd rather hear somebody else singing this song, because it doesn't seem to really match all that well, at least to me.

Kelvinator - i don't know if i'm just in kind of a bored mood tonight or what, but as this starts out, it really isn't exciting me much. the vocal melody especially, seems kinda uninspiring. after 1:00, and particularly from 1:20-2:15, more parts come in and it gets more interesting, but something sounds a little bit dissonant throughout that section. i liked the last minute more than the first one.

Ken's Super Duper Band n' Stuff - phew! the mp3 was broken (cut off at 1:08 ) but i re-downloaded it and it works now. sounds like it could be a pretty fun song, but something about the placement of all the parts in the mix seems to be holding it back in my estimation. (and please don't ask me to elaborate on that because i'm horrible at figuring stuff like that out. i'm not really sure what the problem is, but my ears just aren't liking something about it.) i bet a live recording of this would be cool as hell.

Kompressor - the bassline is kind of meh, but the synth leads are really cool. unfortunately, this is kompressor's worst moment, lyrically.

MC Short Bus - the really low bitrate takes a lot away from this, but this is among the best rapping i've heard on this fight. far from the best, but much, much farther from the worst. the piano bassline could use some changing up here and there.

Metalmags - the five percent nation of casiotone! this is an adorable song, i must admit. "zero. uh uh uh-uh uh uhhhhh..."

The Mod K Crew - the choir sounds kinda nice, i wish it was part of a song though. the darth-vader/chef-from-south-park spoken word bit is pretty stupid.

Narbotic - i think i would have liked this song better if it started on the "you are a zer- oh" part and then went into the other part. wherever you have disappeared to, mister cunningham, god bless you for creating this awesome website.

The Nipple Creek Fairies - awesome band name, and the song is almost as good. love the violin particularly.

Poor June - you sure are a decent pianist. i wish you would get yourself a pre-amp or something so you could record stuff at a higher volume without all this clipping, because your voice sounds really good when you are actually being loud enough to be heard, but then everything gets all overloaded and that makes it difficult to listen to.

Prickly Pears - on second thought, nevermind what i said, poor june. your song is totally pristinely clear and of the most excellent quality. (oh god and this just keeps on going... i didn't think it could get worse but it did).

tripped - great stuff. the bassline is really cool (and that's the whole point of this song, isn't it:)) but the vocals also sound really good, and the frontalittle samples work perfectly (although the organ thing happens about twice as often as i'd like).

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the old: of course drew's was the best by a landslide. mc short bus pulls a very distant second place, while gil sans and narbotic tied for not-last. metalmags gets bonus points for cuteness, but everybody else: ZERO.
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the new: really tough narrowing this down, because there are a lot of decent songs, and a lot of not-too-shabby ones. i think if i HAD to arrange a top-five list it would go a little something like this:
4. deshead, josh woodward, and ken's sdbns (tie)
2. future boy and tripped (tie)
1. the befores

tviyh wrote:Johnny Cashpoint - i have to say, your singing is in good form this time around (i seem to remember thinking that about another song you did recently, but i can't recall which it was.

You said it about 'Shaving in the Dark', which I think was my last song before this one that featured my singing.

The lyric is in the lyric archive, natch But this is very much stream-of-consciousness singing so the meaning that revealed itself to me is not what I thought it was about when I recorded it. If you see what I mean.

j$

...I'm not really in a place where I can whip off 20 reviews today... but I'm listening to the fight as I do some data entry (I got a spell checker!!!!) and I gotta say...that Before's track, while SOOOOOO Portishead, is great!

I loved it.

Full reviews later, but had to throw a shout out to the Befores. Really good in my books.

Hostess Mostess, that shit is dope yo.

Favorites in blue. Not reviewing the old songs.

$ the Delicate Flowers
The quiet whining voice doesn't work for me. At all.

<font color=blue>Befores
Reminds me of Supreme Beings of Leisure. This song relies entirely on the quality of the lead singer, and fortunately you pull it off. It's pretty nice, and well produced. Ultimately it's a little slow and long, but I'm sure glad I'm not competing against you in this fight.</font>

Creep
I get tired of hearing you talk about yourself. I don't care how bad-ass you are. Show me, don't tell me. I don't think you're bad-ass. The song's OK, but your downfall is you're pretending the song is a lot better than it really is. "Ooh, I'm so tough!" Well, no.

<font color=blue>deshead
I like this one a lot. The chorus is exciting and a terrific offset to the quiet verses. I like your rendition of the verses, how it's quiet and low, but still infused energy. And the slow build up in the chorus is also really exciting. I think "Gotta go" or something would work better than "I must go", because you'd just said "I'm a child, I'm a child", which makes the next part sound like "I'm a skoa, I'm a skoa". The first time I was thinking "You're a what?" Also, the song could use a bridge. Still, very nice.</font>

<font color=blue>Freddielove
Reminded of Donovan and Belle & Sebastian. I really like the soothing vocal and the bell tone in the breaks. Catchy and fun. Every once in a while someone makes a SF song that really sounds like it's right out of another era, and this is one of those. Sounds like it could be 1966. Got my vote.</font>

Future Boy
This one is so bleepy and electronic that it kind of tipped the scales. Also, the lyrics are kind of hard to make out a few times, which is death for a song like this. As usual, though, I like your chord progression and melodic invention.

<font color=blue>Hostess Mostess
I love how the melody uses a major third, but the bass line uses a minor third. Sweet. I'm also very impressed that you can make such a spare arrangement sound so complete. The guitar break melody is appreciated too, it's not just noodling, but actual counter-melody. I think your verse sits too long on that chord for my taste, but that's a quibble. Great job.</font>

Iron Clef
Kind of pointless. Nothing more thrilling than listening to an electronic song with lyrics about the technical details about it's processing.

Johnny Cashpoint
OK, well our inability to appreciate each other's songs is a foregone fact. In this case, I already knew the story of this song from the prefight thread, so I can address it from that angle. If I didn't already know the story it would have been hard for me to figure it out. It's a funny idea, but you plop the listener right down in the middle of it without giving us a chance to discover it. I would have been able to follow it if I'd first known who these people were, and then the fight came later. Take a song like "Copacabana". One of my least favorite songs of all time, but he tells a story and we can follow it. I think this song could have been a story like that. There just aren't enough clues for us to be able to discern what's going on.

Josh Woodward
Not nearly enough material to make it worth 4 minutes, but I suspect you already know that. I get real real tired of that tune about halfway through.

Kelvinator
This is pretty and well done. Relies too heavily on musical cliches, but I still kind of like it.

<font color=blue>Ken's Super Duper Band n Stuff
Your songs are always pleasant and well-done, especially your last half a dozen or so. I like the title interpretation best of anyone's. This is the only song where I felt you made something out of the title that made any sense. It's catchy and smooth. It's not the kind of song that gets lots of votes or accolades because it's not really flashy, but after the third time through the fight, this one's holding up quite well. Nice job.</font>

Mod K Crew
Completely bizarre, and kind of funny. It would have been funnier if the voice weren't so distorted, and if there'd been more to the music than just the choir patch playing the same two chords. Ho hum.

Nipple Creek Fairies
This style of music really annoys me. But you've done it pretty well. Lots of good players in the band. The lead singer is sharp most of the way through. And the song is a might too long, but that may just be my aversion to the style.

Poor June
You often manage to come up with appealing ideas, and I can often see them through the bad production values. This is one of those cases. You sound like someone doing a cover of a famous song in their dorm room. This one could be covered by someone like Eddie Bangs or Roymond and it would be pretty great.

Tripped
The orchestral sample, the other sounds, and the vocals are all way too low in the mix to have much effect, so this sounds like basically a drum machine with some something-or-other going on softly in the background. I think it's sort of cool, though. With a better engineer at the helm this could pretty well.

Okay my first review. Have marked what I believe are previous fight songs with a *

& the delicate flowers
Nice inoffensive, better production could have brought out a nice song.

*Amber Waves of Brain
Intro! Oooh it’s a school concert!!!! …Minute in and I am not turned on….the synth is making me queezy….Nah not getting it

Before’s
Oh god this is blissful….Ladies and Gentlemen we have the new James Bond theme for 2005 (and I mean that in a nice way!)! I really like this Nice vocals bit distorted towards the end!!!

Deshead
I agree with the “touched by a rose” feel if you changed the intro just a little to lose that feel (not sure how) I really liked it. Vocal is great and the lyric gets the job done

*Drew
Fun lyrics but not my idea of song.....lack of melody and story 

Future Boy
Head Bob….Head Bob… Head Bob… Head Bob… Head Bob… Head Bob… Head Bob… Head Bob…
Great fun….”cheesy” in the best possible way (get it?)

Freddielove
Hmmm nice enough, sweet, inoffensive, not moving me though. Overall sound was a little thin for my tastes. Guitar and drum especially compared to the opening synth line. Not sure I liked the auto pan or tremolo effect that kicks in couple of times.

*Gils Sans & Jonathan
Nope not for me…..

Iron Clef
Err…I know everything old is new again, but even the Atari and Stylophone sounded better than this. Nice try in the 64K category 

Hostess Mostess
Hmmmm the late 70’s teen in me is loving this (Gabriel/Ultravox) however the 2004 40 yr old is frustrated at the sound seeming so thin, I like the lyric and vocal melody

Johnny Cashpoint
Johnny even your avatar scares me so I am not going to say anything bad 

Josh Woodward
Techno pop-JW …..Who knew?!?! Nice stuff Josh. Think I agree about the try another vocalist. Hey maybe Bjam would give it a go for you ?

*Kompressor
Angry Autobahn anyone?

Kelvinator
Pretty structure musically pretty well executed, but I agree with the comments about not being sold that the singer cares. If I had paid money to hear someone sing this live I’d be either at the bar or left the club. Guitar out of key around 1:45 is annoying for an otherwise melodic song.

Ken’s Super Duper Band’n stuff
I like this… But then you get the idea…melody and a lyric that sounds like it fits. There is something in the background sounds like organ/synth arpeg that is too far back in the mix and was annoying me though. Maybe a bad convert to MP3.

*MC Shortbus
So so…Muddy sound….rap not my thing but didn’t feel that you were pitching it with feeling…musically sparse (or non-existant!)

*Metalmags
Nice…fun…lo-fi but shows it’s age. Vocalists lose it a little towards the end.

Mod K crew
Okay so I am of the tell me a story/make it melodic with some drive….The choir sounds nice, but I am not into the narrative on Jesus and Santa…..Nope not getting the vibe

*Narbotic
Dirge….sorry to those that like this but I can’t enjoy this and I have lived through some extremely bad folk dirge songs.

Nipple Creek Fairies
Fun lyrics and at least it sounds like it’s trying to be a song. If only the bass hadn’t kept going missing in action on the chord structures, it wouldn’t have jarred as much. Production a bit thin. Either sack your fiddler or get samples that are in tune

*Prickly Pears
Urgh….nasty and noisy and no “redeeming musical/songwriting qualities” even as “nihilistic punk”….sorry folks

Poor June
Lo-fi…..with better production quality could have been fun. Like the hook around the ZTP line. But sadly wanted to turn it off after 60 secs which is a shame cos performance wise the better parts are in the latter third.

Tripped
I like the vocals, the swooshy synth samples….less so. Drum and bass is fine. Not one of my favorites though.

*=original fight (I think)

My favorites are as you’d expect from the above comments:

Befores, Deshead, Futureboy

Winner: Befores...just because!![/b]

Jim of Seattle wrote:The guitar break melody is appreciated too, it's not just noodling, but actual counter-melody.

We use only the freshest, organic counter-melody: no additives or preservatives! (If you ever heard me noodle, you'd understand why I only use practiced electric guitar riffs.)

A heartfelt tip of the hat to all who took/are taking the time to review us. Sounds like I need to buy some early Genesis albums.

Suffice to say, experimental outside-the-box Hostess Mostess is growing weak. Hostess says we are failing to rock. Safe, inside-the-box Hostess Mostess will likely take over.

You sort of rock on this one. Sort of.

Mostess wrote: Sounds like I need to buy some early Genesis albums.

Don't forget to check out early Gabriel too. Shock the Monkey record, not sure of it's name, but that's what I was hearing in a big way. I think it was self-titled. I think all the records leading up to "So" were self-titled.

Suffice to say, experimental outside-the-box Hostess Mostess is growing weak. Hostess says we are failing to rock. Safe, inside-the-box Hostess Mostess will likely take over.

Naaaa, you're not growing weak, you are just growing and hopefully maybe a merger will go down with the safe, inside the box HM with adventure HM. I love the safe, inside the box HM, drippy, pourous smoothness that just says "comfy clothes". It was still evident in your latest, just from my opinion a little sparse in arrangement. Not a bad thing, but I was leaning in build upon hearing it, especially in the end. The smoothness, it still there.

tonetripper wrote:

Mostess wrote: Sounds like I need to buy some early Genesis albums.

Don't forget to check out early Gabriel too. Shock the Monkey record, not sure of it's name, but that's what I was hearing in a big way. I think it was self-titled. I think all the records leading up to "So" were self-titled.

Think you're right, Pablo. Shock the Monkey was released around 1986. Pretty sure it was self titled. Damn, I used to have that album.
Shock the Monkey was also on "Shakin the Tree"(1990) and, I think, "Plays Live".

Jim... i don't understand the hostility man, it's just a song. And can a person write a song and it not be about himself????? I thought that was possible. This song is about a guy who feels like a zero everywhere in his life except up on stage, I know that can't be me because I just write, I don't perform. I don't think I'm a badass and yours is the first comment of this nature...did I say something to upset you? Or maybe it's just that crappy Seattle weather thats got you down, that must be it. Ahhh well, my new mission on this site is to satisfy Jim of Seattle. P.S.-- I don't think the song is great, i kinda dig on it but if you don't that's cool too.

Jim of Seattle wrote:Johnny Cashpoint
OK, well our inability to appreciate each other's songs is a foregone fact. It's a funny idea, but you plop the listener right down in the middle of it without giving us a chance to discover it. Take a song like "Copacabana"..

heh, yeah, well actually i appreciate almost everything you do, Jim, it just doesn't float my particualr boat. One day, one day.

The thing about my song this week - it's a total deconstruction (by own probably inaccurate definition of the word - reducing the song to its constituent parts). This I thought would reflect the optional challenge I accepted in the 64k mono thing.

So, lyrically i jammed out this long lyric telling the whole story and just kept cutting to the bone until i had distilled its essence. In a way I wish I hadn't said that in the pre-fight, because the appeal for me is that it almost but doesn't quite make sense. And also because on reflection it's about me continually submitting to Songfight without a hope in hell of winning - I'm the 'Zero', the 'Phantom' is the Wall o'Songfight which I banging my head against, and the 'She' being my metaphorical muse.

Musically, I did a full band arrangement in a kind of 60s punk way, and again just stripped it down to the point where the tune was laid bare. Where it almost doesn't hold together, but just does. I added the very quiet keyboard as a last minute thing. It sounds like background noise in the conversion, which is just perfect for what I had in mind.

I may post the full band version if I can find the time to mix it down satisfactorily.

Oh, and Copa is a great song! Well it's great for Karoake anyway. 'Blood and a single gunshot, but who shot who?' Fabulous line. Something else we don't agree on

j$

tonetripper wrote:Don't forget to check out early Gabriel too. Shock the Monkey record, not sure of it's name, but that's what I was hearing in a big way. I think it was self-titled. I think all the records leading up to "So" were self-titled.

Preaching; choir. I got all those. Some of my favorite 80's pop,aside from Kate Bush and Talking Heads + Eno.

The first three are self-titled and nicknamed affectionately by the image on the cover ("fingernails", "car", and "melting" I think they are in order). The fourth is technically self-titled, but has an official nickname: "Security" (I've only owned the cassette, so I'm not sure how the word "Security" appears on the LP cover). That's the one with "Shock the Monkey," easily the weakest track. It's one of my top ten pop albums, probably in the top five. Worth every nickel and then some. Hostess Mostess' "Here Comes My Dragon" is an attempt to rip off "San Jacinto" and "The Rhythm of the Heat" from that album.

I have no Genesis (I think I have a bootlegged cassette of "Invisible Touch" from 1982? that I ripped off from my brother). I suppose I should post a request for recommendations somewhere else on this board.

'Melting' or 'III' as it's also known, that's a fantastic album. The one with 'Games without frontiers' on it, yeah? I highly reccommend it despite the presence of some supposed punk luminaries (Paul Weller, stand up) sucking up to the very forces they swore to destroy

Caravan Ray wrote: Nice sound – the song isn’t grabbing me much but I love the guitar stuff. I was going to give you extra points for being another Australian Songfighter – but then I saw you were Victorian, so obviously I’ve had to detract points.

I totally understand why you have to detract points for Victorians. Its only fair. For similar reasons I will always give you xtra "sympathy" points for being a Queenslander.

artsta wrote:

Caravan Ray wrote: Nice sound – the song isn’t grabbing me much but I love the guitar stuff. I was going to give you extra points for being another Australian Songfighter – but then I saw you were Victorian, so obviously I’ve had to detract points.

I totally understand why you have to detract points for Victorians. Its only fair. For similar reasons I will always give you xtra "sympathy" points for being a Queenslander.

Fair call - but I'm not a true Canetoad yet, after 8 years I'm still considered a Cockroach (of Novocastrian origin). My brain will need a few more years pickling in XXXX and Bundy before I become a proper banana-bender. Save your sympathy for the sandgropers (Hentai Kitty Death)

<a href="http://64.158.164.66/sound/NippleCreekFairies-ZTP.mp3" target="resource window">Nipple Creek Fairies - Zero To Phantom</a> in all of it's remixed stereo glory. Modifications were made to the song based on feedback found here in this thread. Hopefully everyone who was going to vote one way or another has already as this version and the information following should have no bearing on ones vote one way or the other.

The Nipple Creek Fairies are:

Vocals: Hoblit
Acoustic Guitars: Hoblit
Fiddle: <a href="http://www.efiddler.com/loops.htm" target="resource window">E-Fiddler</a>
Steele Guitar: Who knows, downloaded samples from eons ago

The bass is a set of samples that were pitch shifted out of a C upright bass sound font sample. Although, I'm pretty sure Hoblit could play something that easy on the upright bass himself, had he one.

The -drums- are most obvious samples although an emulation of a three piece set including snare, floor tom, and crash.