The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Heather. Redmon. wrote:AAAAAARRRRGHHHGHGHGH!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with heather for a change. All this arguing.

Heather. Redmon. wrote:if that comment was even directed at me...

i assumed it was either you or me, and since you've made several more non-review posts here than i have, it seems logical it was you.

but just in case,

they're coming! don't start with me shite!

both of you! put up or.....well you know

Andy Balham feat. Kapitano - Presence could be established by cutting a little at 250 - 400 hz, vocal performance is a little subdued, tonally speaking, but the guitar solo's good.

The Bloody Hams - Shite this is catchy with the nice build up of tones and parts that it kind of gives me the feeling of this kaleidoscopic effect, but I wish you cats went further with some bigger guitars and not so minimalistic in the parts on the whole. 8)

The Def Author - Holy Pac-Man duck call rap Batman Space Invader. 8)

Deshead - Infectious pop candy with a solo section that cooks. 8)

Edge of LA - Like a warm blanket of repetition I want to forget about FOREVER!!

Garreth Duncan - A Costello influence that's a little shaky, pitchwise, at points, picks up but man is that hooky. 8)

The Hell Yeahs - Can I get a Hell Yeah for the distorted bass, awesome vocals and programming that kicks ass!!!!!!!!

Hillbilly - I can get down with this mood altering vibe, but why so low?

Johnsonic - Space clang resurfaced illigitimate love child from the 80s with the sparseness and desperation that makes the trip worth it in a sublimifuck kind of way.

Kamakura - Gets a little long in the tooth in the chorus dept. Fantastique?

mattyattaandhisrustyredryders - Must have been a good night to make it go on for 4 plus minutes.

PigPen - Insert rap here cept maybe put some reverb on the voice or less on the samples to make that spatial merger.

tiggernaut - Warped and wicked in a whippit kind of way with this strange influence of Screamin Jay hoverin' in the BG.....

Well Garreth got the hook award. The Hell Yeahs version of the title just kicks ass!! Def Author kicked in a teenage geek rap kind of way, but I wanna vote Johnsonic for the trippy recording and a good take on the title. Y'all took out Tiggernaut by a hair.

Hmmmmm.......

tonetripper wrote: The Bloody Hams - Shite this is catchy with the nice build up of tones and parts that it kind of gives me the feeling of this kaleidoscopic effect, but I wish you cats went further with some bigger guitars and not so minimalistic in the parts on the whole. 8)

well, i can't take much credit overall (i'll plead the fifth), and i know puce wanted to do a much bigger production with the mix. but life and time got in the way this week. oh well, i still think it's quality for what it is. thanks TT.

No disputin the quality brother, more a production note, just think it needs a few more branches on the tree. Songfight!!! What do you expect and Christmas if you celebrate that. Heck I'm not even submitting, or atleast I tell myself, til the new year, so good on ya for doin it at all.

A_Likely_Mike wrote:All great rap tunes have a hook.

A lot of the time hooks just get in the way and interupt the flow and/or story.

Denyer wrote:

A_Likely_Mike wrote:All great rap tunes have a hook.

A lot of the time hooks just get in the way and interupt the flow and/or story.

and other times, a hook may be the only thing saving the listener from sticking a pencil in their eardrum after being force fed bad flow and story.

jack shite wrote:

Denyer wrote:

A_Likely_Mike wrote:All great rap tunes have a hook.

A lot of the time hooks just get in the way and interupt the flow and/or story.

and other times, a hook may be the only thing saving the listener from sticking a pencil in their eardrum after being force fed bad flow and story.

And the hook probably isn't much better.

jack shite wrote:

Denyer wrote:

A_Likely_Mike wrote:All great rap tunes have a hook.

A lot of the time hooks just get in the way and interupt the flow and/or story.

and other times, a hook may be the only thing saving the listener from sticking a pencil in their eardrum after being force fed bad flow and story.

quoted.

Writing a catchy hook is a craft.

tonetripper wrote:PigPen - Insert rap here cept maybe put some reverb on the voice or less on the samples to make that spatial merger.

Spatial merger....is there some sort of music technical jargon Dictionary you could direct me to?

Andy Balham/Kapitano – Something about this melody I really don’t like – don’t know what. Suffice to say it’s not grabbing me. Not bad – but not for me.

The Blood Hams – Great song – very well written. And well performed. There’s a lot to like here…wow – flute too – impressive.

The Def Author – This isn’t doing much for me

deshead – I think I’ve heard this before on my “Explosive Hits 1975” album. Pretty good in a big-moustached 70’s sort of way.

Edge of LA - Competent – but not ringing my bells

Gareth Duncan – This is one Likely Lad, right? Pretty good – you can really put a catchy song together. Lyrics don’t quite grab me – none of those bizarre little turns of phrase I’ve heard from you before. I think one day you will do a song I love – this one isn’t quite it though. Good vocals

The Hell Yeahs – Sensational! All good. Wonderful lyrics – love the stop-start “damn it”s and the rapid fire chorus. Rivals “In the Ditch” as my favourite song of yours.

HillBilly – No review sorry – I just couldn’t hear it.

Jonsonic – Pretty good. Like how just as the guitar riff is starting to wear a very deep groove in the ears – suddenly it changes. Enjoyable.

Kamakura –Like the vocals - not mad about the lyrics. Not really carrying the paint-by-numbers type music.

Matt... – Completely stupid – but not completely worthless. I’m quite enjoying this, despite my better judgement

Pigpen – not one of your better ones. Repetitive – doesn’t have the flow you normally have

Tiggernaut – No thanks

So,
The Bloody Hams deserve a vote, but they won't get mine because they had the misfortune to come up against the Hell Yeahs in fine form.

tonetripper wrote: Gareth Duncan - A Costello influence that's a little shaky, pitchwise, at points, picks up but man is that hooky. 8)

I'm a Costello fan, so I'm glad you said that. There are definitely parts where I'm not hitting my notes, but unfortunately I didn't have time to re-record them.

Caravan Ray wrote: Gareth Duncan – This is one Likely Lad, right?

Yup, Mike wrote the Red Skates Likely Lad song this week, so I thought I'd have a go at writing one for this fight.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. I've got to get my arse in gear and do mine.

Gareth.

DELETED

Kamakura - I thought you said "my nuts are on fire", though I dunno if "pants" is much better. Your song's put together well enough, and I totally got the Dylan vibe that others mentioned. It would sound tighter if you brought the drums up, and EQ'd your voice a bit further back in the mix.

The Hell Yeahs - It's a great performance and all, but despite my best efforts, it doesn't grab me. No matter: I'm in the minority. You know it rocks!!!

Gareth Duncan - You composed this nicely. It's got a great mix of 'parts', and they're well performed. I think it would shine with a little production polish. (More definition on the bass, more highs on the drums, and smooth the balance between the drums and guitars.) Great job, though.

The Bloody Hams - I hate that I ever heard of Staind, and that they popped into my head when I heard the intro. I don't suppose that's your fault, though... Your track: the drums are buried (or maybe just not sparkly enough), but the vocal definition is amazing. The chorus has the best hook of the week, too. Well done.

PiGPEN - I'm ambivalent about your stuff. It's not my thing, but it always gets my attention. I think it would sound a lot better if you compressed the crap out of the vocals, EQ'd out the bottom end, and dropped them into the mix more.

Andy Belham - I love the guitar tone, especially on the solo, but the rest of the mix is bass-heavy. That's probably why I can't make out the words.

Johnsonic - Good riff, tight performance, and well mixed. But it doesn't really go anywhere. Was the break-down by design, or had you planned to add a chorus there?

Deshead - I padded the front of my jeans to record this, Derek Smalls style.

Edge of LA - This put me in mind of Johnny Marr's solo stuff: 25 years of alt-pop, fused. I like it, and even listened to it a few times. I tell ya, though: it would benefit from some added dynamics. The song never really picks up, or drops off for that matter. Still, good performance overall.

Triggernaut - Taking liberties with the song part of SongFight. Well done.

Big Matt - Sorry dude.

Hillbilly - This is totally my thing! Ya, you could bring the volume up a good deal, but the guitar's well played and the song is solid. (You could maybe try double-tracking the guitar the way you did the vocals.) This probably would have got my vote if it wasn't for Def Author.

Def Author - No secret how I feel about this one: I have no criticism, constructive or otherwise, to offer. This is brilliant. And I crap myself laughing every time I hear the duck call. Just sayin'

Easy call for me this week: Def Author

6 songs of goodness, 3 songs of decency, and 3 songs of PURE ASS. I voted for the Def Author. Maybe I'll do reviews later.

PiGPEN wrote:Spatial merger....is there some sort of music technical jargon Dictionary you could direct me to?

No jargon dictionary in the TT school of thought, just felt that the space for the voice and the backing loop tracks didn't find that space together, which makes it sound like you dropped in a rap over a bunch of heavily reverbed looped backing tracks. The spatial merger was a condensing of thoughts of mine. Thought it was clear, but obviously not. Try, next time to find a way to get the backing tracks to sound like they are maybe happening more in the same room as the voice. Advice might be to add the same rev to the backing tracks (which would be overkill but might help) as the rap track. Really does sound like you just threw a rap over a bunch of prefab fruity loop stuff. Just my thoughts mind you.

gduncan wrote:I'm a Costello fan, so I'm glad you said that. There are definitely parts where I'm not hitting my notes, but unfortunately I didn't have time to re-record them.

I tell you though Garreth, the sour notes are a small point to the unbelievably good hook you got with the title. It almost got my vote for it, but I just dug the Johnsonic so much.... ambient and trippy.... hard call cuz your song was good and the influence is also an influence of mine so I could totally get down with the vibe. Nice to hear you out.

- Pablo

The ones I didn't like and have nothing to say: Triggernaut & Big Matt et al

PiGPEN - I recognize your creativeness in making this but the delivery isn't good. It didn't do anything for me probably because the rap is flat to me. Perhaps some vocal inflection or harder accents/emphasis on certain words/syllables to define your phrasing better.

“Nyyyyyeaaaaaaahhh” These are OK, but something is off.
Kamakura – Timing seems abit off. Not digging the vocals
Andy Belham – Good production, but I didn’t care for the vocals
Johnsonic – Good, but not my flavor


I liked these:
Hillbilly - not my thing, but it was well executed
Gareth Duncan – Nice melody…. sweeeet
The Bloody Hams –I like this one. Was that a flute, recorder, or a slide flute?? hehe
Edge of LA – I agree with all the comments everyone has made…. Good harmonies, nice melody, decent production/mix (Garage Band on an eMac), lacking dynamic, repetitive, and too long. My intention was to go for the 80’s pop-Duran Duran sound. It all started with the 80’s drum loop on GB, then enter synth. I appreciate your input.


The Hell Yeahs – I LOVE IT! I am really punkish to my core. I wish I had a live drummer for my songs, but where’s the freakin bass???!!!

Def Author – OK, I’ve only recently begun my assimilation into the Nerd Core Flow. This is great! creativity, production, and delivery well done.

Deshead – YES! WOOF! This is my favorite of the bunch. I didn’t get to listen to 70s rock back in the 70s, so this is still kinda of a fresh sound for me.

deshead wrote:The Bloody Hams - I hate that I ever heard of Staind, and that they popped into my head when I heard the intro. I don't suppose that's your fault, though... Your track: the drums are buried (or maybe just not sparkly enough), but the vocal definition is amazing. The chorus has the best hook of the week, too. Well done.

Hmm... your right: the drums are buried. I originally had them (and a bunch of other things) louder, but I pushed up the Acoustic and the Vocals and pushed down everything else. This song got mixed as fast as possible late at night (Jack offered to mix it but I turned him down. Damn). I don't know what kind of mic Ken has, but it does a fantastic job of capturing his voice (and guitars). To all who asked, yep, that's a flute. I've never recorded/mixed a flute before, and I'd do it differently in the future, but it turned out a'ight. I agree with Tonetripper ( ) that something is missing from the last chorus, and the song could use some more instrumentation at the end to accompany Ken's building vocals. Next time.

Reviews will come.

Puce wrote: I don't know what kind of mic Ken has, but it does a fantastic job of capturing his voice (and guitars).

it was my mic. $99 at musicians friend.

Edge of LA wrote: The Hell Yeahs – I LOVE IT! I am really punkish to my core. I wish I had a live drummer for my songs

We do too.


Also, JACK! We use the same mic!