More fodder!!!
Reviews
I lost the ones I started and am starting again.
I hope to keep the review momentum going for this fight!
Barf - I like the overall sound here - the Killing Joke reference seems stylisticaly appropriate. Good chorus hook and stuff. Great breakdown into verse 2 - I like that you know to vary the arrangement a lot within the constraints of the idiom. The "instrumental" break is a little uneventful. Not sure what you're singing about. Good-
BLT - This sounds familiar, like you've written this song for songfight before - or maybe I just dreamed it. Your screamy chorus vocals are working very well here. I like the rhythm of the lyrics - it's all coming off very well - especially the bass. I have no idea what you're singing about. Top notch BLT! Good.
Cabin Fever - nicely executed, beautiful sounds, something about it makes it want to recede into the background. nothing to complain about - nothing to rave about. a little monotonous. sweet solo. I have no idea what you're singing about. OK+
Cell Block E - nice harp playing, I have an idea what you're singing about - makes me quite uninterested in the song. ok-
Chad Random - I think I would be close to enjoying this if you did not have the "beat" in it. Sometimes the guitar punctuations work real well with the vocals, other times it sounds as if they were recorded with no relation to one another. I have no idea what you're singing about. Ok-
Collaboration Station - great little pop-rock song. I like the dual guitars. nice hookey chorus. Excellent use of silence. I feel like I recognize a few of the voices but not enough to throw ay guesses out there. Good
deetak - Interesting piece. Some of the arrangement isn't quite working for me on the fist half, although I thinking I can tell what you're going for. The piano second half is unexpected but adds a really nice second act. Good -
Elaine diMasi - sounds like you're leaving half a million nerds. I can't decide just how campy this is meant to be. The sound effect gets irritating. I like your instinct for arranging - something about this continues to sound a little frantic to me like things are just ahead of the beat and could lie more comfortably. I don't care much about the words, but I get it. Good -
FTD - ooh rockin' along. Capable, but not grabing me. I don't get the sped up word sections. OK+
Heine - I like the way you are working the guitar and vocal lines, but I do think that kind of thing benefits greatly from a tighter performance/recording. Nice tune. The tune and arrangement are staying a little static even with your inclusion of the lead patch. the La Las sound like you couldn't come up with words. Gets a little borng by about the guitar solo. All ok, but hinting at a better song. Is that a harrison reference at the end? Side 3, all things must pass? OK+
Heck yes-es - What? the protagonist of the Hell Yeahs is pissed? I'm shocked
solid little rocker with not much to make it stand out except that it is a solid little rocker. I like the cowbell break. Good-
Howl down - I like the aesthetic right away. The folky instrumentation and slacker vocals. I think the previous monks of doom comment largely has to do with the sound of the lead vocalist here being very similar to Victor Krumenacher of that band. Great little song - the package is working on all levels for me. Good +
Jan Krueger - Double guitar sounds great. One of my favorite Poe short stories is "Buried Alive" - scary as hell. I think this may have played better with the lead vox in your chest voice rather than up so high. nicely done - the words arrangement and performance are all very supportive of one another. Good +
Jeff Landgraf - I am interested in what you are singing about - I don't think I quite figured it out. Musically this comes off a lot like a bare acoustic demo and begs to be fleshed out. but you had me listening. Good -
Mc Milk Plus - Pretty groovy. I like your rhythmic choices. Great use of samples/loops. The shake it is reminiscent of Andre 3000's thing. Some cool rhyming. I have no idea what you're singing about, but it sure is catchy and infectious. And well performed and produced. Good.
Monkey see monkey doodoo - sorry - I didn't care about this. thanks for playing.
PACO - You had me at Hello! And then kinda lost me - the song doesn't quite live up to that awesome intro. Good fun none-the-less. Great solo (duh). The verses just don't grab - but I'd skank to this at a party! Ok+
R. Mosquito - I like the percussion intro. you built anticipation well. Are the horns you (you've probably already addressed that)? Have you been listening to the Decemberists and Danny Elfman at the same time? That was very interesting! Good!
Roymond - I like the opening couplet a lot. The vocal delivery is a little rough and I wish it matched the guitar's softer quality better. Interesting song that didn't quite kil but was close. Good -
Sgt Stmp BOOM - The clipping is bugging too bad, too. The choral vocals are cool. and the overall unconvential arrangement - did you play your own sax? So many horn players around here. A lot good here, but also anticlimactic. OK+
Signboy - quite monotonous tune. I feel like the song is all drums. not mix wise but momentum wise. I like the soft cadence at the end of the chorus phrase. i got kinda bored by 2:00 - but I'll keep listening. The change at 2:02 is nice, but then it got boring again. Sorry. OK
Slats - I like the dissonant guitar thing at the front. This got quite monotonous. I do think that it's interesting that you took a (not) diggin out take on the title. Ok-
Steve Durand - Cool, man. I dig. nice build, starting with the flute. I like the picardy third thing at the end of the verse and the key change for the chorus. I do wish the jazz was a little hotter, but then maybe it would rock too much.
Interesting lateral take on the title, although I admit I don;t expect to see this in Downbeat anytime soon! Nice lip trills, too - man!!! Good +
Stoons - I like the opening sax loop. looking at the list I see this is the longest song in the fight - dangerous when you are alphabetically next-to-last. ok, yeah, it's getting a iittle boring - the chorus change was nice, but there is not much melody to speak of, not to sustain 4 minutes and the arrangement does change, but not quite enough to really make it work. I like backwards stuff, but it is too little and too late. Ok
Ted Nixon - This is like a little songfight Ogden Nash Poem, but not quite, I wish you had fleshed this out somehow. I don't know how, but structurally it feels undone musically even though it is done lyrically - I don;t know if that makes sense. Good Idea for a song for this title. Ok+
Clubs - Right off I have a judgement. You use this strumming pattern a lot, right? Lyrics bias - I tend not to like songs that reference themselves. Nice tune instinct. The stops and starts and unconventional phrasing is interesting. OK
Very listenable fight overall - only two clunkers and one whose lyrics I didn't care to hear again. good work songfighters - let's do it again next week.
So in the end I guess my votes go to (from bottom to top alphabetically) Steve, R Mosquito, Mr. Milk, Jan, howl down the Chimney, Collaboration Station, and BLT.
But because I knew, what I was singing, I didn't seem to recognize.
