The Song Fight Bulletin Board

The Affirmative Mention - So musically, this is pretty fantastic. I can't say exactly who your vocalist reminds me off. The drums sound really compressed, which I suppose isn't that bad. I like the little soft break near 1:10. This is also about as compositionally sound as you get on this site. I can't really criticize because there's hardly anything to criticize. Well, I guess the lyrics don't really grab me, but they rarely do.

Bella D's Melodies - Well, this is cute. Aren't all entries that involve kids on vocals? The music's kind of all over the place. The lyrics don't make sense. I must admit though - this song is kinda trippy. Something about the reverb and the occasional doubling of the vocals and the sort of upside down/muffled mix. I want some chocolate.

Berkeley Social Scene - Hmm. It would have been a little bit better had you mixed the guitars a little bit less...extreme. I'm listening to this through headphones and it's kind of disorienting with all of the hard panning and such. Also it might be cool if you turned up the bass a little bit in the mix. It's pretty cool the way that you switch up the tempo in the chorus though...nice touch. Lyrics are sort of creative, though I'm lost as to what you're talkin' about.

Cock - Your file name is Cock Ham. I find that hysterical for whatever reason. I must say, I dig the synthpop thing. You're pretty much the only person on this website that ever sounds like this. Something about this makes me want to drive in a car with a bunch of multicolored lights on the dashboard at night wearing a very large silver puffa jacket.

The HATE Noise! - Man, this song makes me wanna smoke crack. As an adventurous dog once learned, "it's all about the profit". The beat here is pretty awesome, to say the least. Sounds like the sort of thing that would have been released about 5 years ago. In terms of humorous lyrics...you get many, many points. Your flow is about as good as the beat and production.

Jon Eric ft. Manhatten Glutton - This sounds like something my friend Ethan would like. The background vocals are pretty good. While this song is definitely well executed, something about it just bores me. Sounds too...familiar? I guess that's the word for it.

Josh Millard - If that's a cowbell I hear, you get a few bonus points. The flow of the vocals is a little bit off at times...actually, the entire rhythm of the song occasinally gets off, leading to some sloppy sounding traditions. Definitely a well thoughout composition though. Woo.

King Arthur - That keyboard makes me smile for whatever reason. And I love your album name. That chord progression that shifts up just a half step is pretty awesome. As well as your sense of melody...I've always appreciated it. As someone else said, this has a very strong late 80's/early 90's soft rock feel to it, with both the melodies and the production method.

Lord of Oats - This reminds me of Casiotone For the Painfully Alone. Even the pining about the unreachable lover. That said, I do like it. The vocals aren't really keeping a very strong melody for the most part, and some of the synths that come in don't really complement the chord progression particularly well. So while it could have been better executed, it's by no means bad.

Mc Who Izzy - Choral pads? A preacher? I'm waiting for a song. Or a beat.Or something. Anywho, you should have used a less saturated reverb. I've never been in a church that sounds like it's made out of sheet metal. Electric piano keyboard! Hip-hop beat that's really soft! This is...wack.

New Result - What's up with this pads this time? Anywho, I suppose your ideas are getting a little bit better. I still can't dance to this, nor can think of any reason I'd actually want to listen to it. I think you should hang out with a bunch of rave kids for awhile and learn the basic elements of what makes repetitive electronic music good. And write some actual lyrics. And make loops longer than a bar. And employ some sort of build/drop mechanism. I don't know what music program you use, but there's so much more you can do.

Pillar Of Paprika - Wait. What's this? This has that sort of shoegazing tendency that my fuzz and reverb soaked soul loves. As someone else mentioned, Ride/Lush/Slowdive influence pretty strong. Maybe a little bit of the Telescopes as well. Since it sounds like you're using synth drums, this might be a lot cooler with something a little bit less...obviously synthy on the toms. Pick a heavier sound? Less sustain? I dunno. I'm now officially relaxed.

Queef McBeef - I counted the number of samples in this and it was over 80. Rather tedious, but I had fun with it.

Queen Cigarette - CLIPPING! Other than that, I kind of like this song. It sounds like somebody in a band named Queen Cigarette wrote. Somehow, the extreme grittiness of the recording makes it seem even more authentic for what it's trying to be. Good job?

Riot Nrrrds - Interesting way of recording the vocals. The doubling is kind of distracting. As well as the fact that it sounds like you're singing through a blanket. Anywho, the harmonies are pretty good. As I'm kind of a stickler for production (most of the time, ignore my queen cigarette review), I'd say that this would work better if both sides were a little bit closer to center. Or if the guitar was in the center and both of the vocal tracks were slightly offset in either direction. It'd be a bit more rad. Hmm. I like the synth.

Sockpuppet - Go you.

Steve Durand - This is more upbeat than usual! As usual, I can't really find anything to fault you on. Though I have to say, this doesn't grab me at all, and I don't really know what to say about it. The guitar solo towards the end was pretty nice, if shortlived.

Tailirene Irene - Everything about you reminds me of the late 90's/early 00's. It's kind of hard to make out your lyrics, since they're kind of buried in the mix. Try bringing them up a little bit. Again, you need a little bit more bass behind this. And take some of the reverb off of the piano...it takes away some of the propulsive beat that music like this really needs. Your flow and singing has gotten better.

my song was not at all wack...though it was kind of whack. I did figure that out a while back and plan to fix it at a later date. though i appreciate the criticism. can't get better without know what to improve

Who_Izzy wrote:my song was not at all wack...though it was kind of whack. I did figure that out a while back and plan to fix it at a later date. though i appreciate the criticism. can't get better without know what to improve

I'm not sure what the difference is...but seriously, I'm one of the more wack people on here, so take my declarations of something being wack with a grain of salt.

reviewed in increasing order of length. two listens. except for my song. obviously.

sockpuppet - nice harmonies. amusing.

josh m - kind of weird cadence on the words, but i like this anyway. it reminds me of somebody famous but i can't place that. well. be careful about actually naming your song as something other than the title (during the fight). clicking and jaws is good. i'm digging the piano and rhythm. the single/disjoint bit is a good one too. nice turns of phrase.

queen cig - lotsa background noise. needs more dynamics. no idea what you're saying.

mcwho - i'm digging the intro, but those notes that end abruptly should taper instead, it takes you out of the feel. not sure about the sampled preacher. is there bass in this? it's lacking. i'd make your voice bigger.

cock - oh, i love the sounds. very 80's in a good way. wow, i love this. those vocals sound fantastic. i think this was my favorite song of the fight on the first listen. i'd shy away from rhyming "never done" and "all undone". who did what here?

bella d - cute. it's a little distracting what the music is doing, the changes don't seem to be working well for me. something less advanced might help out the singer, unless of course she was singing acapella. i'll vote for it anyway.

jon eric - very ben folds, eh? i like the piano. the hand in hand part sounds a bit too much like some other song. enjoying the vocals and backing vocals. that lil' drum bit was fun.

newresult - probably the main loop there should be a bit longer. it drags quickly. the drums are cool. wow, this is qualifying for the "this song is only three words long" award. that one line gets real old fast. try writing some words that aren't just the song title repeated over and over. the song would be way more compelling.

king arthur - i'm not sure the distorted guitar has the right sound along with the other instruments. i like the grateful dead vibe this has in the vocals. nice one.

riot nrrds - there's background noise again. the vocal is kinda flat. if you're going to double the vocals they should probably be closer together. "hardly just another life"? kind of awkward. cool solo, though. sounds like there's some sort of distortion on the guitar... was it peaking? here's a bandname that doesn't fit the sound...

steve d - this song might benefit from better drums. i like the chorus. this one gets the "best song to use the word 'pell-mell'" award. i'd like to hear some more backing vocals in the verses, thicken up the vox a bit.

tailirewhat - the rap vox have more presence than the verses. thicken those up with some fx. this is pretty good, but it's not to my taste. you know, it sounds kind of weird to end on "easily" , maybe add on "as i dared"?

affirmative - this is pretty smooth. i like how your vocals have improved over the years. unfortunately i didn't find the chorus that memorable. the verses are probably more so. nice instrumentation! the higher pitched piano or whatever is a little distracting as-is, maybe drop its levels a bit. why is memories in boldface? liking that outro.

hatenoise - wow. this is pretty awful, sorry. really dislike the subject matter and the overuse of swears. the percussion's got some promise.

paprika - me and idiot kings. i'm really happy with how this came out. more accessible than our last collaboration (501).

loo - the drums are pretty compelling. some of the phrasings are a little strange like "how to do what i want to do" ... nice backing vocal there. i'm not that keen on the waveriness of the vocals. "exceptional"? odd. this is pretty neat, and definitely different. i'm digging the solo.

queef - wow, this seems like a lot of work, organizing all those samples. what did you use? it's pretty cool, actually, and i don't know how much i'd listen to it, but i will vote for it anyway because i recognize the craft in it.

bss - set our heads/heads set? not so keen. in fact there's a lot of in-phrase repetition that isn't working well for me here. the music's definitely cool, although things in the two ears aren't necessarily feeling all together. maybe that's because i'm on headphones. low density humans? i don't quite get it. i'm a little conflicted but i like it enough to give it a vote.

votes: josh m, cock, bella d, jon eric, king arthur, steve d, affirmative, paprika, queef, bss

HeuristicsInc wrote:affirmative - this is pretty smooth. i like how your vocals have improved over the years. unfortunately i didn't find the chorus that memorable. the verses are probably more so. nice instrumentation! the higher pitched piano or whatever is a little distracting as-is, maybe drop its levels a bit. why is memories in boldface? liking that outro.

Memories is bold because otherwise, I forget and say "money", but for the final time, I want to say "memories".

And thanks for the vote!

I'm trying to think about how many moments I should spend on lyrics in order to justify even considering the idea of explaining them in the D&R portion of the process. I will say that some of the wordplay is based on jargon germane to the fields of psychology and cognitive science, so I got some laughs from colleagues on some things that may have been inscrutable for some in our audience.

I am going to ask Ken about hard panning guitars. I assume you sacrifice clarity and stereo image as you lay off the panning, but I don't know if there is a more successful happy medium that could have been reached...

Anyway- I'm late for vocal overdub session on TMP.

Was still toying with the idea of finishing an ambienty wank I was working on but this morning I got a phonecall I wasn't looking forward to so I'm not really in the right frame of mind to finish. If anyone needs me I'll be in Chicago for a week.

my apologies for not reviewing this time around. i was on vacation all last week and now have a mountain of catch up work to do.

Hi, Song Fight! Did you miss me?

If this was still the good old days and I was only allowed to pick one, I'm sure I would have picked sockpuppet.

However, the good old days are gone, which means kingarthur has got got a vote contender here, with extra bonus points for the guest spot from Mark Knoepfler. I probably spelled that wrong but I'm far too lazy to check. pillarofpaprika, queencigarette, riotnrrrds.mp3, and stevedurand also have contenders. I'll probably pick out my top three overall. Maybe flip a coin.

Honorable mentions go to affirmativemention, bellad, and berkeleysocialscene, all of which have really good singing but somehow I got lost among what seemed like too many different instrumental parts happening all at once, not necessarily all feeling like they are going in the same direction. Also, berkeleysocialscene has a whole bunch of little clever Mike Doughty-isms in the lyrics, the kind of thing that sort of grab your ear and say, "Hey! I just said something clever!", which is nice when it happens once or twice, like a pleasant surprise, but when it happens in nearly every line it kind of gets tiring and distracts from the rest of the song.

joshmillard could probably be lumped into that grouping, too, although somehow the crazy frenetic drum part successfully toes that line of almost making the whole song fall apart without stepping over it.

"Instantly familiar without sounding derivative" would be a good compliment to pretty much any songwriter. The one by joneric+manhattanglutton falls just a hair short of this remark: you killed me with the "Time After Time" chorus.

Not sure if it's funny because it's ironic, or funny because it's funny, but the hatenoise entry was mostly pretty good. Would have been a contender without the voice of the "grandpa" character, which I've heard done way too many times.

Slight genre-bias may have gotten in the way of me enjoying the song by cock as much as I might have otherwise, although it was rather well executed. Similarly, lordofoats is kind of just pushing my "not my thing" buttons -- constructive criticism is tough to offer in this type of a situation, but my personal preference would be for more Joy Division and less New Order. However, I can still see that it has redeeming qualities and I'm sure there are people out there who would really be into it. In clear contrast with some other things I've heard...

mcwhoizzy, newresult

As for tailirineirene, this comment is partly advice and partly a personal request: next time, please sing throughout the whole song, thanks.

On the other hand, the jury is still out on queefmcbeef. The part that starts with "hello/hello/hello/hello" is fairly creative, although I would have liked to have heard just one "Smells Like Teen Spirit" sample thrown in there for good measure. However, the song as a whole is not overly welcoming of repeated listens. If this was sandwiched between a couple "actual" songs, for example on a Butthole Surfers record, I might only be inclined to skip over it sometimes. If the whole CD was like this, though, it would be really awful.

welcome back, eric!

the idiot king wrote:my apologies for not reviewing this time around. i was on vacation all last week and now have a mountain of catch up work to do.

well, i posted reviews... at least one of us did
-bill

Can it not just be agreed upon by all of us that the passive voice is something that always should be avoided?
(And now that I've taken the time to again re-read this message, I wanted to also remind everyone to always avoid splitting an infinitive.)

Ryan wrote:Don't you think that this works better too: "Jenny Jenny, to whom can I turn?"

Not nearly as well as the following line, which references "something onto which I can hold."

glennny wrote:This entry is hopefully a cute novelty entry, it’s not gunning for the win.

Stranger things have happened.

Holy crap!

hey, congrats, jon eric!
it was a good song.
we missed it by one!
-bill

Hey, thanks, Bill! And to everyone who voted! And to Manhattan Glutton!

It's kind of funny, when you think about it. King Arthur only got started here a week before I did, so it's only fitting that our respective first victories should be consecutive as well.

Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed. The offhanded comparisons to Ben Folds warmed my heart. And yeah, Cyndi Lauper. Totally busted.

But but it was a collab!

Congrats Jon :)

Agreed- too many clever lyrics in BSS. My fault. I just couldn't stop once I got started. Ken wrote a few stanzas too, but that just goes to show that two fucking geniuses aren't always better than one. I'm SFO airport waiting for a delayed flight to Vegas for a bachelor party weekend. I plan to kill some brain cells and then give writing lyrics another try.

Short list of new Las Vegas Ad copy:
Nothing happened in Vegas
I told you that hooker was already dead in Vegas
Our Slogan and the penal code are at odds in Vegas
Stop eating all of the shrimp.

Ryan wrote: Nothing happened in Vegas
I told you that hooker was already dead in Vegas
Our Slogan and the penal code are at odds in Vegas
Stop eating all of the shrimp.

That seriously needs to be set to music and recorded, stat.