The Song Fight Bulletin Board

mkilly wrote:what's with the vocal effect, blue? song rocks though.

there's no effect on the vox. it's a harmonica mic into a guitar amp.

Smalltown Mike wrote:It always seems to me with Blue's stuff that too much attention is spent making sure everything is "indie" and "not-pop sounding" instead of just making a kick-ass song.

maaaybe i keep joining bands that try too hard to be indie and not pop sounding instead of just making kick-ass songs?

Smalltown Mike wrote:It always seems to me with Blue's stuff that too much attention is spent making sure everything is "indie" and "not-pop sounding" instead of just making a kick-ass song.

It always seems to me with Smalltown Mike's reviews that too much attention is spent making sure that "indie" is dissed, regardless of whether popularity is, in any instance, a good benchmark for song quality.

36? Shut up grandad, one might say?

oh Moneyshot. After tooling around the boards here reading your garbage opine, I'm almost tempted to suggest you go back to writing music, except that I'd rather read your crap than listen to it. Kind of rock and hard place stuff, huh? Carry on, I guess...

I'm so indie I don't even listen to myself...

blue wrote:

Smalltown Mike wrote:It always seems to me with Blue's stuff that too much attention is spent making sure everything is "indie" and "not-pop sounding" instead of just making a kick-ass song.

maaaybe i keep joining bands that try too hard to be indie and not pop sounding instead of just making kick-ass songs?

Let's go back to Paco's review. The objective is the BCT is to have that "live" sound (I think he used the term "spontanaity") without sounding like shit (that could be debated). I don't know if you have ever been in a dive bar listening to good old fashioned rock and roll, but a lot of times.....you can't understand the lyrics. I am okay with that. It happens. And I hate to say it, but when we're poppin' out songfights we do not focus too much on the lyrics. There is usually no meaning to our songs.

anarchaeologists - i like the full beef of the groove off the top. nice and bold. I like the phone vocal styling, not sure a whole song is going to work though. I'm a sucker for phoned-in vox. Do it all the time. The piano groove drop out is disconcerting. I like the refrain. Holy blistering solo! That's some sweet shit. Nice sustain. I wish the rest of the song didn't sound so cut and paste, where's the humanizer button? Pretty good though...I'm keeping this on style points. Bad ending.

balls2monte - music is kind of depeche mode-ish..not a bad thing at all. Great vocal work. It carries the sparse arrangement well. The kick drum is too snappy for me...needs more low whump. But that's nitpicky... I like this pretty ok. Not bowled over, but pleased and will add to my collection. Fade works on this one.

Beefy & DJ SNYDER - I'm down. I like it. Some great nods to rap giants of old. Great production, nice mix. Nice take on the title, moving, but the groove isn't quite serious enough for the serious end-ish part. Specially the squeally stringthing at the end...Keepin' it though.

Billy's Little Trip - Tuning!!!!!! Nice stereo field man. Mix is good too. Is your crunch guitar direct recorded? I'd like to hear an amp and a mic instead...nitpicky, I know. Good feel though.

Booty Chesterfield Trio - I like the chord workings. I wish it sounded better. With intelligible vox and better production I could really dig this tune. Some good tones and moments in there.

DJ Dickie Qwick - Well that was fun.

FLVXXVMFLORVM - Is that a cig box guitar amp? I think it was you I read used one recently....I'm getting one either way. This song isn't making the grade for me this week though.

Garlickhead - Tad of compression on the vox would help them stand out a bit...sometimes they disappear into the back. I love the jaunt of the ragtime feel (if that's what it is)... This is fun, I'm keeping it. Mix is dull, but that's overshadowed by feel.

Gert - shout out to the boyz.

iNGRUO - I like the groove off the top. It loses me after that. Very stylish though. You squeeze an awful lot out of that groove. Maybe a bit too much. I like the Orgy work-up at near the end. That's cool. Cuz I like Orgy.

Melvin - I just like this. I don't know why, but it just gets me grooving, and that's the magic of Melvin. Some great transiXions, and a nice solo...great pre and chorus too. Keeper for sure. Excellent. Favourite so far, possible vote.

PacoDelStinko - The break it down part sold me. Awesome. The crazIkeys after too. I could take or leave the narrative treatment, but I'm smiling and head-noddin', so ...I'll keep it.

Raspy Jasper - envelope filter madness! You sound like you've got a great voice, but I can hardly hear it! The song is pretty vanilla, not bad, not great, it works. Mix doesn't, so much. And that breaks the deal for me a bit.

Ross Durand - Great break with "he's smart, to him it's an art"....that hooked me. This is fantastic. Those lead guitars are bit forward, but everything is fine. AHAHAHA...love the tv-show plug idea. Wow. This is pretty vote worthy too. I'm impressed. Keeper.

Signboy - alright...somethings are good here...your voice has character, but it's not always on pitch. The mix is really thin. I think the backing music is competently played, but it's not shown off well. The chorus is painfully not connected, pitch-wise....but the energy is great. Keep it up.

Sockpuppet - Like the noodly keys. Vocals aren't selling me. I think the reverb choice sounds cheapish...a different room or effectbox might work better, imo. Sounds are good and present.. I like the use of the stereo field. I'm really missing the next part of the song though. (it kind of just like repeats....)

Spinlock - Right on. It's thin, but it's fun. Mixing is tricky business. you got all the parts in there...keep working on the beef factor.

Triminutieux - I like scapes. Some nifty bits in here.

Wages of Spin - Aight aight. Medium. Middle o' the road. Neither here nor there. I like some of the sounds not normally found together...guitar and cooly synth buh buh buh....catches my ears interest. The vocals need harmony in the chorus to not start sounding samey all the way through. Pitch? I dunno...hate sounding like Simon. But it means something to me. I like the organitron solo.

WreckdomVsSven - this is fucking brilliant. I love the kick ass guitar work. I'm totally keeping this. I may vote for it. The change at 3 minutes doesn't sex me up like the rest of it does. quibbles and nitpickin'. Geoff Wreckdom = teh tw1st.

zoosneakers - was wreckdom speaking to you after hearing your song?


This fight had some standout guitar playing....nice. Great fight everyone. WreckdomVsSven gets the vote this week...pretty much for punching me in the face and tying my headphones onto my head with barbed wire. Damn straight. Serious honourable mention to Ross Durand and Melvin as well.

Hateful Reviews

Anarchaeologists: FAME! I'M GONNA LIVE FOREVER! Sorry.

Balls to Monte: I like the electric piano sound. Gets kind of repetitive towards the end. Okay song, though. Unfortunately, I hate it.

Beefy/DJ Snyder: Oh god.

Billy's Little Trip: Oh good, some bass and guitar. Starts out promising. I don't like that chorus though, probably just the vox on it, but maybe not. This is all Ziggy Stardust-ish. Not bad. For a song I hate.

Booty Chesterfield Trio: Steely Dan meets The Jesus Lizard. Closest to my personal fucked-up musical taste so far. I'm not saying I like the song, mind you (I might have, though)

DJ Dixiechicks: I hate sampling.

Flvxxvm Florvm: Tom Waits. But not. Not in love with this, sorry.

Garlick Head: Probably the best performed/produced track so far. Pretty clever, actually, but I hate the song.

Gert: I don't know why, but I hate this on so many levels.

Ingruo: Oh man I love electronic farts.

Melvin: If i saw a band playing this in a bar, I'd be tempted to jump on stage and start throwing punches. Especially at the bump-ba-dah-bump-ba-ba-badda part. There would be blood spilled.

Paco Del Stinko: Okay, I laughed. I hate this, but it made me laugh

Raspy Jasper: I like the singing, but I hate everything else. I wish you'd have just left the synth out and did a drum beat instead. I just realised what you're singing about. Now I fucking hate this.

Ross Durand: Hey, it's a smarmy late 70's/early 80's TV sitcom themesong. Guess what I hate about this? That's right, everything.

Signboy: Oh fuck, I just destroyed my keyboard. By puking on it. You owe me for a new KB, plus the 18 seconds of my life I wasted listening to this before hitting [>>].

Sockpuppet: Oh baby baby how was I supposed to know. I hate this.

Christopher Butt: Nice singing. I hate thick brit accents, though. Lose that, m'kay? Thanks. (PS I hate the song)

Tri Minutieux: Ahhh, oui. C'est terrible. J'deteste. Tabernac.

Wages of Spin: More like "Wages of I Hate This"

WreckdoM vs. Sven: I'd say I hate this, but I'm scared Geoff will track me down and do all those things to me.

Zoosneakers: WTF is this supposed to be? A song? I hate that you submitted this.

My vote goes to WreckdoM and myself this week. Because our song is way better than all this other shit. I hate having to vote for myself, but this lacklustre collection of putrid papsmear forced me into it. I hate all of you for causing this. Bunch of tw3rps.

Tri Minutieux - Man, the first minute really blows my mind. Very Eno, even Ennio Morricone. The second minute is not so hot. Overall, very nice and from a different planet.

while contrary to johnny's opinion about me not having an opinion, here's my opinion, for what it's worth. not much apparently

svekdom
uh. not a promising start. scares me off pretty quickly. sorry. i still like you guys though

paco del stinko
while this is well done, it makes me shudder at the thought of all the bad nerd rap that is undoubtedly to follow in this playlist. production is solid (i think you're one of the better and more ambitious producers around here by the way) but the tune itself is kind of a tosser for me.

wages of spin
this is pretty solid. i like the synth stuff over the guitar. singing isn't great but it's unique and good. yeah, that bust out organ solo is awesome. gives this whole thing a nice vintage animals/eric burdon feel to it. nice job man.

booty chesterfield trio
this is great! definitely got a GBV/minutemen feel to it. drums sound so clean relative to the overdriven vocals but it's a good and effective contrast. the reggae breakdown is pretty cool and effective too. yeah, definitely grows on me as it goes along. kick ass man.

ross durand
ha, it sounds like a TV theme song from the late 70's or early 80's. not sure if it was intended that way, but man, you could sell this. HA!! beautiful.

triminutieux
i guess spelling out the title qualifies it as a song. for someone else.

signboy
seems kind of out of synch. literally.

anarchaeologists
lovin the peter gunn like opening and the phone vocals. hell yes, this is pretty sweet. production is excellent, and the execution is passionate and strong. solid all the way around. dig it. outstanding gratuitous guitar solo. outstanding harmony vocals. outstanding track.

raspy jasper
double hard panned auto-wah guitars! holy crap, i think that's a first! acoustic could definitely be helped by a closer mic. it's buried behind that wall of wah. singing is pretty good, but again suffers by a lack of good signal capture. i'm always a sucker for real handclaps but i like them even more if they synch to some sort of beat

gert
mix sounds overcompressed? gert rocks songfight, and i really don't understand the gert hate i read about. i mean, here are 5 (or is it 6?) of the MOST FUCKING TALENTED GUYS ON SONGFIGHT. just on a pure execution scale, anything they touch is fucking gold, so what's to diss? style haters fuck off. fucking twerps. i'm crusing in my 69 camaro blasting this from my jensen tri-axial speakers with my mullet flying free in the breeze. (raises the virtual bic to gert, the most unappreciated goldmine of talent (next to mc frontalot) on songfight.

beefy snyder
i heart snyder. raps pretty solid. good production. could maybe use a break up or breakdown. well done though. shows that not all songfight rap is crap.

ingruo
it's definitely an interesting take. i was about to write it off when the vocals came in. it's got an almost futuristic tom waits like feel to it.

zoosneakers
did you forget something? the title? a song? relevance? all of the above?

garlickhead
haha, it's ambitious for sure. works for me. arrangement is pretty awesome.

billys little trip
nice full sound right from the start, great tone on that bass! this is really good man. production and execution is very, very good. nice hooky chorus! it's got a nice vintage bowie feel to it (comments i usually reserve for frankie...)

dj dickie qwick
"somebody kick that god damned record player..."

balls to monte
as with all your stuff, you put such great passion in your work. awesome vocals. stellar execution, great arrangement. nice clean recording. like the synth build in. fadeout is kind of a buzz chafe, but overall, like all of your work, quality stuff.

sockpuppet
dude, that is a fat backing mix. vocally, i'm on the fence. you sound really luuded out in your singing and the way it's effected, and i almost think if you'd have been better really reverbing and effecting the vocals, make them more peripheral than central in the mix. i'm not saying the vocals are bad at all, i like them in fact, i just think they are overemphasized in the mix as i hear it. like i said, the backing mix is huge dude, if a bit dancey, but really excellent.

flvxxvmflorvm
are you playing the spoons back there? if so...awesome! guitar and bass is sloppy and good. so is keyboards. so is the mix. so is the singing. hell, it's all sloppy and good!!

melvin
it's well done production wise. you've got good chops melvin. it has lots of that pop sensibilities.

spinlock
love the singing and theatrical arrangement. very unique sound. and cool instrumentation. this is very good! has a broadway feel to it. wow. impressive.

jack wrote:svekdom
uh. not a promising start. scares me off pretty quickly. sorry. i still like you guys though

Did you listen to the whole song? It's an epic 4-section rock opera. Just in case the trash talking intro made you not listen to the whole thing and all.

Sven wrote:I just realised what you're singing about. Now I fucking hate this.

Not a fan of the clit?

WesDavis wrote:

Sven wrote:I just realised what you're singing about. Now I fucking hate this.

Not a fan of the clit?

Don't worry, he hates everything. The only thing he loves is hate, but he hates that too.

I hate people who hate hate. I hate hate-haters.

No Xan today, so expect a highly unbalanced opinion from your dedicated but poorly tagged songfight fanboi.

Tri Minutieux

Love the musical elements. This is the sort of thing they play underneath a very serious BBC documentary voiceover about how milkmen are delivering doorstep pints made from dolphin blubber to British householders. Felt the microphoning let it down a bit - the rest of it sounded nicely harsh and empty, and the vocals didn't match. Maybe on purpose? Who knows. Anyway. That was nice. Thankyou.

The Anarcheologists

Hmm. Catchy hook. God I hate badly played piano. Too many days in music shops and classrooms listening to people banging the latest muse or coldplay riff out. Shame, because you have a very serviceable pop melody thing going on here. Bonus marks for harmonies. Ooh a solo. Technical sounding. Did you think about putting in a random saw wave sweepy thing? That's what it feels like it's lacking. Someone playing a beepy thing with a stylus while wearing a bizarre uniform is all you are away from commercial success. Of course I'd never buy it, but I might watch you perform at the icelandic music festival via TV. Well done.

Zoosneakers

Uhhm. Wow. You really like phasers. Or flangers. Whichever you went for here. The first time I listened to this I stared at someones avatar, of a kid who looks like Kim Jong Il at a football match. Really trippy. Many chocolate biscuits later, and the Second and third time through...all I'm hearing is the phaser and the throbby bass (which is kinda generic). It's stopped being so cool now. I think there's not enough going on in this to grab my attention on repeated listens. But I did enjoy it the first couple of times. Sorry I can't comment on this more constructively because I don't really know what you set out to achieve.

Balls to Monte

TW
3RP
is a licence plate on a motorbike? That's the way I listen to this song anyway. Meatloafy. Extra instruments came in exactly when I was getting bored. And just as I was thinking "this sounds like someone that had a wild youth and doesn't anymore" the lyric about "Just like the old days..." slides in. Well, this song had an answer to everything. Well done. Next time be more surprising. Very competent effort, nicely mixed.

Wreckdom vs Sven

Awesome language. Ain't never heard most of that before. And prize for effective use of Mains Buzz as a part of the song.
Self righteous dude vs totally righteous contextless guitar solo.
Okay. The nearest song I've ever heard to this before in my life is 'wear sunscreen' or something by snoop dogg(g). Did the swearing chap win?
*lost*
To quote Wes Davis
WHAT
and I mean that in the most flattering way possible. But maybe just because I'm scared you'll hurt me.

Beefy W DJ Snyder
Holy crap. This isn't nerdcore is it?
So WTF if this is just poetry set to a beat as someone else said. It's bloody good. Good delivery, love the confidence, and there's a bit of that hip-hop pseudo melody coming through. Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but it certainly sounds fluid all the way through to my ear - though the ending didn't quite do it for me. Big gap + repeat the last line with different eq? I can't begin to say how that could be done better (sorry), but I think it could. Anyway, thanks for telling a story that isn't about how l33t your are or aren't and instead talking about something interesting.
The only thing that struck me about this on a re-listen is that maybe there could have been room for a bridge or something with a different rhyme structure to break up the structure a little more. Would enjoy hearing more of this quality.

Wages of spin
Ok. This was my first collab and it was lots of fun, but in the end I don't think I managed to quite get in the same place as Phil was, musically. On reflection I actually preferred the vocal line on the penultimate version, and if he doesn't mind I'll post a link here so y'all can see what you think.

Billy's Little Trip
I don't normally like talking songs... but this mixed a Totally Appropriate guitar solo with sarcasm and a sort of childish petulant delivery. Man! This feels like a really complete song - the instruments, the production, the lyrics, the delivery, everything all points the same way, and to my mind that draws a picture of the radio host who is a ... tw3rp.. right? As well as that being station ID. The more I listen to it the more cohesive it seems. I'd put this in the same league as Jim Tyrell's House of Hodgman, and I thought that song was great so take it as a compliment. Way to raise the bar.

Spinlock
In a totally post-modernistic Irony I became a tw3rp by uploading an old version of this song (with just wrong ID3 tags, uncompressed, un eq'd, and un backing organned). Yet some of you still seemed to like it! Thanks for the reviews. It

Booty Chesterfield Trio
Ok. It's clean... it's nicely balanced. It's well recorded. It has interesting effects. Oh dear. It abruptly changes speed. It uses one chord sequence almost all the way through. The segments are nicely distributed. But does the singer appear to care even slightly? Hard to tell, everything is distorted. I stopped caring. I have friends who have iPods full of music like this, but it's pretty much the opposite of everything I like. Luckily it's just the right length. Pretty forgettable and bland. But no doubt great if you like that sort of thing.

Sockpuppet

I Totally got the Britney vibe. I wonder what elements you were particularly focussing on. The Violin thing is brilliant. Did you record that yourself? I always paid attention to Britneys voice - which seems completely amorphus as it changes style and scope in every song on her first album. I guess that they use some sort of vocal processor on it, and I think that part of what you're missing here is the multi-octave vocal copies. For example, there should really be a quieter pitch shifted copy of your lead part an octave above where you are as a bare minimum. And loads of compression so that every little gasp and inflection of your throat can be heard. But I guess it wasn't so much production style as musical style, which I think you win at. Really interesting exercise, thanks for explaining what it was about.

DJ Quicky Quick
Where on earth did you get a copy of a radio station from what .. the sixties?
Like what you do with the radio song from 1:20 on. That sounds good. But it doesn't feel like you build anything new on top of the base you contruct - the T W 3 R P over the top is messy and just sort of piles all over at, and at the end... Well. It's not weird enough to make me think you're referencing some time wormhole Twilight Zone episode, and it's not deep enough to be a decent hit like Modjo's Lady Hear me tonight or glitchy or complex enough to be interesting as a piece of artistic glitch electronica in its own right. You don't even rap over it. Just sounds unfinished. I guess I could have deduced that from your name, huh. More fool me.

Signboy
Really not convinced by your lyrics, (then again, using tw3rp convincingly in a song was always going to be a challenge) which is a shame because the late 80's pop genesis sort of thing going on here is really quite nice. I'd have stuck some sort of synth chimey bell thing in and had a bridge or second chorus, as it feels a bit short. But yeah. Keep it up. Shedloads of potential there.

Flvxxvm Florvm
Huh. I was really looking forward to this... but it sounds like Elmer Fudd doing the peperami song. Was it you that wanted the duh duh DRUms? That would have made a lot of difference. Could have been menacing. Ended up flat. I don't know what else to say. Still, you achieved your objective right? Is hershey squirts a common euphemism wherever you live, or is that an original concept? Bonus points if it is.

Ross Durand
You do these comedy songs too well, considering that they're not what you consider your core skill. Okay, so it's not as good as your Get a Life entry (classic) but you mixed it up and did the TV thing, and it's always nice to have some decent harmonizing. I would have been nice to have an extra verse, and the line after it being an art... sounded a little abrupt somehow. But that's niggles. I would normally argue that TV commercials don't have 2 bars of intro before they get into the song, but I don't watch TV, and I understand 90 second network ad spots aren't unusual now. If anything it was a little short
But yeah! Good. I liked this.

Garlick Head
Yes! This takes the title as seriously as it should be. Totally fun, and I really enjoyed this. I liked the way the song left space for 'twerp' but pasted 'T.W.3.R.P' over it, merrily ignoring the completely different lengths. Uh. I think it could have been improved if the letters had been read (shouted?) by an increasingly distraught sounding human, rather than the robot. But other than that I can't think of much to improve it.

Raspy Jasper
Fun little song. Hah! How's that for patronising Think the squishy sound thing is really good, casually redefining a word is a breathtakingly arrogant, and done with aplomb. But the squishy thing doesn't sound good with a solo in it. After all, it's not a song about solo squishy is it? So yeah. Bit over-used. And it wouldn't have hurt to have the voices a little louder in the mix.

Gert
Pretty tight, specially the harmonies and guitars, and well recorded. The rhythms aren't so rigid that you get bored. The solo just before the organ comes in is a bit quiet. Can't say I identify with the content or tune particularly. Not bad, but I can't like a song that uses Geek as an offensive word.

Paco Del Stinko
Have you ever seen any of the Weebl and Bob animations? Things like I've got a lovely bunch of crabs here, or Magical Trevor?
Hard to review this one. Not really a rap, but not really got a tune. So lyrics. Uh. A guy called tw3rp that wears a badge that says tw3rp on it, that insists he's not a tw3rp. The talking style is pretty energetic and .. maybe patronising, and yet not annoying which is a tough trick to pull off. I can hear everything clearly and it's a good mix. Well done.

iNGRUO
I really like this from around 4:10 where it gets all in your face. Prior to that with the whispering it's really hard to make out what's being said, which is a shame because from the little I hear it doesn't sound bad. Not convinced by the square wave either. How did you make this? The sounds are good, and if it had a stronger tune or spoken part I would totally dig it.

Melvin
First run through didn't think much to it. But I've liked it more ever time since then. Couple of parts I don't understand... "cut off at the knees" - is that some sort of euphemism? It seems pretty violently incongruous if it's not. And there are a couple of notes that sound deliberately wrong (because you repeat them) in the sort of solo bit prior to the bah ba bahs. Which I think are great. I always like what you do with your voice, and your guitar tone is just right, not too distorted. Cool drum beat as well. At quiet volumes the high part of the bass line sounds great, at loud volumes the echo is a little distracting.

My top three, Billy, Melvin, Ross-Garlick

Sven wrote:I hate people who hate hate. I hate hate-haters.

Yeah well I HATE YOU. I don't like people who are hate-hater-haters.

That word has now lost ALL MEANING. Actually right now as I look at the word "haters" I keep thinking "taters," which is likely a side-effect of my hunger. That and the fact that it's 6 AM and I should be asleep. In fact, I'm going to do that sleep thing right now.

Man I should hurry up and do some reviews, instead of cluttering the board with nonsense.

Sven wrote: ... a bunch of hateful reviews ...

I hate that you didn't give anybody the two-word review: Shit Sandwhich.

I'm just glad that Sven, and others, got a laugh out of all the hate. I hoped to provide shallow entertainment here, and think it worked. Gotta say, Sven, that is a nicely dark section in that song - very Alice Cooper. Despite my goofy entry, I love the dark.

I don't care for much rap but want to say that I like it when it has either a fun-time entertainment feel, or like Beefy and Snyder, some substance or a message. Stop with the bitch slapping and chain waggling. Dated, but see Public Enemy or Run DMC. O.K. Back to my Josh Grobin collection.

Thanks for the nod, Jack - that makes me feel good. And thanks to all for spending the time to listen and/or write. S'what makes this place so wonderful.

Answers to various questions:

No, the cigarette box amp was Wages.

Yes, those are spoons. There were also bongos that came out nearly inaudible.

"Hershey squirts in your jockey shorts" is from the 1987 film Stand By Me. I believe the line was spoken by Corey Feldman.

spinlock wrote: Wages of spin
Ok. This was my first collab and it was lots of fun, but in the end I don't think I managed to quite get in the same place as Phil was, musically. On reflection I actually preferred the vocal line on the penultimate version, and if he doesn't mind I'll post a link here so y'all can see what you think.

Doesn't bother me.

spinlock wrote: Sockpuppet

I Totally got the Britney vibe. I wonder what elements you were particularly focussing on. The Violin thing is brilliant. Did you record that yourself? I always paid attention to Britneys voice - which seems completely amorphus as it changes style and scope in every song on her first album. I guess that they use some sort of vocal processor on it, and I think that part of what you're missing here is the multi-octave vocal copies. For example, there should really be a quieter pitch shifted copy of your lead part an octave above where you are as a bare minimum. And loads of compression so that every little gasp and inflection of your throat can be heard. But I guess it wasn't so much production style as musical style, which I think you win at. Really interesting exercise, thanks for explaining what it was about.

I was focusing on song structure and lyrics and melodies (which stands to reason that I did all this focusing during karaoke and not by listening to albums), not so much on instrumentation. The orchestral stuff was all loops (Apple Jam Pack FTW) though the bass synth and keyboard were all me. I did do some subtle vocal processing (with a pitch-shifted copy in the background, exactly as you were suggesting!) but I kept it pretty low in the mix since I just wanted it to be subtle. And I thought it was compressed too much as-is!

Thanks for the detailed review. I learned a lot about how to improve my own music while trying to imitate someone else, so I think this experiment was very useful (even if the reviews and vote are basically going exactly as I expected for the most part).

Anarchaeologists - This is a good song. I think the verses are a little too long and monotenous (I said a little, it's still good). The chorus is really nice and that solo makes the song! Nice chorus melody and singing! I kept anticipating the lead vocals to get off the phone and sing heart out , maybe on the last chorus. Something about being "Down Hearted Baby, ever since the Day we met". Good song!

Balls to Monte - Ooooooooooh yeah! NICE! We need more Roxy Music around here! Fantastic vocals man! I wish the drums were real, and interesting. My perspective is probably skewed after having the luxury all month for FAWM. The keyboard swells are nice. The chorus isn't as catchy as I'd hope. But great singing!

Beefy with DJ Snyder - Not my genre, but I dig this. It's all about the female sampled "yeahs". Scrathing is pretty awesome too! Yeah I don't like rap, but I love Parliment, I love Bootsy so the more funk the music is, the more I like it. This is great!

Billy's Little Trip - I haven't reviewed in a while, but I've been meaning to tell you that your production has drastically improved. It's really good these days! This sounds like Frehleys Comet's to me. If I hadn't seen pictures of you I might think you were Ace. Great solo man! Not your best song, but great production, and still very cool.

Booty Chesterfield Trio - That breakdown is great! I wish the vocals weren't so distorted. This is a pleasant listen. It's not very musical, so the drums really stand out. Drums are very well done.

Christopher Butt- This is fantastic! Love it! The bridge and big swell at the end isn't as strong as the 1st 90 seconds, but overall very great! The guitarist sounds like she/he does know Mandinka, it's just 3 notes, but I'm instantly singing Sinead.

DJ Dickie Qwick - My old band used to do a cover of the ending credit song on WKRP. We thought the song was great because we could only make out the 3 words " Beh doo bah deddah baht dehehd bahdda hehda, deddle boo bahm betta Rock and Roll bem uh huh". Anyway, this is entertaining.

FLVXXVMFLORVM - Not really digging the riff. I like the lead guitar licks. Cartoon voice is funny, but needs better material to really sell me.

Garlick Head - I wish the piano was louder in the mix, the kazoo was lower. This is great though. A keeper.

Gert - Nice rockin tune. Oh yeah! Keys solo rules! I don't know who's who, but I love that lead vocal delivery. The 1st vocalist that is. The 2nd is good, just really dig the slurry nasally delivery of the 1st guy. Coool tune!

Inguro - Feels like you're breaking my speakers. That's great.Vocals are a bit of a let down. backing track is so interesting. Why couldn't you get Bjork to do vocal gymnastics over this? Yeah the whispered vocals just don't cut it. Music is great though!

Melvin - Always a favorite of mine. This is one of the better Melvin entries. This is certainly a contender. I can't imagine liking a song more than this. Singing is fantastic! the best part about it is that it sounds original. I mean that it sounds very Melvin. background vocals are the best part! Melvin rules!

Paco Del Stinko -Oh yeah! I love Pretzel-core!! (twisted and salty). Paco Del Stinko always get mentioned when Pretzel-core comes up, he shouldn't be pigeon-holed into that genre. There really is much more to his music. It's just that he is the best at it. Okay, this song is GENIUS! the "wow" deadpan makes me laugh so hard! I've listened to this like 10 times at this point (I haven't managed to get to the rest of the fight). I hope this gets added to the Funniest songs on SongFight list. It's my #2 ( after TMK Applesauce Baptism). I don't know who to vote for the Melvin tune and this are apples and oranges.

Raspy Jasper - Good singing, nice strumming, Not the best hand clapping. Nice harmonies. Yeah the claps detract. It's a pretty normal song. I listened to this twice. Once in stereo and once with my left speaker unplugged. I like the sound of the wah wah guitar, but I liked it better without it. I look forward to more!

Ross Durand - Oh my Gosh! I hope someone will do some flash animation for this. This is fantastic! Excellent production! Great melody! You're a teacher right? Can't you offer extra credit to a kid who does animation for you? I love it! Keeper, Contender, etc...

Signboy - Tough to follow Ross Durand, pitchy, very pitchy. (You can almost always say the same thing about my singing). Not a bad song. Wish the production was better and I'd re cut the vocals if I were you.

Sockpuppet -Keys and groove are pretty great. Vocals are the weakest link. Oh yeah! the violins that creep in are wonderful! Pretty killer track, with killer vocals this would be a contender.

Triminutieux - The scape is nice, I feel like the vocals saying "TW3RP" was to avoid the intrumental haters complaining that they didn't understand how the song was inspired by the title. Cool stuff. I'd lose the vocals though.

Wages of Spin -Spin is wonderful, the keys are really funky! Wages, you seem like a really cool guy. I like you big powerful voice. I hate the way you sing. I wish I could get you to stop scooping. I wish you were sure of your melodies. You are progressing and getting better, but tighten up the notes. I'd like to hear you sing something you knew the melody to without adding "soul".

Wreckdom vs. Sven - I feel like leaving this on the answering machine/ voicemail of all of my enemies. You know some people criticize swearing as "not being creative enough to say something else". I want to play them this. This is about the best most creative swearing since I 1st heard "Uncle fucker".

Zoosneakers - Not a bad scapey piece. Make a good filler track on an album.


OK, favorites are Ross Durand, Paco Del Stinko, Melvin, Wreckdom vs. Sven, and Christopher Butt.

Although the Paco tune is hilarious my vote will go to Melvin, but it's a tough call.