The Song Fight Bulletin Board

iVeg wrote:Or if you're Frankie, winning round 4 = 50% chance of being eliminated round 5, 50% of winning the whole thing

Heh. I like that I warrant my own mathematical principle. You forgot to factor in the amount to which I piss off one or more judges. My X Factor, if you will.

As a noob, I can't tell what's X-Factor v a weaker than normal performance by you v a stronger performance by a competitor. X factor didn't seem to be the case this round - Judge 5 actually gave you a 6 of 8. It seemed to be more a factor in rounds 1, 2, and 4. He gave you 12 of 14 for round 3...

I was just kidding. Also, I don't think the judges retain their numbers from round to round, for the record.

frankie big face wrote:I was just kidding. Also, I don't think the judges retain their numbers from round to round, for the record.

This changes everything!

Martha, hold my calls. I have some deducing to do!

Is it no longer customary for judges to post reviews?

Not a customary thing on my part, but a scheduling one. I do have reviews and will try and get them up tonight.

Ross wrote:Is it no longer customary for judges to post reviews?

They are coming, fear not.

This round turned out differently than I had thought it would. For what it's worth, here are some of my thoughts...

Ross
• Nice arrangement, like the guitar riff and the pace.
• Cute take on the title, and great lyrics
• Great falsetto chorus
Merison
• I'd never guess you saw Fleetwood Mac recently
• Beautiful harmonies and subtle production ftw
• Lyrics escape me but they're beautifully crafted and delivered
• Pretty falsetto. Very
Paco
• Welcome the rock! Sweet guitar licks in second verse. Like the evolution. Love the ending!
• Lyrics are eh...
• Falsetto is prominent and effective
Carlo Bruno jr
• I'm loving this. The groove, the synth lines, the breaks
• Not crazy about the lyrics
• Not sure about the challenge though
Frankie
• Simple, clean and straight
• Lyric seems lax and surprisingly predictable
• Falsetto breaks are light and insignificant
• Not your strongest entry this year, perhaps your weakest
Cave dwellers
• This seems too busy and doesn't have a cohesive direction through the first verse. Second much better. Like the slide solo.
• Lyrics don't appeal to me. Awkward references
• I like the falsetto breaks, and the chorus
Manhattan glutton
• Nice heavy funk. Thin Motown lyric is saved by their delivery's attitude.
• Lyrics are eh...cold war tie-in feels thin, as there's not much message
• Where's the challenge?
Tydon
• Tremendously ummemorable, difficult production
• Like the activist lyrics

roymond wrote:Manhattan glutton
• Where's the challenge?

Could you explicate? I thought it was pretty clear when I was using my falsetto register.

Thanks, Roymond!

Now i wrote reviews for round 5 just before I went on holiday, and now can't find them. Rather than listen to the fight again, here's a vague half-remembered overview of what I had to say -

Overall, I was disappointed by the lack of interesting use of the challenge. The only real "falsetto" as I wanted to hear it was Merisan, and to an extent Cave Dwellers. i thought there was a lot of falling back on high backing vocals, which while yes, meets the letter of the law, showed a fear of really letting rip and going silly. I was sad to see CBj and (especially) Manhattan Glutton go funk / disco as Carlo's felt a little rigid to be funky and MG just sounded like Electric Six. This is not a compliment in my neck of the woods. Paco's metal spill-over from the week before didn't do much for me. Ross' made very little impact. FBF's was the best tune of the week, under-developed, dashed off, total skimp on the falsetto, worda a bit bland, yes, but what a tune. As judge 1, I put Tydon Docks first because it was the best song. yes, I could have put it last for almost cursoru falsetto reference, but then I'd had to have eliminated 6 1/2 of the bands. I liked the non-US-centric, simple, clear political message. I liked the pace and rapid delivery of the music. it was a memorable tune. I didn't hear the mix issues that others found sso off-putting, but I was listening on headphones, so maybe that made a difference? Anyway, I felt slightly bad about putting Merisan second because they ha d a good song that met the challenge very well, whereas TD had a great song that barely met the challenge at all. However final scoring shows that justice was done on my behalf

j$ wrote:As judge 1, I put Tydon Docks first because it was the best song. yes, I could have put it last for almost cursoru falsetto reference, but then I'd had to have eliminated 6 1/2 of the bands. I liked the non-US-centric, simple, clear political message. I liked the pace and rapid delivery of the music. it was a memorable tune. I didn't hear the mix issues that others found sso off-putting, but I was listening on headphones, so maybe that made a difference?

Thank you J$. I was wondering who liked my song. I am slightly surprised it was you - only because you are usually harsh when I go "issue based". I am very glad you liked it - and you liked it for all the right reasons. Thank you. I am very proud of this song.


...at the risk though of sounding churlish though...do you really think there was "almost cursory falsetto reference"?!?!?

The challenge was a non-event for me. I always (at least 90%) use falsetto. In backing vocals. I love that Beach Boys "ohhhh" thing. I also did the "Old king Coal" thing in falsetto to sound like a children's choir. I thought that was relevant to the tone of the song.

Am I misunderstanding what "falsetto" means?

No, it's just what I wanted to hear was the vocal on all the round 5 tracks not just going in high and staying there. That, to me, seemed a cursory interpretation of the challenge. I wanted a bit more dynamic range vocally. It's wasn't a winning falsetto, in my "how to totally own this challenge" book, unless I could also hear the non-falsetto it was coming from. Perhaps perfunctory would have been a better word than cursory ... or to put it another way, I generally have a very high singing voice, so i wouldn't think "ah well, that'll do" if I was presented with a challenge to do Falsetto ...