The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Have at it.

Ok Guys, I haven't critiqued in a while, and I may sound harsh, but if I made it through, that's good! Personal pet peeves: Forced lyrics. (Giant hypocrite being from Rio Mondo and saying that. But...)

And here we go...

Rough scoring percentages:

20% Lyrics
20% Music
20% Mix
20% Melody
20% Overall/ listen to the end?


Neon Veins. 70% B
I like the guitar, vocals are solid in the mix. The lyrics are forced, a bit. I like this a lot. Mix is good, keep the guitars up front. Love the video game music parts. Good job. Lyrically, it's not there, the vocals are strong, but the words don't hold. Like the guitar solo with the 8-bit.

Dark side of the Son. 20% D
Like the live sound at the beginning, warming up? Vocals sound like they are underwater. I like the idea, but the execution is not there. It just sounds bad. I wouldn't want to sit and listen to this live. Enunciate your words for the love of God. "I hope your spirit is free" was the first thing I could understand on the first listen. I like the live sound that comes back towards the end. I made it thru.

Bob & Boggles. 20 % D
Sounded great with the beginning effect, and then lyrics burst into the slowness. Sorry man, this kinda makes want to go put my head in an oven. I'm sorry guys, this is too slow.

Macaque Attack. 80% B+
Vocals need more feeling. Other than that, great song! Love the Alley Cats/ Rockabilly feel to this. Piano is poking thru a little bit, sounds like a lotto machine in the verse. pre-chorus is better. It just needed a bit more heart in the singing, and more volume the voices! Maybe back-up vocals? Good lyrics, not forced and the HTFMH comes naturally as a 50's dance tune! Good mix. Good melody. No real complaints!

The Taranists. 60% C
I like the horns! Good job on the mix. The vocals are not holding alone in the verse, maybe need some sustaining behind them. I like them best with the horn parts filling between, in the second verse. But the vocals kinda float. I can't feel the song in the chorus, the lyrics are forced a little.
Damn it, lol I like the guitar and horns tho, but the singing, it's really killing the vibe the other parts are trying to make.

Paco del Stinko. 60% C
Good strong bass part, again, lyrics are a bit hard to swallow, the melodic phrasing works, chorus is crazy. Whoa, like trying to sound difficult or non-repetitive on purpose - I get the chord progression. It's kinda like you took a boom box that was playing a song by The Kinks or The Cars, pulled all the lows and highs out and kicked it down the stairs, Holy shit guitar solo! and Drums kicking ass. Are your members involved in two or more different bands? Forced lyrics at the end. Making it rhyme for the sake of the fight. Mix sounded muttered a bit, The 230 Hz range is plowing forward, we need the crisp high and low ends.


Johnny Cashpoint. 40% D+
Like the lyrics in the verse, the chorus is forced allover the place. The whole thing sounds like you may have a lot of ideas all at once, but the only thing I end up doing in your song is hunting for the phrase "HTFMH." Mix is a bit scrambled, back ups sound too breathy, "like someone is creeping behind your lead vocals and breathing at people". It's too forced for my taste, but I see what you're on to there. I was reaching to stop the song because I wasn't diggin it, and then it stopped. So I guess I made it till the end. Yay for shortness.


Hip hop Anonymous. 69.9999% C++ (I wanted to rate it a B so badly)
Verse- great! Chorus- OMG awful. Good mix! Seriously, I like the sound, the mix on the vocals are great, the verse lyrics are great. And then the Chorus happens and I want to not hear it, Forcing the lyrics to fit. Damn it, It's really good, and then it's not good. Did two different people make the verse and the chorus? Because they need to meet decide what is going to work and jam. Please, really, syncopate it, I want you to find a melody for the chorus. Noooooooo. It's like the lady singer is being pushed thru the chorus sounds to say HTFMH. Well, damn it. lol
My lady likes it a lot and she also adores Eminem too, so...


Enter it in Ther Art show. 80% B+
Holy shit this is awesome. Seriously, first thought went to the movie The Big Lebowski and the "Log Jamm'n" scene. Love the nod to cheesy 70s porn here. Mix is good and consistent with the sound. No lyrics is never a bad thing.
Nice work. Definitely sexualizes the idea and leaves the interpretation up to the listener.

Nice.


Rio Mondo 70% B

As with all Rio Mondo songs, I hope you get a laugh or at least a little entertainment out of what we do. I actually proud of the pure raunchiness this pulls off, but I hope that it doesn't deter too much. The drums at the beginning are awful, I regret using them. The vocals on the verse need more takes. The verse vocals are too far away and need to be more upfront and center. Love the lyrics that Mike came up for this, but I needed to mix him better. it's flat and not exciting, when the chorus comes in it doesn't hold the same feeling. Drums again at the end, bleh yuck.

I like this one for our stuff. We decided to not sketch too much, especially at the beginning, as we lose listeners before the song starts. BTW "Vanilla Honeybush Tea" - REAL TEA, we are not complete perverts!

Thanks,

~Vince

I am new here and will just be writing based on first listens as I hear them and then will vote based off listening a few times. Seems like a fun way to do this.

Bob and the Boggles: Sounds like something I could really get into, but something just sort of off. I Like the tea kettle whistle at the end. As I am new here I think I want to hear more from you.

Dark side of the Son: Too spacey for my tastes. I do like your voice though.

Hip Hop Anonymous: Really love the verses, the chorus is sub-par, hate the two of them together. I wish there would have been more cohesion between the two parts, the verse is just so good.

Johnny Cashpoint: Love the backup vocals, like just about everything else in the song. Looking forward to hearing more of your stuff.

Macaque Attack: Everything about your song sounds really good, except I really don't care much for your genre. Not your fault, you sound like you are really good. Just not my cup of tea (sorry for the pun).

Neon Veins: Now this is pretty much exactly what I like. Love the fuzzed out guitar and 8-bit synth. Everything about this song makes me happy. Like the vocals, great song.

Paco Del Stinko: Much like B&B something just doesn't quite work in this song for me. I think with a few changes it could have been really great.

Rio Mondo: What the hell is this? I am not asking in an insulting way, this just sounds so left field. I love the lyrics, so dumbly sexual they are brilliant. With the exception of the lyrics, not sure how I feel about this.

The Tanrantists: Sounds like a Belle and Sebastien lost track, only the vocals are nothing like B&S in the first verse. I really like B&S, so I like this quite a bit.

Right now it seems like votes will be going to Tanrantists, Neon Veins and Johnny Cashpoint while Bob and the Boggles, Paco Del Stinko and maybe Rio Mondo could work their way into getting votes on further listens.

Sirens of Titus wrote:.... I really don't care much for your genre....

That's quite alright
We've never written a song in this genre before, in fact I sometimes wonder if we've ever written two songs in the same genre I think this time we latched on to the optional 'retro' challenge.

My reviews to follow...

GravityJohnson wrote:

Sirens of Titus wrote:.... I really don't care much for your genre....

We've never written a song in this genre before, in fact I sometimes wonder if we've ever written two songs in the same genre

Nice. I quite look forward to hearing you go through a different genre every week. That takes some talent, both as musicians and writers.

I'm starting to do Listening Parties for the new SongFights.

Once I get in sync with a schedule, I'll do them more often, but since Monday nights at 9 pm EST seemed to work for Nur Ein, I'll try and keep up with that schedule, unless it conflicts with Spintunes this summer.

So for the first LP for 'Hot Tea for my Hottie' will be Monday 6/27 at 9pm EST. Hope to see you in the chat room!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkburgsbOEw

surely you mean EDT not EST

(EDT is Eastern daylight savings time)
(EST is Eastern Standard time)

Bob and the Boggles - I hear what people are saying about this, but really, it's just the beat. It's a bit stiff could use a shuffle or something. Otherwise, I think that this is a delight. Pretty. Sad when it's over although it leaves me with a smile.

dark side of the son - This could almost be Hillbilly in disguise. This slides all over itself, obscuring what could be a pretty decent little tune. Nice mood underneath the prescription med haze and performance.

Enter It In The Art Show - This sounds like you jammed over a 70s porno soundtrack. I hope you step up and inform us of what you did and didn't play. I'm skeptical that you performed the backing track, but knocked out if you did. Confess!

Hip Hop Anonymous - I dig the trippy digital soundscapes and swirls. The vocal delivery is very energetic and lively, if not always hitting the spots dead on. What bugs me is the off time rhythm during the chorus. It's just not on. C'mon, I know you hear it!

Johnny Cashpoint - Oh man. Poor bugger is so obsessed. I love this story, great perspective. I picture the fella with a yellow green brown sleeveless sweater on, going to town throughout the house. Disturbing but amusing. Vocal lines are very 1-2-3-4 on the beat, but fun tune. I wish I was allowed to use the term "Rogering".

Macaque Attack - On my first listen to this I didn't really hear it as all rockabliiy or whatever you want to call it. Smiths meets the Honeydrippers, there's something Robert Plant-ish about the vocals to me, although you certainly do not sound like him in the least. I like this a lot, I would complain that if anything's wrong, it's too clean sounding. Needs a bit more 'in the barn' sound.

Neon Veins - This is fun pop. Good melodies, hooks, progressions. Surprisingly, I do not like the guitar tone, but it fits here, I suppose. Some very good drum workings and the guitarmonies are very well done. Could use some sweet backing vocals, call the Jerkatorium guys.

Paco del Stinko - Very middy, yes. I can often get scared away from treble a bit, I reckon. Wanted to keep the thickness of the guitars during the chorus. Not defensive, explanatory.

Rio Mondo - Clean and lean production. The vocal delivery is good, but self conscious at times, bit stiff. Female vocal is seductive, coo-ing and whatnot. While this doesn't lack bottom end, I keep wanting to hear or feel it throughout the song more. Song kind of fades away last third, like you lost focus, it kind of wanders off.

The Tarantists - This is yacht rock-ish. Or late 70's tv show music. That's not a slam, by the way. The playing is tasty, the horns very good. Sounds like the keys guy is leading the band, performing in some small NYC club. Well done.

glennny wrote:surely you mean EDT not EST

(EDT is Eastern daylight savings time)
(EST is Eastern Standard time)

You are correct, sir. It's not EST until November. In any case, I'll start a preshow tonight around 8-8:30 and then commence with the LP for 'Hot Tea for my Hottie' at about 9 pm.

Evenin' all. I trust we're all well and doing good? Not got too much time this week, but here are a few brief thoughts from me.

Johnny Cashpoint - Very Libertines in style. Cool backing vocals, they work really well, and amusing subject matter. This somehow feels a little bit disjointed though, it is close to all adhering but somehow just falls short. That said, I really quite enjoyed it.

Rio Mondo - Now this is different. The male vocal is a little too 'in your face', just needs some additional reverb/affects. Female vocal is good though. It's pretty well put together, but it doesn't quite have enough content in it to keep me fully engaged. Not bad at all by any means, but for my tastes would have benefitted from something more instrumentally.

dark side of the son - The beginning sounds like a one man band being pushed down the stairs Now, joking aside, I really like the tune that is buried beneath the below par performance. I think I'm actually going to vote for this on potential alone, but I would start from scratch and re-record this, this would be excellent if the performance matched the quality of the tune.

Paco del Stinko - You just can't go wrong with a Paco tune, great stuff. I think you should have kept that first guitar solo going right through the second verse under the vocal, it's glorious. Love this. A certain vote.

Neon Veins - That guitar that opens song needs it's stereo separation opening a little in my opinion, but that's clearly nit picking. This has got a bit of Spinto Band about it, there are few complements higher. The overall mix is maybe lacking a touch of ooomph for my personal taste, but generally very good. A definite vote!

Hip Hop Anonymous - Good vocal performance in the verses and nice sweaty club synth sounds. The chorus doesn't work for me at all though I'm afraid.

The Tarantists - This is nicely mixed and put together. All the components of the performance, the structure, and the mix, are all well done, but it just doesn't fully spark in to life for me. This is on the brink of a vote though....

Bob and the Boggles - As was eluded to in the comments above, the drum pattern doesn't do this any favours. That said, I really like this track. It has a lazy melancholy feel about it that I really like. Certainly vote-worthy.

Enter It In The Art Show - I can't quite work out what's going on here. If you fully recorded this track yourself then it sounds like you've played it back on a home stereo and re-recorded what's playing through a ropey microphone. Or, if you have played all this yourselves and then added the grainy, lo-fi affect (equally across all instruments) then it's really great. Would like to hear some details on how this one was produced, and why the choice of very lo-fi prduction.

Macaque Attack - That'll be us. A bit different again this week.

Well done one and all, some interesting stuff here this week. Several votes to be issued I think...

__________

Enter It In The Art Show wrote:If you want I can post the untouched audio for proof, or something.

Certainly no need for proof!! Wow. Great job!
(and thanks for the review )

Art Show: Great work on the track, a very impressive performance. I am envious. Thanks for the comments as well.

Enter It in the Art Show:

"Vocals sound a little like Danny McBride of Eastbound and Down, but more like his part in Hot Rod. Yeah! This sounds like a rap that Danny McBride’s character on Hot Rod would do. I kept envisioning a gif of Danny McBride dressed like classic Vanilla Ice dancing while I listened."

Best compliment EVER!!! Thank You!