You're not my boss, don't tell me (What To Do And How To Do It reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

How do you do what you do to me
If I only knew
Then perhaps you'd fall for me like I fell for you
When I do it to you

[Pigfarmer Jr]

You can put your lyric in the lyric thread: viewtopic.php?t=12669
And we'd appreciate it if you did.

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[genecawley]

Soft Rick - I love your genre-hopping abilities, not to reduce it to that. I just think it’s a wonderful talent. Plus, the actual song is truly wonderful, beautifully arranged and played.

Duncan Martin - I really like the pirate-song-meets-surburbia thing you seem to do. Whether or not that what you’re actually going for, it really works well. The drums could be a little louder, but no other complaints.

Berkeley Social Scene - This is definitely solid, as usual for you guys. It kinda lacks the passion of your typical stuff, though the slide solo is really great. Good overall.

Frankie Big Face - I like the bleek picture you paint of a post-fascistic world [as if we’re not practically there already]. Very well- constructed song, great synth work. The whole track is very effective.

King Pasha - Digging the situationalist [I’m being told this is not an actual word] nature of this one. INCREDIBLY dark, but really good.
Nice job!

Dead Ambassadors - All right! Up tempo with guitars! Really catchy number with great lyrics to match. A little too short, but that’s just me being greedy. This is a contender.

Pigfarmer Jr. - Probably the most solid song of the bunch with the most effective production overall [although Soft Rick’s is hard to beat]. Definitely a vote.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Frankie was my favorite but I didn't dislike a single song in the fight.

Berkeley Social Scene: I love the optimistic take in the lyric. We need more of that. (Although I'm drawn to lyrics more like Frankie's to be honest.) I like the guitars a lot, the mix is good/clear. Maybe the vocal delivery sounds a hair more tongue in cheek than the lyric wants but overall the vocal is solid. (A nitpick, saying do IT with the rise in melody feels a bit off even though I do similar things regularly. The Do should have been a higher note than the It, I think.) And even though I like the laid back feel and the slide solo is gorgeous, this was a solid 3:00 song. This song maybe has a just a hair more of a plodding feel to it than I want but I like it well enough.

Dead Ambassadors: Dashed off very quickly.

Duncan Martin: I like the rhythm in the lyric/vocal. It's interesting in the first and third verses/stanzas that the second line doesn't have that internal rhyme that works so effectively. I cannot decide if I like the break or if it's too obvious since every other line sticks so strictly to it. I think that your vocal delivery pulls it off so I'm landing on the "it works for me" side of music critique. Also, very well done in the lyric department, you were able to craft it nicely using the difficult lyrical structure. I love the background vox, the umms. Maybe your vocal feels a hair distant in the mix even though it's very clear and well executed. It might be the lower overall volume contributing to that feel. Definitely a song I found a lot to dig into, especially on multiple listens.

Frankie Big Face: My favorite of the fight. I love the 1984-esque lyric and your vocal delivery. The synth lines are perfect for the feel of the lyric/song. The doubled bowie vocals are so. damn. effective. The arrangement works perfectly, the acoustic being featured right after the solo. Coming in at two and a half minutes is the perfect length to feel satisfying while still getting out before wearing out its welcome. I'm super impressed, tbh.

King Pasha: My biggest question is how you processed the vocal. That high eq'd reverb feel is perfect (if that makes sense.) Guy and guitar songs rarely do well in songfight and I think you'll find votes hard to come by, but I dig what you're trying to do here. That's a very good vocal performance. And is that a dog barking on the final chord ring out? If so, that's awesome to include.

Pigfarmer Jr: Lately I've been leaning into the "songfight hates americana" vibe but this song is my attempt to write a pigfarmer jr song that would be a little less in the 'genre-bias' bin. I'm pretty happy with it.

Soft Rick: I love the intro (I did something similar and less effective on an unreleased album intro/song.) That's a lovely vocal delivery. The mix is great. It's a pretty hot/loud but sounds so damn good. The vocal doubling on the bridge/outro is a great effect. That little guitar bit right after is tasty, too. This is very well done/produced for sure.

[frankie big face]

Frankie was my favorite but I didn't dislike a single song in the fight.

Frankie Big Face[/b]: My favorite of the fight. I love the 1984-esque lyric and your vocal delivery. The synth lines are perfect for the feel of the lyric/song. The doubled bowie vocals are so. damn. effective. The arrangement works perfectly, the acoustic being featured right after the solo. Coming in at two and a half minutes is the perfect length to feel satisfying while still getting out before wearing out its welcome. I'm super impressed, tbh.

I just want to say how much I appreciate this review. (Any interest in being a Nur Ein judge?) Not just because it’s complimentary, but because you pointed things out that I actually gave a considerable amount of thought to. I had to dial in that synth sound to get it to my liking (something I never do—stock sounds are usually fine). I also haven’t heard the Bowie comparison for a while, so I went back to listen and it really does sound like him! (I assume by “doubled vocals” you mean the harmonies at the end?) And, of course, the arrangement is everything in terms of aesthetic and I also love 2.5-minute songs.

Full disclosure: I wrote and recorded this in about 2.5 hours, so it just goes to show you that you can make something really effective in a short period of time. One of the things I absolutely love about Songfight.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

I just want to say how much I appreciate this review.

You are welcome.

(Any interest in being a Nur Ein judge?) Not just because it’s complimentary, but because you pointed things out that I actually gave a considerable amount of thought to.

That doesn't usually happen. It's an outlier.

I also haven’t heard the Bowie comparison for a while, so I went back to listen and it really does sound like him! (I assume by “doubled vocals” you mean the harmonies at the end?)

The second verse: "There’s a curfew in our hall..."
Perfect.

I just listened again and I don't have a top ten songfight song playlist but if I did I cannot help but think this would not only be on it but near the top. To be fair, my taste definitely runs against the grain compared to other fighters (at least at times) so take it for what it's worth: Just one guy who really, really likes this song.

[Lunkhead]

Get a room, you two! (obligatory terrible joke)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Get a room, you two! (obligatory terrible joke)

I have one reserved in Denver. (This is actually true, but I think the wife is sharing it with me so...)

[Aciniform Artifice]

Berkeley Social Scene - that organ sound in the background has almost exactly the same tone as the late-great Billy Preston’s distorted clavinet in “Heartbreaker.” Nice.

Dead Ambassadors - “looking out a dirty old window / down below the cars in the city go rushing by…”

Duncan Martin - the story seems convoluted and complicated, I had trouble following exactly what was happening while listening (even on repeated listens). Good thing I generally tend to rate/judge/review based on vibes, way more than on lyrical content, because I can dig the vibe here.

Frankie Big Face - this is brilliant on multiple levels: you were given a “no joking” optional challenge, then you turned around and came up with something that’s so evocative of “I Started a Joke” – not just the strummed guitar chords, but (to an extent) the whole playful tone of the song contrasted with the utterly dystopian premise it suggests. And then, “I may have accidentally cracked a smile” as an oblique reference again to the optional challenge, but perhaps also using that reference as a statement about non-optional challenges in certain other concurrent songwriting competitions? Just so much to unpack.

King Pasha - digging the mellowness and morosity. There’s something comforting about the way each line repeatedly end-rhymes or near-rhymes with the title.

Pigfarmer Jr. - and now for something completely different: a decidedly rock ‘n’ roll song. As far as I can tell, this whole thing is standard 4/4 (or more accurately, probably 2/2), grouped into sets of 8 (or 16?) bars. But the way each verse and chorus seems to include an unexpected 5th set of 16 instead of an even 4, just appears to throw everything slightly out of whack when switching to a new section, which is a very rock ‘n’ roll thing to do.

Soft Rick - the multiple false starts are kind of clever; I was starting to wonder if the whole song would just be little bits of various genres. Which might have been interesting. But once the real song comes in here – it sounds like a blending of Petty’s “Breakdown” and Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving Fun,” neither of which is a bad thing to evoke thoughts of.



... tbh it's going to be tough deciding which songs NOT to vote for, since they all turned out pretty good this go 'round.

[the idiot king]

Berkeley Social Scene - Love the electric piano, reminds me a bit of the end of "Coffee & TV" by Blur. The guitar and bass together are quite monolithic, love it.

Dead Ambassadors - Solid intro guitar melody.It's been a while since I've lurked or posted, but there's really not enough punk at SF! for my liking. Cool track. Definite vote.

Duncan Martin - Excellent lyrics!I like the extended instrumental outro.

Frankie Big Face - Pristine production. It's nice to know that there are still good Beatlesesque songs to be written out there.

King Pasha - Sort of Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here album vibes. Cool song.

Pigfarmer Jr. - The panning of the doubled vocals widening up during the choruses is very nice. And that minor chord at the end of the bridge...chef's kiss.

Soft Rick - Absolutely epic intro. The laid back vibe is really cool, it feels a bit like some of the non-singles from Gotye's big album.The dropout towards the end with just the hats and lead guitar and piano chords is really cool. This earns a vote for sure.

[Lunkhead]

What Dead Ambassadors and Soft Rick do is win, and how they do it is by tying.