The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Or maybe just some odd looking gravel.

Write some words and make them clean
Thresh the chaff and make them lean
Don't have to say just what they mean
But post them here so they'll be seen:

viewtopic.php?t=12688

Songs posted!

Balls To Monte: I had to do this one only because I own a theremin. I had some technical difficulties due to a change in computer [from a Mac to a PC] and I no longer had access to my mastering software, etc. Anyways, I hope it turned out OK regardless.

The Idiot Kings: Love the retro Sci-Fi feel to this. Also love how you change gears with the second verse (and yet again with the ending). Very nicely done.

The Mellfire Trifecta: From the opening guitar riff to the vocal harmonies, this is fantastic. Particularly like the chorus, and the lyrics are great. And I LOVE the Good Vibrations sample at the end of the bridge. A nice touch.

Under the Forgotten Sun: This is great! Great energy, tempo and arrangement. Another really great chorus. I only wish the vocals were a tad louder. Excellent overall.

Idiot Kings
Theremin sound is it real? Sort of hear keys in there.
Organ is hard to the right, kind of unusual mix, sort of reminds me of one of the early Van Halen albums, maybe the first one.
Cute first part and I like how it breaks out rockin'.
3rd mood/stylistic shift? Interesting ending choice, works, just interesting.

Balls to Monte
Credence-y in sound and mood. I read the lyrics and it sounds like y'all lost one of the guys? Sorry to hear it.
Interesting bass line, which maybe does contribute to the Credence-y mood I get from the song, voice definitely sounds like John Fogarty, none of which are bad things.
Theremin sounds seem a little tacked on - at first listen it didn't sound real.

Under The Forgotten Sun
Jumps right to it!
This is a genre I haven't heard around Song Fight too much so it's welcome to my ears.
The toms are a little over the top, but might be the mix.
The whoa-ohs are candy, nice!
The mix is a little bottom-heavy I think, there is something that is preventing mix overall from being more clear, if that makes sense. I want this vocalist jumping around in the center of the living room at the house party and he's sorta over by the crowd in the hallway.
No discernable theremin nor space noises - and that's alright!

WreckdoM
This seems like it came out a little louder than the others - hmmm, I guess we didn't check the loudness.
We wanted some surf rock guitars but things sort of took a different turn.
There was no question about getting some Geoff WreckdoM theremin on this track and he delivered.
We sort of did this one in pieces, King Colon sat down and did guitars and loops, I arranged the pieces, Geoff remotely recorded vox and theremin, more arranging, followed by me twiddling knobs and then passing it to Colin for the final mix.
We might've gone a little deeper during the interlude but we were already pretty late and just wanted to send it in. If I had my way there's be some movie sample and probably some time stretching/chopping thereof, but that's just me - the bleakness of this track works for me as well.

The Mellfire Trifecta
Clean, impeccably tuned intro guitars.
Kind of Tax Man shuffling mood, nice.
I like the bop-bop parts, they're a kind of subtle surprise.
My main critique might be the wordiness. This song wants to bounce but the amount of lyrics sort of weights it down.
Was there a theremin or just a little space oddness?

Overall, I would say that while everybody did really well, I was a little disappointed that more songs weren't of or about the condition of being from outer space but more so an inability to relate to others, except the WreckdoM song which is about an inability to relate to others because of being from outer space.

WreckdoMelle wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 06, 2024 5:28 pm

Idiot Kings
Theremin sound is it real? Sort of hear keys in there.
Organ is hard to the right, kind of unusual mix, sort of reminds me of one of the early Van Halen albums, maybe the first one.
Cute first part and I like how it breaks out rockin'.
3rd mood/stylistic shift? Interesting ending choice, works, just interesting.

Theremin is real! A Moog Theremini. For that first spot I was thinking of 60s novelty songs like The Monster Mash, and from there went to the now-strange stereo panning of the day. I visualized the song as three people discussing aliens appearing and giving them their own sonic character based on mood.

Balls to Monte - A somewhat Jack White vocal delivery. I like! Love the chord progressions. Sick lead guitar tone. The melodies don’t necessarily grab me but it’s well-delivered.

The Idiot Kings - Me. I wanted to present three points of view of the same event (aliens arriving) and decided each should have its own genre. The top is definitely a nod to novelty songs like The Monster Mash.

The Mellfire Trifecta - I really like the lyrics, vocal harmonies, and chord progression. The bridge rules as well. Not much else to say, solid track!

Under the Forgotten Sun - With the programmed drums this sounds like Ministry with Emo/Punk vocals. This isn’t a terrible thing by any stretch. Normally Emo/Pop Punk are not my scene at all but it’s working here. The vocal delivery on the second verse is really really cool.

WreckdoM - It’s great to see a familiar name and hear some familiar insanity. While you don’t sound like Xiu Xiu, I think of them when listening to you. The similarity is that there are enough melodies to make things palatable while the musical end of things has free rein to dip its toes into chaos. Loved it before, love it now.

Scheduling a Listening party for 'From Outer Space'
Monday 7/15 9pm EST



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svTe--neHvU

The Idiot Kings
The first section elicits a dreamy state and then hits us with a 50’s style piece that I really like – gone too soon.... but wait! I feel the second section is great too. A few harmonies that could be fine-tuned but this section does rock. The odd, third section I represents the time after the alien infection has taken place I think, right? Your commitment to your theme(s) is notable. Good job. A lot of good creative choices.

Balls to Monte
This is the best vocal performance of the fight. I notice the repetition of “from outer space,” which is interesting. I particularly like the tone of the brief guitar solo at the end. A couple of minor almost-missed chords don’t take away much. I don’t love the choice of ending, though it is executed well, but I do think everything else – including the space-age sound effects at the end – is terrific.

Wreckdom
Best song start I’ve heard a while – with the yawns and a hammer of full sound with the pounding deep bass drum. This is not my normal preferred style of music and I thought I wouldn’t catch a spark. However I was spurred to go back and listen several times. Something about the mood grabs my interest and holds it. Great attention to detail here. You meld the lyrics to the music well and the whole mix is compelling. Also, that is a weird sound you managed at the end – somehow it works!

Under the Forgotten Sun
A full, belting energetic vocal performance helps this song a lot, and the guitars are well played. The hurt/anger is real, and it comes through in the music and singing. The way you got the spoken word section integrated is seamless. Sound-wise it is trebly and thin but I can sort of fill in the gaps to imagine what it would be like with a bit better mix where I could hear the bass and drums. I like the fade-out but that ends a little soon in the very end.

The Mellfire Trifecta
Having just watched the bio-pic "Love and Mercy," my mind was on Brian Wilson at the time I saw the Songfight title and the theremin challenge. I decided to focus on how it must have felt to come back from the breach and try to awaken musical muscles and make them work again – somewhere close to the standard he’d set for himself so many years earlier. Also how it would have felt to leave certain drugs behind (introducing others) and begin interacting with the world again – something Wilson didn’t even do all that expertly in the years prior to his bed-confinement years. In the end the theremin was replaced with a spacey (cosmic?) synth part for thematic reasons.

The Mellfire Trifecta manage to barely defend the Earth against the out of this world sounds of WreckdoM.

Congrats, Mellfire!

Thanks so much!!