The Song Fight Bulletin Board

SOMESONGS - ROUND SIX

Title: In This Moment
Oblique Strategy/Challenge: Honor thy error as a hidden intention
Send completed songs no later than 19 November at 23:59 EDT.
Send songs by email to somesongs2024@gmail.com.
Use "In This Moment" as your subject.
In the body of the email, write your band name and paste the lyrics to your song. Feel free to explain how you executed the challenge as well.
Results will be posted no later than 22 November at 23:59 EST. Fingers crossed.

Now go write SOME SONGS!

I think I picked this strategy, but I'm still not entirely sure what it means. I like the sound of it though and I'm looking forward to seeing where you all go with it.

Good luck everyone, go write Some Songs!

Songs are due tomorrow!

I might be in, I might not be. I got sidelined with some family stuff, so it's down to whether or not I can get vocals today and figure out how to make a mistake and pretend it's intentional while also telling the judges that it is a mistake that I am pretending is intentional haha.

the idiot king wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 19, 2024 7:20 am

I might be in, I might not be. I got sidelined with some family stuff, so it's down to whether or not I can get vocals today and figure out how to make a mistake and pretend it's intentional while also telling the judges that it is a mistake that I am pretending is intentional haha.

You never make mistakes?! You have to "figure out" how to make a mistake?! You're even more talented than I thought.

frankie big face wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 19, 2024 7:40 am

You never make mistakes?! You have to "figure out" how to make a mistake?! You're even more talented than I thought.

I believe you know exactly what I mean, good sir.

the idiot king wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 19, 2024 7:20 am

and figure out how to make a mistake and pretend it's intentional while also telling the judges that it is a mistake that I am pretending is intentional haha.

Hahaha, I feel this.

Jefff wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 19, 2024 9:19 am

Hahaha, I feel this.

Haha yeah this challenge is real.

Sounds like you just wrote a lyric to me

I choose to believe in this moment (not intentional at all...) that you guys are enjoying these oblique strategy challenges. If I'm wrong, don't tell me!

and submitted

Was able to wrap up work early, got it in. Mistakes intentional and non included.

The songs are posted! Final Round!! There can be ONLY ONE!!! (No, wait...)

Listening Party should be Thursday 11/21 at 8pm EDT. If SongFight is posted I'll add that to the fun.

Congrats on all the Artists who made some great tunes for this SomeSongs!


https://youtube.com/live/I_Wx_EQuT4c

There can be only Some

mo wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 20, 2024 10:55 am

There can be only Some

Add
The drums'n'organ backing tracks idea has gotten pretty threadbare for me at this point. The arrangement just winds up being too sparse for me and I feel like there is dead air sometimes. The way you use the second vocal track to fill in some of that big empty space with the ahh ahh responses in the verses helps a lot there at least. The "bridge" drop and the build after adds some much needed interest to the dynamics. I think I would have liked some more of that kind of dynamic variation earlier, like maybe have some of the earlier parts be more sparse/quiet or something. Or maybe the opposite, maybe some of the bigger energy needed to be used earlier on. I enjoyed your lyrics and I buy your challenge fulfillment explanation.

Caravan Ray
I enjoy the energy of this song. Your main vocal sounds a bit mush mouthed through the first two groups of lines, and those early aah ahh backing vox sound pitchy. Otherwise the vocal performance is mostly pretty good in terms of your delivery. I enjoy the way you vary the dynamics and the way you've paced the vocal over the music. Not a big fan of the "dip dip dip" though. The "Alexander Flemming" "bridge" feels kinda out of place, I don't think you actually really needed to vary the music so much there, as I'm liking this as a simple repetitive song. Fun solo bit after that. The next section "So next time..." again sort of feels a bit underdeveloped or something, like it's a bit lacking compared to the main groove. I could have gone for a repeat of the "Honour thy error as a hidden intention..." lyrics as opposed to the "Put in earplugs..." bit, that bit doesn't really do much for me.

Glenn Case
Nice rich palette of instruments and tones, although the melodic guitar line is not as clear in the mix as I'd like. The lyrics are not packing a lot of emotional punch for me, they could use maybe some more specificity or more interesting imagery. The lead vocal performance also seems like it could use some more oomph. Sounds like you put some more juice into it for the bridge which is welcome. The long "geehhh-eehhhht" at the end of every line in the choruses starts to feel a bit harsh to my ear and that's blunting some of the impact of the choruses after the first one. I think that last word of those lines could really benefit from some vibrato and/or articulation coming in toward the end.

The Idiot Kings
I like the sonic palette here too. I think the lead vocal is a bit too distorted/unclear. There's especially some distortion or noise or something at the ends of the words which puts me off. I think the parts w/o the lead vocal singing the two sets of lines are my favorite. The parts with the lead vocals don't stick well for me because of the lack of clarity of the voice and also the lyrics are just ok. I could have stood for another 30 seconds of that final jam at the end, maybe with occasional vocal bits sprinkled in during the back half of it.

Tomorrow
Definitely most enjoyable vocals of the round for me. There are some pitch issues but I appreciate that you're really putting some inflection into them and keeping them interesting with volume level and vibrato. The chorus hits really well. The band and the vocals complement each other well and it's hooky. Yeah, the chorus is real good, and I like how you add to the instrumentation and arrangement as you go, especially with more backing vocals coming in. Fun to hear the theremin arrive for the outro, although this outro also could have been 2x as long, and needs a bit more solid of a final conclusion.

Mr. White wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 20, 2024 8:22 pm

The Idiot Kings
I like the sonic palette here too. I think the lead vocal is a bit too distorted/unclear. There's especially some distortion or noise or something at the ends of the words which puts me off. I think the parts w/o the lead vocal singing the two sets of lines are my favorite. The parts with the lead vocals don't stick well for me because of the lack of clarity of the voice and also the lyrics are just ok. I could have stood for another 30 seconds of that final jam at the end, maybe with occasional vocal bits sprinkled in during the back half of it.

Fair. Thanks for the feedback!

Add - Like that Tom Waits'y intro and especially like the bass tone in the undertow, should be louder in my opinion. Ah, I like this very much. I mean, in the long run, the organ and drums experiment is probably a bit of a failure, but this on its own merits is a very good song, if possibly under-arranged for its own strengths. Really would turn that bass up a little and drums down a tad, hopefully that would make for a more dance-y vibe, which would improve the impact for me at least, but I think it works as an 'end of album' track definitely, just not this album. Good.

Caravan Ray - I like this (obviously, it's right in my wheelhouse) - that tone on the guitar is great and places the song in its genre by its sound alone. As Mr White alludes to, the bridge is a bit one-note for me. This response is fired more by 'why bother breaking for this', rather than there's anything wrong with what's there. Nice tune, and the words kind of work for me, though I really hate the meta interpretation that is screaming. I think singing the challenges is a bit lazy/predictable, TBH, but this is just my personal opinion, so it wont affect my challenge score.

Glenn Case - Well, this is this and nothing wrong with it at all except it's not my bag at all. It's undeniably good, pretty and interesting (and actually when I take the time to challenge my own pre-conceptions, I can't really say what I don't like about it) except the second chord choice in the chorus. That is not a good one to me. But we do get what we get, and it seems churlish to moan about that, so good stuff.

Idiot Kings - like that trancy mood and the melody is engaging. Not sure about the tone on the vocal, mind. Also doesn't really go anywhere but I like all the constituent parts, like the keyboard part/riff is catchy AF (though maybe mixed a bit quiet or maybe it just needs a fatter tone choice I dunno). Well that ends nicely; so abrupt it kind of makes me expect a hidden track, which leads to …

Tomorrow - Nice little tune and good vocals though not wild about the lyric yet - nothing leaps out at me, unfortunately. Though they look great on the page, so maybe it's the performance choice! Again the bass is a little quiet in the mix until it goes a little Orange Juice in the pre-chorus (sorry, obscure and inaccurate comparison but hey, it's what spring to mind but I have history with giving those, be glad I didn't change to my second choice - Haircut 100) Great theramin action, now it's kicking in and then ... it's over. Half a great song, half not so much.

One thing that I think has been true for the whole competition is that everyone in it has a distinct style (or sound, or whatever you want to call it) and everyone has kind of doubled down on being themselves, I didn’t see a lot of people trying to experiment with their own musical concepts so much as incorporate things into their own styles. That might be a function of the oblique strategies or it might be more about who the competitors are are people/artists, I’m not sure. I do know that in other competitions (just Nur Ein, really) I have sometimes felt more of a need to change things up compositionally or sonic palette-wise

In any case I have really enjoyed hearing Jeff as the most Jeff he can be, Caravan Ray, Glenn, TIK, and Micah and Vom earlier on, all just being themselves.

Mr. Orange wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 21, 2024 2:49 am

I mean, in the long run, the organ and drums experiment is probably a bit of a failure

Gah, can't resist picking this fight. An experiment is not a failure or a success. It's a learning opportunity, and I've learned lessons about my process, about Song Fight, about these judge panel competitions, and about how people react to something that's even a little unexpected.

It's interesting that I made 6 songs written on an instrument I never write on, performed only with instruments I'm not good at, forbidding myself from piling on tracks, which is one of my favorite things -- and mo's takeaway is that I was the most me I can be. And I don't even think he's wrong.

Haha well I said that because that concept to me is a very you thing to do, not because it necessarily sounds like things you’ve done before in terms of pure sonics, but like it feels very you. To be more specific, I think you push boundaries and think about topics in a particular probing kind of way, and your melodies and lyrics have a poetry to them that I can only describe as Jeff Fal. And I found it really interesting and fun that you sound like you this much even when you’re doing something on paper that’s far away from what you normally do.

In the same way that I set rules for myself compositionally for this competition that I don’t know that they are that obvious to anyone else, but I think everything I made obviously sounds like I made it