So can I get a (Rain Check reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Tonight I just wanna whiskey
And sit here alone
Flip through the pictures of the memories on my phone
And jukebox some Whitley
Till the lights come on
You look so right, but girl, it feels so wrong
I thought I could show up, get drunk, and get this heartbreak gone
But tonight, I need a raincheck on moving on

Lyrics go here: viewtopic.php?t=12966

[Lunkhead]

Lyrics go here: viewtopic.php?t=12966

Thank you, yet again, for being the sole person to help me out, by both uploading cover art and by creating the review threads. I hugely appreciate it! For folks who don't know, the show cannot go on w/o cover art and a review thread, due to the way the site works. So PFJr is helping keep this train going in a couple of very important ways.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Thank you

You are welcome. Glad to help. But more people submitting album art would be wonderful.

[Lunkhead]

Thank you

You are welcome. Glad to help. But more people submitting album art would be wonderful.

Indeed!

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[Lunkhead]

I just added a late song that I got from "East Bay Rivals" a few days ago.

[jeff robertson]

I want to vote for the late song but I already voted, so please don't throw out my votes for voting twice from the same IP address.

[Spud]

I want to vote for the late song but I already voted, so please don't throw out my votes for voting twice from the same IP address.

That is not a manual process, Jeff.

[Aciniform Artifice]

Some random thoughts upon a cursory first listen:

Berkeley Social Scene: That little guitar riff in the intro (and repeated occasionally) is fun, kind of reminds me of that "first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is" song by Donovan. Outside of that -- this is fine but nothing especially stands out to me; even though some instruments get added and subtracted throughout, it feels very dynamically flat, like nearly all the life has been compressed out of it.

Brown Word and the Big Whine: I love the ridiculously overdriven tone on the chugga-chugga guitar part, although by comparison the other guitar part(s) feels slightly anemic. I love the unexpected recorder/flute solo. Vocally, it feels a bit too restrained for the style you seem to be going for (the shouted backing vocals sound great though!)

East Bay Rivals: I promised first-listen thoughts but had to run through this one a second time, because the feedbacky-atmospheric-harmonic guitar evoked a sorta-post-rock-shoegazey vibe that had me expecting a more subdued/dreamy style of vocals than what actually ended up happening, and it was slightly jarring. I kind of dig it though.

Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff: An intriguing blend of styles including hints of krautrock and no-wave, which are two things you just don't hear nearly enough of these days.

Mystic Colossus: Mostly quiet and understated, and then it sort of just peters out at the end. I like the way it sounds overall, but feels more like a rough sketch to be turned into a song, than a completed song.

[Lunkhead]

Berkeley Social Scene:

(I was not involved in this song.) I like the upbeat opening guitar riff. I appreciate a song about FOMO. I hate FOMO! Fun chorus. The pre-chorus vocals sound a little uncertain about the melody. Nice response vocals. I dig the phaser on the guitars. The bridge feels a little long but I like the response guitar stabs. That lead guitar in the final pre-chorus sounds a little harsh and I don't love what it's playing enough to hear it over and over and over again. Nice work with the extra vocals in the final choruses.

Brown Word and the Big Whine:

I also appreciate a song about being tired and just wanting to stay home. Your vocals sound very muffled and dark, they could use more presence and clarity. I don't know what's up with the whistle solo interlude, but, I think I like it? I'm wondering now if this is actually a sad song about agoraphobia...? I think the vocals are a bit too often speak-singing for me, I could use more strong melodies.

East Bay Rivals:

(I was not involved in this song.) Probably the drone intro could have been shorter. There's a pretty bad flub in one of the guitars in the first part when the whole band comes in. These lyrics hit the closest to home, of course, hahaha. Sorry I got sick and had to bail on jamming with you guys. Turned out to be the right move as I had a cold (not COVID for a change) for a week, it sucked. I was glad to be able to be at home during that. I think the guitars could be louder in the mix. This is another where the pre-chorus melody seems pretty nebulous. Fun song though.

Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff:

I _was_ involved in this. Ken sent me a demo with bass, drums, and scratch vocals, and I add all the guitar parts. I was lazy and recorded all of it with the same guitar, but, different pickups and different pedals and effects. I think this came together pretty well. Thanks for asking me to join in, Ken!

Mystic Colossus:

I like the drum pattern that comes in once the song gets started. Your vocals also sounds super duper muffled and dark, like you're singing into a can or something. Not sure what kind of mic you're using and how it's setup but there's room for improvement there. (Maybe you're singing too close to the mic? Generally you want to be ~6" away to avoid the "proximity effect" which will over emphasize the bass in your voice.) I like the variety of the sections, instrument/feel wise, and I enjoyed the lyrics.

[jeff robertson]

Berkeley Social Scene:

I always love what you guys do. The guitars, as usual, are what make this track. Phaser is an interesting choice of pedals. That's not an effect you hear much anymore. As usual, interesting layers and textures. At least on my listening environment (that is, Airpods), the vocals are little lost among all the guitars.

Brown Word and the Big Whine:

I relate to these lyrics to the point of feeling called out. The guitar sounds (I assume intentionally) like "sitting home alone jamming in my headphones through my line 6 pocket pod", and even if it's not intentional that is still what it sounds like and its perfect for this song. The synth in the intro would contributed more to this vibe if it sounded less "early 80s movie soundtrack" and more "keyboard I bought at k-mart in 1990", but maybe not everybody has my same lived experience with such keyboards.

East Bay Rivals:

Very effective vocals yet again kinda hidden under these wonderful guitars. Best guitars in the fight. It's freedom rock man, turn it up. I don't know how I feel about name-checking other Songfight bands in the lyrics. Feels incestuous.

Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff:

Oh yeah, now THIS is "early 80s movie" vibe done right. Best vocals in the fight. Also the best mix. Voting for Ken always feels almost unfair because you always produce songs that sound too good for Songfight (mind you I've been mainly gone for 10 years so it's possible you dropped some stinkers in the interim)

Mystic Colossus:

The most interesting set of keyboard sounds in the fight. Love that retro synth sound that I imagine being called "Brass 1" on the aforementioned k-mart keyboard I pined for in the review of "Brown Word". I feel like this should have been longer. The vocals are nicely performed and admirably mixed loud enough to hear them, but maybe could have been eq'd differently. I am wary to advise with my ears having reached the "middle aged soundguy who can't hear the highs anymore cranking them to compensate and making the band sound shitty for everyone else" stage of decay in life, but I would do that to these.

[Aciniform Artifice]

East Bay Rivals:

Probably the drone intro could have been shorter.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and uh, disagree with you there."

[drproximo]

Mystic Colossus:

The most interesting set of keyboard sounds in the fight. Love that retro synth sound that I imagine being called "Brass 1" on the aforementioned k-mart keyboard I pined for in the review of "Brown Word".

The Mystic Colossus project is a fictional band, and any SongFight songs I do under that name are ostensibly from their demo, which was recorded in the early 90s, so your observation here is exactly what I was going for.

[jeff robertson]

The Mystic Colossus project is a fictional band, and any SongFight songs I do under that name are ostensibly from their demo, which was recorded in the early 90s, so your observation here is exactly what I was going for.

Oh, well, then - it worked!
I'm kinda surprised I don't think there was ever a genre built around shitty 90s keyboards from walmart, the way multiple genres were built on 80s drum machines to the point where to this day even people who only listen to genres with real drums can still name at least 3 models of 80s drum machine. The time for those keyboards shoulda come, and it didn't. Or did I miss it?

[Pigfarmer Jr]

I don't think there was ever a genre built around shitty 90s keyboards from walmart

From the FAWM glossary:

casiocore (n.) Any song in any genre recorded for FAWM which employs a Casio keyboard; the humbler the better (back in 1982 the VL-Tone VL1 worked out just fine for the German band Trio). Bonus points if you found yours in a thrift store.

I also heard some casiocore stylings in some of these:

strangle disco (n.) A music genre "invented" in FAWM 2007, often featuring Beethoven samples, disco or hip-hop beats, and wordplay.

[jeff robertson]

casiocore (n.) Any song in any genre recorded for FAWM which employs a Casio keyboard; the humbler the better (back in 1982 the VL-Tone VL1 worked out just fine for the German band Trio). Bonus points if you found yours in a thrift store.

well if that's actually what it's called I've been making it since 1990 (well, not anymore since my casios went to the thrift store when I moved in 2020, sigh)

[Lunkhead]

Casiocore has been around a while. I think some early Song Fight songs by Future Boy and Carol Cleveland Sings would count as being in that genre:

https://www.sfjukebox.org/artists/Future%20Boy
https://www.sfjukebox.org/artists/Carol ... nd%20Sings

[j$]

You seem to have forgotten to mention Elephant Finger et le Casio Ensemble Contemporain de Paris Nearly fifteen years old, which explains my bad French pronunciation! Recorded entirely on a Casio VL-Tone 1.

j$

[Lunkhead]

The results are in and the fight has been won by ... Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff!