She's holding my head (Underwater reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Oh, next time I hold a man down, it'll be underwater
Oh, next time I hear a man out, it'll be when the last words are leaving his mouth
And I'll let him drown

Lyrics go here: viewtopic.php?t=13032

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[Nanja Sorya]

Nice Fight!
Quality over quantity this week.
Good luck, all

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Critical Rave Theory: Enticing pop chorus. I think the *cough* underwater *cough* mix doesn't do the chorus justice. I think I get the feel, the prosody/synergy but.. .well, honestly, the chorus is a bit more clear, but I still think it should be a bit more crisp to really hit hard. Of course, if I heard it, I might change my mind. At any rate, some cool rhythms, loving the soundscape in the instrumental sections. Driving without being harsh or hard. Cool but not really in my wheelhouse.

Hot Pink Halo: Probably my least favorite of your Nur Ein entries but it's still pretty good. I like the use of silence, it feels organic even though I know it was a Nur Ein challenge requirement.

Pigfarmer Jr: Threw this together fairly quickly but I'm not unhappy with it for the most part.

Siebass: I like the guitars and the mix is pretty good. Kind of a slow burner. Hasn't worn itself out too much after several listens which is a good sign.

[Siebass]

Critical Rave Theory:

Started off really clean and lush with cool electronic instrumentation and beach/ocean animal noises, cool groove, ominous bass, bells, nice touches. Vocal reverb wash is cool, I dig the verse and the bells. I’m not a particular fan of the farty/burpy style basses, but that’s my personal taste. When the chorus kicks in, things start to fall apart in the mix for me with the vocal, timing and intelligibility. The vocal is a bit buried relative to the rest of the music; perhaps due to the panning of elements, but it gets particularly occluded in the chorus relative to the verses. I like the performance in the verse, though. It’s pretty hard to understand the lyrics and I think it’s the mix. All told, I enjoyed this a lot for the music and instrumentation choices, and the vocal is solid, I just wish I could understand the lyrics in the chorus more than just the word “underwater”. Very cool groove.


Hot Pink Halo:

Solid vocal performance, electronic beats and groove; I like/don’t mind the drum machine in the verses, but the crashes I think hit that misophonia stuff I’ve got with the crashes and the snares. I get that you were going for electronic drums, but the velocity on the snare along with the crashes feel like they are pounding into me with mechanical ferocity. I really dug your vocals on this and your layered harmonies, I feel like your vocals have really leveled up the last year or two. This was a cool song that I had trouble getting into because the drums would take me out of it each time they came in strong unfortunately.


Pigfarmer Jr:

Sorry for making you listen to mine so much due to the Nur Ein double dip, but I’m glad to hear it hasn’t burned you out on it yet.

Really clean production on this, I like the warm acoustic guitars and vocal. Progression is a classic, like a worn hat and boots. Lyrics work but I felt a bit cliched through most of the verse; the verses and chorus feel almost like first-draft throwaways, I would have liked a bit of surprise or even just an odd word choice for a rhyme in there; it could be my personal preference, but I don’t like being able to guess the next rhyme in a lyric, and I felt I could anticipate the down/drown me/breathe lines; contrast that with the bridge which I did like from the details of the white knuckles, and the slant rhyme of shake to afraid, felt like an honest and earnest plea. Probably my personal preference that if the progression is worn, I like to hear some more surprise, originality, impressive rhyme, or specific details lyrically.

Lovely solo like a country gentleman with a glass of bourbon, compression and tele-style tone fits really well. Vocals and harmonies on the chorus are sweet too. I generally liked this a lot, my only nits to pick are on the lyrical originality, well done here.


Siebass:

This is me, double dip on the Nur Ein this round; I thought this was solid, but I was very pleased with myself on the solo and catchiness of the outro.

[crumpart]

Thanks for reviews everyone else so far! I’ll try and get some done later today.

Thought I would mention that o was on an absolute Parts & Labor bender last week, hence the somewhat abrasive sound. (Yes, it was deliberate, lol, and my main goal was to make my husband laugh out loud, which I was successful in doing!)

Parts & Labor, for reference

[Siebass]

Thanks for reviews everyone else so far! I’ll try and get some done later today.

Thought I would mention that o was on an absolute Parts & Labor bender last week, hence the somewhat abrasive sound. (Yes, it was deliberate, lol, and my main goal was to make my husband laugh out loud, which I was successful in doing!)

Parts & Labor, for reference

Oh man, well you nailed the reference, and abrasive is a fitting adjective, that hits my brain in the same tweaky spot, even when it's a catchy beat.

[DutchWidows]

Thanks for reviews everyone else so far! I’ll try and get some done later today.

Thought I would mention that o was on an absolute Parts & Labor bender last week, hence the somewhat abrasive sound. (Yes, it was deliberate, lol, and my main goal was to make my husband laugh out loud, which I was successful in doing!)

Parts & Labor, for reference

That's outstanding! Never heard that song before, or of the band, so will now spend the day listening!

[crumpart]

Thanks for reviews everyone else so far! I’ll try and get some done later today.

Thought I would mention that o was on an absolute Parts & Labor bender last week, hence the somewhat abrasive sound. (Yes, it was deliberate, lol, and my main goal was to make my husband laugh out loud, which I was successful in doing!)

Parts & Labor, for reference

That's outstanding! Never heard that song before, or of the band, so will now spend the day listening!

You are in for a treat, and they also have a new album part released after a decade or so of not making anything. Our household is very excited! I think they will very much be your cup of tea.

[crumpart]

Critical Rave Theory:
I really like the lyrics to this. They're simple, but there's a lot of good imagery and they suit the style of song. That said, I mostly couldn't make them out in the actual song and had to go and read them to figure out what they were. That may be something to look at, or considering this dance style of music, may be something you don't care about at all. I'm a lyrics person though, and not particularly a nightclubber, so my thoughts there may not be appropriate for what you want out of the song. I think that it's never a bad idea to make the vocal more engaging though. The sparkly instruments are lovely.

Pigfarmer Jr:
I wish I felt like the ocean when I go on stage. Instead I feel like a desert, as every single bit of moisture immediately disappears from my body. My mouth has never been as dry as that very first time I ever went on stage by myself, lol. "I hope my voice isn't gonna shake" feels a bit wordy for the space it's in. If I was rewriting this, I'd make that something like "I hope that they don't hear the shake"; it's one syllable less, and it shifts the focus to the audience rather than the performer. That's something I'd look at for the song as a whole as well. Currently it's very "I / me / my focussed", and I think it would be more impactful to broaden that view. "I feel the ocean as it draws me in, And the lights begin to fade, Pulling me underwater once again" is perfect for the chorus.

Siebass:
My first reaction to this song was "man, this song is so catchy that I feel like I've heard it before?" Turns out I had, lol. Still, incredibly catchy. I think that this is definitely your best from this go round at Nur Ein so far. Super good job linking both the Atmosphere and Underwater titles. As a keys (and bass. why do I find bass so much easier than frickin guitar? They're the same damn shape...) player who just struggles so hard at guitar, I'm pretty jealous of that solo.

Hot Pink Halo:
It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me. This got me axed from Nur Ein. On relisten I stand by it. I think it's a good song and didn't deserve to be cut.
This is about Rothko's colour field paintings, and as Rothko is a polarising artist, and one who had CAPITAL O OPINIONS about art and feelings, I wanted it to be somewhat abrasive. As previously stated, I was going for a Parts & Labor vibe, because I think they embrace a lot of the vibes I find in Rothko's work. When people relate music to his art, they tend to go classical, but I think noise music is a better match personally. I've had tinnitus since I was a little kid thanks to childhood vertigo, a lifetime of jaw clenching, and, as it turns out, undiagnosed autism (I didn't know what the tinnitus was when I was younger; fun fact, I thought it was the sound of the electronics in our TV when switched on), and weirdly, melodic noise music with dissonance and a lot going on (Parts and Labor, The Velvet Underground, etc.) is really helpful and soothing for me.

[Siebass]

Critical Rave Theory:
I really like the lyrics to this. They're simple, but there's a lot of good imagery and they suit the style of song. That said, I mostly couldn't make them out in the actual song and had to go and read them to figure out what they were. That may be something to look at, or considering this dance style of music, may be something you don't care about at all. I'm a lyrics person though, and not particularly a nightclubber, so my thoughts there may not be appropriate for what you want out of the song. I think that it's never a bad idea to make the vocal more engaging though. The sparkly instruments are lovely.

Pigfarmer Jr:
I wish I felt like the ocean when I go on stage. Instead I feel like a desert, as every single bit of moisture immediately disappears from my body. My mouth has never been as dry as that very first time I ever went on stage by myself, lol. "I hope my voice isn't gonna shake" feels a bit wordy for the space it's in. If I was rewriting this, I'd make that something like "I hope that they don't hear the shake"; it's one syllable less, and it shifts the focus to the audience rather than the performer. That's something I'd look at for the song as a whole as well. Currently it's very "I / me / my focussed", and I think it would be more impactful to broaden that view. "I feel the ocean as it draws me in, And the lights begin to fade, Pulling me underwater once again" is perfect for the chorus.

Siebass:
My first reaction to this song was "man, this song is so catchy that I feel like I've heard it before?" Turns out I had, lol. Still, incredibly catchy. I think that this is definitely your best from this go round at Nur Ein so far. Super good job linking both the Atmosphere and Underwater titles. As a keys (and bass. why do I find bass so much easier than frickin guitar? They're the same damn shape...) player who just struggles so hard at guitar, I'm pretty jealous of that solo.

Hot Pink Halo:
It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me. This got me axed from Nur Ein. On relisten I stand by it. I think it's a good song and didn't deserve to be cut.
This is about Rothko's colour field paintings, and as Rothko is a polarising artist, and one who had CAPITAL O OPINIONS about art and feelings, I wanted it to be somewhat abrasive. As previously stated, I was going for a Parts & Labor vibe, because I think they embrace a lot of the vibes I find in Rothko's work. When people relate music to his art, they tend to go classical, but I think noise music is a better match personally. I've had tinnitus since I was a little kid thanks to childhood vertigo, a lifetime of jaw clenching, and, as it turns out, undiagnosed autism (I didn't know what the tinnitus was when I was younger; fun fact, I thought it was the sound of the electronics in our TV when switched on), and weirdly, melodic noise music with dissonance and a lot going on (Parts and Labor, The Velvet Underground, etc.) is really helpful and soothing for me.

Thanks for the reviews and kind words about the solo; sometimes I get lucky and pull off a fun one. For me, I wish I could play a solid piano part, so the grass is always greener on the other side.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

I wish I felt like the ocean when I go on stage. Instead I feel like a desert, as every single bit of moisture immediately disappears from my body. My mouth has never been as dry as that very first time I ever went on stage by myself, lol.

Exposed vs overwhelmed? Interesting how a shared experience can feel dissimilar and still the same. Stage fright sucks.

[Lunkhead]

The results are in and the fight has been won by ... Pigfarmer Jr and Siebass!