The Song Fight Bulletin Board

So on the way to work I heard a song I didn't know, heard the guitar and thought "that sounds like U2" and it turns out it was. Then I heard another guitar on another channel and it was definitely Jerry Garcia. So it got me thinking about signature sounds at SongFight...
King Arthur has one - I often recognize his guitar sound right away. Octothorpe does... nobody else sounds like them.
I had another one in mind in the car but now I forgot - oh yeah, Lonbobby's piano playing.
Also J$ singing
So who can you think of that has a totally signature sound, that you can tell who it is right off without looking at the tags? No fair saying "yourself"!
-bill

Starfinger's voice is easy to spot. (In a good way).

A Jim of Seattle piece is pretty recognizable, too. Even his Welcome To _____, without any vocals, sounds unmistakeably like him.

I most certainly know Wreckdom when I hear it, too.

Jack shite, Puce, J$, Smalltown Mike, Deshead, Tonetripper I can pick out of a crowd.

It's kinda cool when someone can do stuff and you DON'T know who they are too though... in fact, that may be a signature sound as well...

Also, Level Nivelo. Haven't heard from him in a while, but I could always tell.


Oh yeah, and Dylan Nau, and Josh Woodward too.

In fact, I pretty much believe that once you hear someone's work for a bit, you pretty much (well, I pretty much) get a handle on it.


But the one's I have mentioned are the ones that, if I stream a new fight, I can usually tell that they are on it.

Yes - J$, Puce, Smalltown Mike and Tonetripper have vocals that always make them stand out like dogs balls. Likewise Hoblit and Max the Cat.
And there is definitely a Luke Henly signature - though it's a messy one that's hard to read.

you have the most hilarious expressions man. "dog balls". I have no idea if that is supposed to imply something about those dudes... I'm gonna guess not. Still...you crack me up!

Caravan Ray wrote:Puce, Smalltown Mike and Tonetripper

Yay for Candian visibility.

Jute Gyte springs instantly to mind, be it vocals, drums, or guitar. But I guess that's kind of obvious.

hoblit, balls to monte, glenn case, adjuster, frankie big face, 1516 puzzle, ken, phil and heather, sam and erin, blind mime, c hack, carol cleveland sings, jon eric, future boy, roymond, marcus kellis, hillbilly, henrietta, JB, leaf, obscurity, sober, sven, and leaf, as well as the obvious one's mentioned.........cashpoint, starfinger, dylan, max, king arthur, puce, and both spud and mad dog from the mighty octothorpe.

i'd bet money i could pick any of y'all out of a lineup.

I'd know Niveous, easy. Dan (sorry, Fodroy) too. Jack's lead and mandolin work is instantly recognisable.

j$ wrote:Dan (sorry, Fodroy) too.

well, i don't object to being called dan. after all, it's my name.

i really have no idea what "fodroy" means. i just made it up one day. it still confuses me.

jack wrote:...carol cleveland sings...

Yes - I think CCS has probably the most distinct "signature sound" - in the way that I think that Bill was originally referring to - rather than just having a distinctive and recognisable voice.

Puce wrote:

Caravan Ray wrote: Puce, Smalltown Mike and Tonetripper

Yay for Candian visibility.

Heh - I didn't actually realise I was naming all Canadians as I wrote that. I didn't think that I was able to distinguish between American and Canadian accents - maybe I can after all - which is why those those voices stand out as being distinctive.

CCS, yeah, definitely, they fit my criteria - which was intended to be "even before they start singing" - and yeah, blind mime was one i had in mind earlier but forgot.
-bill

Need I say WreckdoM?

I'll strongly second (or third) BME and CCS. You know who it is right when it starts.

Blind Mime. Every time I hear his stuff, it gets better. Actually, there a few songfighters where the longer you listen, the more you hear. He is definitely one of them!

I have an opinion that the artists with the more unique "signature" sound tend to get intitally ignored because it's challenging the ear. AFter time, the ear places it in a mental zone, and then the true wickedness comes out.

I was listening to BM two days ago at work, and had this thought, minus the "signature sound" bit, but it certainly fits.

Where is he anyway? super busy rather than unispired, I hope!

Andre Was Here at Midnight definitely has an unmistakable sound. Unmistakably great.

OK for a bit of fun - I have taken the first ten seconds of ten of my own personal favourite big songfight winners (well one came second to a friend flood, but got over 20 votes) and made a little mp3. how many do you recognise the moment you hear them???? To make it even easier, I have put them in alphabetical order ...

http://www.johnnycashpoint.com/signaturesoundtest.mp3

I guess so as not to spoil the fun for others, just say how many you got, for the time being??? If someone gets more than others, and can name 'em when called upon, I'll write 'em a theme song in my own inimitable signature sound, or something ...

j$

j$ wrote:OK for a bit of fun - I have taken the first ten seconds of ten of my own personal favourite big songfight winners (well one came second to a friend flood, but got over 20 votes) and made a little mp3. how many do you recognise the moment you hear them???? To make it even easier, I have put them in alphabetical order ...

http://www.johnnycashpoint.com/signaturesoundtest.mp3

I guess so as not to spoil the fun for others, just say how many you got, for the time being??? If someone gets more than others, and can name 'em when called upon, I'll write 'em a theme song in my own inimitable signature sound, or something ...

j$

Not to crowd your in-box but would it be better if we PM'd you the answers and have you "grade" them?

This is a great idea J$ BTW.

i know 6 after the first listen.

johnny says i got 7 out of 10 right.

of the 3 i missed, 2 are pretty damn obscure (7 total entries between the 2 of them) and 1 i should have gotten (and WOULD have if i'd gotten vox!). and 1 that i missed i'm debating (the one i thought was bolio i still think bolio is singing....)

and with only 1 listen! now that's dedication!

This is a fun game, and it would be fun to do more often, like every week or so. But like 10 seconds is way too long. It's more fun* to get a shorter clip. Maybe like 2 seconds? If you do it again, pick clips from songs that didn't win, because those are harder to identify (and go further to prove that someone has a signature sound, rather than prove they have a winning song that everyone has heard). Ooooooh, and pit similar sounding songs against each other. Like 10 guy and guitar songs. Or ten electronica songs, or 10 rock songs.



*or not, depending on your opinion

Oh, and I totally only even recognized like 3 of the songs.

erikb wrote: It's more fun* to get a shorter clip. Maybe like 2 seconds? If you do it again, pick clips from songs that didn't win, because those are harder to identify

Yeah, that's a good idea (the sorter clips) - I just picked randomly from what I had to hand. I was interested to see if there what people might consider 'signature' sounds are in fact just 'popular' songs, so there are some big names, big wins by little names, little wins by big names, in there. One of them was a huge win by an artist already mentioned, but it was very different to any of their stuff before or since.

Anyone else want to play? PM me your list if it's above 7 on first listen. At the moment Blue & Jack are tied ..

Anyway, Jack - it's not Bolio, I promise!

j$

***laughing his ass off at the final song on the mp3***

Now that's a signature tune!