J'aime Le Combat des Chansons ('Bonjour Mon Ami' Reviews)

j$ · Post by j$ » Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:56 am

Allez!

Eric Y. · Post by **Eric Y.** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:08 pm

gesundheit!

Richard WreckdoM · Post by **Richard WreckdoM** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:54 pm

j$ wrote:Allez!

Zero for 33 makes me more unsuccessful.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:07 pm

P'raps a fights entered to votes garnered ratio would settle this more accurately, hey?

Or rather, an average of the votes? Darned math...

14 fights, 46 votes, 3.286 average

And zero wins.

jack · Post by **jack** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:29 pm

eh, quit worrying about who sucks the most. thats not really something to strive for. i'd say in 90% of the cases, the voting parity to quality in the fight is fairly accurate. and there can only be one winner.

j$ · Post by j$ » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:32 pm

Richard WreckdoM wrote:
j$ wrote:Allez!
Zero for 33 makes me more unsuccessful.

Ah but if you include collaborations I am 0 for 50. Plus there are three of you and only one of me so whereas you can share the blame I must take it all on my thin, hunched shoulders. Eat my enormous failure.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:36 pm

Consider it eaten, heh. With marmalade.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 5:34 pm

Ca plane pour moi:

Matt Glossy: Zut alors! When this starts it sounds like we’re getting a cover of the old standard “Till There Was You”. That aside though, this is very nice. Love the echoy-slidy guitar thing. The “Franglaise” lyrics thing is can often sound very clichéd, but I think you pulled it off well here. Very good song – I enjoyed it a lot.

DWG: This sounds like a really bad cover version of Kraftwerk’s Spacelab. Although I’m guessing you kiddies may have never heard of Kraftwerk – if you had you may realise that electronic music is more than just buggerising about with Fruity-Loops. Very bad.

J$: More Franglaise, but once again, it does work quite well here. I’m finding the verses possibly a little weak, but the chorus is excellent. Likewise, vocals work really well throughout the song. For some reason this is reminding me of Pulp – don’t know if it’s the music or the fact that your avatar looks like Jarvis Cocker. Overall I like this – I find with your stuff I either like it a lot or not at all – this is one of the good ones.

Josh Woodward: Quelle surprise, la franglaise encore une fois. Once again JW comes up with the goods. On first listen I thought this sounded just too cutesy and twee – but a seconded listen I heard a really well written and well told story. Definitely best use of franglaise lyrics this week. Stylistically not my thing, but the quality of songwriting and musicianship is undeniable.

McFeat: I don’t get it

Caravan Ray: As a young boy I was always in awe of those girls in the playground who sang complicated tongue-twisting songs accompanied by elaborately choreographed hand-knee-chest slapping. This is one for them – while also paying homage to Disney’s It’s A Small World.

Three way tie this week for me between Josh, J$ and Matt Glossy. Too close to call a vote yet – I’ll have to think about this one.

downwithgender · Post by **downwithgender** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:10 pm

"This sounds like a really bad cover version of Kraftwerk’s Spacelab."

FYI" KW is the only band I listen to, and this track sounds nothing like space lab at all. If this were to sound like a bad cover of any KW song it would probably be one of the tour de france etapes from the tour de france soundtrack, especially becuase of the whole french thing. One more thing we dont use fruity loops, I made this song using a korg es-1(a sampler for the drums) a yamaha cs-1x (for the organ line), and a microkorg (for the bass). The only software used was cool-edit pro for multi-tracking and a TTS for the voices. Thanks for the KW reference, thats two fights in a row for me.

DOWNWITHGENDER2 · Post by **DOWNWITHGENDER2** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:15 pm

Caravan Ray wrote:
DWG: This sounds like a really bad cover version of Kraftwerk’s Spacelab. Although I’m guessing you kiddies may have never heard of Kraftwerk – if you had you may realise that electronic music is more than just buggerising about with Fruity-Loops. Very bad.

We do an excellent cover of "The Model".

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:32 pm

DOWNWITHGENDER wrote:
"This sounds like a really bad cover version of Kraftwerk’s Spacelab."
FYI" KW is the only band I listen to, and this track sounds nothing like space lab at all. .

Sorry if I made incorrect assumptions about your gear or your musical knowledge - but I felt the review needed a bit of 'nastiness' to it because your entry this week just sounded lazy and I've heard you do better.

I'll stand by my Spacelab comparison though - I listen to the Man Machine album on my computer at work a lot - it's the synth riff at the begining of Spacelab that seems to go through your song (unless of course Ive buggered up the track listing on my computer - in that case it may be some other instrumental track off the Man Machine album). I haven't heard Tour de France for a long time - but that did also cross my mind.

Tony Asbestos · Post by **Tony Asbestos** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 8:05 pm

Bonjour Mon Ami Reviews

Matt Glossy and the 8x10s -Matt and I worked on this for a while last weekend. Or should I say, Matt did most of it after I told him which songs I wanted it to sound like. He sings, plays guitar and keys, I played the bass, drums, and slide. The mix is odd and muffled, but I like the song.

Caravan Ray Day o!- Daaaaaay o! Nice way to avoid the cliche French sounds by indulging in a different type of music entirely. I couldnt hear it all but it sounds like a trip around the world. B

MC Feat- Exxxperimental. Might be more interesting with a lyric sheet. With a song like this, are people really going to listen to this for pleasure? maybe some will. D+

Johnny Cashpoint- I like the lyrical idea of going to France, like how in the US we would go to Mexico for cheap booze, etc. I like the verses better than the choruses- it might have been better to make the whole thing more on the mellow tip w/o the percussion. Also, the lyrics are better in the verses. Overall enjoyable. B+

Josh Woodward- Typical good JW. The mandolin sounds very appropriate in this. The way your songs are so well produced, I am sure you could make a living in the recording industry. Verrry niiice. A

Down With Gender- Will this become more than the preset beat on a casio keyboard? Doesn't seem like it. I guess it does sound kind of French. Maybe the lyrics are clever and I am just not getting it.C-

Not a bad little fight... Doesn't look like anyone took up Sober on his accordian offer. JW and J$ were the best of the bunch.

diode · Post by **diode** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:33 pm

Matt and the glossy 8x10's - at first I wasn't too excited about this but then the slide guitar made me like it more and it grew on me. The only critique would be a little bit of timing inconsistency towards the end.

Josh Woodward - I wish everyone wouldn't have started the song with the title. Josh, I think you could really grow more if you had a drummer. The chorus vocals get pretty cheesy. I like the claps over the mandolin.

Down with Gender - I like the drum machine. I love electronic music but this sounds a little too easy. Feel free to flame me if you spent hours on it. I do like the computer voice.

Johnny Cashpoint - Is that a fake british accent i hear. I do like the synth at the end though.

MC feat - starting good...going too long with the computer voice. Doesn't deliver on the promise of the intro. I should be shaking my ass by the end of this thing.

Caravan Ray - Points for creativity. I feel like it needs more melody.

:If it weren't for the cheesy vocals on the chorus Josh would have gotten my vote but it's going to The Glossy's this week.

Eric Y. · Post by **Eric Y.** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:37 pm

j$ wrote:Ah but if you include collaborations ........
Plus there are three of you and only one of me so whereas you can share the blame I must take it all on my thin, hunched shoulders.

johnny you can't take into account your collaborations and then play the solo artist card in the same post!

diode wrote:Matt and the glossy 8x10's - at first I wasn't too excited about this but then the slide guitar made me like it more and it grew on me.

Johnny Cashpoint - Is that a fake british accent i hear.

1. these songs have only been up a couple of hours, how could it have grown on you already?
2. no

diode · Post by **diode** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:10 pm

My apologies if the accent is real.

Poor June · Post by **Poor June** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:33 pm

caravanray: hahaha this is different... it's basically just a lot of odd percussions... it's interestin'... but not really feelin' it very well right now...
it's done well for what it is...

downwithgender: don't like the keyboard sample... it's really botherin'... no prob with the rest of the track so far... drags quite a bit for not really changin' up any...

johnnycashpoint: like the lyrics... liked last weeks song better... has some good parts...
this is so far the best though...

joshw: beautiful guitar... really awesome production as usual... i think i like this song better then last weeks... really good stuff... love the guitar... (is that mandolin in the background?)..
(the clappin' could've been brought down a lil') awesome song... most likely my vote

mattglossy: like the music... the chords are sort of familiar... but it's still pretty so i won't hold it against ya... cause it's probably one of the better out of the fight next to josh...
don't know if i would've changed anything about this... other then the fact it does sound really familiar... pretty good stuff tops...

mcfeat: interestin' intro (don't like the snare at all)... to fruity loops... ok so the intro pretty much goes over the whole song? O_o... startin' to get really old... never changed... killed it...

top 5
5. downwithgender
4. caravanray
3. johnny
2. mattglossy
1. josh woodward

congrats to josh for another win

... (i'm just foreseein' the future... don't mind me)

Poor June · Post by **Poor June** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:33 pm

diode wrote:My apologies if the accent is real.

yea that is his real accent

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:41 pm

Expectations: (Aside from Josh's foregone win) Caravan Ray can compete here, and Johnny Cashpoint has been shaking up the fights of late.

Stay tuned for reviews...

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:07 am

I can't review this fight. It has too many stock French cliches in it. I will, however, say, that I voted for Matt Glossy & 8X10s. The only problem I had with that song was that I had a hard time believeing it was written and recorded in a week. I liked it a lot, in any case.

j$ · Post by j$ » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:55 am

diode wrote:Johnny Cashpoint - Is that a fake british accent i hear..

Er, no it's a real one. At least I hope it is?

EDIT: Sorry, I only just saw the other posts. Yep, english as the day is long, but weirdly, I think I was slipping into a fake American accent in the second verse ('... I find french so hard' and '... mobile top up card').

I like the synth at the end too

TA: Interesting what you say about the percussion. That was a last minute addition. Certainly it makes the second verse a little bit chaotic when it kicks in; I shall try a mix sans percussion and see what it sounds like.

I was also wondering whether there was an American equivalent to the ferry day-trip to France. I was talking to the Masters of Grip about this on Saturday, and we were saying it was a very British thing to put yourself through the whole 'ferry experience' just to save 60 pence on a bottle of beer. So it's interesting to hear that the world over cheap booze and cigarettes are a draw!

j$

Denyer · Post by **Denyer** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:04 am

I've been accused of using a fake british accent on here too :/

j$ · Post by j$ » Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:17 am

Caravan Ray wrote:Ca plane pour moi:

Plastic Bertrand was Belgian, I'm sure you know... i toy with the idea of covering that song every now and then.

Caravan Ray wrote: J$: .... your avatar looks like Jarvis Cocker.

Bwahahahahaha you know you're right. I hadn't thought of that. It is, of course, Robin from the Cartoon Network version of 'Teen Titans'.

J$

J'aime Le Combat des Chansons ('Bonjour Mon Ami' Reviews)

J'aime Le Combat des Chansons ('Bonjour Mon Ami' Reviews)

Re: J'aime Le Combat des Chansons ('Bonjour Mon Ami' Reviews

Re: J'aime Le Combat des Chansons ('Bonjour Mon Ami' Reviews