The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Buona fortuna!

If I were Italian... I'd probably understand what you just said.

He say... Good-a Luck-a.

Kweep wrote:He say... Good-a Luck-a.

Or something rather like it, yeah...

If you would have, or would ever tend to suffer from Tonal Vision, you would have-a seen "it’s-a no beeg-a deal". Alby added to the alliteration and took liberties with the consistency of consonace with the substitution of italian words for their english equivalent, then peppered his preamble with plosives in order to enhance spoken impact.
Which is, simply put, far more audaciously inspired and auditorially interesting than, “All day long I would bid you good day and good luck.â€

Freudian Slip wrote:If you would have, or would ever tend to suffer from Tonal Vision, you would have-a seen "it’s-a no beeg-a deal". Alby added to the alliteration and took liberties with the consistency of consonace with the substitution of italian words for their english equivalent, then peppered his preamble with plosives in order to enhance spoken impact.

Ummmm..... all I did was look it up. If I got it wrong, blame the site I got it from.

Nice to see you're still around, Freud.

Freudian Slip wrote: [...]Bukkakke, the plosive force[...]

nice...

Albatross wrote:Buona fortuna!

In bocca al lupo!!

dean sky - dunno what to say... not my thing. decent production and the singin is ok.

feldspar - not horrible but the rythmic liquidity between vox and guitar is kinda annoying. lyrics are ok.

heuristcs - the production is pretty ok but the lyrics and vocal delivery need some work.

mc milk plus - fuckin' bad ass! wow. the production and flow gets my vote f'sho'.

mc denyer - the piano is so quantized it kinda sounds like a nintendo game... works here but it doesn't need to be all the way through the song. meatball for a head... hah.

rone - cool sounds but the vox still don't cut it for me.

steve durand - pretty funny. good feel... i dig the psuedo surf.

frisbee - really nice melody as usual and i like the vibrato guitar at the begining.


i'm totally floored by mc milk plus' entry. frankly, it made it hard to review the others cause i dig it so much.

In my opinion, it's not a great title so I am interested to see if anyone can do anything interesting with it.

Dean Sky - Ummm Autobahn is German, right? What - you couldn't make autostrada fit the rhythm? The title's not 'If I were European'. Ummm, this is very well done but entirely throwaway - at least it has the decency to stop when it realises that it's going nowhere, in a lamborghini or no.

Feldspar - well, it's a list song. Some of the lines bring a wry smile to the lips, but it's got that same throwaway feel to it as the last one. it's not the g'n'g at all - I just don't really warm to it. Sorry I can't think of anything more constructive to say. What would I know, anyway?

Heuristics Inc - I like the tune very much, and Siena's voice also, has a nice electroclash female vocalist feel to it (although the music isn't, obviously). And Bill's vocal is getting stronger with each new song. I think the vocals sit on top of the tune rather than inside it. And it feels a bit narrow in the mix. The lyrical concept is simple but it works and there is an interesting 80s Ultravox ambience overall. I like.

Mc Milk Plus - Cute use of sample. The rest comes across as a public school boy who works in marketing in London who has heard Goldie Looking Chain and thinks 'I can do that'. That may not be the case, but it what it sounds like to me. (ps I don't like Goldie Looking Chain so you were always on a loser with me)

Denyer - I don't like that 'casio demo' sample. Nah, this feels like chas and dave remixed by Jive Bunny, and also like a reprise of the song before. nice growly bass tone. and I like what I misheard as 'I would have a maple for my head' which I didn't understand, but I liked. When I realised it was 'meatball' it made me lose hope.

Rone Rivendale - ahhhh!!!! Stop with the casio rap! Three in a row! Hay-ulp! This is really annoying, not in a challening way, just in a badly mixed way. Lyric is not good.

Steve Durand - starts great - but then it turns into a surf pastiche. Please, one week, when you've won lots of fights (which no doubt will be soon) please try and do something which can't be immediately and perfectly overlaid on someone else's music. There's ripping off ideas, and then there's musical photocopying. Whacking together lots of different pastiches isn't experimentation However your voice does sound really, really, really cool on this, I must admit. Might be a default vote winner I guess, and it's not terrible by any stretch. It's very well done, but it's been done. Sorry, man. I guess asking you to lend some trumpets to a song I'm working on is out of the question now, eh?

Thanks for the frisbee - Now this is a pastiche too, I guess, after having ranted at Steve for a paragraph, but I like this a lot. I am nothing if not contradictory. I like 'would you warm your ugly bones with me' (though not 'the sun expires') About a minute too long.

dean - your cadences really bother me. you know the feeling when you're on the edge of a curb, and trying to balance, but you can't quite? your voice sounds like that, the way you sing the syllables. you should practice the lines more. the lyrics aren't doing too much for me either, but i am enjoying the music pretty well. the drums sound too fakey.

denyer - too many stereotypes. the piano doesn't fit that well, it stands out too much and drowns the vocals. also i think you need something else in there between the vocals, drums, bass, and piano - it feels empty in the middle. also too much repetition of "garlic bread." not bad tho, the flow is good.

hinc/siena - this isn't my strongest vocal style, obviously because vocals aren't my strongest asset. the song kind of demanded it tho. and i couldn't resist this title since we've been studying italian. my next song should be industrial i think glad i got m to sing with me tho! yay m!

feldspar - dol-chay. pronunciation is important. i like the guitar work. i feel like i want more of a chorus than just the riff on the last line of the verse... oh, here's another one: san-jo-vay-zay, kind of. enjoyable, but could be improved. now since pa i can see you singing this, that's cool.

rone - wow that stuff is too loud. especially the metallic twangy thing. you need to do something character-wise with your vocal. it's flat. if you're going to pull this off your vocal should be more interesting. also, stereotypes. you may say it in your song, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna like it.

steved - antonio is a cool name. what if you tried singing more of the lines in unison? so's gunter. yup. the guitar solo is cool. the alien verse is definitely good stuff. the addition of bleeps in there, nice thinking.

mcmilk - vox should be more upfront. it's making it hard to make out the words on my work speakers. the song is pretty good, actually, i kinda like the "chorus" section with the sung vocal. is that sampled? the vocal style sounds a little too much like an affectation. also, the drums should probably change up more. one of the better songs in this fight tho.

frisbee - when you sing out i think i hear too much of the room in it. see "if i were italian". i like the tremolo guitar... i feel like there's too much repetition in the lyrics as sung... and i have no idea what you're singing about... this is pretty good tho.

favorites: hinc/siena, mcmilk, frisbee
-bill

j$ wrote: Heuristics Inc - And it feels a bit narrow in the mix.

oh yeah, i keep forgetting to pan the tracks in this. thanks for the reminder. too late for the fight, obviously, but i can fix it before posting it anywhere else.
-bill

j$ wrote:
Steve Durand - starts great - but then it turns into a surf pastiche. Please, one week, when you've won lots of fights (which no doubt will be soon) please try and do something which can't be immediately and perfectly overlaid on someone else's music. There's ripping off ideas, and then there's musical photocopying. Whacking together lots of different pastiches isn't experimentation However your voice does sound really, really, really cool on this, I must admit. Might be a default vote winner I guess, and it's not terrible by any stretch. It's very well done, but it's been done. Sorry, man. I guess asking you to lend some trumpets to a song I'm working on is out of the question now, eh?

Well, you're in fine form this week.

First off, thanks for the review. You always give me something to think about.

I don't know why you are in to Songfight but I'll tell you why I am. Because I enjoy writing and recording the music. It provides a good outlet for my creative urges. I happen to enjoy a very broad background of musical styles and, when I write a song I try to match up the lyrics with the musical style. That often seems to result in a song that fits a certain genre because that is what sounds right to me in the context of the song.

I am not sure why you may think that I will be winning fights any time soon. My track record (32 entries, 1 win) would argue against it.

Thinking my voice sounds cool, well, that's a first!

Anyway, thanks for the comments and you are definitly prompting me to try and be more adventurous in the future.

I don't take any of the personally so, sure, I'd love to work with you again. Send me a PM.

Steve

Che cosa abbiamo bisogno più di è resoconti critichi!
Per favore!
-bill

I am going out on a limb and saying this might be the worst fight I can remember. Thanks for the effort, but I vote 'nay' this time.

I dig that MC Milk track, but the vox need to come way up. They're almost inaudible, but good flow. Look forward to hearing more.

Keepers: Feldspar (guitar & voice have improved a lot from what I remember), MC Milk Plus (I like the mandolin), and Denyer. Steve makes the cut on a second-listen.

For the non-keepers, the reason they didn't make the grade for me:

Dean Skyl - pretty recording, nice sound, but the song doesn't go anywhere...

Heuristics - the sloppiness in the performance was just too much for me

Rone - not my thing - that stringy pianoy thing is just annoying for me...

Thanks - a band version of this mighta been a keeper - interesting song...

Vote MC Milk Plus for the best laundry list.

KA

As others have pointed out, MC Milk Plus needs a re-mix with the vocals louder, but he got my vote. Huge beat, good flow, funny lyrics and appropriate vocal affectation. Nice.

Deanskyi: When an older guy comes up to me and says he does music at home, this is exactly what I imagine. Ultra cheesy everything, horribly cheesy drums. This is just really far away from interesting.

Feldspar: You-ooh. I don't like this. Hissy, hummy. Are you still plugging a mic directly into your soundcard, after all these years? Nothing of real substance here.

Heuristics: I think I've always had the same comment for your stuff, and that is vocal delivery. Intonation is a big part of it, but you sound like you're just talking most of the time. Not really moving me.

Mc Milk Plus: I hate your voice. Everything else is good.

Denyer: You need to focus on your gimmick more. Bring out the accent, the absurd tracks, and the nonsensical lyrics even more. That is your key to success.

Rone: Ack.

Steve Durand: There's cool stuff in there, but this is an absolute mess.

Frisbee: Your voice has a Johnathan Mann quality, but with more juevos. With full production a la The Killers, you'd be a monster. Get some drums and shit. If you don't have the means, ask a songfighter. I know I'd be willing to help out some raw talent like yours.

Overall, this fight is pretty lame. My vote goes to frisbee on the 'diamond in the rough' ticket.

ok, so nobody seems to notice that in the hinc song this week there are two distinct voices. are people stopping the track before they get to the second vocalist? because absolutely nobody except j$ has even seemed to notice. yes, my vocals aren't so good on this. how are hers?
sober's review made me think of this.
-bill

j$ wrote: Heuristics Inc - I like the tune very much, and Siena's voice also, has a nice electroclash female vocalist feel to it (although the music isn't, obviously). And Bill's vocal is getting stronger with each new song. I think the vocals sit on top of the tune rather than inside it. And it feels a bit narrow in the mix. The lyrical concept is simple but it works and there is an interesting 80s Ultravox ambience overall. I like.

Thanks for the review, j$. I didn't know what "narrow in the mix" meant but apparently my other half did and finds it helpful!

Funny you should say "on top of the tune" - the original concept involved guitar, that didn't go well, so electronic-y it was. Might have something to do with it.

I am amused to know that my voice can be "electroclash" - I had never heard the term before, but it sounds kinda cool!

- Michelle

p.s. I don't think I ever thanked you properly for your part in 'Lemurs', aka My Favorite Song in the World. so, thank you! it was a wonderful moment.

I listened to the whole tune, Hinc. I just didn't really have anything to say. Sorry.

Hinc -

Yes, I did bail on the track before the second voice came in when I did my review.

Just listened to the whole thing, and it does, umm, continue to be kinda "pitchy" on Siena's vocals as well. I think the fact that the synth is playing the melody underneath the voices emphasizes the missed notes... if you want to have the melody playing while you're tracking vocals, you might then mute it for the final mix, and add in a couple alternate synth parts that don't take the melody (at least it sounds like, on the verses, the voices are trying to match the synth melody and missing... and it's particularly noticeable since there's so much sustain in the synth part that it's clearly audible around the vocal. One can, on occasion, use a piano sound to "fix" a missed note or two, if the piano is mixed low enough that the vocals mostly mask it. Here, the organ-y synth sound is prominent enough that it's proclaiming, "here are the notes we were trying to hit...")

KA