Gettin' My Tan On (Cable Beach reviews)

[blue]

what.

[j$]

Ben Kreiger - I have problems with this. The length is an immediate no-no. Suspicion of anyone with enough time on their hands to write, record and mix a 16 minute song this well in a week springs up next. When you sing 'down on cable beach' it makes me think of Fraggle Rock, immediately. Also by the time of the synth spoken part comes (which is only 3 1/2 minutes in) i am getting a bit bored. Also your vocal performance suggests 'hey don't take it seriously - it's a bit of fun' whil ethe music seems to suggest the complete opposite.

This song just doesn't justify the length. This feels like the desire to wrtie a 15 minute song, regardless of whether there is enough material to support it. It's all done very well (if a bit schizophrenic) but it just doesn't hold together on an artistic level, for me. Like you want to be The Who, but instead it's 'velveteen' by Transvision Vamp. I was skipping at 8 minutes though, so maybe i missed something. Sorry, very well done but a failure as a song, to these ears.

Darkest Daves - Nice drums. Surf guitar is nice. The mix is a little murky. It sounds like Urge Overkill's song on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. (or do I mean Reservoir Dogs?) You should push up and clean up the lead guitar part. also that descending riff, classic as it is, is a bit too repetitive to support 4 10. The repetition might be less in your face if the guitar line was clearer. Good scream at the end. Fine and dandy but not spectacular.

Fish Sausage - nice drum loops. That trumpet is too synthetic. You should choose another patch or drench this one in reverb. The vocal is a little loud - a bit piercing in the mix, but not unbearably. This is nice - brings to mind Portishead a little - the chours is a little bit wavery to be so minimally mixed. I think this one will do fine in the voting, it pushes all the right buttons, but I am not that wild about it personally. Like I said, all the boxes are checked, but hmmmm, maybe if the mix wasn't so clean, or there was some subtle evolution of each of the tracks, within the repetition (which I adore, as any sane person would), then it might hold my attention a bit more. Still, great vocal performance, and all. Nicely done.

Also pimping your song in other fight threads is a bit of a cheap shot. You want people to come review, then go review. Reading that before I heard your song probably contributed to my overly harsh review ... what comes around goes around, etc ...

Zipline - Sounds like you're having fun. Did you record this on a boom box? I wouldn't listen to this very often, mainly because I can't hear where one instrument starts and the next begins, except the drums, which are cool but a bit stodgy due to the recording technique. So I like the song i think it is very much, but I won't vote for it, in case it isn't. Hey, that doesn't make much sense, does it? Neither does the recording

[Reist]

Reviews!!! - By Jolly Roger

Nice short list. I think I'll have a listen.

Ben Krieger - What an epic! It's a great song, but so dang long that I had to fast forward through some of it. I totally love the ending, and the areas where you've got all the passion in your vocals are really cool. You sound like you could be in one of those old-time metal bands. I personally don't love your falsetto, but I like this song lots. I like it way more than your other stuff, as I'm into the progressive songs with more than one idea throughout, even if it's a bit long. Great job. Possible vote.

The Darkest Daves - Ben's a hard act to follow. It's a weird mix, kind of set in the back, but I like it ... kind of reminds me of "Secret Agent Man" or something from a spy movie. That scream caught me off-guard. I wish you had done a bit more to mix up the song ... it kind of got old for me. Not a bad effort at all though.

Fish Sausage - Kind of wish the actually music part of the beat was more up-front, since your voice probably would have sounded better with a bit of music right up with it. Not bad. It feels like you should have someone rapping in some of those breaks where you're singing really slowly. I don't know how it would actually sound, but it feels like that's what it needs to me. Might be a bit long too.

Zipline - Garage-bandy. Cool, but all I hear is yelling way in the back and guitar and hi-hat way in the front. Is this just through a tape-recorder? If it is, I understand your troubles, but if you could try and pull the vocals up in the mix, it would be awesome, since I can't hear the lyrics. Good playing on the instruments though, from what I can tell. I think this would be such a better song if it was mixed better and I could tell the different things going on.

I gotta say, even though the song was far too long, Ben Krieger easily gets my vote. Great mix, great ideas, great playing. Good job man.

[Treachjuris]

Also pimping your song in other fight threads is a bit of a cheap shot. You want people to come review, then go review. Reading that before I heard your song probably contributed to my overly harsh review ... what comes around goes around, etc ...

Actually, I was pimping Ben's song. And I AM reviewing. Chill, Allison.

[BenKrieger]

I have problems with this. The length is an immediate no-no. Suspicion of anyone with enough time on their hands to write, record and mix a 16 minute song this well in a week springs up next.

I'm glad you think it's mixed well...to my ears it sounds like everything was mixed a minute after it was tracked with maybe an hour or 2 or touch-ups before sending it in. Trust me, I wish I had more time, but I have day jobs to attend to. I started this on Wednesday afternoon and worked on for 6-7 chunks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I just kind of wrote everything as I went along...I had an old song that might fit, but I wanted to stay true to the SF concept. Everything except the vocals and tamborine was recorded direct and that helped...I worked early and late w/o pissing off the neighbors. I ended up having to grade 30 grad school papers on Monday night that I should have spread over a few days.

Also your vocal performance suggests 'hey don't take it seriously - it's a bit of fun' while the music seems to suggest the complete opposite.

The thing is, the first 4 parts, up through "Shuffle Board Boogie" were written with idiotic fun in mind, but the latter half took on a different edge. I was stuck, though...I had to write/record/finish the thing and that was the sacrifice...in order to meet the deadline, I had to leave it. I actually detest the spoken word part and when I get the time to reapproach this thing, that is being axed completely. It's superfluous. Pretty much every song on here could be developed more...recording-wise, all the drum parts are 1 or 2 patterns per song, copied and pasted to last 3 minutes a piece.

I was skipping at 8 minutes though, so maybe i missed something. Sorry, very well done but a failure as a song, to these ears.

See, I was worried about this, but then figured that it's not a 15 song, but a bunch of smaller songs linked. If I could have, I would have made each part an individual track. Since everyone is used to listening to 7-8 songs in a row, I hoped it would warrant one complete listen. But I'm one to talk...I've listened to "A Quick One While He's Away" about 50 times, but only once in full and that was out of obligation...since then I always skip through "we'll soon be home"

And over the past week I've consistently skipped my own song to get to "Digital Pigeons," which is my favorite part at around 9:58

Reviews of everyone else coming up...

Bee K

[Treachjuris]

I was skipping at 8 minutes though, so maybe i missed something.

See, I was worried about this, but then figured that it's not a 15 song, but a bunch of smaller songs linked. If I could have, I would have made each part an individual track. Since everyone is used to listening to 7-8 songs in a row, I hoped it would warrant one complete listen.

a) I listened completely. I had to. I was chaining 200 feet of rope. Thanks for keeping me company during that.

b) Dude. It's SONGfight, not Epic Battle. You should have made a side-fight for a 15 minute 8-songs-that-go-together-and-weave-a-story fight. It is beautiful and inspired, but I feel horrible because if I'd have known you were serious about it, I'd have challenged you to this on the side. The other fighters in this fight don't stand a chance against you at this point. But if we'd have ALL compiled such a work, well, it'd be a fair fight.

Lemme chill on this and review later. I do enjoy it. But I'm a little nervous about the other entries being eclipsed by the shadow of your work.

c) Grading grad papers? Right on. What area of study? Finished my finals in April and just got the grades in last week. Good on ya for keeping on top of the rest of your duties while whippin' this masterpiece out.

Good on ya.

P.S.

d) I dare you to submit this to Remix Fight.

[BenKrieger]

b) Dude. It's SONGfight, not Epic Battle. You should have made a side-fight for a 15 minute 8-songs-that-go-together-and-weave-a-story fight. It is beautiful and inspired, but I feel horrible because if I'd have known you were serious about it, I'd have challenged you to this on the side.

I'll bow out if people feel I shoulda warned 'em...i haven't been on long enough to know the rules...just kinda got excited and didn't stop writing.

c) Grading grad papers? Right on. What area of study? Finished my finals in April and just got the grades in last week. Good on ya for keeping on top of the rest of your duties while whippin' this masterpiece out.

Grad students in the New York City Teaching Fellows Program who are going into the classroom in September. Getting them ready (I taaught elementary school and still tutor/sub).

d) I dare you to submit this to Remix Fight.

Dare accepted.

Bee K

[jb]

There's no rule says you have to be brief. If you wanna make an epic, and it overshadows the rest of the songs, then you fucking DESERVE TO WIN.

Fair? Everybody else had the opportunity to do exactly what this guy did. If they didn't, it's their own damn fault. How is it unfair that he put more work in than everybody else? BAH. PHOOEY.

I haven't listened, so I don't know if it does any overshadowing or deserves to win. But the idea that you made something too big or too grand for Song Fight, or that because you did the fight is suddenly not fair, kind of pisses me off.

[jack]

yeah, what that guy above me said.

[beatlebrent]

Ben Krieger – It sounds like I just got the soundtrack for “Cable Beach: the Musicalâ€

[maasman]

Ben Krieger
Bow out? Screw that. You deserve what I predict will be a huge win for this one. The naysayers are just jealous, as they should be. The ability to put out this much good material in a week is killer. I raise an impotent fist to the sky.

This song makes me wish two things: 1. I could play decent guitar, and 2. that I could sluff off whatever inhibitions prevent me from realizing this kind of gleeful, balls-out ambition. I saw the titles last week and said "huh... I think I'll work on my non-SF stuff this week." You certainly went WAY the other way. I tip my hat!

The Cable Beach counsel? Awesome. That whole "movement" reminds me of Tenacious D. Holy cow, this thing just keeps making me laugh and shake my head in wonder. Your buttrock voice is great.

Oh my god, the ORGAN. The SYNTH. This is a masterpiece.

Elementary school? Cool. I just finished my masters in teaching elementary. Raise your goblet of rock...

[j$]

There's no rule says you have to be brief. If you wanna make an epic, and it overshadows the rest of the songs, then you fucking DESERVE TO WIN.

apart from the 7 mb rule? Or is that just a rule of thumb?

I haven't listened.

'nuff said

Of course, JB is right - if it fits and you're happy with it, then what's fair got to do with it? But equally the inverse applies, just because it is long and full of musicial proficiency, doesn't automatically qualify it for classic status.

(Oh and Ben, when i said I was skipping past 8 minutes - lots of short skips, not a few long ones, if that clears it up.)

Do you remember when LEF did his two hour song? Ah, those were the days.[/irony]

[BenKrieger]

But equally the inverse applies, just because it is long and full of musicial proficiency, doesn't automatically qualify it for classic status.

Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about Tales From Topographic Oceans. Although people who would want to chop that one down to a single record would be taking too much off. There are plenty of great 3 minute songs that take some epics to school, so I agree: a 16 minute song on its own does not mean anything.

beatlebrent: yeah, you hit it on the nail with the quicker transitions. I think if I actually revisit this thing, I'll be able to tighten it up. But I'm in the middle of recording a full length and really, projects like this just help me test out all the new gear and do some trialnerror.

Darkest Daves: I love that guitar sound...one thing I don't have in my arsenal is a guitar with a whammy bar. Is there a way to get that sound w/o one The sound effects incorporation was fantastic, and I liked the lyrics.

Zipline: This sounds like something that might turn up on GBV's Suitcase 2 box set. Whether it would be a gem or a skip track, well...for the record, lo-fi on its own never bugged me.

Fish Sausage: I dug this song...the female vocals were a nice change of pace. Other than that, I agree with what beatlebrent said.

OK...time to check out the other fights.

happy 4th!

[glennny]

Fish Sausage- This is a great track, I like the Sade-esque breathy vocals. The beats are very good. This would be a contender in any other fight. This is groovy. Good job!

The Darkest Daves- Also a good entry nice and surfy like one would expect from the title. The guitar tones are the best part for me. Nothing new or original here, but it’s done well and a pleasant listen.

Zipline- There’s a chess term “Zugzwangâ€

[Reist]

Ben Krieger - ... so dang long that I had to fast forward through some of it.

I just listened through the whole thing, and I actually can't believe that people think you threw this together as a reason to make a 16 minute song! There are an incredible amount of ideas in there, all great, and in a perfect order. The acoustic ending is perfect! You totally deserve this fight. I have so much more respect for you after this song.

[martyr]

Zipline
Hey, I only use the "Electro Martyr" alias when doing Electro-Clash! The intent here was more "Indie Punk Martyr". But of course this is not just me making a weak submission with the intent for critical review. As glenny said, this is us and the two Z's. Yes, the basement setup is so close, yet so far. We have 8 tracks of killer improv jams locked into an ADAT that I need to mix down via either headphones or PA speaker to a laptop via the microphone jack. I'm almost always in a hurry, and tend to set it up, run upstairs, and tend to it later. By the time I listen to it, the idea of going back down to remix is basically too time prohibitive to be possible... Inevitably, the highly dynamic uncompressed vocals sounded louder during the one scream on the PA listen and end up completly buried in the final mix, the keyboard sections are three times louder than the rest and need to be chopped, the bass drum is on a mic that needs to be tossed and sounds like cracking plastic... All with the final masterful effect of sounding like a single tape deck placed in the room (which probably would have sounded better!?) Oh well, wish I had more time for these entries and wasn't such a "real work" work-a-holic (smallest nano violin in the world begins playing.) Takes forever... So in short that this sounds like a boombox is 100% my fault, and really shouldn't be the case. We pretty much need a MAudio 1814 to firewire all 8 tracks to the computer for digital mixdown. That way I could just hand a DVD to glenny for his professional mixing skills. Perhaps someday...

The Darkest Daves
Yes, the surf guitar in this one is very nice. I also like the synth intro and wave samples. Awesome touch! The surf rock aspect is actually quite solid. The drums really kick over the hypnotic vocal style. The licks are really well done with explosive tremolo chord crashes at just the right place, and subtle hammer-ons performed to perfection. Definitely a top contender for the fight.

Fish Sausage
Smooth hip hop-ish beat. Female folk vox. I like when the drums pick up later in a sort of Postal Service style and start spinning the 32nd note twirls. I like the synth trumpet solo as well.

Ben Krieger This is not a 16 minute song. This is a medly of 8+ superb entries to the same contest. If we had serious time, we should be judging each of these separately. I always heard the unspoken rule is that SF entries should be ~3-4 minutes tops. This entry is simply epic. Ben, your mixing is very top notch. I like how prominent and well played the bass always is. You can hear every little crackle and pluck, and most importantly it is all so dead-on tight. It reminds me of Steve Albini production. Clear Beatle influences at times like the Sgt.Peppers transition after the first or second songlet. I like this entry much better than last week, because it shows your rock side. Dude, this is rock x6! I heard the Checkered Flag song and a few others on your site, and thought Checkered Flag was the best clip hands down (well, and the cute bear welcome video.) Anyway, I digress (as does this song). I agree you should pretty much take this one home for your debut victory on Song Fight. Perhaps once you get a victory under your belt, you'll only need to enter one 3-4 minute song in future weeks? Actually I take that back as I quite enjoyed this and agree that even one weak moment would have brought the whole thing tumbling in the eyes of a social network with short retention spans. My vote is yours. Once again, epic entry. How long did this take to produce anyway?

[Dave - so dark...]

I don't really have much time to review, so I'll just be brief.

Zipline: this song sounds awesome, though it's hard to really be sure. But I love what I can hear. If you remix this nicely, I want a copy. I'm sure you already the mixing issues so i wont reiterate. I love the song progression, the vocals and the use of harmonics. Rad.

Fish Sausage: I dig the lowfi sound. Your voice kindof sounds like puce's falsetto, which i like. I really like your drum loops, I'd to know the technique you use to come up with them, if your doing them yourself. Nice nice.

Ben Krieger: Wow, I'm totally jealous of your ability to mix. Musically, I prefer the other two songs, but this is just so amazing in it's scope and production values. I would love to see your setup, and a rundown of how you record and mix your music. Totally wow. I really love the rock organ part at the end.

Darkest Daves: As usual, i just wanted the song to go away towards the end, so I didn't listen to the mix on anything other than the dodgy very bass heavy monitors in my music room. Listening to this on headphones, the mix is shocking -- even for us. I like how the surf guitar sound worked out, I think that's the thing we spent the most time on. There is actually a more rock distorted guitar in this, though you can't hear it in this mix, it just sounds like the bass line is distorting. oh well. I was hoping someone might notice our song was a homage to the Friday the 13th series of movies. There was more we wanted to do with this, but didn't have the time to because we are so out of practise. Better luck next time, us. :P


I think i'll vote for zipline, because despite the the mixing issues, I love the song.

[BenKrieger]

How long did this take to produce anyway?

Not long...about 24 hours spread over 3-4 days. I literally have everything setup within reach of my chair:

my bass, tele and strat are on a tri-stand at arms length and I just reach over and grab the one I need, I have a big pile of pedals on the floor and the guitars and bass were done direct using SansAmp gear, then straight through my UAudio preamp and compressor, into a ProTools LE USB interface, then onto my painfully slow PC. When it was time to do vocals, I switched the preamp from "line" to "mic" and did all the vocals with the 57 in my hand, a mic stand near by with a pop filter so I didn't have to leave my chair (slacker). This really helped me do everything quickly...I didn't fuss with amps, mic placement or setup at all. Acoustic guitar was me placing the 57 on a 6" mic stand on the keyboard tray and playing from my chair, mic pointed just below the soundhole. The keys were all MIDI, the keyboard interface is sitting on top of the computer desk. I did some of the rapid keys and a very slow tempo and then doubled the speed.

Drums are all Native Instruments Battery 2 sounds.

I'm glad someone likes "Checkered Flag Record." I wrote that a few weeks ago and it's nice when new stuff gets a thumbs up.

I'm not going to force another epic...they come when they come. I do have an idea for influential film, but I'm going to have all of 2 hours to get it done. Don't expect anything too hot.

Bee K

[furrypedro]

fuck, the one time you don't save reviews and the browser buggers up.

all was good. In order of preference:
1) Ben Krieger - Digital Pidgeons is great (and very GBV)
=2) Zipline - nice style, dodgy mix
=2) Fish Sausage - cool beats and vox, dodgy trumpet
3) Daves - Interesting mix and well played, not my thing

[roymond]

I'm not going to force another epic...they come when they come. I do have an idea for influential film, but I'm going to have all of 2 hours to get it done. Don't expect anything too hot.

So, only 8 minutes?

Another "wow" response here. Thanks for the run down. I love the economy. Does this come together all stream of consciousness, or did you have all these sections defined and it was a matter of stepping through them? and do you record them in the order they appear? I'm often chopping and mixing, especially when recording a spontaneous composition, and I would lose settings like crazy if I switched between the sections.

[Stubby Phillips]

As I listen.

Fish Sausage:
+ cool groove
= vox key change seems weird -- does bass not track it the first time?
+ like the horn -- kinda. needs more memorable melody
= vox is loose, yet works
+ good sound
- too long

The Darkest Daves:
+ surf
+ surf
- vox too dark / bass heavy
+ pretty tight
- too much sameness -- needs changes
+ screaming

Zipline:
- sounds like some of my (way) old cassette recorder jams in somebody's basement. Bobby, is that you on the drums?

Ben Krieger:
+ like the bass, tamb
+ nice touches with backup vox, echos
+ angel chorus
- first transition too long
+ shuffleboard boogie is cool
+ nice guitar solo
+ good arrangement of parts, and instruments too
- now it's too close to 2112, but sounds good
+ lots of good lyric, but like I said...
= back to Tommy
- starting to get fatiqued...
+ saved by overture
+ Rick Wakeman organ
+ nice end
= lots of almost familiar hooks, lots of obvious musical references, but DAMN! a lot of work and imagination in there too. All the playing and production was great. GOOD JOB! Just don't do it every time, eh? You would have challanged my attention span if I had a life.

Well, there's no doubt about who wins this. Pretty amazing for one week.

[Treachjuris]

Ben Krieger
Damn you, damn you, damn you. I have no choice but to vote for you. This is beautiful work. OCD much? Tight; epic. Let's sidefight soon. P.S. - Remix fight has no material for the next fight. SUBMIT!

The Darkest Daves
Very nice; very dark; spooky in that really hip, Stranglers way. I totally love the guitar...

Fish Sausage
This wants to be so much more. Figure out what to do with your vocals, or dammit, work with someone. Someone who can produce and add to what you have. This could be...so much more. Bare. Per usual. Nice fucking glitch, though. Pretty decent. What ever happened to Yummy Bug? They could have added to this...

Zipline
If I were 3 sheets to the wind at CBGB's, I would totally love this song. Nice hi-hat. Really good drummer. Good guitar work. Can't hear much else.