Inhale next time, Mr. Clinton (Smoke Right reviews)

[Niveous]

This song fight is Joe Camel approved!

[Treachjuris]

Anchors
Very “White Stripesâ€

[NeilThrun]

The Anchors-I would have enjoyed cleaner vocals. Some of the guitar leads don't seem to mesh with the chord progression.

Fish Sausage- Uh, its alright I guess. Don't think I'd listen to it again. Not very memorable.

Hostess Mostess- the guitar and piano(synth?) don't feel good together. But thats just my opinion. Your drum pattern could have been a little more involved I think.

The IPA-I like it, good feel. The guitar makes a lot of clicking noise, I feel like you could have softened it up a little. I like the synth paterns.

Jacob Lynn-Awesome back up vocals, I might have to teach myself this one. Great lyrics.

PiGPEN-Great little jazz tune, unfortunately your voice leaves a little to be desired. It could be a great song, if you did the vocals a little more classically. It is kind of funny, you're vocals always tend to make people laugh a little. Decent song.

Starfinger-Good as always, awesome percusion patterns..
Those Meddling Kids- Interesting, not my kind of thing, but I know some people do enjoy the expiremental, ambient techno thing. I do like where it finally gets a solid drum pattern.

Wreckdom- Pretty rad. I always like your stuff, you've got the win. Bizzare as always.

[Dave - so dark...]

Starfinger and Wreckdom rocked this fight. I possibly liked wreckdom a little more. Amazing, a couple of years ago, i never thought you'd sound this good. Though i thought starfingers tune was technically superior, and i thought worked the title better. I'll have to think on this one.

Hostess Mostess was also among greatness.

Pigpen I liked, but your vocals totally suck. It seems like your not trying to be serious, but you don't pull it off well enough to be funny.

Those meddling kids and fish sausage also get mentions for not sucking.

The rest of you... well you entered.

edit: after a few more listens, i just love starfinger's song so much. This one is a keeper. vote++.

[Geoff WreckdoM]

The Anchors- Sweet combo of accent and effects on the vocals. I was looking forward to the The Anchors tune and ya’ll didn’t let me down. It’s got fierce energy and I dig how every layer has got it’s own level of distortion. Within all that fuzz is the rock and the groove. I had fun, I enjoyed it.

Fish Sausage- I don’t know if I’d actually want to get stoned with Bill Clinton, he’d probably want to call up some strippers or something. But, if he wanted to go out for some Taco Bell or some candy bars, well that’s a different story. Maybe we could watch some Simpsons or Trailer Park Boys. You know if I was president I’d probably get it on with the help also, in fact, with the quality of stuff he gets, I probably wind up making out with the fax machine, you know, the stress of being president can really play with your mind. This song is cool.

Hostess Mostess- My hat is off to you for a very well put together song, everything is solid and every change up is marked with another great idea. The piano really draws you in. When the song started I was thinking I’d have a genre bias but you totally won me over.

The I.P.A. - Not just any I.P.A., but THE I.P.A. With a name like that I expected some gangsta’ but this is cool too. The wording feels a little forced when you start talking about you’re mom coming home, you should’ve smoked more and worked it out a little, make it more naturalistic. I like the story, and the music is pleasant though not too terribly compelling.

Jacob Lynn- Oh, I just love the tongue in cheek qualities and sarcastic tone. “I am a crackwhoreâ€

[The Anchors]

The Anchors
I’d like to thank Mr. Lostman for the much needed live drum track this week.

Fish Sausage
A crazy song without enough crazy shit going on to make it worthwhile.

Hostess Mostess
A good song, even though it’s the complete opposite of what I would normally like. I like the 24 seconds to the 1 minute mark with the piano but felt that the guitar could be toned down a bit there.

The I.P.A.
I like the sound of this song but it could benefit if you threw another part in there to mix things up. I like everything going on here except for the lyrics.

Jacob Lynn
Nothing terrible here, but nothing grabbed me.

Neil Thrun
Kind of hard to hear the vocals. The vocals going “AHHHHâ€

[NeilThrun]

Neil Thrun- Neil’s back in a big way, but where are the doom fairies? Jeez dude, if you’re not careful with this stuff you’re gonna start being taken seriously. This has structure, not the worst recording values I’ve ever heard, and it’s actually kinda pretty. Who are you and what have you done with Neil Thrun?

The lack of Doom Fairies is my fault, when I first sent in the track I forgot to put my bands name with it, and sent a second email with the band name. Once the fight is over, I'll see if I can get it changed.

I'm sorry about it being pretty. Completely unintentional.

[j$]

I have placed my vote in Starfinger's box (oo-er) because the song is awesome, and it makes me think of Little Plum. Wreckdom is good too, but the breakdown percussion verses are a little bland (tho' the German toasting is funny awesome, especially 'phenonomon phenonomon phenonomon') - the chorus riff is awesome, awesome, awesome, and if you worked out maybe even some bass for the verse it would be equally awesome to Starfinger's. (Oh, and I hate 'look at me - I am having such a great time' laughing on records.) I think I said a similar thing about one of your 'Nur Ein' entries? I digress....

Hoping to find the time to review the rest of these as i enjoyed the fight, but in case I don't - just wanted to say what I just said. So I did. Say it. Yes.

[PiGPEN]

The singing sucks.

After 30+ takes thats the best i could get.....and i was trying to be serious-ish. Turns out i suck at Lounge singing..go figure.

*tries different genre*

[NeilThrun]

The singing sucks.

After 30+ takes thats the best i could get.....and i was trying to be serious-ish. Turns out i suck at Lounge singing..go figure.

*tries different genre*

Don't give up man, like all things the more you do it, the better you'll get.

[Spencer]

Jacob Lynn, hey, I love your style. You got my vote. I'm checking out your backlog of music now.

[furrypedro]

Jacob Lynn, hey, I love your style. You got my vote. I'm checking out your backlog of music now.

Check out Nothing Day and get ready for a surprise

Jacob Lynn: Guitars sound very much like the Softies rhythm and chord-wise which lends a really nice lazy feel to it. The very first note of the solo sounds out of place but after that it blends in way better. Good song, not too keen on the way you sing 'smoke right' but the rest of it, the way the song develops and all the parts are good.

IPA: The opening chord progression and drum pattern were doing nothing for me but once the organ kicks in it rescues the tune from extreme dullness with the help of a good set of lyrics. Because of the subject matter of the song it makes the wavering vocals add to the effect of the tune which is cool (and maybe a bit lucky, I don't know how intentional that was).

Mostess: Interesting arrangement for a HM entry, The drums threw me a bit, they're not adding much but they're not detracting either. The structure seems a little unfocused, the chords are doing a good job and I like the lyrical flow, the bit when the electric guitar kicks in is the best bit for me. On repeated listens I wish you'd developed the piano line a bit more because the chord at the beginning of every bar method feels very mechanical and unimaginative. I think you could make a really good song out of this but this version isn't the one.

Anchres: woah, that is fuzzy even for you. This IS good though. The pure energy and nonchalance makes up for any flaws it may have. I have worried that your songs can sometimes sound a bit too alike, and this obviously has your trademark sound but it dispels those worries. I think it's the stomp that does it. nice

Starfingerer: the way the K on smoke reverberates is cool. garbage percussion is fun. The swirliness and creepy guitars in the intro is great. Not keen on the vocal delivery but that's personal preference, and the lyrics were confusing me but now I think they're hilarious. kinda cool, I can see myself singing the chorus to this to myself over the week.

Neil Thrun: that's some solid strumming but you can't moan like Luke Henley can moan. Those "OoooooOOOOooOOhh's" are way too restrained. Okay, in a kind of not-too-engaging-I-should-have-used-more-7th-chords type way.

PiGPEN: ayyy, swing! Just as I thought, the point at which the singing comes in and you're not Tom Waits ruins it for me. A harsh thing to say, sorry, I like that you've tried to add some character to the vocal inflections, it's cool, just takes a bit of getting used to that's all. It's actually pretty well done, if it doesn't work it's only because the instruments aren't real and you can't be blamed for not having (and being able to play) a double bass and saxophone (if you try this again you should definitely try and find a real sax player, that would have the biggest impact on fidelity imo). Haha, the scattered applause at the end is a touch of class.

Fish Sausage: oh man, you really don't need to know this but i let off a little squeaker as I was listening to this and it fit in with the breaks perfectly hahaha. Oh, this is all beat. fair enough. It sounds like a Role Model era Cex track that got discarded. That albums great, but this needs development.

WreckdoM: dude, you guys mean business. This sounds like the tightest and most direct thing I've heard from you. I think the drums could be louder and a bit distorted, the bass should go down a bit. Unsurprisingly I like the glitchy bits.

Good moments from most entries, Anchors will probably steal my vote

[The Anchors]

I have worried that your songs can sometimes sound a bit too alike, and this obviously has your trademark sound but it dispels those worries.

Just wait until next week. Dance music to the max.

[starfinger]

anchors: i like the stooges vibe, and that chorus is addictive.
great.

fish sausage: how very catknife horsebomb of you.

hostess mostess: this has all the ingredients of a huge 80's single,
but the mix doesn't really play to that. vocals are particularly
nice. the guitar seems a bit lonely during the harmonies. the
gradual detuning towards the end was an interesting choice.
overall, i really like it.

IPA: this is catchy. i like the organ/guitar combo. that "oh shit,
mom's home" struck me as an out-of-place dead milkmen moment. this
is a good song though. the vocals are nice and lazy for the topic.

jacob lynn: i'm having a hard time getting past the telephone vocals
and general distance of everything. it sounds like a nice melody.
actually i like the part around 2:00 a lot.

neil thrun: the chorus is pretty catchy. sloppy and ugly but not
without charm.

pigpen: the bass sounds good, but these vocals hurt.

meddling kids: i like this a lot, but <insert>. what synths do you use?

wreckdom: this is great. i love the thereminy sounds. it has a
melvinsy feel to it, which is always good.

[furrypedro]

meddling kids: i like this a lot, but <insert>. what synths do you use?

I understand, in practice the ambience of pieces in this genre is disrupted by my vocal style.

Synths: (all in Reason)
intro pad: Subtractor
arpeggiator: Malstrom
melody: Vocoder - carrier: sine wave/modulator: a chorus of ooohs
(I've got an MS2000 which would've done all of these just as well, if not better, but I couldn't be arsed to plug it in )

I'm kind of surprised by the positive reaction to this track, so thanks for indulging me on this one and making (more of) an effort (than is strictly necessary) to see where I'm coming from

[PiGPEN]

0 votes? I know of atleast 2 friends i told to vote who said they did...and for me.

I claim shenanigans.

[j$]

That'll teach you to friend-dribble.

[PiGPEN]

Hey its not like i voted for myself. *glare*