They won? *They* won? (It's Just Not Right reviews)

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Bjam
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They won? *They* won? (It's Just Not Right reviews)

Post by Bjam »

Them?! :P
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Post by roymond »

It's Just Not Right - short reviews

<b>Hostess Mostess</b> - lush and leading. This has wonderful lines and changes. The kick drum is really lame though, either too limp or strangely eq'd. I like the texture of the piano shadowing the guitar. Wow, though, this is a Paul Simon hit.

<b>Zipline</b> - cool intro, love the noises and that flanged bass. Great sound scape, but too short! If it led into another realm and blasted off...very cool potential. It's a little too active and present (assertive?) to stand on its own this short, though. But my review ends as it began...cool.

<b>Udahl</b> - the drummer just wants to get rolling. The bass is so faint I can't hear enough of it. Has a fun live jam feel and tis tight. Also, thankfully short :)

<b>Steve Durand</b> - like the simple riffs behind the simple lyric. Your horns are as feistarrific as usual. Like the change up and the claps. Great kids' groove-hits compilation track. It doesn't grab me though and doesn't go anywhere other than the end.

<b>Beatnik Turtle</b> - Nice Allman groove thing and full sound. Getting thin on the chorus here, the phrase doesn't hold up repeated so many times. Sounds like a lot of compression limiting is happening, holding back the dynamics a great deal. I'd turn all your tracks way down and boost in the master if needed rather than limit everything.

<b>Abominominous</b> - makes me grin from the first note. I like the riff, the vocal phrase, and the chug bass. This is the heavy metal track for Steve's kids-groove compilation. Very dancable, gotta see how my little ones dig this. Great ending. Oops, close clip there instead of a fade.

<b>King Arthur</b> - I LOVE that pedal bass. That's a keeper, that. Dig the guitar parts bouncing back and forth. LOVE that bass!!! This is my favorite King tune. Your vocal wilt, the bass (LOVE that bass), the drums are great. Nice one, Charles. Use that bass again.

<b>Paco del Stinko</b> - others may disagree, but the word "bereft" is awesome. So is that low vocal line. I guess it's such a common scenario, almost universal one might say, that it will no doubt garner (another great word) wide popularity. Nice slide...wooooo! where did that change go? Weird. I like weird. Those hung guitar harmonies rule. This is so quirky cool. Also like the chipmonk backing vocals.

<b>Seamus Collective</b> - Creepy cool this time. Like the pulsing bass. Bass this fight has been a highlight. Nice mosquito percussion. Nice vocal swell for the chorus. I like the full, claustrophobic density of this throughout. Another too-quick fade, try letting it go more organically (I know, bad word).

<b>roymond</b> - a bit plodding and over stated, but I was really tripping on the clouds...had to put this together in many awkward environments and small time allotments. Glad I could finish it, anyway. Sadly missing in bass. And also sadly missing in Ken.

Wow, I expected a ton of crap, and you give me this? I am leaning towards King Arthur, drawn by the bass, but there are others that have a strong hand and so thanks everyone for all this noise.
Last edited by roymond on Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Geoff WreckdoM »

Yes it's true, I don't know how to work the email. This radical new technology called the infranet confounds me. But if you wave your magic wand over these sparkly letters, then the bumblebees in my computer screen will mimic the sound we made for you that day.


http://www.rubberrobot.net/wreckdom/07WreckdoM_IJNR.mp3

It features Kweep on the three stringed guitar, I still chuckle over this one. Good times.
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Post by Kweep »

damn that instrunet! i don't care who you think you are... that is funny. :)
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It's Just Not Right - Reviews

Post by Paco Del Stinko »

Strong fight!

Abominominous - Jumpy, in a good way, and right to the point. I like the opening line and the UFO guitars at the end. Good changes too.

Beatnik Turtle - Clean and tight. Very nice lead guitar work. The song is pretty straight forward, but that's part of its success. Might benefit from a short something in there, but not needed.

Hostess Mostess - Good guitar playing and progression. Percussion bits are well done and arranged also. The melodies are just moody enough, w/o being pouty. Well done.

King Arthur - Love the bass! Roymond suggested that thay are pedals- is that so? Nice, however done. The guitars are more for accent here which is a nice touch. A tasty little lead might've been nice, but not missed. Good song.

Paco - Way out of my league here.

Roymond - This is fantastic! I love the gonzo guitar work which doesn't appear to repeat itself somehow. Nice and weird w/o being goofy, at all. Cool de-construction at the end. Top notch all around.

The Seamus Collective - The guitar progression and vocals are super. The keys and rhthym too, but those Beatle-esque (w/o ripping off) vocals take my feet off the ground. Excellent, excellent, excellent!

Steve Durand - Fun. And family friendly! Nice little tale kept organic by the trumpets. The solo could be a bit more dynamic, but it's all good.

UDAHL - I like the "Master Of Reality" bends and time changes. Still don't know what you're saying, but enjoyable nonetheless.

WreckdoM - (from the link on discussion page) A cacophany. The lyrics are terrifying, as in "please no, not me!" Love the 3 string!

Zipline - Nice n' nervous. I like the delayed guitar and stuttering bass. Feels like an excerpt - what's missing? it's going in a good direction.

One of the better fights, maybe? Thanks for all the tunes, I'll vote for someone besides me prior to the deadline. Cheers!
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Post by king_arthur »

Hey -

The bass on my song is just my normal Epiphone whatever, played with a heavy pick, run through a (guitar) Pod XT on one of the crunchier amp models, with the distortion all the way up and the channel volume way up too.

I've tried to do distorted bass on a couple other songs in the past and never cared for the results - this time I just really pushed it to extremes.

Charles
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Post by roymond »

king_arthur wrote:I've tried to do distorted bass on a couple other songs in the past and never cared for the results - this time I just really pushed it to extremes.
I've been waiting for the King to push the extremes, and finally I am slaked.

Paco - I didn't mean pedals literally, like Greg Lake (although yeah, that works for me, especially under KA). I just meant it as in long, sustained notes. The distortion helps, of course.
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Post by Paco Del Stinko »

KA and Roymond- Thanks. It sounds excellent and is a nice touch. I did just see some bass pedals on Boston Craigslist and thought..."what a fun waste of money that might be" but wisely did not pursue.
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Post by glennny »

Abominous- Did someone say Exploding Hearts? With a touch of T.Rex. I LOVE this track!!! Cool riff! Solo isn't as tight as the rest of the track, but still has a nice vibe. Off the bat a contender.

Beatnik Turtle- Nice solid tune. I think the verse is stronger than the chorus, and the pre-chorus is the strongest part. The lead guitar is cool but a bit shaky 1st take? Nicely recorded.

Hostess Mostess- The rhythm track sounds a bit awkward to me. The hook is very good, the acoustic guitar is very well played. Nice singing too.

King Arthur- All the playing and recording is good, but doesn't grab me the way many other King Arthur tunes do. It's OK.

Paco Del Stinko- I think so far Paco might be the most impressive in the multiple entry category. Every entry I've heard is good. This is more musically straight and lyrically silly. Very cool slide solo! I love the clean tone guitar! Great ending! Contender.

Roymond- Weird! Rhythm track is very odd in a wonderful way. The main riff is a bit dull compared to everything else going on. The melody reminds me of "Welcome to the World" by Geggy Tah. Very cool track ! Contender.

Seamus Collective- Nice singing, nice chorus! The string patch is great too! Harmony vox are really strong! Melody not quite catchy enough to be a contender for me, but a very good track!

Steve Durand- For me everything is a vehicle for bitchin trumpet licks and solos. I don't like the claps, but everything else is pretty groovy. Delightful tune.

UDAHL- The playing is huge, while the recording is thin and wispy. Slutty guitar riffs are awesome! Wanking guitar is very cool too!

Zipline- What is this crap? OK so this is one of my entries. This is indeed an exerpt from a jam. The drummer and I were pulling towards a U2 kinda thing while keys and bass and vox were in another groove, I thought the juxtaposition just wasn't right, and a little interesting.

So my favorites are Abominous, Paco Del Stinko, and Roymond, and I think Abominous gets my vote.
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Post by UDAHL »

Zipline - i had an echo but i sold it, but i sold it, but i sold it...
Beatnik Turtle - acoustic guitar sounds great
Hostess Mostess - you have a cool style so 86 the clickity drum mess
UDAHL - yep this ones pretty badass
King Arthur - man, you really maximise that casio (respect)
Roymond - all the little bibs and bobs really help
Steve Durand - hard to hear the "one" but there's good tune somewhere
Paco del Stinko - freakishly perfect
Abominominous - the misfits on prozac
The Seamus Collective - sounds like you are singing a love song
to a duck with the croup
frankie big face
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Post by frankie big face »

Zipline – Fun opening – where will you go next? Almost nowhere. I was afraid of that.

Abominominous – You guys are kinda fun. I want you to be more like Supergrass and less like…I don’t know, some other band that’s not as good as Supergrass. But this rocks just fine. EDIT: Hey, I just read the lyrics and they’re awesome.

King Arthur – I can’t get into your vocal timbre/stylings, so it’s pretty hard to like your songs. In this case, the vox are probably a bit too loud, which doesn’t help. This song’s also not as well-crafted as some of the other, especially lyrically. It also seems incredibly long to me.

Beatnik Turtle – hmm…whiny vocals <i>and</i> out of tune. That’s not a good combo. Lyrics are pretty weak, too. Good lead guitar playing, though.

Steve Durand – I like this song. It’s a breath of fresh air. The lyrics don’t really make a whole lot of sense to me (do people really tell you it’s wrong to feel good?), but they’re charming in their simplicity. The horns are awesome and the feel of the song is guaranteed to put a smile on anybody’s face. Nice.

Paco del Stinko – Hey, that’s a really LOW NOTE. I hate the words, but not because they’re bad—they’re just goofy in a way I can’t appreciate. The chord changes are fun though and the song is well-performed. “…my blisters, they are now smartin’â€
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Post by king_arthur »

Abominominous:

Keeper - the stuff of yours I like are the more melodic things
like this. I like the way the instruments back off under the
vocals, the dynamic variation. Some good lines in there, though
I'm still trying to sort out "just because it's unjust, that doesn't
make it wrong."

Beatnik Turtle:

Keeper. Like the guitar sounds at the start. I liked the lead
vocal for the first couple lines, and then at 0:29 it started going
a little pitchy, probably a stylistic choice, but I thought it worked
better for this song to be on the notes. Lead guitar maybe a little
more high end and a little more reverb.

Hostess Mostess:

Keeper. The rhythm stuff seems like it gets a little wobbly going
into the choruses, at 1:20 for example. In terms of JB's thread about
putting together an album from all the megafight songs, I like the
dramatic element of this one, this seems like a song one could build
an album around - songs before on "how did we get here" and songs
after on "where are we going".

me:

The bluesish structure of the song came to me fairly early on, but
I was sorta hoping that a different, brilliant, approach would come
to me before the songs were due. I've tried distorted bass on a
few other songs and always felt like it didn't work; for this one I
really pushed it...

Paco del Stinko:

Hmm, five tenths of a point penalty for "bereft." And "squirtin',"
although "hurtin'" would've been too predictable there. The sound
is great, the bass and guitar.

Roymond:

Music isn't doing much for me, I think this is just such a slow
tempo, with what the drums are doing, that I'm not feeling it.
The "wish you were here" approach to the title is interesting, but
it feels a little bit tacked on.

Seamus Collective:

You lost me by about :45 when the drumstuff came in, it feels
off the beat... there might be a good song in here, it just seems
to me like there are two other songs playing at the same time
and the whole thing doesn't fit together as a unified sound.

Steve Durand:

Vocal harmonies are nice; the guitars feel a little out of tune to
me, but that may be just because there's so much treble in them.
Horns are good, vibes lead around 1:40 is nice, maybe mix it a
bit higher so it really leads the song. I wish the singer sounded
more like he was having _fun_, especially in that last verse...
Made this a keeper at the end... the fight started out for me with
three good songs and kinda fizzled from there, and this was the one
I liked best of the rest...

UDAHL:

EQ. Are you planning to post lyrics to the board? That might help
me get into the songs a little more...

Zipline:

Umm, yeah, okay, whatever. I like the way it fades out at the end
rather than just chopping off.
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Post by HeuristicsInc »

favorites: hostess, abomb, king arthur, roymond, seamus, beatnik, paco

roymond's song is nicely original and i voted for it (just now, late).
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Post by roymond »

frankie big face wrote:Roymond – Man, it’s a hard, angular song on a day when I’m craving something a little more soft and cushy.
I'm so done with soft and cushy! (I'm lying, of course. Stay tuned...but then don't tell me you need hard angularity!)
HeuristicsInc wrote:roymond's song is nicely original and i voted for it (just now, late).
Awesome! Thanks, Bill. You know it's a wasted vote, though?

For all the lyric miners...mine are just about a flight through really frickin insane clouds. And the fact that only the pilots get to sit up front in the "god's eye" bubble seats. Mexico City gives great cloud head.
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Post by HeuristicsInc »

roymond wrote: Awesome! Thanks, Bill. You know it's a wasted vote, though?
Are you a third party candidate?
-bill
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Post by john82 »

this is what i thought:

Beatnik Turtle - 7
Hostess Mostess - 7.5
UDAHL - 8
King Arthur - 8.5
Roymond - 8
Steve Durand - 7
Paco del Stinko - 9
Abominominous - 9
The Seamus Collective - 6.5

Johnny from guitars101
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