I have WWF Extreme Hang-Over this morning. TOO MANY SONGS! NOT EVERYBODY THINKS ONE FIGHT IS A GOOD IDEA! *ahem* ...
The Hell Yeahs - Oh song, how do I love you? Let me count the ways - the way Heather says apron, the way the s-s-s-supercool bassline is almost subsonic (on my headphones anyway), the way you make me want to get off my phat ass and groove. The way that cute lickle breakdown that never outstays its welcome keeps popping up and reminding me of its existence. The way the song ends on the word 'implied', which is just not the done thing. Your efficency and all round sexyness. That's 7, that's numberwang, you win again, which makes you the punk rock Abba of Songfight - hoorah!
Klownhole - less whining, more guitars that go skrang, please. I've done over a hundred songs on songfight, don't hear me whining about it - tsk tsk. Also shoot your keyboard player. The cheezy jazz stylings of that organ setting are quite annoying, and not in a good way. Disappointing. Other than that, RAWK!
Aaron Price - Have you deliberately put background noise into this? All the noise is in the right channel of my headphones, all the spastic singing is in the left. Maybe that's just my 'puter, but it's a curiously artistic idea if you did, especially as there is no art on display anywhere else in the two or so minutes of this song. Next!
Radioface - Song starts: Hahahahahahahaha! This is
ridiculous. *wipes tear from eye* 'full band' starts up: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh God, I am
terrified. Hehehehe. Appalling but entertaining And so
scary. Hahahahahahaha!
Ross Durand: Oh mannnnn, this so needs a kalaedoscopic wavery fingery effect video to accompany it. The mood reminds me of a little of the Doors. The change at 1.44 is cool but the arrangement could be a little more abstract at that point. Ok, second change-up at 2.10 threw me. I like. This is a right little mini-epic, slightly sad to see it change back for the end. Great bass-tone btw. Not really my bag(gie) as there are elements of Starsailor in here lyrically that scare me off, but kudos for bringing something different to the table. I bet Jack Shite would love it!
B Ellison - cool. A little bit sloppy and stumbly but I like it. Pretty. Getting slightly bored at 1.00, around the mention of Eve, actually, but I think that's co-incidence. Yeah nice poppy beatles-ish vibe, but outstays its welcome by about half. The breakdown at 2.17 is a good idea, but needs to be further away from the rest of the song stylistically to keep the interest.
Paco del stink (?) - My personal styl eof reviewing is to pick at things and see if they fall apart - so I can forget to say certain things - so before I start, this is well played, well produced, and clearly a lot of energy / thought have gone into it, all very admirable things. So I don't like: the Neil Hannon-ism of the verse vocals, in fact the dragged out words are not working for me at all. In passing, it would have been so cool if you had just ended at 1.04. I like this well enough, I just don't really come away humming the refrain. In fact, to review the entire song on one instance, I like the trumpet, but not the call-out. That just about sums it up for me.
Jim Tyrell - This is a lovely little melody - the vocals seem a little behind the mix. given there's no lead instrument, just the rhythm guitar, maybe the vocals could stand to come up a bit higher. The main thing I can hear is the acoustic, which while pretty and well played is maybe not quite interesting enough to dominate proceedings like this. Obviously way too long - a bugbear of mine (Ha! Give it BACK!) but yeah, cool. Nice Nirvana as played by the Eagles vibe going on.
Adnosium (Hey what is it with the front page mis-spellings this week?) - I dunno, there's something here I really like, in the way i like HNI:Dan. I mean, clearly on no level is it good, but I like it. *shrug* You need a reason? I'm asure you don't but ok, well, you use the word 'confines'. Shoulda woulda coulda ended at 1.37. That would have the perfect capsule of adnoisium-world for the fools like me to swallow.
Tam Lin Music - Starts out like Stand By Me or one of those songs, but when the voice kicks in I am happy. I like your voice. it is a pretty voice. I do however wonder if you are, perchance, a foot fetishist with all this staring at women's shoes? Oh when the organ kicks in, I am so in some 80s video around a campfire (that inexplicably has an organ near it). Yeah I don't like this song, but I do like your song and your playing. i'd just like to hear you do something that makes better use of them. 2 minutes and I am done.
Somewhere Off The Left Coast TFTF - I never want to have to type that name again. Please change yr name to something short. Bob, maybe. Or The Fishsticks. Or Bob & The Fishsticks. This inane dribbling about band names reveals an unpleasant truth; namely that your song is perfectly well done and perfectly unengaging. Or in other words - I could so hear it on the radio, but I so wouldn't want to. Sorry.
Wormsweater - not bad. Guitar is mixed a bit loud. Harmonica is a big mistake. Then I notice there is nearly 5 minutes of this and my opinion alters. Ditch the shit percussion, cut this song down to 2 and a half minutes and then we'll talk. Until then this is a mess, and not a particularly charming one at that. Boo to you and too much time on your hands.
Andrew Ayers and Guest - ARGGGHHHH!!! Laughing on records drives me nuts - I hate that 'look at us we're having such a GOOD time in the studio' vibe. Anyway - I like 'Whiskey and Cheesits' very much. In fact the words and the slightly more-in-tune Dylan-isms of the vocal that compliment it, are the best things about this song. Although a tightening up of the song (syllables and phrasing) and a much, much, much, much, much better full-band arrangements and this could be stunning. As it stands it feels like the sort of out-take they put on a digital re-master of an old album to make the fans buy it all over again. Still, I look forward to hearing more of your stuff. Promising...
Chin Music - Oh another Dylan-esque. Is everybody really excited by the new album or something? Fact: He's just a dirty old misery-guts perv. OK I don't like this as much; it's practically a pastiche - why bother? Dylan is still alive, let him do dylan songs! (although i do love the piccolo-esque thing that kicks in at 1.25 ish. That is sweet as!)
Blake Walker - 35 seconds in, I am hoping this is an instrumental. This is great. Until the staggering keys at 1.09-ish, which at least sparse me the whole 'am I really going to vote for an instrumental?' debate. Yup mood evoked. Probably more eovcative of the title than any other song I have heard so far. I just really don't like those staggering keys.
Lack of Sleep - The drums are too quiet and apparently playing an entirely different song. The vocals are mixed too loud and their waywardness is slightly distracting during the verse. The lack of (noticeable) usual bass is strange. Are you playing a bass part on a six string? Sloopily played and produced. Yet it is all these elements of wrongness that add up to make something unique and interesting. i really enjoyed this, mainly for all the 'wrong' reasons I listed, and especially as at the opening I expected it to be a very different, professional but boring, emo song. i think if it was tightened up, or recorded professionally, it would lose a lot of its charm. hate your name though.
Jeff Robertson - Oh now this is all over the place! Nice guitar sound, in fact nice sounds all round - keyboard - good mo tucker drummin'. Good vox. But if this song was any looser you could park 50 Humvees in it.
The Landstander - the Landstander makes me of The Canyonero. Just sayin'. Great voice. Song not really my thing, but I could listen to this fragile voice all day long. I also like the chord progression a lot. Lyric a bit angsty but not distractingly so. I like the rough production, really adds something to the song. Overall i really like this, for what it is, i just don't do the genre much. Ack, sorry, too many songs, running out of useful things to say.
Beefy - hey my
favourite friend-flooder is back. Yeah that's some good nerdcore rappin'. With the chorus you should have a cheesy heavy vintage synth tone tracking the melody, to really accentuate the sections and thereby stop the song seeming longer than it is. Also highly reccommend not saying 'basically I have said everything I have to say about this' at 1.17 in a 3 minute song - that's just inviting people to switch off
Wages - Aah man I am so sorry. I love your voice, I love your guitar tone, but I really can't listen to nearly 5 minutes of the two of them, with nothing else. Is there no-one who could play along with ya, over the internet or round the corner from yr house? Can you co-opt a family member to shake something in the background, even? you know what my favourite part is? The click right at the end. Not because it's the end of the song, but because in context it sounds great because it's something different . I just think it's a terrible waste of a great 70s lou reed feel vox / guitar. maybe I'm being a bit harsh and unhelpful.
RxW - The horses' hooves percussion is a bit annoying. Actually VERY annoying when it carries on under the singing. A real shame as I love the PSB, electro-accordian stylings SO much, but every time that percussion starts up it's all i can hear. Is your kid brother playing ping-pong in the back of the garage while you're recording, or something? Whatever it is meant to represent, it is an INSANE choice.
Clear Winner: The Hell Yeahs
Songs I Also Liked: Ross Durand, Jim Tyrell, Blake Walker
Songs I Didn't Like, But Were OK: B Ellison, Paco Del Stinko, Somewhere Off ..., Tam Lin Music, Chin Music
Songs I Should Have Liked, But Somehow Ended Up Hating: Klownhole, RxW, Wages
Songs I should Have Hated, But Somehow Ended Up Liking: Adnoisium, Andrew Ayers & Guest, Lack Of Sleep
Songs I Didn't Mind, But Could Have Been Better: Jeff Robertson
Songs That Weren't My Thing, But I Liked Anyway: The Landstander, Beefy
Songs That I Feel Wasted My Time: Radioface, Aaron Price, Wormsweater
