There's Something Odd About This Thread (Anomaly Reviews)

[Niveous]

Let the battle begin.

[The Weakest Suit]

this is a nice small fight. good luck everyone.

[puadxe]

fucking amazing entry state shirt

[Spud]

...small fight.

Anomaly?

[WilliamParsons]

<DISCLOSURE>I shamelessly painted the cover art to suit the content of my song</disclosure>


Still listening...some of my favorites so far...

Flvxxvm Florum - I LOVE this. Sounds like Beck got together with the Yardbirds. The middle section is excellent, and the Trek samples...Nerdvana!

State shirt -- you have a most excellent roar. I am about to give you the highest praise I can give any hard rock, which is this: I would be REALLY REALLY worried if I heard your song coming from my kid's room. "Angry Rage" doesn't do it justice. It's like instant adrenalin: just press play.

Zipline -- very good prog. Rush-esque intro and outro while the middle reminds me of Yes around the time of "relayer" I'm really impressed.

[The Weakest Suit]

i think there may be somthing wrong with wages song. it cuts off at around 50 seconds. maybe that's the anomaly.

[EmbersOfAutumn]

Reviews for “Anomaly”

Dublin Duck Dispensary
Comments: Techno-Pop. I like it, especially the bells, as a choice of instrument.

Pros: It was pleasant overall.

Cons: A few places it almost seems the bells lose beat with the song, and the music in general doesn’t match in a place or two. It also needs a hook—just a tad too repetative

Overall: 4 of 10

Embers of Autumn -- me
Comments: I just kept it simple this time around, two guitars, two vocal tracks. I like the kind of counterpoint with the vocals, honestly. As a con, the music part of it isn’t very imaginative—four chords or so. Con #2 – There’s a delay during the bridge on guitar 2. Lyric-wise, I hadn’t written anything non-sappy in a while, so I was kinda happy for them. Honestly, I would give myself a 7, only because it’s much better than the usual tripe I throw together.

Flvxxvm Florvm f/ Jolly Roger
Comments: Nice hard rock style. I’m not a common listener of this style, so I wouldn’t know what to compare it against, but it’s pleasant enough for a non-common listener such as myself to enjoy it.

Pros: Talented guitar riffs, that’s for sure, and a lot of them toward the second half of the song. Drum solo was pretty cool at 2:50.

Cons: The distortion on the vocals seems a little heavy (that or you’re trying to do something with your voice that made it come out weird). I know a lot of people do that when they don’t feel they have a strong singing voice, but there are appropriate ways of doing it. I just didn’t feel like this was one of those. At 1:45, it was a little better.

Overall: 5 of 10

Gurdonark
Comments: If Dee Snyder put on a carnival for kids and did the music for the carousel, this would be it. Kinda creepy, but it almost seems like that’s what you were going for.

Pros: Sounds like you accomplished for the feeling you were going for. Especially the discordant ending.

Cons: Extremely dropped-off ending. Also, it doesn’t seem like it has a lot of replay value as a song.

Overall: 4 of 10

KB Bren
Comments: Came across as an 80’s folksy-rock style, ala Tom Petty.

Pros: It was catchy. I liked the rhythm to the whole song.

Cons: Nothing that stood out to me.

Overall: 8 of 10

The Kraziez
Comments: Just seeing your name I was expecting something outlandish. Those aggressive ‘k’s and ‘z’s. The song has kind of a Beastie Boys goes techno feel to it.

Pros: Music wise, this song gets your blood pumping.

Cons: Though there was a time where I would have really liked a song like this, it just wasn’t appealing to me when I went through it. There were a couple of… hmm.. ‘volume spurts’ that made me wince. And whatever happened to you at 2:10… you should probably go see a doctor for. That can’t be healthy for you.

Overall: 4 of 10.

Melvin
Comments: The high quality song that I’ve come to expect from you. Good Job.

Pros: Love the soft old-style piano intro. The keyboards added a nice bit to the song. Loving the “oohhh”s still. Big fan of bridges—good bridge. Great Outro, too.

Cons: The intro was a teeny-tad bit too slow, kinda was putting me off even though I knew it was gonna get better.

Overall: 8 of 10.

Pirate Bingo Steakhouse
Comments: Poor process for coming up with band names: putting random words into a hat and pulling three out.

Pros: Well… it didn’t make my ears bleed, so you got that going for you.

Cons: Sounds like Microsoft Voice is making another appearance on SongFight. Sounds like he was joined by a Speak-n-Spell. It kind of sounds like you didn’t know which way the song should go, so you just mixed them all together… I guess in the same way you came up with your name.

Overall: 1 of 10.

State Shirt
Comments: Obviously took up the sidefight of doing a Metal Song. And this is indeed metal. And as far as metal songs go, you pulled it off with screaming colors.

Pros: Love the guitar work on this song. This belongs right in and among the rest of the metal that’s out there right now.

Cons: Though I wasn’t terribly greatly impressed, it was because I’m through the metal music stage of my life. However, this sounds like it fits in perfectly with what I would have listened to.

Overall: 8 of 10.

Take 950
Comments: Love the band name—cause that’s about how many times it takes me to get something right when I record (which is why it still ends up sounding like crap, cause I eventually give up).

Pros: Once again, an attempt at doing the metal sidequest accomplished. This is definitely believable metal. Nice bridge.

Cons: The vocals are kinda slurry. None too appealing, I must say. Song does kinda honestly drag, too.

Overall: 5 of 10.

Wages
Comments: *Turns the volume to full and replays the song… still not hearing anything* Mighty soft there…

Pros: ---

Cons: Did your song get cut off at the end, or are you suffering from Gurdonark syndrome? I just couldn’t enjoy it because of straining to hear.

Overall: 1 of 10.

The Weakest Suit
Comments: Just a nice acoustic sound overall.

Pros: Nice lead-in to chorus. The whole song is pleasant sounding.

Cons: A little redundant music wise until the bridge.

Overall: 7 of 10

The White Hat
Comments: Story Songwriter’s style. I like it a lot. This has a lot of replay value to me.

Pros: Love the chord progression on the guitar. Guitar picking is something I grew up listening to with my dad and his friends. You pulled it off great. The banjo was a nice addition at 1:10 (love the accents on the banjo).

Cons: The banjo was a tad bit loud on mixing. I think it would have been a little better if it were still louder than the guitar, but maybe softer than the vocals. It seems to take over during the second verse and outro.

Overall: 9 of 10.

William Parsons Project
Comments: If Barry Gibb joined ZZ Top…

Pros: The music riffs are awesome. It sounded like a lot of fun to play. “Set phasers to stun—let’s have a little fun”, love it. The “Red Shirt” comment is hilarious too. You’re appealing to my trekkie side here, I see.

Cons: As part of your ongoing ‘Project’, working away from falsetto may want to be on your list.

Overall: 8 of 10.

WreckdoM
Comments: *shudders before even putting this on* Honestly, this would be your project if any, cause you have the voice for death metal.

Pros: Awesome lead on the bridge. You also pulled off metal pretty good.

Cons: Just… doesn’t grab me. Sorry.

Overall: 4 of 10.

Zipline
Comments: An overall good song. Seems to jump from loud to soft a lot, but it was pulled off effectively.

Pros: That’s a mighty catchy intro, and great segue into the next section. The music overall is really good. Especially the pre-verse riffs.

Cons: Echo a little heavy on vocals. It really stands out during the chorus.

Overall: 8 of 10.

[jeff robertson]

Cons: The distortion on the vocals seems a little heavy (that or you’re trying to do something with your voice that made it come out weird).

Any distortion on the vocals (other than the section 1:45 which was intentionally distorted) probably comes from using cheap microphones and recording too loud. That is to say, not an intentional effect.

I did intentionally cut out everything below 1000 Hz and about 3000 Hz, maybe that's what makes it sound weird.

[The Sleestak]

Here is what I have listened to thus far.

Take 950
The Goods: Good separation of instruments and vocals. Like the short harmony at the beginning of the chorus. Like the doubling of guitars in the solo section. Loved the outro.
Opportunities: Song doesn't have the best hook until the outro.

Wages
The Goods: Good balance between guitar and vox.
Opportunities: Too short or something is wrong with my PC this song only tracked :51.

Melvin
The Goods: Good driving beat when the drums come in. Good lyrics for the music genre. Nice return to the drivingbeat on the verses.
Opportunities: Harmonies are not as tight as they could be. Emo outro.

KB Bren
The Goods: I like the music. Enjoyed the keyboards and the musicial break between the verses.
Opportunities: Vox didn't really grab me. Needs a recognizable bridge in there somewhere.

The Kraziez
The Goods: Liked the music, driving, little, yellow, different. Good keyboard. Anytime you can mention Perrier in a song without laughing is good. Loved the musical break into the screaming.
Opportunities: Melody, for me spoken word only carries a song so far.

The White Hat
The Goods: Nice acoustic sound,good picking. Banjo, Hell Yeah! Decent use of harmonics. Interesting music, kept my interest.
Opportunities: Needs a vocal change somewhere in there.

Dublin Duck Dispensary
The Goods: Like the band name, minimalist approach was good, simple and to the point on a song that really needed to be.
Opportunites: A bridge, different lyrics on the verses instead of the same lyrics repeated over and over. This made the song one of the weeker entries.

Zipline
The Goods: Nice transition from intro to verse, loved that the song took on a totally different vibe than the intro, good instrumental break in the middle (solo was interesting albeit a little sloppy), another cool change towards the end, good return for the outro.
Opportunities: Harmonies are off key, song was 2 minutes too long and hard to keep someone with ADD interested.

William Parsons Project
The Goods: The Rhodes sound is awesome if it's synthesized it's done very well. Guitar work is good. I love the keyboard sound you have here. Sounds like a diamond in the rough but a diamond is a diamond.
Opportunities: The fidelity is decent but the mix could have been a little better but that is really me being picky because the talent is there and the song is solid.

State Shirt
The Goods: If I still had a spleen from last week it would have exploded again (in a good way), your ability to change up your styles is remarkable, metal with just a hint of in utero era nirvana
Opportunities: Vocal mix could have been a little clearer

Embers of Autumn
The Goods: Nice balancing on all tracks - good mix
Opportunities: Vocals were off key more than on key and made it too distracting to enjoy

[Paco Del Stinko]

I am glad that I didn't enter the piece o' poo that I slapped together for this: there're some great things in here. Here are first impression reviews. Chow!

DDD - Wobbly, but a nice opening to the fight.

EofA - Driving and sincere the vocal pitch detracts at times. Nice moody dynamics.

FFf/JR - Swampy deliciousness. or: Southern Fried Sabbath. I could probably stop listening to the fight right now and vote for this. (but that wouldn't be fair)

Gk - Like a heroin addict putting his kid to sleep in a crib. Nighty night little...time for a fix. Drop.

KBB - The tempo keeps this flowing just right and gives this its soul.

TheK - Some of the vocals are weak, but there's some good threatening fun in here. I liked the strangle solo for a while.

M - Hints of stiffness early on disappear quick enough. I like how this goes from cold space intro to colored soaring by the end. Drums/percussion changes have given you huge amounts of warmth, and they are well done.

PBS - I think Carlos used to be on WBCN. A celeb! Silly, but good as a set-up for someone to spike the ball.

SS - FUCK! I love having my face punched in, and this is brutally beautiful. Fantastic. The charged-up energy is like black lightning.

T950 - Better as it goes, it's a hypnotizing swirl by the end.

Ws - Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

TheWS - Nice sentimental changes if a bit typical feeling. Nice, but taken up another level would send it home better. Like the bridgey extro a lot.

TheWH - So detailed but accessable. This also reminds me that I am someone who plays guitar, rather than a guitar player. Production is a little bold, but beautiful song. Real deal.

TheWWP - Love the groove and would have a ball jamming on this boogying glam-fest. Skanky in parts, but good fun

Wm - Sun baked head pounding. Smiling whilst disturbed is always fun.

Z - Nice and soaring, any scruff is miniscule and fleeting. I love the balance of known/rehearsed parts and winging it, pulling it off in a zooming flight. Spiffed up in a studio, something soft in there (pad,'verb return,whatever)would be even sweeter.

[KB Bren]

1st I'd like to say that there are NO keyboards in my song?

Pirate Bingo Steakhouse - ok but not sure how to clasify your song other than old time radio show more than a song?

State Shirt - Definately metal! Nicely done but it scares me that I like it! Overall a great job.

The Weakest Suit - Nice folky tune but seems a bit flat at times on the vocals. Otherwise nice job.

Wages - Couldn't make out anything that I heard?

Guronark - Nice intro, a bit on the quite side couldn't really hear it. At around 55 seconds keys seemed to play a wierd note?

Kraziez - Is kind of a beasty Boy thing, vocals seem a tad loud, groove seems lost in the confusion. ( I know a good therapist?)

Flvxxum - Not a real original progression, 80's metal aka Blue oyster Cult thing. Would have mixed the bass through out differently. Nice live sound to the recording and some good jamming for sure. ( I can't pronounce the name?)

Zipline - Nice intro and dynamics. Vocals are a bit soft, overpowered by the picking guitar. Very melodic, couldn't understand the lyrics but a good entry.

Ember of Autumn - Good acoustic sound, confused by the voicing, flat at times, perhaps out of your range, good lyrics.

The White Hat - Nice pop tune, goor recording and mix, catchy, nice song.

Dublin Duck Dispensary - Pretty intro, storkbook sounding, short but sweet.

Melvin - English pop sounding to me, good creativity, catchy, melodic, nice tune.

Take 950 - Good guitar sound, quite recording, couldn't understand the vocals, great break/solo, nice job.

WreckdoM - Metal - heavy not my norm but good job. (made mt throat hurt) Good creativity in voicing.

William Parsons Project - Intro reminds me of 80's Steve Miller sound, vocals seemed forced, interesting concept, good tune.

I was the guy with the wrong formatted name............

[jb]

Dear KB,

Thank you for your interesting review? Please explore online resources that explain the correct use of question marks? I'm not sure you completely grasp the concept?

Cheers?

JB

[jackfrost]

Overall impression: this is a great group of songs; small in number but large in quality.

Dub Duk Dis – this is a very nice track to start out the fight with. It’s pretty relaxing compared with the metal that is to come. I like the layers in the instrumentation and the chanting-like recitation of the lyrics. This would be a very nice opening number on a CD. Thank you.

Emb of Aut – the singing is better this week; it’s more confident. I noticed the almost overlapping vocals last week too. It’s a neat effect, but how does that translate into both breathing and singing when playing this song live? This week’s entry also has solid structure and I really like the performance. In some parts you sound like Richard Edwards from Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s; which is a compliment.

Flv Flo – I completely love the rocking guitar solo (with the bass blasting away in the background). Nice jammy number. I really enjoy this one. The samples are integrated very nicely too. Not much else to say. Rock.

Gur – this is a nice little space filler between flv flo and kbbr. It get’s the job done.

KBB – a song about a girl named Anomaly…I knew someone would do this, I just didn’t think it could be done so well. Sure, it’s cliché, but it’s catchy, well performed and recorded, and is one of the front-runners this week, for me.

Pir Bin Ste – every once in a while I like a song sung by machines. This definitely scratches that itch. Monkey Island Style, love it! Where is the “NUCLEAR LAUNCH DETECTED” from? I can almost recognize the voice.

The Whi Hat – sounds a bit pretentious in places, but otherwise, nicely performed. I like the sound of the banjo.

Wil Par Pro – this sounds like I would imagine a song to sound when the band has the work “Project” in its name. The production takes a bit away from the quality of the songwriting. For the record, I am a fan of the falsetto.

WrE – WTF indeed. Enjoyed it. I don’t think I’ve ever been as angry as you seem to be all the time.

That’s it folks. Great job. I have a feeling Memphis is going to be a bloated mess of a fight, but this one was nice; much more quality than normal.

[jeff robertson]

Flv Flo – I completely love the rocking guitar solo (with the bass blasting away in the background).

Ah, that's the beauty of ultra low tunings... the "bass" is just another guitar in the same tuning as the lead guitar, but with a clean(er) tone and playing only on the bottom string.

[KB Bren]

JB wrote;

Thank you for your interesting review? Please explore online resources that explain the correct use of question marks? I'm not sure you completely grasp the concept?

So sorry! I have an over active pinky.

[The Sleestak]

KB Bren -
The Goods: I like the music. Enjoyed the keyboards and the musicial break between the verses.
Opportunities: Vox didn't really grab me. Needs a recognizable bridge in there somewhere.

KB my apologies, wouldn't be the first time I misheard an instrument and sure it won't be the last. Sounds like I misheard the guitar effect for keyboards throughout the song.

[Niveous]

JB wrote;

Thank you for your interesting review? Please explore online resources that explain the correct use of question marks? I'm not sure you completely grasp the concept?

So sorry! I have an over active pinky.

And wide too, since it hit the question mark and the shift key.

[KB Bren]

No problem. Besides, I do like keyboards.

[EmbersOfAutumn]

Emb of Aut – the singing is better this week; it’s more confident. I noticed the almost overlapping vocals last week too. It’s a neat effect, but how does that translate into both breathing and singing when playing this song live? This week’s entry also has solid structure and I really like the performance. In some parts you sound like Richard Edwards from Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s; which is a compliment.

I've tried it a few times and it's quite difficult. I think I could pull it off. I've practiced holding notes (notice, hitting note not necessary) for 12+ beats (singing along to a lot of Les Miserables has helped in this area). I honestly think I'll have to edit it down a little to be able to do it live, or have someone sing with me.

[Billy's Little Trip]

JB wrote;

Thank you for your interesting review? Please explore online resources that explain the correct use of question marks? I'm not sure you completely grasp the concept?

So sorry! I have an over active pinky.

I have an over active brain.

[drë]

State shirt wins period

White hat, great harmonics and banjo work.

ZipLine, I think I can listen to an entire instrumental album of this stuff. Nothing against the singer, but cool jazzy music like always.

[The Sleestak]

State shirt wins period

You called that right. For me State Shirt wins exclamation point.

I have to say not only is the song even better upon second listen but the versatility you display by not taking the same formulaic approach to every song you submit is inspiring.