The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Dinah-moe rises!

I really like the art for this week's fight. Good work, autumnthing.

I agree, cool art.

I was about to ask why I couldn't see the fight but apparently the cover is in the art archive. And it is a very nice cover. But way to cause confusion.

The girls are scoring high so far
And this Styop Quoons Experience is a good one.
And Billy, of course. He does it.
This is my favorite Paco tune ever!

Liking the company this new year.

Roy, you were kind of dormant from the time I joined, but you seemed to have many here that respected you musically. Now that you've been entering, I see why. Great tune, dude. 12 string?

I'm done with my first round of listening and I think we've got some very interesting things this time. I think I'll need a second round to finish up some of the individual reviews. I should be done with them today or tomorrow (UTC+1).

what a great fight! I thought my song was pretty kick ass, but after voting for other people and not my own song, I can see that I have no chance in this one. Reviews to come, but for now, my top vote goes to MC MilkPlus.

roymond wrote:Dinah-moe rises!

I see what you did there.

Just out of curiosity, did anyone else catch Roy's little Zappa reference?

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Roy, you were kind of dormant from the time I joined, but you seemed to have many here that respected you musically. Now that you've been entering, I see why. Great tune, dude. 12 string?

Thanks, man. Not a 12 string, an open D tuning and a couple tracks. I've had my acoustic that way for weeks and am just getting familiar. I could never play 12 strings with any facility, but I do like that full sound.

Advice no one asked for, and praise no one deserves:

Barfknecht - wow, this is gleaming cool funk thumper's pool liner. Nice counter melodies and serious stomping beats. Good mix, though I thirst for more spacial panning. Gary Newman dreams in the wings.

Billy's Little Trip - Great bass holding down the frantic get-away car. Like how it reaches during "trying to get to higher ground". Wish the bridge was longer, and maybe ventured farther from the source.

Cabin Fever - I love the sonics in this in a k.d. lang sort of way, but it suffers from production issues. The acoustic needs eq to bring it out of the mud. The slides are brilliant, and drums nice and present. But the vocals make lyrics secondary since I can't understand a word...add a high pass filter to get them out of the bass' and drums' way. Also, be more aggressive with the solos in the mix. Like the wilting ending. Nice stuff.

Cell Block E Musical Enrichment Group F7 - you know what they say about slow songs and waltzes? But I really like your baritone pipes. Could use a simple Sun stereo spread to get everything out of the center. What's with that ending? Somebody didn't QC this potential hit...NEXT!

The Chadderandom Abyss - you know what's cool? Putting alligator clips on guitar strings and gettin' them all bouncing at different times with reverb and some ping-pong delay. Then layer in that street vendor yellin' "dollar each, six for five!" while subways and taxis scratch your ear. Serious.

Collaboration Station - I'd dance on hot sand and drink lite beer to this any day. Nice backing vocals and great guitar hacking. The Jam reunite for Santa Cruz lunchtime fish taco dance party. That's fun. Thanks.

deetak - I was wishing that last line was a loop in the inner groove that would echo back on itself for eternity. This is sweet. Love the arrangement and the swells. I hear this coming out of the am radio in the truck driving through Georgia. The piano postscript is curious.

Elaine DiMasi - Your vocals take me to really nice places. "does he accessorize the astronauts in space" is an awesome question. The legos thing and the apparent infatuation is conflicting...confusing? I love the slinky reverb and synths. Maybe high pass filter on the vocals will give them a more defined stratum?

Is that Boltoph singing for Cabin Fever?

Giving it my first listen through. Man, it's a bummer listening to these tracks in 128kbps.

Here's my first batch of reviews. More coming later. I know I'm new around here and I don't mean to step on anyone's shoes. I just have to be honest about what I hear. If you're not in here yet, it's because I'm still listening to it.

Barfknecht – This turned out pretty okay, and I'm especially happy with the bridge. I think my higher backup vocals are fucking garbage, and I'll probably end up redubbing them later. I wish I had a definite ending.

Cabin Fever – I really got lost in this one. It has a very comforting cadence in its sound, and everything is played beautifully. Definitely a keeper.

Cell Block E Musical Enrichment Group F7 – The instrumentation is pretty nice, but the vocals and lyrics are dogshit. I'll assume that's what you're going for, but that doesn't help it from sucking balls, dude.

The Chadderandom Abyss – The sound of bits of this could be cool filler between short spaces of another song, but I'm not sure why you'd shoot for stretching it out for two minutes. Is there something I'm not getting here?

Collaboration Station – Great! I can imagine this one being fun to see live in the basement den of an awesome house party. The guitar performance and mixing is worth mentioning, but I think you should have used the effect on your lead vocals sparingly rather than throughout the whole song.

Deetak – Everything about this reminds me of gospel recordings played on phonographs from back in the day. Given that, I think the reverb you used on some of your vocals sounds out of place. I really, really dig the piano at the end.

Elaine Dimasi – Very pretty! This is an excellent blend of live and electronic elements, and I love the ending. This one would be nice to listen to while you're laying in bed and pleasantly baked.

Fords Theatre Disaster – Ease up on that guitar, fella! With the kind of mixing you've got going on here, your lead is likely to split the ears of whoever might be listening to you through headphones (which I was through my first listen). Drums are nice, if a little subdued, and you might want to consider layering your guitars with multiple to get a beefier sound. The chorus is a mess, and your vocal performance leaves much to be desired.

Heine – This song feels like good times. The lead vocals could have been double tracked to fill out the sound. Not much else really stands out to me.

Howl Down The Chimney – Duuuude. This song is killer! It's haunting and fun at the same time, and it's going to be stuck in my head for the next while. I seriously love everything about this except that the clap is mixed a bit too loudly.

Jan Krüger – The desperation in this is potent, and it almost even sounds like it could have been recorded in a coffin. You have a very sombre voice, and I'm impressed (even jealous) of your ability to harmonize.

Jeff Landgraf – Eh. I'm trying to find something postive to say about this one. The idea and the lyrics are in place to launch something that could be cool, but your performance is lame.

MC Milk Plus – Good fun! Top notch production. My only light complaint is that you've got the ego of every other rapper who also thinks they're the diggidiest dawg around.

Monkey Throw Feces – This is about as unfunny as Cell Block E, except that your performace is decent. But your recording blows and the garble you have throughout is useless and annoying.


- dust

reviews, in no particular order:

sergeant stomp explosion
--- vox clipping ---
+++ talking heads/they might be giants vibe +++
+++ vox harmonies +++

cell block e group musical enrichment group f7
--- warbly vox ---
/// i don't know how i feel about the take on the title; i like to applaud unusual approaches and i'm far from a prude; but this is a straight-forward tune about sex that lacks the tongue-in-cheek delivery of Spud's Rattlesnake and therefore it's creative charm ///
+++ slide guitar and cell-block feel +++

jan krüger
--- falsetto ----
/// this is a nice tune; it needs fleshing out (like a musical saw) and a stronger vocal delivery ///

signboy
--- loud just this side of clipping my speakers and headphones ---
--- vox ---
+++ outro vox effect +++

ford's theater disaster
--- solo guitar lines are pretty uncreative ---
/// i'm still looking for a good way to open up the sound of these tunes; i think i need a different mic and more live equipment ///
+++ dynamics (especially the ending) +++

jeff landgraf
--- vox = nails on chalkboard ---
--- sounds like the guit might be out of tune; tho that may be just the weird chords ---
/// like jan's song above, this needs more: dynamics, a percussion part, to flesh it out, but is at its heart an interesting tune///

the hell yeahs
+++ classic sadomasochism +++
--- this is almost too chaotic for its own good; the whole thing lurches about suddenly; that may be intentional, but i prefer the fist-to-the-face snarl of your more consistent compositions ---
+++ love the guitar sound: range and tone +++

collaboration station
+++ a good alternative pop-rock tune: nice melody and arrangement +++
/// nice, but not great. possible vote ///

howl down the chimney - vote!
+++ claps and overall arrangement +++
+++ when i first read the lyrics i thought: world war one soldiers; the music makes me think zombie +++
+++ melody +++

the weakest suit
/// pretty straight-forward G&G song ///

cabin fever
+++ vox+++
/// the lower end of the vocals muddies with the rest of the instrumentation ///
--- lacks dynamics; something to maintain my attention ---

roymond
--- lead guit mirrors vocal melody too closely ---
+++ guit tone and panning +++
+++ ending ++++

tedward nixon experience
+++ lyrics +++
--- ending ---
/// this seems underdeveloped, both narratively and sonically ///

steve durand - vote
+++ flute +++
+++ drums +++
/// the performance could use a little more swing, of all things, more urgency ///

ross durand - vote!
+++ break out the chain gang! +++
+++ complex vox harmonies +++
+++ arrangement +++

slats
--- distant vox ---
--- thin mix ---
/// this tune needs more grit and growl, à la some Johnny Cash ///

mc milk-plus - vote!
+++ fun +++
+++ overall awesomeness +++

heine
/// the performance seems out of sync ///
--- personal bias: i don't like the guitar tone, which sounds hollow and limited ---
/// this needs to be faster or just more driving - maybe danceable ///

monkey throw feces
--- poor quality production ---
--- boring ---
--- vox ---

billy's little trip - vote
+++ rawk! +++
+++ drums +++
+++ dynamics +++

r. mosquito
+++ 6/8 time +++
--- out of control levels: some parts too loud, some too soft ---

the styop quoons experience
+++ nick cave vibe +++
/// to help complicate the vibe, this needs more dynamism: a bridge, or something to counterpoint to the almost oppressive groove ///

chadderandom abyss
--- even with a programmed percussion, this has no rhythm ---
--- and no tune ---
/// atonal music has it place, but you have to first demonstrate your mastery of the basics that you are rejecting ///
+++ lyrics +++

deetak
--- plosives ---
/// almost pretty ///

elaine dimasi
+++ i love these lyrics +++
--- vox are too buried and muddy; sounds like they were recorded in the bathroom next door ---

paco del stinko
+++ guit tones +++
/// could you post your lyrics? ///

barfknecht - vote
+++ groove +++
+++ alliteration and assonance +++

nyjm wrote:/// could you post your lyrics? ///

I just did. So there.

I enjoyed the fight, first time through, and will get reviews up after the weekend. Just be careful though, people: someone may call the fadeout police on you! Thanks for the comments that are in so far.

I didn't expect this fight to be so large. Well, all the better! Also, welcome new folks!

Barfknecht -- Nice aggressive electronic rock. I would have brought the vocals up a bit more. I like the guitar stuff at the end. Arrangement and performance work well (I think the high backing vocals sound a bit falsetto-y in a few places; this kind of thing tends to be a lot less noticeable if you don't pan the track away from the lead vocals). Not the kind of song I enjoy (though I do like it better at second listen) but well done.

Billy's Little Trip -- I sense lots of energy! Interesting bits of randomness in some guitar parts. This is one of your songs that I like better than others. Not as bad as you claimed it would be. It definitely sounds like it was fun to do, anyway. It has the trademark BLT sound at any rate.

Cabin Fever -- The guitar/drum sound goes together really well this way. I think the vocals need re-EQing; it's hard to make out what notes were sung at the very beginning. Nothing grabs me about this, I think the vocal sound turns me off more than it should. It's a good song, actually.

Cell Block E Musical Enrichment Group F7 -- Lyrics don't impress me. I might have liked this if not for them.

The Chadderandom Abyss -- I see you keep doing creative new things. One thing I ask myself... does your musical vision specifically exclude harmonically coherent songs? I was imagining how this song would sound if it had that and it made me curious.

Collaboration Station -- Overdriven vocals aren't really all that great. Still, things fit together in this song. Would be greater without clipping, of course. At some points room/handling noises are audible, perhaps you could try gating them away. I like the composition a lot.

deetak -- Yay, a cappella parts! Some of the backup vocals are pretty flat, though. Lots of weird reverb. Please don't sing very high notes until you can pull them off in a way that fits tonally. Re-engineered and with some takes replaced I might find this rather cool. Second half completely instrumental, though? Not too hot.

Elaine DiMasi -- Something a bit different, cool! Nice synths. I'm not much of a fan of the digging sounds. The instrumental bit (from ~1:00) could have been a bit more interesting maybe... oh, there's more buildup there. The moderately far away sound of the vocals is nice, its small hall reverb sound less so. For once I'd have preferred a slightly longer reverb tail. In general I think your mixing is getting better and better. One thing, though: once the song builds up, the drums vanish in the background more and more. It might be good to reduce this by compressing all other tracks together. Overall verdict: I like it.

Ford's Theater Disaster -- Minus points for clipping. I like the rest, though. Perhaps the vocals could stand being a bit fatter (nothing EQ can't fix). A bit too hectic for my regular playlist, I guess, but close to "would listen again".

Heine -- The distorted toms are a nice touch. I think the song would have needed more power in the vocals. A pretty generic type of song but done very well. The "la-la-la" parts are cool, for example (and the distortion works better for them than for other parts). I like the lead synth too.

The Hell Yeahs -- Aww, the vocals are flat all over the place (haven't I heard better from you?). I like the square wave synths. Everything else is all right, I guess.

Howl Down the Chimney -- Yay, pirates! The claps are a bit too loud to my ear. That's about my only complaint. You do the genre too well. Around ~1:00 (and later) organ combined with vocals makes it clip. Consider using limiting. The ending is a bit disappointing (infinite number of repetitions with not a lot happening...). Still, this is fun listening to and I'm voting for it.

Jan Krueger -- To fit the song, I used zero reverb on this one. The only effects used were a couple of compressors and the mastering filter I wrote two days ago. As mentioned this is another rough song; four hours total for writing and recording. I'm mostly pleased with how it turned out, though I failed at doing the guitar performances in one go (I guess I need to build my hand muscles more; I'm just not used enough to steel strings and this song is all bar chords and I have no capo that works for this guitar). My favourite part is the last run of the chorus, and for once the strained vocal sound is deliberate. Yay. How's this for Teutonic gloominess, Elaine?

Jeff Landgraf -- I hope the detuned guitar is deliberate. What did you use on the vocals, is that a very short delay or something like that? It sounds a bit weird. Occasionally sloppy vocals don't take away from this being a nice song. Vocals are a bit too hot in places. The vocal performance sounds emotional. Good job.

MC Milk-Plus -- Due to genre bias I don't enjoy this song much but I do appreciate the sound. A lot. I'm inclined to vote for this because it's just done so well. I find no fault... wait. I always find faults. A bit more variation in the song structure would have been nice.

Monkey Throw Feces -- I don't get it, sorry.

Paco del Stinko -- That's a lot of guitar stuff going on there. I find it hard to decide if I like this, actually. It's done very well, definitely, and musically it appeals to me, it's just that I think I'm not that much of a fan of the way you phrase your accompaniments. Or something. I can't really put my finger on it. It still feels like a vote, however, so there you are.

R. Mosquito -- Unexpected. The sound (particularly bass drum) is great. Some things are clipping. I don't know quite what to make of this. I sort of like it, and I also find it sort of weird.

Ross Durand -- Hmm, this is unexpected too. But cool. A bit long perhaps (or not enough happening, you choose). The echo vocals are awesome. I wonder if it would have been possible to use less reverb without it sounding boring. Ah well. Definitely bonus points for pulling off this kind of song.

roymond -- Great guitar. Lots better than mine, anyway. I'm missing something in the composing part, though. Perhaps more variation. Vocals sound a bit thin. Generally enjoyable, just not too exciting overall.

The Sergeant Stomp Explosion -- Eww, lots of clipping. I have to listen at 40% volume to prevent a headache coming up. Seriously, fix that, it's a showstopper. Cool vocals (including gospely backup vocals). The square wave synth is a bit weird (I guess because of the pulse width or filter sweeps, whatever that is). Looking forward to further submissions but fix those clipping issues.

Signboy -- Starts with a nice riff. My first thought while listening to this was, is anything interesting going to happen? Generally at least okay but tends to slip out of my brain immediately. Performance is good. A bit grindingly loud in some places. The pitch-locked or vocoded (at least it sounds like that) harmonizing vocals somewhere in the second half are cool.

Slats -- I think your songs would profit most from more practice with mixing stuff. This mix sounds like the drums are way in the front (or slightly behind the listener) and everything else is somewhere further away, with the vocals in the next room. It's a bit weird. Good performance, some nice bits of emphasis in the vocals, not my kind of music.

Steve Durand -- Nice fluting. Nice mellow feeling there, the mix is ace. For once I think the brass interjections sound out of place (and do I hear it being a bit out of tune, too?). I'm not sure if different mixing could have changed that. The instrumental part rocks (or jazzes). Vote!

The Styop Quoons Experience -- The pseudo sax is annoying. Have I heard this before? Reminds me of "Light My Fire", musically. Reversed vocals aren't all that great. I don't know if I like the vocal effects here. The many hihat hits in the verses are tiring (are those computerized drums?). I kind of like the rest of how it sounds. Oh, and please see the comment for Howl about the ending.

The Tedward Nixon Experience -- I like that bass synth. Vocals could do with more presence in the mix (and perhaps make them a bit fatter). Nicely written song, even if it seems to have prominent elements of your style that I don't like very much. That's not to say this isn't good.

The Weakest Suit -- More vocal power, please! I think the song could be lots more exciting with it. The "ooooo" parts are neat. Nice rhythmic breaks in the guitar playing.

Votes go to Howl Down The Chimney, MC Milk-Plus, Paco del Stinko, Steve Durand. Bonus vote goes to myself for being gloomy and desperate and all that rot. Well, actually, the story cuts off before any rotting happens.

nyjm wrote:slats
--- distant vox ---
--- thin mix ---
/// this tune needs more grit and growl, à la some Johnny Cash ///

I mentioned in the pre-fight that this was sort of a song skeleton rather than a complete song. I'd've added -at least- an overdriven guitar over the top as the song progressed, but just simply had no time. I tried to compensate by adding some overdrive to the overall mix.

jast wrote:Slats -- I think your songs would profit most from more practice with mixing stuff. This mix sounds like the drums are way in the front (or slightly behind the listener) and everything else is somewhere further away, with the vocals in the next room. It's a bit weird. Good performance, some nice bits of emphasis in the vocals, not my kind of music.

I wholeheartedly agree that I need much more practice mixing. I listen to the laptop's speakers, and I adjust it one way. Listen with my monitors, it's another. Listen with headphones, it's a third. I need to learn to trust one of them, or figure something else out. And I think I'm outgrowing GarageBand, too.

I'm not even sure if this is my kind of music. I was writing a different song when this one blew out of me in about ten minutes. So I just went with it.

slats wrote:I listen to the laptop's speakers, and I adjust it one way. Listen with my monitors, it's another. Listen with headphones, it's a third.
...
I'm not even sure if this is my kind of music. I was writing a different song when this one blew out of me in about ten minutes. So I just went with it.

I'm thinking laptop speakers shouldn't have a say in the matter.
...
Also, one of the prime opportunities here at SF is to explore/develop styles you aren't familiar with.

jast wrote:The Hell Yeahs -- Aww, the vocals are flat all over the place (haven't I heard better from you?).

I don't know, have you?

Heather. Redmon. wrote:I don't know, have you?

Okay, I didn't check that site but I remember that I did listen to your Rattlesnake song. The answer is yes.

jast wrote:are those computerized drums?

You mean there's another kind?

jast wrote: The Sergeant Stomp Explosion -- Eww, lots of clipping. I have to listen at 40% volume to prevent a headache coming up. Seriously, fix that, it's a showstopper. Cool vocals (including gospely backup vocals). The square wave synth is a bit weird (I guess because of the pulse width or filter sweeps, whatever that is). Looking forward to further submissions but fix those clipping issues.

Thanks for the comments! The vocal clipping was indeed annoying. This is the first thing I did on my recording equipment in quite some time and I couldn't figure out why it was happening, but I didn't want to miss the fight. I later fixed it, so hopefully we won't hear that on future submissions

Interesting that nyjm mentioned They Might Be Giants. I love them, but I never feel like my stuff sounds like them. This isn't the first time a song I've written has been compared to them.

I've really been enjoying listening to this week's submissions. Will write up some notes this weekend!