Nur Ein IV Round Six "Hit Record"

[Niveous]

THE PENULTIMATE ROUND of the NUR EIN IV is on!!

Title: Hit Record
Non Optional Challenge: Song must include at least one distinct change in musical genre.
Songs are Due on: Monday, June 1st @ 12:01 AM EDT
Send your MP3 to nurein.sidefight@gmail.com

Andrew Reist
Frankie Big Face
Tiny Robots
Todd McHatton

[Niveous]

So...
The challenge must include at least one genre hop. So let's say you do a metal song and then it becomes a rousing klezmer tune, you have hopped genres. Congrats, you have fulfilled the challenge. Make the genre hop distinct. Going from rap to hip-hop won't suffice.

[frankie big face]

Excellent title and challenge!

[ken]

rap + metal 4 teh winz!

[glennny]

please please please somebody have a Kecak section.

(Yes has a Kecak section in Sound Chaser, Idiot Flesh has a Kecak section in Monkey)

just kidding people

[frankie big face]

So.....just to be clear, that extra time we had last week has now been rescinded (probably not the right word) and we're back on the original schedule? i.e. this song is due 9:01PM Sunday night Pacific time?

[frankie big face]

Yes ... Sound Chaser

Now there's a bass line I haven't played for a really long time. Cha cha cha...cha cha!

[Eric Y.]

Going from rap to hip-hop

I keep thinking of the bar where the Blues Brothers played in the movie...
"country and western!"

[Ross]

Yes ... Sound Chaser

Now there's a bass line I haven't played for a really long time. Cha cha cha...cha cha!

mmm sound chaser, monkey chant - gotta love it!

[Todd McHatton]

I'm in...
And wow, I've never really felt any kind of pressure here. This is weird.
My wife just asked if we get to go to our hometown if we get through this round.
Can't wait to hear the new tunes. Good luck everyone.

Nur Ein!

[frankie big face]

I'm in and I'm tired.

Nur Ein.

[Reist]

Yeah, I'm in.

This was a tough one for me. I had a lot of ideas, but not many of them were good. I wrote over four tunes for it, and ended up picking the one I personally enjoyed best. It might hurt me in the standings, but I feel as though the song represents who I am and how I feel better than a lot of my recent tunes. Good luck to the rest of you guys!

[Ross]

Everyone loves to get reviews - here are my first listen stream of consciousness reviews.

Andrew Reist - Ok, post grungy. The song content is not grabbing me, I guess I’m just a little too jaded from my long life of watching people accusing their favorite bands sell out when they make it big - Like U2 fans did when Joshua tree came out. Challenge met, although I didn’t think that section was very interesting. Are you singin’ about Green Day? I think this song probably turned out pretty much how you wanted it to.

FBF - you like a dirty sound, huh? nice bass and stuff. Still mixed a little too rich for my taste, and it makes it a smidge hard to listen to. The doubled vocals are also split distractingly far to each side. The style changes are cute and fit the context of the song well. I think the halting nature of the chorus hurts you a tiny bit here. Short and sweet and to the point. I agree with the sentiment.

Tiny Robots - Voice too low in the mix - I am having to listen hard for the words. Challenge met. I find the verses a little boring - I think in part because of the long pauses between sung phrases. I also wish the second verse varied more from the first in arrangement. Yeah - very proficiently performed and recorded - but not keeping my attention much.

Todd McHatton - Another solid track. Sounds very Todd McHatton. Your lyric style has lost me a little in the Ein! but I still like alot of your turns of phrase. I assume your genre change is about halfway through where you move to the 16ths on the hi-hat. You often change feel so much in your music, I thought it might be hard to tell exactly where your change that you meant to meet the challenge was. A little longish for me on a first listen.

I guess I should have done a Nein!, I am a little surprised that no one wrote about a hit man, and his record.

[Lunkhead]

It's never too late to Nein!, is it?

[Caravan Ray]

Yeah, I'm in.

I have not been following this since my unfortunate demise - but way to go Reisty!!!! You bring it home dude! Do it for our Queen.

*(of course, by "Queen", I am referring to our shared head of Government, not Elton John - but, you know, whatever works for you dude)

[swilington]

great songs everybody! i had an idea for a nein song for this round that would go from early ska/reggae to boy band. that idea was quickly abandoned. i do have a nein collab in the works. the beauty of nein = no due date.

since there are only 4 songs i'll review...

Reist - you rule man!i have to admit that, at the beginning of the competition, i just wasn't into that style of music. i must say that you have made me a fan. great use of the challenge! you managed to genre hop while still keeping your style. the hop didn't seem out of place at all. i'm definitely going to save this track. great mix. i really like your drums on this song. you could totally be the nur ein.

Frankie - great melody. very beatleseeey. i love your genre hops. you nailed each one. this is really well produced. the only thing is that it seems like your vocals are a bit muffled in some parts by the rest of the instruments. i'd have to say this is my favorite song of the round. it looks like you are the one to beat in this competition. hello over-underdog.

Tiny Robots - great time sig. the verse has a great spanish feel to it without being an over the top emulation. the hop to disco was brilliant. i didn't even think of disco. how you managed to go from spanish to disco and make it work so well is beyond me. your production is beautiful on this track. i love how you made the verse sound almost live and then go to a fully studio-produced disco chorus. great solo too!

Todd McHatton - you are a hit machine. i've never seen anyone so consistently great. everyone has their bad fights but not you. you're solid gold. i don't know if you'll take this as an insult or not, but your voice sounds just like phil colins' in a few parts of this track. i like it. are all these instruments live? i use flutes and stuff sometimes from patches on reason but everything on your tracks sound real. great genre hop. very funky. i don't know if it's my speakers but sometimes your bass seems a little loud. it is insane that you are able to make songs this good in only five days. it was an honor to to do nur ein with you.

[Eric Y.]

a hit man, and his record.

My first reaction to the title was to interpret it as a command (i.e. "hit [the] record [button]")

[ken]

Everyone has a good song this week. I don't envy the judges having to make a decision. I hope we make it through and I wish the rest of you the best of luck.

Ken

[erin.]

Wow, amazing round.
When the idea of combining flamenco and disco idea came about, I must admit that I found it a bit daunting, and also kind of outside the box for Tiny Robots. But I am glad that we challenged ourselves, and I think that is what Nur Ein should be about. Not that playing it safe does not produce excellent songs, but I think it's also equally important to push yourself out of your comfort zone every once in a while too.

That being said....
Those are real "stomp-claps" people. All the way through.

[melvin]

Andrew Reist: I can’t believe how hard this rocks! Drums sound amazing, guitars sound perfectly crunchy, and that falsetto hook is totally killer. The genre change made me laugh out loud, and yet it doesn’t undermine the serious rockingness of the song at all, especially with that throat-shredding outro. Excellent blend of ass-kicking energy with a slight wink and totally accessible grunge/pop sensibilities. All things I enjoy highly. One listen to this, and I had doubts that anyone could top it. After listening to all the entries several times, it has been confirmed. You win!

Frankie: This is good. The lyrics are enjoyable (ah, noble artist), the recording is very nicely polished (the genre hops are super-slick), and the main vocal hook goes from being just kind of catchy to being a third-degree ear worm after only two listens. “I don’t want a hit reee-cooord”... AH! Make it stop!! My whole head is surfing on the emotive ripple of your Bowie-esque slow-vibrato as I hear that line again and again and again. Ack! One other complaint: the (simulated) tape saturation seems a bit overdone on the mix. Other than that, another (maddeningly) memorable entry from the Big Face.

Tiny Robots: Mid-tempo, low-energy, dull lyrics, pensive flamenco guitar breakdown... yawn. The genre hop has some catch-factor, but overall, I find myself giving much the same review as before: hats off to your technical prowess, but absent some compelling emotion or wit or sonic risk or melodic twist or distinctive personality, there’s just a mid-beige blandness that does not offend, but does not do enough to stir the soul either.

Todd McHatton: This track has all the sophistication and richness of your best stuff—listening to it is like going on a journey where you don’t know what instrument or texture or melody will next take the lead. The playing is great, and the vocals sound fabulous. The sad part is that I must deduct points for a weak genre hop. I’m sure you intended it to be clear, but everything sounds like the same poppy psychedelic stream of consciousness to me. I look forward to your explanation, and I hope the other judges hear something I don’t.

[frankie big face]

a hit man, and his record.

My first reaction to the title was to interpret it as a command (i.e. "hit [the] record [button]")

Eric, I worked for several days on a song called "Hit Record" (as in the record button) and finally had to give up. It was totally high-concept, ultra-cool, sophisticated, but I just couldn't pull it off. I finally had to give up and do my best Elvis Costello impression. I was pretty depressed but such is the nature of Nur Ein!

[Lunkhead]

Yeah, we considered that angle too.

I'm honestly not saying this because melvin didn't like our song, but, does anybody else feel like judge reviews showing up before the results are announced kind of takes some of the suspense out of things? (Maybe it adds suspense for those of you who are reviewed positively? ) It seems a little odd to me, for some reason. I don't recall it happening last year or the year before, but maybe I'm wrong.