The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Let's try for 3% more reviews for this fight.

This is my first SONGFIGHT collaboration. Thanks to Noah Canning who contributed guitars, drums, keys, and backing vocals to my track (with very little time). Hopefully, he will submit a song or two himself soon. I would be very happy to see that. Why didn't anyone tell me how fun collaborations are?

The Weakest Suit wrote:This is my first SONGFIGHT collaboration. Thanks to Noah Canning who contributed guitars, drums, keys, and backing vocals to my track (with very little time). Hopefully, he will submit a song or two himself soon. I would be very happy to see that. Why didn't anyone tell me how fun collaborations are?

I tried to tell you. Then I noticed I wasn't actually talking to you but to my egg shaker. My fault. Sorry.

Fightmaster rules!! Thanks for including my crappy recording this week!

Anyone interested in helping me re-record my COL tune to awesomeness, please MSG me.

jast wrote:

The Weakest Suit wrote:This is my first SONGFIGHT collaboration. Thanks to Noah Canning who contributed guitars, drums, keys, and backing vocals to my track (with very little time). Hopefully, he will submit a song or two himself soon. I would be very happy to see that. Why didn't anyone tell me how fun collaborations are?

I tried to tell you. Then I noticed I wasn't actually talking to you but to my egg shaker. My fault. Sorry.

SOooo.....is the weakest suit a rattly device, or is the rattly device the weakest suit?

...by the way, great collab!

Sheail, nicely done. I love the instrumental guitar rock! Nice to hear on SF! and well played.

Gpt 1/2 the songs reviewed... will post the rest at a later time.

Haven't entered in quite some time, and the quality of the tunes seems waaaaay upupupup. This is a great fight, with a few ipod keepers! You people rock.

Adam Adamant
Nice mellow vibe. Magnetic Fieldesque... A change in instrumentation would have been nice, but it's well written, so almost doesn't need it! Like it. [edit] VOTE

Bars and Tone
Some neat things going on here... a bit monotonous. Great production, like the way the vocals sound.

Berkeley Social Scene
I usually like your stuff, this is no exception... Pretty sweet - but you had to know that. Dig the million parts and instruments. Whoa, doubletime! If the Cars were a jamband.

Cain and Abel
Too dark and slow for me.

Don't Tell Betsy
This is fun, and I'm a sucker for this stuff. You guy(s) are really accomplished. VOTE

DoToVa
Someone likes David Byrne (and that's a great thing!). This is great! Grooves along quite nicely. Great voice. Great vocal sound!!! VOTE

E and M
Your treble ran away! Good in a drinkin' song sort of way.

Frank Bertsch
Loves me some guy n guitar. This is a fun song. Felt like the fast vocals were slightly rushed / sloppy and could be right on with more time to practice it.

The Ghost Within
Fückin Rök! The voice doesn't match the awesomeness of the guitar work. Scream! Sounds like you don't want to piss off the neighbors. Nasty drum programming!

God Vs. Satan
Drugs. Or lack thereof.

Gooey Caramel Centaur
Wow... loved the top, and the recording quality. A sucker for wider open sounding stuff. The voice is driving me crazy.

The Hinsdale Patent
Thought this one came out OK! Thanks to Boltoph for the 11th hour organ and harmony vocals. Holycrap, that solo should be quieter.

James Owens
This is neat! Not sure what it has to do with anything, and sounds like a mashup of auld lang syne and the star spangled banner. Super thoroughly enjoyable nundaless.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo Candylanders
This is just awesome. VOTE.

johnsonic wrote,
James Owens
This is neat! Not sure what it has to do with anything, and sounds like a mashup of auld lang syne and the star spangled banner. Super thoroughly enjoyable nundaless.

Just to set the stage, if anyone missed it in the prefight discussion, this is a lyric burgle of Gooey Caramel Centaur's hymn, but without any singing.

Back after a fantastic burger (Van Brunt burger, medium rare) and a fantastic beer (Avery Old Jubilation).

Kapitano
Not really my thing. Would like more high end in the voice so I can hear it. Nice and mellow. Perfect length.

Kasper
Louder in the voice! Cut the deep low-end in the guitar, booms in spots. Super nice and mellow as well.

Lord of Oats
It's like a racing game. You have great emotion in your voice.

Paco del Stinko
Man, so much is sounding like late 70's, early 80's stuff. Big fan of the drumming - are they real? Like the hard panning in the guitars. Awesome harmonies! 1:56 like the madness.

Pathetic Wannabees
Would like the voice to sound as thin as everything else, in the same room, ya know?

Rone Rivendale
This kind of sounds like two different songs, not really cohesive, ya know? It might help to play a vocal melody on your guitar, then sing to that.

Seagulls Took My Sister
Bring the vocals forward so we can hear them. I'm sure it's got great content, just hard to hear. Nice ambient piece. I like how the reverb hard-resets.

Sheail
Are you fucking with me? This is nasty!

Standard Format
I love the noisy / gated vocal. Sounds for film. This gating is really neat! Black and white, watching raindrops trace their way down a gray window. VOTE

Torrentz
This swings / flows in a nice way. I like this! Fan of the squeezy bass.

Tyler Heath
My girl just asked me to turn this up. This is dope. She just said "hell yeah!", You have a great voice. Big fan of the slow build. Holyshit you squashed it at the end. VOTE

Wages
This is a good tune. I love your voice, and the instrumentation. Not sure about the solo, it's hard to pull off without drums and shit. VOTE

The Weakest Suit
What are those high pitched things? I like them. Very patiencesque. Very powerballady.

Returning to songfight after five years, what do I find? The bad songs are still just as bad and the good ones...have got very good. With not much in the middle. I'm amazed, impressed...and can't think of much to say about most of them except "Wow", "Great" and "I wish I could do that".

You know how it is. You can go on at length about why you don't like something, but to describe why something good is good...not so easy.

Disclaimers said, on with reviews....



Adam Adamant

A horribly distorted piano. An 8-bit gated hihat. Someone whose sense of pitch is almost as bad as mine. And some nice lyrics - especially "You're living in a world big enough for two, only problem is there's only room for you".

It's quirky, and probably fun. Neil Merritt, Barenaked Ladies and They Might be Giants are also quirky and fun - but it's not their only motive, or appeal.

Bars and Tone

Okay, someone's taken the thundering drums from an EBM song, the upper half of a synth line from an 80s new wave doodle, and the vocals from an emo song...and thrown them together.

Berkeley Social Scene

Ah, a proper song! By which I mean:

* Instruments (and voice) with sounds that go together
* Instrumentation that isn't just an excuse for the singing
* A structure with intro, verses, choruses, breaks, solos etc
* Changes, details and a few surprises
* Some care taken in mixing

I like the overall sound, and the structure. The synth added something without detracting, and the glockenspeil was a nice surprise - as was the guitar solo, though I thought the second half of the it sounded like it was transplanted from a different song.

Got no idea what the lyrics are but I'll find out when I listen again - because, yes, this is a song I want to hear again.

Cain and Abel

Slow goth with acidy bass. Are you a fan of early Abney Park, by any chance?

I don't quite "get" the breakdown at 1:30 and the sounds of a cocktail party, followed by the song starting up again at 2:00. It seemed to break the flow but for no good reason.

The voice I like, and it's right for the genre (which I also like), but could use a little pitch correction - though only a little.

Don't Tell Betsy

"A plane crash with Gehrig's disease"? Is that what you're really singing?!

It chugs along nicely. Guitars could be a bit louder.

Dutova

I like it. The sound of the vocalist's voice reminds me a little of David Byrne, and the "aah"ing parts for once doesn't feel like filler.

The chugging guitars work surprisingly well with the bubbly synth effect. The bass is a little high and the hihats a little trebble-heavy for my taste, but it's a minor thought.

E and M

This is not something I'd ever think to listen to normally but...I like it. It's catchy and, to my completely untrained ear, sounds authentic - not like a pastiche.

Except... do traditional blues recordings have synthstrings? Don't care, it worked.

Frank Bertsch

What would songfight be without simple songs with strummed guitars? Apart from smaller, I mean.

The gabbled (almost rapped) parts to me felt glued on top of the rest of the song - I'm not sure it needed them. But apart from that...Good voice, solid guitar playing, well mixed,

The Ghost Within

A textbook example of something that should have been very good, let down by lousy production. Compress that drumkit, and the vocal, mix them both down a bit with a touch of reverb.

Good emo lyrics, nice hard guitar sound, and enough variation to keep things interesting. Tempo changes are difficult to do well, but I reckon it worked here.

God Versus Satan

One minute of Lo-fi basement noise. Which suddenly cuts off - was it meant to do that?

Gooey Caramel Centaur

Oh, this is the hymn! There's something missing. - all modern church music needs a tamborine. It's probably written in the bible somewhere.

I'm not sure how a singing voice can sound sarcastic, but somehow this one does to me. And the way it quavers and sometimes drifts contrasts oddly with the sweet and precise sound of the instruments.

The Hinsdale Patent

Straightforward, unflashily competent, polished. Nothing to not like about this one.

Oh okay, it felt like you didn't quite know how to end it.

James Owens

Ah, maybe this was the hymn?

I quite liked this one, though it's got nothing to do with the title...and it doesn't really sound like a church organ.

Jeff Robertson

Why am I thinking of Elvis Costello?

If I heard this on a compilation of "Lost Hits of the 70s", I'd think this was one of the better tracks. The drums and bass, organ and harmonies, rhythm guitar and main vocal, it all just...clicks together.

Kapitano (Me!)

I'm feeling rather outclassed by about half of the other entries.

Kasper

More man-and-guitar, and just as well executed.

Putting emotion into singing is tricky - sometimes it sounds fake, sometimes overbearing or preachy. Here in parts it strays near overwrought.

Lord of Oats

Bombastic, big dumb dark electro. If it were a bit bigger, dumber and darker it would sound like what I abuse my ears with most days on the Controlo, Regen and RSA podcasts - which I suspect you also listen to?

Except there's a faintly bluesy guitar solo in there - which is odd, but it fits.

Paco del Stinko

There's just one thing I don't like about this - the lyrics about missing an ex-girlfriend. But that's my prejudice - love bores me as a subject.

The overall structure does seem to wonder about rather aimlessly. At 2:17 there's a fragment from another, more gutteral song shoehorned in.

Pathetic Wanabees

It's...a poetry slam from a man who sounds like he smokes too many (herbally enhanced) cigarettes, over a melodic-jazz-influenced rock combo, all circa 1967.

And as such it's all about the words, but the words...don't make me think of Ginsberg and Burroughs.

Rone Rivendale

Being an electroboy, I enjoyed the first 15 seconds.

The lyrics aren't horrible, but the way they're sung - off-key and much to close to the mic remove any credibility they have.

Seagulls Took my Sister

Pleasant chimes. Don't know why the voice is repitched like that.

It looks like flash fiction has leaked into songfight.

Sheail

Late 70s prog rock? Genesis, Yes, Van der Graf Generator...all mixed in there somewhere.

This is another one of those entries where there's nothing to criticise, so there's nothing to say beyond I genuinely enjoyed listening,

We're not supposed to like instrumentals here, but I do, so there.

Standard Format

The cheap noise gating is presumably there only because of a lack of anything better - but strangely I liked it. Think I'll use something like it sometime.

Torrentz

This is great.

If I had a choice between Eminem and Torrentz...well, Eminem boasts a whiney voice, a cop-out pseudo-poltical stance, and a choice of backing music that gives me a headache.

Compare with Torrentz - crisp beats, clear enunciation, good voices, musical effects to keep the interest up, and a strong simple message that's about anger directed at the right places.

Okay, the over-autotuned voice is a cliche that irritates me about hip-hop, but here it's forgiven.

Tyler Heath

Good scratchy sound on those guitar strings, and a similar roughness on the percussion.

Builds and thickens well with the addition of the shakers, then the electric guitar and backing vocals, then the drums...this is getting a big sound, but it's clear and balanced - good job on the mixing there.

Breakdown...the build back up...and it's even bigger than before. This is [/i]anthemic[/i] . Wish the final chorueses went on longer. Great stuff

Though I did hear the first line as "I pay more and I get lice".

Wages

Man-and-electric-guitar.

That guitar solo - mixed way too high and panned over to my left ear which now hurts. And its rhythm is rather...off.

Apart from that...it sounds like a very hastily recorded version of a good idea. Emotive voice, decent lyrics, and a nice tone when the rhythm guitar's muted. Just needs re-recording.

The Weakest Suit

And back to the 70s again.

I like the way it builds, when it does build - it could just do with more adding of complexity and thickness, over its 4 minutes.



If I voted for everything I thought was good, that'd be half the entries. So I've limited myself to:
Berkeley Social Scene
Dutova
E and M
The Hindsdale Patient
Jeff Robertson
Sheail
Torrentz
Tyler Heath

27 songs with one winner seems a little unfair. Time to reintroduce parallel fights?

johnsonic wrote:Big fan of the drumming - are they real?

Yes! Real! HUGE compliment as would never call myself a drummer. Or singer, etc., for that matter. Thanks!

Kapitano - I'll try harder next week. Thanks!

Ok, So, Reviews If I make a 'criticism' its only because I want to suggest something to you, it would be no good if I just said "they are all awesome" even though they all are. It's a lot harder to say why a song is awesome, than to say the few problems you found. That being said...

1. Don't Tell Betsy:
Snazzy Country Style man Perhaps the song goes on for a bit too long, and sometimes its a bit hard to hear what you are singing, but The voice fitted the song very well, the vocals are in tune, and very nice guitar solos

2. Berkeley Social Scene
Nice Synth Sounds man!The Voice recording a bit tinny at points, but it was Well sung and in tune. In terms of production in general, it wasn't sharply done, but not badly done at all. More importantly, it was a catchy tune

3. Paco Del Stinko
First off, that was a great intro riff! Then the vocals kick in, which were pretty cool, Its a strange accent man, but still sounds cool when you get used to it. The part from (1:33 to the end) was genuinely quite creepy... in a good way In that secion, the song gains some energy it had been lacking before that. Still, a great song

4. Cain's Regret/Abel's Curse
Cool and somewhat creepy tune, worked very well in the quiet sections, and the song was very well written, but the louder bits didn't really kick in as well as they could have. Strange sample at the middle, but it was well executed. Just out of interest, where did it come from? Still man, a wicked song

5. DoToVa
Funky man!! Quite catchy and chilled out. A bit muddy production, but a catchy tune and cool background sounds/effects. Again, the voice fits the music great

6. The Weakest Suit
The first thing I will say about this song is that when I thought "It would be wicked if some drums kicked in here", they did! This was a great ballad, with slow guitar and some fairly well implemented backing vocals.

7. Pathetic Wannabees

Bluesy !
The mixing/recording wasnt the best, but the song itself was a lot of fun. Guitar jamming expecially was pretty cool Haha! that was odd clapping at the end

8. GodVersusSatan
- That was short Sounds like it would make a wicked interlude track between tracks, although it stops a bit suddenly at the end.

9. Adam Adamant
I couldn't work out the time signature until the drums and vocals kicked in, but that happens a lot It would have been cool to have a bass of some sort kicking in there somewhere

10. The Ghost Within
This Is Me :O Oh No! I'm not going to review my own song, but I will say I wish I had time to re-do the vocals.

11. Kapitano
Electronic voices :O Sounded pretty wicked man, its catchy, and nicely produced. Perhaps the snare is lacking a bit of 'verb? Sorry I don't have more to say man

12. Seagulls Took My Sister
This is really trippy :O Its kind of hard to hear what you are saying at points, but its a cool monolouge.

13. James Owens
I think organs are cool, but i'm not sure what to say about an entirely organ-based piece, exept that it reminded me of a funeral. Still, sounds like a nice composition.

14. Frank Bertsch
I like the bit at the end where the vocals double up and one is very fast, and one is very slow.
Its hard to concentrate when i'm defrosting (went out to do a paper round before this one), but it sounds nice

15.The Hinsdale Patient
Jazzy man
harmonised vocals work well, vocals sound clear, as do the instruments. Niiiice solo at the end! Very cool 8)

16.Sheail
Wicked instrumentation, and good recording as well

17.Tyler Heath
Great recording, and catchy tune . The voice suits the style of music very much!

18.Kasper
Soemtimes the voice is a little quiet in the mix, but its a great song, and the guitar riffs over the chords sound good I would say your voice sounds cooler in the lower parts, but thats just an opinion

19. Gooey Caramel Centaur
Bottleneck on the guitar intro is cool, sounds quite singalong, would be great if everyone knew the words and was singing along live
it would be cool if there werebacking people singing along on the recording actually . But still a snazzy song man!

20.Standard Format

When the vocals come in, there is a lot of white noise. But its a good song, and well sung

21. Rone Rivendale

Cool synth sounds The vocals are overloading a bit man, but its still a cool concept

22. Lord Of Oats
Cool electronic music Vocals remind me a bit of Andrew Eldritch from TSOM Nice riffs as well man, it flows well

23. E and M feat MadWillie
This sounds like it ought to open an old western film Harmonicas will always be awesome! Nice instrumentation there as well.

24. Jeff Robertson and The Neo-Candlylanders
I like the song a lot man, the vocals are a bit distorted, but it has a really singalong chorus, and good instrumentation.

25. Torrentz
cool backing music man, sounds very professional. the rapping sounds pretty awesome, but I don't listen to enough rap to know really .

26. Bars and Tone
Sounds pretty cool, and pretty hard to classify as a particular genre.

27. Wages
Its a pretty catchy song have you thought of adding drums? Even if you can't play drums there are a lot of virtual drumkit things out there.
Singalong bit at the end is cool

Sorry my reviews vere a bit lacking, expecially toward the end :S
As for my vote...
- Don't Tell Betsy
- The Weakest Suit
- Torrentz (even though its not my sort of music i can tell this is wicked)
- Tyler Heath

Also:

Kapitano

You liked my lyrics? cheers man!
Personally I thought they were way too much of a downer
Thanks about the tempo change
Lousy production? it didn't sound too bad to me Ah well. Always another fight to do better in

Johnsonic

I know it's all about screaming in modern metal man, but I much prefer sung vocals. It would be nicer if I sounded a bit more like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGrM1sh-8pE but unfortunately I wasn't gifted with a voice suited to singing lol
Nasty drum programming? is that good or bad xD

johnsonic wrote: Standard Format
I love the noisy / gated vocal. Sounds for film. This gating is really neat! Black and white, watching raindrops trace their way down a gray window. VOTE

Thanks! I'd initially wanted to go for a funk feel, and somehow ended up with... that...

Kapitano wrote: Standard Format

The cheap noise gating is presumably there only because of a lack of anything better - but strangely I liked it. Think I'll use something like it sometime.

TheGhostWithin wrote:
20.Standard Format

When the vocals come in, there is a lot of white noise. But its a good song, and well sung

Everything was recorded through a cheap-as-poop microphone missing the grille. I can generally get a good instrumental mix, but this time I recorded too quietly, and there was a bit of residual noise in the guitars. Vocals needed to be recorded with the mic parallel to my head to prevent plosives, which meant an already quiet sound would be even quieter, hence a lot of background noise when compressed. The gating was only a necessity because I found the fight and recorded the song within a day, and didn't have the time to re-record anything. After doing it though, I decided it suited the mood much more than if I'd used cheap noise-removal or recorded louder vocals.I would rather the sung vocals had more conviction and didn't stray in pitch though, plus I felt the synth in the ending didn't quite fit.. could have done a lot more here.

I'm a much more capable guitarist than this shows as well, but I couldn't think of a decent melody, and didn't feel that guitar wankery suited the song.

Thanks to Mr Standard Format and his poop-cheap microphone, I now have a strange compulsion to use lo-fi amps, crappy loudspeakers, tape saturation, vacuum tube noise, vinyl crackle, off-center pressings, wow and flutter...and tape hiss.

Or at least nice clean digital recreations of those analog abominations. Yesterday I didn't even know you could get plugins to add frelling tape hiss to your mp3s...now it seems almost the obvious thing to do.

So if Kapitano's Kristmas songfight is a 3rd generation mono wax cylinder...it's all Adam B's fault and I hope he's happy .

Kapitano wrote:Thanks to Mr Standard Format and his poop-cheap microphone, I now have a strange compulsion to use lo-fi amps, crappy loudspeakers, tape saturation, vacuum tube noise, vinyl crackle, off-center pressings, wow and flutter...and tape hiss.

Or at least nice clean digital recreations of those analog abominations. Yesterday I didn't even know you could get plugins to add frelling tape hiss to your mp3s...now it seems almost the obvious thing to do.

So if Kapitano's Kristmas songfight is a 3rd generation mono wax cylinder...it's all Adam B's fault and I hope he's happy .

I support your decision.

Edit: Some thoughts!

Attn these are not REVIEWSA~! These are just snapthoughts!

Sheail: Nice guitar shredding...
Cain: Do you like Skold?
Kasper: Are you whispering in my ears? Or is that just the delay?
Kapitano: My kinda grooves
Gooey Caramel Centaur: Not my genre, but well done. Vote.
Jeff Bobbyson: I think I like it... makes me bop my head in the chorus.
Path Wannabee: I dig when the backround chorus vocals kick in. Nice bass.
Wages: The guitar part at the end is cool.
Stinkmeister: I like the change up! Classic Paco, I mean that in a good way.
Adamadamadam: Glad you came back! Always good to hear you.
ToneBARS: Wish the beat changed even once. Nice scating(?) or vocalizationthingie towards the end...
FlockofSeagullz: Are you nightwlfmohaskw?
WeakPants: What are those weird pops? The mix seems a little crushed(?)
FunkMasterOats: If you made 2 minute songs, you'd probably have thousands of songs.
FrankBerto: You sing too fast for my brain to keep up with you...
TheGhostKillers: This needs more Crunch or something. Also, I want you to scream it not Rone it.
StandardFORMANT!: I like the jarring nature of this... if that's the proper way to describe it... also thanks for giving Kapitano ideas to use those cool tools next time.
RoneTASTIC: Maybe someday you'll be revered as a musical genius... My favorite part was the guitar breakdown.
JamesO: I know you were inspired by the Gooey Hymn, I want this to be gothic and dark instead though.
Torrenrtzzz: I really don't like rap. But this is much better than most. I still won't listen to this ever again though...
Don'tTellBeasty: Is this the winner? It could be! But not for me. Not sure about the overall sound. Did you run the whole mix through some kinda box reverb?
HeathCANDYBARSRGOOD: Nice sound. Not my style. But you should give some people tips on PRODUCTION fight!
SatinVSDog: What is the cost of living? Did I just take part in a ritual? I like tribal drums, needs chanting...
TheHineyPatient: This isn't bad. But I can't figure out why I can't get into it.
DutovA: I like the bass. Not the guitar sound though.
EaEaNMNOP: Sounds muffled. Makes it sound like an old song. My friend who loves folk and old recordings would probably really dig this.

I hope I didn't skip anyone. But looking back on these thoughts, you probably don't really care to hear them anyway.

Don't be sad or mad if I didn't write something good! Ya'll just be happy now!

Kapitano wrote:Thanks to Mr Standard Format and his poop-cheap microphone, I now have a strange compulsion to use lo-fi amps, crappy loudspeakers, tape saturation, vacuum tube noise, vinyl crackle, off-center pressings, wow and flutter...and tape hiss.

Or at least nice clean digital recreations of those analog abominations. Yesterday I didn't even know you could get plugins to add frelling tape hiss to your mp3s...now it seems almost the obvious thing to do.

So if Kapitano's Kristmas songfight is a 3rd generation mono wax cylinder...it's all Adam B's fault and I hope he's happy .

I've started a trend! I've got other mixes using the same microphone that are very, very clean, and ones using a slightly less crappy mic that has the same problem (no grille). It'd be cool to hear you emulate the sound.

Good fight all! Hope to review soon.

I did another video, no cute kids or puppets. The guitar solos are overdubbed, and a little comically, have little to do with the guitar solos filmed. I'm having fun making the videos however.

Here are the links if you are interested:

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaDH9CxGNPI

Vimeo : http://www.vimeo.com/8196605

This time I was playing with colors and contrasts and more effects. I'm happy to hear criticism of what shots work well and which are cheesy.

And the big question: Does a song sound better, worse or the same with a video attached?

enjoy!

glennny wrote: I did another video, no cute kids or puppets. The guitar solos are overdubbed, and a little comically, have little to do with the guitar solos filmed. I'm having fun making the videos however.

Here are the links if you are interested:

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaDH9CxGNPI

Well done! Also like the BSS "Your New Dress" video. I want a Song Fight pick!

Va of DuToVa

Well done! Also like the BSS "Your New Dress" video. I want a Song Fight pick!

Thanks! I got my awesome Song Fight plectrum from the amazing Paco del Stinko, I don't actually know where he got them. They are nice and heavy!

I performed my version of "Cost Of Living" at a live show last Tuesday night. Here is a link to a player that has some cuts from the show. Scroll down to "Live @ Birdy's 12/15/09" section.

Well, here's my best attempt at reviewing this bunch. Truth be told, I only voted for one tune, but if I could I would vote for a couple more, after actually listening to them all.

Frank Bertsch-Like the guitar. The vocals start nice but get WAY too fast for me to comprende.

Adam Adamant-Interesting mix.

Standard Format- Would make a great soundtrack for a vid.

Sheail- Nice music. Did I miss the vocals?

Lord of Oats- Bowie-esque. I like it.

Paco del Stinko- Like the breaks with guitar.

EAandM featuring MadWillie-Great drinking song.

Wages-Pretty good for a 'guy with a guitar', add some bottom and it'll be a real toe-tapper.

Seagulls Took My Sister-Trippy, man, real trippy.

Rone Rivendale- Sorry, it's probably all me, but, I just didn't get it.

Torrentz- I get it. Right on, man.

Kapitano-Wish I had better speakers.

Don't Tell Betsy- Not sure about the breaks, but sounds like ya got ya the makings of a good sheetkickin tune there.

The Weakest Suit- Nice and smooth. I like it. Oh, and thanks for the lyrics idea, never realized it worked like that.

Pathetic Wannabees-Dig the music, not sure about the vocals.


Tyler Heath-The 'noise' at the beginning gave me a nervous twitch over my right eye. Like the rest, though.

Jeff Robertson and the Neo-Candylanders- I didn't get it, sorry.

godversussatan- Now I'm SURE there's something wrong with my set. Or did anybody else miss the vocals?

Berkeley Social Scene-Big sound. Good work. Hope WE can afford sound like that one day.

The Ghost Within- I like it. Bump up the bottom end and you might have a hit.

DuToVa- Nearly an Alice in Chains sound. Maybe you could loan The Ghost Within some bottom.

The Hinsdale Patent-Jazzy, I like it.


James Owens-Am I the only one not hearing vocals? Maybe we'll try an instrumental next time, too.

Gooey Caramel Centaur-That would be a great tune without all the FX and gooey caramel, or maybe centaur. Just a guy and guitar and maybe a drum and fife.

Cain's Regret/ Abel's Curse-Great beat. Excelent tune for a little romp in the romper room, if you get my drift.

Bars and Tone-Good background for an animated vid, maybe Fat Albert or somesuch.

Kasper-Very Nice. Added it to my MP3 player. Thanks.



WHEW! Can't believe I stayed conscious long enough to do them all!

EA and M wrote:if I could I would vote for a couple more

Well...you can, you know...

Frank Bertsch-Like the guitar. The vocals start nice but get WAY too fast for me to comprende.

Heh. Heh heh. Just wait till you hear my Frostbite.

Kapitano-Wish I had better speakers.

Aww thanks. Wish I could play real instruments.