The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I hope i didn't break any rules by not including a paranthetical in the subject line. If I did, you can go to.......

Faux----- Most of the time dont care for chick rock, this has a good hook.

Noah-----Like this

Ross------Catchy lyrics, i want that guitar or one like it left handed.

Small fight PACKED WITH FLAVOR. I have to say, the amount of awesome in this fight is pretty gorram high. Bloggified reviews forthcoming.

Berkeley Social Scene
Love the opening bit. Gets a little sloppy in some of the acoustic picking parts. Vocal part seems a little improvised which I tend not to like. Though it's probably not. I like that electric guitar solo sound. Too much going on with too many guitars. I do like after the solo part how it sparses up a bit. I listened to this on my laptop speakers (Mac Air).

Billy Oh feat. James Owens
Ok I turned on the Airfoil like a boss, so now I'm listening through some decent speakers in my bedroom. This song might not benefit from the extra fidelity, unfortunately-- I think it might come off better if I were listening on a tinny transistor radio, which would amplify the quirky charm factor. On my good speakers, I'm not fond of the pseudo call-and-response vocals (somebody put a name to that technique for me please), and the end lyric is way too treacly for me. I like some of the melodies though.

Blue Movies
I like the spare guitar, and I like that the song is slow. We sometimes tend to feel like every entry has to be either this raucous thing, or a goof. Rarely do we get a soft ballad, and when we do it's refreshing. Part at 1:55 or so seems like it needs more thought, kind of muddled. I think nobody should ever use the line "We can be free, we can be free together" again. Whoa, does it really just end like that?

DuToVa
Dial down the hi-hat next time, it's taking over your mix. Ooh I like the music when the ride comes in, guess that's the chorus. The instrumental section at 1:00 isn't nearly interesting enough to spend 14 seconds of a 3:14 second song on. Verses don't hold me, but when the chorus comes in I start liking it again-- I think a lot of it has to do with the nice descending countermelody. Ok, a bridge. Not inspired, just parrots the title which is ok in some cool context, but there isn't one here. Ok, then back to the same, really really the same verse melody that I'm tired. Need to mix that shit up. Solo section, or maybe that's a talkbox or something since it sounds like there are vowel sounds in there. But it's too pat-- I'd want that to be a soaring line to hold up to a whole feature section like that. All the parts are here, but I think you need to be a little less satisfied with the first thing you think of.

FauX
It's kind of an 80's throwback with that bouncy synth in the background. I'm having trouble making sense of the "So tell me where you can go" line in the chorus. It seems a little like you had some good lines that you didn't want to lose, and then found it hard to fit the "where you can go" in in a way that made sense, but you went with it anyway. Parts of this remind me of another songfighter, (which is a pairing of and ) but rocked up, and with unfortunately less thought put into the lyrics. I want to like this, but the words get in the way. (Comparing you to High Density is a compliment, by the way!)

James Owens
Man, I wish you hadn't wasted such nice melody on a tired "string SF titles together" conceit. Well done, musically, but the words don't work. There's no cosmic coincidence or thread running through Song Fight titles. Trust me on this, 's not that smart.

Mister Adams
Ooooooh great start! It's tight, it's got an interesting sound on top making a nice melodic line. Let's see if the vocals hold up-- yeah, pretty good. Now let's see if the words hold up... so far not too bad, and back to that nice instrumental section. Maybe a little too radio-influenced in the vocal performance. Hold on, is that the same guy singing the chorus? Is it too high for you or something? 'Cause we went from a nice, if a little standard, inflection, to whiny and out of tune doubling. I'm almost to the end, and wishing there was something left in the song to wash the taste of that one section out of my head.

noah mclaughlin
Dude, Midnight Oil is gonna sue your ass for that bass line. Ha. So far pretty good, I think the way you're putting the words together here, and the "melody", is working for you. On the "hey hey hey" part you really should have layered the hell out of that, 'cause it's a little lame just having a gravelly voice going "hey hey heeeeeey hey". Probably wouldn't have used the "you lead me astray" line, but oh well maybe that's a taste thing. "You are made of matches, [my] blood is made of fuel" is pretty good. You're always a little more poetic in your lyrics than suits my taste. I think the instrumentation holds up-- I haven't gotten bored this whole time. Not sure what's in there that's keeping my interest; it might be the chugging guitar part.


HOLY CRAP YOU GUYS THERE IS A FUCKIN' HAIL STORM OUTSIDE MY WINDOW LIKE CRAZY. BUT I MUST REVIEW THE SONGS!


Paco del Stinko
Mmmmm, I think I love the bass work in this tune. Good solo work too, and then into the clean chords, that's working for me too. "You hang onto life like blahblahblah" has weird . This song's all about the music, so let's not get too hung up on the words (but it's hard for me not to). Love that sound in there that's like hail hitting a double-paned window. Oh wait, that's outside my house. NO CREDIT.

Wow, just had a little brownout, and the storm is freaking out outside. All is well though, moving on...

Ross Durand
The chord progression and playing totally works for me. I was about to go on about how the lyrics were a little obvious, until you got to that punchline, which is GREAT and I'm not going to call it out literally because I don't want to spoil it. Not sure the "I won't tell you where you can go" line quite works, but I'm going to let it slide. I think my wife might like this, as she tends to be a fan of your songs. I think probably because she's a huge Dylan fan, and loves Wilco and the Avett Brothers and your music (at least recently) is pretty reminiscent of that style.

Sep
Ok Sep, last on my list, lay it on me. Quiet, wooowooing to start out with and soft downstroking on the bass with picked electric, so far so good. Aw man, why'd you have to start singing in a nasally, out-of-tune kind of way. Bummer, man. Even though the vox aren't great, they need to be further front in the mix-- when that electric improvised line comes in it takes over. All right, the solo right after that using the two strings is a lot better. But putting a melodica line in on the next verse, while I want to approve, feels like you're just tacking in whatever instruments you have lying around one after the other, rather than figuring out exactly what you want to do and then doing it. I like the "Where can we go? I don't know, I don't know" line. Oh shit, I just noticed this is 5:45. And so far no new sections really, so what is going to support another 1:45? Is it going to be more of the same, maybe some noodling on the E string of a guitar? Ah, a little bit of countermelodies in the vocals, I guess that's ok. We're at 5:05. "Am I uh, stopping here or..." yeah, stop there man. That kind of junk spoils whatever vibe you had going on by calling out that you did this in a hurry and it's for SF. I guess that's Ok, but it doesn't do anything for me personally.

Reviews of “Where You Can Go” in some particular random order:

Blue Movies: hmm, 160 kbps MP3 ought to sound higher-fi than this… guitar just sounds odd… drums sound ok when they come in… this reminds me of an old Lou Reed song (good thing). Doubled vocals get a little old by the end, maybe only do the doubling on the chorus part. Hmm, either a very abrupt ending or the mp3 cut off or something… I think I’d like this if it sounded even more like Lou Reed, where the voice really gets in your head and says what it has to say.

Ross Durand: clever line at the end of the chorus, but the whole song seems like it’s trying a little too hard to be clever, it doesn’t sound like an unhappy person talking to the person who’s making them unhappy. I think I made a comment in a review (may not have actually been posted, though) about a “grownup” song vs. a “kids” song, and I wish this song had been done as more of a “grownup” song. Nicely recorded, acoustic guitar sounds great.

noah mclaughlin: like the instruments on the intro. First verse kinda lost me, especially ‘cause I couldn’t pick up some of what it was saying… your second verse might have made a better opening. I liked the vocal, but the lyric was maybe a little too complicated for a three-minute song.

Mister Adams: is that synth whistling? I’m generally okay with synth’d stuff, but in this case, it just sounds phony… apologies if it’s real whistling; if it is, make it sound less phony – a lot less reverb, I think. I like the song overall, enough to overlook the whistling… hmm, the ending chops off very suddenly, maybe something’s weird with my winamp player settings?

Sep: lead vocal is buried under the “oohs.” The oohs, and even the harmonies on the chorus sound decent, lead vocal is weak. Ouch, that out-of-tune lead guitar does me in. Sounds like you’re plugging directly in to your soundcard, and you really need to go through a Pod or some sort of buffering / effects box.

Billy Oh feat. James Owens: a start at something, maybe… I like the general idea of “I’d tell you where to go, but today I need you to stay,” I think that could be developed into an interesting song, but it never gets there this time… would love to hear what would happen if Ranger Denni took this and ran with it.

DuToVa: instruments don’t quite hang together until the drums come in, but they sound good… my fave of the fight so far. The phrasing on the vocals is a bit too “regular” like you’d written it out as notation and were trying to sing all the notes a little too precisely – I’d like to hear the lyrical phrasing lean a bit more on the lyrics. Maybe a bit more dynamic variation throughout the song, but overall, I like.

Paco del Stinko: on most SF songs, I wish the chords went some more interesting places; on a lot of yours, I wish the song was a bit more regular… something that I’d be humming after hearing it the first time or two. I hear a lot of Zappa in this, and I like Zappa… but, I dunno, the lyrics here seem just a bit too “literate” for the style.

FauX: lot of 80s pop influence in the music, I’m sure you’ll hear about that… the vocal is a tad “pitchy” for that style. I’m thinking that just singing “It’s not where you can go, it’s what you do when you get there” { 4x } would make a better chorus, give us a real hook to hang onto. More appropriate to the style, at least. The storyline sounds like a slackers convention, the lyric may be a little too literate for the characters, maybe an AABB rhyme scheme that draws attention to its own cleverness would work in this situation. The storyline in the first verse confused me a little, the who’s who of it all. I think when you bring it back before the ending it’s better cast (as I recall after two listens, the first verse is a discussion between “he” and “she”, the reprise brings the singer into the storyline and I think that would work better.

Berkeley Social Scene: the lead vocal doesn’t do it for me. The acoustic instruments are nice and nicely recorded, but I’m afraid I lose interest as soon as the singing starts. Sorry…

James Owens: looking at the lyrics before hearing the song, I’m not sure that name-checking a lot of past songfights is gonna work, but we’ll give it a chance… sorta like, “I see what you’re doing here, but it still has to work as a lyric for those who aren’t familiar with the songfight canon…” Let’s see… well, the fact that I recognize all the titles makes it hard to view this from a standalone perspective… in the end, I don’t think it works for me. The name-checking seems like it just drops in too many new characters and ideas. There are a couple nice tricks, “…would occupy my heart / if I had one…” Lead guitar isn’t quite in tune, that matters to me…

Votes to Mr. Adams, DuToVa, and FauX, with DuToVa taking “best in show” from the old guy, and FauX squeaking by ‘cause in the end, it’s hard to resist girl vocals if the song is reasonably good…

Thank you, jb, for this spiffy timesaver!

Berkeley Social Scene
The is a looser sound than I'm used to from Berkeley Social Scene. Not sure what to make of the lyrics and vocals, they seem off-the cuff. The vocals are a-melodic, I'm guessing on purpose. I like the warm, intimate sound on the instruments, and the tight, fast, intricate melodic weaving. Do I detect a Paco del Stinko influence? During the solo, there's too much going on in the background; it's like a sound-on-sound experiment gone wrong.

Billy Oh feat. James Owens
Billy Oh's sweet melody and sensitive vocals set the mood so beautifully that the accompaniment practically wrote itself. Old fumble-fingers here cleaned up the piano a little with a MIDI editor, but I had trouble at one spot; since then I've found the pedal cc controls. The timing is a little shaky --we're both pretty new at collaboration. Still, I think it came out well.

Blue Movies
I like the overall musical composition and the atmospheric singing. The production and arrangement are modest, but reasonably clean, except for the abrupt start, and the fact that the ending seems to be missing. The lyrics are interesting and thoughtful, when I can follow them (I have problems picking up lyrics). There are a couple of bass experiments here that don't work out, and I speak as a bass player. One is at about 3:02, when the bass stays behind at a chord change. This trick (holding the fifth on the bass) can add power and a kind of "awe factor" if it's done strategically and consistently, but here it's too random to work properly. The other is throughout, when the song goes to G and the bass steps up from F#. You can step up (or down) just before the guitar gets there to add suspense or excitement, but if you do do it exactly when the guitar arrives, it just sounds like you missed.

DuToVa
Lots of high-spectrum energy here. The tonal quality of the instruments is outstanding: guitar with sharp edges, really good fat bass, drums with solid presence: a classic power trio. All parts well played. The angular verse melody is striking. The drawn-out "Where you can go" has the potential to be impressive in an arching way, maybe with more harmony piled up, but the lack of rhythmic differentiation drains sense from the words.

FauX
I don't know if it's excessive saturation or just pinned VU meters, but the mix is at the point of distortion. If I want it that loud, I can turn up my amp, thanks. Anyway, it's a fun, exciting tune, nice pop arrangement, good guitar riff. With this much drive, the pause at 00:14 feels like dead air. Vocals are a bit pitchy around 1:40. The breakdown at 2:20 is welcome, but too sparse, and slightly off the beat somehow. This song starts off so strong there's nowhere to go; it needs to build a little. But very good work in all.

James Owens
Apart from the vocals, this sounds almost exactly as I intended, which is good in a way. It means I'm getting the hang of my studio. To give it more presence, I "compressed the hell out of the bass," per MG's advice in the Help and How-to forum, and I saturated the "rock organ." I also chose not to max the levels during recordng, which seemed to give the overall sound more headroom; ignored very minor clipping in some places (irrelevant digital spikes, someone suggested); and carved out spaces for each part using EQ. But "exactly as I intended" still falls short -- now I need more imagination in the arrangement, for example to fill out the high spectrum. As for the singing, well, I give up. Some stuff I just can't do. I need to think earlier about transposing.

Mister Adams
A bright, crisp sound on a straightforward beat. Just a little long getting going. Good vocals, but I notice an auto-tune kicking in here and there. The chorus gets monotonous. the ending is unnecessarily abrupt. The whole thing feels like a sketch for a promising song, which if completed would need a contrasting part, and some extra voices in the chorus to add vertical movement.

noah mclaughlin
A nice, raw, low-down mood, and vocals to match. I dont expect allusions to Tolstoy in this context. The song develops well, with good contrasts and builds. It could have ended at about 3:00, but the extra thirty seconds or so don't hurt. I like "you are made of matches" a lot, but "I am made of fuel" pairs better than "blood is made of fuel."

Paco del Stinko
Paco, you have a genius, and I mean that sincerely. You do things with rhythm, melody, and harmony that are consistently out there. And you play a wicked guitar. And drums. And bass. And you're a versatile singer -- witness your amazing cover of Jesus Must Die (look it up, people). And your productions are always top-notch. Sometimes I think you must be someone famous, secretly slumming it. Sorry, I just had to get that out. Anyway, I like this one too.

Ross Durand
Finely calibrated sensitive gruffness in the lyrics. The guitar accompaniment is straightforward, brightened by harmonica. The recording has a bit of "room sound," but it's clean and even. This is a good song, convincingly performed.

Sep
Sometimes you have to look past a low-budget studio consisting of two cassette recorders or something, and ask "Is this a good composition?" and "Is this a talented performer?" Even so, it can be an exercise in tact. This song doesn't change enough, and needs to be a lot shorter --between two and three minutes is a good rule of thumb for any entry. Parts of it could be quite pretty if properly done. The chorus is very wistful and has a lot of potential. But the singing tends to be nasal and pitchy -- work on that and you're a long way ahead -- and the recording and mixing need lots and lots of attention.

jb wrote:Man, I wish you hadn't wasted such nice melody on a tired "string SF titles together" conceit. Well done, musically, but the words don't work. There's no cosmic coincidence or thread running through Song Fight titles. Trust me on this, Deep Throat's not that smart.

I knew I'd take a hit for the lyrics. Hey, I missed a whole whack of fights, so I figured I'd catch up. And while I'm sure Deep Throat has no master plan here, nevertheless I did almost manage to eke some sense out of them. (I like the ambiguity in "Look at the beach.") As I said in the prefight, it ended up looking vaguely like a Keith Reid lyric.

King Arthur wrote:The name-checking seems like it just drops in too many new characters and ideas. There are a couple nice tricks, “…would occupy my heart / if I had one…” Lead guitar isn’t quite in tune, that matters to me…

I'm going to hear a lot about the lyrics. As for the guitar, at one point I gave it an over-the-top bend, on purpose. Sorry about that.

I was right, Ross, my wife (Dorie) does like your song. She says "I like it. It reminds me of John Prine."

JB

jb wrote:noah mclaughlin
Dude, Midnight Oil is gonna sue your ass for that bass line. Ha. So far pretty good, I think the way you're putting the words together here, and the "melody", is working for you. On the "hey hey hey" part you really should have layered the hell out of that, 'cause it's a little lame just having a gravelly voice going "hey hey heeeeeey hey".

Actually, I stole that bass line from the Toadie's "Possum Kingdom,' which pretty much served as the touchstone for this piece:


What do you mean by "layered" for the chorus? Musically, it's a wall of frakkin' sound with 5 or 6 different guitar parts; I found myself pulling things OUT so it didn't clip and things remained distinct. I did briefly think about an actual lyric for the chorus, but went for an anti-chorus instead. Seems like mixed result from the peanut gallery, but I'm happy with it. Will most likely be bringing this to the Live event in [edit]: Seattle this year.

Well, I guess I mean that you should have replaced those guitar parts with vocal parts.

JB

jb wrote:I was right, Ross, my wife (Dorie) does like your song. She says "I like it. It reminds me of John Prine."

JB

Oh, great! That's super nice to hear knowing it's coming from someone who regularly enjoys this genre. Thanks for the nice review and tell Dorie thanks, too!

Berkeley Social Scene
I love this tune. However it's my kind of tune. I dig the constant key changes, the strange instrumentation, the Tim Kinsella style Martyr vocals, the punches and riffs. I wish we had more time to reign in Martyr's Martyrness. I took more takes on the Spanish guitar. The music was written on the Guitelele that I got for Festivus from my brother. I think the Guitelele track is solid (the little Spanish guitar I got from him the year before). I wrote the lyrics rather quickly as a starting point when the title was announced. Oddly they never changed nor evolved. Usually our lyrics have quite an evolution. This could arguably be called an Older Brothers song, but we got Ken drums and Ken production so I think BSS is the right name. Lunk and Erin were busy with other projects so the pop sensibilities were absent. I wish we had time to add more vocals. So the 2nd verse- Little Spanish guitar line (right ear) is not so much influenced by Mr Nur Ein, but when I wrote it I thought it would be something he would do. I should not deny my influence by The Stinko, I probably listen to more PDS than any other Song Fight artist over the last 5 years, and have had the privilege to collaborate with him both in person and virtually. (Man a chorus of Paco characters would be awesome on this song.) I understand the criticisms, but I hope you enjoy the cleverness, and more than anything, I hope you don't find it boring.

Billy Oh feat. James Owens
Wow that is total and complete hard panning. I don't much care for that on head phones. This is meant to be on your stereo in front of you. Anybody invent headphones that can switch total pan to like 20%? I want those headphones. Anyway, this is a short and sweet song. Piano is nicely played and emotional. I wish the 2nd voice was responding rather than echoing. I could stand for this to be 3 or 4 times as long and develop. What's there is grand, but I want more. Nice job!

Blue Movies
Drums are so very welcome when they finally come in. Is the bass and the guitars in the same key? I guess they are. I was thinking it was in A and the G was bugging me. But once I realized it's in D it's alright. 524343171 is pretty cool. I wish the vocals were more dynamic. The devious little box they're in is cool, but I wish it developed as the song progressed. This really needs more passionate vocals at the end. A real ending for that matter (it just cuts off, I assume that's an export mistake?) This is dying for a guitar solo. The noodling in the background is nice, but a real solo would intensify this vibey thing. Cool stuff!

DuToVa
AC/DC stadium chords is a nice start. The drums are fighting the guitars for accents. Chucking is always dangerous, you have to pay attention to what the drums are doing to compliment or stay out of the way of them. I don't particularly care for the style of drums in this. The intro makes no sense with the music to come. I love the bass tone. The vocals are very nice too. I think the power trio is in the same key and at the same tempo, but that's where it ends. They don't sound like they're playing with each other. The chorus isn't very catchy, which is a shame the verse is rather catchy. More range in the vocal line would be nice. Turn up the lead guitar! The solo is few in notes but appropriate above the cacophony of the band, wish it was louder. Your voice is great and ripe for more harmonies with your own voice. I like all the instruments individually I just think they fail as a band , well not fail but C-. Lots of good stuff here.

FauX
Winner? This is great! The synth bass is cool! This was my favorite on 1st listen. It's pop candy, so I wonder how much I will like it on repeated listens. The Disney cute vocals, the play on cliche chorus, the distorted guitars is all pop gold! I like the doubled synth and guitar. The power chord riff is dangerously close to "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar. The vocal melody is great and full of hooks! This feels a lot like a song for Nickelodeon or Disney movie. Anyway, I dig it. VOTE!

James Owens
I've been wanting to do this lyrical idea for a while. You beat me to it. Well done. I'm still not sure it was a good idea. It's fun to listen to. Each line reminds me of a place in time, the jam, the writing session the results, the reception. So you get zero points for lyrics, because I don't think they work. As a meta-song gag you get many points. I love the vocals and the melody. The organ and piano are awesome! Drums are great too. This gets a vote. This could be your thing. I actually did a song like this in my improv band where I used only Zappa album titles for the lyrics. I remember it started off with a loud "Sleeep Dirt!!" and there was a chorus of "Waka Jawaka, Waka Jawaka". Anyway, killer chops nice production, good gag, VOTE!

Mister Adams
Off the bat, the acoustic sounds great! So does the kick. This song is full of 20 second bits I can imagine lifted for television. Is that a human humming that B? that's a little annoying. The bridge breakdown is beautiful! Oh wait it's not a bridge, it's a long ending. Why does it cut off like that? The heavily effected whistling thing is a nice subtle melody in the right register, but I wish the timbre was a little different. Nicely played guitars. Verse vocals are fantastic. I like the voice in the chorus, but it falls really flat after all that excellent build up. Yeah the chorus is the least catchy part of the song. I love most of the production ideas, and really love the guitar playing.

noah mclaughlin
Have I mentioned the Constantines to you before? You often take me to that vibe. I think the music and the song really showcases your vocal style. The "Heys" get a bit James Hetfield. It's a bummer there's no solo. The drama of the song could use more of an arc. It's pretty much the same level throughout. Very cool tune if nothing else.

Paco del Stinko
Brilliant! Hilarious! Rocking! Bad Ass! This rocks, all the riffs are tasty and catchy. Delicious solo (though much too short). I love it, it's a fun ride! So short too. I think the lyrics are good too. I'd love to go to a Paco del Stinko concert. Get the band together! I'll cross the country for that show! VOTE!

Ross Durand
Usual production bliss. This has a total folky vibe. However this style of lyrics is exactly Country music. I'm not fooled with your folky credentials. This is a Gnu Country song. I bet you could sell this one. I dig the harmonica solo a lot! Too damn short though. Solid song writing, but too commercial for me to get behind. It's exactly the kind of lyrics that will be successful. I'd shop this one out if I were you.

Sep
This lo-fi thing I liked for the 1st 3 minutes. There's no drums. The lyrics are rather weak. The vocals are sour a lot. Over all I liked it, but it over stayed its welcome in a big way. You have not much to say, but then you keep saying it. This reminds me again of my improv band. This sounds like the end of the jam where the drummers are tired and we're all drunk. The playing is not bad on the direct guitar, but the tone leaves a lot to be desired. It's a little funny how it goes out of tune after the bends, never to return to intonation. Of course you couldn't re-track it, because you got the "magic" on this take. I'll take the 1st 2 minutes and skip the latter 3.

Good fight! I liked every song and loved a few!

My votes go to:

Paco del Stinko
James Owens
FauX
Berkeley Social Scene

glennny wrote: I've been wanting to do this lyrical idea for a while. You beat me to it. Well done. I'm still not sure it was a good idea.

Early polling suggests it wasn't. if you ever try it, you'll probably need more than a year of titles, or a lot more interjected material, if you (or others) want it to make sense. I was content with a crypto-Dylan effect.

Bob Dylan wrote:Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin’ around
You should be made
To wear earphones

Anyway, thanks for your encouraging comments about the music. (Belated thanks to jb for an indirect comment to the same effect.) That's something great about SONGFIGHT! -- you get enough encouragement to keep going, but enough criticism to try doing better. (By the way: KA, I think you must have meant "guitar," not just "lead guitar," and you're right: the G string sounds fishy.)

First the songs that made me plump in my pants. In no partesticular order.

Ross: "don't go to hell 'cause I don't wanna see you there" ...you rebel, you. Sweet harp solo. Two things in this world that are certain. My wife is a huge B-word, and Ross will submit a quality song to the mighty Song Fight! Folksy bluesy goodness

Paco with the rock-o: Nice production to get all the nooks and crannies workin' for you. Rock'em sock'em deliciousity

Noah: Really good groove with a 60s ambiance. You have a good vocal tone for this song. I enjoyed imagining your facial expressions as you did the production on this song finding the sweet spots. Kind of like... :/ no..... :/.....not quite.........there it is! Good mix and song.

Berkeley: As soon as I heard the clever guitars panned, I started thinking Zappa. I know Glennny loves that stuff and does it well. Then the vocals started and I thought of Can. Glennny turned me on to them. So this song has Glennny written all over it. I love experimental avant-garde arranged in an easy to follow layout like this. It always puts a smile on my face thinking of where the mind is at coming up with non standard progressions. FUN.

FauX: Nice bit of 80 rocks. You're new to me and I like what I hear. Looking forward to see what else you can come up with using the fight titles. You have everything on the stage nicely, but keep playing with the mixer knobs and tools. Make the dynamics pop.

More to come...

Billy oh: Nice playing. nice enough voice. Panning in headphones is a lot. But I get bored easy. Not your songs fault, more of my ADD. Well, I don't know if I have ADD, but I believe in listening to songs start to end and by the end of this one I was rolling around on the floor getting tangled in my headphone cord whining for someone to bring me a juice box.

Blue Movies: I know this voice. It sounds serious, but I remember that voice making dirty songs. I keep waiting for the punchline or a little pun-for-fun. Sounds good though. Smart to run a vocal up the center and panning out the other so they aren't crowding each other.

Dutova: Nice dramatic mood setter with the guitar intro. The bass felt a bit loose with the guitar on the intro, but not a deal killer. This song is meant to turn up. I like the chorus. Guitars are cool. The verse bridges and outro are too long for not having sweet riffs, solo or vocal treats. I know how that goes. You're having a fun time with your cool jam and forget others that aren't getting the enjoyment of playing will just be happy listening. Nope, it never works that way unless you are performing live. Give them tastes of awesomeness so they want more. Don't OD them on the riff. It's hard, I know. But just do it when you aren't playing live for an audience.

James Owens: I've got to hand it to you for putting your voice in the same room as your piano. The guitar solo is a bit cold and needs the same reverb treatment. But the song is good and has all the elements.

Mister Adams: Echo-y whistening is fun. This song has a happy flow and nice playing. ....Oh, more whistling. Long empty outro that chops off at the end. A sustained faded out note would have been nice. Pretty good song over all.

Sep-o: You have a solid plan here. I like where you were thinking on this song, but that's me listening for the diamond in the rough that has potential. Now go practice and sell this fucker to way more ears than mine. I like it. Shorten it, but leave that ending FOR SURE!

edit: Oh blast! I forgot to use the new review-o-matic.

I vote for Noah

With a lil bit of Stink

Thanks all .. And Especially AJ Owens for the Piano. I was designing this song for a 45 - 50 second You tube video on Bullying/Suicide. Any more then 45 - 50 sec would of been even more repetitive. I did the panning for the effect on purpose, but I do agree it could have been a more responsive then just a echo of the lyrics. I'll work on it sometime. Thanks again AJ .. KILLER piano.

Berkeley Social Scene This is more easy going than perhaps it should be for all that's going on in here. Martin goes from cooing to growling, often within the same line, like a vocal gymnast. I dig his vocals. Also digging the tone knob is off guitar solo and the various guitars all over the place. While the BBS 'purists' may not consider this part of the catalog, it works for me. Also: I appreciate the comments, Glen. But I'd be lost trying to come up with stuff for you guys, I think. I'm a simpleton, you know that!


Billy Oh feat. James Owens This is nice but yeah, the panned vocals distract on headphones. I used to listen on a high quality mono set-up and I'm sure it'd be better there. Anyway, short and mostly sweet, if more so in concept than execution.


Blue Movies I love the late night sway of this. Nice guitar progression too. It's loose all around, but that allows it to breathe and remain human. I thought I heard an electric banjo for a second. DIg the dynamics and casual build. Melodies are easy and effective, and the production/mix is tasty. This is very good.


DuToVa Calling Dr. Love! After the KISS start, this takes off in it's own direction. The verse's melody could be a guitar riff (!). I like the melodies and production. The bridge could soar a little higher/further out, but is good, if weaker than the verses and chorus. 2nd time around is better. I imagine a trilly arpeggio way back in the mix somewhere in that part. Good tune.


FauX This is good fun. Reminds me of too many 80's chick-led power pop groups to mention. I like about everything here except the guitar tone. Too fudgy for my tastes although I understand what you're going for with it. Personal preference, is all. I wonder if some vocal accents by 'the guys' in the band would work in places, esp. the chorus.


James Owens Nice, smart progression. I like the vocal delivery and timbre and a nod for being ballsy enough to try what you did lyrically. The melody almost wanders at parts, but stays true to where it wants to go. Dynamics work as does the guitar solo. Nice job and glad you are contributing again, sir.


Mister Adams Catchy from the start, but that conch shell tone could be different although I don't have a recommendation. The melodies are enjoyable and the chorus reminded me of our own Generic for a moment. This falls apart as it goes, and I see that your song is labeled as being a demo. Finish it up and you'll have a tasty little tune here.

noah mclaughlin You and your egghead references! Get dumb once in a while. (Just not permanently, like me) I like the bass line and syncopated guitars. The hey hey chorus is effective and catchy, would be powerful in a different tune, as in some kind of stadium rocker. Also enjoyable are the cowbell and radio voice. Good tune, good arrangement, it's well balanced all around.


Paco del Stinko Almost Ace Of Spades ripoff to start (unintentional). And the bass line in the second verse is a bastard son of Moto-Cross Man by my old band Tree Surgeon General (unintentional until I realized, then kept it). The second guitar, on the right, is my old Silvertone through an amp. Cheap tune about someone failing to find the real me. Or something.


Ross Durand The progression and its surprise turns are splendid. The lyrics are well done and don't stray too far into cutesy territory. The going to Hell line is good and I could use that. In life, not plagiarized in song. Good harmonica too, not overdone. Always solid, this is a better entry of your more recent ones.


Sep Sour tuning to start, but I like the laidback approach and the oos. Pavemnt-y, no? I don't know them deeply, but this sounds like their style to me. Or the Wee Turtles. I'd like to hear this whittled down by two or more minutes with some snappy drums. Or even a loose snare. But it needs to open up and break free of its late night on headphones world. And get in tune.