The Song Fight Bulletin Board

There.    

Our song is missing! It was submitted on time, no? Did we bungle something?

Yes, I sent it out Friday and got the confirmation e-mail for the WreckdoM song shortly thereafter... Just e-mailed fightmaster.

My song's missing too.
I sent it on Friday night - I'll resend.

hmmm. I am checking... OK, Yer In.

Thank You!

Gracias Spud!

Ditto here. (Song missing.) Sent on Thurs. Please check. Thanks.

Spud = The Man.

Kool Keith and Dan The Automator are unamused.

Dr. Octagon Dr. Octagonecologyst, released May 6, 1996 on Dreamworks/Geffen/MCA Records.


...as is Les Claypool.

Sausage Riddles Are Abound Tonight, released April 1994 through the Interscope Records imprint Prawn Song Records.


C'mon, kids. Google your band names.

Brown Word and the Big Whine – I liked the whiny riff flowing throughout and the vox quite a bit. Actually, I liked the melody a lot. It sounds good while not using too much movement. Works really well with the music.

Krautnuck – I’m not sure if it was the effect on the vocal or the very beginning of the melody but it gave me a ‘tears for fears’ vibe at the beginning. Yeah, I don’t know either. I do like the way you put the vox together. The bass line. And the layering/arrangement seems to work pretty darn well. Nice full sound.

Cody Jr. & Ladies Night – I like the groove. And the vocals are okay, but not really grabbing me. Or maybe the lyric, what the vox is saying. Although the chorus worked for me.

Sonsofsupercar – I like the rhythm most of all. The vox was okay.

WreckdoM - Never ever shake a baby. The vocals tied this together for me. Otherwise it was a bit mushy for my taste.

Paco del Stinko – I liked the music quite a bit. The vocals were the weak link for me, but they were serviceable. Better n mine, most likely. The track sounds good to me.

Sausage – I liked the phase sounding thing in there. And some bits of the guitar.

A Fluxus of Weasels – The bass line, simple as it is to start, is what grabbed me here. The vox and guitars are too mushy for me. Oh, part of that is the cymbals.

The Anchorage Accord – You were blessed to follow weasels, cuz this sounds really clear (and sparse helps) comparatively. Hey, it’s not a bad song to boot. I like the vocals in the higher range toward the end.

The Kenzie Chickens – I like this. Ooh, I love the wah. A bit too tasteful for my liking, but good nonetheless.

Acapella Annie – The melody is fine. Someone around here should set you up with some music.

DJ Ranger Den – A piano? They let those things into songfight? Ooh, the vox. Just a bit too much candy for my taste, but damn they work so well. Okay, so this is one of my favorites. But if I hit repeat two more times that vox, while good and appropriate, would get on my nerves.

Dr. Octagon – I like the production. Tasty drum playing for sure. I hope there’s a guitar solo somewhere. Right there at the end it sounded like a guitar was gonna do something cool and then a let down. Regardless of the lyric, I liked it. I moved my speakers to the appropriate angle for listening/monitoring for this mix.

Nobody, et al. – I like the arrangement. The build, the guitars… pretty darn good.

Mickey Skylark – Classic chord progression and it sounds good to my ears. The vox sounds just a hair out of place, but I don’t know why. But I like the song.

Pigfarmer Jr wrote: DJ Ranger Den – A piano? They let those things into songfight? Ooh, the vox. Just a bit too much candy for my taste, but damn they work so well. Okay, so this is one of my favorites. But if I hit repeat two more times that vox, while good and appropriate, would get on my nerves.

oh dear. well, this is probably why i have not done historically well with the boyfriends - and why Mr. DJRD plays Fantastic Football or whatever. Thank you for the review though.

Wrote these reviews while at work Now reading back over, pardon all the talk about the mix and production. I'm working on my ear.

Here goes:

A Capella Annie – Some musical accompaniment would have helped, if even just in your headphones, to help with pitch.

Anchorage Accord – I like this, very soft and atmospheric. The keyboard tone and reverbed vox, spare drums. Nice!

Brown Word and the Big Whine – Had fun doing this, playing with synths and effects. Real guitars and bass this time folks.

Cody Jr. and Ladies Night – Funky kazoo. Awesome guitar solo too. Needs more uke in the mix.

DJ Ranger Den – Piano sounds great.

Dr. Octogon – Short and sweet.

Fluxus of Weasels – Noisy mix. Weird metallic ‘Are you happy’ vox cool, but vox are muddy in general.

Krautnuck – Good sound, like something from the radio (European radio perhaps). Not big on the brooding dark vocal style, but it fits here.

Mickey Skylark – I really like this one. Bouncy, clever lyrics, good arrangement, old-timey feel.

Nobody et al. – Another good one. You bring some good tunes!

Paco del Stinko – Delightful, light and playful.

Pigfarmer Jr. – Your guitar sounds really good. Melody catchy, lyrics are sweet, awww

Sausage – Can barely hear your vox, which is too bad because your articulation sounds cool under there. I do like the video-game-sounding drums and the guitar was nifty.

Sonofsupercar – I like the loud busy melee and the husky vox. Quite a bit of mud though.

WreckdoM – How about some hot chocolate. Sort of cut off on very front and very end. Dark and creepy, 90% cocoa, 10% baby.

Forgot one...

The Kenzie Chickens - This one was fun! I like the Chickens.

Acapella Annie
A little pitchy for a capella, but probably about as well I could have done. I'm sure any one of the songfighters would be happy to help with a simple backing track next time if you want.
Kind of a sweet lyrical treatment, a la "The Morning After"; narrator is hesitant and then jumps in with both feet.

The Anchorage Accord
I really like the chiptune feel. You've definitely got introspective and dramatic nailed (that's a compliment).
Imagery is good, the keys, songwriter. I'd have liked it if you did more lyrically in the chorus. The triangle / obtuse reference isn't bad.

Brown Word and the Big Whine
The synth is harsh and tramples your vocals in the verses. Synth is mixed fairly high overall. I mean, it's a cool riff.
Just makes it hard to concentrate on the lyrics.

Cody Jr. & Ladies Night
Kind of James Brown. Felt kind of empty in the arrangement but some of those textures were cool. Neat to have a track with kazoo. I totally thought it was a bari sax initially. Is that a marching snare? Actually, are you using all drumline percussion?
The ukulele bit was kind of funny.
There's not a great deal to comment on lyrically, but that's the style. I'm a much bigger fan of your alt-country songwritering.
But kind of neat to hear something different.

DJ Ranger Den
Moody and intimate piano. Diggin the feel. Nice vocal swells. Piano sounds great. I'm sort of a sucker for that.
The move to the chorus is a great change. Lyrics are a cool kind of Pandora's box warning. Vocals are a tiny bit harsh on repeated listens.

Dr Octagon
Heh. Lyrics are smirk-tastic. Verse 1 and 2 were decent enough that you probably could have finished the song. But it's sort of fun how it turned out.

A Fluxus of Weasels
Wow. That's a lot of distortion. Like way more than I enjoy. Maybe I'm getting old but you could really stand to roll off the high frequencies. It's like everything is crunchy. Smoothing out the vocals might make them pop a bit better.

The Kenzie Chickens
Did you and Cody plan a funk-off? Also, fun how there were a couple of self-aware songs this week. Lightened things up.
I like the lyrics - some good imagery/euphemisms in there.

Krautnuck
Great track. Dark, synthy Depechemode feel. Kind of gloomy and dreary in a sort of Euro way.
I like this. This is a great driving on a rainy day tune.
Lyrics aren't bad either. Be careful with that because none of it is real.
Kind of a cool concept, and the arrangement fits so kudos.

Mickey Skylark
Not sure why this reminded me of some of Garrison Keillor's word-from-our-sponsor songs on Prarie Home Companion. I think it's the lighthearted approach, chord progression and the walking bass line. LOL on "first name is avoid." Clever. Guitar solo is clever too. Well done overall.

Nobody, et al.
Ya this one is me. Yay for getting to use my 12-string.
However, I could really use some pointed advice as regards the EQ/placement/mix. I'm not super happy with it.

Paco del Stinko
Neat feel, interesting chords, and tight playing as always. How do you record things so every signal is both hot and clean?

Pigfarmer Jr
Happy acoustic, cute little love song.
Lyrics don't give any indication of why you NEED her to be careful with your heart, just that you're giving it to her because she's awesome and your life hasn't been the same since. Which is cool, but doesn't necessarily tie back to the chorus.
Otherwise I like it.

sausage
A little bit Jim Morrison on the verses, wierd feel but kind of cool. Total departure from Fat Man a few weeks ago. May more avant and experimental.
Vocals could be a little more present. Percussion is sort of synthy and industrial. Bass could be more present.
And the electric guitar when it comes in sits way on top of everything rather than mixing in. Which might be the desire? Gives kind of a disconnected feel.
Lyrics are either unrequieted love, or from the perspective of Stuxnet. Either way.

sonofsupercar
Energy and groove, lyrics that don't appear have any obvious cohesive meaning but still pull me in with random imagery. I like the drone and minimum of distortion, ups the intensity a little. The tempo pushes and pulls, but it works.
This'd be a good driving tune for the end of the world.

WreckdoM
You win the prize again this week for strangest lyrical content. Strike that, strangest content overall.

Thanks for all the feed back! My first fight submission and I have heard a lot of acoustic instruments being used in songs so I was curious how the masses would take it.

The Anchorage Accord is my solo music name I use, so please look it up if you liked the sound.

[quote="nobodyetal"][
Cody Jr. & Ladies Night
Kind of James Brown. Felt kind of empty in the arrangement but some of those textures were cool. Neat to have a track with kazoo. I totally thought it was a bari sax initially. Is that a marching snare? Actually, are you using all drumline percussion?
The ukulele bit was kind of funny.
There's not a great deal to comment on lyrically, but that's the style. I'm a much bigger fan of your alt-country songwritering.
But kind of neat to hear something different.


i'm a big fan of your stuff. the arrangement is bare, the kazoo part was supposed to emulate a bari sax, but i dont own one, nor can i play one, so kazoo it is. It is a DDrum 13x7 Ash snare , and a 1950s Gretsch 3 ply bass drum. I used to gig around town with this setup alot, but lately its been collecting dust in my studio/.I EQ'd the shit out of the snare to get that tight sound, also the track was recorded at something like 95 beats per minute in the key of E , however, i sped the whole track up because i thought it was too low/slow, that helped make the drums sound tight. I ran out of ideas for an alt country song so i decided to step out of my box a bit .i spent all of my high scool years inthe drum corps, playing snare and quints so i had a good idea of how a marching snare 'should" sound. thanks for your review

BTW, i had my UKE sitting in my computer chair and I came home and sat on it, snapping the neck off so you wont be hearing any uke from me for a while

]
Nobody, et al.
Ya this one is me. Yay for getting to use my 12-string.
However, I could really use some pointed advice as regards the EQ/placement/mix. I'm not super happy with it.

Man, i gotta say, i wasnt crazy about the drums, i would have went more in the direction of Djembe or some kind of hand percussion, You have a great sound but those hard drums take away from it

codywalkerjr wrote:BTW, i had my UKE sitting in my computer chair and I came home and sat on it, snapping the neck off so you wont be hearing any uke from me for a while

Im sorry! That really sucks, man!!!

RangerDenni wrote:

codywalkerjr wrote:BTW, i had my UKE sitting in my computer chair and I came home and sat on it, snapping the neck off so you wont be hearing any uke from me for a while

Im sorry! That really sucks, man!!!

Ya i'm bummed, i bought it at a pawn shop for 30$ so not a huge loss but still dissapointing

So i listened to each song 3 or more times, from last nbight and tonight, Last night I was slightly buzzed so i wanted to get a good idea of everything before i reviewed. so here it goes
Acapella Annie
Pitchy, if you get some music behind this and work on your pitch, you may have something


The Anchorage AccordGreat production, each instument sounds smooth. Melody is nice, kind of depressing on the chorus. I like the concept though. not my favorite kind of stuff to listen to, but still great


Brown Word and the Big Whine this is groovy. Very hot mix. the songs gets great at 2:14, with the super rad double melody. Vocals have attitude, but the mix doesnt do them justice. They need more OOMPH!




DJ Ranger DenBy far my favorite this week. so lovely! the chord choices are great,. Vocal clarity is excellent. i feel like you are singing to me. Arrangement is fantastic. i really enjoy this song. Vote


Dr Octagon i like the lyrics and attitude of this song so much. i can hear you smile as you tracked this., I like the story,it made me smile, vote. BTW what is Kekaine LOL


A Fluxus of Weasels Sounds liek the whole mix is ran through a fuzzbox. Drums are consistently off beat. not liking this, though with some work this could be good


The Kenzie Chickens Dammit, i love your voice man! You have so much character!.I'm glad i waited til today to review because i didnt hear this yesterday. Organ is fantastic, mix s great. Song is fun! guitar.bass/drums are gelling well! Awesome! Catchy! Vote!


Krautnuck This is not my kindof music but right away I can tell its well done, the double vox are great. the song is well written and produced, the lyrics are great! VOTE


Mickey Skylark kindof typical kind of arrangement, done with what seems to be great players. Drums bass are locking up. gui\ar solo is tasty, Mix seems to be lacking low end, not that that is bad , but to compete with some of this weeks songfights , it may have helped to have more oomph! Ill give it a vote!


Nobody, et al. OK i like your clean/clear vocal and guitar 9Actually, overall production) Melody is fresh. you have a unique sound that i like. I think if you are going with the full drumset rounte, you need some Bass (Or more Bass?)guitar. the drums seem to take away from your excellent arrangement IMO. I'll give it a vote though. Congrats on the WIN!


Paco del Stinko
Best instrumental this week, IMO. Guitar work is most excellent. i LOVE the Tramelo. Great use of effects, Great production, intricate arrangement, VOTE!

Pigfarmer Jrvocal melody is nice, seems to be some simple chords , used nicely, guitar solos seem a bit cheesy. But you didnt hit any sour notes.


sausage i loved your 'Fat Man" so much. this is different. I gotta say i thought the tune was boring at first, but when the lead guitar kicks in, it really seems to come together


sonofsupercar. Drums are doing some cool shit, that is on beat (which is cool). Feels like a real band.


WreckdoM this is well done but not musical to me. I really like to tap my foot and sing along to music, i cant do that with this.