Marcus Kellis, He's So Dreamy (Man Date Reviews)

Bolio · Post by **Bolio** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:30 pm

Awkward Silence feat Dave & Jon – You added some bad singing & lyrics to a movie-theatre-intermission-style backround sample. Tell me what I’m supposed to find interesting here. Perry Como was out in the 60’s & you’re no Perry Como anyway. Leave the lounge singing to the lounge lizards.

Blake Walker – Sounds more like an entry for ‘Hiss & Hearse’ to me. That second sound is pretty cool, but one cool sound does not a song make!

Hope, Oath & Suspicion – Love the unique style of this. The rambling wah is very cool. Exceptional vocal effects, especially the contrasts between different styles & effects put together at the same time. Either you put a lot of thought & work into it, or you’re a billion times better at that than I am. You open to producing for other Songfighters? Bad ending. What is with that? Can anyone end a song on Songfight or what??? Makes a cool song turn into an afterthought for me!! Um.. sorry.. This song is so close to great that I can afford to be this nit-picky. Excellent job.

The Other White Noise – Some good ideas goin’ on, production makes it hard to listen to. Certainly not more than once.

Penguin Map Mijinko – Fun little variety show. Reminds me of a very toned-down Pompeii (haven’t had a chance to use that reference in a long time. Those guys better bring the rock to a fight soon!) Song never really peaks for me. Looking for something either exceptional funny or clever to happen & it doesn’t. Still, very nice change of pace, like to hear more of you.

Ross Durand – Very good lyrics & tie to the subject. Making me laugh out loud goes a long way on Songfight, even if it is a novelty I’ll listen to once. (2 listens later I’m kinda hooked. Nice melody.)

WreckdoM - um… did I tell you ‘Punk Bartender’ kicked ass? Gonna play that one again….

Resounding vote for Hope, Oath & Suspicion.

Hambizzle · Post by **Hambizzle** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:36 am

Other White Noise - The digital clipping on the kick drum sucks, the punk ass performances are pretty good, but the clipping is a massive distraction to feeling anything for the song..[/quote]

All of TOWN's tracks are recorded live, old skool punk band style, and the Mic is actually on a camera, They could record it all pro style, ( have in the past ) but for Song fights they just have a little Jam session and record stuff on the spot. It sounded llike you were referring to bad samples so I thought I'd clarify, at any rate take into consideration their submissions are " ad libbed " for the most part

Post by jb » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:45 am

Hambizzle wrote:Other White Noise - take into consideration their submissions are " ad libbed " for the most part

Good is good and bad is bad no matter if you made it up on the spot or not. I understand the motivation for saying that, but it's not gonna stop your punk asses from getting beat down in the Song Fight ring. :-)

"I only worked on it for ten minutes, what do you want from me?"
"I want you to make a song that I want to listen to."

JB

Bolio · Post by **Bolio** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:05 am

Hambizzle wrote:take into consideration.......

Just the fact we are listening to your music is considerate. But don't fault anybody for not listening or giving a bad review if your audio quality stinks. The better it sounds, the better chance you'll have listeners make it through the whole track.

Fried · Post by **Fried** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:27 pm

Awkward Silence feat. Dave and Jon: I want to like this, I really do. If you wrote the music I would be impressed. Bill Murray already did this and you are no Bill Murray.

Blake Walker: Super Mario! Ummm.. do something! Wait, I take it back! Nice mix. I don’t get it though.

Hope, Oath, and Suspicion: Sweet, I like the campy feel. Nice mix of ideas. The only problem I have with it is, it seems to randomly put together and I like structure. Not bad though. Thanks for the song.

The Other White Noise: The clipping kick drum makes it barely listenable for me. This style needs a heavy guitar not an echo of one. Reminds me of that angry rapping kid video. Is this all of the top of your head? If so, stop it. Unless you are Mostess, it probably wont work.

Penguin Map Mijinko: I like this a lot. It’s a bit like a Monty Python musical. I like it.

Ross Durand: I usually hate and never comment on political pieces. This is so clever and intelligent I can’t overlook this one. It is very well done. I smiled more than once listening to this and I was a Bush backer. “God won’t ask and he won’t tell” almost had me LOL.

WreckdoM: Usually I love your submissions. I can’t say that I like this one very much. I guess when you submit every week, there will be a few I don’t like.

My vote goes to Ross for bringing humor and not anger to a politically motivated song.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 2:03 pm

Hambizzle wrote: All of TOWN's tracks are recorded live, old skool punk band style, and the Mic is actually on a camera, They could record it all pro style, ( have in the past ) but for Song fights they just have a little Jam session and record stuff on the spot. It sounded llike you were referring to bad samples so I thought I'd clarify, at any rate take into consideration their submissions are " ad libbed " for the most part

There's a difference between working with what you've got and knowingly disregarding your capabilities. If the camera is the only method of doing a live recording say so ... "sorry about the crappy sound, but we had to use the camera audio to get this one up". See? Suddenly the focus is on the song again, instead of the excuses.

And what is "live, old skool punk band style" anyway? To me that hints of knowingly disregarding your capabilities. Is an online songwriting competition "old school punk"? New methods may better capture old styles. Or something. Still trying to marry old school punk with the web community, so perhaps you have a point with the camera audio ... if you were stealing bandwidth from offshore to post it. Better yet, from the Queen's domain.

Hambizzle · Post by **Hambizzle** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:31 pm

Okay first, I'm not in that recording I just know the band. Second I'm not trying to win anymore favor than has been given already, It just sounded like the one dude was referring to digital sampling I thought I'd clear it up so people knew. Don't think TOWN doesn't know these particular recordings suck, don't think they expect to win. Song Fight competitions are like mastrubation, no matter how often you do it or how good you get at it, iIt's still sad, and you're still gonna do it. No Offense it just is what it is. I think Song FIght is great it's fun, a lot of times it's funny, It's just not worth a lot of time or effort. Sorry for the long post, but don't get it twisted, it's not like anyones feelings get hurt when TOWN loses badly.
I'll see if I can talk the band into showing some real ability on one of the upcoming fights.

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:54 pm

Hambizzle wrote:Song Fight competitions are like mastrubation, no matter how often you do it or how good you get at it, iIt's still sad, and you're still gonna do it. No Offense it just is what it is. I think Song FIght is great it's fun, a lot of times it's funny, It's just not worth a lot of time or effort.

Making songs and letting other people hear them is no more sad than any other hobby that people have, and worth as much time or effort as people want to put into it.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:07 pm

Hambizzle wrote:It's just not worth a lot of time or effort.

Garbage in ...

Fried · Post by **Fried** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:15 pm

Hambizzle wrote:
I'll see if I can talk the band into showing some real ability on one of the upcoming fights.

The sad thing here is... I could hear through the crappy recording. I heard their "real ability." They sucked! Usually when people make the statements you are, they are trying to mask the fact that they suck by saying "I don't care about this." That of course is bull-shit. Instead of learning from the advice from a multitude of talented song writers, producers, listeners and ass-holes, you try to generalize this community into something you can dismiss. Mainly because you're afraid of being criticized by people who may be more knowledgeable than even you.

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:38 pm

DELETED

jack · Post by **jack** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:06 pm

Hambizzle wrote:Other White Noise - The digital clipping on the kick drum sucks, the punk ass performances are pretty good, but the clipping is a massive distraction to feeling anything for the song..

All of TOWN's tracks are recorded live, old skool punk band style, and the Mic is actually on a camera, They could record it all pro style, ( have in the past ) but for Song fights they just have a little Jam session and record stuff on the spot. It sounded llike you were referring to bad samples so I thought I'd clarify, at any rate take into consideration their submissions are " ad libbed " for the most part

on the plus side, all the whining made me go listen to the song.

on the minus side, it still feels like you took a turd in my ear.

Post by **Spud** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:13 pm

Octothorpe has never made any bones about the fact that we suck. However, in many ways, we suck a lot less than we did when we first got involved in this community. There are several reasons for this:

1. Valuable feedback from the boards. We take all of our reviews seriously and make every effort to improve. We have upgraded our equipment (recent theft notwithstanding - insurance will come through) based on tips from other songfighters. We have learned about clipping, balance, and other technical matters here as well.

2. Our songwriting has become more sophisticated through both experience (67 SongFight! entries) and our endeavors in CoverFight, where we get to learn first hand how someone else did it.

3. We have become better performers as well, through the opportunities provided to us by the SongFight Live! events.

4. Effort put in by us. If we didn't try (or care), it wouldn't happen.

If you think it's not worth it, it's probably not. It is to me.

SPUD

p.s. Sorry for polluting the thread. Back to the reviews...

jack · Post by **jack** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 5:41 pm

Spud wrote:Octothorpe has never made an bones about the fact that we suck.

some of us would beg to differ on the suck part spud.....

http://www.johnnycashpoint.com/octofest.html

Hambizzle · Post by **Hambizzle** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 9:38 pm

First things first, understand I am not in this band I am not playing in these recordings.

Fried wrote:The sad thing here is... I could hear through the crappy recording. I heard their "real ability." They sucked! Usually when people make the statements you are, they are trying to mask the fact that they suck by saying "I don't care about this." That of course is bull-shit. Instead of learning from the advice from a multitude of talented song writers, producers, listeners and ass-holes, you try to generalize this community into something you can dismiss. Mainly because you're afraid of being criticized by people who may be more knowledgeable than even you.

Secondly, in reference to the above quote, sure thing dude, cause you know the band right, you've heard all there other stuff, and have seen their recording set up etc.... an opinion is one thing, how can try and act like you know me or the band or anything pertaining to any of us, arrogant much????

blue · Post by **blue** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 9:57 pm

so prove him wrong, hot stuff.

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 10:45 pm

He can't, he's not in the band.

blue · Post by **blue** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:02 am

well he could influence some provision of proof.

don't you fucking start with me, erik. i WILL put michael jackson and 2 million bucks in your closet.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 6:35 am

Hambizzle wrote: Secondly, in reference to the above quote, sure thing dude, cause you know the band right, you've heard all there other stuff, and have seen their recording set up etc.... an opinion is one thing, how can try and act like you know me or the band or anything pertaining to any of us, arrogant much????

Hambizzle - the band doesn't seem to get this site, and neither do you. It's not a place to throw crap because you happen to have recorded an off-night rehearsal. It's a place to challenge yourself to produce a song and present it as best as you can within a week. For some people this means daily sessions and for others it's one evening in front of a mic with a guitar. But either way there's a finished product and this will vary week to week. That's the beauty of it...to experience growth and incorporate the gifts of feedback you'll get on the boards.

If you post a bad effort, fine. But don't defend it or your band (or friend's band since they don't seem to have internet access). Show off next time and all is forgiven. I just see the hole getting deeper and deeper until they submit something they can stand behind. Until that happens, there's not much ground to be gained arguing ANY point.

There are some people here who post what (most) others feel is complete shit on a regular basis. But they don't say "I know it's shit, but we're really a great band." They say "this is who I am and I believe in it and I can deal with you not liking it." In some cases they have improved markedly and in others...so be it. But they are what they are because we can hear what they are. Apparently we can't hear anything that says your friend's stuff is anything other than what we think it is. So where does that leave us?

I looked for some links to the band's website or to other recordings. You'll find this helpful information in most every participant's profile on this board, and in their signatures. You need not go far to get a quick indication of our dedication and abilities. It's not like this is some secret society, dude.

thehipcola · Post by **thehipcola** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 6:48 am

well said Roymond!

erik · Post by **erik** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:52 am

blue wrote:well he could influence some provision of proof.

don't you fucking start with me, erik. i WILL put michael jackson and 2 million bucks in your closet.

whoa whoa, no one wants that.

Alls I'm saying is that it's very convenient that he's not in the band that he's talking about, because any time someone gives advice (or even just gives insults) he can use the "Neener Neener Defense" and say he's not in the band and can't do anything about it.

Edge of LA · Post by **Edge of LA** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 11:33 am

Can someone explain what the "head" is in the artwork for this fight?