....That's Not My Dog (Bite Size Reviews)

Discuss upcoming, current, and previous song fights.
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Bolio
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....That's Not My Dog (Bite Size Reviews)

Post by Bolio »

*CHOMP*
I may not know karate, but I know KA-RAZY! -James Brown |Bolio on SoundCloud
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Andy Balham
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Post by Andy Balham »

Let’s get the ball rolling on our little set-to…

Andy Balham (That’s me!)
Started off as just an experiment with some ska drum loops, but the lyrics came easy and there’s a little bit of a groove going on. The vocals don’t sit quite right and could do with a few more takes. Instead I tried more backing guitars that sadly didn’t add much. All in all I’m pretty happy with it as a bit of a diversion.

A Case of Octothorpe
Nice to hear The Thorpe back in action with their trademarked cavernous bar room sound. Enjoyable, but a little too formulaic (for Octothorpe that is).

Edge of LA
I like the simple punky energy to this. Nothing remarkable in tone or arrangement, but it works beautifully for what it is. Nice little solo. The backing voices work well and the outro is a nice touch.

Mellified Man
This is the best-written song in the fight, if not the best overall recording. It was going to get my vote until the oopy-doopy-doos reared their ugly heads at which point my allegiance switched to Edge of LA.

Smell AIDS Experience
Last and most definitely least.

I was slightly surprised there wasn’t more in this fight, but FWIW here’s my top three:

3. A Case of Octothorpe
2. Mellified Man
1. Edge of LA
"Some may say I couldn't sing, but none may say I didn't sing" - Florence Foster Jenkins
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Post by LockSmithDon »

This is the first review I've written on songfight and I question my qualifications, but here goes anyway. I'm going to go with a style derived from 8LO.

Mellified Man
+ Loved the lyrics!
+ I'm a big fan of g&g
+ Your voice sounds a little like Roger Clyne
- I could do without the falsetto part at 1:51, but it's not long enough to be real annoying

Edge of LA
+ Very catchy ... http://www.bitesize.net LOL!
+ Great lyrics - grabs in the first line and doesn't let go
| Like the guitar parts, but it seems they should be "opened up"
| I can totally see Ernie singing this song (with Bert standing nearby bobbin' his head) ;)

Smell AIDS Experience
+ Nice use of textures
| How many living creatures were mistreated during the making of this song? ;)
- Too disjointed for my liking
- I didn't hear "Bite Size"

Andy Balham
+ Good guitar solo
| The vocal harmonies at the end are a good idea, but I think there is some octave separation in there too
- I heard a few flat spots in the verses
- I think the vocals are too far forward

A Case of Octothorpe
| I would try to increase the tempo and see what it sounds like
- I'm not a fan of slow tempo counting
- The production of the vocals needs a lot of work
- The tempo is monotonous

I have to give it to Edge of LA. There's just something very cool about Ernie singing a punk-influenced song about food.

Since there isn't really a thread for introductions, I just put it here.
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Post by Spud »

Ours was part of the Album-A-Day we did on Saturday with Glenn Case (hence "A Case of Octothorpe"). It was recorded on the first take, with a drummer who who had never played drums before, hence the tempo. NOT THAT THAT EXCUSES ANYTHING. We like it just the way it is.

<a href="http://www.mightyoctothorpe.com/AAD.html">Here</a>'s the rest of the AAD.
"I only listen to good music. And Octothorpe." - Marcus Kellis
Song Fight! The Rockening
Southwest_Statistic
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Post by Southwest_Statistic »

Andy Balham – Decent mix quality, I don't like the flange effect on the guitar, but I don't like flange on anything at all so that could just be me. The lyrics aren't doing anything for me. By the second and third time the chorus comes around you want the listener to be singing along, which I'm not because one of the lines feels really awkward “together away” or something like that. Good job though.

Case Of Ocrothorpe – Unreviewable.

Edge Of La – It's Weird Al! Very west-coast beach-boyish sounding thing gong on apart from sounding like “Weird Al” which I kind of have a soft spot for. Once again though, the hook isn't grabbing me when the Chorus come around.

Mellified Man – Awesome production and great style (kind of Hippie-Radiohead-Gatzka), but not grabbing me for some reason.

Smell Aids Experience – Unreviewable.
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Post by Edge of LA »

Andy Balham
Nice and sweet guitar solo. I don't have anything constructive to add to make this better. You know what you're doing.

A Case of Octothorpe
This was good too. I would prefer to hear more melody in vocals/lyrics.

Edge of LA (Me)
If you take a listen to the actual band Bitesize you'll probably think I captured their sound pretty well. I wasn't sure if I should have actually mimiced the actual vocal styling, but I guess it turned out fine. FYI: Their lead singer is transgendered from Male to Female, started out as Tom, and now is Julia. That is the reason I chose this key to sing in. I didn't realize later that I DO sort of sound like Ernie on this song!

Again, this was a no-nonsense "project" I did purely for fun and didn't try anything spectacular productionwise. I referenced lyrics from their songs: Bed and Breakfast, Sugar Car, and Understudy. I actually saw them in 2002 in San Francisco at Cafe DuNord. I thought they were spastic and didn't pay attention to them. But a friend included one of their songs on a compilation CD and hooked me.

Mellified Man
I am HONORED to be in a fight with Frankie Big Face. Your song is awesome. The first time I heard your stuff was when the same friend I mentioned above included your Crinkle Binkle on a compilation CD. I am in love with that song. Anyway, I always enjoy your stuff. You're a master at your craft.

Smell AIDS Experience
hmmmm....still vying for apprenticeship?
frankie big face
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Post by frankie big face »

Edge of LA wrote: Mellified Man
I am HONORED to be in a fight with Frankie Big Face. Your song is awesome. The first time I heard your stuff was when the same friend I mentioned above included your Crinkle Binkle on a compilation CD. I am in love with that song. Anyway, I always enjoy your stuff. You're a master at your craft.
Thank you--that's a really nice compliment. I haven't heard your song yet, but it seems posed to kick my butt in the voting so I hope you will continue to be honored even after you have trounced me.

And to all of you who didn't like my falsetto "guitar" solo, well....it wasn't me--it was MELLIFIED MAN. So :P
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Post by j$ »

Andy Balham - The bass tone is a bit too dirty and the guitar is too loud, but the reggae vibe is definitely all there! There should definitely be some 'bah bah bah bahs' in the background under the chorus - pitch-shift up if neccessary but you can't have reggae without the girl backing vocalists. I can just see you with Pepsi and Shirly swaying behind you. The solo seems a little out of keeping but well-constructed and played as always. I like it but I'd like to hear a slightly more over-produced dancehall version. Featuring me :)

Octothorpe (Case of) - Brilliant. Just brilliant :) 'The same is my trouser Frank'? It's an Octothorpe classic.

Edge of LA - Pretty white-boy nerd pop. Why don't you sing like a pirate? :) Not nasty enough for my tastes, but good all the same.

Mellified Man - i said this elsewhere - I love the brit popness of this (well if there was a full band behind it) - as always great chorus. Lovely progression. Did you remix this in the end? The reverb/volume of the guitar sounds better but that might just be familiarity.... oh, I just had a wicked thought - 'Deeply Dippy' by Right Said Fred :) :) :) Good stuff, man. Any song with the word 'portions'

SAE - I'll resist the 'post yourself back to where you came from' joke. Instead I'll just say 'No'. If you're gonna do sonic noise scapes, do it well. Production lets these songs down a lot lot more than it does 'ordinary' songs. You receive my 'you spoiled a good fight' pig-tail pull. Also if you're going to enter two fights, and one of them is a piss-out like this, MAKE SURE YOU CHANGE YOUR ID TAGS TOO. Dummy.

Soooooooo, of the four people in this fight ....

1.Octothorpe - justttt righhhhttttt
2.Mellified Frankie (Too sexy for my shirt)
3.Andy Balham (not enough girly backing singers)
4.Edge of LA (not enough pirates)
Last edited by j$ on Wed Feb 23, 2005 5:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by WeaselSlayer »

Hey man, I was just the producer (I pressed record and I think ate an ice cream sandwich) on that track, my dear beautiful friends made the "noise scape."

Love,
Luke
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Post by j$ »

Hmmm OK, I'm not convinced, but I'll take your word for it, so they can have 5th place.... :)
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Post by WeaselSlayer »

j$ wrote:Hmmm OK, I'm not convinced, but I'll take your word for it, so they can have 5th place.... :)
Heh, I'll let them know toute suite. They'll be thrilled!
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Post by frankie big face »

j$ wrote: Mellified Man - Did you remix this in the end?
Yes. You may now consider yourself among the very few people from whom I have ever taken advice about a song. Maybe the only one.

Portions.
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Post by deshead »

Smell AIDS Experience: Needs less fight, more song.

A Case of Octothorpe: Sounds like fun. I enjoyed this, though I have a hard time voting for it because of the next 3 tracks:

Andy Balham: "Bite size is the right size" is a great hook. It's still in my head, even after listening to FBF. The bass is supposed to be that bassy, right? It's loud and round, though it doesn't actually drown anything out, so I think that's what you were going for. My only comment that's any-way critical is that the drums should be louder, given the genre.

Edge of LA: Really well done! Every (honest) Songfight entry is impressive because a week is such a short time to write, record, and (hopefully) produce. This track is doubly impressive because it's like you invented your own optional challenge! I'm impressed. And thanks for sounding the 't' at the end.

Mellified Man: Holy God, I love your voice. (Help me out though: who does it remind me of? Badly Drawn Boy? Maybe, but your vibrato is so much richer and better-controlled. Awesome.) I think this would sound a little tighter with more mids on the bass guitar (though it sounds good as is too, so that could also just be a personal preference.)


Notwithstanding SAE, this is an amazing fight. It's a 3-way tie for me right now, so I'll get back to you.
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Post by Niveous »

Niv's Review Paragraph

Ooh, I love short fights. Intense 5 song battle. First, Case of #! It's a dream collab and as usual the lyrical stream is insanity. FRANK! Damn this is catchy. That's gonna be hard to beat. Next. It's Mellified Man...wait a second. Ah, the joy of psuedonyms. Damn, this is some fight already. Sweet and cool. Fun little track. I've still give it to Case of # but not by much. Next. Smell AIDS Experience. Y'know some days I really enjoy Luke Henley's stuff and others I just want to bury it somewhere dark and far far away. Today is the latter. (Producers get the blame too. Was that ice Cream Sandwich worth having your good name sullied by that poorly done soundscape?). Next, Edge of LA. The voice is killing me. I can't find a decent comparison. This is wacky. http://www.bitesize.net. I don't wanna know what that links to. Ok, yes I do. Hey, Leslie's hot. Hmmm. Listening to "Surprise Ending". Hey this is damn good. Thanks Edge of LA for turning me onto this. *listening to "I forgot my Mantra"*. Interesting bio, maybe ya shoulda written more about that, Edge. OK, back to the fight. Ugh. Not digging the Balham track. Excellent foundation with great bass and drums but the vocals and lyrics do nothing for me. Upon a 2nd listen, it grew on me a little more. Vote time. A narrow win for Case of #, with FB...Mellified Man nipping at their heels. #3 goes to Balham. Off to the Magenta fight, I go.
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Post by Edge of LA »

Niveous
"I forgot my Mantra"*. Interesting bio, maybe ya shoulda written more about that, Edge.
If I tried to add in something about the sex change operation or the hermaphrodite thing, the song would have been too long and not fit into their style. Besides, I don't think I could have done it better than they did... otherwise it would have been too forced. The vocals killed me as well, but it seems like a few other songfighters were doing different things with their vocals this time around.... arrrrrrrr. :twisted:
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Bolio
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Post by Bolio »

Quality Fight!!! Very torn between Mellified Man & Edge of LA. 2 very cool submissions.
I may not know karate, but I know KA-RAZY! -James Brown |Bolio on SoundCloud
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Post by GlennCase »

Dear Do You, Mr. Jones,

I love the song "Ballad of a thin man" due to the Grass Roots version of the song. Your name freaked me out, because that song has been been getting stuck in my head a lot recently, before I even saw your name.

ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)
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Post by jack »

deshead wrote:
Mellified Man: Holy God, I love your voice. (Help me out though: who does it remind me of?
ZIGGY PLAYED GUITAR..........
Hi!
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Post by EightLeggedOedipus »

Andy balham
+++ Nice soudn on the solo. Simple but it works. +++
///Rhythm is cool ///
---Lyrics looked alot better on paper. That chorus guitar is way off-beat in some places ---

Case of Octothorpe
+++ Good bass sound[/b]
--- octothorpe vocals---
/// This song should be called 'Frank' ///
+++ Interesting total effect +++

Edge of LA
/// Wow, you sound unintentionally retarded! awesome! Like the Romantics///
-- really it gets a little grating, and the guitar sound needs a little more love in the EQ dept. ---
+++ Good spin on the title +++


mellified man
+++ Contender +++
--- Oh, didn't Puce or someone try that falsetto scatting before? Not to be attempted without a little more practice ---
/// Not very daring in the chord department this time, but pleasant ///

Luke henley
/// OK, so the carnival hangover band is warming up, when do they start to play?///
+++ I like the squeeze-me-macaroni yelling mixed low in the background. +++
--- yeah, but they never did really play anything. Sorry Luke, not a fan of this one ---

Mellified Man undoubtedly.
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Post by Verbatim »

andy balham - that drum is killer. sounds really awesome. the bass is good too. i like the vocals, especially how it wraps up at the end with the overlapping parts. your voice is very clear which i like... overall this is a pretty good song.

a case of octothorpe - my favorite line is "Frank is large and obscene." sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. and you can't go wrong with anything Glenn does.

edge of la - ok you didn't get on my nerves as much this time as you did last time, until you said "www.bitesize.net" and that f--ing part will be in my head all night THANK YOU but otherwise, it wasn't a bad song. and i'm sure you had fun doing it.

mellified man - everytime i hear a song of yours, you remind me of musical influences i love. you can't go wrong with donovan, the turtles, david bowie, and (a little bit) john sebastian. i think you're amazing and you ought to be way more famous than you are. four stars. woot.

smell aids experience - why do i feel like this song should be in the house of 1,000 corpses? i'm scared and i don't like it. go away.

my vote (obviously) is going to frankie.
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Post by Eric Y. »

hey before you read my reviews make sure you didn't miss asya's reviews which got left at the tail end of page one.

andy balham - i really like the sound of the bass at the beginning, and in places where other instruments drop out and the bass is more prominent, but during most of the song it just sounds... odd. i like where the additional voices get layered in towards the end. nice ending, actually.

a case of octothorpe - i think it would make you guys happy to know, i had about as much fun listening to this as i imagine you did putting it together. the lyrics really made me smile, like really a lot. and the bassline really is groovin'; sounds like that was glenn's contribution, no?

edge of la - the drum machine is really annoying me, but the vocals are very cute -- a better fit here than in the "fell out of the sky" you did. i didn't really catch all the lyrics, but the ones i noticed sounded good.

mellified man - i already did a semi review of this over on somesongs -- i just want to point out i like the sound of the chorus a bunch, and particularly the mouth music
* part before the last verse. the singing and guitar-playing is top-notch as usual, but the lyrics really didn't work for me this time around.

smell aids experience - sooooooo... bite size, eh?

mostly decent songs.. at least 80%, not many fights could claim that. but i have to say, i was *totally* won over by the case and the 'thorpe.


* i could have sworn there was a more technical term for this but couldn't remember it, and this is the best my web-searching came up with. maybe if there were a music teacher around?
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