Nur Ein III Round Zero "Kick Start"

[GlennCase]

G&R: Chinese Democracy - ... That bridge synth sounds fucking terrible.

It sounded like penny whistles or recorders, or some similar cheap/toy type instruments, possibly with deliberate tuning issues to enhance cuteness...?

Sam's got it right. That's a doubled recorder solo, and repeat listens has me agreeing with Adam! It does sound fairly terrible.

ROCK!

Glenn Case

[Nigel (spOOn) Clements]

Just a few notes of relevance, and seeing as nobody was getting cut, it made/makes the whole process marginally pointless yet wholly enjoyable, a few of my favourites were, King Arthur, for what in my view was an unstoppable slice of sleezy loungecore rock, I could listen to this track all day (and very nearly have been doing), it's just excellent, maybe it's just me reading/listening between the lines but I found the whole thing to be a truely raunchy experience, another favourite of mine was JB's and I read what's been stated about the track (especially from the man himself), and as I listen again now, I still feel the same, it just has that OMD hookiness that has 80's and proud of it emblazoned across it's heart, the minimal pause after the BIG synth intro which leads into those cherubic vocals is a sure fire winner to these ears, yeah maybe it's not perfect, but it is 100% enjoyable and it's also danceable, (this is a big factor to me), plus I love that BIG synth as it storms back into the track, there may be mistakes in the production, but it works for me! The WSA also stole a big slice of my heart this week, for just producing layer upon layer of pure pop/indie goodness, this speaks to me of some rather glorious merger between the eels and weezer, also I absolutely adored Jim Tyrrell's "let's show the rappers how it's supposed to be done" take on the title, other tracks that had me bouncing round the room where ADD and Hoblit, and I have to say the main reason I placed Hoblit so high was the simple fact that he out stank paco, both of these tracks are an absolute blast, maybe not as technically, or musically admirable as some others, but what they may or may not lack in craftsmanship they more than make up with heart and enthusiasm (other big pluses for me... you need to sound like you mean it, and you enjoy meaning it!), generally there were about 18 tracks that had very little to differentiate between them. probably 4 that surprised me in the fact that I feel they could/should do better, and 3 that I didn't really care for (not necessarily being the bottom three!!)

One last note, listening to the whole 25 tracks (and that's something I'm still doing) I have to say this is probably the best collection of original songs crafted in under a week that I've ever heard.... until next week

[Märk]

Sven - Fuck you.

Wow, excellent review!

[Lunkhead]

You should be thanking Minty Handy for sending his song to the wrong address...

[Märk]

Okay, enough is enough; other than being basically written and recorded in about 20 minutes, what exactly is so horrible about my submission? There's about 16 tracks of stuff going on there (8 of them are percussion), it's not like I just farted into a mic, right? Does it sound bad? Does it just insult your oh-so-refined taste in music? Throw me a frikkin' bone here is all I'm saying.

[Lunkhead]

It's a twelve bar blues, which is a type of song that I usually find pretty boring. The lyrics are a joke but they're not funny. The mix is a mess. The whole thing is really sloppy. It sounds like you spent 20 minutes on it.

[Adam!]

Sven - Fuck you.

Wow, excellent review!

*Shrug*

Submit a real song and I'll post a real review.

[Hoblit]

Throw me a frikkin' bone here is all I'm saying.

Its not like you to leave yourself this 'wide open'... get it...see what I did there... throwin' you a bone while you leave yourself wide open... big boy.

{/TomCruiseIsGay}

[Märk]

Sven - Fuck you.

Wow, excellent review!

*Shrug*

Submit a real song and I'll post a real review.

Please define 'real song' kthxbai.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Throw me a frikkin' bone here is all I'm saying.

Its not like you to leave yourself this 'wide open'... get it...see what I did there... throwin' you a bone while you leave yourself wide open... big boy.

{/TomCruiseIsGay}

Right, people you have to tell him these things, okay? He's been frozen for thirty years, okay? Throw him a frickin' bone here! He's the boss! ...Needs the info....

[Adam!]

Please define 'real song'

You've got to be joking. In case you're not:

Are you saying I could have strummed C7/F7/G7 and sung 'Tom Cruise is gay... KICKSTART!' and still made it in? DAMMIT.

When you yourself point out how ludicrous it is that your entry will make it into the next round, why do you expect me to treat it any differently? You were clearly just taking a piss with this submission, so I thought I'd return the favour (and include the mandatory tongue-sticky-outy smiley so you'd know I'm just razzing you). Anyway, I had nothing constructive or otherwise to say about it.

To be clear, I'm glad you're in, Märk: you bring the rock like nobodies business. Just spend more than 20 minutes on it next time.

[Niveous]

15-16 Puzzle: I was initially turn off by the fact that this is an alphabet song, especially when I realized that it would have to repeatedly go back to K of all letters just for the chorus. But it is ridiculously catchy and it is has some very smart lyrics in there. I don't think it'll get a lot of rotations in my playlist but it's enjoyable. It's the BK Brownie Points of Nur Ein III.

Adam Adamant: So, you like the Arctic Monkeys, huh? The delivery style is straight out of their song "Brainstorm" on the verses. Thankfully it's not a full rip and has a good chorus. The best part is the bridge. The worst part is some of the keyboards. With a world of technology, you could chosen better keyboard sounds, no? I'm 50/50 on this one.

ADD: The echo is an interesting choice and as ever, ADD makes good music. I don't think I have ever heard a flat out crapper from him. The verses are good but the "Do the kick start" chorus is the weakest part of this song without a doubt. And since this song is only about 2:30 in length about 65% of it is the chorus which I don't enjoy. Hmmm, in hindsight, I should've ranked it a little lower.

Andrew Reist: Catchiest song in the round by far. It's also the song with the most potential for heavy rotation in my playlist. The name drop in this is great. The kick start gets lost in there but this is altogether a great song.

BLT: This is a great little pop punk song. The smoke line is awkward but the "party for the soul" is great. Both the title and the challenge feel tacked on though. Zombiefried? It's a very enjoyable song with a few flaws here and there and some lyrics that are too distracting.

BK: It's a well done g^2 song. Unfortunately it's also the easiest to forget in the whole fight. Great sound on the guitar. Well done vocals. Mediocre lyrics. Bland chorus. Put it all together and you've got an okay song that you won't remember tomorrow.

Cock: Can I just take a second to say that I hate your bandname. Okay now that I have that out of the way. This is an okay song. I like the bass in the song alot. The kick start is a bit weak. Kick start and Kick in the teeth don't really relate and it feels very forced. Odd choice for your "tragedy". Why choose an actress from the 50's who drank and gambled her way to suicide?

Embers of Autumn: Cause we're here to rock the night with our electric g^2. Boy this needs some percussion. In fact, it just seems very uninspired all together. The namedrops are cutesy but they don't have any substance. In 15-16's song, the namedrop is because he was involved in crime. In Reist's, it's a relationship comparison. In #'s, it's part of making a choice. Here, they're just random similes. One of the weakest songs of the round.

FBF: The beat is very trip hop but I wish the vocals were more soulful. But it's not a bad delivery, just less than I would've hoped. Maybe some background vocals would've added to it. I question the line about Napoleon. Who did Napoleon win over?

G & R: This is very 70's pop duet. I can picture Glenn as Elton John and Rachael as Kiki Dee. The recorder solo is painful. The kick start is very very tacked on. The namedrop is really silly. It's almost as if you two made a really good song and hoped it would pass with the least amount of actual use of the title or challenge. Success. The song is great. Just wish the namedrop had more significance (but then again I could say that about a lot of songs in the round).

Hoblit: Potential wasted. I feel like the chorus of this song should be stronger than the verses and it's not. The verses have curses, shouts of No Blood For Oil and other parts that have a lot of passion in the delivery. Too bad that the chorus is where all the passion should be. If you're asking for a kick start of a revolution, you can't meander about it. And then you add the line about the receipts and it kills the whole thing. It's not about kick starting a revolution anymore, it's the song of a poseur. This had a ton of potential and failed to live up to it.

Jim Tyrrell: Cheesy synth to start off is not a good way to start and then you rap and it's unnatural. The whole stapling thing is really bad. It's a really really cheesy song from top to bottom. Boy! Ugh...

JBB: This is the best of the synths probably. I'm not too crazy about the chorus to this one. The delivery on the "recover" line is really bad. It's another case of a song being brought down by the chorus that misses the mark. It's an okay song but there are a lot of far better songs in the fight.

Ken: Neil Patrick Harris, huh? There are a lot nice touches here. The shakers and the fake strings do a lot to make this stand out from other g^2 styled songs. There are some points where it could do with a better vocal take. The lyrics have some hits and some misses. Altogther a good song which could become better with time.

King Arthur: Great guitars all over this one. I could hear this one being played by the Brian Seltzer Orchaestra. This is a solid song with a catchy chorus.

Lord of Oats: Big points for originality. But those points are negated by the points you lost because the song drags. I wouldn't given you extra points if you would've mentioned "Sic sempre tyrannus". Basically the song drags and gets threadbarren by the end where you kinda tacked on the kick start. And more synths!?! Do the words kick start encode in the brain as "Must play Casio"?

MC Eric B: The greatest failing here is the absolute lack of vocal delivery. The vocals are almost robotic. But I can't say that because I've done songs with tts and gotten more emotion out of the vocals.

#: Brilliant and hilarious. The Richard Gere line is an unexpected gem. This song is just plain fun. This needs a celebrity studded music video (or at least celeb impersonatior studded). I have nothing negative to say. This is just a great fun song.

Paco del Stinko: I like the guitars in this alot. It's a silly song about Chuck Norris with very silly background vocals. It's gets very weird towards the end with the kick start to the heart stuff. Did it become a love story somewhere in there and I missed it?

Ross Durand: Ah, current events. A nice take on kick start. The harmonica is a nice touch. Very folksy. $600. Aren't you married. Dude, married filling jointly is $1200. Wait a second, if you can afford to live next to Paris and Lindsay, why are you worrying about money? Good lyrical content. I don't know if the song will stand up to a lot of listens though.

Sausage Boy: Experimental stuff here and there is a lot going on. In fact, it may be too much. Some of the boops and bleeps are more welcome to my ear than others. Wesley Snipes is just tacked on. Almost any celeb could be shoved there. I find myself liking the song more with each listen but i'm still split between "To Kill A Pretty Bourgeiosie-esque brilliance" and failed experiment.

Starfinger: I love the beat to this and the layering of the vocals. The Oh-No is ugly. And after that, the song deteriorates too much. I wish there was another verse and less of the crazy stuff at the end. And maybe a more continous flow. It feels almost like 3 different songs glued together.

Sven Mullet: At least you speak the truth. But there is so much more that you could've said about Tom Cruise. And what's up with the percussion in this? It's way too low in the mix. It's got this fly buzzing in the room feeling. You know it's there but can't get a good feel for where it is.

Tex Beaumont: Another great take on the title. I'm not a big fan of list songs but this worked. I wish there was some bass in this somewhere. It leaves me with a lot of questions that i'm afraid to ask because I'll get answers (Betty Rubble?). It's a novelty song and it's a decent payoff. It'll grow old fast but for now, it's a cute tune.

The WSA: It's the little things that make this shine. The synths in this are great and the banjo and the hand claps... so much well done stuff. More Wesley Snipes, huh. Again, it's a randomly tacked on celeb. Threading a love story into the movie making story worked well. Good job.

[Hoblit]

Hoblit: Potential wasted. I feel like the chorus of this song should be stronger than the verses and it's not. The verses have curses, shouts of No Blood For Oil and other parts that have a lot of passion in the delivery. Too bad that the chorus is where all the passion should be. If you're asking for a kick start of a revolution, you can't meander about it. And then you add the line about the receipts and it kills the whole thing. It's not about kick starting a revolution anymore, it's the song of a poseur. This had a ton of potential and failed to live up to it.

You both got it and totally missed the point of my song. I'm not gonna beg you to go back listen to it or even ask you to go and read the lyrics. I will only note that you sort of missed the point of the song while still noticing the elements that illustrate it. *burp*

{EDIT: I didn't mean for this post to sound nearly as snotty as it sounded after I read it again. Read with generous humor please}

Also, The Beatles wrote a song called Revolution and totally meandered about it on The White Album!

[Niveous]

Read the lyrics and see how you're playing up the whole poseur bit but the first verse kind of screws it all up. It's such a strong first statement. When the poseur part is a line tagged on to the end of the choruses which, like I said, are much weaker in delivery than the verses, you can miss it. Next time if you're gonna do the sarcasm, don't be subtle.

[Ross]

Ross Durand: $600. Aren't you married. Dude, married filling jointly is $1200.

Right, we get 1200, which means 600 for me (we've got kids, too so we should get like 1600 and change back.

Wait a second, if you can afford to live next to Paris and Lindsay, why are you worrying about money?

I was just name-dropping.

[Nigel (spOOn) Clements]

I fully believe that men of a certain age, were genuinely 'turned on' by Betty Rubble, I know I was!

[Billy's Little Trip]

BLT: This is a great little pop punk song. The smoke line is awkward but the "party for the soul" is great. Both the title and the challenge feel tacked on though. Zombiefried? It's a very enjoyable song with a few flaws here and there and some lyrics that are too distracting.

My kick start interpretation was kind of a "getting Nur Ein started" sort of theme. IE: party for the soul, call on everyone we know, etc. I didn't want to say kick start, but to make it implied. I guess I didn't quite hit the mark.
Yeah, I didn't fully understand the name drop thing. I thought we just needed to incorporate an actor/actress name in a clever way. I thought I was being creative by saying that the girls looked like hansom men. Well, I laughed, anyway, lol. Also, it's typical for me to be clueless and hit on lesbians.
Oh, plus I thought I was going to get extra points for naming TWO actors names.....then I heard Spuds song. Loved it.
Thanks for the helpful review, Niv.

[frankie big face]

FBF: I question the line about Napoleon. Who did Napoleon win over?

I don't understand your question. He conquered most of Europe, right? I was using the phrase "win me over" ironically (probably not ironically, but I can't think of a better word to explain the point). The lyric is saying "conquer me," not "convince me."

[adamadamant]

Adam Adamant: So, you like the Arctic Monkeys, huh? The delivery style is straight out of their song "Brainstorm" on the verses.

That was completely unintentional, but I listened to the song and you're right. I wouldn't call myself a fan but I guess they must influence me more than I realise!

[Niveous]

The lyric is saying "conquer me," not "convince me."

That's the problem for me. The phrase "win me over" means to convince. You're using it another way and it doesn't work as well. But it's only a minor thing so don't sweat it too much.

[Hoblit]

Read the lyrics and see how you're playing up the whole poseur bit but the first verse kind of screws it all up. It's such a strong first statement. When the poseur part is a line tagged on to the end of the choruses which, like I said, are much weaker in delivery than the verses, you can miss it. Next time if you're gonna do the sarcasm, don't be subtle.

Thank you for going back and reading the lyrics. I do appreciate your opinion and even more so after you understand what I was doing a little better.

While I disagree, I do appreciate your comments on the verse to chorus implications. However, I think that a poseur seems legit until they slip up and the underlying fool beneath is only briefly exposed. Thats part of my illustration. Besides that, I think some of the language I use in the song is clearly cliche (at least to me) and thats a hint of whats to come. (again, in my opinion) I would never say 'take it to the streets' , 'lets kick start this revolution' , or even the 'rich get richer / poor stay poor' in real life. (Although I do say "the time is now" in Leablit's songfight entery Block City)

Thanks again for time and listen. I really do appreciate that you went back to the lyrics for a second look at the song. Thank you sir.

[ujnhunter]

Cock: Can I just take a second to say that I hate your bandname. Okay now that I have that out of the way. This is an okay song. I like the bass in the song alot. The kick start is a bit weak. Kick start and Kick in the teeth don't really relate and it feels very forced. Odd choice for your "tragedy". Why choose an actress from the 50's who drank and gambled her way to suicide?

are you prejudice against roosters? would you prefer Hen as my band name? sorry if you hate it, it's been my band name for 13 odd years, i see no point in changing it now. i have to disagree on the "okay song" part... it's a CRAP song... actually... but it's being reworked and turned into something better now... hopefully... most of my lyrics are improv, i hardly ever write lyrics, prior to recording... so maybe that's why you feel they're forced... ::shrug:: as for the 50's actress who committed suicide... it's just a preference, i don't make "funny" songs... thanks for the comments, glad you like my bass...