Royal Reviews (King Me)

WesDavis · Post by **WesDavis** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 6:26 pm

Some reviews before I go check out a show.

Before Picture - Some of these lines are pretty entertaining, as well as some of the melody. This very much sounds like a TMBG song in some parts. The harmony vocs are a nice touch in parts, too. The production is obviously lacking, but that can't always be helped. If you can acquire drums to add to this later, it could be cool. I do have to say that I don't like the hook very much.

Billy's Little Trip - Did you say, "We need to fuck a cow?" Of course, this is pretty fun. In the beginning it sounded like you were trying to make an old school Metallica song. I like the sort of bass solo thing. Short and sweet, I like this.

The Booty Chesterfield Trio - I already said this is awesome.

c hack - heh, this is pretty amusing. It's entertaining, hearing a song from the perspective of George Bush. I'm not a big fan of political songs, but as far as those go, this is pretty good. It's nice and understated, musically. It gradually eases you in, then pulls you back, then draws you back in. I like this.

dB Collective - heh. Fun. The music in the background might be a little too quiet, and this song should have a really funky punch to it that it's really lacking. That bassline should be right up front. The weak production hurts, but I think this song's pretty cool anyway.

doorite - haha I like the naked pictures and stuff line. I wouldn't hang onto this, but this is entertaining.

Wreckdom - You had me at Bruce Campbell.

That's all I can do right now, but I'm so far enjoying this fight.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:01 pm

rdurand wrote:Hey Blue, just wondering (and this info may be out there for me to mine, but I'm lazy )Are you the drummer in this trio? Who does the writing?

Thanks.

i drum, yes. we all pitch in with the writing, usually, but i think chad brought this one in mostly complete.

he actually has a version he recorded by hisself that maybe he'll post. it is fuuuuuuuuunny.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:45 pm

WesDavis wrote: Billy's Little Trip - Did you say, "We need to fuck a cow?" Of course, this is pretty fun. In the beginning it sounded like you were trying to make an old school Metallica song. I like the sort of bass solo thing. Short and sweet, I like this.

Cows need sweet love'n too. Yeah, I wanted to do a nifty bridge with some uniqueness. Thanks.

edit: I just listened to it again and it totally sounds like "We need to fuck a cow"

...

nextbedtime · Post by **nextbedtime** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:09 am

Okay, I'm actually going to post some reviews. I do this with renewed respect for the folks who do this each time. There were a lot of songs!

-----

before picture
nice clean sound, straight delivery, love the silly-sounding refrain. i want to hear a little more confidence with the harmonies

billy's little trip
sounds a bit too much like gravity kills for me. i want something different in the main vocal production but can't tell you what exactly.

the booty chesterfield trio
seems smooth enough but doesn't grab me. don't like the second whistle about 30 sec in. the section around 1:10 gets boring for me. i like when it goes back to the main cleanish theme at 1:45 and 3:20. not enough here to keep me interested for the full duration.

luke henley
too serious and plaintive sounding for me. guitar production too muffled. you mispronounced "papyrus". i'm skipping the rest of this one at 1:30.

c hack
like the start. think the locution of the title is a bit forced relative to the tune. i like the change at 2:45 or so.

db collective
reminds me pleasantly of gang of four's album "solid gold" that everyone but me hated. the string hits stand out too much for me.

doorite
kill the apology at the beginning, it's weak to do that. otherwise pleasingly 80's retro. kinda boring eventually though.

dublin duck dispensary
clean up the vocals please. mix up the kazoo. it ended just as i was about to skip the rest.

eggsickle
sounds like stephin merritt on acid. i like it! i don't like the line mentioning chess towards the end--we're playing checkers here.

finding nemoy
i love the geeky vocal sound; it suits the little brother lyrics very well. my favorite so far. give me a slightly more definite end.

henrietta
it's a pleasant song for the most part. it seems like i can hear the room you're singing in a bit too clearly. you're a tad flat on some notes but it seems petty to mention since you can basically actually sing as compared to most of us here. the drums take too long to fade out imo.

hostess mostess
i especially love the way this starts. reminds me a bit of something from "tales of mystery and imagination" (which i liked a lot). the harmonies are spot on and well-used. i don't think you need the james brown guitar at around 3:00. i will keep this one; my new favorite.

jym tyrell
too much explicit allegory with a checkers board turns me off. i like the sound 30 seconds in a lot better than the way it starts. at that point it sounds like a respectably-made song from a band which i just don't like.

mc eric b
you're clowning too much. even though the lyrics are super silly and clearly tongue-in-cheek it would be funnier and more palatable if the delivery were a lot straighter. i barely made it all the way to the end of this one.

mCRT
amusing lyrics and i like the persistent SF references. pleasantly retro sound. LOL at "i fucked your mom now it hurts when i pee". a top choice.

Melvin
i like the few bars a lot--reminds me of someone, a fred frith song maybe? funny lyrics opening. pleasantly athemic. good use of the organ.

Next Bedtime
i really messed up the vocal effects at the beginning--they sound annoyingly off-key. i wanted to do something slow, but i think this is too much and needs something extra to make it less dull. i'm pretty sure that the drumming is intolerable, and the shakuhachi should be clearer. i do like the silences and the general pace though. next time i'm going to wait at least a day or two after finishing before sending in my song.

outtanoway
i like the texture a lot. i wish there were some humor in the lyrics though. the chaos at the end isn't a plus imo. cut the song short instead of remixing yourself like that.

Pepe's Confusion
starts off like daniel johnston taking his meds for too long. i like the song in general but wish it had more on the low end or something. i really dig the banjo. rockabilly section at 2:30 threw me at first and then i dug it.

Project-D
you like they might be giants an awful lot, don't you? i like the mandolin, the harmonies near the end, and the song in general i guess. watch your initial Bs and Ss; they're too loud.

Ross Durandq
i like the simplicity of the arrangement. the vocals are earnest but for some reason i don't find it annoying. i like this one overall.

Sativa Indica
i like this one a lot. if anything, i wish there were a bit less going on, though the complexity is not unappealing. maybe what i want is for each scene to last longer, so the changes didn't come so quickly. i want to hear more from you.

Sheail
the beginning is far too earnest sounding for me. gets much more tolerable at 0:22 and i started to enjoy it then. nice production.

Signboy
the out-of-tune-ness of this was distracting but not entirely negative. i like the tune and the arrangement.

Sorry
i start to think that the explicit checkers is annoying but then i really like the story that maybe it'll get the guy laid. choose a softer pick next time please! funny, overall a plus.

Steakhaus
what is it with the gravity kills? this is well-done though. if i were still listening to gravity kills i'd probably really dig it.

Steve Durand
pleasant, excellent in its idiom. not much else to say.

Those Meddling Kids
fun to listen to; overall not super-compelling for me though. the loop at around 2:10 is a bit too long and it was driving me crazy.

Wages
delivery of the first verse turned me completely off. i'm not going to last all the way through this one.

Wally Harbinger
nice production. i don't care for the lyrics though (except for "i can't hear you la la la" which is great), and the general style is a bit too straightforward rock for my taste. makes me think of huey lewis and the news.

Wes Davis
the beginning could be a kristin hersh riff, which i liked. i don't like the overall mix; drums too prominent for one. i don't like the lyrics much--"you better watch your back, boy" is trite; besides, a king doesn't need to stab anybody in the back. i think this has promise though.

WreckdoM
i like the silliness. sorry, i can't think hard enough about this to write any more--next time i'll listen in random order.

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:13 pm

what's gravity kills?

nextbedtime · Post by **nextbedtime** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:19 pm

starfinger wrote:what's gravity kills?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Kills

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:16 pm

starfinger wrote:what's gravity kills?

like....if you fall out of an airplane.....pretty sure.
I've heard of them, just never listened to them "intensionally"

edit: Here we go. Gravity Kills They sound pretty good, in a Nine Inch Nails/Filter kind of way.

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:41 pm

aha.. thanks

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 4:41 pm

Before anybody else tells me I mis-pronounced papyrus, I wanted to point out that I know how to pronounce it and it just felt good singing it the way I did. Muh fuckin' hedonism in this batch.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:43 pm

I never doubted that for a minute young Skywalker.

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 6:06 pm

Rock action.

Steve Durand · Post by **Steve Durand** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:53 pm

nextbedtime wrote: Steve Durand
pleasant, excellent in its idiom. not much else to say.

Hmmmm. What idiom would that be?

Steve

ddd · Post by **ddd** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:25 am

nextbedtime wrote:
dublin duck dispensary
clean up the vocals please. mix up the kazoo. it ended just as i was about to skip the rest.

Thanks for listening anyway, m'boy! I'm quite proud that my guitar was mistaken for a kazoo.. perhaps I shouldn't be? :D

Koolaid Says · Post by **Koolaid Says** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:36 am

Gravity Kills? WTF? Really?

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:10 pm

This fight needs more reviews – so here are my brief, knee jerk, not well-thought-out reviews. That is partly a results of the number of songs. These are done quickly, not every song got a complete listen.

Reverse alphabetical to balance all those who start and say they’ll get to the rest later

WreckdoM – interesting start. Ahh, this is the Barnes and Barnes WreckcoM. I’m giving you 20 more seconds. Ok, not much here besides the sound.

Wes Davis – too much guitar reverb (you said you wanted mastering comments). Okay tune, your voice helps so much, beautiful voice. Nice increased instrumentation for the chorus. Not much else there for me. The doodly tune seems like a non-sequiter.

Wally H. - neat opening. Is this about Bush? This one is pretty nice, another one with a nice chorus arrangement. In the top group probably.

Wages – don’t know what to say –I think you might be trying too hard.

TMK - this is really irritating. Go enter sample fight or whatever that thing is called.

Steve – I like the basics here, but I kept waiting for a punch line that isn’t there. Catchy and fine, but not jumping out like some of your other material.

Steakhaus – NMT – Not totally uninteresting. I will admit a bias I have, which is that the only context I have ever heard “King me” as a verb and subject Is in the context of checkers, you crown a king, right, you don’t king them? Steve’s song had this too. Ok.

Sorry – why can I hear your pick louder than the strings, that’s buggin. Checkers, make love, my piece on your piece – moving on…

Sign boy – Wow, it was really late, huh? Eh – the Mexican guitar thing is the most interesting part for me.

Sheial – slick groove. Inside straight – king me? Overall these words mean very little to me.

Sativa indica – weeks when I have more time I try to be constructive. Sorry. I don’t like this – moving on.

Me – The vocals are too loud (piano too quiet?) I think this turned out well. I toyed with more arrangement, but in the end decided that the starkness of the arrngement fit the emotional content well.

Project D – this is fun – I think over all this is the best of the upbeat, "What I would do if I was king" songs. Good!

Pepe – I can’t explain why I like this, but I do – it’s a nice mix of stuff – reminds me a little of early Camper Van Beethoven, which I love. Another good one.

Outta Noway – genre bias alert – I don’t like this kinda rap. I also happen to think this isn’t a very good piece. The stutter stuff near the end is too rough.

Next Bedtime – This takes way too long and is not worth the lack of payoff for me. Ok mood piece, though

Melvin – curse you as always for just sounding like you have a good song. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case with you, I feel like your sound far outstrips your content. Still super listenable, but I think lyric-wise you’re still a smidge behind here. Big Claps would have been great at 2:35.

MCRT – see genre note above – you lost me at “I said Coming,” - click.

MC Eric B – If you’re not joking here – you need to seriously revisit your vision. As for your beat. Why not just use the built-in ones. Isn’t there already one that sounds 99% the same as this. As I’ve said once before, the beat doesn’t matter if the song is weak. This is a weak song – for what it is, it especially needs some attention to vocal rhythm.

Luke – sounds like you’re making it up as you go (are you?). The words sound like just a lot of images strung together. As a whole package I don’t get a unified vision for the song except the song itself.

Jim Tyrell – nice sounding as always. Great harmonies. A little slow in developing for me – I think that’s structural, with the music- words-music-words approach. That would be the weakest piece for me. Otherwise very well done. Lyrics open to multiple interpretations, which I like, but not too loose (see previous review).

Hostess – nice to hear you groove. Then it gets a little stagnant for me. Nice bridge (you’re always good at those) that breaks it up a bit. Good song. But not as strong as some others, I think, and unfortunately you get compared to yourself – and you’re always so good that it’s hard to hear each song by you fresh. (also, I gotta say the words” king me” sound sort of slapped into cracks here)

Henrietta - strong voice, tuneful. Not a big fan of the chanteuse movement, you should know. The song is ok, I guess. I’m not sure what the phrase King Me is supposed to mean here.

Finding nemoy – This is fine. The doubled vocals work well for you. The tune seems to meander a smidge, but is overall quite pleasant.

Eggsickle – "coronate" – interesting. "King Me" doesn’t mean anything in chess, it’s checkers. There’s pawn promotion, but that’s different. The drums are too frantic for me.

Dublin duck – is this supposed to be “experimental?” – it just comes off as noisy and the song in it doesn’t come through. What does come through sounds kinda crappy.

Doorite – click

Db collective – nice groove and such, good vocal delivery. I don’t get much from the lyrics that teach me what the chorus is supposed to mean.

C Hack – great approach – a smidge too long, maybe. But very well done. I like that you stray from the “This land…” chords and tune at some point. For a vote of an original song, I’ll have to mull over whether this counts as totally original as far as using that tune and such. Great work – definitely in the top group. Good concept well executed.

BCT – I found this sort of boring. It’s is loud and crunchy for sure. I don’t think I “get it.” Part of that is not being sure if there is something here to get. Much more sound than song, if you know what I mean.

BLT – review to come I still only have the intro, but I like what I’m hearing.

Before picture – I’m looking forward to the after picture, I guess. This song sounds sort of self consciously, "If They might be Giants had a million dollars." Sort of clever, but not clever enough for me to chuckle or anything.

Ok, SO I’m left feeling like this fight wasn’t all that strong – here’s my tops in alpha order

C Hack, Jim Tyrell, Pepe, Project D, Wally H. - and of course I like mine

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:32 am

Thanks for reviewing!
I think you know by now that you're stuck with me, and if you think that was irritating you should've heard the version with vocals. I'll sample one of your tracks next time, then I can enter Samplefight, Synthfight, Guitarfight, Beatfight, Pidgeonholefight and Boringfight.

Luke: Does your vocal style have an element of humour in it or is it just straight up? It sounds very much like David Longstreth and what I've heard of him usually sounds like he's hamming it up just for fun. I really love your voice here though, and not just here, I actually think you have an amazing voice and it comes into it's own when you stretch it. Anyway, where are your fucking choruses, and middle eights and your blues-rock solo? huh? where? How is anybody ever supposed to figure out what you're going to do next? They can't simply file you under GnG or Acoustic Balladry if you do this, think of the song-filers!! And as for using imagery that other people don't experience on a day-to-day basis, well that's just rude, nobody's ever going to have their way of life affirmed if you insist on not singing about going to the shops for a Mars Bar. You're making us all feel uncomfortable in ways we don't like to talk about cos we are right about most things, and more importantly so were our parents. (Guide - How to interpret this review: Serious-serious-serious-admiring-sarcastic-off the scale sarcastic-I think I'm about to drown in my own wit, that sarcasm is so cutting-end). On another note, I think that if we ever got around to starting a band it should sound like Lift to Experience. I'd also like to get you involved with some of my other collabs, although I'm not sure you'd gel with some of them cos apparently you're a bit of an acquired taste (and one of them's melvin - do I deserve a slap for even thinking that? I'm not sure). My point is that I think there would be friction, but friction on record is brilliant.

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:11 am

Furrypedro wrote:Thanks for reviewing!
I think you know by now that you're stuck with me,...

Of course, and I think you also know that there are things you do that I like a lot. Perhaps the stuck with part is also why I'm willing to write a frank reaction such as that one.
See you next fight

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:44 am

I'll be there

(hopefully)

melvin · Post by **melvin** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:04 am

Furrypedro wrote:Thanks for reviewing!

Luke: I'd also like to get you involved with some of my other collabs... one of them's melvin... do I deserve a slap?...

I think Luke's a minor genius and I've long felt (and even suggested in a review once) that with the help of a producer, he could probably please a lot more ears without sacrificing any of that lyrical/melodic/vocal minor genius. I know my mainstream rock proclivities irritate certain people, but honestly, playing the guitar like it's the first time you've seen one in your life is irritating too. And being intentionally inaccessible is a childish pursuit anyway. A well-produced Luke Henley record would be like a sonic Trojan Horse - by the time Joe Average realized the song was about being anally raped by Satan, it would be too late to turn back. It's brilliant.

starfinger · Post by **starfinger** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:23 am

rdurand wrote:you crown a king, right, you don’t king them?

not that it really matters...

the dictionary wrote: king ...
9. to make a king of; cause to be or become a king; crown.

Steve Durand · Post by **Steve Durand** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:28 am

starfinger wrote:
rdurand wrote:you crown a king, right, you don’t king them?
not that it really matters...

the dictionary wrote: king ...
9. to make a king of; cause to be or become a king; crown.

I'm with Craig on this.

Steve

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:57 am

sdurand wrote:
starfinger wrote:
rdurand wrote:you crown a king, right, you don’t king them?
not that it really matters...

the dictionary wrote: king ...
9. to make a king of; cause to be or become a king; crown.

I'm with Craig on this.

Steve

I see - pitting brother against brother are ya?

Well, you say "not that it matters," but it matters to me or I wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. I don't think it changes my overall feel for either of these songs, but I'll revisit just to be fair.
I always appreciate being corrected ( I shoulda checked that myself first, though, next someone is gonna come up with the term "king me" from a chess rule book.)
I think in general though I'll stick with the "Hey, at least I wrote reviews" defense