The 7th Annual Gift of Music

[JonPorobil]

Thanks, Ross!

[Caravan Ray]

Wow!!

Chris Coggott - that is awesome!

So weird hearing that song with an American accent. It has become over the years a virtual de-facto Australian National Anthem. It is a favoured song for tired and emotional young men to belt out at the top of their lungs after the pubs close. Your version is very true to the original - but far more tuneful than Mark Seymour's more gutteral delivery

Great work!

[Chris Cogott]

Wow!!

Chris Coggott - that is awesome!

So weird hearing that song with an American accent. It has become over the years a virtual de-facto Australian National Anthem. It is a favoured song for tired and emotional young men to belt out at the top of their lungs after the pubs close. Your version is very true to the original - but far more tuneful than Mark Seymour's more gutteral delivery

Great work!

Thanks CR! Glad you liked it. Sorry about my American accent though.

Thanks Ross for putting these up. Good tunes. I was wondering what happened with this.

[HeuristicsInc]

thanks, guys, for coming through! good songs.
i guess the 4 stiffers aren't going to get it done. so sad.
-bill

[Albatross]

Haha, nice one j$. Well done, thank you. Somehow I'd bet Ridgway himself would enjoy getting the ukulele treatment!

[roymond]

thanks, guys, for coming through! good songs.
i guess the 4 stiffers aren't going to get it done. so sad.
-bill

Don't count me out.

[Me$$iah]

Wow....

Thanks Ross.

I thought I was stiffed, but no. The committee came through in the end.

And what an excellent tune it is too.

Seriously... I am so impressed. You did a beautiful version. Thank you so much.

I guess I can look forward to the next GOM with joy and happiness.



Now I guess I gotta review em all. OK .... just give us a small extension on that..... hehehehe

[fluffy]

So I guess it's time to finally vote, huh. Finally listening to everything.

[fluffy]

I'm not familiar with most of these songs' original versions (I don't listen to much mainstream stuff, possibly to my detriment), so I'm not really sure how to go about judging these in general. So I'll just go based on what I like. Order is the iTunes shuffle order. + indicates I like it and will be considering it for the vote.

Kasper - Neon Knights: The big thing that stands out to me is how muddy the vocals are. I think you need to sing a bit more loudly or use a more sensitive microphone. This is a nice song, though, and pretty much not what I'd think of with Kasper at all, but it's done competently, aside from a couple of sloppy bits.

Paco del Stinko - Maps: We all wish you'd come back, Paco. I suspect you'll never see this review, but in case you do: it's interesting to hear you do such a (presumably) straight-up cover of a song that sounds very little like your usual stuff. It's weird to think that a straightforward mainstream-sounding song would be outside of a versatile musician's range, but I think it's because I've never heard you do anything like this. Perfectly executed in any case, although I'd have liked to hear more of your fingerprint on it. +

Wages - Don't Stop Believing: Of course I know this song already. This just seems like someone's bedroom practice session, just sort of hanging out with a drum machine and reading a tabs fakebook while singing into a four-track recorder. I just can't get into it.

Billy's Little Trip - Headache: Another song I know. A perfect choice for you. Well-executed, and you've somehow made the song even more energetic and frantic than the original, and put a distinct BLT touch on it. I like.

Wages - Youth + South Side: I'm not familiar with either song here. This does sound like a typical Wages song, for whatever that's worth, but yeah, just can't get into it. It sounds like it's probably an interesting take if I knew the original songs though.

Sockpuppet - Danger! High Voltage: Deciding on this song is what led me to finally get around to buying a cello, and getting my violin out of storage. At first I was hoping to do a more competent job with the playing, but in the end I ended up kind of liking the "high school string quartet" sound. Or maybe that's what I tell myself to justify not doing a better job of it due to being horribly out of practice on both instruments. Which reminds me, I haven't practiced cello or violin in a while. Anyway, I didn't really have an arrangement set out ahead of time. I just made it up as I went along. Could have probably done with being a lot shorter.

Chthonic Pop - You Know Who I Am: I like this. I have no idea what the original song was like but I suspect this is a pretty massive departure from it. I like it. +

Madwyn Pritchard - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: I'm not sure what's going on here. It's in that weird uncanny valley of obviously-synthetic-but-trying-to-be-real. The singing is competent, at least, but it could do with better mixing, less reverb, and either a real backing band or going all-out synthetic instead of sounding like it was just a recording of a MIDI karaoke session.

Todd McHatton - Another song I'm not familiar with. The Sprout and the Bean: It's weird to hear you doing something so low-key and sedate. A couple of clipping problems make it hard to listen to in spots though. +

Jon Eric - Do It Again: Aside from your own characteristic voice this sounds like it could have been an actual Beach Boys recording (but a studio outtake, since it's a bit pitchy and sloppy in places). Also I'm not a fan of the Beach Boys to begin with.

Sven Mullet - Rage in the Plague Age: I don't know the original song. This sounds like one of your own songs. I suspect it's also a straight-up cover. Nice job on making the drum machine drums not have the usual "I am playing real drum parts on a drum machine" problems. Mix seems a bit quiet. Pretty well-done otherwise.

2dogs - You Are Special: This is a nice and bizarre take on a familiar song. I can't help but giggle just because of the peculiarity of the whole thing.

Swillington - North American Scum: I know the name LCD Soundsystem but I don't know this song. Or if I do you've changed it so much I'm not recognizing it. For this I had to actually go their site and listen to the song just to hear what you've done to it. So I guess this is an attempt at a straight-up cover? It misses the mark in that regard. I don't see the point to doing a gifted cover of a song that tries to sound exactly like the original to begin with, and if you're going to do that, you'd better try to get it perfect. But on the plus side I've learned about a song that I like, and I just bought the album it's on.

Christopher Cogott - Throw Your Arms Around Me: A nice, clean, simple, straightforward interpretation of yet another song I don't know and that I feel that I should.

Howl Down the Chimney - I'm Going To Go Back There Someday: This just sounds incredibly creepy and unsettling, probably because of the interplay between your voice and the particular sort of reverb you've chosen. Is Gonzo now a psycho killer who is going back there someday to steal peoples' skin and wear it like a suit? If that was purposeful, then great job.

Okay that's enough for now. Hopefully the rest will come later.

[Lord of Oats]

HOW CAN I CONVINCE SOULTREE RECORDS TO POST MY SONG

[fluffy]

GO BACK IN TIME AND SUBMIT IT NON LATE

[Lord of Oats]

THEY POSTED OTHER LATE ONES

I WANNA GO BACK IN TIME AND PUNCH PEOPLE IN THEIR DICKS

[Lord of Oats]

by the way i am pretty baked right now

maybe enough so to figure out my ftp shit

[Lord of Oats]

fucking shit, bitch. this is all it took?

http://jim.bitsurge.net/covers/lordofoats_ddacr.mp3

happy christmas, kasper

enjoy the noise

[Lord of Oats]

IN THEIR DICKS

[Billy's Little Trip]

fucking shit, bitch. this is all it took?

http://jim.bitsurge.net/covers/lordofoats_ddacr.mp3

happy christmas, kasper

enjoy the noise

My favorite part is the repetitive electronic percussion that goes, Pew Pew. Put a big smile on my face every time it hit.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Billy's Little Trip - Headache: Another song I know. A perfect choice for you. Well-executed, and you've somehow made the song even more energetic and frantic than the original, and put a distinct BLT touch on it. I like.

Thanks, fluf!

[jimtyrrell]

Ugh. This is so late. And Ross has been good enough to provide a version of this very cover for Generic. But this is what I was working on all those months ago, back when I had a studio. It's finally done, and I hope you like it.

http://www.jimtyrrell.net/mp3/jimtyrrell_forgeneric.mp3

[Albatross]

So, uh, isn't it about time to start this thing up again?

[Niveous]

Yes, just waiting for the previous year's voting to finish up. So, the new one will be Very very soon...just waiting.

[HeuristicsInc]

was there a deadline for the voting? i need to write reviews.
-bill

[Niveous]

The deadline was 10/15 for voting. So we are just awaiting Eddiebangs posting up the winners and we'll be ready to start up this year's GOM.