No Consonants Allowed (Sarah Vowell's Motto reviews)

[TVsKyle]

Boop.

[adjuster]

Ahh fuck... I waited too long to start procrastinating on this 'fight and didn't get my entry in by the deadline. Per the posting from jb, I'm gonna send 'er in anyway...

w3rd... can't wait to hear everybody else's once I get them downloaded...

[jb]

send it in anway dude.

[phisto]

Well, this is my first post to Song Fight! I have to say, the competition is really tough! There's something really strong about every song. Although, I must say I was a little disturbed by the beginning of the Rio Mondo tune. Kudos to everyone!

[Bolio]

Well, this is my first post to Song Fight!

Welcome! Enjoy yourself!

[Niveous]

Niv's Review Paragraph

First up, it's TV's Kyle. Yes, she does have a funny voice. I don't know who Sarah Star is so the reference is lost on me. Despite the esoteric reference, it's a cute tune. It reminds me of early 15-16. Next, Los Hermanos. Loving the guitar, it reminds me of Thursday's "Understanding in a car crash". But the vocal stylings aren't doing much for me. The drums are odd but fascinating. I'm 50/50 on this one. Next. Ants. Sweet basswork on it and male/female vocal harmonies are very cool. But I'm not feeling the bridge on this one. Currently the frontrunner thanks to the beginning and the end but it's probably gonna lose thanks to the middle. Next Scott Helm. The voice reminds me of Max the Cat. I can't stand the keyboard stuff on this. It sounds like a cheesy rendition of the Bosom Buddies theme. The sound is not without it's charm. The bit with Leroy and then the propeller, it was worth a chuckle. Next. Figure 8. Sounds like very sleepy Josh Woodward. The song is very well done. It's not my speed but it's better than Ants so I've gotta give it frontrunner. Thornberry's up next. Production is a bit flawed but I don't care about that. Beautiful tune but it makes Sarah Vowell sound like a cult leader. Hmmm. That was alright. I kinda dug that song. Tied for Frontrunner. Next R. Mosquito. Huh? Porcelain dolls. Torn off thumbs. Leprosy. Sharks. Chum. WTF? That was odd. And lastly, the return of Riomondo!!! Big f'n River. The new cool sample- "I'll show you how to play guitar, you sonofabitch." I was digging the noisecore song. I would've voted for that. Riomondo gets this week's "at least, you seem to have had fun" award. Off to the vote in this very odd fight. I'm giving my vote to Thornberry, narrowly edging out Figure 8 who narrowly edges out Ants. Off to review another fight.

[jb]

R. Mosquito's nasally vocals turned me off, despite some awesome music.

TV's Kyle has prosody problems, and doesn't really seem to have made an attempt at crafting lyrics.

Rio Mondo is kind of assholish, but enjoyably unhinged.

Thornberry reminds me of the kind of college kid I want to smack.

Scott Helm, can't remember it.

Ants, couldn't make sense of it. Pretty though. Not your best work.

Los Hermanos, can't remember it.

Figure 8 made some choices in lyrics that I'd disagree with, but has a super catchy hook, excellent guitar work, a lovely, lush escalation in the arrangement as the song progresses, and actually took an angle on the title rather than just bulling through with a take that involves little thought, like some other entries for this title this week. This is the entry that strikes me as having the most integrity as far as songwriting goes. Now, that could be a controversial statement, and I invite you to disagree while reminding you that it's just my humble opinion and there's no accounting for taste. But this adds up to my vote.

And there you go.

[Edge of LA]

Figure 8,
Josh and Deshead?

ok, maybe just Deshead...

[Hat_man-RioMondo]

"Rio Mondo is kind of assholish..."

Sweet.
But did you laugh?
And, have you heard our other songs in the archives?
Thanks for listening dude!
~Al

[Fizz]

I guess I'll try my hand at reviewing since I do love Sarah Vowell.

Figure 8 reminds me of Deshead... of course I'm a newb here so it just might be and whatnot. Fantastic song, but too somber for me for some reason.

R. Mosquito... haha, nasal. The beat's catchy, lyrics are humorous. It sucks that I feel like it's an extended version of that one part from that one Weird Al song.

Scott Helm and the Incoherent Mumblings. Heh, Sarah Vowell's last name is basically vowel. That means fun time for refrences to them. Is it bad I'm not sure who Leroy is?

Ants has female vocals. I hear 'em. This seems like another somber song. Is this a popular feeling when it comes to Vowell with other people? I must be crazy or something.

Rio Mondo is a band. They don't know who Sarah Vowell is. That makes me sad. But, the beginning alone would be good to put on a mix CD for one of my friends. They love that kind of stuff.

Thornberry brings another piano-driven tune that's good, just not my kind of schtick. I guess I've been around poppy pop pop deliciousness too long.

TV's Kyle is someone who I know (not in the friends sense, sadly) from his website long ago. I got a commission from him once. He's a good guy. But, to the song, I too, would like to hang with her. Sadly I'm also not sure who Sarah Starr is. I like the song, though.

Los Hermanos is spanish for "The Brothers". I think. I should know, I mean, I am a high school kid in his third year of Spanish. Catchy, but again, not my cup of tea. Something must be wrong with me, I guess.

I want to sleep.



Forever.

[Bolio]

Reviews....

Ants(Invisible) – Love the style, carved out by great vocal performances & good melody, your vocal glissandos are perfectly aligned and that can’t be easy. This one is almost too short & you can tell it kind of is a lead into something else. But I think it’s great as a song by itself & I look forward to getting lost in the lost vocals again… I’ll have to put it on repeat of course.

Figure 8 – Based on a common riff we’ve all used before. Picking is well done & the vocals at time sound like a cool Paul Simon style. The part where the piano comes in, the song changes for the better. Great vocal build there. Excellent…. wish it went on even longer.

The Landfills – I love what you do with the synth on the intro & throughout the song! In the first listen I didn’t hear anything but that. The vox style suits the song well. I love the vocal counterpoint on the last chorus. That synth will be going through my head later.

Los Hermanos – Cool unique riff, good job. Drums also. I like the contrast in vocal effects. Chorus is a letdown, except for that hard working bass. Nice guitar break then… end. Need one more chorus or something.

Rio Mondo – Intro makes this song tough to sit through again. Neat style on the first musical part (Primus?) Second part, not as much. I can dig the variety but as a whole it’s not enough for another listen.

R Mosquito – Another unique song, I’m really lovin’ this fight. Major Bonus Points for using the term ‘Opposable Thumb’ in your chorus. Excellent melody in the chorus. Cool in a carolclevelandish way, but it’s never really been my style. It has brought a smile to my face though.

Scott Helm & Incoherent Mumblings – Intro reminiscent of a 70’s Billy Joel song. Your mumblings are pretty funny. Progression is a little to repetetive for me in the verse. Too much Novelty & not enough Song.

Thornberry – Right away I’m sick of the word ‘Crescendo.’ Pronouncing the word ‘changing’ ChangING to rhyme with the next line is ineffective. Nice piano work & the vocals sound good with the effects.

TV’s Kyle – The balance with drums in one channel & hand claps in the other is odd… but effective for me. A lot of interesting stuff going on here, good mix, but the harmony vocal when it comes in is too loud. Good progression & nice little hook on the chorus. Fun performance, but the song itself is even better.

Very good fight, very creative group of Songfighters. Vote is between Figure 8 & Ants.

[TVsKyle]

Sarah Vowell's Motto

Thornberry- Nice piano intro. Your voice sounds a little loud over it. You sing ok, so you really don't need that amount of echo on it. This is purdy, but not really my type of thing. It was begging for more intruments by the end. Spiff solo, though.

R. Mosquito- Appealing right from the start. Reminds me a lot of Freezepop, but with sillier vocals. I kinda wish the vocals were less echoey and more robotic. This reminds me of a The Nourishment song. This runs a little long for this type of song, but it's a contender anyway.

The Landfills- Kinda busy and sterile. Is this thing in mono? You've got potential, though. Study some Lifestyle and get back to me.

Ants (Invisible)- This bored me at first, but the b-part sounds cool. These harmonies get really nice as we progress, but the beginning of this song needs some life.

Los Hermanos- Using two vocalists in unisen really hurts this thing. It makes it sound messy. The drums and guitars get repetitious. I'm looking for a hook and not finding one. It sounds almost ad-libbed. I love the guitar duet at the end.

Rio Mondo- Needs less Primus and more Tripod . Please don't record on those Talkboy things from Home Alone 2. The opening is, admittedly, a guilty pleasure.

Figure 8- This is competant, but man, it's putting me to sleep. By the time the piano and harmonies come in and raise the interest, it's already too late. You lost me.

Scott Helm and His Incohearant Mumblings- That repetative background stuff in the verses makes this hard to get through. I've heard worse, but this doesn't sound like it took much effort. You're killing me with these echos... it sounds like a Wham! recording.

Mister Mosquito gets my vote!

[EightLeggedOedipus]

Ants Invisible
+++ Nice reverby feel. Awesome Tarantino twang and groove +++
/// Your chords are always jarring and challenging; not accessible, but smooth enough to slay on repeat listens ///

Figure 8
+++ Sounds like Deshead meets Woodward (which spells winner) +++
--- A little pitchy onthe second "All I see." Pro performance otherwise ---
+++ Glad that the piano comes in, just at the right time +++
--- And that soudns liek digital clipping in the coda / outro. It's too sweet a song for such hot, nasty mastering ---

The Landfills
+++ Good rhythm, with the arpeggiated synth +++
--- Unfortunate goth singing with talkover ---
/// Not the best choice of patches. Could use some variation. Something Doug Martsch said which applies to almost any instrument you record is this: Record a sound that's cool but too clean, another that's too dirty, then mix them to perfection. You can then adjust levels between chorus/bridge/verse to change the feel. I think that could have very easily prevented alot of the monotony of this track. ///

Los Hermanos
+++ This has got a wicked guitar and rhythm +++
+++ I also like the singer, with the alternation between chorus'ed and distorted +++
--- I think the guitar effect was working great for the verse, but at the chorus it makes some very unflattering sounds. Do you have another pedal? ---
/// I like the sliding notes on the bass, but I'd like to hear more stops and double stops, especially through the chorus ///
+++ Good solo as outro. Perfect length +++

Rio Mondo
--- So far, this sounds pointless ---
+++ Songfight name-dropping +++
/// It sounds like there's a song in there somewhere ///
--- It's the last track on the so-cal skate punk CD with the acoustic guiatr and the singalong chorus with the harmonies. But unfortunately it's still harmonically discordant and so intercut with pointless shit that it's unlistenable. ---

R. Mosquito
--- Rave-tard beat. Pitch-impaired office-geek vocals. Is this really the same guy that did that Killers-esque track a few weeks ago? ---
+++ "A shitty impersonation of Rick James" +++

Scott Helm and the Incoherent Mumblings
+++ Fun little piano bit with a phaser on it. +++
/// Lyrically, probably the truest to the theme of the title ///
--- Peanut gallery backing vocals aren't making me laugh OR adding musically ---

Thornberry
+++ Decent piano performance +++
--- Vocals might be OK, a little bit like a gay olympics song, but totally too-wet reverb+delay, accentuating every spit-roll ---

TV's Kyle
--- Off-beat left/right ---
+++ Fun upbeat tempo. +++
/// What's with the office-geeks this week? It's not Sarah Vowell's voice, guys. ///

Between Figure 8 and Los Hermanos. Ants a close third.
Second listen: Figure 8 by a hair

-Legs Ocho

[fodroy]

r. mosquito is my hero.

[Jim of Seattle]

A comment about this week's Ants (Invisible) entry: This was the first time my wife helped me on a Songfight song. She wrote all the lyrics, and sang of course. A lot of the musical ideas were hers. I was the wizard behind the curtain making it happen, but she would sit curled up in her comfy chair and come up with musical ideas and react to mine. She was very excited that she actually was involved in writing a song, and so she's extremely proud of it.

[HeuristicsInc]

Jim: I liked it when I heard it this afternoon, and I was wondering who was singing. You can tell her good work. Maybe I'll write reviews, maybe not, but I was impressed.
-bill

[Leaf]

Ants Invisible:
Man, this is good. Creepy, reminds me of Steely dan doing the soundtrack to Twin Peaks. The more of your stuff I hear, the more I like it. Sweet. Not much more to say.... a contender.


Figure 8:
Very well played, nice production. The whole thing sounds very nice, but stylistically, while I appreciate it, and it's nice "CBC" music, it's not something that get's me going... so very good, no vote.

Landfill:
I'm gettin an Ian Curtis thing off this. The production is a little murky. It's ok. I like the bridge section. If it were me, that would have been the verse. this has interesting contrast between the dark, mournful vocals and deep pads, and the happy -go-lucky arpeggio that sits on top of it. This is ok.

Los Hermanos:
Ok, this has a HUGE Midnight Oil thing going on. I really like this track, it' s got some cool drumming on it. I don't know if it's a human, or not, but it sounds like it. The hat's are great. The whole tune just works for me. Maybe the hihats are a bit too sibilant... but this is my work speaker's so I'll have to check that out through my monitors at home later. Love the bass playing too. Real good tune, a CONTENDER.

rioMondo:
This was modestly funny, but grew tiring after a few listens. I had a few people over on Monday night, and we listened to some random SF tunes.. this got a few laughs, a few chuckles, and then everyone lost interest and finally, said "next". I think the whole "especially Blue" part sounds a little.... weak. First off, he barely posts here anymore, secondly, lay off already!! The guy's a perenial target for expressing his opinion. Big deal, get over it already. So, you get a marginally ok from me.

R. Mosquito:
Ah, this was popular at the little monday night gathering, as my wife, he sister, and their friends all started doing the "chick at the club" dance. I enjoyed it for the vocal performance that reminds me of 15-16 for some reason. I enjoyed this one, it's a CONTENDER.

Scott Helm:
cute. I liked the feel of this. a touch plodding along, but a decent enough song. The verse music really does it for me... this could be a great little number in a play or musical... cool . Not a vote getter for me, but still, I lika. Pretty good.

Thornberry:
I'm a rocket man... reminds me of Elton big time. Not my cup o' tea, although well played, and decent enough. vocals seem to break up a touch on the upper notes of the falsetto... but this is merely ok in my books.

TV's Kyle:
You know, I thought this was Level Nivelo at first. It's got a cute sound, but the rhythm section parts sound like they have no relationship to the rest of the tune. You have a nice voice, and some good vocal delivery instincts that remind me of early BarenakedLadies... this song is ok, but not floating my boat, or my vote.

And that's my reviews....three to choose from for a vote in my books...I'm leaning towards Los Hermanos...but I think I'll giver another listen later...

[j$]

Weird that this title should attract so many keyboard-led musical songs. At least weird to someone like me.

Ants Invisible - pretty. Nice cowboy guitar. Continuity with other AI songs might be misinterpreted as repeating the formula, but it clearly works so kudos. I like the duet very much. two good voices blending together well.

Figure 8 - Very pretty. Worse and deserve don't rhyme in my book, no matter how hard you try! Folky fun.

Landfills - I love that squelchy bass. It's a shame it gets slightly buried under the other more mid-range keyboard tones in the main body of the song. I'd like to hear it 10 bpm faster but it's got a nice lo-fi Associates feel to it, I guess.

Los Hermanos - For a horrible moment near the start I thought this was going to kick into a Craig David style break-beat song. Interesting trading off between the different vocal lines. The bass line is fun but a little showy in a Flea stylee - too much sliding up and down the strings for my taste - or maybe the tone could just be dirtied up? The repeating guitar line becomes slightly monotonous although I like it and the arrival of the Joy Division-esque 2nd guitar is a good cool. It's been a very early 80s fight so far ...

RioMondo - 'Put your goddamn pants on' was cool! After that it got too self-indulgent. Sorry.

R Mosquito - Oh the 80s! Some great phrases in this lyric. This sounds like the main insturment track has been muted, which suggests to me that it could do with a bit more. Maybe even just a keyboard tracking the melody. Minimal is good but variety in the rythym is more important when there's less in the melody, I find. This is like R Mosquito does Future Boy (no, not like that ...)

Scott Helm - That opening piano riff sounds like the first half of something famous. A bit like a slightly slowed down Scissor Sisters - crying out for a guitar solo somewhere or a keyboard flourish. Lyric passes me by, I'm afraid.

Thornberry - I don't like the echo effect on the vocal though I like the voice an awful lot. Piano is slightly quiet in the mix too. Oh this is a lovely melody. Overall it's a bit off-broadway Andrew Lloyd Webber musical soundtrack, and the slightly-off falsetto is laid a bit bare by the mix, but I like it, although I can't imagine listening to it a lot. I'd like to hear some bass and slow drums kick in under the final verse / chorus.

TV's Kyle - The mix of this is all over the place, but not in a particularly appealing way for me. I like the diddly kids music feel and there's a lot of imagination in the arrangement, but the vocals 25% louder than any of the music only works for me on poetry with a musical backing, so this song is fighting a losing battle with me. Sorry. I love the ascending chords out of the chorus though.

Dunno who I'll vote for. Probably Ants Invisible or Los Hermanos.

[Future Boy]

I liked the R. Mosquito song so much that I made a mix tape just so I could include it.

Other standouts for me were Ants (Invisible) and Rio Mondo.

[HeuristicsInc]

ok, so here i will try to distill each bandname into a 4-character code.

1: ants, tvsk, rmos, losh, land
2: thby, fig8, helm

fig8: the "of course it could be worse" is the best part.
helm: background vox don't mesh well, they're too similar... do some eq or something to make them different from the lead vox. sounds like you're jim of seattle's heir.
rmos: ooh, grabs me immediately. awesome synths. not sure if the voice goes well with this. but it's great anyway. good lyrics. poor guy. might get my vote.
riom: thanks for defending the country, but i didn't like it. sorry.
land: aha! a contender.

i'm gonna have to listen to those two a bunch to decide my vote. it's either rmos or land.
-bill

[diode]

Thornberry - Melody and lyrics are good. However, the vocals are a little pitchy and when you go an octave higher in the later choruses it gets painful.

Rio Mondo - Hard to get past the mess around intro. I pushed stop.

tv's kyle - This reminds me a little of They might be giants which is a good thing. The vocals are mixed too loud though and I don't think i'd listen to this song again.

Ants - It's hard to do succeed at vocals. good job. The verse melody makes me feel a little queasy but that's a success in itself because you're conveying an emotion.

The Landfills - The synths are really cool. This could be a rocking track if the vocals were more solid. They are pretty pitchy and don't sit in the mix well. Really like the music though.

Figure 8 - The vocals are very heartfelt and intimate sounding. I usually don't like guitar and vocal only entries on soundfight but this one is an exception. Songwriting is good. The double tracked acoustic sounds good and the piano at the end with the vocal harmony is a nice suprise. I think you probably should win.

Scott Helm and the Incoherent Mumblings - The vocals are just corny to me. The chorus especially "aeiou." Sorry, just not my thing.

R. Mosquito - I'm hearing wierd Al and the vocals are WAAAYYY too loud. I think this is supposed to be funny but i'm cringing, not laughing. The beat behind it is really cheap sounding which could be cool if the vocal performance was better.

Los Hermanos - We tried our best. Looking back I wish we could have spent more time on the choruses. I thought Hermano #1's lyrics were rocking.

[diode]

awww....c'mon Heuristics. Why do only 5/9 get a review? humor us please.