CONGRATS ROSS! I liked your song. You get one of these!
..cuz puppies are cute and I lubvz puppies!
...and MG, I can't believe you're still in this thing. Shoving so much challenge up the judges asses you confused them. Plus remixing Cake songs with your lyrics. If you were standing in front of me, I'd punch you in the throat, then as you fall to the ground gasping for air, I'd pee on you for being such a hack.
RangerDenni wrote:Also in round five I missed Billy a lot
Fear not, young maiden! For I have invented a new sizong for the Bag Of Bones fight, starring WSA's own Glenny and his ebow on thizzz guitar...thingy. It shallith rock thee, or my namith isn't...
...Keith Stone BLT.
Last edited by Billy's Little Trip on Tue May 24, 2011 11:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Aw, rats. As much as it sucks to come in last, it's better than missing the cut by a point or something.
Some boring personal details. For me, writing and recording six songs in six weeks is a bit of a minor miracle given my current circumstances. Due to my impending divorce, I haven't lived in my house (and therefore, had access to my studio) for over a year. I knew going into this competition that it would be difficult from that perspective, but the place where I'm living has a piano and a pump organ and privacy, so I dragged a bunch of equipment from school, my house, wherever, and used my work laptop to record. It was a challenge every week and this round, it caught up to me.
It didn't help that there are so many awesome competitors this year. Good luck to all of you!
Frankie, I was shocked with the results. That was a very well written song. I really liked the Earth Wind and Fire vocals over the Commodores music. I'm a sucker for 70's song writing. That was an awesome chord pattern! To me, the clipping just sounded like a distorted effect, you could have convinced me it was deliberate. I dig false etto too, I thought you did it well.
It was a very good round, I liked or loved every track! (even the MG track had a groove I could get into) I have to admit, other than our track, Frankie had my favorite. It certainly got the most repeat plays for me yesterday.
Hopefully I'll get to proper reviews soon.
PS Congrats Ross!! very cool song!
Last edited by glennny on Wed May 25, 2011 6:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
Ross Durand: I wish I had written this. WSA: I know I would never write anything like this - but I like the fact that you have. Manhattan Glutton: This sounds like the feel good hit of summer that you like for the first 20 or so listens then would rather stick a fork in your eye than hear again. Luckily for you, I scored it after 3 listens. Merisan: This is what I wanted to hear with this title. But it didn't quite reach the mark. My (substantial) booty was not quite shaken. Paco del Stinko: Not bad, but did not really grab me WreckdoM: Ranked this first on first listen. But subsequent listens saw it drop a little. It did however shake my (substantial) booty. DJ Ranger Den: For me you were the stand-out performer this NurEin. Everything you did was interesting and entertaining. I liked this song very much Frankie Big Face: I hated this.
Caravan Ray wrote:Ross Durand: I wish I had written this. .
The only thing that may have improved this song is if you had have ignored the title and the challenge. I was a bit disappointed to hear it was a bloke on his death bed (though that was very clever). But a song that was just about a race car driving submariner bullfighter would be pretty cool.
Thanks man. I'm happy with the song--not so much with the recording. I appreciate that you recognize the awesomeness of the chord progression. That stuff is lot of work to write and even harder to play!
As much as I'd like too, I can't argue with the judges when they all universally pan the song (although I'm curious to see more reviews). I try not to be a sore loser and figure I can't celebrate my success at Nur Ein IV and then act like I was slighted when I lose at Nur Ein VI. That would be lame.
I'm stunned by the results in a variety of ways. Sorry to see you go, frank. Congrats Ross. Also sorry to see WreckdoM and DJRD go. Good luck to the remaining competitors.
Caravan Ray wrote:Manhattan Glutton: This sounds like the feel good hit of summer that you like for the first 20 or so listens then would rather stick a fork in your eye than hear again. Luckily for you, I scored it after 3 listens.
I'm starting to get annoyed at the anti-pop bias around here. Just because I make a song that some people might enjoy on the first listen, holy shit, I'm a fucking witch! Burn him alive! It's not like you can say, "Gee whiz, this song has no technical merits." Nope, the sole problem you find with the song is you like it on the first listen. Holy fucking Christ! I have sinned against one of Song Fight's unspoken rules! I must make terrible music that requires 500 forced listens otherwise I'm not a musician. Go fuck yourself, Caravan Ray. But we're still cool.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.
WreckdoM: Man, those vocals are irritating. They are not completely without pitch, but not completely with pitch either, and these tons of downward inflections get old extremely quickly. The flatline tone sounds unlike any flatline tone I've ever heard... which would generally be forgivable, but there's nothing particularly creative about its use here, nor is it used for effect in the song, meaning that any other kind of tone would have had the same effect. The mix gives none of the components any room... this is particularly evident in the short break where something happens in the background but I can't even tell what. Also, in the last part where the vocals are panned around (for no apparent reason), vocals are hard to make out for similar reasons. Guitar sounds a bit clippy, and the audible click at the end contributes to the general sense of sloppiness. I like the lyrical approach, though prosody is a bit weird in one or two places.
Ross Durand: I honestly tried to like this, particularly because there actually is a creative use of a flatline tone here. I wasn't too sure when you tried to sell it as a sonar, but in the end it all came together, so all is well in that department. But... I just can't keep up with this song. It keeps jumping back and forth in what I'm tempted to call a rushed manner. This goes for both the composition and the lyrics. I like all the individual parts but they don't really come together. Add to that the somewhat sloppy vocals, and I have to call this a mixed bag.
Paco Del Stinko: Heh, shakers. I get it. Wow, awesome arrangement in chorus. The flatline tone seems rather incidental (props for making it fit the chords you use, though). I'm missing something in this song, but I'm not quite sure what. I think it has to do with the vocals. The "shaker" part of the title seems to tie into the lyrics rather loosely, and lines like "The myth is true, it is not lies" make me die a little. All in all, top marks in the composition and mix department, but the less is a bit less compelling.
Frankie Big Face: Hey did you know your vocals are clipped!111 In fact I didn't even notice that, I was too busy being annoyed by the bland falsetto almost all throughout the song. In fact I think the vocals are overdriven rather than clippy, and that you can simply pass off as intentional. Your arrangement is perfect. I can't find a flatline tone, though. Did you mean: dial tone? We didn't. At least the title is used well here. If not for the overuse of falsetto, this might have been a great song.
Merisan: Wow, that shaker playing is so loose it's practically extremely cacophonic, and the guitar playing too in some parts. My criticism from previous rounds applies again: this kind of song doesn't call for vocals with sugar coating. Apart from that, solid song. I like the interesting take on the flatline tone. This qualifies as "creative" in my book, though it's kind of hard to take it seriously in the context of this song. I like how shaking is a recurring theme in the lyrics. You are probably not going to be eliminated by me.
Worldly Self Assurance: Man, that guitar tone is evil. Hey, defibrillation to go with the flatline tone, that's pretty cool. Hey, another song with shakers. This is getting old. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to mention shakers in the title. If I have any complaints here, it's that the stopping heart comes a bit early, i.e. without anything plausibly leading up to it. I might have imagined something that starts out like that and then sort of semi-flashbacks or explains it. Ah well. So far this is the song that convinced me most in terms of how the challenge was integrated. Minor side note: singer's enunciation is a bit weird.
DJ Ranger Den: Not only is this not a particularly exciting use of flatline tones, but it also manages to lose me very quickly... in between the parts where I'm turned off by the gimmicky vocal styling that seems out of place in a song like this. The accompaniment drags on and on, and then there are some vocals on top of that and it's hard to tell if they are in any way connected to the rest (and they stand out pretty strongly in the mix which doesn't help at all). The lyrics are cryptic but sort of work anyway. If I didn't have to listen, you'd probably have lost me after a minute at best.
Manhattan Glutton: Totally the best musical integration of ECG tones in general. In fact I'd say it would have been even better if you'd left out the initial flatline thing. Excellent use of hard distortion near the end. Wonderful catchy chorus, but I'd really have wanted one with a more elaborate arrangement. It's sort of understated, despite the excellent use of the optional challenge. The clapping sounds a bit nasal, by the way. Props for almost making the metric crapton of lyrics work. It does come across as a bit hectic, though.
jast wrote:
Frankie Big Face: I can't find a flatline tone, though. Did you mean: dial tone?
Look, I'm not going to go too far down this path, but if you guys say "creative use of a flatline tone," you ought to accept anything that can be construed as such. I thought I would get points for going in a different direction and working it into the lyrics, but now I'm worried I was DQ'd for not fulfilling the challenge. I took the word "flatline" to mean flat in terms of frequency and, while I did naturally think of and consider a medical flatline tone, I didn't think it had to be that limited.
There was no discussion of a DQ. I didn't take points off, but I did wonder if anyone would. To me they are different sounds, but I felt you were trying to be creative & stay within the spirit of the challenge. I honestly could understand someone taking points off though.
jast wrote:
Frankie Big Face: I can't find a flatline tone, though. Did you mean: dial tone?
Look, I'm not going to go too far down this path, but if you guys say "creative use of a flatline tone," you ought to accept anything that can be construed as such. I thought I would get points for going in a different direction and working it into the lyrics, but now I'm worried I was DQ'd for not fulfilling the challenge. I took the word "flatline" to mean flat in terms of frequency and, while I did naturally think of and consider a medical flatline tone, I didn't think it had to be that limited.
I hope you didn't get dinged to much for that. To me the most creative way to use anything is not as itself,, which is why i used it asa starting tone for a car race(i don't know if they really do that, but they do in Pole Position), sonar, etc.... In the end i also used it as itself in order to make a narrative work Secret Life of Walter Mitty style. But I spent most of the week trying to think of things that sound could be besides a flatline tone, of course having the word "heart" in the title didn't really assist the lateral thinking.
Ross wrote:...of course having the word "heart" in the title didn't really assist the lateral thinking.
That's what I kind of thought too--that the medical flatline tone was too obvious. I thought of a fun way to use a "flatline tone" today--like as a censorship beep for a really profane song. I don't know--I was just trying to be creative, not get around the challenge. Also, although I haven't listened to the other songs yet, I'm definitely NOT crying foul or saying that I didn't deserve to be eliminated.
Nobody was disqualified. Personally I thought the dial tone was a long shot, and it influenced the score I gave you. All additional information is highly classified so that's all I can say.
Ross wrote:...of course having the word "heart" in the title didn't really assist the lateral thinking.
That's what I kind of thought too--that the medical flatline tone was too obvious. I thought of a fun way to use a "flatline tone" today--like as a censorship beep for a really profane song. I don't know--I was just trying to be creative, not get around the challenge. Also, although I haven't listened to the other songs yet, I'm definitely NOT crying foul or saying that I didn't deserve to be eliminated.
I don't think you did. I think you probably deserve to have won. The entire contest. Quite frankly. You've been consistently miraculously spot on the entire contest, in my book. I will be stalking your productions from now on. I think there are maybe four or so folks that coulda given you a run for your money. I am not one of them - unless recordingwise, I would have gotten my shit together.
Depending on what I wrote about. Kids might have worked for me. It is difficult to not sound "gimmicky" when singing about overcoming the doubts of suicidal bouts (hey! that rhymed!) - when you have the vocal tambre of a 12-year-old.
Good job my brethren (and sistren)! Thank you for your work and patience judges. Thank you for your more patience over my continuing late reviews (which WILL WILL be finished still). and...
Nur Ein!!!!
"Really interesting how the point you’re making slowly emerges like Martin Sheen from the mud in Apocalypse Now..." ~j$
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