OMGWTFWHEREARETHESONGSBBQ (Systematic Panic Reviews)

[erik]

*gasp*

[Niveous]

That doesn't seem very systematic...

Step 1: Patiently wait for 10:00PST and hope for the new songs to be posted

Step 2: Refresh every few minutes.

Step 3: Post on the board to pass the time

Step 4: Refresh SF every 30 Seconds

Step 5: Post on boards about the missing songs

Step 6: Cut yourself in anxiety, write about it in Live Journal

Step 7: Bother JB & Spud with PMs. Get told off in a gentle yet bitingly sarcastic way

Step 8: Refresh SF every 10 seconds

Step 9: Scream out of window "Where are the new songs!!" in Network-esque fashion

Step 10: Weep openly to anyone who will listen

Step 11: Stare blankly at SF page while finger clicks mouse endlessly

Etc.

[jack]

it would be interesting to see the spike in hits to the site right before the new songs are updated. i'm sure the biggest day of the week in terms of hits isn't the day the fights are updated. it's the day the fights are supposed to be updated.

[Heather. Redmon.]

My thoughts exactly!... what Niveous said...

[erik]

That doesn't seem very systematic.

But it fits in the title field.

[jack]

steve durand + jim of seattle = twin sons of different mothers

i liked the tune by the way, but not as much as your last one.

[mico saudad]

Add – Certain songs are organized in such a way that it allows you to focus on a particular ‘plane’ within a song. I enjoy those songs because it is entertaining to try to keep my focus on as many of those slices as possible. Many nice layers and some good stereo placement too. Liked it a lot. Damn, at this rate I’m never gonna win a songfight…

Calfborg – Not a fan of this at all. I didn’t like the lethargy of it. I didn’t like the simplicity of it. I didn’t like the drums. I didn’t like the synth sound.

CC and the Creeps – One redeeming feature of this is that the music vaguely sounds like musak that would be playing while your computer is melting down and the tech guy is ingoring you. I like some of the music, but the vocals are tinny and without melody or interesting rhythm. I also don’t like the lyrics. I think I would like this more if, instead of someone singing, I’m watching someone actually do the things you’re talking about. The juxtaposition of the guy doing with the mellowness could be entertaining. Not really songfight material, but that’s my buckfitty.

Daj Werkenhorse – Very much high end must be unharshified. Some nice echoes. I like 0:48+ but can’t really get into it because of the ear demolishing high end.

Hello to Ruin – I once recorded a song drunk with my friend and we just kept making barnyard animal noises. It still makes me wet myself. Do I even bother suggesting a compressor. Heh.

Motor Monkeys – Ah some good production here. This is the first time I’ve heard a song by you. Really good drums. I like the voice. This rocks. Nice build near the end! Well done.

Ricky Shallow and the Blown Loads – Ouch.

Ross Durand – A lot of high end in this one. Fun. I had trouble getting into because of productions issues though.

Sell Crazy – I like the intro. The singing is a little flat almost throughout. There are some nice moments sprinkled throughout, but overall it’s pretty rough.

Steve Durand – Cheesetronic. You put a lot of effort in to some of the synth solos, I’ll give you that. Didn’t like the singing at all. Didn’t really like the sounds. Didn’t really like the lyrics. I’m just being a bastard today. Sorry.

The Hell Yeahs – As it is it sounds like the music was recorded and the vocals were recorded over it. If it were possible to place the vocals more in the music it would sound a lot more coherent to me. This was also mixed a little high for my tastes. (*edit - this review made it sound like I didn't like the song, which I do)

The John Benjamin Band – Vocoder used for maximum awesome. After hearing the best of JBB so much lately and really really liking it, I can safely say that this isn’t among the top five JBB songs ever. It felt a little bit like an amazingly straight roller coaster ride with only a couple of hills. Thematically it was also not quite as strong many of the shining stars to be found in the JBB collected works.

The K Twins – The beginning sounds like Phil Collins, with a David Bowie middle. It was pretty interesting but a little amorphous for my tastes. I feel like I should be able to say more but apparently that feeling is wrong.

[nyjm]

systematic panic

i mean wow! look at the turn out for all this weeks categories! sf got mentioned on boingboing recently, no?

abecedarian
- really quiet mix
- pretty guitar line
- i rather like the backing vocals in the chorus
- damn good lyrics; i can relate
- have to admit a personal bias for these kinds of soft songs of a guy and his guitar. wish i could write songs like this.
CONTENDER

add
- lacks tension, just feels repetitive
- maybe this should be a bit darker? it seems odd, but i keep thinking this could almost be something like a NIN song, but it's too poppy in the mix
- like the outro

calfborg
- up the vocals in the mix
- differentiate the chorus and verse more; the song just maintains a certain level of tension, but never takes off

cc and the creeps
- ... um, i dunno... nice song, well recorded, but i'm not a fan of these kinds of tunes
- the ska vibe is rather good, but not groovy enough
- the lyrics are kind of opaque to me

daj werkenhorse
- what the hell was that?

hello to ruin
- what the fuck was that?
- you might have a nice voice there, but don't screech

hell yeahs
- hmm. the famous hell yeahs; i'm pretty new here, but your reputation as preceded you.
- like the guitar groove; maybe up the guitars in the mix; you have a nice voice, but if the song's gonna rock, let it rock
- i feel like i know this vocal style, but i can't put my finger on it; liz phair?

the john benjamin band
- whoa! it's 1983 all over again! i want my - i want my - i want my MTV!
- like the modulated voice for the chorus
- great guitar texture; blends well with the vocal modulation and the synths; it's really great to hear such a poppy song rock
CONTENDER

the k twins
- and the 80's keep on coming!
- i'm getting an inxs/david bowie vibe, but the chorus is very pink floyd
- very cool

motormonkeys
- i like the snarl in your voice
- the guitar part feels kind of thin
- a good, straightforward rock song, but nothing that sets it aparts from lots of other good, straightforward rock songs

ricky shallow and the blown loads
- you should talk with daj werkenhorse and hello to ruin. maybe a group therapy session is in order
- cut the noise in your recording, you clip the mike something awful
- write some lyrics that don't sound like they're from a 14 year-old's journal
- okay, no, ouch. i'm normally a pretty open listener, but i can't even finish this song; it's just painful on the ears

ross durand
- rockabilly; cool.
- love your lyrics, and the vocals on the chorus are great
- good guitar line
- oh, but the ending, it just falls apart...
CONTENDER

sell crazy
- the backing vocals seem odd, and maybe out of tune
- just don't really dig the vocals at all; they really just say "bar band"

steve durand
- related to ross? (that sounds like a line from "friends")
- the 80's part III
- the vocals lack rhythm (and some harmony)
- nearly five minutes is too long even with the little bridge around 2:50; drop the second verse and just go ABA.

wow, some really nice stuff and some really horrible crap. in the end, tho, i'm going with abecedarian (so much for the theory that those who go later in a competition score better), for the nice guitar work, great lyrics and emotional impact.

[WeaselSlayer]

- write some lyrics that don't sound like they're from a 14 year-old's journal

They're ironic.

[Daj Werkenhorse 1]

systematic panic


daj werkenhorse
- what the hell was that?

.

"I did not want vinyl windows on an old building."

[jb]

The John Benjamin Band – Vocoder used for maximum awesome. After hearing the best of JBB so much lately and really really liking it, I can safely say that this isn’t among the top five JBB songs ever. It felt a little bit like an amazingly straight roller coaster ride with only a couple of hills. Thematically it was also not quite as strong many of the shining stars to be found in the JBB collected works.

Did you follow the instructions I posted in the lyrics thread?

[mico saudad]

Did you follow the instructions I posted in the lyrics thread?

I had not. But then I did. Rinsed and repeated even.
The dancing definitely makes it.

(still not in my top five jbb songs yet, though)

[Me$$iah]

Im not doin reviews yet but I just had to say

you gotta love Luke Henley

Dude
you are as punk as fuck

[MintyHandy]

I would like to register a complaint: More than half of this field didn't bother to put their names in the Author field of their mp3's ID3 tag. I was listening to the stream, writing feedback, and suddenly I realized I was going to have to go back and listen to more than half the songs and either match up the commentary or re-write it -- and that just gives me a headache, so I deleted all my commentary and will do it sometime when I have more patience to click each link (instead of listening while I work).

Some good songs in there, though, so I -will- certainly get to reviewing.

[j$]

Full reviews in a few days, but Hell Yeahs - genius in that brilliant way whereby for the first half of the song I was thinking 'oh, this is not the Hell Yeahs I know & love' and by the end I was completely entranced. Nice work. (though your backing vox in the chorus sound like 'Look out it's David Blaine')

j$

[Kapitano]

More than half of this field didn't bother to put their names in the Author field of their mp3's ID3 tag.

ID3 tags come in two types - v1 and v2. Of the 14 entries, 2 included their details in v1 only, 4 in v2 only, 5 in both, and 3 in neither.

Probably you are only looking at the v2 tags. Most mp3 players can recognise both.

Look out it's David Blaine

What are you doing up at 4:15 on a Sunday morning? And you a married man. I have an excuse, having just watched two hours of Babylon 5 videos.

[Heather. Redmon.]

And you a married man.

Huh? Johnny Cashpoint better be married to a man because Phil just said that if he's not gay, then I'm in a bunch of trouble!

Thanks for the review J$, it is a slightly different style for us, but I'm glad you still enjoyed it!

[jb]

Add - I love how "tear it up" morphs into a rhythmic motif after the first couple measures. Reminds me of Soul Coughing. Lots of stuff in here to listen to. I especially like the synths that subtly reinforce the chord progression. The funky part at 1:15 kicks booty, and then a rad synth comes in with the chords again. If it were me I'd stomp on the "tear it up" part with the lyrics, to reinforce the structure of the song, give the listener something to hang on to. At 1:50 comes another hooky melody, that's nice and solid. This track's complex yo. Feels almost like an amalgamation of two songs, one featuring "tear it up" and the other featuring "you and everyone".

Daj Werkenhorse - You don't have the songwriting chops to support entering three songs. You had one idea for this song, maybe if you had taken the other two ideas and put them into this song too you might have something people would want to listen to. But as it is you have only the half-second interest garnered by the words "neo-geo", but nothing interesting to say about it. And you've obviously got a hard-on for harsh production, but it's not exciting or energizing, like listening to a 10-second Descendents song or something. It's just harsh and annoying, and the kids in the auditorium will be glad when your band is done and the Bon Jovi cover band comes up on the talent show.

The John Benjamin Band - Man, I dunno about your (you, the listening audience) speakers, but on mine and my headphones the guitar/bass sound I got on this recording just makes me giddy. It's just a little dancey pop song, with universalist lyrics. Not intended to be great art or do anything other than make you tap a foot, nod your head, or get up and jump around the room like I'm doing. Drums and arpeggiated synth from Fruityloops. Arpeggio is one of Fruity's OSC 3 presets, tweaked a little. Drums are just random kick/snare/hat/shaker whatever. Synth solo is from my Yamaha. Guitar is a Presonus Bluetube amp with both knobs to 11. Bass is run through that too, with less gain (the bass doesn't sound great with both knobs to 11). Vocoder is Cubase's vocoder plugin with the "Whiter Shade of Pale" organ from my Yamaha.

Abecedarian - Nice quiet picking. I like the ringing string. The vocals need to be a bit further up in the mix, and some compression added so they maintain a consistent dynamic. That will let me focus on what you're saying. Lyrically I'd like something to make me think there's a point to the "systematic" part of the panic. I like the idea of wanting to match up with your significant other, but it feels like "systematic" is just there to meet the requirement. The harmony vocal should come back around; I missed having some repetition to hold on to structurally.

The Hell Yeahs - Growly, nice. I like the riff that the synth is hitting in the beginning there. Lyrically I'd like a hookier gimmick. Something more catch-phrasey. I like Heather's vocals in their full whininess. I think you could take it further in toward the distorto-range here, to kick the song over the edge. Really hammer those licks, make my skull shudder as you make sure I leave the room with a sore neck from headbanging. This is pretty cool, nice and complex in all the stuff going on. I think if the drums were doing less, the arrangement would be more clear and the aggression would be more striking. I want it to be really clear that the bass and kick are in sync rhythmically, and that the cymbals aren't just afterthoughts wherever there's a hole.

The K Twins - Ooh, panned kick thingy. Ah, but the vocals are panned too so now they're covering up the kick and stuff. Something needs to be in the middle here, I'm having trouble making out the vocals. Did you A/B this in mono? I didn't for mine either, but I think here if you did it would be obvious that all the panning is undermining your mix a little. When the synth comes in it gets all Pink Floydy. Also reminds me of Roymond. Roymondy. Very short. I expected something to come back around. It reminds me of a transitional piece from a rock opera, maybe by Styx.

CC and the Creeps - Plosives. Buy a pop filter. Stolen chord progression. You've got a whole band going here, willing to put a song together, but you're wasting it on some pretty crap lyrics man. I like the vibe, I like the mix (in my headphones). The bass is boomy on some notes, but it's not too aggravating. The synth noises are nicely different from the rest of the mix. Pleasant effect. I like that you've worked the title in lyrically for a reason, even if I wish you were a little more disciplined in your lyrical craft. I think it's a good idea, just a little goofily executed. The typing noises shouldn't pan like that, 'cause it makes them sound like something other than a guy writing an email to tech support, which is what I guess they're supposed to indicate. Just put them off in the background, and make it very obvious what they're doing. I'd have liked this a lot more if it were a little more thoroughly worked out. The computer vox at the end for example could use a funnier line.

Steve Durand - Murray Head! The drums are too generic to be so loud in the mix. Kind of droning me out. I know it's asinine to say, but I wish you sang better. I think you need to work harder to get your vocal parts to match up to your instrumentation. Your voice reminds me of Jim of Seattle (and a little Future Boy), but he spends a lot of time getting his vocals down right. Compress the vocals to even out the dynamics, do more takes, and practice the part for a day before recording. I think you should experiment with some autotune as well. Lyrically the song is somewhat rambly and "poetic". Some of the lines sound like you thought you had found some good word choices, but at the cost of a natural flow. Finding the balance between the need to make artistic choices and to communicate an idea is difficult I know. It's almost like you're doing the "Whose Line Is It Anyway" trick where they know where they want to go, so the middle lines of their made-up song are only there to have the right ending vowels to hit their punchline. You're not joking here, but I get the same impression.

Calfborg - You have a great sense of how to make cool sounds. The words seem like an afterthought, but the sounds are cool enough to make me enjoy the track. I like a good stompy kick drum, and although the lyrics seem less of a focus you still have a good hook melodically for them. It keeps me interested. I like how you use repetition in the vocal line while modifying the arrangement. The guitar solo needed to be more thought-out, it sounds too improvised and noodly. Everything else is structured thorougly, so it's annoying to have that lack of discipline intruding in the middle of my stomping around the room. It's like somebody invited Phish to the Olivia Tremor Control concert. I also wish you had a firm ending. This song sounds too much like a crafted piece to just "end" like that.

Ricky Shallow and the Blown Loads - Assuming this sounds like you want it to, I can only say that the production style is too harsh for my taste. I think you're going for some kinda punk sound, like a Stooges sort of deal, or Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Hives or something, but like, trying to one-up them. But you really need to work this shit out more, man, if you want people to not just dismiss you as adolescents wasting time and electricity. If only you had written a loud, abrasive, anarchic SONG, with structure and a rhythm that you all played at the same time, you might have had something. As it is, it's just 3:50 of punk wanking. I'm sure it amused you at the time. If you spent five days figuring this out and it's exactly like you wanted it and I just don't get it because i'm over 30, then I apologize and hope the girls all dig it. The chuckles at the end don't help though. Everybody knows punks have no sense of humor, unless they're Blink 182. You don't want that, do you?

Motor Monkeys - After the Ricky Shallow song this sounds really quiet. Not sure if that's a fair judgement, but I'm almost through here so I'm not going away and coming back. You get the short end, sorry. This has one of those angular riffs and vocal lines that don't appeal to me. It's well-put-together. Your singing reminds me of Johnny Rotten a little, of the PIL days. I'm too much of a popster to go this long without a chorus. Ah, there's a synth line. I'd have liked that to be way further front, to kind of take over from the guitars a little. Oooh, at 2:15 it kind of settles into a groove and gets MOVING. Not sure, but maybe the bass and drums were working together more than in the rest of the song, where the bass and guitar were really focused on preserving their unity. Those last 30 seconds of the song really kick ass. Copy them and paste them twice amongst the rest of the song, and you'll have my attention the whole way through. If the whole song had gelled like that, this would have gotten my vote.

Ross Durand - Ah, a standard rock riff/beat. Reminds me of King Arthur. You're right that the vocals need *something* to keep them from being too dry, but I think the reverb you chose is too distracting. Maybe you just don't need quite so much of it. These lyrics are ALMOST there. This style really needs a square, clever take, and you're so close that it's like aaaaaaaagh. Just a few lines here and there sound like they need more polish. The guitar solo needs more inspiration. But then, you kinda just fall apart at the end, so I guess there wasn't a whole lot more work juice left during this recording. I like the solo guitar tone, and the mix is pretty clear too.

Hello to Ruin - Is this like, the first or second song you've ever written? Sounds a little improvised. Like you wrote the words down, had a couple guitar licks worked out, and just kinda made up how you'd sing the "verse" parts. You gotta have more writing chops to pull something like this off. Go read some old Nate Van Til posts and try again. Keep whatever you used to record this, 'cause it worked pretty well. Not too harsh, I can hear what you're saying and playing. Just work a little harder to make something people will want to listen to. Maybe that's not your goal, but if not, then why enter Song Fight?

Sell Crazy - Oh yeah, here we go. You guys worked on this, and it's all fitting together. I think you've probably been playing together for a while, or if you're just one dude, you've done this quite a bit before. Nice hooks, nice poppy lyrics, you keep to the rhythm you've set up but I haven't heard you sacrifice prosody in order to stuff in the words you want to use. This is pretty killer. The bass sound is nice in my headphones. I'd like to hear this with some nice hard-limiting to make it loud, and with a little EQ to bring out the highs and give me some head room. Nice ending too! This is a keeper.

[Niveous]

Sell Crazy=Likely Lads + new drummer

[jack]

Hell Yeahs......enjoyed the tune but I agree with whoever said that the mix sounds off, like heather's vox were layered on top of everything else and it just didn't quite mesh right level wise. i will say AWESOME drum programming. you are one of the best here. i really wish you would master your backing mix louder though. like really crank that shit up. for some reason it seems the abomb mixes are generally mastered louder than the hell yeahs mixes. i always say this. but it's still great to get a hell yeahs tune again. you guys rock.

[Dan Wrekenhaus 2]

Daj Werkenhorse - You don't have the songwriting chops to support entering three songs.

I hope you won't be too excited when you see we did all four. We're more into Winco than New Seasons, dig? Maybe non-locals won't get that... Winco is a cheap, soon-to-expire bulk food store, filled to the throat with nitrates and the like. New Seasons is a trendy, organic, fresh and exspensive store.

On a related topic, I would like to apologize for going against the guidelines of one submittal per week. Last time we entered was back in the day where the faq said that sort of thing was kosher.

[Daj Werkenhorse 1]

Songwriting chops?
I'll give you a songwriting . . . RIGHT TO THE CHOPS.