The 5th Annual Gift of Music!!!!

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:15 pm

Yeah, I dunno... I feel like I might wait this one out. Best of luck to everyone, though.

senza valore · Post by **senza valore** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:44 pm

Niveous wrote:There is such a system....it's called bribery.

Name your price.

I do realize that in your graciousness, Niveous, you would probably be responsive to anyone making requests of a specific list. However, it seems great that you would take this organizing on at all and I certainly wouldn't want to burden you with the extra work of trying to fill a bunch of people's requests. Then again, I can't imagine any sort of system that wouldn't still work best with just one person deciding who the lists should go to. So, oh well. No big deal and I hope I didn't imply that I wasn't excited about this, as I definitely am.

WeaselSlayer · Post by **WeaselSlayer** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:15 pm

Did you hate my cover that much Marcus?

Ross · Post by **Ross** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:54 pm

Niveous wrote:Okay folks, I'm giving you until Wednesday morning to get your song choices in and then I'll give out the assignments.

We'll receive this by PM, is that correct?

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:19 am

rdurand wrote:
Niveous wrote:Okay folks, I'm giving you until Wednesday morning to get your song choices in and then I'll give out the assignments.
We'll receive this by PM, is that correct?

Absolutely.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:32 am

My post never went though about how I think the match ups should be public.
So here goes:

BLT: Hey Ross, I see Klownhole is your gifter

Ross: Yeah, wonder which song they'll pick?

Meatwad: We're going with Brian Adams - Cuts Like A Knife 8)

j$ · Post by j$ » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:53 am

Do you tell your family what they're getting for Christmas as they're opening their presents?

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:46 pm

WeaselSlayer wrote:Did you hate my cover that much Marcus?

You had a pretty striking arrangement of the song. It took me a while to warm up to it, but I am firmly on board with it at this point. I'm having a hard time coming up with four songs that I would like cats to cover with an acceptable chance that it'll be as worth listening to as the original, or as worth listening to as your cover of Blue Velvet. Plus I dunno that I'm up to the challenge of doing anything decent for anyone. But maybe that's the game. Also, there's already been Decemberists and Built to Spill and so forth requisitioned, and a lot of the stuff I've been listening to the last few months is very specific to the original musician... not really chord-and-melody based stuff, you know? How can I ask someone to cover Atlas by Battles, or Running On Empty by Strategy? I'll try to think of four songs, but we'll see.

frankie big face · Post by **frankie big face** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:08 pm

mkilly wrote: How can I ask someone to cover Atlas by Battles, or Running On Empty by Strategy? I'll try to think of four songs, but we'll see.

Oh absolutely. How terrible that would be. Too bad there are no other songs in the world to choose from.

Stop being such a whiny brat and just pick four songs already.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:57 pm

j$ wrote:Do you tell your family what they're getting for Christmas as they're opening their presents?

Oh yeah, true. I was not of sound mind last night.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:00 pm

mkilly wrote: a lot of the stuff I've been listening to the last few months is very specific to the original musician...

Does this mean it absolutely sucks except for the fact that the composer performing it somehow makes it amazing? Like, how does this mean a cover can't be made?

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:39 pm

frankie big face wrote:
mkilly wrote: How can I ask someone to cover Atlas by Battles, or Running On Empty by Strategy? I'll try to think of four songs, but we'll see.
Oh absolutely. How terrible that would be. Too bad there are no other songs in the world to choose from.

Stop being such a whiny brat and just pick four songs already.

Maybe you should stop being such a frankie bum face and cover "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" already.

roymond wrote:
mkilly wrote: a lot of the stuff I've been listening to the last few months is very specific to the original musician...
Does this mean it absolutely sucks except for the fact that the composer performing it somehow makes it amazing? Like, how does this mean a cover can't be made?

Yeah, interestingly enough at my job today we got a CD--an a cappella Negativland cover album. Negativland never struck me as a band that could be covered, but here we are. I get the sense that with a lot of people here, if you asked them to cover an eight-minute-long wordless, postrock track that was made with a dozen different synthesizers and loops and effects, they wouldn't know where to begin. I'm sure I wouldn't. Most of the music on SF is very traditional: there are choruses, and bridges, and verses. It's hard to recreate music if there's nothing to latch on to, in terms of words or chords. That's just me, maybe I'm ignorant and not confident enough in my colleagues. I didn't mean to get into this discussion.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:33 pm

mkilly wrote: Yeah, interestingly enough at my job today we got a CD--an a cappella Negativland cover album. Negativland never struck me as a band that could be covered, but here we are.

Wow, now that's something. Who did it? I wouldn't mind hearing something of that.
-bill

Post by **Spud** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:36 pm

The fun is in seeing what is done with these tracks. I don't expect them to be better, just different, and that is enough for me, I guess.

SPUD

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:04 pm

mkilly wrote:I get the sense that with a lot of people here, if you asked them to cover an eight-minute-long wordless, post rock track that was made with a dozen different synthesizers and loops and effects, they wouldn't know where to begin. I'm sure I wouldn't. Most of the music on SF is very traditional: there are choruses, and bridges, and verses. It's hard to recreate music if there's nothing to latch on to, in terms of words or chords. That's just me, maybe I'm ignorant and not confident enough in my colleagues.

Then we're back to Frankie's point about why someone would build a list based on such songs. Not to mention there are four slots to fill, from which someone could choose one to cover. Now, you've been a pretty healthy part of this game, did you read a rule about the list coming solely from your recent playlists? Hint: I can't recall the last time I listened to three of mine, but in at least one case it's been years.

Sorry, I'm crabby tonight, so I shouldn't take this bait and drag you under with me. I'm most curious about your list, any way it goes!

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:36 pm

http://www.myspace.com/180gs

jack · Post by **jack** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:48 pm

nobody else has bitched about anyone's choices. jesus, if you don't want to play, shut the fuck up already and quit being such a drama queen.

bz£ · Post by **bz£** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:32 pm

mkilly wrote:I get the sense that with a lot of people here, if you asked them to cover an eight-minute-long wordless, postrock track that was made with a dozen different synthesizers and loops and effects, they wouldn't know where to begin.

I was tempted to pick four of these, just to see what happened. But, yeah, I figured the most likely outcome was no cover at all.

http://www.myspace.com/180gs

And this is possibly the awesomest thing I have heard in years.
(edit: Maybe ever.)

wages · Post by **wages** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:53 pm

I'm bored, so here we go...

I've had iTunes on my PC for nearly a year now, and I rate songs often and use it nearly exclusively for listening on my computer (even for SongFight). I really like the part that counts the number of times you've played the song.

Which brings me to... I personally listen to the songs I picked often. Here is what iTunes has to say (mind you, there are many plays from my car CD player that aren't counted on iTunes)...

Kings of Leon - California Waiting
Rating: 5/5
Play Count: 12
Last Played: 7/8/2007 5:42 PM

Cake - The Distance
Rating: 5/5
Play Count: 4
Last Played: 6/9/2007 8:36 PM

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Rating: 5/5
Play Count: 5
Last Played: 10/20/2007 8:01 PM

Alice in Chains - Down in a Hole
Rating: 5/5 acoustic/ 5/5 electric
Play Count: 4 acoustic/ 3 electric
Last Played: 6/7/2007 8:49 PM acoustic/ 5/19/2007 7:34 PM electric

Some Perspective?
My #1 played song IS "California Waiting" at 12 plays
#2 is The Doors "Riders on the Storm" at 7 plays
#3 is Alice in Chains "No Excuses" at 6 plays
#4 is Aphrodite's Child "Aegian Sea" at 6 plays
#5 is Ben Harper "Burn One Down" at 6 plays
and around 15 more with 6 plays each.

I have "ever played" 5,320 songs all the way through (because that's how iTunes counts 'em; so if you listen for half the song, it no count)
I have 35,901 in my library
433 of them are SongFight songs

Most played SF song: B. Ellison "A Woman on Paper" x 5
2nd? Steve Durand's "A Woman on Paper" x4 (though I've heard it at least a dozen times in my truck)
several log 3 plays.

So what? So I know the songs I chose.

EDIT: And I tried to pick a variety to make it easy on yall.

Rinkydink · Post by **Rinkydink** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:03 pm

bzl wrote:
mkilly wrote:I get the sense that with a lot of people here, if you asked them to cover an eight-minute-long wordless, postrock track that was made with a dozen different synthesizers and loops and effects, they wouldn't know where to begin.
I was tempted to pick four of these, just to see what happened. But, yeah, I figured the most likely outcome was no cover at all.

yep, i think you hit the nail squarely on the head, a list of difficult/obscure or just plain shite songs will = no gift (unless you're the hell yeahs when any song list no matter what = no gift

)

then again what is difficult/obscure or just plain shite to one person might be the perfect list to someone else (probably not though)

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 7:59 pm

Yeah, we tried to go as boring vanilla as possible with our list, to see if that will work this time. We'll see! I'm excited to see who's list we get.

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 8:27 pm

Spud wrote:The fun is in seeing what is done with these tracks. I don't expect them to be better, just different, and that is enough for me, I guess.

SPUD

That's a decent enough standpoint, but what I think the problem is (at least it has been for me in the past) is you get your list of songs, go "Oh, I've never heard of any of these artists before." so you listen to the songs and go "Oh, I hate every single one of these songs." then you torture yourself trying to learn/perform something you don't like, have no interest in... however, signing up for this thing, you know the possibility of this happening to you is very real. I decided in my second GoM that if I got a list of songs I hated, I'd take one of the songs and make it sound like something I like... which brings us back to exactly what you said

But still, (and I know everyone has different tastes in music) I think people should have some consideration for others when submitting their list of four songs. I've seen in the past lists that look like someone trying to b intentionally difficult, or "HEY LOOK HOW INDIE AND OBSCURE I AM" and that totally ruins the vibe, IMHO.