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Nur Ein XI Round Six "How Does She Do It?"

Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 10:10 am
by Niveous
Welcome to the sixth round of the eleventh edition of the Nur Ein

Title: How Does She Do It?
Challenge: Three part song in less than three minutes

Songs are Due on: Monday, May 30th @ 12:01 AM Eastern
Send your MP3 to nurein.sidefight@gmail.com

NUR EIN!!!!!

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 11:17 am
by iVeg
If someone can write a three part song in less than three minutes, I'll be seriously impressed. It usually takes me a couple hours to just write lyrics :D

I am mixed about wanting judge clarification on "three part song". I think I *DON'T* want it, just so my brain can run around on rabbit trails...

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 3:55 pm
by grumpymike
Niveous wrote:Challenge: Three part song in less than three minutes
Translation: The judges want this over already!

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 8:25 pm
by BoffoYux
UPDATE: Forgot about Monday being a holiday - moved to Tuesday.

Round 6 LP
Tuesday 5/31 9:00 pm EST
5 Semi-Finalists going for the right to compete in the final round!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C153Y7rWuP4

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 12:31 am
by noma
iVeg wrote:If someone can write a three part song in less than three minutes, I'll be seriously impressed. It usually takes me a couple hours to just write lyrics :D

I am mixed about wanting judge clarification on "three part song". I think I *DON'T* want it, just so my brain can run around on rabbit trails...
See, TMBG's "With the Dark" is a good example. In 3:17 minutes it has 4 parts, and if you omit one of the final "Busted, crusted,..." refrains, you're at under 3 minutes. The four sections are:

1.) "Like a ghost..."
2.) (transition)
3.) "I'm getting tired of all..."
4.) "Bashes, smashes,..."
and finally a short reprise of 1.)

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 1:42 am
by noma
By the way, just to clarify, if you'd rather do a 4, 5 or 7 part song in under three minutes, I won't mind (as long as it's good, which obviously gets harder when trying to cram in more parts; and of course, that's just my opinion, not necessarily all five judges').

But the no-more-than-three-minutes part is absolutely mandatory. 3:05 or so, I think, is OK with me, but try to stay below the 3 minute mark as good as you can.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 2:55 am
by BenKrieger
This is the best challenge ever!

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 4:39 am
by glennny
This is the best challenge ever!
So Sayeth Mr. Song-Cycle.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am
by grumpymike
So I need to copy 3 Soundgarden songs in one? /s

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 5:54 am
by noma
grumpymike wrote:So I need to copy 3 Soundgarden songs in one? /s
Yes, indeed. The objective is to take 3 different sections from 3 Soundgarden songs and just stick them together. Then jumble up the chords a bit and write some new angsty lyrics to go along with them. Voilà, you're a perfect copycat. 8-)

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 1:01 pm
by Niveous
grumpymike wrote:So I need to copy 3 Soundgarden songs in one? /s
Start off with that Pretty Noose, go into Limo Wreck and close out with Black Hole Sun. That's a winner.

Or maybe go Holy Water into Jesus Christ Pose followed by Live To Rise.

Rusty Cage ---> Been Away For Too Long ---> Superunknown. Yeah, that could work.

I really like Soundgarden.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 2:34 pm
by MicahSommer
Niveous wrote:
grumpymike wrote:So I need to copy 3 Soundgarden songs in one? /s
Start off with that Pretty Noose, go into Limo Wreck and close out with Black Hole Sun. That's a winner.

Or maybe go Holy Water into Jesus Christ Pose followed by Live To Rise.

Rusty Cage ---> Been Away For Too Long ---> Superunknown. Yeah, that could work.

I really like Soundgarden.
Try doing them simultaneously rather than consecutively.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 2:41 pm
by Niveous
MicahSommer wrote:
Niveous wrote:
grumpymike wrote:So I need to copy 3 Soundgarden songs in one? /s
Start off with that Pretty Noose, go into Limo Wreck and close out with Black Hole Sun. That's a winner.

Or maybe go Holy Water into Jesus Christ Pose followed by Live To Rise.

Rusty Cage ---> Been Away For Too Long ---> Superunknown. Yeah, that could work.

I really like Soundgarden.
Try doing them simultaneously rather than consecutively.
Totally. Go Flaming Lips. Do Three different three minute songs that are all meant to be played at the same time!

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 10:20 pm
by iVeg
So my version 1 ended up being 3:49. The "final" ended up being 2:58.9. Procrustes would be proud. My original concept was 3 parts, 3 instruments, and 3 vocal tracks under 3 minutes.

I'm having "buyer's remorse". I'm second guessing everything, and may rewrite everything. :o See how far I can get :shock:

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Sat May 28, 2016 7:45 pm
by grumpymike
So far I have over 33 tracks per minute!!! This song dense, yall!

Edit: thats how many tracks are in soundgarden songs right??

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 8:28 am
by Paco Del Stinko
In with the stupid. NUR EIN!

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 8:39 pm
by Lunkhead
In. Very curious to hear this round's songs.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 6:39 am
by noma
Hey, the challenge was "less than three minutes", not "exactly three minutes"! ;) (Songs are all within the OK length range of course.)
Songs this round are really cool. I'll post reviews soon. :)

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 9:42 am
by grumpymike
Please ignore 22 milliseconds at the beginning or end of my song. I apologize profusely for my lack of precision. :(

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:48 am
by inevitableguy
Hi, all. As you have probably noticed, I have not posted any reviews since Round 2. Life has just kicked me over and over again the last few weeks. Since the start of Nur Ein (in chronological order): my dog died, my wife's old cat (who still lived with her ex-husband) died, someone tried to break into our house, a friend of mine went into a coma that he most likely will not wake up from, and this week, I had all four of my wisdom teeth extracted. Honestly, I'm amazed that I had it in me to even get my judgment in every week on time. So, here is my review of this week's fight. I have all of my notes for the last few weeks, and I hope to go back and post some reviews for the older fights in the next week or two.

This week was full of greatness. The deciding factor in my rankings ended up being how well I felt the challenge was incorporated into the song. In other words, everyone met the challenge, but some acts excelled at the challenge, and I ranked them higher. I'll get into a little more detail in each review. Again, great work from everyone this week!

From best to worst:

Grumpy Mike – You embraced the challenge! You essentially wrote several short songs in several genres united around a story and seamlessly blended together. This was everything I wanted this challenge to be. The only complaint I have is that the lyrics are just far too campy for me.

BGM – You gave the challenge a quick peck on the cheek. Although there were three distinct motifs, it felt more like a song in two parts, with the second part having a verse and a chorus section. I loved your take on the title, and the lyrics are simple yet very effective.

Berkeley Social Scene – You flirted with the challenge. Each part of your song had a distinct arrangement, but maintained most of the same structure. In that regard, it was more like a song with a standard structure. Challenge aside, this was my favorite song of the fight. Catchy in all of the right places and well put together. You are a very talented group of musicians, I just want to hear you all take some chances sometimes, especially with the challenges.

Inflatable Vegetables – You also flirted with the challenge. Similar to BSS, your parts felt more like different arrangements of the same part (especially the first and third parts) rather than three distinct parts. I like the flow, and even though it's a little rough around the edges, I think there's a really good song in there.

Paco del Stinko – You stood in the same room with the challenge. Each verse sounded different, but by returning to the same chorus each time, you erased most of the sense of the song being in parts. I think you know this, but these lyrics are terribly juvenile and hard to listen to in spots. Like any Paco song, it's well-produced and it has its moments, but overall falls flat for me.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:06 am
by Lunkhead
I guess I'm confused about the challenge, even though I had thought it was pretty straightforward. To me the BSS song has five different parts (pre-verse, verse, chorus, bridge, outro). Was there some different definition of "part" that we were supposed to mind read out of the judges' heads? I thought this was like the "Bullets and Lovers" challenge but less prescriptive about what the parts had to be:

"Song must be 2 minutes or shorter. Song must include 2 verses, a chorus, a repetition of the chorus and a solo."

Anyway, glad you enjoyed the song otherwise.

Also, sorry to hear about all the crazy stuff you've been dealing with. That sounds terrible. I hope things take a turn for the better ASAP.

Re: Nur Ein XI- Round Six

Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:23 am
by inevitableguy
Lunk - you are correct, your song was in five parts, it was under three minutes, it therefore met the challenge. The problem with judging Nur Ein is that as you get into the later rounds, you have a small group of excellent songwriters competing, and you have to slice things really fine to come up with an order. This week was so full of great songs that using the challenge as a yardstick was the only way for me to get through. You met the challenge, I just felt like a couple of the other songs "met it better" for lack of a better phrase.