Nur Ein II Round One "Sister Cocaine"

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Niveous
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Post by Niveous »

My reviews of Sister Cocaine:

24 Thank Glennny for the Frisbee
This tune was just so incredibly catchy. It had this 60's feel that just worked for me. The "big brother, sweet sister" refrain is just so great and Glenn's guitar work is great on this. It was one of the few songs in this fight that I enjoyed thoroughly.

23 Bryan Kandel
This song has a great groove and the flow in the using alliteration made for a very good song. BK may be the unknown darkhorse but with songs like this, the competiton should be wary. The drums in this are very flat though in some parts.

22 Mr. Lostman
The guitars have this Cranberries "Free to Decide" feel that I enjoy with lyrics that reek of Toad the Wet Sprocket in their delivery. My fellow jurors didn't give it as much love as I did but it takes me back to another time where it's the mid 90's and alternative rock is on the top 40 radio. Good stuff. So Cold! So Cold!

21 Billy's Little Trip
The opening is f'n killer. The chorus is strong and that helped especially since the song didn't liven up until the 2nd verse. The gift from God line is classic. That first verse is throwaway. A straight up rocker and that suites my fancy.

20 Calfborg
The hardest sell at first was this one. It grew on me because at first I wasn't feeling the 80's synth. But it definitely sunk in and after you get past the owl on fire, it's a hit. Just watch some of those notes as some of them turned sour. Hmmm, upon hindsight, I may have placed this a little lower. Then again, its height may be a sign of my feelings toward the rest of this fight. Or not. There are times where I really like this and times where it's just okay

19 WreckdoM
So you take the wacky Talking Heads style of Sausage Boy's entry last round and give it the WreckdoM donkey punch and voila. The chorus with the "where am I, who am I" makes for one of the most memorable songs in the fight. That's my biggest complaint about this round. Most of the songs in this fight, I will forget in a month or less.

18 Merisan
I really like this song alot. Erin's vocals are pristine. But where is the alliteration. Okay, there are three lines of it. That's it? I know that the challenge is open but this is the equivalent of going into the Brownie Points fight and doing only two measures of music in a different time signature. It felt like it was the least amount you could do and it still counts. I can't complain because we have no prequisites but as a juror I expected more. Nonetheless, this is a much better songs than 90% of the songs in the fight.

17 Puce
Here's where the fight begins to take a turn for me. This is a decent Puce tune. It's very glossy and clean as if it was made by Rob Thomas but if it weren't for that high note in the chorus, I would probably not even notice the song. That high note is a nice touch that kept my attention during a song that is just okay but not special.

16 Balance Lost/ Balance Regained
It's odd to say that Melvin's vocals are overshadowed by Pedro's but it's true. Melvin's vocals on this are these glum lines that I don't wanna hear. I wish that Pedro sang this whole song. Nice guitars but that was a sign of the whole fight. Most everyone proved they are good on the guitar. Kind of cancelled out in the end.

15 Paco del Stinko
Papyrus in a lyric. That's a good one. It's a tasty little song. It's got some highs and some lows. Great guitars like most of the fight. It's horribly outshined by Mersian's song about a dancing Sister Cocaine. I feel like this should be done at a Hooters show. And you should see her dance. And we danced on the wave on the ocean. Romance! Decent tune.

14 Steve Durand
The horns add a bit of funk that is the saving grace of this song. Good alliteration in the song but the song is very forgettable. I can chill out and have this in the background and its cool but I don't think I'll find myself rushing out to listen to it. Know what I'm saying?

13 Abominominous
The keeper of the rock flame comes into the first round of the Nur Ein with this swing beat. The keyboards are what makes me wanna kill everytime I hear this. And that ending....it's nothing. It just falls flat. It's just not my speed.

12 Cynthia Size and the @eclectic spOOns
I dig TTS. Four minutes of it, I'm not so sure. It couldn't ended at 3 and been fine. It's definitely my favorite CS&t@s song so far which may be a sign of things to come. It's not phenomenal but it's not terrible. It's an experiment that succeeded.

11 The BeWells
I had to listen to this song so much because I couldn't pay attention to it. I kept fading off and doing other things. I would hear it and say "that little bit about the choir" was neat and then afterwards I'd completely forget the song. Thankfully I take notes while putting together votes. This song is missing something. A really choir would pump this up and maybe some more substantial percussion.

10 Frankie Big Face
Great guitars. Too bad almost everyone else can say that too. What killed this song for me was the bridge. That was not good at all. No no no. It made me wanna turn off the song and that ruins the sweet the little guitar solo that follows.

9 Jim Tyrrell
Last year, this song was called Sleeper and had more punch. Did this have a chorus? If so, it wasn't catchy at all. Basically it told a story over some decent guitars but never engaged the listener.

8 Jolly Roger
The talking parts at the beginning wasn't good. The alliteration was strong and definitely your saving grace. I appreciate you bringing the grungy rock. That'll earn a spot in the heart of this juror but you can't just talk over it. Think WWLSD? What would Layne Staley do?

7 The Bovine Recyclery
Sorry Bjam, I didn't dig this one. But do I still get a button? "I'm just od'd on siblings"? Some of the lyrics are just ugly and the chorus is in the wrong range. Good idea but bad follow through.
6 Tex Beaumont & the Dirty Hearts
The guitars are very low in the mix, so it's just Tex being whispery over a drum machine and some little ambient touches and then there's a bridge of some na-na-nas and by that time I'm fast asleep at my desk. That was Caravan Ray. I want Tex. Tex is full of energy and yee-hah!

5 Ross Durand
Stuttering the initial consonant sound to emphasis the alliteration is just annoying. And that fart sounding percussion is grating as can be. There's such a good guitar solo on this but the stutter and the jug percussion got on my nerves so much that I missed it the first 5 listens.

4 Rabid Garfunkel
The vocal delivery just didn't do it. It was very monotone and the guitars called for more. Some of the lyrics were flat to. Plus a nice high speed guitar solo would've helped this too.

3 Marcus Kellis
My favorite Marcus Kellis tune but there are times where it just needed to be reeled in. The vocals were okay and the guitar was okay, it was very Dan Bailey (see "That's Not What I Need" by His Name is Dan). The Unique-New York/Some Seattle Sun Seems So Fine parts were like the Head-On commercial. This song just needed a real chorus of substance.

2 Ice 9
Please lay off the hi-hat. There is a whole drumset, mix it up. That high pitched rat-tat-tat on the chorus was annoying. It has some decent bass and the vocals were okay (far from great) but it just didn't come together. It just kinda plodded along and that's a horrible thing for a song that's only 2 minutes long. I swear that I thought it was 4 minutes long until I looked up at the screen. A guitar contrasting the bass may help this song but it definitely needs something to help it. I just can't put my finger on it.

1 Sausage Boy
Basing the song around a steady tick-tock tick-tock may keep rhythm but when its so prevalent, it can bore ya to death and the vocal delivery is not where you want it. And when it comes to forgettable songs in this fight, this was the worst culprit so that's why it earned my lowest rating.

Unlike some other people who have commented, I didn't enjoy this round much. There wasn't a lot for me to sink my teeth into. :(
"I'd like to see 1984 redubbed with this in the soundtrack."- Furrypedro.
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Post by Billy's Little Trip »

bzl wrote: BLT. Needs more variety in the guitar riff, which just repeats over and over and over. Also a completely different set of lyrics, which should probably be sung.
HaHaHa, well, I guess I know who Judge #2 is. Not meant to offend, just to think outside the box. Maybe Brownie Points might put me back in your good graces. But I am who I am and that's all I have to offer the world. :wink:

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Post by mkilly »

thanks for the reviews, dudes. I think I might do a song for subsequent rounds for the hell of it, put 'em up on somesongs. If I am as honest as I suspect the judges are then I will say my song was not 100%.

Also, deshead, dude, I'm the new music director at my radio station, and today I was looking through our stacks and found the FAWM CD and saw that you're track 1. Congrats! I'll be sure and play your song on my show sometime!
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Phil. Redmon.
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Post by Phil. Redmon. »

I guess I'm not super surprised by my reviews this round.

You probably all know about my hip/leg pain that's been messing with me for the past few weeks, and maybe you did or didn't know that my cat bit my finger last week, de-inter-enabling me from playing guitar.

Also: Programming that specific swing was way, way harder than I expected. I had a very particular thing in mind, and refused to bend to the pre-determined rules of quantization.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is: I pretty much stand by that song as "What I was trying to do," i.e. write a romantic song about cocaine that didn't rock at all.

Success!

And: I felt like it was safe to play it odd-ball in the early round(s). I guess I better start dishing out the potato+meat I am apparently known for.

EDIT: I hope this doesn't read shitty. I'm super not trying to be shitty.
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Post by jackfrost »

i'm amazed that the bovine recyclery song did not place at the top this week. literally, it was the first song fight song ever that i listened to about 5 times in a row the first time i heard it because it was so incredible.

great job to everyone though. the quality of songs here in this contest is well above the average song fight fare. i can't wait to hear more.
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Post by Caravan Ray »

Niveous wrote:That was Caravan Ray. I want Tex. Tex is full of energy and yee-hah!
(
:lol: Yes - I'm glad you can tell the difference - I was starting to forget what the distinction was.

Sadly - this week (if I get it finished) will also be a bit more Ray than Tex - or perhaps it may be a Ray/Tex duet. Tex makes a lot of noise when he records - it is hard to find time for him. And Tex doesn't do changed time signatures. Ray is quieter - but he swears a lot more.
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Post by Lunkhead »

Out of curiosity, did the judges also give up their anonymity and post their reviews for Nur Ein I? I wasn't following it closely enough at the time to remember if they did or not.
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Niveous
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Post by Niveous »

Lunkhead wrote:Out of curiosity, did the judges also give up their anonymity and post their reviews for Nur Ein I? I wasn't following it closely enough at the time to remember if they did or not.
Last year, we did it a bit differently. We reviewed before the vote came out. This year, the jurors are reviewing after the votes are in.
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