Nur Ein II Round Five "The Thing Most Easily Forgotten"

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:03 am

Title: The Thing Most Easily Forgotten
Challenge: Just Vocals and Guitar

Abominominous

Billy's Little Trip

The Bovine Recyclery

Frankie Big Face

Merisan

Puce

Tex Beaumont and the Dirty Hearts

<a href="http://www.glenncase.com/m3u/NurEinRound5.m3u">STREAM ALL</a>

The Jury will now deliberate. The Jury's decision as well as the new title will be posted on June 18th at 1PM(EST).

NUR EIN!

jackfrost · Post by **jackfrost** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:08 am

the frankie big face song is not there.

glennny · Post by **glennny** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 10:37 am

I would do reviews, but the FBF is not there and with such a small crowd, ought to be considered. However, among the other 6 in my world no one comes close to touching Merisan. However this challange couldn't be more perfect for them, so they ought to be the stand out that they are.

frankie big face · Post by **frankie big face** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 11:24 am

Sorry. Should be there now.

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:02 pm

Whee reviews. I always feel like my reviews are just rambley and all over the place, thus lacking anything constructive. But I try

None of these songs are awful; most of them are pretty fun/awesome. Nice job, guys!

Abominominous:
This is pretty nice. It feels a little repetitive and lofi for me to get into too much. But the strumming pattern is very dancey and good; if you were playing this I would sing/tap/clap/bop along. I feel like it's a little understructured, well, no, that's a bad word. It's structured, but it needs some decorating? It's got the base for an awesome song, it just needs some extrapolating and whatnot.

Billy's Little Trip:
The vocals here are a little whiny, and that's the first thing that my ears go to. The song is kinda similar to Abom's in that it has an awesome structure, but it needs more to make it awesome. But I guess there's only so much you can do with guitar. Cute lyrics, but nothing that's making me go wild. (Well, I did like “I get my knowledge from a cereal box” even if I don't quite understand it). Actually, that whole chorus is kinda catchy.

The Bovine Recyclery:
Well, obviously I'm going to be biased. But this is seriously a good song. The lyrics are in awesome story teller mode. I totally relate to the lyrics too; I forget everything. The Just One Second Bit is maaaadness, but very cool. It took me a few listen to get that. I like this because it actually feels like a real song, compared to just a two track song. Yaaaay BoRe!

Frankie Big Face:
The songfight god of guy and guitar. This is a nice one. The wah-wah-y background electric guitar is kinda annoying to be honest, but at least it adds something to the song other than just a guy and a guitar. Multiple guitars! The lyrics are nice, but a little... depressing?

Another tie-a-string reference. The chorus is super nice.

Merisan:
The songfight, uh, duke and duchess of guy/girl and guitar?

Very pretty. Although it just feels very similar to some of your other songs (please note, I don't think I've heard every single song you've done, but I've definitely heard a good few). Erin, as always, sound beautiful, and the guitar is lovely. It really is an awesome song, it's just very samey. If this was American Idol, you guys would be the Melinda. Super talented, just super samey.

Puce:
This is a nice change from your “normal” stuff. Not too hot about the bends in the second verse. The chorus, however, is very nice, and the slight harmonies are super good. Strumming is nice, although the chord progression in the 3rd line of the chorus feels off; I'm not sure why... I think it's because it's going up the scale and then suddenly doesn't... I don't know. The last chorus you've got some kinda weird layering going on in the third line, not sure if that's intentional, but it sounds pretty weird/confusing. I enjoy the lyrics. This song reminded me how much dating sucks, it's so pessimistic. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily. I dig this, but there are some fine tuning things that need to be dealt with.

Tex Beaumont and the Dirty Hearts:
Oh, Tex. I love this song. Na-nas and Bom-boms and La-las oh my! This is fun. I can't think of anything constructive to say, because I know it's Good Stuff, but I can't think why.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:42 pm

Bjam wrote: Billy's Little Trip:
The vocals here are a little whiny, and that's the first thing that my ears go to. The song is kinda similar to Abom's in that it has an awesome structure, but it needs more to make it awesome. But I guess there's only so much you can do with guitar. Cute lyrics, but nothing that's making me go wild. (Well, I did like “I get my knowledge from a cereal box” even if I don't quite understand it). Actually, that whole chorus is kinda catchy.

Funny you should say it needs more. I originally had quite a bit more and it was longer with a loud close, sporting distorted guitar and aggressive vocals.
I had several back up vox with ooos and ahhhs, even a baritone bow bow wow wow thing going. Then after listening numerous times trying to figure out what other guitar or vocal I could squeeze in, it hit me that I had SO much going on, that it sounded cluttered and my song was lost. So at around 2:00am Sat morning, I started rearranging and simplifying to what I submitted.
I decided it's either a simple guy and guitar song, or a full blown hard song with drums and bass, etc. I did leave the poltergeist type vocal thing to set it apart from traditional G&G. Either way, I'm screwed, lol. The other entries sound so good and kick my ass. Oh well, as simple as it is, it came from my heart, so I'm happy.

Nigel (spOOn) Clements · Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:50 am

Totally awsome songs, the standard seems to be surpassed with each round, these are all honestly a joy to listen to, thank you!

Abom - "A blood soaked caffinated haze" one pick from some pretty awsome lyrics, this has a totally casual feel that makes it both endearing and listenable virtually perpetually, bloody great work, totally marvellous...

BLT - A touch thin to begin with, once the chorus kicks in then I find myself captivated (I've always been a lyrics guy), Great choruses, excellent finish, but a bit thin in between.

BoRe - Funny lyrics, sounds a bit... 'Caravan Ray!!' well worked regarding the challenge, the absence of synth layers is not missed, this has a very jolly feel, that keeps the track enjoyable right to the end, once more excellent wordsmithery!

FBF - Expecting great things here, and not disappointed one jot, superbly written and performed, this is basically gorgeous, you make me sick as to how effortless you make this seem, deserves to be on the radio.

Mersian - You were always going to excel on this challenge, and this is pretty much perfect, the beautiful voice, the haunting track, the backing male vocals are wonderfully placed, this is professional with every letter a capitol. (maybe, and this is really really really picky, a touch long).

Puce - Like the relaxed approach, song is made at 0:45 when you start doubling up the vocals, that's so understatedly perfect, not too keen on the guitar tone up until 1:31 when the track picks up and sells the whole product, great track once again. (a touch long though).

TBDH - Wow! who needs other instruments, wonderful chorals, sounds like there's at least 5 guys named Tex (sounds like a decent title for a stage musical), 2nd best produced track here!

I know this counts for nothing but I'd place you guys in this order (not that anyone's let themselves down mind!)

1. Mersian
2. Frankie Big Face
3. Abominominous/Tex Beaumont and the Dirty Hearts
5. The Bovine Recyclery
6. Puce
7. Billy's Little Trip

This is going to be really hard for the judges, but everyone here should be infinately proud of themselves.

Thanks once again for bringing the music guys.

frankie big face · Post by **frankie big face** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:28 am

spOOn wrote: FBF - Expecting great things here, and not disappointed one jot, superbly written and performed, this is basically gorgeous, you make me sick as to how effortless you make this seem, deserves to be on the radio.

Thanks Sp00n. I came home from Portugal Friday night with most of the chorus in my head, but nothing else. Considering I had to write the rest and record it all on Saturday morning, I'm really pleased with how this song turned out. Hopefully, it will fare okay in a crowd of really good entries.

glennny · Post by **glennny** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:30 am

You know I was expecting more Ani Di Franco / Michael Hedges percussive use of the guitar to substitute for drums.

Abominominous- Good song, however it really suffers from the challenge. It really sounds like it needs bass and drums. I'm always a sucker for the guitarmonies. There's some nice licks as well.

Billy's Little Trip- I don't think your very good rock voice holds up with the long notes in such a naked format like this. Pretty good song. Strumming a few chords? Weren't you starving to really play your guitar after last week?

The Bovine Recyclery- Hey there's that guitar percussion. This is very good. The guitar serves the song well, the focus is on the excellent vocals. This one really works. It's very silly, but I love silly. Ending is hilarious!

Frankie Big Face- A pretty normal song, but with some high quality hooks. Great singing as usual. This works in this format. Rather beautiful actually.

Merisan- Ummmmmmm. Wow! This is the clear winner. There's something wrong with the judges if Merisan doesn't get the perfect score on this one. Absolutely beautiful. This totally sounds complete. This might be my favorite Merisan track (did I say that last week). Wonderful production, wonderful singing from both Erin & Sam. The harmonic riffs rule!

Puce- Very promising intro, very pretty. The root 8th notes as a backing track sound way too naked. The bends are nice. Hey it's that Sister Cocaine rhythm. Singing is fantastic as expected. It's a pretty great song, although I think the resolve is toooo happy. This also sounds like it really misses the bass and drums.

Tex- This songs like a coffe shop track. The strum guitar works well, I little low in the mix, or the vox are loud. Silly little charming song.

My rankings:

1- Merisan
2- The Bovine Recyclery
3- Frankie Big Face
4- Tex
5- Puce
6- Abom
7- Billy's Little Trip

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:58 am

glennny wrote: Billy's Little Trip- I don't think your very good rock voice holds up with the long notes in such a naked format like this. Pretty good song. Strumming a few chords? Weren't you starving to really play your guitar after last week?

Yes, and I did. As a matter of fact, I did so much it was too much. I decided to bare bones it at the last minute. You know how you mention a couple of the entries really needed bass and drums? Well you would have said that about my original version. It sounded like a rock song with the bass and drum tracks missing, so I went back and re-did it as an unplugged tune.
Yeah, that was a dumb risk to take with the long drawn out vox. I just felt it and went with it. Dumb choice, but I felt strongly enough about it not to change it. I'm not known for my good choices, nor polished shimmer, lol.
Thanks Glennny. At least you put me in the top 7.

Billy's Little Trip · Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:02 am

spOOn wrote: BLT - A touch thin to begin with, once the chorus kicks in then I find myself captivated (I've always been a lyrics guy), Great choruses, excellent finish, but a bit thin in between.

Thanks Nigel. Yeah, thin is a good choice of words. Much better than crap, lol.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 7:08 am

OK - This is getting hard now. But lets see how they fall out in my opinion:

1. ABOMINOMINOMINOUS: This is very cool. I would put this up with Lucky Man and Hero Points as one of my favourite Abom. songs. I like the arrangement - I think more stuff would detract from it.

2. BO/RE: OK, so when you said you play guitar 'not very well', you really meant "I don't play guitar as well as I play piano, but I am still better than Caravan Ray". You get no challenge sympathy from me. I like this. As I mentioned in previous weeks - I found some of your other songs slightly annoying and trivial - here you are playing up the silliness more - and it is more entertaining. I like this very much.

3. MERSIAN: Sounds wonderful. Erins voice is great, and the harmonics on the guitar are a nice touch. Wonderful first line - but after that - I am sort of washed over by the sound of music and lose track of what the song is actually about. That isn't really a criticism - it is a great song - but personally I found Abom and Plat more entertaining.

4: TEX BEAUMONT: I will place Tex here through wishful thinking more than anything else. I feel a bit like a diver who has avoided the dives with a high level of difficulty and instead performed a single forward somersault - but done it quite well. I have stuck here with the smutty lyrics and nonsense syllables that I know and love - but I think I have done it here better than I ever have before - so I am very pleased.

5. FRANKIEBIGFACE: I like the end of the chorus (the "..put a lot of thought in to loving.... bit), but the "ripe to rotten" bit in the early chorus grates a bit. Generally well written song, but the vocals sound a bit whiney.

6. PUCE: I've like other of your songs a lot better. The guitar bit - is that stolen from the Beatles? - It sounds familiar. Some good lyrics - but the vocals are not grabbing me. Some lazy sounding enunciation is making your vowels sound flat and nasally (trust me, I'm Australian - my life is one big, flat, nasally vowel sound). Take a lesson off Plat - he has beautiful enunciation. I have no idea what the silly prick is talking about - but he can enunciate like a motherfucker.

7. BLT: After Abom - this is probably my favourite song of the week. Great lyrics - I love the running around naked bit - but (you probably guessed it) - the vocals put me off. I think you should have done this more raw - no reverb or other stuff. Sort of like something of the Nirvana Unplugged album (shit - you stole Kurt's guitar riff - why not go all the way

)

Billy's Little Trip · Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:14 am

Caravan Ray wrote: 7. BLT: After Abom - this is probably my favourite song of the week. Great lyrics - I love the running around naked bit - but (you probably guessed it) - the vocals put me off. I think you should have done this more raw - no reverb or other stuff. Sort of like something of the Nirvana Unplugged album (shit - you stole Kurt's guitar riff - why not go all the way )

The last part of your comment leads to the first part. Again the Kurt Cobain comment. I was actually going for a more 50's kind of vibe. Not being from that era, nor an avid lister of that genre, I have to interpret it in my own way from what has appealed to me through the years. I love those old melodies and guitar, like Ricky Nelson and Ritchie Valens. Which leads to the first part. The reverb was to give the old 50's sound, while the poltergeist thing with dark and honest, yet semi sarcastic, lyrics was to give it a BLT sound.

This is what I love about this site. Discussing music with veteran musicians that have been there and done that.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 10:46 am

We are dealing with a Case of lateness folks.

Post by **Spud** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:15 am

Niveous wrote:Case

GlennCase · Post by **GlennCase** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:44 am

Spud wrote:
Niveous wrote:Case

Spud is perceptive.

I will have my final vote tabulated and sent shortly.

ROCK!

Glenn Case

Billy's Little Trip · Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:47 am

A bad Case of mistaken iglentity.

GlennCase · Post by **GlennCase** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:58 am

Vote sent. Sorry for the delay, y'all.

ROCK!

Glenn Case

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:43 pm

Unaminous!!!

The Votes are in and the jury unaminously gives round 5 to Merisan.

The scores, out of a possible 35:

1. Merisan (35)
2. Frankie Big Face (26)
3. Abominominous (22)
4. Puce (17)
5. BoRe (16)
6. Tex Beaumont (14)
7. BLT (10)

The Bovine Recyclery, Tex Beaumont and the Dirty Hearts and Billy's Little Trip are eliminated.

Phil. Redmon. · Post by **Phil. Redmon.** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:07 pm

Wow, I made it! I did NOT expect to make it through this round. I scrapped what I had and completely started over at 10:00 AM on Saturday. That's CST folks, so that gave me 2 hours exactly. No time for re-takes or re-dooze or mix-goods or anything. No time to TUNE!

But, phew, i made it.

final four! wa-hoo!

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:20 pm

I can't say I'm surprised. I knew mine was weak in this group for sure. It seems like a lot of us had second thoughts and re-did our stuff.
I did think BORE would have stayed though.
I'm happy I stayed in as long as I did. Congrats to the guys that are moving on. And I'll see the rest of you in the main fights.
I couldn't be going out of Nur Ein with a better bunch of guys. Let's go get drunk.

Tex Beaumont · Post by **Tex Beaumont** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:33 pm

Hooray!!!

I'm free!!!!

Thank you linesmen. Thank you ball boys.

See you next year