Nur Ein V Round Six "Headphones"

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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Spintown »

now I have "awesome like a unicorn" going through my head like "rock me like a hurricane"
That's a song that needs to be wrote.

I LIKE TURTLES!
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by BenKrieger »

Submitted early for the holiday. Nur Ein.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by MintyHandy »

Submitted.

NUR EIN!!!!!!
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Chris Cogott »

Made it! Getting something in during this (beautiful) holiday weekend was brutal.

Nur Ein!!!!!!
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Niveous »

The songs are up at http://nurein.songfight.net
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by MintyHandy »

*love* the cover art!

EDIT, after listening: against this kind of competition, I'll get kicked out of this round with my head held high. Ben, what a great concept. BSS, what a great hook. Milo, what a great rhythm section. Chris, great...well, honestly, everything -- if I had to choose one Nur Ein V song (from the remaining contenders) for my iPod after this is all over with, this is the one!

Due to significant time constraints, mine ended up a live piano/vocal with one brief vocal overdub, and due to ProTools constraints (couldn't listen to it on my laptop speakers until I'd bounced the final mix, then didn't have time left) I had to roll off all the high end to get rid of an odd painful whine the mics picked up. Ah well -- on the plus side, two of my seven submissions were live piano/vocal, which is two more than I've ever done before. Whoo!
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Spintown »

One thing is for sure, reviewing round 6 is a lot easier then round 1. :p I actually finished about an hour after the songs were posted.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by BenKrieger »

I probably got too sadistic with the broken connections but I've been on a Japanese noise binge for about a year so my tolerance for that stuff is up...I tried to make it so that if you couldn't hear something, you could probably piece it together after repeated listens. I basically mixed it down to my laptop, then ruined a few cables and adapters with the wire strippers and banana clips, and fed the mix it back into the system. It was a hell of a lot of fun! I tried a few things based on comments from previous reviewers...this time on the "tion" words, I played around with the delivery so it isn't a cliched rhyme scheme. I also didn't use any delay, I tried to mimic delay with separate vocal tracks and change the line slightly so you can tell it's not just me throwing a plug-in on there.

It's based on a true story. I was almost in tears trying to repair $200 headphones a few days before the title went up. This song's from the heart, man...I've lived that life.

These are all great songs. Chris C, I love yours...can I say it's kind of adorable in the best way possible?
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by JonPorobil »

I'll review later, but now there's few enough songs that I can post my if-I-were-a-judge rankings with relative confidence.

5 points to Minty Handy
4 points to Milo Dunderville
3 points to Chris Cogott
2 points to Berkeley Social Scene
1 point to Boop Boop
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Spintown »

http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2010/06/ ... eview.html

Berkeley Social Scene - I enjoyed the silent pauses & thought overall you met the challenge while providing a catchy tune. Probably my favorite song from you in this Nur Ein.

Chris Cogott - Enjoyed the story, and thought the music was catchy. Like BSS, I thought you brought some of your best work this round.

Milo Dunderville - I enjoyed the verses (especially the first), but didn't really care for the chorus. Considering the direction the song took, I thought the intro was creative.

Minty Handy - The piano was beautiful. The story & lyrics didn't grab me at all, and combined with the soft relaxing piano it made the song feel really long....yet it wasn't.

Boop Boop - Yeah, the title wasn't "Headphones With A Bad Connection". I can't remember ever getting static on a radio station & thinking...."Sounds good enough." I mess with the damn dial until I fix it, and that's all I want to do while listening to this song. It's a funny idea, but the idea gets in the way of the music actually being listenable.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by BenKrieger »

Spintown wrote:http://spintown79.blogspot.com/2010/06/ ... eview.html
Boop Boop - Yeah, the title wasn't "Headphones With A Bad Connection". I can't remember ever getting static on a radio station & thinking...."Sounds good enough." I mess with the damn dial until I fix it, and that's all I want to do while listening to this song. It's a funny idea, but the idea gets in the way of the music actually being listenable.
Fair enough, though I've gotta tell you that if this song gets me booted (and at this point I assume it will), it will have been completely worth it. Looking back on it, I would have tried one more pass at the static to perfect a few moments and make a few others tighter, but I wouldn't clean it up nearly enough to satisfy anyone who doesn't like the idea in general. Of all the songs I came up with for Nur Ein, this is my favorite and if there is a direction I'm going to go with my recordings this year, it's making them as fucked up as possible. I like what I did with the arrangements, I feel the spontaneity of the vocals worked, and I can't get enough of the faulty connection aspect...but I'm a little whacky like that. As someone who has been frustrated with bad headphones, it felt good to make that shit work for me in an actual song.

My only disappointment is that I didn't get to tackle a title that would inspire a song-cycle. I was really hoping for that!
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by MintyHandy »

Fair enough, though I've gotta tell you that if this song gets me booted (and at this point I assume it will), it will have been completely worth it.
I gotta say, your song killed me. I listened in headphones, and yeah, it was damn near unlistenable, but I could not stop laughing -- and I really liked the underlying structure of the song, plus your vocal delivery -- ultimately, your commitment to the premise may be both the thing increasing your odds of getting kicked and the thing that makes it most awesome. That must have been so much fun to do -- did you edit all the panning and crackling and such in, or did you pump the whole thing through an analog line with a crap connection or somesuch? I picture you there holding a handful of wires against unsoldered terminals...

<strike>Oh, and what's a song cycle?</strike> nevermind, looked it up. Yeah, that would have been interesting.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by BenKrieger »

MintyHandy wrote: picture you there holding a handful of wires against unsoldered terminals...
Exactly. I mixed the song down to wav file, threw it on a laptop. Then I split the necessary connectors and fed the left and right channels of the non-fucked mix back into a new project. When I was holding the banana-clipped connections in either hand, the signal was fine, but by brushing one side or the other to varying degrees, I could short out the signals as needed. When I wanted things to come back in at a certain time, I separated the shorted connection. I did about three passes and kept the third take. I initially panned everything hard left or right to get the effect I wanted except the main vocals, which I always wanted to come through to a certain degree. It was a lot of fun to do.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by MintyHandy »

You have no idea how happy it makes me, to know that you did it the honest way. Bravo. While you were typing that comment, I listened to your song a few more times. Any chance of you posting the uncorrupted song, for folks like me who dig it and want to hear it without the shorting?

Funny, I didn't notice the vocals often stayed when everything else had shorted, until you mentioned it. Subtle!
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by BenKrieger »

I just listened to the uncorrupted track and was debating putting it up. I dunno. I intentionally left out some shaker and other trimmings on the final version because I knew I was going to "fuck it up." I think the normal version is a little incomplete without the final treatment.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by MintyHandy »

No worries, was worth an ask. :)
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by frankie big face »

Unofficial results are posted in the Results Thread.

My reviews (written on Monday):

Appropriately, I’m listening to these songs in headphones while I sit in the Amtrak waiting area at Penn Station. Thank you, Amtrak for free Wifi!

Chris Colgott – Cute story, but this sounds like a Mentos commercial to me. I love power pop, but it’s kind of hard to follow the hooks in this one (at least on the first listen). I will return to you. Okay, I’m back. I think the problem that I have with your melodies that they’re always masked by the harmonies. You may want to temper your impulse to use harmony all the time. In this case, I think separating the verse from the pre-chorus with fewer vocals parts would strengthen the hooks. It’s a good song but not good enough to make my cut this week. Decent use of silence, btw.

Berkeley Social Scene – Lyric archive? Come on glennny! I like the pointillistic opening. I also like that you (apparently) went out and listened to New Pornographers and made this song just for me! :) Um, what else can I say? The synth is great, mixes really well with the fuzzy guitars. Very effective use of silence. Cute panning on the solo—a nice treat for those listening on headphones. Is that Ken singing lead? His voice is a little too gruff for my tastes (for this song, I mean), but it doesn’t matter—this is a great song. Nice job. Second listen: Some of the lyrics are….imperfect. It’s still a sweet song and the synth is money.

Minty Handy – Simple and pretty. This is just a very good song that could be played this way or as an upbeat rock song. It was a good choice to present it this way given the silence challenge. The female vocalist is a great touch and the mildly dissonant harmonies on the chorus are very effective. I must admit I don’t really get the lyric, but you know, I don’t need everything spelled out for me. Anyway, I think I can finally forgive you for the 97 song. Good job.

Milo Dunderville – Hmm…..not digging the lyrics/concept on first listen and this song doesn’t have the quality hooks of your previous efforts. A little too major-seventhy too. I will return to this later. Okay, I’m back. I’m just not digging this. It’s not terrible but it’s not in the same league as some of your other stuff. I also don’t think you met the challenge very well this week.

Boop Boop – Okay, I think this is awesome, but it’s probably going to get you eliminated. The concept and execution as a piece of art is really admirable, but I just know it’s going to drive the other judges crazy. As a song, it’s…well, it’s not a song at all, is it? I mean, it has a melody and a chorus, but you can’t really sit at a piano and play it. Or can you? (playing song on piano in my head) Yeah, I guess it sort of works, but it doesn't become brilliant until you add the noise. It’s an amazing effort. My only gripe is that it’s probably longer than it needs to be, by a minute easy. I also think there are some who will say it lacks “repeat listen appeal” or something like that, but it doesn’t matter because it’s just that great. P.S. I assumed while listening that this was painstakingly done using modern studio trickery. Now that I know it wasn't, I like it even more. You would have made John Cage proud, Ben Krieger.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Milo »

Well that was fun. Many thanks to the judges, contestants, reviewers, hecklers, etc. who made this happen and best of luck to those advancing.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Niveous »

It is official!

A few months ago Ben Krieger of Boop Boop & Glennny of BSS shared the stage at Sidewalk Cafe. Now they will be facing off in the finals of the Nur Ein V.

BSS have won the penultimate round.
Milo Dunderville, Chris Cogott & Minty Handy have been eliminated.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by jb »

Apparently I'm the kiss of death.

5 Minty Handy
4 Berkeley Social Scene
3 Boop Boop
2 Milo Dunderville
1 Chris Cogott

Minty: Pretty melodies and harmony sway me despite a few missed steps in lyric craft. Really pretty, made me want to listen twice.
BSS: I liked Ken's vocal turn, and felt this one had more hooks than usual. Kinda wished it were awash in reverb.
Boop Boop: I get it. I don't like it a whole lot, but I get it, and give you props for balls and cleverness.
Milo Dunderville: Voice didn't work for me this week my friend, and the lyrics didn't sound artful to my ears. Really could have done with some phrases that made me want to keep listening.
Chris Cogott: You have chops, but sometimes your music feels kind of sterile. Like this week. Sorry.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Chris Cogott »

Well that was a lot of fun! Congratulations to Boop Boop and BSS. This final round will be real interesting. We get to do the voting now right?

BSS, just curious, was anybody in the band listening to Missing Persons this past week? It's got a little bit of that "Words" vibe to it.
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Re: Nur Ein V: Round 6

Post by Niveous »

Chris Cogott wrote:Well that was a lot of fun! Congratulations to Boop Boop and BSS. This final round will be real interesting. We get to do the voting now right?
Yes, the eliminated konkurrenz as well as the judges will vote on this final round.
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