Nur Ein VII Round One "Architect"

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Ross
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Ross »

In the interest of doing my songfight civic duty....

I am not posting complete reviews, because it is late and I don't feel like it.

I have strong feelings about the concept of "round." Oxford concise says it is a "perpetual canon at the unison or octave" - I feel many songs did not meet this quite common practice definition of round and I will be interested to see what the judges do with the concept of "round" and how much they rate it overall.

The one's i felt had solid rounds and that I liked best were (in no particular order)

Sausage
Merisan
Gooey
Tex Beamont
ADD

One's I would say definitely don't have a round are: (not a lot of listens, might have missed something)
Rabid
Oyster
Manhattan Glutton
Ligers - like you give a shit if I like it. All of us are full of crap anyway, right?
Den

Others I would place low for various reasons:(in no particular order)
Adam
Byd
Chocolate Chips
Joann
Snappy, etc...
Idiot Kings
WreckdoM

I suppose I am willing to supply more detail upon request, but I thought I ought to post something. Besides, by the time you read this we'll hopefully know what the judges think, and that's what really matters, right?

Nur Ein!
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by BenKrieger »

Ross wrote: One's I would say definitely don't have a round are: (not a lot of listens, might have missed something)
Oyster
You did! Listen again.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

Let's hope the judges use Wikipedia and not this crack-pot definition Ross made up.
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by frankie big face »

Manhattan Glutton wrote:Let's hope the judges use Wikipedia and not this crack-pot definition Ross made up.
Haha. Apparently not. Congrats Ross.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by glennny »

Congrats Ross!

Wow look at the squeaker in that top 3!

btw Ross, any thoughts on the WSA submission?
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Jefff »

Congratulations, Ross!
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by adamadamant »

Ouch for LWA. I feel like his 'tude, more than his song, got him booted out. Seems a shame as I thought the song was pretty good. Well, live to Nur Ein another day I suppose.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by frankie big face »

adamadamant wrote:Ouch for LWA. I feel like his 'tude, more than his song, got him booted out. Seems a shame as I thought the song was pretty good. Well, live to Nur Ein another day I suppose.
Yeah, I agree with that although I haven't listened to all the songs. Oh well.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by glennny »

I think it was his almost total disregard for the challenge.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by bgm »

congrats Ross!
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by adamadamant »

glennny wrote:I think it was his almost total disregard for the challenge.
Well perhaps. The challenge is such a grey area it seems unlikely that that was the reason though. A lot of people thought Frankie kind of avoided the challenge and he did pretty well.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by JonPorobil »

glennny wrote:I think it was his almost total disregard for the challenge.
I thought he met the challenge pretty well, actually. Just poor sportsmanship. - oh, and doing a Nur Ein song about Nur Ein. Never a good move.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by JoAnn Abbott »

I didn't think I would make it but- could the judges say why please? It was a 1. song 2. round 3. Related to the title architect in that it was about people building something; in this case, architects of a relationship rather than a structure. Thanks
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

adamadamant wrote:I feel like his 'tude, more than his song, got him booted out.
Would you say... he should just be Ligers and drop the attitude?

Ha ha ha ha!!!
If I had a dollar for every one of my songs j$ has called a 90s pastiche, I'd have $1 for every song I've written.

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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by frankie big face »

glennny wrote:I think it was his almost total disregard for the challenge.
You mean LWA? I listened to the song and I thought the chorus may have been an interval canon (not the same as a round, I realize), although I didn't analyze it closely. One thing I have noticed is that Europeans (especially Englishmen) tend to hold a much more complex definition of the term canon than Americans. In general, they seem to have a lot of experience with choral music while, in the US, we tend to grow up on instrumental music. (I'm talking Classical music, FYI.) I think that sometimes leads to this kind of confusion, although I think the concept of a round is pretty straight-forward.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Lunkhead »

Just for the record, I didn't think frankie avoided the challenge. After one cursory listen all I noticed in the song was the Frere Jacques musical quote in the bridge, so I was worried that, while he fulfilled the challenge and I enjoyed his song, the judges might get a bug up their asses about how he did it and ding him.

Anyway, congrats Ross. That was a real close one. Good luck in the next round folks.

NUR EIN!!
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Jefff »

Here's hoping Ligers was eliminated for his song and not his attitude or else this contest is for fuckwits.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by frankie big face »

Jefff wrote:Here's hoping Ligers was eliminated for his song and not his attitude or else this contest is for fuckwits.
Where's the LIKE button?
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by adamadamant »

Yeah, I originally thought he was joking TBH, it was all a bit over the top and dramatic. It seemed to blow up without much input from him on the boards.

Personally I have resolved to treat the judges as inherently evil black boxes. So I do what I can, meet the challenges in a super-obvious way, and try not to offend anyone :)
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by Ross »

Wow. Just wow.

Bunch of good songs. Tightest score ever? Who are the Nur Ein! Stats nerds?

Special thanks to judges 1 and 4 I guess.

Nur Ein!!
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by nyjm »

This round was a study in opposites. For some, it was really easy to drop the hammer. For others... ranking was finely sliced. Higher ranking went to those who more fully and integrated the round structure into the song and/or succeeded at doing something really novel with it.

Review in reverse alphabetical order for arbitrary variety:

The Worldly Self Assurance
+++ kicks off with a round; i'm surprised more people didn't try this +++
--- verse prosody is awkward, especially in contrast to the sing-songy round ---
+++ chorus +++

WreckdoM
/// i feel dizzy; cut out that ping-pong effect ///
+++ channeling the rock delirium of Butthole Surfers +++

The Idiot Kings
+++ opening lyrics +++
/// but the prosody would be better: "i am an architect / my heart is made of steel / i am an architect / my drive is all i feel" ///
/// catchy melody, but it seems overly facile, even familiar ///
--- that round is pretty buried, way down in the chorus/outro ---

Snappy + Floyd
--- 9:53?! this had better be epic and your intro is not promising ---
--- self-reference fail ---
--- while critiquing the status quo is a worthwhile endeavor, doing so blindly is no kind of courage, much less art ---
--- you notice how many times you have to say "what i'm trying to say is..."? just say it already ---

Sausage
+++ groove +++
--- ho hum thinly-veiled sexual innuendos ---
/// this falls into the "critique via point of view" mode of satire, which is really dangerous (check out Stone Temple Pilot's "Sex Type Thing") ///
+++ noisy bridge that teeters on the edge of too much without going over +++
+++ ending : nice narrative turn around +++

Ross Durand
+++ rockin' country vibe +++
+++ both a description of a real place and a fully-functional metaphor in its own right +++
/// that guitar-tapping percussion is a little distracting; either too complex or too hot ///
+++ round and round and round and round +++

Rabid Garfunkel
--- prosody ---
--- derivative melodies whose citation add nothing to the composition ---

Oystercatcher
+++ pretty +++
+++ lyrics +++
--- underdeveloped ---

Merisan
+++ pretty; nice minimalist instrumentation that gives this room to breathe +++
+++ interesting melancholy +++
--- the round is nicely complex - too much so, especially in comparison to the rest of the sparse composition ---

Manhattan Glutton
+++ round in the background? brilliant! +++
+++ LEFT TURN +++
/// i suspect this is slyly self-referential, but it's very well done ///
+++ nice mini-round there at the end +++

Ligers With Attitude
--- self-referential fail ---
--- scatalogical denigration ---

Jon Eric
+++ LEFT TURN! +++
/// the melody reminds me of a drinking song you wrote last year ///
+++ unconventional instrumentation +++
/// vocals are a little buried ///
/// only a very simple round, but appropriate to the genre ///

Jo Ann Abbott
--- vocal harmonies ---

Gooey Caramel Centaur
+++ great extended metaphor of the lyrics +++
/// good, solid, but not outstanding ///
/// round is present, but doesn't add much ///

Genevieve Johnson/Jones and the Chiefs
+++ straight up channeling Coil +++
+++ i was about to down-grade this as too self-referential - then I remembered the last time I was in a round-about in a downtown setting: this captures that experience perfectly +++
/// plays somewhat loose with the idea of a "Round" ///

Frankie Big Face
+++ ORGAN ! +++
+++ EVERYBODY SING ALONG +++
/// channels everything that's great about 60/70's motown ///
/// wait... Frère Jacques? Gagné! +++
--- sung round is minimally present; doesn't add much to the composition as a while ---

DJ Ranger Den
+++... Janis? +++
/// have you seen The Triplets of Belleville? ///
--- too much reverb; use panning instead to differentiate voices ---
+++ dayum: fantastic amount of daring (all vocals) fantastically executed +++
--- it gets a little messy in the second verse; then tightens up again ///

Chris Cogott
+++ pretty guitar work +++
+++ very pretty vocal harmonies +++
/// nitpick: an architect is not a structural engineer, whose (lack of a) job your metaphor is ... uh... built upon ///
/// your vocal melodies are so rich it's overkill during the outro round; pare that back[/b] ///

The Chocolate Chips
--- drone drone drone ---
+++ chrous +++
/// bum buh rump pa pa pum: your round sounds like "The Little Drummer Boy" ///
+++ good use of the challenge for dynamics +++

Boffo Yux Dudes
--- ho hum, sexual innuendos and homophobia ---
--- superfluous round ---

bgm
+++ yes! +++
+++ fantastic integration of the challenge: rich, dynamic and punchy +++
+++ it's a bold stylistic choice, but i like that the "stumble", especially how it pays off in the round +++
+++ not a round, a catch +++

ADD
+++ love that you start right off with the singing +++
--- wish that singing was in key ---
+++ 3/4 time +++
+++ lead guitars +++
/// the leads are the best part of this tune, I wish that you would have made a round of that melody ///
/// the round feels forced ///
+++ blending of singing and spoken word +++
--- too long ---

Adam Adamant
--- flat, over-reverb'd vox ---
--- hot uke ---
/// well, you don't shrink from the challenge, do you?///
/// you have a round, but it doesn't seem to add to the song ///
--- melody lacks prosody; tends to meander ---
Last edited by nyjm on Wed May 02, 2012 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round One

Post by JonPorobil »

JoAnn Abbott wrote:I didn't think I would make it but- could the judges say why please? It was a 1. song 2. round 3. Related to the title architect in that it was about people building something; in this case, architects of a relationship rather than a structure. Thanks
Well, simply meeting the title and challenge don't guarantee you'll advance. JoAnn, you can take some tough love, right? Your song just wasn't very good. The recording quality was lo-fi, but not in a compelling way. The instrumentation was cheap-sounding. Your voice is okay, and so were the lyrics, but they weren't anything special. Overall, there was no reason to recommend your song over any of the others in the fight.

What else is there to say? The competition gets fierce, and you were outclassed. Sorry, better luck next time.
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