Nur Ein VII Round Two "The Best Place In Town Is Also The Darkest"

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bgm
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round Two

Post by bgm »

Things aren't quite so insane tonight so I thought I'd do some reviews on this great last round.

Adam Adamant
Kind of a Foster the People vibe going on! I like the mix of uke and beats better in this song than last week's, it fits the song better and you've arranged it in a more interesting way. I think this song would have a stronger effect if it was shorter, like half the length. Also, I don't know your recording setup, but if you have the capability to edit, you might want to chop out the silence at the beginning and fadeout the end a bit. Chopping out the parts of your vox track when you're not singing does wonders to clean up a track. Cool song.

ADD
I've been enjoying your cool complimenary/contrapuntal(?) guitar parts in the last few songs. Really nice. I love how this song builds. I have to say I'm jealous of your voice; just sounds nice and natural, real and not forced. I want to say it's a tad long but I enjoyed the journey so I'll retract that.

Boffo Yux Dudes
Comedy music!
The music is a bit canned and cheesy but I feel like the music is sort of secondary to your intention. It's not hugely funny, but I did laugh at the Valdemort line. And I do like the last line as a riff on James Brown's "take it to the bridge!"
Well produced.

The Chocolate Chips
You seem to have a knack for writing catchy hooks. I always enjoy them. But it seems like you usually have some heavy treatment on your vocals. Is there a reason for that? I'd love to hear an un-doubled, un-effected vocal on one of your songs, because I think it would sound great. Kind of an abrupt ending. Nice song.

Chris Cogott
Another voice I'm jealous of. Love the sound of this; the Jayhawks-esque harmonies are awesome. I think there's a tad bit much of the twangy 12-string riffing toward the end.

DJ Ranger Den
Cool song. I'd love to hear your vocals front and center a bit more. You have such a great voice and I think it would rock to hear your voice just natural and raw on a great mic in a warm room, bit of reverb on it. To me this song sounds like you created all the other stuff first and then laid down your vox. It's a fun arrangement but your voice sounds a bit buried.

Frankie Big Face
Sounds awesome! Nothing else to say.
Except that I want to hear more of the song that was playing on the radio.

Genevieve Johnson and the Chiefs
I think I read that you were having empty-house issues, so I'm imagining all kinds of guitars kicking in on the choruses of this song, which would be great. I like the song, though. Great lyrics. Vocals are a bit pitchy in parts.

Gooey Caramel Centaur
I really, really like this. Everything about it.

Jon Eric
The timing of everything is sort of crazy and out of sync in the first section and it really threw me off.
I think you were way ambitious on this one, with the style changes. I think you'd have done well to stick to the second style. Keyboards are really great and your vocals fucking rock.
Not loving it as a suite, though.

Manhattan Glutton
Smart to do these kind of Beck by-way-of-the-Nails, bored talky verses; definitely lends itself to STOPs. The volume thing was clever once, but my favourite part is the shouty harmonies.

Merisan
Well that's just lovely. How could you not like this voice? I feel like I wanted something else to happen in the second half of the song. Some kind of bridge or change-up. But it sounds great, all around.

Oystercatcher
Ha! It sounds like an AM radio playing inside a can, which I like. Funny song. Awesome guitar. Love the vocals; wish they were a bit more upfront. Great job.

Ross Durand
I liked the gruff, dark vibe of the beginning; which was a cool sort of Leonard Cohen kind of thing but way more minimal. But you lost me at 1:14 when it turned into something else and got kind of unfocused.

Sausage
Garage rock! I like the song; the guitar sounds good and the driving riff works well for me.
Not crazy about the fake drums.

Snappy + Floyd
This made me laugh at the start. "Pretty far away." Queen Karen. Ha. Awesome.
The ending did that crucial comedy timing thing, where it's funny for a bit and then it's really not funny and you kind of feel embarrassed for the people, just for a second, and then it's funny again. But then it kept going, and it just edged over that funny threshold into trying-too-hard. Just barely, like by 2 or 3 seconds.

WreckdoM
I like the groove. The sort of Comedy Noises™ in the stops aren't really working for me, particularly the BOING!. I think the choruses could rock if you changed it up a bit; they sound a bit too similar to the verses.

The Worldly Self Assurance
Aha it's SMART MUSIC.
My favourite part is the harmony chorus bits that start around 1:15; really nice. This kind of thing is pretty tricky to sell because it can come across as a bit wanky and music nerd-ish depending on your frame of mind. I thought you did it well but it had a bit of that feeling of LISTEN TO OUR IMPORTANT MUSIC and I was happy when the pretty chorus came back.
frankie big face
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round Two

Post by frankie big face »

bgm wrote: Frankie Big Face
Sounds awesome! Nothing else to say.
Except that I want to hear more of the song that was playing on the radio.
Yes, me too! But you know how that goes. It's like the pretty girl who doesn't live up to your expectations when you finally get up the nerve to talk to her. Maybe one day I'll write the rest and put it on the B-side.
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Manhattan Glutton
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Re: Nur Ein VII: Round Two

Post by Manhattan Glutton »

bgm wrote:my favourite part is the shouty harmonies.
I'm glad someone appreciated them. They almost killed me - I was trying to sing on the edge of my vocal range with a sore throat. In fact, they weren't intended to be shouty but it was the best I could do.
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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