You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

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Pigfarmer Jr
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You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

We only say those things because we really care.

edit: GAH! mussed up the title... *growl*
edit2: Thanks for the fix!
Last edited by Pigfarmer Jr on Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Songs posted.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by JSmitty »

BERKLEY SOCIAL SCENE- Usually your vocals are decent but on this particular song they are way off key in certain parts. Harmonies would have been nice. Musically it is a well put together song but the vocals kind of ruin this one for me.

Lichenthroat- Vocals are really bad on this. I see what your going for and that would be cool but the off key and poorly mixed vocals are tough for me to listen to on this.

Lookout Joel- This is well put together. Musically I really like this. The mix is decent and vocals are delivered well. Not my usual taste in music but this has an awesome feel to it. Well done.

Bridger- This is awesome!!! Needs a little work on the mix but the writing is fantastic and I like all the elements of this song. Vocals are great just need to be balanced in the mix a little bit and this is a AWESOME SONG! Well done.

The Locnar- The Locnar is a revived Metal Project between myself and Eelnoc (formerly known as The Grim) It is our homage to the old 80's animated classic "Heavy Metal" Hope you enjoy!!!

Lucky Spoon- This beat is cool. The mix on this is good. The flow is not bad. Vocal delivery reminds me of Beastie Boys. I can't decide if I like this or not.

Gasm- This is different. I like it. It sounds like if Slug from Atmosphere started making grunge rock. Vocals are a tad loud but otherwise the mix is decent.
Well done.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by lichenthroat »

Berkeley Social Scene—I’m digging the guitar tone, and I like the left/right separation in the mix. I can’t quite figure out what the lyrics are about. Good song overall.

Bridger—Well crafted, except that the transition from the intro to the first verse is a little jarring. The synthy stuff works well in the context of the rest of the song. The vocal is performed well, but it’s a little sedate in comparison to the rest of the song; maybe add some backing vocals or double tracking.

gasm—I wish there was a little more going on with the music in the verses, but I like the chorus. Your vocal delivery fits the song well.

Lichen Throat (me)—This is a mess, I know. I usually compose the instrumental music first, then the vocal melody. I tried to do the vocal melody first this time, and I somehow grossly miscalculated the length of time necessary for each vocal line. The overlapping vocals were my attempt to solve the timing problem. I think it could have been cool in the hands of someone more skilled, but I’m simply not a good enough singer to pull it off.

The Locnar—This is not my flavor of milkshake, so I find it hard to evaluate properly. It seems to be competently performed, as far as I can tell. I like the section that starts at 1:38.

lookoutJoe!—Not my favorite genre, but this is a good song. All the performances are good, as is the songwriting. Nice work. I expect that you’ll win.

Lucky Spoon—The vocal sounds a little distant, particularly given the subject matter and style of the song; I want it to be disturbingly in my face. Great ending with the final vocal line.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Lucky Spoon »

BSS - overall solid song. vox could be more in tune. your tatod is still one of my favorite sf songs ever

bridger - overall good composition. you've got a lot of good pieces here they just need to be put together a little bit better. I really dig the bass tone but the timing on the take is sloppy and doesn't mesh with the electronic feel the song was building up to before it came in. vocal takes are timid and need about 3-4x more energy. the timidness is also causing some intonation problems. good builds to high energy parts of the song contrasted by lower parts in the song. keep this one in your back pocket, polish it up, and record it again some day.

gasm - once i got over the vocals this was a decent song. breakdown part at 1:10 is cool

lichenthroat - not sure what you're trying for with the low mumbly vocals.

locnar - well executed metal song. I like some metal but not the screamy kind. I'd probably listen to this song more (like more than just this fight) if vox were less screamy but I understand the subgenre of metal you were going for and it works for that.

the lookouts band - verse is radiohead - creep. overall great song performance and composition wise. here's some picky recording/polish things: are you plugging the acoustic guitars in direct? try micing them to give a bit more control over tone (i.e. make them brighter). EQ the guitars/bass so they don't step on each other. work on that electric guitar sound to really make it butter/pop a bit more. i'm not an electric player so my only advise on how to do this is a little more drive and a touch of reverb. for drums if you've got some spare cash you can get a set of drum mics for under $200 that are decent (sometin like this). bring the kit a bit more into the mix instead of sitting slightly behind it. gate the snare. bonus you can use the overhead mics on your acoustic.

lucky spoon - had some fun with an upright bass and old school drum loops. overall achieved the vision of the song but could have developed some parts more to feel less rushed (or have dramatic pauses??) and really nail the emotional effect. I got goose bumps the first time I listed to the tension/fight part into the last lines/calmness of the aftermath. I'm just happy I finished this song and logged it forever to my sf name vs sending it to the graveyard of unfinished songs I have on my computer.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Berkeley Social Scene - I really like the mix of the guitar parts on this one, the chorussy clean in the left ear and the crunchier stuff in the right ear. There are a few moments where the vocal melody maybe follows the instrumental a bit too closely and it sounds uninspired, but mostly I really like this one.

Bridger - interesting mix of synths and full-on rawk. The extremely chunky bass-work in the verse is a bit excessive for my liking but there’s a lot to enjoy here.

gasm - kudos for taking the optional challenge to heart! This isn’t totally my thing really, but the vocal delivery is interesting and it has a good energy.

Lichen Throat - the overlapping vocal is a cool idea, even if it wasn’t your original intention. I like the lyric too. Overall, it’s not one of your best, but I don’t think it’s a disaster or anything.

The Locnar - I never really listen to anything this heavy so I have no idea what I’m talking about, but the guitars sound amazing and the vocals are ferocious so I’m pretty sure you’re doing excellent work here, even if it’s not my thang.

Lookouts - enjoyed this, but maybe not quite as much as your last couple of entries. Nice vibe but not quite as catchy. Somewhat agreed with Lucky Spoon on the acoustic guitar sound, it does have some of that clicky DI-recorded sound, although it’s far from the worst I’ve heard. In general I quite like the mix though and the drums sound good to me, as do the vocals.

Lucky Spoon - agreed with Lichen Throat on the vocals, they’re definitely too low in the mix. Enjoyed this otherwise, good lyric and I like the upright bass. That washy filter effect on the drums is maybe a bit much over the course of the whole song.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by BoffoYux »

A Reminder - SongFight Listening Party Monday at 9pm EST. If Black Mountain is posted by then, I'll do that - otherwise it'll be the swansong for You Stopped Fighting.

I'm back into Listening Party mode with SpinTunes and Nur Ein kicking back into gear - and with a few Mondays free, I'll also cover the next 2 Songfights.





Looks like I'll be running some LP on every Monday at 9pm for the next 3 months. Drop on in!

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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by owl »

lookoutJoe: This was a nice, catchy listen, I really liked the vocals. Kinda reminded me of Beck. Well performed and constructed all around.

Locnar: wooo, great deranged vocals! I don't really listen to metal at home but I go to shows occasionally, but not really enough to be able to comment intelligently on this. In general this felt well done but there were a few production things that bugged me, like I think the tone of the guitars didn't sound quite as menacing as I would have liked, and I felt like too much of the sonic range of the song was too much in the high end; drums sounded weird and clicky at the end.

Lichen Throat: I think the overlapping mumbly vocals sound kind of cool, I don't hate them like so many people in this thread seem to, but the song jumped around a lot melodically/instrumentally, and I think it was a bit much when combined with the vocals, it made a lot of it feel almost assembled at random, particularly in the kind of plucked koto-sounding parts (prechorus? chorus?). But as usual I think it's really interesting and unique-sounding and I appreciate that!

Bridger: I like that intro keyboard riff, kind of reminds me of video game music. Not into the Primus-y bass in the verse, I think I would maybe like it if it were less distorted. But it feels really cool and epic when it goes from that dialed back part into the chorus, I like the dynamics!

gasm: I really like the dramatic pauses! Vocals suit the style of the song well. I'm not super into the music but I think that's just more of a personal taste thing than anything I'd criticize in the song itself.

Lucky Spoon: The drums and bass and those old skool wikka-wikka-wow scratches are super sweet! I think your vocals are delivered well but I have to say I really dislike the Beastie Boys-style shouting. It started out more restrained and I was into it but once it got shouty the song took an abrupt downwards turn for me--this is totally just a personal taste thing though. I liked the "longer"/"stronger"/"beyond her" rhyme but the lyrics felt a bit vague for my taste on the whole... I like hip-hop that gets a bit more adventurous and playful with the language, and I feel like there's a story here that i wanted to know more about but I couldn't quite extract it from the lyrics.

edit: oops, I missed BSS!
Berkeley Social Scene: Buoyant and poppy! I quite like this tune overall, but I'm on the fence about the melodic "when did you give up the fight" run-up part. On the one hand it's kind of the hook, but it also didn't feel quite natural to me and it felt really repetitive at the end where the chorus gets repeated. The guitars are nice. This has a bittersweet 90s nostalgia kind of feel to me, I liked it!
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Lucky Spoon »

owl wrote:I like hip-hop that gets a bit more adventurous and playful with the language
Me too. I wish I could write better lyrics.

owl wrote:and I feel like there's a story here that i wanted to know more about but I couldn't quite extract it from the lyrics.
Inspired by being in a dead end relationship for too long, my song gives voice to the inner self of anyone who's given up their fight/passion and has devolved to coasting in life. The inner self that makes you you is angry and yells at you to get past things like dead end relationships (or jobs or friends) that are holding you back and make the tough choices to move on. You only have one life so don't waste it not being yourself just because you don't want to hurt someone's feelings or are scared of the unknown.

Hey you're in Madison! me too.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by owl »

Lucky Spoon wrote: Inspired by being in a dead end relationship for too long, my song gives voice to the inner self of anyone who's given up their fight/passion and has devolved to coasting in life. The inner self that makes you you is angry and yells at you to get past things like dead end relationships (or jobs or friends) that are holding you back and make the tough choices to move on. You only have one life so don't waste it not being yourself just because you don't want to hurt someone's feelings or are scared of the unknown.

Hey you're in Madison! me too.
I appreciate knowing the backstory. yeah I think having more concrete details in there would have been nice! There are some things like the mention of five years that make total sense with that explanation, but were pretty opaque to me without it. I guess it comes down to what you want to do--some listeners like more vague and mysterious lyrics that they can apply to their own personal situation, some listeners like things that you can grab onto more easily. And some writers don't give a shit about what the listener wants, I know sometimes I write songs that are completely opaque but they are meaningful in some way to me and so even if they're almost in code, it feels good to get the words out there.

Also WHAT How cool that you're in Madison too!! Hey, you should come to my show on Saturday at the Crystal and watch me play guitar badly. I heard Pigfarmer Jr. might be there visiting from Missouri (are you still coming TC?! what happened to our FOP?) so it could potentially be a mini-SF meetup. Here's the event page, I'm covering Liz Phair and we're playing with a Pixies tribute and a Gang of Four tribute.

https://www.facebook.com/events/262296617641444/
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

Still coming. I've not done any follow up. I'll try to contact my Rot Band Sis and see if there are any plans.
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by owl »

Sweet! I will see you and Nancy there, then :)
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Congrats to lookoutJoe!
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by Lucky Spoon »

owl wrote:
Also WHAT How cool that you're in Madison too!! Hey, you should come to my show on Saturday at the Crystal and watch me play guitar badly. I heard Pigfarmer Jr. might be there visiting from Missouri (are you still coming TC?! what happened to our FOP?) so it could potentially be a mini-SF meetup. Here's the event page, I'm covering Liz Phair and we're playing with a Pixies tribute and a Gang of Four tribute.
Nice! I love Liz Phair.... well, I listened to one of her albums a lot for a month or so a few years ago. Although one time I tried to complement someone's SF by saying they sounded like Liz Phair and they got really offended so I tread lightly. I'm interested in the show, but I'm also the king of not going to shows even of people I have known for years sooooooo don't get too disappointed if I don't make it.

Have you been to other SF meetups (e.g. Songfight live)? I know my buddy Manhattan Glutton has been to a few and he lives here in Madtown too.


Good fight, all! Congrats LookoutJoe! and thanks to BoffoYux for doing the live stream thing. That was fun! (Although it showed how stupid quiet my mix was).
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Re: You Learned To Like It When (You Stopped Fighting Reviews)

Post by owl »

Ha! Dang, I went looking for the offended party on the forums and couldn't find the post in question. Liz Phair is not universally loved, that's for sure. I love her and I could still see myself getting somewhat offended by the comparison under certain circumstances.

I haven't been to any SF meetups, I was only first introduced to this site by being drafted by @furrypedro to do guest vocals on one of his Nur Ein entries last year, so I haven't been around here all that long. So, possibly I'll meet you or Manhattan Glutton or Micah Sommersmith or other songfightin' Wisconsinites one of these days.

Congrats lookoutJoe!
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