Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

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Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Hoblit »

It only takes two hits.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by owl »

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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Songs posted!
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Berkeley Social Scene - I really like the verse (and middle 8), I'm not crazy about the chorus. The mix of fuzzy guitars and dreamy electric piano works really well and there's some excellent vocal harmony, but when the jerky rhythm kicks in for the chorus it loses me for some reason. Are there handclaps in there again or just a short delay on the snare? Either way that sounds cool.

Evil Grin - another strong collaboration, and although this one doesn't work quite as well for me as your last song I think it'll still get a vote. I liked the combo of a more rocking instrumental with the softer vocal on the last song whereas everything's a bit softer here. Some excellent instrumentation - I like the distorted lead guitar on the first verse and the mandolin on the second. I'm not crazy about the repeated use of the word "busted", it feels rhythmically awkward to me. But overall, still among my favourites for this fight.

Geech Sorensen - strong writing, super wistful. Reminds me of... maybe Wilco, I think? The swooshy filtered noise effect is interesting (I totally didn't notice that during my first few in-car listens). I like the time signature change and LOVE the way the keyboard harmonises with the guitar line, although the shift back into the chorus after that first instrumental section feels a little clumsy to me. I think I admire this one rather than really loving it but I reckon it'll probably get a vote.

Joblito Y El Banditos - I really like that fuzzy riff at the start but I'm not crazy about the song it develops into, especially the first vocal section which feels really loose and messy. Pretty tight and rocking after that but I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of garage punky sound on the whole so I'll have to claim a little genre bias I think, and the way the song keeps kinda stopping and starting up again stops it from really maintaining any rocking momentum.

Micah Sommersmith - for some reason the mix didn't really work for me when I was listening in the car. In order to hear the accordion / guitar / bass backing properly I had to turn it up so loud that the vocals were CRAZY loud. But I'm listening again now on headphones and it sounds fine, and I'm glad I did, because that was the only thing I didn't like about this one. Great take on the title, I love lyrics that tell an entire life story and this one stirred the most emotions in me, so you get bonus Optional Challenge points also.

OG Lawn Darts - I don't think your stuff will ever fully work for me, the alternating-between-a-couple-of-notes vocal melodies really bug me for some reason, but this is definitely my favourite OG song so far. The lyrics are clever and stand out as a different approach, the gang vocals on the chorus are effective, and I really like the organ sound (it reminds me of the Monkey Island games for some reason).

Paco del Stinko - this has a low-key charm, it doesn't really grab my attention like my usual favourite Paco songs do (aside from maybe when the solo kicks in, wild tone!) but I've enjoyed hearing it every time so I reckon I'll give it a vote.

Third Cat - as usual there are a load of really cool things going on here, the occasional bursts of delay / reverb and that cool tape-stop moment are really clever. The song beneath the cool production isn't one of my favourite from you though, and there's some slightly loose timing in places that made me feel like this wasn't quite as tight as it should be. Can't work out if I like the ending or not, but it certainly stands out!

The Undead Squirrels - Ric Ocasek called, he wants to know if you'll drive him home.

...

Seriously though, I quite like this. It has that usual James Owens charm (and pan flutes) and I love this kind of roomy drum sound. But - intentional or not - that borrowed melody is extremely distracting.

Vowl Sounds - I think this is one of the best things we've done. A lot of work went into it and I really love the end result!
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by thirdcatmusic »

Berkeley Social Scene - - - This is a pretty fun song with a nice mix of gritty distorted guitars and a lighter pop feel. Giving me a bit of a Weezer vibe overall. Quite a lot of catchy bits here. I really like the bridge section, sweet contrast. One of the better BSS songs I've heard I think. Vote.

Evil Green - - - I think I like this one more than your last one I think the mix is a bit better this time around, vocals are more upfront as I think makes sense with this kind of song. That said is a bit of sloppiness at times in the instrumental that I think kinda takes away from it. Overall I give it a thumbs up; I like the short guitar solo, tasteful work. Vote.

Geech Sorensen - - - This is an artful emotionally compelling song. I noticed Vom's reference of Wilco and I hear that too. I'm a pretty big fan so I mean that as a big compliment. If I have a complaint it's that it maybe runs a little long but the track length is right in line with this style so that's more a personal preference thing. Really lovely guitar playing/tone throughout. Vote.

Joblito Y El Banditos - - - Not crazy about the intro although it may be a grower. The main punk rock thing is pretty cool. Vocals work well for the style. Maybe a bit too much of the stop/start thing. It makes the sections seem really disconnected. The drums are bit lost in the mix at times.

Micah Sommersmith - - - Good recording / mix (on my monitors anyway, didn't listen in the car like Vom). All the parts seem clear & present. Good performances. I do have a bit of genre bias against this but it seems really well done for the style. I do like the verse lyrics (not so much the "two hits on the big bass drum" chorus)

OG Lawn Darts - - - Fantastic performances, mix, recording. I love the groove. Great backing vocals. Love the lyrics. Not entirely in my wheelhouse as far as genre preference but I've really enjoyed listening to this (the three times I've played it so far.) Dig the heck out of the dissonance you introduce in the instrumental breaks. Vote.

Paco Del Stinko - - - I find this one quite charming, great musicianship/production as always. Love the solo. Vote.

The Undead Squirrels - - - A bit ramshackle/loose but in a way I find pretty cool. I like the vocals. Love the flute. The melody is catchy but seems maybe a bit too familiar in places.

Vowl Sounds - - - Fantastic vocals/melody. Love the harmonies. Tons of personality in the instrumentation, I really like how full it sounds while I can still hear each element clearly. Very well mixed/produced. My favorite of the fight and among the best tracks I've on SongFight over the last year. And a reference to "Caroline, No" ? Be still my heart. Maybe my favorite Beach Boys song. This is really really good. uh. Vote.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Good songs all around this week! I'm hoping to get some reviews written soon.

The BSS song this week features me and Glen and Martin on a triple guitar attack! I'm playing lead in the bridge, Glen's playing lead in the outro. Geech is on bass. Ken is on drums and wrote the lyrics. Martin and Glen and I did the "One two!" gang vocals. Martin came up with most of the main vocal melodies. That was all in our Tuesday night session. Later I sang the main vocals and harmonies and played the keys, tambo, shaker, and vibraslap. I think we managed to make a really head bopping catchy rocker that packs a lot of punch in 3'12" and I'm happy with how my vocals turned out.

I also helped record and edit and mix Geech's song. I think it turned out really cool! I dig the song a lot. I think it's got great dynamics and creates a really nice vibe.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by owl »

thirdcatmusic wrote:
Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:01 pm
And a reference to "Caroline, No" ? Be still my heart. Maybe my favorite Beach Boys song.
Thank you for the kind words :) Personally, this is my favorite Beach Boys song.

I just thought I would drop in to leave a few notes on our song. (reviews later!)
  • The title suggested this scene from The Breakfast Club to me so we discussed that briefly and Vom went with a kind of 80's sound for the track because of that basic idea.
  • Then, procrastinating/researching, I was re-reading this article by Molly Ringwald about looking back at the John Hughes movies she was in decades later and I found it really interesting. So aside from referencing the Beach Boys song and that whole death-of-innocence theme, the "Caroline" line is in reference to the Sixteen Candles haha funny drunken date rape scene with Caroline and the Geek and the actress who played Caroline's reaction to that scene.
  • The bridge instrumentation is a direct nod to the sparse bass flute-harpsichord-woodblock instrumentation in "Caroline No"! We went back and forth a few times about how this should sound and I think Vom did an awesome job with working it out.
  • I've also been reading a book by a fantastic nature writer named Barry Lopez that led me to this harrowing essay, A Sliver of Sky, that he wrote about his experiences with being sexually abused as a child, the resulting long-term trauma, and the contortions made by people around him to protect his abuser. He said in an interview about the essay, "I felt this surge of lyrical pleasure in the way the wind sounded, for example, in eucalyptus trees. I knew that I could carry that with me. I could carry it as a memory, and I could carry it as a structure to help me build a safe place in the world."
  • so, wrapping that all up together, the lyrics ended up being about the one-two punch of abuse and its aftermath, and a combination of nightmarish body horror and lyrical, disassociative images in the narrator's emotional reaction
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by MicahSommer »

Berkeley Social Scene - The best part of this song is the bridge - the instrumentation is nice and full, and the melody is very satisfying. The chorus is also catchy - the “One two!” vocals stand out and are a lot of fun, and the final line (“Keep the motor running on the American dream”) extends the phrase in a fun and unexpected way. The verses, on the other hand, really don’t work for me. I’m not a fan of the lead vocal approach of singing for four beats and then pausing for four beats (“Once is a blessing ………… and twice is a fluke”) especially when there’s nothing melodic going on in the instrumentation. It’s call and response, but with no response. If you cut out the empty space, you keep the energy up and make the verses half as long. Otherwise, put a lead guitar line in there or something.
Lyrically, it all works well, except for the phrase “making music”, which is the most boring way possible to refer to the act of, well, making music. Rocking out? Killing it? Shredding solos? Belting out? Literally any phrase would be more interesting.

Evil Grin - I don’t know enough about poker to be 100% whether all the terms are used entirely appropriately or coherently, but I get the idea. Props for keeping the poker metaphor running throughout the entire song, but the result is that I don’t know anything about these characters’ actual relationship, or - especially - why it failed. In fact, even in the poker terms I don’t know why it failed. “Two hits of you was not enough”, but “I should just fold”... You can’t fold and also get another hit, right? And “I should just fold” is in the present tense, so are you somehow still in the game, even though you’re “busted”? And you say “the house always wins”, but it seems like the love interest is the one winning the hand, and who is “the house” anyway?… Probably I’m thinking too hard about this, but the poker metaphor is literally the entire song, so if I can’t make sense of it, I’m not left with much.
Musically, it’s catchy enough, and the lead vocal is good. There are definitely some timing issues between the acoustic guitar, drums, and electric guitar at various points that give it a bit of clumsy feeling. On the plus side, I think I hear a mandolin in the second verse? I really like the sound and I wish it was featured more prominently. (I’m remembering how much I enjoyed the mandolin in “Alien BBQ” from Spintunes.) And is Pigfarmer Jr singing backup vocals, or is that just the lead singer doing a lower harmony line? Either way, it sounds great.

Geech Sorensen - Are you doing the thing where you start on a G chord and then you move your index and middle fingers up a string to a C chord, but keep your other fingers where they are so you get a Cmaj7 or Cadd2 or something? It’s not the worst effect, but I find it overused, and unless I’m mistaken, except for the triple-meter instrumental bits, it’s just that progression for the entire song. Now, on the other hand, that triple-meter instrumental bit is pretty great. (My fondness for triple meter will be a recurring theme in these reviews.) There’s a nice melody, it provides a welcome contrast to the rest of the song, and the instrumentation is great. In fact, the instrumentation is pretty great throughout, with some really nice bass playing especially, although the acoustic guitar that opens the song and plays during the verses is pretty dull-sounding and really quiet, so when the chorus and fuller instrumentation comes in, it’s too much of a contrast.
Lyrically, it’s thinly-sketched, which I think actually works in the song’s favor. This could be literally about being physically attacked, or it could be a metaphor - and if the latter, it’s vague enough that the listener can read their own experience into the song. Nothing wrong with that!

Joblito Y El [sic] Banditos - We start off in triple meter! Yay! I love it! The way the guitars and voice play off each other in the opening section is pretty great. Then the song “kicks in”, except the energy level doesn’t really rise. The electric guitar that plays alone is too soft, the drums are too soft, the bass is too loud, and where the hell is the snare? When the verse kicks in, all I can hear of the drums besides some quiet tom fills is the hi-hat on two and four, which lends like an oom-pah brass band feel, which... I don’t think you were going for. The vocal is high energy and delivered great, but the instrumental doesn’t live up to it.
Compared to other reviewers, I think the big contrast between sections actually works pretty well, and the chug-chug-chug “double-tapping presidents” section is (musically) a highlight for me. The “bang bang!” interjections are great. I think the song should have ended at 2:20 after the first “two hits” section; what follows is just repetition of what we’ve already heard, and the song would pack more punch if it gets in and gets out.
Now, lyrically, well… a couple of years ago in Nur Ein I wrote a song that suggested feeding Donald Trump to a lion, so maybe I don’t have a leg to stand on, but I’m not super comfortable with this expression of a very clear desire to shoot a specific, real, individual human being in the head, with a gun (twice!). Maybe you feel you’re giving the right-wing 2A crowd a taste of their own medicine, and sure, punk music has a long history of this kind of inflammatory rhetoric, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Also, using the phrase “a systematic cleanse,” however intentioned, in today’s Nazi-filled political climate? Come on.

Micah Sommersmith (me) - The central flaw of this song, of course, is that a heartbeat goes “thump THUMP” and not “THUMP thump,” so the entire musical metaphor falls apart. Additionally, since I was already a day late, I mixed the song extremely hastily, resulting, no doubt, in the issues that Vom had listening in the car. The biggest mixing issue I hear as I listen now is that the acoustic guitar loop during the verses is very muddled and doesn’t come through how I wanted. And I wrote the last verse while I was recording it, whereas I nearly always have all the lyrics written before getting out the microphone. So I feel like there’s a bit of whiplash at the end - I maybe need an extra four lines for the narrator to accept that there’s more to life than chasing fame, so that the contentment at the end doesn’t seem quite so much to come out of nowhere.
On the other hand, I did satisfy my long-standing desire to somehow rhyme “Tig Notaro” and “Lulu Garcia-Navarro,” so the song’s not a total loss.

OG Lawn Darts - Your style is consistent and well-executed, and this song fits well with the others we’ve heard recently. I’m impressed that you continue to come up with decent melodies out of (I think exclusively) scale degrees 1, 2, and 3. The best part of this song is the “Two hits!” backing vocals, and it’s a nice moment when we hear them alone without the lead vocal over them. When the lead vocal does come back in, it seems really loud and always takes me by surprise. Maybe it’s just the really strong “t” sound of “Two hits”. The lyrics are pretty good - the play on words with “two hits” and “too many hits” is a nice touch.

Paco del Stinko - I’ve already mentioned that the triple-meter parts were my favorite parts of Geech and Hoblit’s songs, and with this song, I’m in heaven! The lilting forward motion, the interplay of the lead and backing vocals, the loopy lyrics, the way you hit that low note at the end of the chorus, it all works for me. I might have picked a less abrasive tone for the guitar solo, but I love that it comes in with guns blazing, wails for a few bars, and then it’s back to the song. This two-minute nugget of weirdness is my favorite song of the fight.

Third Cat - What I appreciate most about recent Third Cat entries is how much you’ve been playing against the listener’s expectations about musical form. In this case, when the quick “fwip” puts the brakes on everything and then we get the first verse again but at a slower tempo, one expects the song to continue in a new direction for a while before maybe speeding back up for a final chorus. But no, a few seconds and the song’s over.
I like the idea of the stacked guitar lines in the middle of the song, but the execution isn’t quite right - partially the guitar tone, partially that the various lines aren’t quiiiite locked in rhythmically. And the ascending guitar figure at the very end of the song really doesn’t work for me: it sounds like a punchline, or like the end of a sitcom theme - not in keeping with the tone of the song as a whole.
The vocal melody and delivery, of course, are classic Third Cat: great stuff.

The Undead Squirrels - The flute is great, like really really really great. I love that breathy percussive style of flute playing and it’s deployed to great effect here. Unfortunately, the rest of the song doesn’t reach the same level. The verse vocal line suffers from the same problem as Berkeley Social Scene’s entry - call and response, with no response. Granted, the flute does provide the response in the last verse, but it comes awfully late in the song. Additionally, the guitar tone is not pleasant to me. Give it some distortion, or reverb, or… something, please! The melody and chord progression of the B section is quite nice. If it’s borrowed from elsewhere, as some other reviewers seem to indicate, I don’t know where so I won’t fault you.

Vowl Sounds - A well-crafted song from top to bottom as one would expect from these two. The production is excellent, with lots of great details throughout. The Beach Boys flute-and-harpsichord bridge has been noted, but I like the growly bass in the verse that comes afterwards. Lots of great lyrical details as well; I love how “I remember your hands / I remember the floor” gets telescoped outwards into “I remember your hands / They turned the lock on the door / I remember my face / On the cold tile floor”. There are some great images that convey the uncomfortable, even grotesque feeling: the sky “glistening like flesh”, the bed heaving “like an ocean made of bones”. I’m less sure about the “rotting telephone” and the “flayed television” - I guess they add to the decay / grotesque atmosphere but I don’t know how I’m supposed to picture those specific images… a small complaint though.
A bigger complaint is with the line “The day that you died, I hit the ground: the second hit, your first blow struck me years ago”. Thematically, it’s a critical line as it sums up the whole idea of the delayed effects of trauma, and the connection to the title, but it’s also the clumsiest line in the song, for a few reasons, I think: the convoluted grammar, placing the second hit before the first, and having the near-synonyms “hit”, “blow” and “struck” in close succession. The first time I heard it was a definite “wait, what?” situation.
But there’s a lot more to like than dislike: one more great aspect of the song is the backing vocals, especially singing “feels like a dream” and “falling for so long,” especially especially when they go up to scale degree 7 on “feels like a dreeeeeeam”. So satisfying!
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Geech »

Two Hits Feedback

This is a pretty good crop of songs overall.

BSS - Sam led this and it turned quickly into a catchy rocker. I often have "1, 2, make it 4 on the floor" in my head these days. I played bass and tried to push the rhythm. The various percussion instruments later helped the overall feel. I dig the vibraslap and the tambo. Except for our arguments about how to end the song, it was pretty fun to record.

Evil Grin - A nice song. The chorus is catchy. Pleasant harmonies there. I don’t think the lead guitar over the first verse helps; it just seems to get in the way. The post chorus leads should be catchier. This is all pretty minor though. My main problem is that I want the singer to give more. There is the potential here for something really moving, the lyrics support it, I want her to go for it, but it doesn’t happen. Let it out!

Geech - Tis me. I wanted something spacey, ethereal and emotional. The part in 6 came at the last minute but I think works pretty well. Thanks Sam, for recording it, mixing it, providing me guidance and adding the great keyboard parts!

Joblito - I like the post-punk feel of this tune. References great bands like the Minutemen, DKs and Mission of Burma. In fact, the primary singer here sounds a lot like Roger Miller of Mission of Burma. All good points to me. The “Double tapping presidents with two shots to the head” bit is overkill though. It turns post-punk into an obvious hardcore political shout-out, which is less my bag. I like what comes after it. The bongos are an interesting addition for this style. The background vocals are a nice touch. Overall, I dig it.

Micah - This is an original take on this title. The lyrical reference to the beat obviously makes it happen. Doing a “life story” song, however, is wrought with landmines - corniness, mawkishness and melodrama among them. I am impressed by your gumption to attempt this; I would never have the guts. I have sincerely mixed feelings about how much I actually like this as a song. I don’t think you evade the issues I list above. The funny bits and pop culture references are a little much for me…. especially the ones that I don’t get. I like the simple, round-style, chorus, but it makes more akin to children’s music. Still, there is an undeniable charm to this.

OG Lawn Darts - I have genre bias against reggae, but this is a well-done track. The groove is there. There are some cool riffs, like the simple one in getting back to the verse. The background vocals are really effective, especially the Ohs. Your vocal delivery, how it varies from line to line in minimal melodies really work. I wanted something to happen in the bridge besides the basic instrumental. You missed a real opportunity there to build more tension to the “You’re not a kid” part. And then I think you too slowly get back to the chorus in the end. Alternatively, you could have had another verse or a solo before that. Of the few tracks I’ve heard from you, this is my favorite.

Paco - A cool immediate jump to start the song. A great first line in your lyric. I wish the full lyrics available! Nice guitar playing and interplay with the bass. I really like the live drums too, including your tom-based fills. All of the instrumentation works very well together. The half-time change for the bridge works. The lead guitar has a great crazy howling sound. My only question on any of this is the overall hookiness of the vocal. The vocal is so dense and the song is so short, I feel like I am missing something - > And afterwards, I remember “this is as good as it gets, my friend”, but not much else. I guess I just want bigger, more obvious hooks. There is no fat in this track, it’s only 2 minutes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a tastier meal.

Third Cat - I like the fade in. Good simple beginning along with the contrasting panned guitar parts. "You want a fresh start" is a solid hook. Nice builds with harmonized leads on different instruments, but I think this part comes in too soon in the song. The psych breakdown in the middle and move to half-time - I can dig the breakdown, but the move to half-time and out is just weird to me. Song loses all momentum, then dies. There is the nugget of something great here, it's just incomplete.

The Undead Squirrels - A ramshackle tune. So loose. Your repeated cop of the chorus from Drive by the Cars puts me off. It’s makes it hard for me to judge this song on its own. With the flute and the instrumentation it reminds me of a b-side to an unknown garage rock single from like 1967. I like the flute riff. Is that live? “The at least 2 hits or I’m going to go under” bit is hooky. I wanted it more than twice.

Vowl Sounds - Great beginning and build to the vocal. I love how you introduce multiple things at once to surprise the listener. The drum part and multiple keys all create great space for the vocals and their reminiscence of The Sundays, to sit in. There are really nice, well-executed harmonies. The “fourteen blackbirds” line is a great first lyric to start with. You know it too, and that's why you repeat it and end the song the same way. Interesting, circular interplay of the lead and background vocals. I love how the backgrounds keep going when the lead vocal returns. Great flip to half-time and return. I am not as much of a fan of the bridge, but you exit out of this quickly to the Caroline, No breakdown which is really great. Overall the vocal lines have hook after hook. This song is just really compelling and memorable.

My faves, besides the ones I was involved in, are Vowl Sounds, Paco and OG Lawn Darts. Joblito, Micah and TC come next.
Last edited by Geech on Mon Apr 22, 2019 7:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Geech »

MicahSommer wrote:
Fri Apr 19, 2019 9:19 pm
Geech Sorensen - Are you doing the thing where you start on a G chord and then you move your index and middle fingers up a string to a C chord, but keep your other fingers where they are so you get a Cmaj7 or Cadd2 or something? It’s not the worst effect, but I find it overused, and unless I’m mistaken, except for the triple-meter instrumental bits, it’s just that progression for the entire song.
You are a strong listener, but no I am not playing that. You are correct that I am playing the same droney two-chord vamp throughout the verse and chorus, however.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Chumpy »

The Jerks are back in podcast form, this time joined by our special guest Owl!

Here is how you can play along at home: You can also hit us up at: feedback@twojerksonevote.com.

Table of contents::
  • 00:00:00 - Intro song
  • 00:01:00 - Beginning-of-podcast blathering
  • 00:12:27 - Berkeley Social Scene
  • 00:19:04 - Evil Grin
  • 00:27:21 - Geech Sorensen
  • 00:34:04 - Joblito Y El Banditos
  • 00:42:56 - Micah Sommersmith
  • 00:51:08 - OG Lawn Darts
  • 00:56:22 - Paco del Stinko
  • 01:02:26 - Third Cat
  • 01:08:40 - The Undead Squirrels
  • 01:21:28 - Vowl Sounds
  • 01:31:14 - End-of-podcast blathering
Woot!
"I don't recommend ending on a bad joke." --ken
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by MicahSommer »

Chumpy wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 7:39 am
The Jerks are back in podcast form, this time joined by our special guest Owl!
I was just complaining to myself about the lack of Jerk-voices in my life.

Looking forward to burning this onto an mp3-CD and listening to it on my drive home tonight!
"you did a skillful job pulling off the sexy" - RangerDenni
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

Excellent stuff as always! Good discussions of a strong and nicely varied fight.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by AJOwens »

Having failed to produce reviews for this fight, I was planning to lurk in shameful silence, but the Jerks' extensive commentary prompts me to say someting about our entry (The Undead Squirrels). That doesn't mean I'm writing reviews. It turns out that the first few weeks of retirement are busier than one might expect, what with long-postponed house repairs and whatnot.

First off, I have to thank Geech for naming the song everybody else was alluding to. I knew our chorus was familiar, but I couldn't place it, and neither could my wife (who by the way is not otherwise involved). I thought it was Beatle-esque, and struggled without success to identify the precedent. If I had recognized its source, I might have knocked a few notes around; it would be easy to make it different enough to pass, and yet still melodically interesting. Just going up from the third to the fifth instead of the other way round would do it. On the other hand, the song was "composed" (if you can call it that) in one afternoon jam at "Acorn Productions" (as I call our usual basement studio), and not a lot was vested in it, and apart from adding a flute and an organ later in my own basement studio, I wasn't too concerned with its fate; so laying down alternative vocals was not in the cards.

People inadvertently reproduce musical moments all the time ("Creep" being an excellent example [EDIT: as well as Third Cat's "You want a fresh start" in this very fight, which reminds me of the Jayhawk's "I'd Run Away," now that my wife has helped me name it]), but in this case the hook is so striking that it can't be referenced without invoking the original (once identified). As I was trying to find the source, I remember thinking how such a simple and effective melodic and harmonic pattern should, by rights, show up all over the place, and wondering how it could possibly have been used only once, in some hit I couldn't remember.

Exploring "the pocket" is what our sound is explictly about, at least for me (although I wasn't familiar with the term); as an artistic justification, I wave in the general direction of spontaneity and aleatory music, or perhaps their intersection, but who are we kidding, we're in Canada and we're all stoned and larking about. My own tracks (under James Owens) use a metronome, but more so that I can cut and paste with supreme ease than for any fortunate and concomitant tightness.

The solo uses a real flute (orchestral, not pan or tin). I was thinking in terms of Jethro Tull as I played it, but my wife noted a suggestion of Moe Koffman in the result. The second chorus introduces an organ -- sometimes called a "percussive" organ for its clicky attack, but with the smooth rotary quality of a B3 (Leslie off, obviously), the sound commonly dialed up for "Whiter Shade of Pale" -- and the timbres happen to blend almost imperceptibly, so that one might think the flute is overtracked.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Great podcast!

Y'all are very specific about your phrasing choices, geez. No singer in any of the music you like has ever sung a one syllable word over two notes or deliberately left some space between some words? :P
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Lunkhead »

Also:

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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Jerkatorium »

Lunkhead wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:38 pm
No singer in any of the music you like has ever sung a one syllable word over two notes or deliberately left some space between some words? :P
That's right. Just like that band we reviewed for the "Sing of the Times" fight: "She's buy-y-ing a stai-airway to heaven." What kind of amateur stretches "buy" and "stair" to two syllables? Sloppy sloppy sloppy.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by glennny »

The Undead Squirrels - Ric Ocasek called, he wants to know if you'll drive him home.
That would be funnier if it were accurate.
I think you meant to say Benjamin Orr (he wrote and sang vocals on Drive)
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

glennny wrote:
Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:16 am
The Undead Squirrels - Ric Ocasek called, he wants to know if you'll drive him home.
That would be funnier if it were accurate.
I think you meant to say Benjamin Orr (he wrote and sang vocals on Drive)
I did not mean to say that at all, but OK!
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by MicahSommer »

vowlvom wrote:
Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:03 am
The Undead Squirrels - Ric Ocasek called, he wants to know if you'll drive him home.
Geech wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 6:44 pm
The Undead Squirrels - A ramshackle tune. So loose. Your repeated cop of the chorus from Drive by the Cars puts me off.
I was born in 1988 (only a decade off, Ryan :P ) and have lots of 80s pop blind spots, so I had never heard this Cars song. In fact, the only Cars song I knew previous to this week was "Just What I Needed", (Feel free to judge me!) so "Drive" did not at all sound stylistically like what I assumed the typical Cars song sounds like. Anyway, it appears the similarity everyone is talking about is when Benjamin Orr sings "You can't go on thinking nothing's wrong" and James Owens sings "Dreams can come true, it can happen to you", right? And... okay, sure they sound similar, although the resolution that James does with "if you believe" is much more satisfying in my opinion. But... it's one isolated part from each song, it's a simple vi - ii progression, the melody is perfectly logical and natural given the chord progression - basically, I'd be shocked if these were the only two songs in the world that have ever used this melody, and I'm impressed that seemingly every single person on this board besides me made the connection. Was "Drive" such a smash hit that everyone has had it stuck in their heads for the past 35 years?
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by Pigfarmer Jr »

1. I also did not make the connection
2. I'm aware of the song. Not sure if it was a hit, but it was played an awful lot on the local rock station back in the 80's. And come to think of it, on MTV, too. So yeah, I guess it was a hit.

Further research: It was a top 10 hit in 12 worldwide charts (including a top 5 hit on two US charts) and a top 15 hit in a four more worldwide charts. The album was certified gold in the U.K.
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Re: Nancy Pelosi For President! (Two Hits Reviews)

Post by vowlvom »

It's one of those songs that I've heard consistently ever since I became conscious of music (I was born in 1982). It is very much a radio staple in the UK, far more than any other song by The Cars. I love the cover version by The Paradise Motel also, and the drony Mogwai remix of that cover. So it is a melody that is very much riveted into my brain, I guess!
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