My mental health has never been better (Power Plants reviews)

[Pigfarmer Jr]

.... but they might be addictive.

[Pigfarmer Jr]

Please place the lyric you have so delicately crafted in its proper place which would be approximately here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12425

[Lunkhead]

Songs posted!

[Lunkhead]

Slight glitch with the song links there at first, but Pigfarmer Jr reported it and I hopefully have it all fixed up now.

[thehipcola]

Wow - quick skip through these submissions and I'm thinking there's some seriously awesome songs in here. Nice job everyone! Reviews to follow in a coupla.

[glennny]

Late submission by Cavedwellers.
Hopefully the Fightmaster will be generous and kind and add us to the fight.
Sorry everyone, for being late.

[Lunkhead]

I'm leaving 3:30am for a week long trip Tuesday morning, and have a ton to do before then, so, not sure I will get around to adding the late song, or to fixing the issue with the song links being wrong still in the Jukebox.

[Lunkhead]

Trip cancelled so the Jukebox link issue has been fixed. Will add late song shortly.

[Lunkhead]

Cavedwellers added to the fight.

[mo]

Some quick thoughts:

Balance Lost: So I really like this track, which really has a great feel and architecture. The two things I noticed are that the verse melody doesn’t quite seem to go with the chord tones, which like, I’m into dissonance but it doesn’t sound dissonant, just like not right. Not always, mostly it's the last note of a phrase [edit: I was listening again in the car this morning and it sounded fine, so maybe there was some cross-resonances that I was hearing in the earbuds that made things sound slightly weird]. The second thing is the string sliding noise, I’m not against string noise but this is so bright and present that it doesn’t fit at all with the vibe of the song, you might consider going back and doing the surgery to low pass them and bring them down a few dB. For me, it is very distracting from the super cool vibe and groove that you've created here.

Dollar Bill: hate the pre-line breaths, I find them very distracting for some reason. Timing of the vocal phrasing is a bit disjointed; I'm not sure if that's performance or the prosody of the writing though. I feel like there's a bunch of phrases you're rushing to get through which can work but I don't think it does quite do it here. I like all the music though--my main thought here is that I would like to hear a little more "drums" here and there to vary up the excitement level of the whole song.

BSS: Even though this mix sounds a little under a blanket to me (earbuds, iPhone) the slide guitar is epic and really carries the day. Chorus is a little flat energy wise, I would've liked maybe a little additional percussion or an arpeggiator or something, you know, just a bit more tension there.

The Hipcola: holy squash on those drums Batman. Ok so I like a lot of things about this but I was sitting here thinking it's kind of plodding along and in the end what I think I'm feeling is that somewhere between the drum mix and where everything sits on the grid, I just don't feel like this grooves very hard. I don't know exactly, but I feel like the parts just aren't quite in a pocket, and if they were, I could listen to these elements at this bpm all night, but I just don't feel it.

Jim Tyrell: This song would benefit from a hotter master, but other than that I can't complain. Ok maybe I can, I wish I could hear a little more detail in the vocals, idk if that's an EQ or a level thing (or saturation) or some combination of all of the above. The music and composition is lovely and I really enjoy the singing even when you're reaching down there. The piano break is one of my favorite things in this fight.

Mellfire: this kind of trad college blues rock beginning makes me think this song better be awesome to justify this choice. This bit also is not sitting in a pocket, no groove. Dislike the guitar effects; they just sound overprocessed and a bit lifeless. It's more or less exactly what the beginning promised until you get to the ending, which I love. I would've preferred the whole song to be in the style of the last bit.

Monday Night Club: I guess this would be fun if you were a college stoner but I'm not that and I don't connect with this set of jokes. I specifically dislike the resonance of the bass sound, just too much for me, YMMV.

Milly Stale: I think the drums are too low in the mix or something, there needs to be a little more life to the sound. Maybe it's just the anemicness of the kick, as the snare sounds ok. I don't mean like, drumming more aggressively or whatever, or faster bpm, I just mean you can have a slow song with sparse instrumentation and a disaffected vocal that still feels full of life, and for me, this is not that. Like this would be ok as an album interstitial or something.

Pigfarmer Jr: Wow I wish you would be clearer on how you feel about marijuana

Yellow Station Blue: I like this one, of the other similarly vibed tunes in this fight, it's got a little melody, which helps for my taste. Good build from the verse to the chorus. I haven't really listened to the lyrics yet but I have the feeling they might be a little trite. I'm not gonna listen hard enough to write them down or anything, but I wouldn't be terribly mad if this came on the radio whilst driving at sunset.

ellipsis: I should probably redo the first stanza vocal, and listening to it now, I probably need to punch up the drums just a touch. The song is basically about the creation of Stonehenge, witches using potions made from magic plants to freeze the King and his warriors in a circle, but of course I'm also singing about someone I knew a long time ago. Someone who made me a foam Stonehenge that was only 18 inches tall when I wanted feet, goddamnit

[furrypedro]

Thanks for the reviews, Mo!

I have done hours of painstaking surgery to my guitars in an effort to reduce the squeakiness, and here are the results. Hope it does the trick.
https://www.gocarpetburn.com/mp3/fawm23/powerplants.mp3

Re: the weird melody. Car version is definitely the right version but thanks for doing the multi-platform check and giving me the benefit of the doubt on that one.

[furrypedro]

Some of my own crap opinions.

Mellfire Trifecta: The Green Onions groove is kinda cool and I like the wibbly effect on the guitars. The synths that come in just before the minute mark add a nice sense of atmosphere and progression to the song. Wish there was more of that. I always appreciate a left turn midway through a song. Good effort.

Monday Night Club: The electro backing track is decent. I hate to say things like this, but the croaky tone of your voice is quite grating and the huge amounts of delay on the vocal mean that it's a constant presence in the mix.

Ellipsis: I dig the uber destroyed guitar distortion. It's almost bordering on a chiptune-type sound. Weirdly the rest of the mix sounds super clean by comparison, I can't decide if that works or not, but probably it's a good thing. If everything was too distorted it might get a bit overwhelming. Ther verses here don't do much for me, but when it builds in the pre-chorus and chorus it's pretty cool. The funky bass breakdown is a good gear-change. I enjoyed it overall.

Yellow Station Blue: Very schmoove mix. Lots of nice production things going on here. The middle bit's a bit creepy, sounds like it's meant to be but it does spoil the schmoove mood slightly. The minimal start is fine, but it's really when it opens up after the middle and all those lush synths and acoustic guitar strums come in that this really grabs me. Can't fault the lyrics/melody but I didn't really notice them for the most part. It's mainly the production that's doing it for me here.

Cavedwellers: This is pleasant enough. "Needs to eat more kale and spinach" is an amusing line. These choruses are catchy and enjoyable, and the harmonies later on sound really good. The instrumental section after the second chorus is glorious, those arpeggiated chords are so optimistic and I'm a sucker for some mellotron strings. Pushing 5 minutes but didn't feel too long. I even felt like the short outro with the mellotron could've developed into something cool too. 8 minute redux?

Jimmy T still going strong: I like the subtle guitar harmonics. Kinda feels like a cross between Bruce Hornsby with a little bit of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" in the rhythm. I.e. sounds like granddad music (was gonna say dad music, but I ain't as young as I used to be!). Actually I do like "50 Ways". This is nice, and well made, it's just seems to take forever to get going, and unlike the almost-as-lengthy Cavedwellers tune I found myself checking the clock.

Milly Stale: Cripes, these are getting longer and longer. What happened to the 3 minute rule? (Which I also broke.) I like the atmosphere to this, a nice bit of trip hop to mix things up in the fight. Good beat and synth action. The extras that come in after 4 minutes are a nice addition. This is proper stoner music. The lyrics are quite strange, sounds like a stoned, Irish HAL "like, I can't do that Dave, the cat's sitting on me". But still enjoyable in a weirdly compelling kind of way.

thehipcola: Oooh I get it now, everybody's making stoner music, clearly I've been smoking too much, took me ages for that to click. Explains why all these songs are so slow and long. This has quite nice trippy-hoppy vibes, the bass sound is really nice and the guitars are very crisp. I like when it gets all glitchy and intense at the end. Overall sounds good; I feel like aside from the beat, the song failed to get a hook in my brain. Probably a few more spins would cure that. Definitely a strong production.

BSS: Having one of the shortest songs in the fight?! Fancy that. I think the verses sound really cool here. The slide kinda reminds me of that Sheryl Crow tune, "All I wanna do" or something. There's a nice dusty atmosphere and the bass line is really cool. There's a good amount of space in this mix. The choruses are slightly standard BSS crunchy chord fare, and don't do a great deal for me. Tight structure and production though.

$B&theIPs: This fight's bringing all the old guard out! This is the most interesting set of lyrics in the fight. I had to look 'em up cos some words were a bit muffled in the mix, but I enjoy the man vs nature angle. They've suddenly reminded me of Andy Serkis getting eaten by swamp shrubs. Ooh I found a video of it. ergh, nasty. This song makes me feel like him in that moment.

PFJ: Yeah rawk! Now maybe I'm not getting good shit, but I have found mary to be an anti-power plant. All I need to do is reach over to the fridge to get the Ben & Jerry's and yet it's just...too...far. Tight musicianship, punchy production. Totally stupid.

[mo]

Pete -- yeah thank you, that's much easier on the ol' eardrums without so much string noise. Like it's a good element to have where it is now.

Also, yeah for this period of time I seem to be into trying to record fuzz guitar through my actual amp, so that destroyed fuzz tone is a Fuzz Factory, basically, on a very low bias setting hahaha. The bass also has Big Muff on it, but everything's politer than the Fuzz Factory basically

[jeff robertson]

I keep saying I'll do reviews, and then don't, but as a poor substitute I'll reveal my votes:

Cavedwellers
Monday Night Club
Ellipsis
Yellow Station Blue

If this was the old "you can only vote for one song" type of fight, that would go to Ellipsis.

[HeuristicsInc]

Balance Lost: nice guitars there. i like the moodiness of this. too bad there are no lyrics.

Berkeley Social Scene: great sounds in the intro. the voice is weirdly muted, it isn't carrying well over the music until the second voice comes in. i have to admit i have no idea what this is about.

Cavedwellers: armageddon and genesis is good. these vocals carry better. change in the second half of the song keeps it from feeling samey.

Dollar Bill & the Inkpoints: this is us. it's nice to work with j$ again. i especially like the extended outro. there aren't enough of those.

Ellipsis: i especially like when that synth comes in. the lyric is close to the "this is a list of stuff" lazy style but the song is cool anyway. nice solo section.

Jim Tyrrell: energy and power, that's good. good piano. this extended instrumental bit in the middle i like. i was kinda hoping for some energy pickup and then you gave it to me, that feels good. i would have liked it earlier i do like this lyrical theme a lot.

The Mellfire Trifecta: i feel like the vocal is too clean. but the part with the aahs is really nice. the ending was pretty unexpected and a good twist.

Milly Stale: not going to get brownie points by titling your song something different from the given title... nice moodiness though. you should post the lyrics. this is another one where the vocals could do with a bit more effects. ooh that dropout was really nice. i like this song but it could become great.

Monday Night Club: weird. interesting. this one may have too much vocal effects haha

Pigfarmer Jr: not much in terms of lyrics... sounds pretty good though.

thehipcola: the cadence here is pretty weird. not flowing with the music. i dig the music though especially the percussion stuff. good lyrical theme.

Yellow Station Blue: i'm really digging the lushness of the arrangement and the bloppy bassline. and the chorus is real nice. pretty.

voting for: balance lost, dbti, ellipsis, jim, milly, yellow

FYI i like the review-o-matic, that's a nice feature, but it did mis-alphabetify thehipcola 'cause the rules state to remove the "the" and then the ROM left the "the".

[Ratt Poizon]

Hey Fellers. sorry I'm late. I've been busy with beard maintenance and such for the last decade or so.

Balance Lost: Cool Lyrics, Nice Production, Boring. Could Benefit from whistling and more percussion... Vibraslap and a kazoo solo perhaps? 3/5

Berkley: Very nice rocking tune. Vocals are boring. Could benefit from raspier voice and a vibraphone solo. 3/5

Cave Dwellers: Immediate disappointment. I don't know what kind of cave it is you dwell in, but I strongly suspect it is in fact not a cave at all. Very misleading. 1 star for the noise at the end. I like that part. 1/5

Dollar bill inkpoints: Great lyrics and vocal delivery. Not bad! needs more goofy noises. 4/5

Ellipsis: Good Rocking start! Great song. Instruments are nice. Vocals aren't bad. Ending Kicks ass 5/5

Hip cola: Nice beats. Vocals ruin it for me. Go listen to Captain Beefheart. 2/5

Jim Tyrell: Needs more tambourine. 3/5

Mellfire Trifecta: I think the guitar tone needs something else going on. Nice vocals and cool change up! 5/5

Milly Stale: thems be some bass hits alright... scratchy record noises... kinda trippy. I like it. Sorta has a Fiona Apple thing going. Not bad, could benefit from banjo/kazoo solo. 5/5

Monday Night Club: I've been having friends over to my house every monday to play music for the past 3 years or so. I've been trying to get everyone into doing a songfight and this is somehow the first one I could get people into. I'm not a fan of the song at all, but... that's what we made I guess! Lol!

Pig Farmer: KILL 'EM!!!! obvious winner right here. 10/10

Yellow Station Blue: Needs more Michael Jackson 4/5

[j$]

Dollar bill inkpoints: Great lyrics and vocal delivery. Not bad! needs more goofy noises. 4/5

I don't think anyone has ever said that about my vocal delivery before (in almost twenty years) so THANK YOU!

j$

[glennny]

Power Plants

Balance Lost- Sublime! Gorgeous recording! (despite the squeaks you’ve mentioned). This is beautiful and delicate! You’re very good at this genre! A genre I call – the “Sleepwalking” genre. I’m a big fan, big vote!

Ellipsis- I love this! It’s like Jack White is playing super fuzz guitar in an Eno/ Sparks/ 70’s glam thing. Killer solo! This is a keeper! Certainly a contender! I’d buy this album! Keep them coming! VOTE! (oh, Mo is involved, that makes a lot of sense)

Dollar Bill & the Ink Points- This is great! Cool lyrics! The bass line carries the song. Lots of cool noises come in and out. Very entertaining! I think I enjoy the verses more than the choruses, but they’re good too. Good tune!

Hipcola- Great groove! Excellent vocals (as I expected). Great synths! I dig it! VOTE

Jim Tyrrell- I like the strong vocals, I like the chord changes. I wish the beat changed. I mean, it’s a great kick sound, but that beat never changes up. I think the piano is too quiet, as it is the main instrument in this song. Good stuff.

Mellfire Trifecta- Shake Your Hips, La Grange, standard blues riff. Vocals are good! Kinda reminds me of Truckin (Grateful Dead) too. “Happenstance” !!! brilliant rhyme for plants! I don’t enjoy the double time bridge as much as the rest of the song, oh, I guess it was the ending. Strange turn. Anyway, that was fun!

Melly State- Nice trip hop. I love your voice! This is probably too long for the amount of variation involved. That said I really enjoyed it. It’s ambient and chill. Enjoyable!

Monday Night Music Club- This sounds like one guy in a studio, I’m surprised to hear this is a collective cowriting. It’s a cool groove and good vocal delivery, but there wasn’t much in the way of dynamics. I don’t feel like there was a beginning, middle or end to it. It’s there and eventually it stops. Not a bad listen.

Pigfarmer Jr.- This is great! I find the lyrics to not be too aware of themselves. There’s a perfect mix of assertion without humble bragging, sensitivity without being sentimental, ire with out being preachy, and subtle wit that lures you in and doesn’t let go. It’s epic, yet subversive.
Yellow Station Blue- very cool Eno bass line. Great vocals! Production is very tasty. I think I want the tempo faster. I track it at 85bpm, I think I want it at least at 100bpm. I dig it!

Berkeley Social Scene- This time it was me and Geech. We jammed bass and drums. Recorded Geech’s vocals on music night. Then I finished off the rest at home. I like my vocal melody, but it’s not a good vocal take, someday I’ll try and remix it, maybe I can bring out the enunciation on another try. I’m quite fond of this song, I had a lot of fun playing slide and guitar etc.

Cavedwellers- It was FAWM, I wanted to do a song more for myself (long and proggy) and less for trying to win a contest. This being the last couple of fights before contest season. My favorite part is the Rhodes and mellotron Truth added. Maybe I listen to too much Genesis, but I really felt like the next part had to be 5/8, then the part following that had to be 7/8. The time signature stuff is so fun for me. I worked hard on those harmonies for the last choruses, but I think I prefer just the melody like in the 1st 2 choruses. So much fun.

The votes for others go to:
Balance Lost
Ellipsis
and the Hip Cola

[jeff robertson]

Maybe I listen to too much Genesis, but I really felt like the next part had to be 5/8, then the part following that had to be 7/8. The time signature stuff is so fun for me.

The first time I listened, the word "Genesis" early in the lyrics snuck by me, but that was before I'd heard the time changes. The only way it could sound more Selling England by the Pound would be if you'd got somebody to play a flute solo. But's why I voted for it.

[mo]

flutes for all!

[Lunkhead]

Balance Lost wins!

[mo]

Congrats Pete!