Playing in a ska band requires a lot of (And Counting)

bwell · Post by **bwell** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:23 pm

I also attempted to vote for Frisbee & The Swingset (Monday morning before the 501 deadline), but apparently that did not work. I'll be getting back to finishing up reviews and comments this evening.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 12:29 pm

It looks like Frisbee got 6 votes. I'm guessing there's a bug in how the vote counting thing handles ampersands. Specifically, here's the actual vote counts stored on the server:

Code: Select all

   1 Chonny
   1 Lord of Oats
   1 Mages
   1 Mime
   1 Re?st
   1 Seventh and Main
   1 Sockpuppet
   1 Steve Durand
   1 The Bewells
   1 Wages
   2 Bizarro Eric MC
   2 Dynamic Rhythm Device
   2 Eddie Lance
   2 Hillbilly Buffalo
   2 Klownhole
   2 MC Eric B
   4 Asteroids 57801-57900
   4 Max the Cat
   4 Melvin
   4 Mexican Chimpanzees
   4 Sv?n M?ll?t
   6 Ross Durand
   6 Thanks for the Frisbee & The Swingset
   9 Caravan Ray and his Performing Loin Fruit
  10 TV's Kyle
  18 Dan Plus Add (no relation)

Post by **Spud** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:19 pm

I will look into it.

Please note that this list is as of whenever fluffy grepped it, not as of when the scores were posted.

It appears that Dan has made three new best friends since last night.

SPUD

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:21 pm

That is true, yes. (I generated that shortly before I posted.)

glennny · Post by **glennny** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:29 pm

Frisbee,

It's as if we didn't live up to all the hype, puffed up by our foolish pride...

glennny

Thanks For The Frisbee · Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:16 pm

glennny wrote:Frisbee,

It's as if we didn't live up to all the hype, puffed up by our foolish pride...

glennny

so true...sooo true

halen99 · Post by **halen99** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:39 pm

I had bukowski on my mind.

Eddie

Post by **Spud** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:21 pm

code is fixed. votes are restored. congrats, guys. sorry for any inconvenience.

SPUD

Reist · Post by **Reist** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:04 pm

I win! One vote again! Thanks, fan!

big crouton · Post by **big crouton** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:49 pm

Reïst wrote:I win! One vote again! Thanks, fan!

kenny must have found songfight.

actually, your song grew on me a lot with repeated listens, especially the rock-the-heck-out section after the choruses.

The Weakest Suit · Post by **The Weakest Suit** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:52 pm

i liked the whole thing, but i didn't listen to the fight until after the voting was over. actually, i haven't listened to the maki or night terrors fights either.

Reist · Post by **Reist** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:36 pm

big crouton wrote:
Reïst wrote:I win! One vote again! Thanks, fan!
kenny must have found songfight.

I should have known.

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 2:05 pm

Sorry, I was gonna do a complete batch but I went to Morocco instead, yay! If anyone wants a comment that isn't done below then lemme know, k?

Asteroids/57801-57900: So this is us and I like how it turned out. The first time I've ever collaborated with Mr Apples&Vodka, he's a good drummer, not so tight on the mix though so we needed to turn the guitars right down to fit those badboys in. Might need to do something about that. I would like to point out that the 3 votes we got were not from us in the band, well not me anyway.

BeWells: This is quite nice, when the distorted guitar comes in it starts to sound like Springsteen. Well realised, a teeny bit cheesy, but overall good.

Bizarro Eric B: yo this track is funkay. redundant slang aside I like all of this, the guitar is good, the beats are very good. Aesthetically, the vocals are the weak point here, only in that they don't sound as exciting as the rest of the track, but they are solid and the lyrics are all good. Best I've heard from you so far. I'd listen to this again. out of choice.

Blues manufacility: How long is this?......3.25, will I make it, I can't be sure. Why does anybody bother recording blues songs. Surely they're designed for front porches and stuff, and every possible variation was recorded decades ago. Ah, 15 seconds to go but I just couldn't hold on til the end. skip

Burritos In space: The good thing about these is I don't have to wait for a second or third chorus which won't be that great and I've already heard it (the hypothetical chorus that is). Breaks things up a bit.

The product of Ray's over-fruitful loins: shameless. I like the bit where she says '8' and I can hear the australian accent creeping in to soil her dialect forever. Good slicing. Like the spacey middle bit, but I agree it goes on a touch too long for the best effect.

Chonny: 3 problems: The song's alright but I'm not into Steely Dan so I guess you could call it style-bias. You and your like are the reason I don't do guitar solos (I think it's good that I don't but some people say "'ey pedro! why-a you no do a geetarr solo for me an a ma wiiife", it's the fault of you and you're phallus-noodling), and finally the fade-out. Mostly they suck, sometimes they work, here it sucks and it's waaaay too long. Did you not listen back to it and think, "nah that's too drawn out, I'll do it again but make it sound more like the end of a song and not the end of a film". Evidently not. That ended up sounding overly harsh, it's not a bad song, just not a great song with lots of "meh" things about it.

Dan Plus Add: You're English! I am English too, that must mean you rock. This song is quite good. the fact that it's just vocal and guitar is particularly uninteresting but unless there's another really good song in the fight I'll vote for this by default. or will I.....oh man, judging by the start of the next song I probably will.

Dynamic rhythm device: Why did you give yourself that name and then write a song like this? The ploddingness takes everthing good away from the rest of the track, and to be sure it ain't that bad but god, the beat is making me sag. I'll just type shit until the song ends, correct the spelling, it's over, bye!

Eddie Lance: dammit, this keeps getting worse. fitter, happier, more productive... I wish this was that good. Not bad playing but this isn't even as good as Ernold Same by Blur and that had fucking Ken Livingstone on it. I'm gonna wildly guess I won't miss anything if I skip it, presumably our hero ends up dead.

Frisbee Swingset: This is weird, good song and instrumentation though I guess you're both just going through the motions. It's interesting hearing (I'm assuming this is) Steve and Jeremy, never thought of you two as likely collab buddies but it's a good mix. I like the song too.

Hillbuffalo Billy: Yeah, this song's alright. Doesn't go anywhere but it's pretty nice. I'd record your guitar through a mic cos that direct acoustic sound is nasty.

KA: What was it I was thinking when I listened to this last.......Oh yeah, the overwhelming power cheese balladry seemed to give way to something else. I think the lo-fi elements of this actually save it and make it much more sincere, mainly cos rather than sounding like Elton John it sounds like Yo La Tengo and they're the greatest band ever. The lead guitar needs to calm down a bit.

KLOWNHOLE!!?: I was listening to Ben Krieger's Cable Beach as I do sometimes and there's a bit where sings exactly like you for a few seconds. That has nothing to do with this song, just trying to think of what I can say about it that I've not said before. Oh it's over, thanks for coming. I'm such a bastard sometimes.

congrats Dan, I didn't vote for anybody in the end for reasons mentioned above but I was rootin for ya.

Lord of Oats · Post by **Lord of Oats** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 3:26 pm

Oh, man. You stopped one short of me. What do you say, mate?

TVsKyle · Post by **TVsKyle** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:25 pm

[quote="fürrypedro"]Sorry, I was gonna do a complete batch but I went to Morocco instead, yay! If anyone wants a comment that isn't done below then lemme know, k?

Yeah, I'd like one.

halen99 · Post by **halen99** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 5:04 pm

dammit, this keeps getting worse. fitter, happier, more productive... I wish this was that good. Not bad playing but this isn't even as good as Ernold Same by Blur and that had fucking Ken Livingstone on it. I'm gonna wildly guess I won't miss anything if I skip it, presumably our hero ends up dead.

I have no clue what you're talking about above but I will say nobody ends up dead in my entry. thanks

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:06 am

In order of relative merit:

High Distinction

Ross Durand - Maintain the rage bro. Beautifully written song. Very Country Joe and the Fish VOTE

Asteroids - This is very cool. I hear Pedro I assume. I may have said this before, but there is a lot of your syle that reminds me of "Before Hollywood"-era Go-Betweens (not a good example of what I'm talking about - but it is all I could find from that album). Love the drum break.

Reist - Great work, great song. Just lacking some gonads in the vocal department. I want to hear you scream like a banshee

TV's Kyle - Great song! Really great.

Distinction

Frisbee & Swingset - Great song - unusually sloppy production. But really great song.

BeWells - Smooth. Very nice. Love the melody.

Sockpuppet - Nice - reminds me of some stuff off Not Drowning Waving's Tabaran album - Mockpuppet - OK - reminds me of Itch-ee & Scratch-ee

Hillbilly Buffalo - Nice. For some reason it is reminding me of The Lemonheads

Credit

Sven - Rammstein-y! I like

Steve Durand - well done. I like

Dynamic Rhythm Device - Good vocals, but unsatisfying song. I would normally like this style - but for some reason this isn't grabbing me.

Wages - Pretty good. Sounds very Grant Lee Buffalo. Still has that trademark Wages half-arsed sloppiness though. Mages is OK but not as good

Eddie Lance - very clever. Not my sort of thing - but a job well done all the same.

Melvin - Not my favourite Melvin. Nothing bad about it - I just like poppier.

Pass

MCEricB - Great lyrics - I'll forgive the Songfight references in this instance. The delivery and generic backing is quite hilarious - but is essentially a one listen novelty at best. Bizarro EricB has some very cool music and good delivery but lacks the irony of the original.

Mexican Chimpanzees - Pretty good, though there is a bit of a strange rumbling sound in my headphones. And there really is no reason to ever write a song about accountants. Not even in jest

Klownhole - sounds like Klownhole

King Arthur - Bit too Eagle-y for me

Max the Cat - Great to see you back Max. High quality as usual - but I have absolutely no idea what you are rabbiting on about

Dan+ - Nice sound, dull song

Lord of Oats - Love the start of this. Lyrics not good though. Slightly reminiscent in content to The Go-Betweens' Lee Remick, but that song was based in adolescent sexual tension. If you genuinely want to shag Melvin - then that's fine, and the song makes sense - but otherwise it's just a bit weird.

Fail

Blues Manufacturing - Great start, sounds like The Dirty Three - then it gets very dull

Chonny - Sounds like Steely Dan. Therefore I spurn you as I would spurn a rapid dog.

Mime - Dull. So seem to be calling for a revolution - but you sound like you are lying on a sofa. I'm not convinced.

7th & Main - When it comes to sloppy, half-arsedness - this makes Wages sound like Radiohead.

Punglect - no

Weakest Suit - not good

Buritos In Space

wages · Post by **wages** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:26 am

Caravan Ray wrote:Wages - Pretty good. Sounds very Grant Lee Buffalo. Still has that trademark Wages half-arsed sloppiness though. Mages is OK but not as good

I think that might be the most accurate sweeping generalization about my songwriting that could be made. And (to you) I mean that in a good way!

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:23 am

Reviews for all those that requested one, and Mel cos he's a wiseguy.

Oaty Lord: Haha, how romantic, a homo-riffic ode to everyone's (second) favourite Canadian (c'mon, Bryan Adams taught the world how to be hardcore). The song's alright but it's not doing much for me. Nothing stands out as being bad but again nothing shines, the guitar tone isn't great, drums are passable, singing's a bit hammy. Overall my biggest quibble is the songs over-reliance on the opening riff which gets a bit boring after a while. Not a bad effort.

Reist: Yeah, this is pretty good. Something's lacking for me in terms of execution and it took me ages to figure out what it was (and this is really nit-picky and/or a matter of personal taste); you're really good at drumming but sometimes it feels a bit bland because it feels like you're focusing too much on your double-kicks and all the stuff you do with your arms is dead straight. I like quirky off-beat rhythms and lots of ride cymbals and things a la 'Fishing the Sky' (or anything) by the Appleseed Cast. All the elements are solid but there's nothing about the melody or arrangement that gets under my skin in the good way so, good stuff but no vote.

TV's Kyle: Straight off the bat, this needs some serious mixing. All the instruments feel like they're sitting on top of each other, the piano needs some eq, lose some of the low-end to bring it out I guess. And use some panning. The opening refrain doesn't grab me much but after that it picks up, I like the background crowd voices, they're cool. The middle bit is good too, kinda reminds me of TV on the Radio and the lyrics are good. Nice barbershop quartet feel to the vocals.

Melvin: cos it's rude not to. Hmmm, I was sure I'd listened to this song already but it would appear that this is the first time. This is pretty rockin.The chorus seems to pass me by each time I listen to it, I like the other bits though. The bit where the guitar drops out and comes back in sounds cool, I've noticed you use that trick a lot but it works I guess. The synth solo and other noisy bit near the end are cool too. Good mix, up front and in the face. I think the thing with the chorus is that it feels like a bridge so when it goes back into the verse it doesn't really feel like anything has happened if you know what I mean.

anyone else?......

TVsKyle · Post by **TVsKyle** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:34 pm

fürrypedro wrote:
TV's Kyle: Straight off the bat, this needs some serious mixing. All the instruments feel like they're sitting on top of each other, the piano needs some eq, lose some of the low-end to bring it out I guess. And use some panning. The opening refrain doesn't grab me much but after that it picks up, I like the background crowd voices, they're cool. The middle bit is good too, kinda reminds me of TV on the Radio and the lyrics are good. Nice barbershop quartet feel to the vocals.

Now THAT'S a critique I can USE! Thank you!