Nur Ein I Round One "Pencil Me In"

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Niveous
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Nur Ein I Round One "Pencil Me In"

Post by Niveous »

The songs have been posted. The stream will be coming soon. Feel free to enjoy the tunes and review as the jury deliberates. The jury will also be posting reviews in this thread but the actual scoring will not be announced until friday. On Friday, you will find out who has been eliminated as well as the new title, non optional challenge and the immunity challenge.

NUR EIN!!!
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NUR EIN!
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Post by Leaf »

Erik, Bolio and Luke are no-shows?


I say give them penalty-double non-optional challenge for the next fight, and they hand the damn songs in. Getting a pass to the next round cause someone couldn't get it done sucks ass...

oh well. I worked all day, then went home and stayed up til 2 last night and monday night just so I'd honour my commitment and not flake out.

My mixing board also spontaniously stopped working so I had to route shit through my 4 track to the computer...I'm not making this up...


I haven't been this disappointed since Generic bailed on his cover of ...someone's song. I don't know who's song it was, or when. I just remember it being damn disappointing...



<snicker>. Ok, whatever. Life happens. Maybe a public flogging is in order though.
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Post by Leaf »

Floggin aside, Kamakura's track won't download...
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Post by jimtyrrell »

Here's a non-broken link to Kamakura's:

http://kamakura.co.uk/nurein/

It can be gotten there.
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Post by Niveous »

Leaf wrote:Floggin aside, Kamakura's track won't download...
Fixed. (He sent me the link with an extra dot instead of a slash and I forgot to edit it)
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NUR EIN!
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Post by Kamakura »

Thanks for caring (wipes tear from eye) :)

I'm gonna burn a CD and go for a drive!
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https://kamakura.bandcamp.com
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Post by Leaf »

So, since this is an elimination contest, I’m gonna review with that in mind. Anyone “on the edge- will have to have a play-offs review from me to determine who I’d boot off if it were my call… unless only 2 songs are on the edge of course…

Jolly Roger:
The song is not bad. The performance is ok, some good, and some bad.
Guitar playing is not very good. Drumming is. Vocals are great, I like them.
Lyrics seem kinda cliché and cheesy.
-On the edge-


Ken:
Who cares, you got immunity….
Seriously, nice. Vocals are great. Short, nice tune. Nothing that grabs me though. To quote Simon, “you played it safe. But if you keep up with performances like that, you aren’t going to stick out and may well lose this competition.
-IMMUNE-

Leaf 62
Clearly a fan favourite.
-Moving on-

MC Paul Denyer and the coalition Against a Segregated Nation
I liked this. Honestly, I don’t usually like your stuff…but this has a solid groove, and your delivery is not timid. You are actually giving it, which makes it easier to listen to. Yeah, not bad, I liked it. I’m even gonna listen twice.
-Moving on-

Noah McLaughlin
I did not like this, sorry. You have a nice guitar sound; your voice has an interesting, Eddie Vedder tone. Sometimes, I swear your singing is not harmonically connected to the guitar parts. Lamest handclaps so far… seriously… not doing it for me.
-On the edge-


Octothorpe
It sounds like Octothorpe. I get Octothorpe…so it all sounds right to me. And the production seems real good. It has that disjointedness to it… reminds me of Captain Beefheart at times… and such a big band doing something like Nur Ein? A challenge unto itself…and after a weekend of binge boozing…wait...Octothorpe does that EVERY weekend. Gert and Octothorpe need to party together. You cheesed out on the claps…pretty much the way I wanted too… now I wish I had.
-Moving on-




Tex Beaumont:
At first, I’m like…â€
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Post by Leaf »

So I listened to these tunes all day at work...over and over.


It's damn good you know.
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Post by stueym »

Damn!!!! there is some GREAT music here guys. well done all....reviews(comments) to follow.
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Post by jack »

i just want to say props to everyone who submitted and poops to those that didn't. :)

i'm going to try to have my reviews up tonight. i wish i could give all of you a free pass this round.
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Post by j$ »

Not a lot constructive to say, a bunch of good songs. I will listen again before deciding on my scoring ...

The Bewells - Are you cooking sausages in the background? Americana makes me drowsy. Nice subtle handclapping. I mean this is undeniably good and I like the forefrontedness of it mix-wise, but it's a little been there seen it bought the Dwight Yoakm Cd for my tastes.

Bjam - I honestly believe you have the most expressive and therefore in my eyes the best voice on songfight. That said I haven't yet heard the material that truly does it justice. I'd like to hear you singing to a Yeah Yeah Yeah style song. Anyway I digress. I like references to poodles. I'd like to hear some cohen-style picking from you rather than just strumming, to stretch your talents a bit more, but this more than ok.

Calfborg - great opening. hi-hat is a bit superfluous - glad when it gives in. Even more subtle claps than the bewells. this is almost pink floyd remixed by massive attack - I'd like to hear you talking the verses a little more - that semi-spoken hugh cornwell style would suit your music better here, I think. My favourite bit is the 'rin tin tin' at around 1.40 ish ...

Denyer - Your backing tracks are uber-cool these days. Nice squealchy synth-bass. Part of me wishes you had a different voice to set against the standard rap tone, but it's so unique that I don't really mind, either. Wish you had double-tracked the chorus or had a keyboard matching it to give a bit more definition ... 'couldn't get pants to cover my arse' is great!

Deshead - The drums are all over the place in relation to the music but at the same time they're making me listen on. This reminds me stylistically of someone who I can't place. Really nice guitar solo takes this up a notch. Not your best in my book. In the end the drums are just too frantic for the rest of the song. Did I miss the handclaps?

Glenn Case - references to permenant ink make me like this more instantly. nice harmonies but they squish the melody a little. I wish there was a little more lead work here rather than the chord progression being the sell of the song, if you see what I mean. Having said that this is my favorite so far, based on the beatles-sque progressions of the harmony and the fabulous rhytmic lurch of the drums and bass. great bass line...

Heuristics Inc *does a little robot dance* I think the music could stand to be mixe dup to match the vocals. The vocals aren't too loud, they're just too dominant in the mix. I like the oscillators very much and the choppy rhtythms of the vocal make me do that pretending to be on eof the Kraftwerk Dummies arm thing. therefore this is good. Nice poppy weirdness which I love, as you know. Could do with a breakdown at about 1.45 just to drag you out and then back into the groove. Other than that I am happy.

Jim Tyrell - nice jazzy groove that is accentuated by the roughness of the instrumentation (or is it the mix?) in contrast. A little long without a big bombastic chorus maybe.

Jolly Roger - I wouldn't bother with the flangey echo on your vocal, you have a good voice no need for that. Feels a bit under-developed. The guitar tone isn't great and the drum machine is a little irritating by the end, but there is something here that appeals to me. The thought that's gone into the little background flashes of goodness, the great abrupt end, those part promises enough that I wouldn't want to vote you off before you've had a bit longer to run at the game. I like the change at 2.00ish very much.

Kam Great sleazy percussion. With a little bit of poppy bass this could be a white UK take on 'Sign of times'. The list lyric doesn't excite me, but it certainly suits the 'groove'.

Ken - This feels like the hidden track at the end of the album recorded to meet the time requirements laid down by the record company. That said, it's still quite catchy and seeing as it's a toss-off, I can't really complain.

Leaf - this is so gay. No, really - what would your wife say? It's also great - I'[d like to hear this mixed up proper but this is my favourite so far.

Noah - what a great opening! This is Cash filtered through some indie mix - I wish (and know you can't have) some tremendous Arcade Fire style backing badn kicked in and took this away into the stratosphere. As it is it never recaptures the impetus of the first minute.

# - heh. That's Octothorpe, alright! Nice groove!

Remiss - I quite like this, I think; despite myself. Or maybe to spite myself.

Ross Durand - pretty. 'pree-tend'? Those handclaps that sound so great at the bginning should fade out before they become annoying around the far-too-long held 'seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' in fact I'm not a fan of those multi-beat held words .... this is a song that would be much better without the percussion which nails the beat into the song a bit much.

Sausage Boy - best use of the challenge so far. Great build in the instrumentation. Just the repetitiveness of the lyric, which uis clearly a deliebrate choice, spoil it for me. But definitely not gonna be poo-poo-ed by me. My kind of music.

Stueym - I love your vocals on this. In an odd way this makes me think of Pete Burns fronting Republica. 'Change in biology' is cool .... wish I could hear the bass a bit more. But this is mincey camp strut tastic in my book.

Sven - how much do you hate it when I compare you to Matthew Sweet? :)

Tex - Ah, this is a song I would pride myself in writing. Only I would mix it better :) Best lyric of the sidefight so far. Nice bah bah bahs. Nice melody. Could do with a bit more ... something. Maybe a nice lead surf riff surfacing in and out of the song but the energy is cool. I appreciate it.

Thornberry - Ahhh, this is not what I associate with you. My bad no doubt. I like the quivering. In an odd way this reminds of me of Bonzo Dog only with singing. The pomp is appealing.

Wreckdom - sound like # vocally here. My apathy towards Wreckdom is well-known but the fuzzy bass riff is getting my knee bouncing and making me happy.
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Post by Märk »

Reviews!

Bewells: Totally CSN(and possibly Y). Nice chord choices, vocal melodies, harmonies. I like this a lot.

Bjam: Now see? That wasn't that hard. You played the dance card.. er, card. This is really nice. And twee ;)

Calfborg: Holy.. what the... I was expecting heavy ass weirdcore, and you go and do something slick and professional sounding. I've always liked your songwriting, but this just bumps it up about 4 notches. Awesome.

MC Paul Denyer: Look, I gotta level with you- I really don't even like rap. I'm a denyer fanboy because of your attitude and sense of humour. This is probably your best rapping I've heard, the lyrics are great, and the beats are, er, 'phat' or whatever, but the dog poo humour seems to be missing. A minor point, indeed, but a point none the less. Overall, 100% MC Paul Denyer, and [good]

Deshead: I have no idea why I get a mental image in my head of some Celtic band playing at Molly's Reach on the Beachcombers (for those who don't know, 'Beachcombers' was a Canadian TV show back in the 70s/80s. It was beautifully horrible, and as much a part of Canadiana as, say, hockey or beer) Other than that, this sounds really good. Very Canadian.

Glenn: You are a king of pop hooks, man. The lyrics are 'cutesy', which usually kind of bugs me, but they work here. I don't think you have to worry about making the cut ;)

Heuristics Inc: This is groovin. The light distortion or whatever on the vox works in a Pitchshifter/Prodigy way. I always wondered why people make electronic music, because in my limited experience with it, it's harder to learn all the software/draw notes on a score than it is to learn to play an instrument :) You've obviously mastered this genre, and I like this.

Jim Tyrrell: Reminds me of the Guess Who. Nice bridge. I can't get the image of you chowing down on that huge pancake out of my head.

Jolly Roger: Tune your guitar! Pretty nice vocals. They need some reverb or something on them. That's aproduction thing though, and that's unimportant- the song, while kind of simplistic, grabbed my attention. The changeup in the middle is good. This is the first Jolly Roger song I've heard, and I'm surprised- it's pretty good!

Kamakura: This made me feel kind of uncomfortable. The uNF uNF AHHing is not really something that I enjoy listening to. Well, not when it's a man doing it. Other than that, the vocals are pretty amazing. Didn't enjoy at this at all, though, sorry.

Ken: Hmmm. Mad props for doing a song when you didn't even have to, just wish you'd have done something other than a G&G thing. That said, your recordings always sound great.

Leaf 62: Ska metal! Jeeze, why aren't you on the radio? Yeah, I think you might make it to round 2 :)

That's half of the songs actually submitted. I'll continue this later.
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Post by Märk »

j$ wrote:Sven - how much do you hate it when I compare you to Matthew Sweet? :)
Umm, ---> <--- this much?
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Post by j$ »

Enough to make it worth doing every single round you're in this thing, then?
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Post by stueym »

Wow Johnny!!...Pete Burns!!!!...really?!?!?!? :shock: Damn you must have spotted the eyeshadow, eye liner and lipstick from all the way over there LOL
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Post by j$ »

I did say in an odd way :)
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Post by WeaselSlayer »

Yeah, so I just want to point out that my fully-completed-on-time song wasn't sent in due to the fact that my e-mail is crapped out (I'm at my girlfriend's house right now, not my usual location where my e-mail works super hitch-free). Anyway, just wanted to point out that I didn't flake out/deserve a public flogging/deserve poops. I won't have my good name sullied!
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Post by stueym »

j$ wrote:I did say in an odd way :)
errr....explain to me what is NOT odd about Pete Burns/fronting Republica :P

But I do love the review :D
"You know, I rather like this God fellow. Very theatrical, you know. Pestilence here, a plague there. Omnipotence ... gotta get me some of that."
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Post by Märk »

j$ wrote:Enough to make it worth doing every single round you're in this thing, then?
Awww, man. I don't know if I can handle 8 comparisons to Matthew Sweet.
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Post by j$ »

Don't worry, there won't be that many [/obvious response]
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Post by Märk »

WeaselSlayer wrote:Yeah, so I just want to point out that my fully-completed-on-time song wasn't sent in due to the fact that my e-mail is crapped out (I'm at my girlfriend's house right now, not my usual location where my e-mail works super hitch-free). Anyway, just wanted to point out that I didn't flake out/deserve a public flogging/deserve poops. I won't have my good name sullied!
Well, hurry the hell up and get it submitted! PM a link to one of the judges or something. You don't have to actually send the song to them, just a link. I mean, it's in their hands how they'll handle lateness, you might be eliminated already, I don't know, but at least make an effort to be in this! I wanna hear a Luke Henley song, dammit.
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Post by j$ »

WeaselSlayer wrote:Yeah, so I just want to point out that my fully-completed-on-time song wasn't sent in due to the fact that my e-mail is crapped out (I'm at my girlfriend's house right now, not my usual location where my e-mail works super hitch-free). Anyway, just wanted to point out that I didn't flake out/deserve a public flogging/deserve poops. I won't have my good name sullied!
You have a girlfriend? Sell-out.
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