My Dogs are Barking (Ottoman reviews)

The Weakest Suit · Post by **The Weakest Suit** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:26 am

thanks for the reviews. i knew somehow that this song would not be that well liked, but i was in the mood to write a slower number. i have tried to do something different with my limited instrumentation/abilities each time, and it's always interesting to see how different sounds are received. i'm looking forward to the so weird songs, and the first fight of august.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:37 am

HeuristicsInc wrote: i'll decide my vote in the morning!

All right - my vote went to boltoph, it's an awesome song.

glennny wrote: The Montserration Secret Police- I like this a lot. Those sure sound like Niveous lyrics. I'm tuned into Niv having used his lyrics for FAWM and a sem pil tune. This is dark and weird and interesting. It reminds me of how I feel when I listen to TV on the Radio. Nice vocals! Cool track!

Actually most of the lyrics were mine, but Niv added the chorus and a few lines elsewhere. Perhaps... since I knew he would be singing them I channeled his style

-bill

Stubby Phillips · Post by **Stubby Phillips** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:40 am

Be warned: I will be Frank, and perhaps a Dick. And I'm transcribing this from hurried notes taken a few days ago, so it's probably worthless babble. Don't be offended, please. It's for your own good.

Tone Butter: Vox is weak; guitar is better.

WSA: Pretty song... I don't like pretty songs.

Saucalito: This is like a childhood memory. Solo is somewhat interesting. Dream sequence?

White Hat: Serious and sad. Good sound/production.

Weakest Suit: Gets a nice feeling after a while with backing vocal parts.

Steve Durand: Cool Motown groove, like "Heatwave." Cool sax. Vox is a little distracting.

State Shirt: This is one reason why I rarely listen to new music: Sometimes a song will plant itself in my head and push out whatever "original" music my brain is working on. I'm always writing a song in my head, and other people's music interferes with that near-constant internal noise. Such is the case here. This song stuck to me like a molecular bond. If this keeps happening I might even approach normalcy.

SpOOn and the Tangents: This one is kinda like mine: a) Like a TV theme song or something; b) Not bad, not great.

Shot Pounder: I like it. Solo is awesome, as is ending.

Rum Dreams: Another pretty song. Sorry, but I felt comfortable walking away from this for 10-15 seconds to get my notebook, thinking I wouldn't miss anything. I'll never know if I did or not.

Renwick: Chorus has a cool hook. I like the chord progression and sound on this one.

paudxe: This is a never-before-heard recording of a drunk and stoned Dylan and a drummer, circa 1966, plugging a mic into a small Ampex tape recorder and trying to cover a Donovan song -- but he forgot the chords and lyrics, so he just winged it.

MSP: Good story and good integration of vox melody and synth. Good ending.

Melvin: Feels good -- multiple tension/release elements keep things interesting.

LHA: Not bad. Vox has a few problems. Doesn't change much.

Jolly Roger: Cool guitar. Cool drums. Cool bass and lyric. Vox is only OK. Enough changes to keep me interested throughout. Nice job!

Jeffrey Davis: Novelty "song." Not in the mood.

Horse's Mouth: Harmless GnG. Not for me. Sorry.

Gurdonark: Another novelty entry. Not much here.

Grapefruit Orgasm: More "novelty." Is this a song, or an audio file?

Future Polka: Me. This is about (my sometimes collaborator) Dr. Water's dog Otto, whom I call Otto Man. Awesome? Crap? Novelty? You decide.

Caravan Ray: I don't know... is it just me, or is this kinda boring? Probably just me. I have unique and narrow tastes. I often like your stuff.

Boltoph: This is not pretty -- it's pretty cool. One of the best so far.

The Boiler Room: What are you talking about? Shouldn't you be singing a song?

B. Ellison: Good guitar. What else can I say? Let me think about it...

Beau McDermott: Crap Intro. Good guitar riff. Not much else.

Awkward! At the Asian Grocery: So Weird.

Adam Adamant: Take heed and believe -- this is strange, but the vox and synth find some cosmic harmony in spite of the drum sounds.

State Shirt gets the vote.

By the way -- it's rude to submit a song and then not review everyone else's songs. Do it, even if it's just half-assed and insulting like this one. (Unless you're a Star and can't be bothered.)

puadxe · Post by **puadxe** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:20 am

wow thank you all for the reviews, I seriously appreciate them all.

I completely half-assed my song to the max, I apologize. Had no idea of the amount of work that most of you must put into your songs. For mine I really only came up with a set in stone vocal and guitar part, everything else was just improvised (the shitty drums and bass) by me too. Drums are my newest toys, and I have a lot of learning to do, though I could have at least used a metronome, or actually practice the line, or learn something about recording …. or a million other things. But thanks for bearing through that, I promise a cleaner presentation next time.

hilarious review Stubby, thank you

NatchDan · Post by **NatchDan** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 7:57 pm

Beau, man, you gotta tell me how to get that guitar tone.

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:18 pm

Steve Durand feat. Bridget

I never realized how unique and fun your lyrics are until I heard this song; even as Bridget does an awesome job delivering the goods, I can't help but hear your voice the whole way through. I love it. Gotta play this for the kids.

B. Ellison

I like the concept, I like the arrangement, I just wish there was a teeny bit more energy. The first two measures of every verse are perfect, melody-wise, but the rest falls just a little flat. I still like it a bunch, though.

Gurdonark

Dr. Demento? There's a blast from the past. SongFight-as-insane-asylum is joy.

Spoonn and the Tangents

Love the superhero concept, execution is fun, my wife would hate this, but I do not.

The Weakest Suit

Your guitar strums sound beautiful, but mostly this is a sleepwalk.

Future Polka

Wow, your voice isn't at all what I expected with that intro, esp. since the guitar sounds so far away and you sound SOCLOSE. Move the guitar closer, don't change the voice. Oh, another superhero take on it, coolio.

Grapefruit Orgasm

Too clumsy for soundscape, too soundscape for music.

Melvin

I was listening to Weezer back in 1987, before they were cool. Seriously, that's how you sound, and it's a great sound to have. Awesome across the board.

The Boiler Room

I wish you had backed this up with a Tom Waits-style instrumental arrangement. As is, got older faster than it should have.

Shot Pounder

Musically tight, vocally a disaster. I will go to sleep tonight wondering what the hell you said.

The White Hat

Not my thing, so I'll withhold judgement.

The Horse's Mouth

Very TMBG, if you'd added random instrumental breaks in a different tempo, and skipped the low voice, I'd have liked it a lot more.

The Latex Heart Attack

Long intro that I'm sure you enjoyed playing, but got old really really fast; musically solid though. Then you started singing, and the 99% of me that doesn't dig goth fell asleep. The 1% goth part then dug it, and carved some lines into my arm.

Boltoph

Lovely harmonies, great guitar jangle, and your voice is sweet in an I-may-still-snap-at-any-time kind of way. Entrance into the chorus sold me for good. You take it from Melvin at that point, although Steve/Bridget are still in the make-me-smile lead (for which there is no voting form.)

Beau McDermott

I. Love. Kick. Drum. I. Love. Pan. I. Hate. Te. Di. Um. And. Have. No. Pa. Tience. But. That. Is. Just. My. Hang. Up.

The Montserratian Secret Police

Another TMBG-esque feeler, and I like it, but I'd have liked it a lot more if you hadn't followed a traditional song structure with it.

State Shirt

Competent and well-recorded? Mostly. Boring? Yeah, sorry. But I like your name.

Tone Butter

Heh, that intro click, WTF? This makes me think of MCEricB, if he just finally sucked it up and lost the MC part of this attempts. I think you need to develop more range on your voice.

Jeffrey David

Haha! Oh, man, how I wish you'd just done the BNL part and skipped the rest. It was, like, full-throttle funny, then it sucked balls. Literally.

The Worldly Self-Assurance

I'm so glad you guys all hooked up together. If I could change one thing in my life, it would be to somehow be part of this band. Okay, two things, because my wife's been snoring lately. Can you all sing at the same time instead of taking turns? It would be *unstoppable*. Also, what's with the tempo problems? YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT! Heh.

Rum Dreams

A bit artsy for my tastes, but mostly pleasant and dreamy.

Jolly Roger

I'm 19 again, riding with the guys in my housemate's Grand Prix SJ with the "Sit down, shut up, hold on" plaque on the dash and three subwoofers in the back. Can we stop at the Taco Bell before the party? Seriously, no dude, do not bring three mexican pizzas in here. Hey -- hey! Hey! Oooooh no, roll down the window!

Adam Adamant

Not so much; sounds like you're not trying to be serious, and you're not funny either, sorry.

Caravan Ray

Not my thing, so withholding comment (and you know I typically love your stuff.)

The Word and Works of Saucalito

Somebody grab Donovan lite and put him back in the box. No, no, THAT box. Yeah. The Donovan lite box.

Awkward! At the Porn Store

That ghostly whistling is freaking me out.

Renwick

Nice strong open, the beeping sets you apart. Vocals aren't up to the task at first, but with "sit down and relax" you're in the right place at the right time. Terrific. I'm debating giving you the win over Boltoph, for the chorus -- and if they'd sung their own harmonies on your behalf in this song, it'd be a hands-down win. Yeah, I'm giving it to you. For the beeps and the chorus.

puadxe

Every tape I made as a kid sounded like this.

---

Renwick, you is my winner-type. And Boltoph and Melvin, you were awesomeness in the complete. Steve and Bridget, love hearts things.

EDIT: Censored? They censored the word d-r-e-a-m-y? WTF? Maybe because it contains the word ream? Nope. No idea on this one. Is eamy a dirty word?

j$ · Post by j$ » Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:26 am

Why dreamy? Ask Mo.

glennny · Post by **glennny** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:09 am

Congratulations Boltoph!! It's a well deserved win and a new Song Fight classic! Will we see it live at any SF Live show?

furrypedro · Post by **furrypedro** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:48 am

hello, my name is pete and I played guitar in the WSA track. This may provide some insight into what I might like or not like about your song.

spoon and tangents: This sounds a lot more like old skool spoons, dunno who the tangents are but they don't appear to be adding much here. I've had enough of this by about halfway through. Good lyrics.,

Weakest suit: This is okay I suppose but it's not doing much for me, it gets better at 2.30 but it's disappointing that it goes back to the hackneyed whiny bit. Yeah I do quite like the chorus here, the vocals are the best there and the arrangements more interesting. It's the bit that least reminds me of Avril Lavinge and her faux-emotion.

Amandantantma: Good start. I start to wish it was an instrumental very early on. The more you try and do with the drums the more the bad sounds are shown up. the bit starting around 0.56 is cool. the second time your voice breaks is fucking hilarious, it reminds me of me. If you get no votes, I may do a Dux! for this.

Latex heart atak: Another track that could be passed of as nearly professional sounding until the singing starts. Riffs are okay but get really repetitive. If there's one thing I hate in music, especially guitar music it's repetition of a half-arsed riff. Not that this riff is that half-arsed but it doesn't bear playing and over and over and over...and over....and end. This is okay.

Words+works de Saucalito: lazy vocal style reminds me of Beck, you're not in 8LO are you? I like it when the.....erm velcro percussion.and piano comes in. and bass. This is pretty cool but it sounds like and idea forming rather than a song to me. I dunno, I could get used to it.

Grapefruit orgasm: Ooh, noise. Nice clicky sounds. samples boring. I appreciate you're trying to keep it interesting by changing randomly a lot but I'd have preferred this if it was just one big drone piece or something, this sounds like you're browsing through a patch library for cool sounds and samples, you found a few, now make a track out of them. I'd like to do some beats for you if you want any, but electro mashup is done and not paticularly interesting.

Shotpounder: This sounds like it's quite well done, not really my thing, see my opening comment.

Rum dreams: I like this, it reminds me of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci in their more mellow stage. The bit where it goes slightly blues-y at 1.34 is a real nice touch. y'know, this isn't an awesome recording, the vocals make it more lo-fi than it should be perhaps but I still might keep it.

Beau Mc dermott: I suspect this is gonna be shit. skipping....skipping, god this is one of the worst things I've ever heard. Go listen to rone rivendale, you are worse than that.

Tone butter: You sound a bit like Lou Reed and you get points for making a song that sounds relevant to the title without saying the word. Not much else about the song is particularly interesting.

Steve & Bridgett: Hahahaha, Wham-tastic! Well-written, ending is a bit abrupt. All good.

Horsemouth!: Bits of this kinda remind me of Yo La Tengo, who are great, but this is so-so, with some drums and bass it could've been pretty cool, but it's hard to get a band i understand. The main thing I don't like are some of the lyrics, but some are okay. This has indie rock potential.

Caravan Raymond: Ooh, I didn't know you had this in you, I actually really like this song, it sounds really natural and the words are cool. It'd be nice if you'd have got some Leonard cohen-ish picky action. I'm keeping this.

Awkward! At the porn store: This is good apart from the trying to hide your voice behind effects and a silly accent. The second half is the opposite to the first in that the vocals are the only good bit about it, then you sound like Mew. Not enough bands around who sound like Mew for my liking. I'm gonna go check to see if they're touring soon.........and next time try and make your freaky weird stuff interesting to listen to (like clouddead).

Melvin: This is really good, as many people have already pointed out. The bit I really like is that noise in the background (sounds like either a violin or an organ, I have no idea). Stops are cool, love the oohs, I always do. It reminds me of that Foo fighters song 'best of you' the way it starts all taught and tense, but this actually goes somewhere.

State shirt: This is my first fight with you, I'm honoured. The song is very cool, it feels like it passes me by a bit but that's cool cos this is one I'm willing to listen to a lot more than once. The drumming is cool, and I like the little piano bits in the background, it's like you're jamming with Ulrich Schnauss.

Boltoph: Been a while sir. Very nice jangling, pavement-y even. from 1.46 onwards this gets even more compelling, that chord change just switches it on.

Renwick: There something at odds here, the fact that it's a hard rocking song about chilling out. Should a person be sitting still to this? It's not bad, but the vocals sound slightly bored and I'm not really grabbed. Too formulaic.

puadxe: There might be an okay song in there somewhere but you need to learn to record/mix better. Turn the drums down, use pan pots, come back next week. Oh, you admitted it, sorry, well I look forward to you putting effort in, not that you didn't here but you know, trying really hard.

Bellison: wow, this is actually really good, I don't mean to sound so surprised but I wasn't expecting it. This has a good chance of stealing my vote cos I expect good stuff from all the other big hitters here. Sometimes if this kind of thing goes to country-ish I'm put of but this is the right side of Kings of Convenience/Elliot smith type folk. Excellent!

Future polka: ooer, another guy with a distortion pedal, Ross is that you?! "he'll knock you down and sniff your glands"??!?!? wtf? I'm using that line in my next song. yeah, hmm this doesn't work for me. some bits are okay but shoot your guitarist.

Montserration Secret Police: I'd like to see 1984 redubbed with this in the soundtrack.

Jolly Roger: yeah, that's all very well but what powers does have? The ability to commandeer a troupe of flying squirrels? Or crossbreed a race of mutant woodlice in half an hour...ah, he has none, so what, he's just a weirdo with a caps and pants. Since you can play well and use double-kick pedals now does that mean you won't be doing any more old school Ash type fuzzy punk songs? I'm gonna go put 'petrol' on.

Gurdonark: Not sure what you were going for here, are you actually rubbish or were you just being a bit wacky, I'm gonna wait till next week to find out.

the white hat: This is pretty well done, nice guitaring and well sung, the singing feels unusual, very posh. It's really weird finding stuff like this in fights, I expect people submitting rubbish but this is totally different, I've no idea where you've come from or if you'll stay but this is a good song that is totally out of it's time. Oh, you've had shitloads of entries, I'm gonna have to check those out.

Jeffrey Davis: I don't like BNL, but that song rocks, you however, don't. With a vengeance.

the boiler room: fuck off

worldly self assurance: Song number 2! of many I hope. Everyone should know that Melvin played the spacey solo as well as the drums. I just saw the results, we may not have won but we did move somebody to tears. somebody mentioned tempo problems, I think that was my fault, my brother came into the room when I was doing the guitar bit, I should've redone it but forgot, whoops.

Thankyou all for the nice comments and votes. good work by most, Congratulations to Boltoph on his comeback. I think White Hat, B.Ellison and Ray should've got a lot more votes, and Boiler Room shouldn't have voted for himself.

ToneButter · Post by **ToneButter** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:53 am

The Word and Works of Saucalito: Didn't care for the backup vocals. Seemed like the song was over at 00:59. It didn't really do anything after that.

Boiler Room: Not a song.

The Weakest Suit: OK but doesn't seem to fit the title (or I'm missing something).

Puadxe: Can't understand the vocals.

M Secret Police: Doesn't do anything for me.

Steve Durand: Well done. Clever lyrics, nice music. Possible vote.

Worldly Self Assurance: Catchy, like the guitar, doesn't seem to fit the title.

Gurdonark: Doesn't do anything for me.

Stateshirt: Well done. Possible vote.

Spoon + Tangents: Doesn't do anything for me. Not a fan of the Otto "man" theme.

B. Ellison: Nicely done.

Jolly Roger: Love the heavy guitar and the intro. Not a fan of the Otto "man" theme, but some how it is kind of catchy. "I am, I am, the Ottoman. I am, I am, Iam".

Awkward! at the Porn Store: Doesn't do anything for me. Too much effects on the vocals.

Adam Adamant: Doesn't do anything for me.

Rum Dreams: OK, but didn't do much for me. Not sure why, maybe the organ. Hard to understand the vocals.

Caravan Ray: Well done, well though out.

Shot Pounder: Can't understand the words. Doesn't do anything for me.

Future Polka: Liked the guitar. Not a fan of the Otto "man" theme.

Tone Butter: What the hell with the drums panned all the way to one side?

Latex Heart Attack: Like the heavy guitar and intro. Come to think of it, I like the whole thing. Possible vote.

Boltoph: Pretty good. Possible vote.

Grapefruit Orgasm: Not a song.

White Hat: Nicely done.

Horses Mouth: Doesn't do anything for me.

Melvin: Nicely done.

Renwick: Liked the intro. Lyrics didn't seem to flow well.

Beau: "Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman. Here comes the Ottoman."

Jeffery Davis: Doesn't do anything for me.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:27 pm

Congrats Boltoph! Good to hear you again.

Reist · Post by **Reist** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:45 pm

I'm finally home after a week at good old camp. Nice to see I got a vote, and congrats to Boltoph, who I totally agree deserved a win. I especially enjoyed Caravan Ray and The White Hat this week - I guess I was in a folksy mood. I honestly don't have the time or energy to review at this point, but the important thing is - I have listened to each of the songs, and decided if I liked them or not.

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:39 pm

Okay, not to derail, but you're hilarious for changing my e-x-p-l-o-d-e-d word to [c-e-n-s-o-r-e-d] -- nevertheless, whoever did it, please PM me to tell me why -- it's killing me, this curiosity.

Nigel (spOOn) Clements · Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:04 am

Some really good songs this week, some really poor songs this week, some quaint oddities too, I voted for WSA (again!) and will sumbit my takings on the whole kaboodle later today...

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:42 am

MintyHandy wrote:Okay, not to derail, but you're hilarious for changing my e-x-p-l-o-d-e-d word to [c-e-n-s-o-r-e-d] -- nevertheless, whoever did it, please PM me to tell me why -- it's killing me, this curiosity.

Minty Handy, let's see if I can sum up the tale for you with as much brevity as possible. There's this songfighter named Mo. He's in Duboce Triangle and Sonofsupercar. Well, one day he had an irc conversation with Glenn Case regarding if he's dreamy or not. Glenn let it spread to the board and the infamous poll Is Mo Dreamy? was born. After much hilarity ensued, the joke grew larger with the creation of Songfight supergroup Dreamy Mo and the commoners (see "Dinga Da Donga" and "I Don't Like Eggplant"). Then in a final master stroke of funniness, jb made dreamy a censored word on the forums, leading me to mention dreamy in vibrant colors.

And now you know and knowing is half the battle.

i.p. · Post by **i.p.** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:38 am

some great songs!
I like the entries this week.
IP apologizes for not entering... not that I think we need to... we're just rather busy recording an album right now.

I happen to like Awkward! At the Porn Store...
It reminds me of... me.

edit:
Niveous's BTTF gif just blew my mind.

Niveous · Post by **Niveous** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:05 am

i.p. wrote: edit:
Niveous's BTTF gif just blew my mind.

But it's gone now that I'm back from the future. Now I'm retro-gaming.

PS- Thanks to everyone who enjoyed MSP.

i.p. · Post by **i.p.** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:37 am

Niveous wrote:
i.p. wrote: edit:
Niveous's BTTF gif just blew my mind.
But it's gone now that I'm back from the future. Now I'm retro-gaming.

that's okay, oregon trail is just as awesome.

boltoph · Post by **boltoph** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:47 pm

Thanks...was fun to get back in for a Songfight....some good songs in the fight I thought.

fwiw, I am taking a couple days off (this coming Thurs. and Fri.)... If you've got little kids that like sci-fi (not that I do, but I have a friend who likes kids sci-fi movies), you might want to watch the Last Mimzy. I would've really loved that movie when I was 5-8 years old but now it's a little cheesy, basic. The ottoman eased the pain. Just had my feet up on the ottoman for the duration of that movie. And I wrote a song today that's inspired by B. Ellison's tune.

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:56 pm

i.p. wrote:
Niveous wrote:
i.p. wrote: edit:
Niveous's BTTF gif just blew my mind.
But it's gone now that I'm back from the future. Now I'm retro-gaming.
that's okay, oregon trail is just as awesome.

LOL! Beth has Cholera!

Ah the wayback machine! Let's see some Lego Logo next!

Edit:

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:19 pm

Niveous wrote: But it's gone now that I'm back from the future. Now I'm retro-gaming.

PS- Thanks to everyone who enjoyed MSP.

Yes!

Hey Niv, did you know I have that avatar (more or less) on a T-shirt? I loves it.

Congrats boltoph! Well-deserved win.
-bill

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:32 pm

Niveous, thank you. I may be outside the in-joke, but at least now I feel like I can see through the window.