Nur Ein IV Round Three "Silver Tongue"

[Ross]

Sent - and sorry niv I sent twice because the first one had a mistake in the name of the file. the second one is named properly (dot instead of underscore)

[Caravan Ray]

I had an endoscopy

More Nur Ein!
Less descriptions of diagnostic investigations of the small intestine

[Teplin]

You'll be missed, Tex... would have been cool to see you take a dive and go out in a blaze of glory (or whatever the opposite of glory is)

Oh and... IN

[Lunkhead]

Tiny Robots are in by the shiny metal skin of their aluminum teeth.

[Ross]

I apologize - in my e-mail I did not mention my guests. They are Sydney, Steve Durand, and Seamus.

[Teplin]

Same here... too late I realized that I didn't credit my guest, Krazee Jarmin. And actually, he didn't have that name yet when I sent the email.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I had an endoscopy

More Nur Ein!
Less descriptions of diagnostic investigations of the small intestine

All I know is that when it's time for me to get one of these, someone better be buying me dinner first!

[JonPorobil]

Best guest rap segment:
BLT in Paco's song.

Best song overall this week:
Signboy.

NUR EIN!!!

[Teplin]

Signboy for the win!

Also diggin' on Nouveau Pavre.

[swilington]

wow, so many good entries! i'm nervous. everyone did a great job.

silver tongue

guitar/bass/vocals - brooks
keyboard/production and mastering/bg vocals - tyler
drums - sampled
guest rapper - katey

thank you, katey for coming through with the rap at the last minute. you did great!

[Caravan Ray]

Well, I'm glad I'm not playing any more.

Ross! That is magnificent! But I confess - if I had to vote, I would still go for the sheer dumb fun of Paco and his guest rapper.

..and Johnny the Klob - if I could be so pretentious to offer advice - I love your effort here. Your lyrics are great. Your technique is great. Something in the style of delivery just isn't getting across though. For mine - Ross D works in a similar sort of style with the clever lyrics and classic blues type arrangement - but the delivery is more engaging. Don't get me wrong - I don't want you to sound like Ross Durand - but as you sing now, you just sound like another pub singer. I hope that make sense - I don't want to bag you, I think your stuff is good (especially "shadenfraude") , I just think it could easily jump a level

[Lunkhead]

I vote WreckdoM for unanimous victory.

[JonPorobil]

Lunkhead: not a judge, but the whole panel.

By the by, just because my guest rapper is the indispensible R. Mosquito, I hope the judges don't think I'm going off half-cocked.

[bambamoozle]

..and Johnny the Klob - if I could be so pretentious to offer advice - I love your effort here. Your lyrics are great. Your technique is great. Something in the style of delivery just isn't getting across though. For mine - Ross D works in a similar sort of style with the clever lyrics and classic blues type arrangement - but the delivery is more engaging. Don't get me wrong - I don't want you to sound like Ross Durand - but as you sing now, you just sound like another pub singer. I hope that make sense - I don't want to bag you, I think your stuff is good (especially "shadenfraude") , I just think it could easily jump a level

Pretentious? No way, I love feedback and advice! Thanks for the nice words about the songs and how I might make my stuff better.

I agree about Ross, he's great!

[JonPorobil]

Reviews.

Adam Adamant - Two things need to be said before I can get into issues of substance here. 1.) I don't see the relevance to the title. 2.) You took a prefabricated track and used it as your "guest rapper." Basically, rather than this being an original song, it's a remix. If I were judge, I'd want to disqualify you for that. But I'm not a judge, so we'll see what happens.

The bright-and-peppy synth track works oddly with the rap here. I'm not familiar with the original, but the brightness seems a little incongruent with the track. It's a cute beat, but its roughshodness clashes with the professional rapping. The lyrics work well when viewed through the lens of Songfight (especially the part about not caring about reviews and such).

Reist - I'm on the third listen. I don't know, I feel like this might grow on me if I keep trying. I like most of your other stuff. But the parts of this song don't sound to me like they fit together. It's kind of weirdly cobbled. My wife, who hates about 90% of what she hears on Songfight, found this tolerable. I hope you don't get kicked out because of this song, but it's definitely not your strongest work.

Howl Down the Chimney - As I said before, my wife wouldn't even let me get past the intro while she was in the room, so this is a first listen. Interesting hurky-jerky flow. At no point do I feel like you're not in control of the genre. I like the pizzicato strings in the background. The vocals are a little too hot in the mix. J-Krueg's rap is pretty cool, though I'll need to have my brother translate it. Right before and after his part, the rap sort of devolved into spoken-word, which is pretty neat. Heck of a story here. I wouldn't boot this one out, nosiree.

J-Klob - Whoa! Nice groove. I think the vocal needs a low-register harmony under it. Hm. I'm not fond of your kid's rapping, though kudos on getting him to play himself. Huh, so that's how your name is pronounced. Definitely a nice change of pace, which earns you points in my book. It might be iffy for you, but I hope to see you next round.

Me - Shamelessly-looped drums, but the rest is played live. You know, it's kind of funny, given how many big words Mosquito used, and how the theme of the song is being able to speak fluently, that he mispronounces the word "phonemes." Oh well. I think the weak link here is the chorus, and my singing in it. I was pretty proud of my rapping, and very impressed with my guest's rap.

Henrietta and the Hostage - Heh, kind of a reunion of sorts, isn't it? I really love the music here. The rattling drums combining with the distorted bass give this is seriously powerful groove. Good chorus, too. The Hostage's rap needs to be louder. What language is that? Great track.

Paco - God I wish you had a better chorus. The verses are fine, and BLT's rap is AMAZING. I really wish I could play guitar like you, Paco. I don't have a whole lot else to say about this. Good work, and see you next round.

Ross & friends - The cool thing about this is hearing the first verse and wondering "how the heck is he going to fit rap into this?" You don't disappoint. Your kid's verse is a little weak, but the "boom snap clap" totally makes up for it. Steve's rap is pretty good, but his horn playing is even better (of course). Seamus' rap is excellent. This song goes to all the right places. See you next round.

Signboy - For the MF'ing WIN! If this doesn't win this round, I'll be quite disappointed. Of the actual competing artists (not going to go into the guest raps), you're the only one who doesn't sound like rap is outside your comfort zone, and this song is amazing. The power of the beat, the urgency of the lyrics... I mean wow. If I were a judge, this would be an easy #1 in my book.

Swilington - Great intro, as per usual. Rocky follow-up, as per usual. I'd love to hear this song with some cleaner performances. That lead guitar came with some serious fuzz. It's distracting. Ooh, your guest rap kills it. It's barely audible, but I can tell the flow is choppy and weak.

Tiny Robots - This is the one I was alluding to earlier in this thread. Didn't mean to confuse anyone. I asked Glenn to rap on my track the moment I heard the challenge, but Ken beat me to it. Quick trigger finger, dude. I wasn't crazy about this the first time around, actually. It's a lot lower-energy than most other Def Author stuff I've heard, but with this sultry groove it works pretty well. There's some consistent buzzing in my right speaker I'm not crazy about. The drums here are excellent.

Todd McHatton - Hm. The lyrics seem a little obvious. Who's your rapper? This mix throbs in some weird ways. I guess we all felt that impulse to turn up the bass for the rap challenge, eh? Hey, I like that analog synth there. Ooh, the double-title challenge again.

WreckdoM - Nice retro vibe. Good rhymes, too. I actually like your rapping better than your guest's. The five-step bouncing bassline makes it feel like authentic modern hip-hop. How'd you get the record-scratching noise? Is that a plugin? This goes to some weird places, man. I am so glad I'm not a judge, because I'd have a really hard time ranking you. Every single week. We need to get a beer together sometime.

I don't have the balls to do a full ranking, but I know my top three and bottom three.

1. Signboy
2. Nouveau
3. Ross
...
3. Reist
2. Swilington
1. Adamant

[Todd McHatton]

I apologize for my absence on these boards. I've been absolutely buried in work with 14 hour days for 2 weeks straight now. I've still been making the times to listen to the tunes and am quite proud to be in such amazing company. I loved Ross's Sleep TIght and Howl's Schaenfreude - and have also really enjoyed everything from Paco, Wreckdom, and Frankie (sounds like an unfortunate law firm). My guest rapper for this one is my son - he's a Mario freak so I wrote him a Donkey Kong jam. For those of you that have sites I'd like to link all of you (that would like to be linked) to mchatton.com - I hope to get the time to update it this week.

[Reist]

Reist - I'm on the third listen. I don't know, I feel like this might grow on me if I keep trying. I like most of your other stuff. But the parts of this song don't sound to me like they fit together. It's kind of weirdly cobbled. My wife, who hates about 90% of what she hears on Songfight, found this tolerable. I hope you don't get kicked out because of this song, but it's definitely not your strongest work.

3. Reist
2. Swilington
1. Adamant

This is pretty much the review I expected. I constructed this tune differently than a lot of my songs, more to harness the emotions of a few different individuals than to create a flowing pop tune like I usually do. The moody parts are an individual trapped in an institution, feeling confused - speaking in short spurts - emotional but nonsensical, and not entirely cohesive with the rest of the song. The chorus and bridge flow better, as they are spoken by the institution/church, and they make up the "silver tongue" aspect of the song. They are more uplifting, trying to convince the individual to accept the institution's power over his life. Sorry you didn't like it, but I figured I might as well write something a bit daring for my own benefit as opposed to writing the same song over and over again for the sake of an easy pass to the next round.

ps - I personally see this tune as my strongest entry into Nur Ein IV yet, but I agree with you that it feels 'weirdly cobbled'. But I figured I might as well note that it was intentional. Thanks for the review.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Best guest rap segment:
BLT in Paco's song.

Seriously?
Thanks, Jon.

[rone rivendale]

After the 1st listen I have to say this is the worst round so far. No offensive to any of the entrants. The non-optional challange obviously threw alot of you off.

Strangely enough considering recent posts, I actually liked Reist's song the best. Also really enjoyed Nouveau's song.

[adamadamant]

You took a prefabricated track and used it as your "guest rapper." Basically, rather than this being an original song, it's a remix. If I were judge, I'd want to disqualify you for that. But I'm not a judge, so we'll see what happens.

I can't disagree with you. I should really have floated the idea on the boards first but it occurred to me quite late in the day and I only had a small amount of time to put something together.

It's a cute beat, but its roughshodness clashes with the professional rapping.

What makes the beat roughshod to you? Just curious, the mixing, instrumentation, crap tune? Also did you rank it last just because of the rap or because you didn't like the song or both? As for relevance to the title, perhaps it's questionable but I thought it was there, at least ironicly - it's purposefully not eloquent but puts across an eloquent argument.

For what it's worth I hadn't actually heard the original track when I did my song. I found the vocal track on its own. The actual song is pretty different to mine and I think it's unfair to demote it to a remix, though obviously it's not completely original.

If the judges would be so kind, please don't just rank it last because of this. If you think it's breaking with the spirit then disqualify me.

[Ross]

I wish there were more reviews - so I’m gonna write some, even though I know the reviews of the participants do not often map to the outcomes by the judges.

Adam Adamant - While I think was an interesting Idea and I think the source song is pretty interesting, I think that I just can’t really call this a song you wrote. To appreciate what you’ve done with the new backing tracks I’d have to hear the original, which I haven’t. If I were a judge, I’d be in conversations with the others about disqualification. I appreciate out-of-the-box thinking, but this seems a step too far to me.

Andrew Reist - I don’t mind the sprawling sort of form of this and I like the counterpoint guitars, it’s part catchy and part awkward. The two mind roles you mention don’t exactly come off that way to me. I think the rap is not very “rappy” but at least checks the box. I think this is a sort of middle of the pack song for me. I think you should have repeated the chorus another time at the end, thickened up.

Howl - There are things I like and dislike about this track - I think the overall sound is pretty cool, but alot of the sounds also seem sort of gratitous and perhaps too up front for sounds that may have been meant to help set mood. Overall it ended up feeling a bit long-ish to me, and as cool as the German section is I felt it was longish too. I felt like this german guy would have left a more brief menacing message than this. honestly - the “I don’t speak german” laugh line kind of broke the menacing mood as well - it’s cute but doesn’t quite fit. So much cool, and yet somehow not pushing all the buttons for me.
I think this is low in the pass pack.

JK - I loved that Plumber sketch - we must be about the same age. I like the soul feeling. overall I think the song suffers most by the static in the arrangement. Cute but not grabbing. I would probably put you in the at-risk pile. Challenge definitely met.

Hunky - I have such complex feelings about this. Some parts are like “Yeah jon!” I like the second verse of rap the best. The chorus gestures at catchy but is also slightly awkward. Is the Piano quantized? It feels slightly too ahead of the beat for the groove. The main spot that rubs me is the “I’m just gonna talk to her” repetition near the end.
The piano breakdown is a nice touch. Challenge definitely met. I would put this low in the pass pack.

Nouveau Pauvre - nice groove - great voice. The vocals are on the slightly affected side for my taste. Catchy chorus. This kinds of song makes me wish you hadn’t gotten a submission in last week An interesting kind of production that makes me not notice the lyrics much. Challenge checked off, but not very interestingly, I am a fan of having the challenge be a bit more integrated, here it sounds more incidental. I think this will be high in the pass pack.

Paco et. Blt. - I tend to like Paco these days - but I am not a big fan of this song. The guitar stuff is all great and teh spirit of BLT’s Rap is spot on, but I don’t really care about the lyrical content and don’t think the vocals or melody really sell it. The Rap section is cool on so many levels, and yet the more I heard it the more I wish Chris had had more time to work some of the syllabic accents, just a few too many fell in the wrong place. This thing rocks off socks - and probably more than that - a definite pass.

signboy - to me this was the most “authentic” of all the rap entries. Great on so many levels. The use of the guest fit into the song very well, the arrangement works, the chorus is good. My only gripe is that you have a spot where the “bass” drum hits an eighth before the beat - It doesn’t quite work in spots with the rap. Near the top I think. If I was gonna really guess - this would be my pick for immunity.

Swillington - it seems like you need to reign in your ideas a bit. There are many good ideas here - but I don’t feel they are all held together that well. When you get to the guitar break I think things get a bit too rough around the edges. the guest rapper adds to this. Honestly - I don’t really hear the title here much either, sort of weakish. I would put this in the “at risk” pile.

Tiny robots - nice as always. The rap sections seemed a bit at odds with the flow of the rest of the song. Not sure I agree with this song’s interpretation of Silver Tongue - I have never taken that to necessarily imply falsehood, which I sort of feel the female protagonist does. The guitar solo is top notch - one of my favorites from Sam or any other songfighter. Certainly safe to move on, while not necessarily top Robots work.

Todd M - this has a nice sheen, but other than that it didn’t pull me in. Some of your stuff really grabs me, and I like this sort of production aesthetic in general. The rapper does a nice job. nice sounding and not much “wrong” here. I’d put you n the middle of the pass pile - the I’m a target thing is a bit of a non sequitor, why did you feel this had to be submit-able to both fights? I think that ending hurts the song.

WreckdoM - forgive me for saying so, but I feel like you guys have grown up a bit since I first started fighting. I like the sound of this, but I do feel like the arrangement is a bit “same-ey” throughout. The Rap section is not grabbing me. I think you guys need to look for a way to make your mixes louder ,-) after the break it keeps going and got a little long for me - but this would be kick ass in a dance club.....if I was single or with my wife. I am stretching to hear the title connection.

[jast]

Okay, okay, here are some brief reviews, based on first impressions.

Adam Adamant: I'm having a hard time seeing how this fits together. Synth sort of obstructs vocals. I always like this kind of synth stuff, but I don't think it helps this song in any way.
Andrew Reist: I liked it. Executed well.
Howl down the Chimney: creepy. I like how this has no overall structure.
John Kloberdanz: That's different indeed. I like this, would have liked it more if the vocals had been a bit better.
Hunky: Piano and rap mix better than I would have thought. Nice stuff. Chorus vocals are a bit awkward.
Nouveau Pauvre: Not my kind of style, but I still like it a bit. Rap is way buried and seems rather loose. I agree with Ross there, too.
Paco del Stinko: Softer lead vocals are weak. I don't quite see how the rap part integrates into this. Rock, though.
Ross Durand: I didn't see how you'd integrate rap here, but you managed. Cool. Cool story, too. Boom snap clap!
Signboy: I concur, this is made of awesome.
Swilington: Rather loose. Okay but not convincing in the performance department.
Tiny Robots: Likeable song. Awesome combo of lead and backup vocals. Now if only it didn't have that rap section... seriously, it's not terrible or anything, but it feels a bit out of place.
Todd McHatton: Mix and arrangement are bit busy for my taste. Nice synth solo. Good execution, but not captivating.
WreckdoM: Nice tone. Great bridge. Feels like something is missing in the mix, though... the bridge is sort of lacking punchy rhythm elements, I think.

If you ask me, it's good if the song is great and the challenge got integrated well. With that in mind, votes go to Andrew, Howl, Ross, Signboy, WreckdoM. Oh wait, wrong internet.