SpinTunes #2 Round 2 Review: Len Peralta

The rules say there could be guest judges, and I have attempted to get a few. This round we are lucky enough to have internet cartoonist Len Peralta as a judge. He has started many cool projects over the years. You may have heard of his sites "Monster By Mail" & "Flip Face". He also has a popular podcast called "Jawbone Radio". You can find links to more of his projects by visiting his website: lenperalta.com.

I'm not just pimping Len's sites because he's reviewing this round. I've hired him a number of times over the past 2 years, and I'd reccomend him to anyone. I'll include some of the work he's done for me at the bottom of the page. Now on to his reviews!

Chris Cogott - Roadward Bound
Wow! I really like this song. There are a few in the pack that are simply good songs in their own right. Even without the sequel connection, they stand on their own. This is one of them. What a great way to end the listening session. I’m actually going to download this and add it to my library.
A+

Edric Haleen - O! Say Can You See?
Maybe it’s just me, but I was waiting for a joke to kick in. Such an iconic song seemed ripe for parody. As a straightforward song, though, brilliant. I liked the take. Very gutsy, albiet show-tuney.
A

Gweebol - Thank You Mr. Postman
I have to say, I’m very impressed with all the female entries in this round. This one was a lot of fun a great sequel once again pulling enough from the original to enjoy it. Nice job. (Love those handclaps - you can’t beat those in a song!)
A

Rebecca Brickley - Elderly Dream
Ha! More handclaps in this song. How funny considering my last review. This is a really good song, but I think it is hamstrung by the other “old person” song in the group. Overall, this works well on its own. It’s still a fun song and imminently listenable.
A-

Charlie McCarron - Over The Bridge
Nice groove. I like the flip on this RHCP song. Enough like the original to get the idea across, but original enough to make for a great song. I would like to hear this sung by a more powerful singer. Nothing against the singer on this version, but it could really shine with an awesome set of pipes behind the mic.
A-

Zarni De Wet - Stacey’s Dad
Hilarious. Clever. Like the RHCP take, it pulls enough from the original and does its own thing.
A-

Inverse T. Clown - Hey, Jessie
I love the “Weird Al” feel on this song. Quirky and fun. I would love to hear this with full-on production values. Really nice job overall. It didn’t need the F-bomb at the end though. That prevented it from getting put in the A category. Dem’s the berries. If you’re gonna drop an F-bomb, at least get all Cee-Lo with it.
B+

Ryan Ruff Smith - Baby, We’re Through
As an original song, this is pretty tight. Good production values. Decent construction. I could listen to this in my car. You know, driving around and stuff. Or cleaning my bedroom.
B+

Ross Durand - Folsom Breakout Blues
Great fun. I love The Man In Black, so this was great to hear. Well done. Good effort.
B

Danny Blackwell - Like A Family
I really liked this song. It was simple and I’m a big fan of simple. I would want to hear this with more production value.
B

Steve Durand - Miranda
I love the horns on this groove. And I love the South of The Border feel. However, I don’t know if they were enough to pull this song up above some of the other competitors in this round. I actually would have liked to hear the horns with the standard ABBA groove. That would have been cool.
B-

Duality - Mars Ain’t That Kind Of Place
Pretty song, well done but like some others in the pack, I feel it just needed an extra push to really make it go from “meh” to “hey!”
B-

Governing Dynamics - Melt in the Sun (So Many Pretty Ways)
Once I got what they were trying to go for, it wasn’t so bad. The vocals needed a little bit of work - they were a bit rough for me. The song is constructed and written well, I just felt the vocals could have been a bit tighter.
B-

Mitchell Adam Johnson - When Donna Came Back
I don’t know what to say about this song. It’s well-written, well-produced, with competent songwriting. But nothing really makes it stand out for me. That kills me because it’s really well done. I just had a hard time moving it out of the “meh” camp. It needed some extra kick to push it over the edge.
C

Common Lisp - Science (In The Service Of Beauty)
I know what he’s trying to do here. However, I don’t know if he totally pulls it off though. While pulling from the original Thomas Dolby song, the song suffers because all I can think about is how good the original song was. You know when a TV show can’t get the rights to an original song, so they create their own version? This is like that. Plus, it could have been about a minute shorter.
D

Brian Gray - One More Cloud
Something seems off about this song. Maybe it’s because the guitar sounds slightly flat behind the verses. I’m not feeling this one. Also, knowing that it’s derived from Matchbox 20 makes me dislike it even more. (I’m not a big Matchbox 20 fan, unfortunately.)
D

Ben Walker - When I’m 102
Now we’re talking. Brilliant. Well-done. I loved it. I would want to play this for all my friends who are Beatles fans. Hell, I’d even play it for people who hate the Beatles. Just to be annoying. Good job.
A+

Thanks everyone for all your hard work. This was a lot of fun to listen to. I wish I had a small portion of your musical talents. I envy your skills. Thanks for giving me great music to listen to this morning.

Monster By Mail
Here's the video he did for my Monster By Mail.



Flip Face
I've had around 2 dozen avatars made by Len. I got one for each member of my family last Christmas (made a photo cube from them), and I use them in my "Spintown Interviews..." videos. I even had one made for Jeff MacDougall when I interviewed him.