You can vote for your favorite songs with the poll in the right sidebar. -->
(Popular vote stays open til 8PM on the 29th.)
You can also vote for your favorite album cover in the 2nd poll. -->
Judges need to have their reviews sent to me by November 29th 11PM. I plan on posting the reviews/rankings/new champion by 1AM on the 30th...hopefully. :p
It's YOUR Turn To Vote:
If you signed up for this contest, and submitted at least 1 song (shadows count), then you now get to vote on who wins this last round. If you want a say in who wins, you just have to rank the songs from favorite to least favorite. When you've decided how you want to rank them, just send me your rankings via e-mail. (same address you've been using this contest) After you have officially voted I will add your name to a list here on the blog, but I will NOT show your rankings. Your 4 finalist are listed below:
(You can find notes about some songs on their BandCamp pages.)
People Who Have Voted:
(21 of 25 votes have been cast.)
Videos:
The Pac-Man Duet
Charlie McCarron made a video for his shadow this round.
Links Of Interest:
- Tom of the Boffo Yux Dudes posted a review of this round.
- Common Lisp posted a review of this round.
- Inverse T. Clown reviewed this round. The review is posted in the comments section.
- JoAnn posted a remix of her shadow this round.
My reviews are up for this round. Fun stuff! I'm very impressed with the batch.
ReplyDeletehttp://boffoyuxdudes.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/spintunes-round-4-song-reviews/
(Inverse T. Clown sent me this, and said I could post them if I wanted...I wanted...)
ReplyDeleteBefore I get started, I want to say this: All of the entries are very good, as one would expect from The Final Four. The order here does not mean I think the "bottom song" is an inferior, unworthy submission. These are simply my preferred order, and should be taken as nothing more than that.
Cogott - In Bright Falls - This has to be the catchiest of the four. I've never even heard of this game, and now I really want to watch someone play it. Without making it sound like downtalk, there's a "Scooby-Doo" chase scene sound to this. It's incredible, because I never would've thought of that tone, let alone been able to pull it off. I'll be honest: this guy tends to blow my mind every damn time he writes a song. And this one is clearly no exception.
Mitchell - In Another castle - I absolutely love the 8-bit element (as if that's a shocker to anybody). I also hate this particular style of music -- when I'm supposed to take it seriously -- but it's hilarious in this concept. Plus, the music is just so good. And utilizing the warp sound as a rhythm instrument is just brilliant. It was risky to do a Mario Bros. song, and I'm so glad it worked in your favor.
Rebecca - Where I Am - I really appreciate the performance here. The theatrics of the delivery is pretty great, and seems to fit perfectly with the power-tripping persona I recall. I do think the music cries out for something more. Not that the piano and drums are lacking, but the overall sound just seems -- to me -- like it needs to be filled out a little more.
Zarni - The Bleeding Effect - No idea what her song was about. Maybe there were clues to which character she was referencing, but it just seemed really vague. Kinda like she was writing a song she could perfom without people knowing it was supposed to be about a video game character. Just feels like a BIT of a dodge since it appears to be entirely non-specific, which is basically the opposite of the term "character". Again, though, I may simply have missed all the clues.
*Ammendment: GD told me what game this is about and Spin showed me the book she wrote explaining it. And no offense, but I'm not going to read it. I've heard of "Assassin's Creed"; I had never heard of "Alan Wake". Not only did I know what character Cogott had chosen by identification in the song, it got me to go look up the game and found me interested. Going by Zarni's lyrics, there's really no indication of what game or character I should even seek out to find the source material. Bottom line, the song is good and carries an ambience unique in the line-up. But out of these four? Least effective -- for me.
McCarron - The Pac-Man Duet - The music is perfectly simple. I love the melody/harmony. I laugh every time at "He's so stupid" and I died (no pun intended, sorry) the first time I heard the ending. I laughed a good four or five minutes because I wasn't watching the YT screen, so I didn't know it was coming. The only negative about this is the constant Pac Travel sound throughout the piece. It sounds more like someone playing the game while the song plays, not so much like it's part of the song. And it kills me that this isn't titled "Two-Pac". But I really do love this thing.
ReplyDeleteHumble - I'm Q*Bert, babe - This sounds like Q*Bert schmoozing a woman at a 70s nightclub. Which is funny, in itself. And the placement/useage of the game effects is just about perfect. The lyrics, though...I dunno. some of the rhymes seem forced. Sometimes the rhythm of the lyrics seems to suffer for the sake of a rhyme. Like the line "my nemesis...Coily". That lyric kinda distrupts the flow of the verse, and not even for a great rhyme. :\ Not trying to be mean. Just sayin' what I'm sayin'. Feel free to ignore/dislike me.
Gray - Hard To get - I think this may be my absolute favorite of the shadows. The music is so happy, and it feels NOTHING like I'd expect to hear from Donkey Kong. This is not to suggest that I've often or ever pondered what musical style a giant gorilla would utilize to woo a small Italian man. I just love the contrast of "kidnapping monster" and "delightful strum". Besides...any song that starts with "today's the day" has a special place in my heart.
BYD - Floating Away - This sounds like Hell. That is not to say it sounds poor. It sounds like a guy describing Rebel Pilot Hell. He has nowhere to go and his existance is a repetative eternity of shooting things simply because that's what he does. So, huzzah! It's creepy and sad!
Abbott - Go For The Eyes - So glad Abbott has music this time. No idea what game this references, but I don't know much about gaming, especially post-1999. At any rate, it's not a bad song, but outside of saying that, I must refrain from real opinion since I don't have any further frame of reference.
BYD - One Level Down - This is horrifying, musically. The vocals should be a little more methodical, I think. A little more sociopathic. Even so, it does creep me out.
Ritter - Pitfall! - This is ridiculous. It sounds like the end of a movie where we can't hear any dialogue. We just see a ten year old boy run out the front door and hug his dad who just came back from The War, and they hug as Mom looks on from the porch. It has a genuinely secure, resolved feeling, especially in the latter section when the drums kick in. My favorite of what you've given us. Makes me so happy you shadowed each round.
BYD - Elf Shot The Food - Oh, boy. I hated this game, and this song certainly serves to remind me why. Again, not that the song is bad, but it does have the sample of the undisputed champion of aggravating game alerts.
Hines - The Writing On The Wall - This definitely sounds like a Hines song. Excellent squarewave element. I've never played Portal, or even watched it played, but I've heard enough to know you've nailed it about as well as one can. Really, this is one of my favorites of the shadows.
GD - One Four One - I don't play war games because all things military completely disinterest me. But GD showed me the clips from the game where the guy gets screwed and set on fire, so I pretty well get the idea. I know GD's heart wasn't entirely into this song, but the song itself does come out like any of his other emo-tastic goodies. Except in this one, the guy's not so much sad, as he is effing pissed. (A nice change-up for Mr. Dynamics.)
Scooby Doo! That's awesome. I love Scooby Doo. I found that sound by accident and went with it. In fact, most of what I do is by accident :D Thanks for liking my song.
ReplyDeleteThe elf shot the food. The elf shot the food.....
Your accidents please me.
ReplyDeleteThere's a better mix of my song available now at: http://calebhines.bandcamp.com/track/the-writing-on-the-wall
ReplyDeleteIt was fun reading the reviews. Thanks guys!
ReplyDeleteThat's actually my shadow for the previous round... I did not submit anything this round. But thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeleteAbbott wins!
ReplyDeleteAre you sure about that Mr. Anonymous?
ReplyDeleteWins what?
ReplyDelete