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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Spintunes #6 Round 2 Review: Stephen Carradini

I stumbled onto a pretty cool music blog called Independent Clauses awhile back.  When it came time to select the guest judges for SpinTunes 6, I immediately thought about inviting the man behind the blog to be a part of SpinTunes.  You can post comments for Stephen below, but after that, I suggest you check out Independent Clauses.

- Travis aka Spin

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TurboShandy: I deeply enjoyed the Irish vibe here; it employed a powerful sound and tradition without being exploitative or cheesy. The emotive vocal performance is especially memorable here, and vaulted it to first place.
 
Jenny Katz: The martial beat contrasted with the vocals for a great tune. The harmonies were beautiful and the lyrics were clever, further setting this apart. Bonus points: "Boom goes the dynamite" reference.
 
"Buckethat" Bobby: I liked the songwriting here, as it meshed with the vocals very well. The rhythmic arrangement of the lyrics was attractive, reminding me of the Mountain Goats. This song had me humming this one.
 
Jerry Skids: The energy here is infectious, and the melodies are ridiculously catchy. The fact that it's about Baseketball makes it even better.
 
Blimp Exhaust: I love the guitar work at the end of the tune. The rap section didn't connect with me as much, but the instrumentals and the sung vocals at the back half of the tune were excellent.
 
Steven Wesley Guiles: Really playing up the lyrics here is a great move, as it allows the goofiness of the lyrics to validate the hyperactivity of the tune. The 8-bit coda is a great touch.
 
Army Defense: The most poetic of the contributions, I was impressed by the ability to pack so much punch into so few lyrics. The vocal contributions were a bit outside of my style, but the long found sound clip drove home the emotional impact.
 
Kevin Savino-Rilker: This one feels the most like a real fight song, from the detailed description in the lyrics to the optimistic outlook on a team that has been traditionally not so lucky.
 
The Middle Relievers: I love the pub vibe here. The male harmonies were especially fun.
 
Edric Haleen: I was surprised and pleased by the subversion of the fight song trope, both in lyric and sound.
 
MC Ohm-I: The flow here is solid and interesting, but the beat feels a bit intrusive on the song. The lyrics were solid, but could have had some more elements distinctive to the Mets. (No mention of Mr. Met?)
 
RC: I love the power-pop execution here. The pun on the violent language of winning and losing was notable as well.
 
Josh Holober-Ward: I like the funny lyrics, but it wasn't as substantial a tune as some of the ones that scored higher.
 
Ross Durand: Boisterous, loud and proud. The call-and-response melody structure would be great for including people during a live show, but it didn't strike me as well while listening to a recorded version.
 
Glen Raphael: I liked the idea, but this didn't have as engaging an energy as some of the other tunes.
 
The Chocolate Chips: The vocal contributions here didn't strike me.
 
Steve Durand: I wasn't a big fan of the vocal style, but the lyrics were clever and fun.
 
Dr. Lindyke: I wasn't a big fan of the innuendo, and the synths sounded a bit cheesy to me.
 
Brian Gray: This was a very complex song for such a short piece, with a lot going on. The juxtaposition of the synths, the marching band, and the East Asian sounds was a bit jarring.
 
Shadows:
 
The Boffo Yux Dudes: Fun, but a bit disjointed rhythmically and musically.
 
Edric Haleen: Funny intro to an actual fight song, which was only twenty seconds long.

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