Winter Warm-up 2020 #2 Songs and Results

There were only two entries for the second warm-up, despite it being a dead simple challenge, and I suppose we could chalk that up to being another victim of the dreaded 2020. This being the case -- and for reasons that will be apparent below -- I'm not going to throw this to judges. The listening party will be at https://youtu.be/RExybVG65DY at 9pm Eastern Time.

However, please remember that shadows are never late. I threw one in here just so these two songs wouldn't be lonely. If you have a song that you'd like added to this album, just let me know by sending an email to spintunescontest@bandcamp.com.

Before I get to the results, let's review the challenge:

Say My Name: Some first names have been immortalized in pop music, so that you can’t meet someone with that name without thinking of the corresponding song. (Don’t worry, they LOVE it when you sing their name at them immediately upon meeting them. It doesn’t get old at all.) Your job is to add to that list. The title of your song must be a given name which, to your knowledge, hasn’t already been immortalized in song. The name must feature prominently in the lyrics, ideally as a catchy melodic hook that listeners will forever get stuck in their head whenever they think of said name.

So we're looking for something unique in song, and which is a given name. Other than that, it comes down to just using that name in the lyrics and making the song catchy. 

THE SONGS

As I said, I'm not throwing just two songs to judges, and since I normally break ties, that's what I'll be doing here. 
Our two songs are Svengoolie by Brian Gray, and Mrs by All the Robots. Both are well-produced and catchy. Both bands are talented to the nth degree. To me, this comes down to technicalities. To meet the challenge squarely, the name should be in the hook of the song. And they both are.
That's where the technicalities come in. The challenge says it must be a given name, and the Robots admit in the lyrics of their song that in the case of their subject matter, they don't know what that is. "Mrs" is a title, not a given name. And while "Svengoolie" may be a name someone gave himself, it meets the challenge more squarely than "Mrs". That alone would give it the win. Add to that the fact that there are a number of songs out there celebrating Mrs. Claus. Granted, the challenge contains the phrase "to your knowledge", but this is such a well-known character that you should at least suspect a couple of popular songs out there. And when we see that they're offered by such popular artists as Idina Menzel, Ariana Grande, and Jessie Farrell... well, that just shoves the decision farther over to Svengoolie.
So, while I like both songs, I'm declaring Brian Gray the winner of this face-off.
Congrats, Brian! Now I'm going to spend a bit of time trying to get "Svengoolie on Saturday niiiiiight....!" out of my head.

Winter Warm-up 2020 #1 Results!

 And the winner is...

ALL THE ROBOTS

And well-deserved it is! It couldn't happen to a nicer couple of droids! It's funny, though... I thought there might be more robots.

SCORING

Standard Spintunes judging was used. Judges' scores were added up and low score wins.

Since I entered, Travis Langworthy (SpinTown) broke ties. We had two ties. The half-points in the Totals column represent Spin's tiebreaking. 

	Sam Robb	Zoe Gray	Travis Norris	Ohm-i	Total
All the Robots	1	2	2	2	7
Buckethat' Bobby	3	1	4	4	12
Boffo Yux Dudes	5	3	1	3	12.5
Dr. Lindyke	4	5	5	1	15
Joe 'Covenant' Lamb	2	4	3	6	15.5
Menage a Tune	6	6	6	5	23

Next week: Winter Warm-up 2020 #2!

Winter Warm-up 2020 #1: Ohm-i's Reviews

[Dave's Note: Our final set of reviews/rankings comes from Ohm-i, nerdcore artist and Spintunes champion]

RANKINGS

1 – Dr. Lindyke

2 –  All The Robots

3 – Buffo Yox Dudes

4 – BucketHat Bobby

5 – Menage a Tune

6 – Joe Covenant Lamb

REVIEWS

 

Dr. Lindyke - Me vs Mini-Me

This was the first song I listened to and the “made yo momma have twins cause I wanted you twice” lines was so funny that I texted my friends about it.  Honestly, this song has a bunch of randomly hilarious lines that makes it pretty charming and the dynamic between the two vocalists is perfect. I’m gonna say that “Me” won this battle though.

 

Menage a Tune – You’re Amazing

The lack of any sort of instrumental definitely threw me off. I’m not familiar with the vocalists so I went back to some previous challenges that you’ve done to see what type of music you normally do. I think it would have been possible to incorporate your own style of music underneath to give it a little more life. That being said, in the spirit of this being a rap battle, I don’t think anything should be taken away from not having an instrumental, but that creates an expectation that the lyrics themselves are more engaging then they were here.

 

“BucketHat” Bobby – Bob Matheson vs BucketHatBobby

There was a lot more technical and rhythmical delivery here than the other songs for sure. As far as the challenge goes though, I think this barely skims by the criteria. There’s definitely compliments thrown around, but this seems to be based more around self-deprecation than providing compliments to your opponent. I don’t think the self-pity angle is bad, but it could have done with some more compliments from that side.

 

Joe Covenant Lamb – JoeCovenantRap: A Jock’s Rap

First of all, the beat concept is dope and most engaging out of all the entries. Secondly, as someone who harmonizes a lot in my own hooks, I’m a fan of what you did here. However, I’m not sure this met the challenge at all. I didn’t get any sense of a compliment battle here. As an example, you said “Keep throwin' oot that garbage, ye'll be playin' wi' yer teeth!”. The song itself is not terrible by any means, and I think if the challenge has just been rapping, I would have ranked this a lot higher. I think it would be interesting to hear more songs like this!  

 

Boffo Yux Dudes - You're So Much Better Than Me

This song falls in an awkward position for me. I don’t think it handles any particular music or lyrical concept better than the other entries. The beat is ok, the lyrics are ok, and the delivery is ok. However, overall, it meets the challenge a lot better than the ones ranking below. I don’t have any real criticism here, so good job. :P

 

All The Robots - Complementary Compliments

The skit was borderline awkward but it set the stage for what the song was about so I can’t be too mad about it. As I mentioned in a previous review, I am a sucker for well-done harmonies in hooks, and this one was great. Between the hook and the skit, it starts off feeling like a whole Schoolhouse Rock song. The beat is creative too and that bass definitely helps drive the feel.  All the name drops of other SpinTunes contestants is a nice touch and this was executed pretty well overall.

 

---------------------------

Ohm-I
Nerdcore Artist
https://mcohmi.com

Winter Warm-up 2020 #1: Travis Norris' Reviews

[Dave's Note: Travis Norris (aka 'Governing Dynamics') is one of three former champions judging this round.]

Great job everybody!  I couldn’t personally come up with a single solid lyrical or musical concept for this one, so I’m not sure if my opinion on this challenge really counts for much.  But you’re getting it nonetheless! Ahahaha. 

Regarding the scoring matrix:

Challenge (6 point max) - I gave this the highest total score because it’s often been a (legitimate, I feel) complaint that sometimes the actual challenge can get lost in rankings.

Lyrics (5 point max) - Cleverness of rhyme (which I didn’t call out a lot because honestly everybody did pretty well there a lot) but more importantly to this challenge, how well the lyrics flowed against the music and whether it subverted (or fulfilled) expectations in a satisfying way. 

Musical Elements (4 point max) - Arrangement, melody, chord progressions (when applicable).  There is naturally a bit of a production score here, but that wasn’t a huge factor one way or another for anyone this round.  

Overall Impression (3 point max) - or you could call it “tilt”, basically just my own gut check feeling about whether I liked the song or not.

Performance (2 point max) - The dreaded Final Tie Breaking Element.  

Dr. Lindyke - Me vs Mini-Me

This hits the challenge squarely and I appreciate the (mostly) wholesome content.  Here and there there’s a little bit of awkwardness in the phrasing and cadence (the “smug” to “hug” line for example, although it nice recovers for the rest of the verse), but this is often covered by the groovy drum track.  Just a shame there’s no other instrumentation to go along with it, or any real hook to speak of.  Still I have to commend you both on your commitment - you don’t sound particularly out of your element rapping. 

 

Menage a Tune - You’re Amazing

Thematically similar (although with considerably more emotion at the core) to Dr. Lindyke’s entry and another challenge home run.  It also shares some of the same problems with uneven cadence and syllable count, and in this case there’s no percussion or any other kind of backing element to provide a cushion.  Some of this could have been fixed with a few added or subtracted words or minor rephrasing.  I appreciate the attempt at a hook but it just falls a bit flat without some more musical elements.

“Buckethat” Bobby - Bob Matheson vs BucketHatBobby

Insecurity and self doubt is a hell of a trip and I relate strongly to a lot of the lyrical content here (except being a home owner. who has the time? Oh people who have the money.  Uh, anyway...) There are a few of the same lyrical flow problems from our first two entrants, although they are minor here and in many cases I’m sure deliberate (“Maybe I’m… done.”).  The drum track does it’s job well enough but I would have loved to hear some classic BHB instrumentation, in some form, if only on BHB’s parts.  A little bit more on the musical elements would have pushed this into the top three.

 

Oh, and I feel like maybe I deducted a point from the Challenge score essentially for being clever (a persona isn’t -exactly- another person, even though it doesn’t keep the song from working at all), so take that with a grain of salt, or take heart that it didn’t affect your final ranking anyway.  

Joe Covenant Lamb - JoeCovenantRap: AJock’s Rap

So despite the ranking this is my favorite song of the round.  It’s good to hear from Joe (and out of his comfort zone, no less) and the only thing that kept this from taking top honors - and this is probably my own fault and I’m going to have it explained to me and be kicking myself - is that while I can see two characters (Joe and Scotland)  if I squint at the lyrics hard enough, I don’t really see the complimentary angle and Scotland only gets a couple of stanzas. Judging by the third and fourth lines I am guessing Joe made the classic Governing Dynamics “mistake” (had a choice between meeting the challenge and writing a better song and went for the song).  

 

The music is exactly the type of thing I was hoping we’d get out of this round and the mellow/dark/chill vibe is exceptionally easy to listen to.  The hook is especially great, both in musical and lyrical content. 

Boffo Yux Dudes - You’re So Much Better Than Me 

I was expecting BYD to kill this one and I wasn’t disappointed.  The challenge couldn’t be met more squarely and the lo-fi ‘80s style production and synths is perfect.  Can’t tell if it’s actually doubletracking or some kind of stereo chorus effect on Al’s vocals, but they sit just right in the mix and flow perfectly.  Tons and tons of jokes and a hook in the classic Boffo Yux Mode.  Bravo!

All The Robots - Complimentary Compliments

Well, this was really good and I have absolutely no meaningful criticism.  Great production, performance, and lyrical content.   Between this and Boffo Yux Dudes I was forced to use the tiebreaker I absolutely hate to, which is “how well does this stand outside of the contest?’  

Which I guess goes to show sometimes you call someone enigmatic and charismatic and their reply will be “Thanks, love you too, second place” *thumbs up*

RANKINGS

 

#1 - Boffo Yux Dudes

#2 - All the Robots

#3 - Joe 'Covenant' Lamb

#4 - 'Buckethat' Bobby Matheson

#5 - Dr. Lindyke

#6 - Menage a Tune

SCORING MATRIX

	Dr. Lindyke	Menage a Tune	"Buckethat" Bobby	Joe Covenant Lamb	Boffo Yux Dudes	All The Robots
Challenge (6)	6	6	5	3	6	6
Lyrics (5)	4	3	4	5	5	4
Musical Elements (4)	2	1	2	4	3	3
Overall Impression (3)	1	1	3	3	2	3
Performance (2)	1	1	1	2	2	2
TOTAL	14	12	15	17	18	18

Winter Warm-up 2020 #1: Zoe Gray's Reviews

 [Dave's Note: Zoe is Zoe, with undisputed talent and a deft lyrical flair that earned a spot as SpinTune's youngest champion.]

REVIEWS AND RANKINGS

#6. Menage a Tune - You’re Amazing!

Concept:

This is adorable! This is one of two songs that employ the parent/child concept, and this one is really heartwarming. The “love you” at the end really sells it for me. And you got your daughter to sing! How lovely.

Flow:

First of all, the bouncing “you”s in the chorus are really nice. The rhyme scheme is fairly reliable, without too much deviation, but you’re able to get some nice rhymes in there and it all makes sense content-wise– nothing is shoved in there just to get a rhyme in. There were a couple places (“and your ex” / “those in need”) with unexpected breaks in the flow that jarred me a little, but otherwise this was nice.

Beat/Instrumentals: 

None. But I’ve done that before, specifically with raps, especially when I’m working on limited time. This is a warm-up! There’s no obligation to do it in any particular way!

Vocals:

You two have such a wonderful, fluttering vibrato when you’re singing in unison. And I really loved the fade out at the end.

Challenge: 

This absolutely fits the challenge! The consensus at the end seems to be that you’re BOTH amazing, which is a lovely way to wrap this up. 

Best Rhyme:

“weary/teary/dearie” in rapid succession. And you manage to make them make sense in the context of the song!

#5. Dr. Lindyke - Me Vs Mini-Me 

Concept:

I love this concept! You’re making me wish I’d tried this with my dad. The familiarity here brings such a nice level of play to this work. I feel like you guys genuinely had fun making it, which makes it fun to listen to on my end.

Flow: 

Really nice flow. I particularly liked the Lizzo moment with “game store / fame, boy”. At no point during listening did it strike me as repetitive– perhaps because it’s short enough that it can’t really get old– but I also think you could have more fun with the cadence/patter. Throw in some internal rhymes, some assonance and consonance, or shift into triplets for a moment. I think you might be approaching the lyrics from a very songwriter-y perspective, which– yeah, you are a songwriter. But there’s so much fun you can get from rap when you look beyond end rhymes.

Beat/Instrumentals:

It’s a pretty simple beat, but it works with your flow. I liked the use of cymbals kicking in with Tim Round 1, and then dropping back out for Dave Round 2. Might be reading too deep into it, but it could belie a generational gap, with the older Dave using a more simple/oldschool beat and Tim’s sections being a little more complex on the drums. Nice change on “skills that are graphic”, giving me more right when it might have gotten stagnant. And cutting out on “Spin just did” for comedic effect. 

No instrumentals. But I didn’t feel an urgent need for any. You switch up the drums just enough and pack enough lyrics in there that it still has a level of complexity without backing instrumentals.

Vocals:

Both of you are really committed to this rap, so you sold me on the lyrics. You both had clear points of view about what you were saying and how you were feeling while you said it. And you played with cadence sometimes, like Tim in Round 2 with “I know I could show off” after he came off the Shaggy voice (which was, by the way, delightful). I’d love to hear Tim a tiny bit more clearly, but that’s just a mastering issue, or maybe a result of not having super fancy recording equipment, which I understand. 

Challenge:

 You absolutely meet the challenge. The only thing that gets me here is that the song ends without either resolving the competition by declaring a winner or by coming together and, say, saying you’re both great! It ends a little abruptly without a big character arc for either of you there. But the challenge is definitely met, and nicely interpreted.

Best Rhyme: 

“keeping it tight / chuffing polite”. Just made me grin.

#4. Joe Covenant Lamb - JoeCovenantRap: A Jock’s Rap

Concept:

I love your choice to write in Scots dialect. I’m glad it wasn’t just a gimmick for part of the song– you stuck with it, and while you were self aware about a few words (“glaikit”), it wasn’t just a joke. It was consistent, and it fit perfectly with the theme and message of the song. It’s dialect as a form of resistance against colonialism and imperialism. 

Flow: 

So lovely. You have some really nice rhymes in here. You have a 4/4 rhythm that you mostly stick to, but there are some moments (“collaborated”, “fair tae middlin’”) that break from that, so it doesn’t feel monotonous. I love the way you work in Scots words, and the flow feels really smooth. I also like the little digression with “Logarithms, Hypnotism”, etc..

Beat//Instrumentals:

This is REALLY nice. Not everyone went the route of full production with both a beat and backing instrumentals on top, but I’m glad you did. The trap beat was really tight. Very high marks on this count.

Vocals: 

Leaning into the accent and the dialect isn’t just a cool move lyrically and politically. It also helped the flow of the lyrics, which seemed to roll off your tongue. Despite having a preponderance of lyrics, you made it look easy. Very Flight of the Conchords on the chorus. I liked the harmonies.

Challenge: 

If this were a real challenge and not just a warm-up, you probably would’ve been disqualified. This isn’t a back and forth with compliments between two characters but rather a straight-up solo rap and an exaltation of Scotland. Fortunately, this isn’t a real challenge!! And I love this song! Out of respect for people who went perhaps the more difficult route and followed the challenge, I’m ranking this lower than I would if there’d been no challenge at all. But I really really dig this song, and kudos to you for using this to prompt you to make what you were actually passionate about.

Best Rhyme:

“an’ rattled the patter and battered doon a Song Fu Master.” Yes! I go crazy for internal rhymes.

#3. Boffo Yux Dudes - You’re So Much Better Than Me

Concept:

Keeping it simple, keeping it classy! A straight-up trade of compliments. But the nice thing about this is that the content is pretty in keeping with a rap song. Your compliments are couched in references of “your mama” and other “Sucker MCs”, all of which contributes to this feeling like a nice old-school rap.

Flow:

Nice. Very nice. You pack a LOT of rhymes into a small space, and you justify them well. Even though most of them land on the ends of the lines instead of a more complex rhyme scheme, what you do here is stay on the same rhyme for up to nine lines in a row, which is impressive. And even for feminine rhymes like “matter / shattered / patter / scatter” you stay almost entirely on true rhymes instead of near rhymes. I like the choice to deviate from the beat and take it at half tempo for the last two stanzas.

Beat/Instrumentals:

So many cool things going on here. I’m hearing a nice rattle, a solid bass line, and maybe even some vocal percussion in there? Don’t know if that’s a synth or legitimately recorded by y’all. But I dig it. When you “drop the beat”, it is not actually a beat that you drop. But I actually love that synth. It adds to the retro vibes– first time I heard this I thought the rap from New Edition’s Cool It Now. There’s a weird choice to drop out in what feels like the middle of a verse for “screen test”? Listening and reading the lyrics, I didn’t expect the pause there. But everything else made sense.

Vocals:

I’m getting some almost Weird Al-esque vocal inflections on the “favor / waver” stanza. That doesn’t continue through all of the song, though, it’s just indicative of the way y’all modulate your vocals throughout to keep them fresh and engaged.

Challenge:

This definitely fits! Not sure who won the contest of niceness. You were both so nice. But I liked the chorus and the wrap-up at the end.

Best Rhyme:

“You played them like an old arcade / Cause you throw shade like sylvan glade”. Yes. Both of these are so creative.

#2. All The Robots - Complementary Compliments

Concept:

Flattery will get you everywhere, my friend. Y’all decided not only to one-up each OTHER with compliments, but to hype up the entire Spintunes community. A competition of who can be nicer not only to each other but to other people? Wonderful. Adorable exchange at the end. So wholesome.

Flow: 

I started bobbing my head to this. This is legitimately fun! I really appreciate you guys playing with the rhyme structure. For instance: you could have ended the second line of your last verse with another “me” rhyme, but you packed those into the first half o the line so you can transition to “schism” to make your way, eventually, to your target of “Homomorphism”. It’s clever, it’s fun, and the writing is clear enough that it always leads you to the next rhyme without you having to follow and really clean and standard rhyme scheme. I see you really taking advantage of the form here.

Beat/Instrumentals:

Again– this is FUN. I’m getting Weird Al, I’m getting They Might Be Giants. Some really clever instrumentation here. The bass is funky and popping.

Vocals:

Your vocal inflections mirror what I just said above about the instrumentals. They’re fun, they’re groovy, and you totally commit to selling these lyrics. Nice bouncing between ears during dialogue exchanges for those listening on headphones.

Challenge:

You did this challenge credit. Y’all definitely compliment the most people per capita. Even if some of them are only shout-outs and not full compliments (where IS Jocko Homomorphism?). Clever interpretation, fun execution.

Best Rhyme: 

Maybe I’m biased, but for me it’s: “Ryan, hey / tryn to say / Brian Gray”.

Note:

You guys. It’s not a homonym. https://youtu.be/Cj9wv4MILh4?t=80 

“Homo” = same. “Nym” = name. “Phone” = sound. Homonyms are spelled the same. For example: read (pronounced “red”) vs. read (pronounced “reed”). Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently. For example: complement vs. compliment. This is really a central point of your song, so…

 

#1. “BucketHat” Bobby - Bob Matheson Vs BucketHatBobby

Concept:

SUCH a clever concept. This is Batman and Bruce Wayne arguing about who’s the real one. This is “Man or Muppet”. I’m impressed by your interpretation and its execution. The paradox here is that you are simultaneously self-deprecating AND hyping your own self up. Because they’re both you. But, hell, I’m the judge, and I say it works. 

Flow:

You know why I ranked this first? It isn’t because of the beat (which is minimal at times, but serves the purpose– more on this later). It isn’t even because of your clever interpretation. This is my favorite song because of your FLOW. Lin-Manuel Miranda would be proud. The moments of triplets, of patter, of me thinking “where is he breathing??”. If people were gonna go the rap route for this challenge, that’s what I wanted to see, because that’s part of what makes rap such a fun and awesome genre to play with. We all know I’m a lyrics-first kind of girl, but I think for this challenge and this genre that’s really warranted. And your lyrics and rhythm are top-notch.

Beat/Instrumentals:

Very simple at first, but I like when the beat drops and the rest of it comes in. Nice choice to use instrumentals to further demarcate when Bob is singing vs. when BucketHatBobby is singing. I also really like the looping of sounds at the beginning. I could’ve listened to even more of that and still been entertained.

Vocals:

Always a sucker for people doing character voices. There’s just a couple moments where you trip over a word, but you just keep on going. That’s to be expected with lyrics this fast unless you have more time than we gave to record takes.

Challenge:

Dubiously met? I think it’s been met, and I make the rules. Really nice work. I only wish it was longer. 7-minute version next, please?

Best Rhyme: 

Oh my god. Where to start? Right now it’s: “better / let your / fetter / endeavours”.