Cybronica's rankings:
Icosapentalogia:
In the spirit of the challenge, I tried to write my reviews (or at least the shadow reviews) in 25 words or fewer. This attempt was aided by the fact that y’all wrote such excellent songs. Still, I failed for the most part.
And this is a quote from my Also in Blue review, but it applies to everyone who participated this year: Thank you for making such amazing music for us to enjoy!
It has been a delight listening and reviewing your songs. Nows the part where I say judging was not fun cause you all were so good! Well, yall did all write amazing songs the last two months, but I admit judging is also fun. ;)
All the Robots: Some - great bookend to your first entry. But written for round 1! Disqualified (think ive disqualified most of your shadows haha). Great guitars! Short! Great backing vocal voice leading!
All the Robots: Helicopter - Jolly, Love the BVs panning on the hook. Clean up the ends of your words. Great back and forth with the guitar on second chorus.
Also in Blue: ….Holy shit. Like the love child of the Firefly opening theme and a full fledged requiem. What I love about your song is [everything, but also] that I wouldn’t know this is only 25 words had I not known the challenge. You do a brilliant job with the 25 words you’ve chosen, by moving them around, mix and matching them so they aren’t mostly the same line repeated over. And then, even though you were repeating the first verse as the 2nd, you brilliantly layered the lines to create a fugue/bridge out of what should have been A prime. It is superbly done, truly a magical moment, and that second verse might have been enough to stick you at the top of my list, but then BLAMMO you hit us with that second chorus, with the cellos again (btw- brilliant holding off on bass inst for the verses to make it that much more effective on Empty Skies), but now with that incredible back up choir of layering of voices that you do oh so well. ~~Chills~~ And back on the bass, I love how you drop it on the post chorus; And that flute! You choose your synths well. They sound real enough so as not to take me out of the song. All of this does an excellent job of handling a heavy topic. Its respectful, evocative, holding in balance both the beauty of the ruins and the pathos of the situation. I have exactly zero faults with this song. It is a masterpiece and you should be proud. (I dunno if this counts as a flaw, but we can hear the autotune on your voice on the first line. But its such a key part of your sound, I’m not sure its not supposed to be there). You were the first artist I listened to in round one, and the one I rank at the top in the final round (though my vote is just a tie breaker). Thank you for making such amazing music for us to enjoy!
Cavedwellers: Let’s get the obvious out of the way: 26 words! Two and To are not one, it is true. T-T Since my rankings are just for tiebreaking, I’m not too (two to) concerned about it. I love how you incorporated the ‘do do do’s from of your words into the fabric of the song, made it pretty sweet, reminiscent of a bygone era. They have great contrapuntal voice leading. You even mix the lower lines of them into the instrumental interludes, which is a subtle touch, nicely. I even hear the low echoes of “DUH do” in the mix. I am really truly impressed with how you incorporated non verbal vocals into the fabric of the song. Your vocal is really very good, but there are a couple points where, due to the pointalistic nature of the vocal line, the voice is exposed and we hear how you don’t quite land square on the note because it ends before the right note is really established. This isn’t because you did a bad job, but because singing short, quick notes like that is notoriously hard. This line is basically Queen of the Night. It’s especially difficult because you have multiple vocal takes, and they make it like you're holding a magnifying glass to when they don’t line up. I am 100% certain that given more than a week to write, learn, and record, you would have gotten it. As always, really tight instrumental ensemble. Ive touched on it above, but the entire song is really masterfully put together. I love how in the guitar solo, you stick on it another line in harmony, mirroring the contrapuntal do-do’s. Also, that slide on the bass into the second verse is fab. One of the most magical aspects of this song is the chord progressions and the way you orchestrate them. The words are almost too vague, but I feel like they mean something, so I suppose that counts for something?
Dutch Widows: Catchy, love the hook, I like this song. At some point, Id like to hear your voice without the filter/distortion on it. Great bass/vocal harmonies. Drum machine is a pleasing sound. LOVELOVELOVE that playout with the echoey vocals - MORE OF THAT PLEASE! And thanks for your songs. I’ve really enjoyed them. :)
Governing Dynamics: Love that your 25 words are mix and matched to make different sentences, and not just the same line over and over again. Play this at my coffee house, please. Sweetest, bitter break up song.
Hot Pink Halo: Jazz organ! Brass! Puns! And I learned something from the bio. Love your vocal on this; probably the strongest and most ‘you’ takes I’ve heard you do. More please!
Jealous Brother: Dear Band, this is exactly what I wanted. You put much thought into it, and fulfilled each demand. But seriously, great job making lots of sentences out of just 25 words. One of the best lyrical takes on this lyrical challenge. Also my favorite song from y’all. I’m bummed that you aren’t an actual entry this round. Peppy sound, great vocals, fun music.
Jocko Homomorphism: Synths! That bass synth is soooo tasty. Bonus words! Clever how you did that. I tried to understand your bio, but the last math class I took was calculus in college over a decade ago. Let’s talk music matrices sometime, tho. Fun song!
Menage a Tune: Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee… The hand perc sounds like you're insistantly tapping on someones shoulder. I like how youre incorporating atmosphere sounds in your last couple songs. The sung bits are catchy! Like a old folk song - needs more voices singing in harmonies. That is to say, I was singing along….
See-man-ski: This song sounds… predatory. In a good way. I really like how you have that huge orchestration build up throughout the song and then it all drops out at the end on ‘you noticed,’ almost like the song is a metaphor for your kid’s excitement as they get closer and closer to the thing you promised to do with them, and then the whole thing deflates into disappointment when… you noticed. I liked this song before reading the bio, but reading the bio gave it another layer of meaning that really hits me in the gut. I’m not a huge fan of incessant lyrical repetition, but I suppose it could be an allegory to how you keep repeating the mistake of getting lost in your projects. Love the mellotron sound. In fact, worry not, you did a great job on the orchestration. This song is pretty awesome. Now go play with your daughter before Nur Ein starts! ;P
Sober: Well let me tell you, because its true… judgement has come for you! The best thing about this song is that second chord that comes in on ‘young’/’true’ - its a magical, unexpected deception, and really lifts up the whole song. You have really given us a quintessential sober song here; would I have liked some more variety from you? Actually, I think not a huge amount. Your voice is so iconic I have a hard time imagining it in another genre (yes, you should take that as a challenge for you to prove me wrong). The a capella with found perc break on the third verse is the second best part of this song. It’s a really fabulous moment, and symbolic of what you do well - this song is saved because you keep the orchestration interesting throughout. Otherwise, it would be too repetitive for the context of this contest. (side note: I’d love to hear you team up with another singer and sing this in harmonies). Vocal is very impressive as always. Love the ornamentation on the last line. Having the ‘chains’ as a part of the percussion, but not all the percussion was a good choice. It’s subtle, but after reading your bio, I notice and appreciate it. While I think having repetitive lyrics is a cop out for this challenge, I don't mind it here because it is idiomatic of the genre.
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