Here are Round 1 reviews and rankings from SpinTunes 17 champion Also in Blue:
Round One Reviews - Also In Blue
1 - Sober - Kintsugi
2 - Stacking Theory - This Pale Blue Dot
3 - New Fangled Trolleys - Yellow Stickey Notes
4 - Chas Rock - Hazel Green
5 - Jim of Seattle - Gray
6 - Cavedwellers - Chartreuse
7 - Brother Baker, “Cobalt, and Fading”
8 - Good Guy Sojabe - Grey
9 - Brian Gray - Purple Dot/Something Like Home
10 - Temnere - 1493
11 - Jocko Homomorphism - Eigengrau
12 - Daniel Sitler - Only (Kind Of) Blue
13 - See-Man-Ski - Pulp
14 - The Dutch Widows - Pastel Purple Icing
15 - Jealous Brother - Lemon Tangerine (#FREEBRITNEY)
16 - Governing Dynamics - Violet Lies
17 - Ominous Ride - Gin Black Daze
18 - Third Cat - Green Machine
19 - Phlubububub - Indigo
20 - BucketHat Bobby Matheson, “Seeing Mauve (Rose-Colored Glasses)”
21 - Ross Durand - Ultimate Gray
22 - Galoshy, “Blue”
23 - Sara Parsons - Secondary
24 - Boffo Yux Dudes, “Green With Envy”
25 - Timothy Patrick Hinkle - Slate
26 - Entertainment Brothers - Purple
27 - The Brewhouse Sessions - #FFC0CB
28 - The Pleasantry - Rose
29 - Lichen Throat - Silver Elite
30 - Thanks, Brain - Bleed Out Purple
31 - Menage a Tune - Disco Silver
32 - Matt Rhog-Miller - Retail Therapy
Hot Pink Halo - Celementine (SHADOW)
Overall Notes
This was some of the most difficult judging I’ve ever had to do. So many good songs, so much comparing apples to oranges... A super strong first round. I had fun listening to all of these - and I’m excited to see what follows!
1 - Sober - Kintsugi
I am SUCH a sucker for basically your whole bag of tricks here - acoustic instruments, nice backing vocals, good imagery in the lyric, fancy metrical shifts… Your vocal delivery is emotional and real. And that LOW NOTE!!! Dear god! Not to mention the challenge of mixing a whole string band in a way that every note is crystal clear. I can’t get over the lyric, the way the colors loop back on themselves… That mandolin/banjo solo is worth the price of admission all by itself. Spectacular work, man.
2 - Stacking Theory - This Pale Blue Dot
This is super cinematic, and I dig it hard. Catchy melody, satisfying rhyme scheme - but what really sold me on it was the effects on “give it time” (the movie in my head did a close zoom on the protagonist, with the background actors in black-and-white freeze-frame), and the way you changed the textures at the last verse. Yes, that wash of warm electric guitars is super satisfying, but the contrast when they disappear kicks it up a notch, and the dissonant ending chords… You cracked the code on this one. Well done.
3 - New Fangled Trolleys - Yellow Stickey Notes
I LOVE THIS. Look… We’ve all had that day at work where all you want is to punch some idiot coworker’s teeth down their throat and set the place on fire on the way out of the building. (Should I be worried that that feeling is so vivid for me? I digress.) You’ve managed to capture something primal about that frustration, and my hat goes off to you. The lyric is great - extra cool points for internal rhymes - and your “purposeful dissonance” section was a perfect sonic picture of those moments when the only thing stopping you from going off the rails is gritted teeth sheer force of will. Three cheers.
4 - Chas Rock - Hazel Green
I have no idea what this genre is, and that only makes me love it more. The drums and vocals say glitch, metrical quirks and earnest vocals with understated acoustic guitar say folk, quirky synth harmonies and spacey reverbs say indie… This is SUPER distinctive. All these little pieces come together to form a whole that is more than its parts, which is saying something when all the parts are this well constructed.
5 - Jim of Seattle - Gray
Gary Lewis and the Playboys called. They’re pretty stoked about what you’ve done with their sound, and so am I. I’m dancing in my seat listening to this, and that’s super cool. This might be the cleverest lyric of the round - that rapid-fire rhyme scheme, all the alliteration; you must have worked like a dog on that, and it paid off. Your outro made me laugh out loud… I couldn’t decide how to spell it in my entry, either. My one quibble - and it’s a SUPER nitpicky issue - is that the electric guitar patch you have doubling the vocal on the bridge feels a little out of place; if it were a live guitarist, I think it would be perfect, but as it stands it just distracts from your vocal without adding much. Overall, excellent work.
6 - Cavedwellers - Chartreuse
I am 100% on board with the 80s vibe here. I’m jealous of your drum programming, I love that guitar tone (and the solo’s good, too!), and the octave-doubled vocals in the choruses give me serious nostalgia. Extra cool points for finding a color that doubles as a booze reference.
7 - Brother Baker, “Cobalt, and Fading”
My knee-jerk reaction was “hell yeah,” and I stand by it. There’s a little bit of a Ben Folds vibe here, mixed with a little Frank Turner, and that works for me. You guys just GO for it, and that’s great. Your guitar is earning its keep here, sometimes warm, sometimes raw, always exactly where it needs to be. Good song, good production - good job. Keep it up.
8 - Good Guy Sojabe - Grey
Nice bass hook. You do a really nice job of using those guitar lines to build an atmosphere, and I love the way you use effects during transitions between sections; those repeated motifs in the guitar line over the shifting bassline creates some really interesting harmonic moments. On the first listen, I admit my ear was drawn to that guitar and the melody, but missed the lyrics… The poetry is nice, but the real star here is the bed of music you’ve laid it upon.
9 - Brian Gray - Purple Dot/Something Like Home
In the first 12 seconds, first impression was, “I’m gonna need to listen to this again,” and I was definitely right. I was not expecting full-bore musical theater space opera, but MAN did this turn out to be right up my alley. This was a massive surprise, and I’m here for it. The plot is easy enough to follow, even for somebody unfamiliar with the album this plugs into; your voice is super clear and well supported… and those vocal harmonies gave me chills. Yes to all this. More please!
10 - Temnere - 1493
HOLY METAL BATMAN. Extra points for actual history, which is extra meta l. Decent metal guitar is all about attitude, but excellent metal guitar is all about precision, and this has both in massive quantities. Drums are great, vocals are spot on. This made me happy.
11 - Jocko Homomorphism - Eigengrau
The glitch synth is SOOOO tasty. The interplay between vocals and instrumentals are amazing here - the vocals are elegantly simple, interspersed with the bleep-bloops that take up exactly the right amount of space. It’s almost like you’ve repurposed a playground chant, but elevated it to make it fit your concept. And the bit crush at the ending! SO COOL!
12 - Daniel Sitler - Only (Kind Of) Blue
If you can listen to this and not bop gently from side to side with a wistful little smile on your face, then I don’t know what to tell you. A good song should still work well when you strip it down to one person and an instrument, and this is a perfect example of what that looks like. Your song bio gave me an even greater appreciation of your guitar line - and I’m always going to enjoy a little cello line tastefully done, so thanks for that. The repeated lines at the end of your bridge are powerful, and the vocal is earnest and charming. Nice work.
13 - See-Man-Ski - Pulp
In my world, “sexy food songs” are their own genre, and this one rocks. Lyrics are evocative, bluesy guitar is right on the money (the way you play with the stereo picture is cool)… Something is a fraction off about the drums; if I had to guess, you quantized to a sixteenth note instead of a triplet, so your snare rhythm is a dotted eighth and a sixteenth instead of a swung eighth - a submicroscopic quibble, to be certain, but one you can fix with the push of a button next go round. This song was just good fun. I enjoyed it a lot.
14 - The Dutch Widows - Pastel Purple Icing
Benefits from a second listen. You have an excellent ensemble sound here - instead of multiple guitars and a bass, it sounds like one giant instrument, all of one piece. I love “dancing on a pin because of you” - that’s such a powerful line. I kept expecting something more percussive to happen at the end, but after a few listens, I’m glad it didn’t. You built a mood, and you stood by it, and it works.
15 - Jealous Brother - Lemon Tangerine (#FREEBRITNEY)
Above and beyond the songwriting, you guys are just a badass band; I can picture this in a live show, and it’s a blast. Everything is in the pocket, everything is perfectly balanced. You sound great. I love the subject matter here, and your vocals are just right, but I would have liked a little more melodic variation between the verses and the chorus; sometimes it was hard to tell which I was listening to. View from a thousand feet - a good song from an excellent band.
16 - Governing Dynamics - Violet Lies
Respect - 12/8 is underutilized. Guitar work is a masterclass - there’s a TON going on there, but it all fits nicely under the vocal, asserting a distinctive presence without overpowering the singing. Nice lyric, too. “In the silence of your violet skied violence” is a standout - that much mid-word rhyming and alliteration has to have a technical term that I can’t remember, but I know clever when I see it. Nice work.
17 - Ominous Ride - Gin Black Daze
Your chorus is REALLY strong and distinctive - especially when those three-part harmonies come in. The back-and-forth between the vocals and guitar is “hooky,” and the groove is strong. By comparison, your verses don’t stand as strong; following a chorus that rhythmically and melodically distinctive, they seem almost like an afterthought. Still, looking at your song bio, if you did all of this in about a day, then I’m doubly impressed.
18 - Third Cat - Green Machine
That “pop open” into the first chorus is really effective, and sets the stage nicely for what follows. This is a fun vibe. I’m grooving to the little drum machine action here (extra cool points for tambourine), and the backing vocals really serve the song well, although it feels like it ends too abruptly for my taste. I could have listened to a longer version of this and been happy.
19 - Phlubububub - Indigo
This feels very cinematic to me - this is what you hear over the big emotional moment in the first act of an indie movie, or something. I love these double vocals (or whatever you did to them), and the lyrics are poetic without drawing undue attention to themselves. I can hear a version of this in my head with stronger bass and more drums at the end of it - but maybe that’s to save for the cover round. There are a few spots where the rhythm of your melody fights against the poetic meter of your lyric, but overall a nice vibe.
20 - BucketHat Bobby Matheson, “Seeing Mauve (Rose-Colored Glasses)”
Your lyric is chock full of clever rhymes and alliteration, and I dig that. (“Singsong and saccharine” was a crowd pleaser in my house this week.) Three cheers for accordion! The bridge before guitar solo drags a little, and the solo itself feels a little under-produced; I could have used a little more punch in the backing instrumentals to indicate a high point. I think “torment trove” deserves a shoutout as a great subversion of a cliche. Well done.
21 - Ross Durand - Ultimate Gray
You’ve written a nice gritty, bluesy tune here, and you should feel good about it. Extra cool points for converting the Pantone number to a guitar riff - I’m a sucker for that kind of thing. There are some mixing and mastering issues at play here that make the vocal feel tinny, and the overall track seem quiet, but the groove is badass, the guitar work is precise, and the little organ lines behind the chorus make my nerdy keyboardist heart happy. If I heard a bar band playing this, I would be stoked about it. There was one little moment of silence towards the end that I’m not sure I understand - I’m not sure that served your ending well - but overall, am excellent job.
22 - Galoshy, “Blue”
Really nice guitar work here; from the start, the lyric is soft and evocative, with a nice old-school folk vibe which I really dig. One criticism - there’s an interesting modal thing happening in the melody that the chords don’t necessarily accommodate; I would take a step back, and use that melody as your guide, rather than the chords.
23 - Sara Parsons - Secondary
I like this one. The “cozy vocals with ukulele” approach is good comfort food, and the concept is good - but if I heard it without reading the prompt first, I think I’d be a little confused about the lyric. I wish you had pushed the melody a little further, and found something a little more unexpected; you have a nice voice, and you use it well here, but I can’t help feeling you played it a little safe.
24 - Boffo Yux Dudes, “Green With Envy”
Your synths have big 90s video game energy here, and that’s one of my favorite flavors. Love it. “Green’s not a color, it’s a shade of home” is a standout line. The little break after “black and white” is odd - it’s a break in the form, but I’m not sure that a spot of dead air serves the song in that moment. Overall, good work.
25 - Timothy Patrick Hinkle - Slate
Is that a Greensleeves quote in the synth out front? Interesting nod to an extra color, there. Cool points. Your synth patch is interesting - it’s a bold choice, but I wonder what it would have sounded like with a string line or a sung “Ah” choral background vocal. Food for thought. 95% of your lyric is spot on, but I’d be careful of passive voice, as those sentences are often harder to follow in the flow of the song.
26 - Entertainment Brothers - Purple
I’m always a fan of a good Dad Joke, and you provide nice collection of them here, so I’m happy. Reading your song bio shed a lot of light on your lyric, which I appreciate; it’s an overall smart concept, but I think without the bio, the concept of a purple tongue isn’t as clear as it could be.
27 - The Brewhouse Sessions - #FFC0CB
t never occurred to me that I would see a hex code used here. That’s really smart, and the way you chant it in the chorus reminds me of “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers - another reference I didn’t expect to hear. I’m not certain you need those little drum fills to separate the chorus from the next verse; your structural units are clear enough with out them, and they interrupt the flow of an otherwise cohesive song.
28 - The Pleasantry - Rose’
The chorus is entertaining, especially the vocal hook; and I have to give you credit for fitting in a Magic Schoolbus reference. I feel like the drum programming doesn’t quite come together; there’s something asymmetrical in there that feels unsettled. (Maybe that’s what you were going for?)
29 - Lichen Throat - Silver Elite
The seatbelt light “ding” to start is a nice touch. This is a great take on the challenge - color reference and narrative context at the same time. The drum chart is very well written, which I’m jealous of - I enjoy the way you’ve panned the kit to take up so much of the stereo picture; it adds a ton of depth. The rhythmic precision of the track draws attention to the places where your lyric doesn’t fit perfectly. Overall nice work.
30 - Thanks, Brain - Bleed Out Purple
Full points for the clever use of glitch! But for me - and I admit this is very subjective - the tune falls in a weird grey area. The song itself is melodically repetitive, which is smart if you’re making room for the glitch elements; but I think the texture is too similar throughout, and the glitch never becomes aggressive enough to take center stage the way it seems to want to. The vocal and the bassline are super smooth - nice work there - but I was expecting them to glitch out, and was a little disappointed when that didn’t happen.
31 - Menage a Tune - Disco Silver
The backing track on this is entertaining - textbook disco, strings and all. Lots of nice imagery in the lyric; I appreciate the “show, don’t tell” aesthetic here, although the repetition in the chorus feels like it went on just a bit too long.
32 - Matt Rhog-Miller - Retail Therapy
Solid concept, and a nice chorus. Very memorable. I think the poetic meter is off a little in your verses - the rhythm of the words doesn’t always marry the rhythm of the melody in quite the right way, but it’s super close. I also think the key is too low for your voice - capo that bad boy up two or three frets, and you’re in business.
Hot Pink Halo - Celementine (SHADOW)
This one’s a slow burn. I was hesitant at first, but by the time that big wash of guitars came in, I was on board. Nice rhyme work in the second verse there. Anybody who can work “amplifier” into the conversation without making it feel forced deserves a pat on the back.
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