Spintunes 18, Round 3 Reviews - Also In Blue
OVERALL RANKINGS:
1. Jim of Seattle, “I’m Not One of Them”
2. Sober, “Leave the Ladder”
3. Brian Gray, “My People”
4. Chas Rock, “Job Interview”
5. Daniel Sitler, “Miracle”
6. Stacking Theory, “REAPER MAN (EVERYTHING CHANGES SO WHY CAN’T I?)”
7. Cavedwellers feat. BSS, “I Want to be ME”
8. Phlubububub, “Olimar’s Theme”
9. “BucketHat” Bobby Matheson, Goerfeldt’s 3rd, “Keep the Band Together”
10. Governing Dynamics, “Home”
11. See-Man-Ski, “Climb Up the Leaderboard”
12. The Dutch Widows, “Trapped”
13. Third Cat, “Techno Man”
1. Jim of Seattle, “I’m Not One of Them”
This one is the clear winner. Not just an excellent “I Want” song, this has all the characteristics of my favorite musical theater stuff. You have an established status quo, and a character who is in that world, but clearly not of that world, and looking for something more.
The lyrics are memorable - “I'm like a pigeon standing dumb among the seagulls” is such a vivid image, it captures your character perfectly, and your closing lines - “I’m aware that I'm just me / And I’m all I’ll ever be / Like how Puget Sound’s aware that it will never be the sea / But I wish I were one of them” - are funny and sad and specific. Couple that with your well-designed and very singable melody, your “could be a jazz standard in the right hands” chord progression, and your orchestration decisions that provide a nice sense of forward motion…
I could go on about your accompaniment for days. That stop-and-start intro is TASTY - captures the hesitance of the character perfectly. The twinkly treble bits when you talk about the stars… Somewhere out there in the ether, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim are nodding quietly to themselves. A solid home run. (And for the record, the extra lyrics deserve some air time. Is it bad form to cover your own song in the bonus round? I want to hear the rest of this!)
2. Sober, “Leave the Ladder”
This is some good stuff, right here. Nailed the challenge - the emotional beat has plenty of room to breathe; I know exactly who these characters are, what they want, and how they feel about not having it. I can picture the musical on stage - sort of “Once” in a millennial urban-capitalist hellscape, with the actors playing the instruments on stage, tossing guitars and mandolins on couches and into piles of laundry when they’re not being played. The instrumentals here are stellar, and the vocal harmonies towards the end are well written and well sung.
3. Brian Gray, “My People”
Lots to unpack here… Where to begin? First of all, I think you nailed the overall mood of the piece; I got the feeling of longing, of not belonging, of a character stuck in a broken status quo, looking for a way out. I think your line “my folk, my kin, my kind” is incredibly well placed; I caught a tiny whiff of Alan Menken, and that can only ever be a good thing.
Your orchestration is suitably subtle - you make a good point in your song bio; these things are always delicately scored, vocal out front, and you got that exactly right. The little piano riff at :54 is evocative - I could feel the sky open up as he walks outside. I felt like your character was being really vulnerable, sharing an inner monologue that he couldn’t share with the crowd he’s usually surrounded with - the perfect emotional beat for a song to go.
Your tempo shifts feel larger than they are, mostly because you build a nice feeing of forward momentum (good drum work!), and then interrupt it with these moments of rubato that feel a little unnecessary. I think your lyric and melody are plaintive enough without that pull. Overall, really nice work.
4. Chas Rock, “Job Interview”
After a few listens, I can conclusively say that I like this. It took a few listens to get there. Your verses are visceral - that primal yell grabs your listener by the front of their shirt, and your lyric shakes them aggressively until your chorus, which - I must admit - is where you lost me on the first listen. I get the shift you’re making there; it’s almost like a TV flickers on and we’re watching a hyper-corporate commercial for the OSDW. It works as a dramatic choice, but as a compositional device, it was a little jarring. I wonder what it would sound like to leave that section in the same tempo, and double down on that quirky industrial groove? (Of course, you could fix all that with creative staging or lights.)
Challenge-wise, this is not your typical “I Want” song, but after all, what good is a trope if you’re not going to subvert it? I believe your character, I can feel the frustration and the yearning towards something better… Re: your song bio, I think Option #2 makes this a much more compelling song.
5. Daniel Sitler, “Miracle”
THE HORN LINE! Oh my god! Something about this orchestration invokes old clay-animated musicals from way back in the day. I wasn’t expecting it, and it took me completely off guard; before I knew it, this song wrapped me up in a warm blanket and sat my by the fire with a cup of tea, and I am here for that. Excellent work.
This is clearly the first song in the show, and also the “I Wish” song, which is a very difficult needle to thread; too much exposition leaves no room for the emotional beat. You managed to thread that needle nicely. The vocal harmonies are delightful; exactly the kind of thing you expect to find in a movie designed for kids to play on endless repeat and sing along to every time.
Two small criticisms: the knock at the door reads like a phone call, which took me out of the moment on the first listen; perhaps a note slipped under the door would be more effective? Just spitballing.
And second - there are a few spots where the rhyme scheme works, but the sentences don’t; “Now we have a thread of hope / The master has one chance, to show his true scope” - I see what you mean to say there, but the wording is a little clunky.
Overall, a very charming song. I would love to hear what you’d do with the rest of this story, if only so I can hear what you’d do with that horn line in the reprise.
6. Stacking Theory, “REAPER MAN (EVERYTHING CHANGES SO WHY CAN’T I?)”
Hey, look at that - you’re the same kind of nerd as me! I’m thrilled to encounter another pratchett enthusiast. A Discworld musical has incredible potential, and Death was always my favorite characters in those books, so you’re speaking my language here.
*Ahem.* Anyway. I liked this a lot, and not just because of the Discworld reference. I dig the loops, “pandering” or not, and the guitar work is deeply interesting; super distinctive, but 100% in service of the song, and never distracting. The lyric was fun - and all the more effective because it’s quippy and short. I think Terry would approve.
I was having a good time listening to this, and then your last chorus hit - “Reaper Man! That’s who I am…” - and suddenly I was transported. That was SO cinematic. I can see this coming back in the second act as a big reprise, popping up as an instrumental motif throughout the show…
And is… Is that… Did you quote “Walk on the Wild Side” at the end? I can’t explain why, but it fits perfectly. Nice work.
7. Cavedwellers feat. BSS, “I Want to be ME”
HOLY GUITAR GROOVE BATMAN. Getting strong Badfinger and George Harrison vibes here… That guitar is doing some SERIOUS work on this song, and it’s really satisfying. You manage to pay homage to these great guitarists without turning into parody or slipping into direct imitation, and I really respect that.
As far the song itself, I think you’re absolutely right. It is about time there’s a song about wanting to go into mechanical engineering, and I’m glad this is the song we got. Nice technical references (thanks for the song bio - I’d have been lost on some of the jargon; I still can’t decide if that’s a point in favor of the song, or against it, but it’s very much in the ME character), and a couple of good puns. I’m not 100% sure this counts as an “I Want” song - it lacks some of the dramatic elements I usually look for in that - but this is such a windows-down, volume-up, summer-road-trip-soundtrack of a song that I can’t find it in my heart to criticize it on those grounds. Nice tune.
8. Phlubububub, “Olimar’s Theme”
Okay… I have two music degrees, and I’ve been a pianist and a dabbler in synthesizers for most of my adult life; rarely do I encounter anything new or truly confusing after this much time in the field. Your song bio sent me scrambling towards Wikipedia faster than anything I’ve read in the last ten years, and I’m still not 100% certain I understand exactly what your process was, so I have to give you cool points for that part of it alone, before I even get to the song. I learned somethin’ today, and I have you to thank for it. Cheers.
The tuning plays an interesting role; the chords ring significantly differently, and it lends the entire song a very spacey atmosphere that I wasn’t expecting. You did great work with the synths, especially as they paired with your singing, which is embedded into the texture so solidly that there are moments I can’t tell if I’m hearing background vocals or synth pads. Very spacey, very fun.
9. “BucketHat” Bobby Matheson, Goerfeldt’s 3rd, “Keep the Band Together”
I would watch this musical - and this would be a solid opening number. You establish the characters well; I can see the conflicts that would pull this group apart, and the deep-seated desire for companionship that drives Goerfeldt to try to keep them together. Dramatically, this is trying to be an “I Am” song, stating identity/backstory and intent; but your compositional device of having the bard duck in at the end of each party member’s verse to redirect them towards unity in the chorus is smart and well-executed, and the last verse pulls the song solidly back into “I Want” territory. Nice job.
A small production concern… I feel like the pizzicato strings were an odd choice. I think it’s clear that we’re listening Goerfeldt noodling around on his instrument, as bards often do, but it felt like it was too obviously pizzicato violin, where I would have expected a harp, or a lute, or a mandolin. (Check out Spitfire LABS - they have a free mandolin patch that’s pretty good. Let me know how it turns out.)
10. Governing Dynamics, “Home”
This is a very strong, memorable chorus; the yearning in the repetition of the word “home” is palpable, and the grasping, decaying world surrounding this character is clearly visible around the edges of his dreams. Good work on the challenge.
Your drums are doing a lot of the heavy lifting to move the song forward, especially in the chorus. That works to an extent, but I feel like your guitars are off by a fraction - the rhythms aren’t locking in 100% of the time - and you use the “big clanging whole note chord” idea enough that I found myself looking for a riff or some smaller motif to go along with that powerful, yearning vocal. Overall a solid song.
11. See-Man-Ski, “Climb Up the Leaderboard”
This is a brilliant idea for a musical - especially executed with a synthwave/chiptune approach. I liked the sound of your synths, and I appreciated the little sound effects you peppered in towards the end of the song. Nailed the vibe.
In my opinion - grain of salt, as always - you didn’t quite nail the challenge, simply because there was so much exposition involved; this would have been an excellent opening number, establishing character and setting, whereas the “I Want” song usually comes a touch later in the show, and focuses largely on the emotional beats - “Here’s my status quo, and here’s how I wish things were different.” You established a character and a goal to work towards, so it still counts, but it’s not as strong as it could have been if you had leaned more into how your version of Chris Tang felt about this competition, and how it would change his life if he won.
12. The Dutch Widows, “Trapped”
I like your show concept - sort of like “Assassins,” but for thought experiments, or subjects of animal testing. High concept, but workable. Challenge-wise, this is more an “I Am” song than an “I Wish” song - a statement of identity and situation, rather than an expression of desire, but I get what you were going for.
Musically, I like what you’ve written. Your chord progression repeatedly fails to resolve, which squares perfectly with your subject matter. Your little moments of harmony caught my attention - is that the second superpositioned cat, singing harmony with the first one? I wish you had explored that more deliberately.
13. Third Cat, “Techno Man”
I get more of an “I Am” song - statement of identity and intent - rather than an “I Want” song out of this, but you’ve landed on a good concept for a show - I’m a fan of love letters to weird science fiction, and this has that vibe about it, with some Mega Man vibes thrown in for good measure. Your synthesizer lines at the beginning grabbed my attention, and I noticed some smaller electronic elements throughout, but I wish you had leaned into that more - you missed an opportunity to paint this human/robot hybrid character with really bold sonic choices.
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