Some of our SpinTunes 18 contestants offered reviews along with their Final Round rankings. Here they are!
Jocko Homomorphism
Sober
When I listen to your music, I think to myself "Wow! That's really talented! But can he do any other tricks?" I'll put it this way -- I would accept a "Best of Sober" album that consists of just your most recent songs. It's great that you are consistently entertaining! But I don't think I would be able to identify anything missing from that album, which is not great for the amount of work you put in each week.
I know that style identity is something that is very important to you, which is why I am loving what you have done this week. I was actually surprised when you mentioned feeling self-conscious in this style. I was thinking more "oh yeah, of course he's good at country, too! That's a pretty natural pair for folk music." It's definitely a Sober song, but one that I can point at as being its own thing. How far can you push this?
I dig the references to the challenge. Excellent wordplay. (Don't play the D no more, playing with one and five.) "Lost lover" is really an excuse plot for delivering japes, and you are not lacking for japes.
Daniel Sitler
That's a neat drum line in the introduction. Then it tightens up a bit, but keeps some of the tilted flavor. Nice! It's wise not to put the seventh extension on the D chord here. Your two chords share most of their notes, but neither contains the base triad of the other.
You're using the usual tropes to good effect, like the staccato beats leading into the chorus. I really enjoy the competing rhythms, in the instrumental section and in the outro.
The opening guitar is a little muddy. You could probably EQ it some to let the bass chords come through clearer.
Brian Gray
I think the alien stuff is an amusing artistic motif, but we need to be frank: You would be better off writing Gleeble when it fits your vision, and dropping it when it doesn't.
Alien stories have some poignant things to say about outsiders, resource extraction, and unequal allocation of consequences, but you're not tapping into that at all. I do not understand why you are splitting the difference like you have here -- putting aliens in the liner notes, but not using them to any potential in the song. If anything, the promise of hopping on a spaceship in a couple years undermines the weight of the piece.
"My People" had this problem, too. The actual words you sing make for a nice song, and the aliens are just shoehorned into the notes. But the eponymous line only lands if you know the singer is an extraterrestrial, which isn't actually explained in the audible words.
Let's talk craft. It's a fine song. A lot of folks are worrying about this stuff right now, and you're doing a good job of putting these feelings into music.
That said, "the parts the sum is greater than" is a badly tortured line. Your melody signals that the preceding line, "no time like now to understand" is a complete thought, and will be followed by one more complete thought to close the verse. It would be awkward to continue any sentence through that pause. You not only slapped on a cliche, but you wrote it backwards. The ordering is trying to establish "parts" as the subject, but anyone familiar with the idiom knows that it's the object. This makes the line very awkward to parse. It leads me to the conclusion that the words don't actually matter and you're just hunting for a rhyme.
Chas Rock
This is a good song for zoning out and feeling sad. In the context of SpinTunes, the lyrics should be a major component, but they don't hold up when I scrutinize.
On my first listen, I thought you were winding up for some heavy shit about current events, namely police murder. In comparison, an alcoholic losing his license is far less ambitious. I guess it's intellectually sad in a world where autonomy automatically entails automobiles, but I don't really feel pathos for a person that operates heavy machinery while impaired.
We move on to a generalized idea of people hiding from their families in a hospital. Are they the patients? The staff? Maybe these people show pity for the singer in a shared therapy group, or maybe they don't interact, and just the thought of others' situations makes the singer realize that they themself do not want pity from family members. Again, this mostly works, so long as I don't think about it too much.
Then the song gets to the singer's issue, and it turns out that it's the least interesting problem of the whole song, a broken relationship with no details given whatsoever.
My inclination is to disbelieve this character. As in, I'd rather believe am witnessing crocodile tears. If things were so bad that the couple has been forcibly separated, and the singer is living in a hotel, then no, I do not want to see these people back together. Ever! Do not expect me to feel for this person just because they are the POV character. Work for it.
Jim of Seattle
This is an interesting composition. You mentioned on the forum that you wanted to keep it as an instrumental. I agree with that judgement. The vocals lines you've added detract a lot from my enjoyment of the piece.
"Relationship gone bad" is an overdone topic in my book, and committing to ambiguity only makes my gripe worse. Your lyrics do not describe why the couple was initially together, why they stopped communicating, and crucially for your ending, why there is anything left to salvage. There is no metaphorical layer to spice things up or reward repeat listenings. Instead, we're given a vague, secondhand retelling of a conversation without any details about who these people are or what they mean to each other. It's not clear what we should be reading into these shallow lyrics, and it's less clear why we should even care.
The vocals seem dull and tacked on compared to the thoughtful instrumental lines. The overdubbed ensemble makes it impersonal. I get that the intent is "say more with less", but the effect on me is "God I don't wanna write any more words". Your lyric sheet only has eighty-one words for a five minute song, and you're wasting time on cliches like "You've got yours / I've got mine."
Love the sax. Love the wood blocks. Hate the whistling -- find a ringer or go synthetic.
Others
Very fun listening, but I need the rest of my free time for doing a cover. Micah, why does my track say (SHADOW) on the album? That's a completely different hedgehog!
See-Man-Ski
Daniel Sitler - What If?
First off, I didn't think I was going to like this song as much as I did. First impressions weren't great for me. The intro just didn't feel right, I think you were doing some clever stuff with timing but it just felt off to me and the first verse just lacked something (I think it was the drums). However, once the chorus came in I was hooked. I totally related to the lyrics as I spend most of my life wondering if I am good enough, at work, parenting, music etc and this touched that nerve. After the first chorus the song just seemed to lift, maybe it was because I just suddenly related to it and that was it.
Sober - It Never Comes
Your production chops always amaze me. This is no exception. The guitar work is wonderful and I really liked how you used your knowledge on music theory as a way of describing a relationship where the protagonist isn't happy. Someone with a bit more music theory will probably get all the meanings i.e. I'm guess D would be the forth inversion (I'm not even sure that is the right term :P). Admittedly, I read the lyric "picardy third" as being the great Jean Luc Picard. This is a nice tongue in cheek take on the challenge and interesting.
Jim of Seattle - Variations on an End
The scenario that played around in my head whilst listening was a piano with the 2 singers either side having a mini argument. Not really saying anything that is useful (which in most cases is what an argument is). I imagined as it went into the instrumental the singers turned away not having resolved whatever conflict they were having this argument about. Throughout the tune I imagined some kind of café lounge and when the western bit came in that threw me and I felt it was out of place of the setting I had just built up in my head. I also felt the instrumental was a bit too long for my taste. The scenario continued to play out in my head when the characters appear to resolve there indifferences as the song reaches its finale.
Although this didn't distract me from the song I did hear a lot of hiss in the piano at the start and in the middle.
Brian Gray - Gestalt
The guitar work is really nice, it reminds me a bit of Jane Says. I do like the sentiment and it's relatable outside of this whole Gleeble universe thing you have got going on. I do think this is a really nice song, it sounds great and there are some great elements. The harmonies and harmonica to name a few things I really liked. I felt like I wanted more from it though.
Chas Rock - Hotel by the Hospital
There are some really nice synths sounds in this track, it has a lovely atmosphere about it which I really admire. The eq that you have used on the centred vocals is really nice and I liked that. I did feel like it never really changed and I felt myself longing for something a bit different. The ending does resurrect it a bit but I found myself switching off quite early on in the song and by that point unfortunately you had lost me.
I do also wonder if this songs suffers a bit from it's placement, maybe if it had been earlier on in my listening experience it might have captured my attention more. I have listened a few more times with it first rather at the last of the pack but it doesn't quite grab me still.
Stacking Theory (featuring Toshiro) - Holding My Own (SHADOW)
This is an exceptional song, it hits so many of the right notes (even though its just 2 chords). The sentiment is lovely and is a really pleasant listen. I love how you have put all of your songs together into a single finale song. You've had a great spintunes journey and this is the icing on the cake. Gutted you didn't make it to the final, this would have been my top song if you had. I can't put a fault on it, it sounds amazing and feels amazing to listen to.
Hot Pink Halo - One Two Punch (SHADOW)
This is awesome, I absolutely loved the groove and you mentioned in the chats you were dancing around the room, I can see why. I had an immediate comparison when I heard it which is I am Robot and Proud, specifically the Touch/Tone album. I loved the tubular bass sound and it is catchy is hell. The f bomb is used so effectively. This is one of my favourites that I have heard from you, absolutely loved it.
Jocko Homomorphism - Tuck and Roll (SHADOW)
Damn you, you have put my sonic song to shame :(. I really like all you synth sounds, they are gelling really really well. The playful vocals fit really well and give this a I'm having fun playing games with my mates feel. I'm am transformed back to my childhood days sitting on the floor with the mega drive, admittedly I was playing Mortal Kombat at the time.
Cybronica - Yesterday's Mascara (SHADOW)
I got exorcism intro music vibes from the piano. It definitely feels like a horror movie intro, it is the arpeggiated piano that gives me those vibes I think. The tempo changes are really effectively, I get a sense that you have just reached your tether and its time to stop. What the hell are you saying in "Not so fond and not so fair"? I can hear a curse word but can't make out what it is. Ok, so I put it in my DAW and played around with the eq and I think it is "fucking bitch". That was a nice touch but a little buried in the mix to hear totally (maybe that was intentional, and I can get behind that). This was creepy and emotional at the same time, I like it.
"BucketHat" Bobby Matheson - Two Cords (SHADOW)
These lyrics are cracking, there are so many lines that I love. The idea of 2 cords of a knot describing a relationship or feelings for another is really great. They give me the feeling of a yearning for a love not quite realised and I like the idea of knot being not as in this is a love that is not going to happen. The reverb on the piano is really nice and I am more than happy for this to be a scratch tune, as you put it, I think this being as minimal as it is works well for it.
Third Cat
1. Chas Rock - Cool epic vibes. I really like the synth/drum sounds used. The "hotel TV / wake up inside the episode" lyric is great.
2. Jim of Seattle - Love the vocals and the piano sounds great. Really impressive arrangement. Close call for me, almost have this one at number one but the Chas Rock track is just a bit more my thing.
3. Brian Gray - Love the harmony vocals. Great understated acoustic guitar & percussion backing. I was pretty sure this was going to be my winner when I first heard it but then I heard the Chas Rock and JoS songs. Really strong round pushes this down to number 3 for me but I really like it.
4. Sober - This one is well done and amusing and I love what I'm interpreting as double entendre musical/sexual lyrics. Unless that's somehow not what you're going for and I'm a pervert for hearing it that way. I kind of feel like this one deserves a higher ranking, but you guys all did such a good job I guess I'm putting this at 4th because it does feel a bit meta/jokey and my top three all across as more earnest and it seems like that deserves my vote for some odd reason or another.
5. Daniel Sitler - This is probably mostly just genre bias (I am not a pop-punk fan and that's mostly what this sounds like to me) but this one isn't quite my jam although I do like some of the guitar sounds (the delayed / reversed? sounding bit that first comes in on the intro). I'll also say that this one grew on me a bit with repeated listening. It's good too. Great round to all of the finalists.
No comments:
Post a Comment