Read on for Denise's full reviews.
Greetings again. Adjustment to the intro, and apologies for these day-lates. I only managed to squeeze out ranks on time yesterday and then had to sleep. It was tech week at my theater and then opening weekend and blahblahblah. I know we are all busy and I am not the only sandwich at the deli counter eyeroll. But I didn’t want to send in reviews unedited and slopsy because they were beyond even my regular level of mess, so these are at least marginally reflective of my Actual Brains. Some of them are probably too short, and some are too long, still. Flarg. Appreciated the shadows more than it shows as well.
Congratulations on a truly excellent round, and for making deadlines. Unlike some people we know…..)!
Now. With time-apologies, here we go!
Berni Armstrong - Sleep
Your strong vocal with real presence around the subject was a good vehicle for your lyrics. You performed earnestly but at times it was a bit rough-edged, and the vocal took on a tinny quality—as did parts of the guitar. The snare drum (and possibly the total mix) was a bit loud for my taste, and that piano could be more present in the mix because I thought that part had a tasteful feel. Chorus was an earworm! It swings nicely around your key and concept. Emotive dynamic in the vocal … and those harmonies at the end are a nice touch—I even wish they’d come in sooner. You made pleasing tempo choices, but at times lyrics could have flowed only slightly better. But nicely emotive quality and storytelling feel with well-chosen words, and I appreciated the exactness of a chord chart too!
The Pannacotta Army - Moar
Lyrics flow nicely and fit the progression well — pairing nicely with harmonies and synth work. The third verse was outstanding! Impactful. Song performed skillfully—smooth and very clean. The initial volume felt strange and then weirdly sucked away when keys and rhythm track came in. I think I wanted a different vocal effect against those synths sometimes—something more air-filled or spacey? Loved harmonies ALWAYS though, and everything about the programming, particularly the ritardando at closing. Lots of satisfying chords and jazzy suspensions—with a smoky feel to it. I felt the song really swished chillfully feel-wise for a song about such an unpleasant sounding person! Elements made their subtle entrances which nicely to the overall texture so you built layers sensitively. Overall a very refined and groovy-sounding mix. Felt chorus not as strong as the verses, somehow and it came off as a tagline in a way. But everything was planned out well rhythmically and timing-wise, great off the back of the verse with that change in pattern.
Yeslessness - White Feather
Rhymes felt at times a bit on the nose, in the beginning—and the feather bit at the beginning I wasn’t super keen on but grew on me with a few repeated listens. Awkward vocal moments in verses with tuning and timing were distracting—but what starts out strange becomes A Signature Song Sound. Then vocal anomalies by the chorus start to really gel— and your later verses have built up into quite a solid vocal atmosphere. In fact, by the end of the song—the whole feel set by the vocals was A Thing. Great interplay of the percussion and picking pattern, the instrumentals, and a pillowy and comfy bass. Beat subdivision changes—good interest. Then how the bridge was handled with vocal variation made things really interesting. Intriguing sound wash sorts of things happening and nice round note to finish with. Rhythm decisions were subtle—with pauses handled judiciously.
Bubba & The Ghost of the Kraken - Hideaway
This has so much of what I like in a song! And I was only weirded out for a millisecond by the chorus before it utterly delighted me (that sounded more back-hand than I meant it urk). Something about your patter at the start reminded me of riding in the car listening to Bare Naked Ladies (comparison ends there). The way you dip into the last half of the chorus word is twitchy and fun. And such strange (yet valid!) register choices for harmonies! I love the decision to sing together throughout, as that vocal line kind of hugs at you. The deep bass drum at precisely the right time in V3/pre-chorus felt great, then the keyboard under a super-catchy chorus followed by a REALLY adorable lick! Pre-chorus progression is compelling and pulls nicely into such a fetching chorus that you’re basically fallen for by the end. And I love a great set of percussive wood sounds! Escalating modulations at the close to a fadeout caused me to laugh the cat off my lap. Yay!
chewmeupspitmeout - Love Song
Jarring distortion. But then your voice comes in, and it really works somehow! What a scene you set! Hilariously clever lyrics. “Saw right through my shirt from top shop” lolz. Great voice and fun references—cinematic-level scene painting. Your rhythm guitar in the chorus is overpowering the idea and the level. I want it to get across more as you did in the second iteration … and at the last, repeat it a time (or three). Vocals are standout in the verses. Bass is absolutely selling it--just scooping the whole thing underneath this glorious snuggly reverb you have going. That snare actually works with things too sometimes … even into the solo, but I do wish you’d kept a backbeat going like when you brought back in the bridge. Also, hold out the last note and do a slow fade! This was a lot of emo fun, and you sold the hell out of it! Because you sold the hell out of it, and it reminded me of some iffy specificities in my life—this hit the Fun button a bit for me.
Stacking Theory - Breathe In and Hold It
I don't know if the bit before on the lyrics sheet was a poem. Now it reads like one. I appreciate this. Reading it like a poem prepares you for the moments that this song is/Are. I can hear this being in a movie. This is very cinematic, and things swirl around you in a sort of blindingly sunny wet jazz wash. I love all the moments of drama. And I WANT to love what you are doing with your breath and using and treating your vocals as an instrument. You seem very perceptive to tone—BUT …almost overly much. What I mean by this is that sometimes you get into the personal space of an eardrum (this is not a volume—or a signal thing) and twitch it around. It's exceptionally sensual in a sort of jarring way. It really works for your subject matter. I loved reading this and feeling this. And maybe hearing this is connective for some people. I just have this weird thing where if it gets too ASMR-ish I start feeling like swirly neck-water and twitchy back fish. Difficult to explain. This review is terrible. I’m so sorry. I have to be really careful getting massages because of the music.
Jeff Walker - Unforgivable
There is more to this arrangement than you might pick up in one listen. Lots of little layers and nuances, and there’s body to it. I wish there were more support like I feel there is in the verses and during early choruses. The chorus doesn’t initially feel as hearty as the verses … and things seem to lose momentum a bit, so I feel a little lost on that warbly note (the note is fine, but the energy sort of leaks away). But I like how the last word of the first chorus is performed—and the reverb on your voice is lovely. Also, the synth work really works. But it feels like your guitar wanted to change keys before that break like it was angry about that last bridge, and you didn’t want to let it go down that way. You sing like you are telling a story and have an easy way about you and a very pleasing voice that is great for this genre! Reiterate: you just have a really good singing voice and your songwriting is precisely the right shape and size. It just needs something to shine through to make it stand out—and my feeling is that it will take more than a week and time to hone this sort of thing in a proper production so you can pore over every aspect and question every word and nuance of a thing that you choose to do and ask yourself if it serves your purpose as a songwriter. You have that technique down already.
Daniel Sitler - Awkward
I enjoyed most everything in this song. “And I don’t know the default.” Such a soul grab—a lines I could really feel! And a chord progression that goes accordingly with this as a concept! This is so evocative of a universal experience. Another sort of song that would do well in film or television placement. Maybe less egg? I will always say this. I fear the egg for some reason—maybe I think its awesome power should be harnessed for good and not cheese-vil and that everyone who chooses The Egg is riding the cusp of Twee. I’m so dark.
Production had a couple of rough edges and some noises here and there—but it was charming. Not sure what to say about some of the panning things done and how they opened up as it developed or if felt right or maybe distracting to me—maybe a bit here and there in headphones… Maybe some fine-tuning? Some development? It is really worthwhile to perfect it, as you have a real gem here which should maybe remain a little homespun in feel. I did tear up a little bit. Liked the use of breathing. The guitar tone was gravy. I don’t want to say much more. Likely have gushed enough. Beautifully done.
The Evil Genius formerly known as Timmy - Maria
This made me chair dance in a sort of bittersweet nostalgia—like when you are moved but don’t know how to act. I chortled a bit—pleased I wasn’t the only preteen rebel with a pack of camels stashed deep in a backpack (under my band cummerbund — shocker!) This is a relatable and great story. Rough technique and performance, but you worked well with what you had and chose the suitable instruments, and gave it a retro sound and a comedic feel. It didn’t take itself too seriously—so it came off sounding more polished than it might have. And when I say polished, I mean adult—like Stranger Things meets my mom’s Jane Fonda Workout Video. I really like the singsong delivery, what you did with vocal treatments, and the way you used the drum machine—it didn’t detract. Wish it had a less abrupt cutoff at the end! …didn’t have a clue / promise to remember / guitar lick bits were comedy gold. I do low key wish it hadn’t also made me flip back to how times were not all Lisa Frank for the mini-babes, and that a couple of us did get knocked up and that that’s actually a lot more likely to happen now in my neck of the woods :( (I live in Texas) but I’m mostly like, fine with this song!
James Young - War
This melody and instrumentation scenario had a really familiar genre feel I can’t quite place. It sounds kind of southwestern to me. Your voice is pretty far back though, and there’s a strange scrapey distortion to it—but the singing is really great and clear. I don’t like the double kick so much before verses—it seems a bit extra particularly with the snare hitting the waltz beats pretty hard. I like the guitars a lot and the chorus is well-conceived. That line “look in the mirror, saw eyes filled with hate” (chilling!) — these are fantastic lyrics that really make you pause and sit with what this song means to me the listener. And what it might mean to you, emotionally. You’re playing a clever long game with your tight ABAB rhyme scheme in the verses. It’s got a cold remote quality to it because of all these jarring and expansive choices you made, and with this chorus arching over everything. The challenge is almost an extra bonus—a lovely way of seeing it fulfilled is to hear a song where this song could and should have come into being made without the challenge at all.
Single Pint of Failure - Alone
I’m really feeling this content as a fully chronic list maker. What an interesting, smooth and yet gritty vocal! Just a hell of a delivery. And the vibe of this was Traveling Wilburys-adjacent with the way you come off phrases in a sort of speak-sing song. I really like the last line of V2 where it could have been the end of the previous sentence—or the start of the next one. I love that sort of lyrical cleverness across the bar, it sounds like polished songwriting. Your subtle descriptions of things and the ways that rhymes are not being forced—that becomes sounds that just feel good at the end of phrases, when the song has started to write itself and you’re not thinking “what rhymes with such and such a word.” I feel like you were in a flow state and writing for your subject. But wow. That guitar distortion is really a lot. And at the end, I wanted it to fade out more cleanly (even though that last word was goodbye). Still I really liked this a lot—and it’s very distinctive, good songwriting hiding under some production issues and some performance choices that maybe could be thought about (not the singing though).
Tunes By LJ - Capital
I feel like you could have held out the last moment just a skitch longer—but that it was the perfect choice to end there. It was dicombobulating, you’re right, the 5/4—but it was also clever and gave it a kind of automaton-shuffly quality that was good for the picking at the part and made it sound busy like the subject matter would want it to be. Piano sound is so evocative—sounded like what a grandparent of a clavinet would be if it were a cash register and also a little piano. This also sounded cinematic and the progression really facilitated the poetry of your lyrics—impressive considering the meter. You did make it longer indeed — 8 times is a lot of times to repeat your chorus line, but you sell it. It’s a tight production. The chorus gets lost sometimes in the instrumental and I can’t hear the last part of the word you’re saying (in one of our cars, in my (not set up properly anymore) studio monitors) — but in buds and my beyerdynamics it was pretty crisp and such a great bass line… like a smooth lava-lamp glooping up into the chorus.
Balance Lost - Lost
Ooooo that fourth verse. This grows and grows on you the more you hear it. Starts out maybe sort of iffy and then builds into a real feel of a thing; and in places the concept is pretty profound and really kind of hits you if you’re a sort of person who also spaces out in this way. The flute sounds are lovely and the interweaving vocals for the chorus get very effective (more so toward the end than in the first appearance of the chorus). A song that improves further into the song—and also improves the more its listened to. The bah-bah-bah at the end really places it into an era except it’s also still modern somehow—possibly the cool sounds you chose. You’re rewarded for making a bit of an investment in it, it has little hidden treasures in it. And that fade left me super satisfied.
Hot Pink Halo - Phosphorescence
I am sorry about your friend. Yes, indeed you do have the right to mine such a thing for material. So say we all, and I am in agreement with the sentiment in this song. You have a tasteful fade leaving a comfy feeling. I liked the particular way in which you would pause for emphasis about 3/4 way through the verses. The way things seemed to breathe. I liked the way the urgency seemed to build. “Pulled through the undertow—your siren song calls in the ebb and the flow.” Really great moment and cool painty lyric. There is an emotional and secret-imparting quality to your vocal that is a good delivery device for the way that you write things, but crucially—you are really clever at programming your sounds to embellish and enhance these artistic choices. It felt nice, even if your experience didn’t. Perhaps making something beautiful from something painful is something of a balm.
Also In Blue - Please
This ended really well. I love the mallets samples, and I also love Spitfire Audio. The pattern got a little frenetic at times I think though. Your singing is really good—especially when you really go for it. I am sure you have been told this before. I want to say something about James Taylor but that is probably SO cringe by this point. Gah. HOWEVER … I feel like these lyrics are pretty subtly spicy. (my desperation is your work of art…) That’s pretty shivery. If this was what you mean by not playing it safe—hear hear! I love this crackle of energy in the particular room this song is in. You made a scenario where one could imagine the heavy overhang of STUFF in the air between the characters in this song. So something someone in a situation could completely identify with = great piece of work. Not exactly a moody modern pop song—but defiantly a modern mood of some sort even if it’s not a moody mood. :)
Jealous Brother - Oumuamua
I wish those keys had kept going when the band came in, they either dropped out or dropped in volume. I have to be really honest that I was super excited to hear this when I read the title. Then I started reading it, heartily agreed, and started really laughing by the second line. OMG this chorus. I have been singing this ALL week. This should not be surprising since I am still singing “Jellllous BROthrrrrrr.” Man can you write a hook. “I could never trust again …” I die. This might be the ear worm of the century. And what a tasty baseline. I don’t know if I wanted you to finish with “muamua” at the end, or was a little disappointed and just wished you’d stopped and left the “OU!” hanging there, at the end. I think I wished you’d stopped and not put in that last “muamua.” Something to consider? I’m still really torn. Anyway. This is comedy gold, y’all.
Phlub - Tygart Dam
I love those banjos! I feel like I wanted more body to it—maybe some percussion. This could be more robustly produced and put on a comedy album or in a long, three-hour set or something. Very much an 'Alice's Restaurant' level thing. Love the pun — it reminds me of a candy shop near my sister-in-law's old place in a town near Sydney near Warragamba Dam called The Dam Lolly Shop. We wondered if it was still there. While I would generally complain about superfluous words and the odd obvious rhyme choice, in this style of play, the extra adds to the charm, and you come off as clever. I wouldn't mind a bit more space around your voice though. I don’t have a lot to say about the production and making of this, I’m sorry. Not a lot to disagree with here and I feel Well Informed.
Temnere - Deutsch
I’m not sure about using German as a novelty for comedy. I attended a theater workshop with a German, and they got a bit sore at the concept of bad German accents for schtick. But yours were not bad. They were more badass. And sick vamp with the killing synths and that little metallic xylo-voice that comes in is so darkly-cute. So whatever you were doing, it came off pretty metal with your crunchy attitude and your screams and your creepy Choir of the Mosh Temple. I think I am a little jealous of metal keys because I didn’t think of it first. The lyrics don’t read like a song though. Still, this is very, very well produced. Can’t even speak to this genre or this level, unless I’m in on the ground floor I the room. So not much musically critical to say, I’m afraid. Maybe, “Music isn’t a toy to be used lightly,” but it totally is, so carry on then. You could maybe do this at a gig or as a bonus on an album (again would love to know the keyboardist live setup if so). It’s not a hit, but it might be—who knows these days!
The Popped Hearts - The Second Best Time To Plant A Tree
The bass and then the beginning of the song is a bit disorienting. I’m not quite sold on your vocal or the the mix at first. By the time the harmony comes in and you’re hitting chord resolutions I’m into it—I began to appreciate the vibe and feel these lyrics. And really good implementation of the chorus challenge that doesn’t feel like a phone-in. The bridge is awkward and lyrics feel a bit crammed in. It was jarring to be flipped back to my college years talking about “sum bitches.” That brought the times back a bit. With the strumming and the word-cram…it all sat strangely in my ear. The solo is well-played but doesn’t feel like it belongs neatly in the song. Then it gets really good (and tight!) until the ending bit where vocals and layering seem at odds with one another. There are some awkward timings throughout that last half and the backing vocals which started off as an asset become a bit distracting until a fade happens—that is done in the way I like though, and I liked when you talk-sang. I grew to enjoy your distinct vocal with repeated listens, and this song is very tailored to me with the Bible stuff and the conceptual feel of pooling money for snacks.
Mandibles - Désirée
-This sounds like beautiful musical theater, and is absolutely delightful to listen to the signing. It felt like a song that would be really good in a show or production between lovers who were in a space opera about A Noble Quest. It seems an unorthodox combo with the style of guitar that hits in the solo (unless it is, indeed, in space, so I put it there, and then especially with the bass, it made TOTAL sense). So this is played very very well. Produced in a week very impressively, and if cleaned up a bit of noise here and there, could be put with some other tunes into an album about an opera in space. Or maybe I shouldn’t have written this right after a rehearsal of a musical. I’ll try again later.
CH 2. I still think this sounds theatrical. It does need theatrical context—and feels certainly like a genre sort of piece with the style of bass and guitar paired with extremely tuned and clear, fry-free vocals and sumptuous reverb. This feels like the sort of thing they do to give impact in the theater. But it does not necessarily have to happen in space. I like this a lot and probably sound like I’m raving on.
Governing Dynamics - Predestination
This was laid out and labeled really intelligently. Lyrics thoughtful with an impactful first line. Your guitarchestration is always pretty nice. Drums are great. Old school T.N. vocals from you (not in any sort of backward-going way). Melody is a bit conversational–you’re spot on when you change registers and then when you go into chorus then it feels catchier. Use a different, more aggressive reverb, maybe? Absolutely wanted a longer tastier fade-out (as per usual). I feel like it might be a bit noisy?--the recording. Backup vocals and strong playing really sell the chorus–and the clean guitar tone when that comes in like a refreshing bell is always very distinctive. I like that the outro is what it is and wasn’t made a bridge. This is solid and is one of the good ones but not one of those that grabs because you are singing about something truly gut-busting. But it is important and smart.
Cavedwellers - Owzat! (Dismissed)
I just went to the cricket in Melbourne at the cricket grounds there and saw what the fuss was about! I am convinced that I was the reason that Sydney got their win in the last half. They don’t have innings as we know them. It’s strange. Line: “You did me dirty like a Romanov” lolz. These lyrics are really subtle-funny and this is a really clever plot. And the hairy aggressive sounds that you are using are nice melody devices. I’m not sure about the reverb on vocal. That might be the most oppressive thing about the song to me. Your singing is really managing things pretty well–particularly at end of the bridge. The beginning of the song sounds like it’s going to be a song about whining about sports. This feels like the way sports-folks are about each other; having recently gotten a bit into sports here and there, I am really into this sort of feeling. And I really enjoyed the end! Lyrics are balanced tightly as well.
thanks, brain - Strange
I do theater tech (or did for a while) and some sound design and light audio things before I stashed myself on the stage, so a bit of a SXF nerd here. Sweet concept. This is so Monster Mash! I love the mode and the way you scoop under the third and that theremin sound—and the muffled moany BUVox. Great cut-beat in the chorus and how the whole song does the twist. It’s jam-packed full of fun. It’s corny-not-hokey and your vocal does the trick. It’s kind of a character sound you’re putting on that is creepy and rocky horror or something. The lyrics are juicy and descriptive. Love the plot too: “Forever in each others' claws. It really spins a tale from verse to verse and then delivers.
This love is so deranged.” Line before the chorus leads neatly to it. Adams family harpsichord is a delicious touch. I <3 that! All the howls and organs and creepy noises so groovy. Oh—Dammit Janet! Where’s my Wilhelm scream?
JW Hanberry - Maladjusted
This is weird. Sort of a “Robot goes to a strange country club at a dentist convention” sort of sound palate. It’s hard to focus on the lyrics with all the nuts and bolts. It’s not technically metering that loud, but it feels louder than it is—so death by synths a little bit. A pounding headache of a beat, but some delicious little sonic bubbles come up to alka-seltz me back into a pretty satisfying chorus—making the point of the challenge the sticking point in this romp of a tune. Your voice has a lot of character. And you are very creative—that’s for sure. This was not like anything I have ever heard before. You obviously love to make statements and productions and have fun when you make your projects. Always do that! I wonder what is going on in that brain! Something really technicolor I bet!
“BucketHat” Bobby Matheson - Time Enough At Last (Vellichor)
Velichor is a beautiful word and a beautiful concept. I feel like you said something backwards there. Not usually a fan of spoken word in songs. In this case, I am. I really like that.
Addressing the melody thing: the melody line is super familiar, I have heard it in two or three other songs that are familiar so it’s probably a sound of an era. I’ll be surprised if at least one other person doesn’t mention Blondie or the Stones.
You seem to be singing against your key though, in a style that is very grungy. Your chorus is a grind against the wind. Evocative of the forgotten and hidden places you’re describing. You’re setting a scene and painting a picture. Your lyrics by themselves are nice poetry. Your song could stand alone and if further produced could also develop. I think it has potential and merit. I think it’s heading in a strong direction, maybe it’s heading in a dirty direction. Maybe it needs to head in a dusty direction. This is just an opinion though—to be taken with a tankard of salt.
Brother Baker feat. Father - Free
Loving the way this builds from a cold, funereal starkness. It’s very good at painting a scene of soul-shock, at least to me, particularly at the start of it. Wishing the drums weren’t QUITE as oppressive. Something about a distortion in the choruses is putting me off. It’s pretty loud and I’m riding the volume. There’s a lot of range in this. But this is a wonderfully dynamic song. A note: I’m not sure if an “intro revisited” is going to seem like a skate of the challenge, and you’re just trying to sneak in a chorus. to people. I don’t think it will. I think you went out of your way—more than just writing it in a bio—it was definitely quite an introduction. Something about the feel of this (not the progression) reminded me of La Folia. The mournful and classic seriousness of it. The static at the end was not a bad discombobulation, but I did wish for a better fade of it.
Good Niche Gracious - Katzenfrühstück
I had to laugh at this because it was annoying and adorable. But it was annoying. I am quite sure that this was done on purpose. There seems to be a thing with German this round. If my cats are German, I do not know it. Disorienting things with panning, probably intended did make me feel a bit like when Lagertha and Starsky (the rulers of My Domicile) are tag-teaming my slumber. Some of the accompaniment you had reminded me of my brothers not letting me have a turn playing ninja gaiden when I was a kid (just dated myself I’m sure). You certainly staged a production. I did enjoy it, and you did thoughtful touches that were appreciated and funny and noticed. And funnier than the German is a simple truth: “Hey you! If you won’t wake up / Then I won’t shut up!” Sometimes a simple truth shouted in a song is a sure hit.
Sober - Home
Well, you got name-dropped, so have you finally been set up for failure? Naaaah, I bet not. I love your swingsy pace—so already thinking this will be different. Vocally, you knuckle down on your subtle indictments and rhetorical questions as though you were pretending your voice was Hank Williams Sr’s violin. Your bio and lyrics are already a thick banana milkshake of sarcasm (yum!) so it was entertaining yet sobering (sorry) to dig in! The arrangement was so tasteful and innocuous and yet genred and smack-upside the head at the same time and I don’t know how you do that! Probably very simple—you can frickkin mix a track and I think this is alchemy sigh. But this time, I didn’t really notice anything but your content and your vocal performance—which was both comical and earnest.
PS. This would have sold gold in a sketch show. I’m music directing this show that just opened — about local politics and so I appreciated the commentary of this.
PPS. A peculiarity about me. Whistling and I don’t get along because I cannot hear it without laughing immaturely and hysterically. So I had to stop the track, almost every time, to stop and almost pick up off the floor. So—content warning for the synesthetic weirdos—there is a TON of jolly, jaunty-assed whistling near the end of this sardonic little number.
The Alleviators - Sigh
GAH what a vocal! I love everything about it and it’s so gentle and soothing and radio-friendly and then I love the chorus in this but something about the high harmony is off-putting. Then I don’t want it repeated so many times. Keyboards are awesome. This is incredibly tasteful. I wish you didn’t have a chorus effect on your vocal in the bridge. I love that sigh. That guitar at the end is so slick but maybe it laid a slight distortion clam that didn’t go with the rest of the chill vibe and you left it sitting there because you’re Edgy? Who knows these things?
Siebass - Home
This song is a tricky read. You have a lot of passion and an obvious vision. From the beginning, I think it is going to be one thing, and then it is another. You will land on a note that I think is going to go a bit wrong and then you will resolve it beautifully with a lot of instrumental support and harmony layering. Or—the opposite—there’s a perfectly beautiful moment and then it gets pulled apart taffy-like and a bit sonically deconstructed. Or the bottom will drop out and a verse will go on and on without a breath. Maybe it’ll be primarily a piano–playing chord inversions until another element comes in to save the day. I know this is being done with intent because each change I hear plainly orchestrated decisions being made. I just don’t happen to have a feeling of agreement with them, but do I have enough appreciation to know it is not a lack of skill or some mistake. Your lyrics and the poetry behind them—love this. The verses don’t keep power for me because you use a similar cadence with rising tones and it starts feeling endless. I get lost somewhat. There were a lot of moments where I just wanted to hear a consistent throughline—your voice being the main focal point around a true north song structure more defined and reined in and a chorus that wasn’t a constant dissonance resolution starting from a pointed dissonance. In the end, your vocal would have been a better finish than continuing on with more—the exposed vocal entry near the end was beautiful. So bottom line, I’m in a bit of aural turmoil during this journey. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing for your purposes—just not my particular cup of tea.
Ironbark - Désolé
This song is an actual thing that happened to me in my life. Well, not literally. It was a smug Sydneysider, and it happened in Austin–and he just désolé-ed me silently. This is so gentle and evocative and like a sad little comedy moment from one of the Pink Panther films. The messy bit at the end was unnecessary and detracted a bit–because it the texture was all so rich and thick. And the arrangement didn’t produced super slickly—but it was clever and tight and it was a funny and droll production.
Jerkatorium - Yeah
That little wobble on the last yeah and your backup vox … lolz. This is cute and funny and y’all are, of course, borderline tight in this. Yes. Your lyrics are clever. Your drums sound so good I wish the fade had been lonnnnnger at the end. You guys always sound like a band full of all my audio-pro ex-boyfriends grrrr. So well done! Got a giggle and a good guffaw and who doesn’t like a good key change? I don’t dig meta but will flip over a bit for it particularly when it sounds like a jaunty gum commercial. Always fun to see contestant references. If you’re ever judging and I manage to write something I will fully stick a clav in it. Your piano passes my muster but that RIDE cymbal! And you really went for it on some of those singing notes. Made it too. I wish for something different about the vocal that would make it match instruments in quality somehow. So challenge is met and achievement unlocked–though in a super On the Nah-ose way, and a key change as well! ha!
Simon Purchase James - Existe los Regalos
This track went up and down the rankings a huge amount a lot for me. In the end, it plummeted because of length and the cold hard fact that it’s in a competition. The Spanish cadence feels nice to listen to and the way it hits on chord changes opens things up freshly and gives the song air and space. I’m iffy on spoken word in songs because I am the sort of person who freaks out during massages with soothing music. Spoken parts make me feel a bit emotionally awkward like I don’t know where to put my brain-hands. But your delivery of the spoken word is earnest, respectful, and cool—without being ridiculous and undermining the message or making it altogether too precious to take seriously. It ACTUALLY all comes off as rather swish and artistic and feels atmospheric and refreshing. I like the tempo change at the end but wish it had happened sooner. This is a very long song for this sort of contest but again—lovely performance and a quite suitable style for live play. It’s very warm and your voice is touching and the playing is beautiful if at times a bit sparse. But the layered guitars are a nice touch and I appreciate your charisma and the obvious emotion (particularly in the last verse).
All I did was describe what I heard here. All the time I had.
Mandrake - Magpies [SHADOW]
A dream state video game about techno birds. Dreamy vocals with a sharp edge that could be forward more.
Daniel Sitler - Not A Cello (Headphone Warning) [SHADOW]
Angerball distortion rant about bigass string-thing. Try hauling six tympani and a marimba six floors but feel your Hatchback Pain.
Night Sky - Lonely Alexander [SHADOW]
Adorable tale with a sassy sax with a detective show strut. Love the BRIDAL refs wish I had more time on these shadows.
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