Read on for Denise's reviews!
Thank you for all this great music during Spintunes 20. This was a super quality group of songwriters and a consistently difficult bunch of songs to critique each round. I had a hard time giving critique at all and I tried to be sensitive while also keeping in mind that you all mindfully chose to submit yourselves to reviews. So if I soft-pedaled everything and did not give real opinions or suggestions that would also be disrespectful because in my opinion all of you should really be thinking of taking these wonderful songs on a continued journey that is only beginning here in this contest.
You’re all very superbly unique individuals with buckets of creativity and I’m grateful you shared your work with us, judges and each other. You make this community thrive and grow. It’s nice to see old names and faces and also see new ways people are doing things. It’s cool to see the impressive leaps in quality and risk taking of style and technique. I see a lot of growth from people I met a long time ago here and there’s also a lot of super interesting and talented new/not-so-new-but-new-to-me/actually-new folks. It has been exciting to get introduced to the music of more folks in this group of people, and I was really touched to be remembered here and that Micah thought of me to come back and participate in this way. I hope you all had a great contest for ST20 and hopefully I will find the time, occasion, and brainz to come back and put some musical-work in here sometime!
—Denise Hudson/rangerdenni/@suspiciousden
The Pannacotta Army - The Baglady Bossanova
I wasn’t initially sold with the concept of a breezy little ditty about the difficult topic of housing inequity rolled into this library visual. Libraries themselves are under attack in my neck of the woods and so this whole setup feels a little fraught right out of the gate to me. Then, this visual is rolled into a loosely Caribbean flavored beach vibes sort of number. So I wasn’t on it at first But the thought of classic lit melting the blues away and removing you from the harshness of reality became sort of lightly amusing and the obviously just-for-fun samba stylings (a guiro thrown in on an odd beat, a sort of clave sound here and there, casual jazz chords, oooos and ahhs). But it felt wintry and atmospheric and like a shopping mall in the cold season—I could imagine your scene setting. This is very nicely produced. A vacation sort of vibe around it and I bought into the thought that a book could be a respite for even those in the most dire of circumstances. May libraries always be a haven, to everyone.
Ironbark - Thorn
Another song touching on the topic of the unhoused. This is recorded beautifully. It’s a highly inspiring piece of work, actually. There are a lot of pauses. I don’t necessarily agree with all of them in the last verse, but also don’t disagree. A matter of taste but you have already pulled us so slowly through the song that a little momentum close to the end might not hurt much (although lyrics may justify being drawn out as well—could be argued). Although the melody is not being a hero and is very understated and at times stark—your lyrics are skillfully placed into nicely flowing phrases. The symbolism used in the lyrics is inviting and chains through the breath-like thoughts of a man going through an emotionally draining night. Love the layering and that slow build using simple piano and acoustic percussion sounds and scrapes as if at a cold door. Reminds me of stone statues outside and lampposts beckoning in the chill. No word is wasted either, lyrics on this are great. Drone-y feeling serves the purpose.
The Alleviators - Stone Lions
Af first, it’s just fine. It felt a bit awkward though honestly, at the beginning, just something about it. The instrument tonality against quality of vocals felt lovely and emotionally compelling. By end of V1 it has warmed up considerably. I can see this really lifting up a film or television project in sound and with its’ overall feel—“Let me face my paper tigers / hiding behind lions of stone.” The lyrics really lend themselves to this as well being very epic in direction. In fact, as the song develops on and on it really DOES do just that. It develops in sound, it develops in poise. It improves in passion, tightness, moxie, strength. It basically becomes a powerhouse of win and grabs you by the throat. It sounds like superhero space opera triumph music. Also, the voicing of the piano part in the chords is done in a Precisely Correct Fashion. If you wanted to please a piano player today—that was pretty much a slam dunk. Guitars are perfect, the build at the end is masterful. That end actually gave me chills. The song beginning maybe can be worked a bit, now that I get to the end of it, because that sound at the end is the sound of a hit, in my opinion.
Sober - A Place in the Choir
Melodically, this did come off like a journey, a meander, the melody was more stretchy than snap and catch. But what might feel like a meander did feel rather a Tolkien-worthy wander. A song about a feeling about a place like a place in a picture is still inspired by the concepts in that photo—and as an improviser I appreciate taking a suggestion as a catalyst, particularly if it gives an opportunity to showcase a room full of supportive local community and friends. So I think this song is really sweet. I hadn’t even started listening and felt predisposed to it from the bio, immediately thinking of particular in-a-pinch friends. The whole thing tasted good like banana bread during horrible freezes. So I identified with that, and also connecting with leaving parts of yourself behind, and with feelings of relationship in the lyrics—even before the song circle vibe kicked in. Other melodies and choruses of yours have had better hook or been stronger or even had flashier production or even tighter presentation, but this was just plain nice to hear and felt good—more like a tribute recording. I loved that you showcased your choir by itself, loved that you introduced them and brought them back, with the instrumental sections really emphasizing this feeling of journey.
Phlub - The Hobo’s Hideaway [SHADOW]
Your harmonies are silly (in a good way) and a lot of fun and this tune was a bit quaint and very Dustbowl Days. The style is a little vaudevillian, but it’s more the more straightman part of comedy and the style doesn’t come off as a gimmick. It reminds me of some of the social commentary that Ry Cooder pulled off in this theatric style (like when he did My Name is Buddy.) This is great production. Maybe was a bit long. Love how things fell on the beats, and how you kept the good waltz tempo real dance-y. And I really did get a cinematic picture of a time and a place and a character, and it all felt a little old-worldly.
Cavedwellers - I Can Explain [SHADOW]
Your bridge is hilarious. The guitar coming out of your bridge is hilarious. The whole end of the song coming out of the solo is hilarious. The solo itself, from tone to presentation, is really really funny to me. This is very clever, and of course tight. Maybe I would think this song more ridiculous if
1) I didn’t mad respect the cool things you do with tempo always
2) your guitars on the outro weren’t super cool and thusly, not ridiculous
3) you didn’t turn this into a mild to moderate niche conspiracy theory tune, which again—is sort of spy-cool and even though it seems sort of out there—you talk have that little toss off line about your POV and your NYE party and that tells us that this is Very Much Serious and to take you seriously as you are a Real Fan (so Not Ridiculous) and,
4) I myself didn’t spend a whole 3-8 hours most weekends screaming at my screen and telling everyone who will listen that it has been a curse on my family’s involvement in various fandoms that has doomed certain F1 drivers to ruin. So no, NONE of this is ridiculous. Not to me. We all have our stuff.
Nerding out this hard on something means that you have to write goofy, overly intricate, super skillful and hard to pull off works of art about super arcane mindsets and activities, using fitting musical environmentals. This is part musical mad-genius cricketstanning, part existential sound genre puzzle. So I really love how nerdy and (not) ridiculous this is.
Mandrake - Long Walk Home [SHADOW]
This is an interestingly presented tune. I like how you’ve handled the vocal. Could use more backing vocal, actually—maybe more layering, more padding. What you laid out was done so thoughtfully that you could have pushed on it a little more, even. I love all the little squirmy wormy synths. You’ll get this comment I’m sure but I really enjoyed the Animal Crossing feel to it. You definitely laid down a vibe. The chorus does feel a little bit more to me like a B verse if you don’t repeat the idea of the first two lines. I would get more of a chorus feeling from it if you emphasized it more and this more like an ABABAB until the end. I really buy that chorus at the end. I feel like normally a quickly paced, wordy 2 lined passage like this might get lost and have nothing to hang a hook on, but it played off so catchy I wanted it to be featured more strongly. You did give it a good harmonic stage to stand on, and musically this felt very much an evening day-dream, like the pinky-orange dusk of a video game.
See-Man-Ski feat. Sam Hemsworth - Where I Belong [SHADOW]
This is an odd little song. The open window was a good choice, because it felt very present and in the room in the recording. It was spacious and I existed there together with your vocals in the recording as a listener and you were both there in lockstep together. You matched each other in performance, and were really performing the lyrics as well. I appreciate you getting something in, that in itself was fabulous—I wish I had done so. The gentle way you sang “two ferocious lions” had me giggling so I’m glad you sang that twice. This was a raucous good time. A jolt of a tempo change at the end and just everything done with a hell of a lot of gusto and super enthusiastically sung. This was a real mood and a dramatic evening. It did give one the feeling of working hard to get somewhere and being repeatedly thwarted. The ending provided much mirth.
Hot Pink Halo - Our Missing Hearts [SHADOW]
Love your word repetitions, especially against the bubbling percussive background music “breath breath breath / voice voice voice” “no one’s lost / no one’s lost...” Kind of felt a bit like rushing through the library looking for things and then the overall sound would brighten. The phrase would lengthen. A discovery! “Find big ideas in small spaces” So I loved how the tempo and performance cadence of your lyrics matched up with their message and feeling, and how the music behind that supported things beautifully. It was a fast tune, sometimes leaving me a bit breathless as a listener, not in a bad way though. I’ve gotten more and more attached to your vocal style as time has gone on. Also—that was a lovely and very musical close to the song. Overall a strong and energetic tune, and I really enjoyed reading your bio— have this whole contest but this time in particular.
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