Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 23 Champion Truth:
Read on for Truth's reviews!
1. Hot Pink Halo - Mark, Run
I've heard plenty of Hot Pink Halo songs and this is my favorite thus far. I was wondering if you had limited yourself to a one-chord-jam, but then that lovely subdominant underpinning that lovely rising melody (well doubled, later well harmonized) set me straight. The declamation of your title hook (if we can call it that) is just so beguiling. "Mark, run. Run." When I was learning guitar I could just play a major seven chord and appreciate its internal beauty, and your piano part made me feel like that again, probably because of how repetitive and restrained it is for most of the song. And when it's not it's really not! The song also makes me think of a lot of other songs while sounding like a copy of none of them. I appreciate your flexible tempo; the song really breathes. Is the piano playing repeated breves? Long enough for me. Plenty of short notes to contrast with it. A Moog here, a flute there, a string patch over there. So many subtle additions keep things developing without overwhelming the vocal line.
2. Sober - Look Away
Wonderful chorus, the melody, the harmonies, the actual singing, the lyrics. It doesn't need much more to make this work for me, and there's the great banjo riff. Good long notes on "grave". I don't have much to criticize here. Really strong work, and very moving.
3. Jim Tyrrell - Shadows
This song reminds me of a time when I wrote this really cool unexpected chord in a progression, but the singer didn't catch that the melody would have to flatten a note to go with said unexpected chord. So the cross relation is there and I hear it every time. Your minor v chord and your lead vocal are at odds with one another at the end of my favorite line of your melody ("ma------ke my-------- case" and everywhere else that melody happens), If you ever rerecord this, I'd love to hear "case" down a half step--even a quarter step--and I wonder if you would think it an improvement. Anyway, I'm nitpicking but I really do love this song. It's easy to make a melody work with a long note at the beginning or a long note in the end, but you have two fat whole notes in the middle of a vocal line...the middle of a phrase, really...and contrasting short notes around them. I liked the effect instantly. The couplet "Some people casting shadows / And most just throwing shade" is my favorite of week two, but "They come in dressed for battle / And they leave without a fight' isn't far behind. Travis picked guitar is just right for this tune.
4. Vehicles of Beware - Getting to the Gig
Very clever exploration--no, exploitation--of the challenge. The patter verse sung to sing-song scales are a good setting of those lyrics. And then you go and put them in counterpoint to the long values of the "keep the show on track" part. Awesome. I could have used a bridge or a coda to bring the song home; as is it feels a little too short.
5. Governing Dynamics - Fire In The Distance
Your verse is both melodically and rhythmically well formed, and catchy to boot. People don't realize how important it is to use rests. You clearly do. The bridge isn't adding much to the song for me.
6. The Dutch Widows - Hie The Night
"Headlines headlines" is going to be in my head for awhile. "Hie the night" and "Hail the lies" are long-ish, but they really contrast nicely with the perculating bass line in short notes underneath. Good counterpoint goes a long way with these ears. The end strikes me as a little too positive for the melancholy body of the song.
7. Stacking Theory - The Mistake
Frippy ebow guitar is playing very long notes indeed. I like them better than your long "hurt" in the lead vocal. I really like the "The tallest person in the world" melody though; it's my favorite part of the song. Cool loopy coda puts a nice bow around an interesting song. By the way, your vocal sounds a varying degree of lo-fi depending on what you play it on. Not sure why.
8. Jealous Brother - I Think You Know
Favorite riff of the round. Ear candy. Good vocals and good harmonies. "This ride" and "better" have dotted half notes, long enough?
9. Dream Bells - Caerus
You guys are killing me with all this pretty major seven music. Good choice to double the vocal with the synth. Talking bridge...sounds like a previous nur ein challenge? Is "dream bells" the name of a synth patch by any chance? Anyway it's a win for a pretty vocal line using plenty of long notes, couched in exquisite synthetic sounds.
10. This Big Old Endless Sky - The One About The Housing Affordability Crisis
Not too subtle, but the end of the vocal really works, and checks the challenge box while delivering an emotional moment justified by the lyric that led up to it. Clever how it is a throwback to the end of chorus two. I like how the bass and guitar riffs trade off. Prechorus melody is lovely, as is the octave guitar line that underpins is.
11. Joy Stitler - Throwing a Party
Nice chorus hook! Great vocal delivery. Enjoyable horn section...reminds me of listening to some romantic 80s Chicago song and wondering if it isn't in fact a Peter Cetera solo track...and then those horns come in and tell us what's what. Anyway this lyric seems tied to round one, so if we've got a song cycle or concept album in the works, I applaud you for the added effort.
12. The Moon Bureau - Fail Pyre
Your verse has a "Cool For Cats" sort of patter which I like. Your one word chorus idea seems like it's trying to satisfy the challenge, but none of the notes is terribly long...three beats at most? Still it's longer than the half a beat patter of the verse, so no objection I guess. I really like the electric piano solos. Rhythm section pocket is nice. I don't like the cross relation in "it seemed for a minute like it" between the electric guitar and whatever is not playing a major third in the chord.
13. Siebass - It's been a long time
Your bio has convinced me that you've satisfied the challenge. What do I like about this? I like the lyrics. I like the rhythm section. I like the bridge melody (where I really appreciate the long/short contrasts). I like "It's not fair to say you've gone / When you've been leaving / For a long time."
14. Pigfarmer Jr. - Human Again
Good vocal. I like that you save the really long notes for the bridge. Re: Beethoven: take a familiar motive and move where the 1 is and it sounds brand new. I like how you used the challenge to make a creative new work.
15. Möbius Strip Club - The Galaxy Of You
I like the flexibility of the beat. I love the lush sound world (lyrically appropriate) and the celesta…or is it an electric piano? I like the major chord on b7. Good unison singing. Harmonies really great when they lock in pitch and rhythm. Second verse wants another take. Ditto "re----sonating". Do you know The Dangling Conversation? "Syncopa--ted---time..." A whiff of that here made me smile.
16. ▷ - 48
I am in awe of the level of detail you cram into these songs. My favorite part of this song is the gorgeous electric piano part, and how it interacts with that sort of 8 bit sine wave lead, and the rest of the accompaniment as they pull the listener in unexpected directions. However, they don't allow much space for ther topline melody to shine. It's more a war between melody and accompaniment, and the accompaniment wins. The vocals themselves are delightful when they come together in dense close harmony. I feel that the tempo shifts are less effective than the contrast executed in note values alone (e.g. "kind of vibing"), but I'm still impressed with the achievement. The song overall depends on buying into the concept, and I'm not particularly moved by it.
17. David Taro - Longevity
I must reckon "lo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oongevity" being a bunch of one-beat-long notes rather than a really long note because of the scooping on the beat (cf. Stepping Stone by the Monkees). Backing vocals do a better job of the effect I think you're going for. I like your lyric and the story behind it. Good playing and singing throughout. Challenge box checked, but not in a particularly compelling way for me. Purely on its own merits I would rank it higher, but the songs I did rank higher tended to lean into the challenge to a greater degree.
18. Flintsteel - Stay Alive
Prechorus in half notes (mostly) serves well to contrast with the rest of the song. Great guitar solo. Very competent high-energy performance throughout. I think I'm meant to feel like fighting to stay alive, but I'm not sure the sermon is working on me.
19. Ominous Ride - Hallucination
The self-referential lyric strategy isn't my favorite, but it might explain why your verse riff is War Pigs. I really like the murky chorus vocal hook, best part of the song for me. This isn't a criticism, but you can sing "No Quarter" to your chorus, perhaps also intentionally. Anyway, plenty of contrast between the longs of the chorus and the shorts of the verse.
20. Celestial Drift - Southbound I-75
The 1950's country tune extrordinare. Awesome job on all these instruments, especially the pedal steel (doppler effect lol) and the flatpicked electric. The lyric in short notes I get, I was waiting to hear a creative use of contrasting long notes and pretty much had to wait for the end of the song, when a long note would be expected well enough. High marks for a fun pastiche, but didn't make the most of the challenge.
21. We Happy Few - Winter Waits, Summer Spins
Bass riff gambit lands great. Your chorus lyric doesn't agree with the song as sung. The tone painting on the word echoes didn't do much for me the first time, less so the second time. I once had to do a vocal for a metal challenge, and I really sympathize with what's required, but I couldn't help but feel that the delivery was tongue-in-cheek. High points for me were the bass, the verse lead vocal, and the idea behind the song.
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