Here are your rankings from Ethan Ivey:
I leaned into the prompt again pretty hard on this one since it was more technical and rated based primarily on how well I felt like you were able to meet it. Bonus points if I also enjoyed your song overall.
This was a tough round and a tough challenge. Truthfully, I went in expecting something different given this prompt but I can tell that an effort was made by everyone to varying degrees of success. Nice work all!
David Taro - Don’t You Want Me Anymore
What a strong start to this album. The motives are clear, even without your description. The way you play around with them and share them between the vocal and instrumental parts is effective and exactly what I was looking for on this challenge. The song is easy to listen to. It got my toe tapping.
The Moon Bureau - I Left My Sweater at the Discotheque
I like how calm this one is. It just feels good. The story is wishful with a clear direction and purpose.
My main complaint is that I don’t necessarily hear motivic development like I expect. There’s repetition but I don’t hear specific musical ideas popping out and being played with, just a single idea that you write around. It’s a good idea, just not full enough to qualify as meeting the challenge from what I can tell.
This Big Old Endless Sky - of ragged mountain ranges
This is not my go-to style of music. It moves a little slower than I’d like, especially for something where we’re meant to hear musical ideas popping out and being played with. I can hear elements of that but it feels mostly like a rhythmic repeated phrase more than motives you’re developing. I did go back and listen for the specific changes you listed and while they might be there, it feels unclear. I was looking for it to be more in the foreground.
Vehicles of Beware - Lordless Lucy
This one is nice. I’d love more motivic movement. You have a couple ideas in here but the one that you’re clearly using as your motive doesn’t do much other than repeat itself. You can elongate it, change its octave, reverse it, etc. Lots of things to try rather than just building on the one idea. The song is good overall. I especially like the mixed meter stuff going on near the end.
The Dutch Widows - There's always a book to justify the actions of a thin-skinned baby man and he probably wrote it…
Your motive is introduced but does largely the same thing throughout, though you get props for at least using it in two voices. I’m not entirely sure what the thin-skinned baby man is supposed to have done. Is there some further context that I need to understand what you’re trying to share?
Hot Pink Halo - Radiant Joy
This is nice. It feels like there is intention and growth where I expect it but the music theorist in me still wants to hear the motive used differently, not just layered.
The song does manage to hit the mixed feelings of a celebration of life after a loss. That moment where you don’t quite know what to feel, just that there should be something.
Jealous Brother - Low Bottoms
I’d still ask for more than just layering over your chosen motive. Changing its instrumentation gives you points but I’m bummed that this happens at the tail end.
I like this song overall. It’s easy to listen to and the instrumentation is cool. The vocals are forefront and clean.
Celestial Drift - Skinner
I see the direction here and appreciate you highlighting your motivic structure in the bio, and also making it clear enough to find without that. My first listen is always without bios and this song quickly made the “I can hear the prompt” list.
I like the quick lyrics and overall sound of this. The levels feel a little off from what I’d expect like everything is too equal or something. I like the jarring feeling around the bridge and that descending section. Any mixed or complex time signature is a win. This did not feel like a 5 minute song.
Governing Dynamics - Put The Gun Down
I clocked a few of the uses of your motive before reading your bio but wasn’t looking for two. Nice work. With a challenge like this, it’s easy to feel like everything’s a stretch or like you’re making up what you’re hearing. In your case, you highlight most of them clearly and perform around the ones that are less clear.
“But growth demands we turn Towards teachable, not terminal” is my favorite line of this round, and possibly the entire competition so far. I like the message here, as sad as it is necessary.
Sober - The Harder Road
You hit the prompt exactly the way I was looking for and your song sounds good. Both wins.
When I was in music school and learning about how motives worked, I was challenged to write so that the motive carried the direction of the song, not fit it into an established musical idea. It feels like you establish a motive, then change it only enough to fit the direction you wanted your song to go. Inverting that opening four measure line instead of just the first measure could have taken you a different direction. This is not a critique, just a thought as you consider this song further.
Flintsteel - Absolved
I always find myself saying the wrong thing to my athletic students about their chosen sport. I’ll ask how their auditions went or if they have rehearsals that week, instead of try outs and practice. They know what I’m talking about but it’s always good for a laugh. In this case, I feel like Motive and Riff are the interchangeable words that largely mean the same thing. I hear your attempt at it and appreciate your response to the prompt.
I will always be a fan of this metal sound. Having heard you prepare three songs in this style, it’s fun to take mental note of things about the genre that I wouldn’t necessarily notice when I’m just listening to a song at a time. I’d love to see what happens when you revisit this song outside of the time limit.
Dream Bells - Temple
I like the way you respond to the prompt and appreciate your clarification in the bio. It’s sometimes hard to pick out when the instrumentation is so grungy but the other moments are clear. The way you pass it between instruments and sections is effective.
As for the song, I’m not sure I can tell what I’m supposed to feel. It’s jarring between those clean open sections, and the muddy ones. It felt like more of an instrumental entry than a vocal one. I have liked your integration of vocals into the instrumentation in previous rounds, just feel like it was too far in that direction for this one.
Joy Sitler - Gravel Road [SHADOW]
This is a nice song. I like the modulation from major and minor back and forth. Solo line is very clean, and the harmony that comes in enhances it.
Möbius Strip Club - Matching Baggage [SHADOW]
The levels are way off here. I like that core sound you go for frequently, just definitely need more vocals. I’d love to hear an update that is equalized better.
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