Here are your rankings from SpinTunes 23 Champion glennny:
Read on for glennny's reviews!
1- Jealous Brother- Low Bottoms
I love this song. I love the live band. I love the live, real violin. I submit a live recording to an internet contest just about every 10 days. I get a lot of grief if I don’t edit out the stick clicks. It was just strange to hear them. Great playing guys! Nice motif use. This was the clear winner for me this round. This is impressive songwriting, it’s so cool it clocks in under 3 minutes, and it’s jam-packed with music. I’m loving all of the riffs and interplays. Great job!
2- Vehicles of Beware- Lordless Lucy
You have my number. This is quite delightful for a Jethro Tull/ Gentle Giant fan like myself. Your voice is excellent. I love the super heavy riff. The vocal melody is beautiful and memorable. The dynamics and the drama make this song really stand out. This evokes a song like Wreck on Aquiring the Taste, though not as motif-driven as Gentle Giant (nobody is). Great job!
3- This Big Old Endless Sky- of ragged mountain ranges
As the week went on, this kept climbing in my rankings. The vocal performance is really gripping and emotional. This is long, but it earns every second. You have my attention and I get chills. It gets heavy and loud, and it also gets quiet and isolated. This feels like a deep cut in a Pink Floyd or Fish-era Marillion album. The recording has punk sensibilities. I like the sound of all of the instruments. I’m looking at flights to Melbourne. Do you really have a band that plays out this material?
4- Sober- The Harder Road
You are such a good player and singer. I feel like there’s too much melodica, or is it accordion? Both? . I wish it weren’t there all of the time so the song could breathe a bit more. I fear the challenge made you feel compelled to have it do that melody so much. That said, the melodies and motifs are excellent. I think you knocked the challenge out of the park. I still have much different taste in a mix than you. Vocals are still loud, banjo is quiet. The chucking on the banjo and guitar make adequate percussion, I still think I’d rather have a drum set. This is very impressive!
5- David Taro- Don’t You Want Me Anymore
Best mix of the round! I mean WOW! All of the instruments sound spectacular! I wonder about the New Wave synth bass, it totally works, but I wish it was a P-Bass or something. All of the vocals are excellent. Something feels very mid 80’s about this. I was expecting a sax solo (that would’ve been so perfect). This song was made for a soundtrack to a Rom-Com.
6- Flintsteel- Absolved
This song has a lot of awesome. The challenge is knocked out of the park. That double (quadruple) kick drum is really annoying. When it’s just a massaging machine gun of beats it loses all impact. It’s like lying on a bed of nails. I like drums when they sound like a drummer. Michael Portnoy would not have the bass drum going like that. So that said, there’s so much rocking excellence in this. The vocals are killer and passionate! My favorite bit is the instrumental section. Invokes some Iron Maiden, which is always great. This is really fun!
7- The Moon Bureau- I Left My Sweater at the Discoteque
The challenge is fine. The mix is good. At this point I expected to have you on the top, but I don’t find this song to be as inspired as your previous 2. I love the bass line and the bass playing! The singing is good, but I don’t like the delivery. It’s staccato and awkward. It really feel like lyrics came before melody. It’s liek every syllable is stressed. The drums and the organ are super cool in this song too. It’s a good song, I just like it, I loved your last 2 songs, and many other from contests past. It’s a light-hearted song. I liked it.
8- Governing Dynamics- Put the Gun Down
Vocals are so loud. I enjoy the drums very much throughout. I think guitars need to be much louder in this genre. There’s New Order quality to this with the way it drives. The ending is very pretty. I do a lot of work as a listener, remixing this in my head as I listen. This has so much potential to really rock, but it plays weakly. And yes, I hear you. Good song, good take on the challenge.
9- The Dutch Widows- TAABTJTAOATSBMAHPWI
The title is hilarious. What would you write on your set list? “Baby Man”? I feel like I’ve given you the same thought on several other reviews: you sing very quietly all of the time. The vocals could use more dynamics. I love the mix. There’s a lot of restraint in all of the instruments. A lot of the synth patches are really fun. That right ear fake cello in the intro is kinda weird. Does it ever reappear?
10- Celestial Drift- Skinner
There are some cool riffs in this song. The vocal melody doesn’t do much for me. It’s a story song. That means I have to catch all of the lyrics as you sing or read along to really enjoy it. I like the change halfway through. I think this song was a victim of the challenge. 3:55, and 4:26 what is that clipping sound ? Bump the microphone? I don’t like when songs need this much explanation and supplemental material. This suffers from being too long. Some editing and this would be stronger in my opinion.
11- Hot Pink Halo- Radiant Joy
There’s not much of a shift in dynamics nor register from verse to chorus. I find the catchiest part of the song to be the pre-chorus where the vocals drop out. I don’t feel like the drums are always in the same song as the rest of the instruments. Especially in the bridge, I think the drums could come down in energy and accentuate some of the hits in the guitars.
12-Dream Bells- Temple
I admire the big swing you took. Aspects of this are very cool. Ultimately, it doesn’t work for me.
I enjoy the anger. I enjoy the lyrics. I enjoy the riff, but I wish there was more of a groove with the drums. There’s pulse to it, but it doesn’t really move me. The deceleration doesn’t help. The abrupt change to the pastoral Dream Bells we used to know, doesn’t make sense to me. It makes sense once I read the explanation in the song bio. I don’t like to take in music that way. You’re definitely very interesting, I’m looking forward to your next song, and I have no idea what we’ll get.
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