Here are your Round 3 rankings from Nancy Rost:
Read on for Nancy's reviews!
This Big Old Endless Sky - Am I the Ball and Chain?
It’s love at first listen for me. The energy and drama of the performance, the creative repurposing of XTC song titles, the catchy structure all grab me. I really appreciate the more upfront vocals and more judicious use of distortion this round, which allow me to fully enjoy the song at its intended volume. The sonic references to their music are delightful but don’t remind me too much of any of their songs in particular. I’m getting some Gang of Four vibes as well. Anyway, love the choppy rhythm guitar and screaming lead over that aggressive rhythm section. There’s lots of interesting stuff happening in the bridge, with its floating rhythm, modal harmony, and word-painting use of panning.
The collage-of-titles approach can be risky and come off as a gimmick, but the opening “Nigel” line gives a particular political focus that works with the rest of the titles. The chorus is darkly catchy. I like the near-rhyming lyrics. I don’t know what all of it means precisely, but it works well in an impressionistic way. The vocal performance is strong enough to take me along for the ride in any case. So emotional and dynamic! A cathartic banger.
Hot Pink Halo - Rallied by an Evening Prayer
This seems hella ambitious: referencing your own songs (but not this song), others’ songs, a book about songs, and a film with a song, all in the span of a three-minute pop song! And it does all work together, once I have the references and have listened enough times to process the dense lyric. I would be somewhat lost without the song bio.
The themes of changing and being changed by songs (and even references to songs, or not writing songs!) are great. And the song bio references are a lovely window into your influences and process over the years. I particularly like the lyrical references to atoms moving through, and time making us more.
The prosody is solid, but in some places it feels like the words go by too fast for me to understand or digest them. The “rallied by an evening prayer” lines in the prechorus, and the lines that follow them directly, feel particularly this way to me. The lines that seem more central to the song’s theme and structure are “I am not the same” and “everyone changes”. In pop songs I like the title to be more obvious. Your obvious hook title of “Don’t You Forget About Me” is already taken, but maybe “Everyone Changes (Don’t Forget About Me)” would work?
The whole thing bops along in a changing arrangement that reflects the lyrical themes. The drumming is energetic, with some nice fills, and the different keyboard sounds are nicely placed. It’s a pleasure to listen to and reflect on.
Congratulations on 100 songs! Here’s to many more.
The Pannacotta Army - Don’t Be A Square (Funk 13)
Well, this is fun. I definitely like dancing to Funk 13, especially when it’s as well played and produced as this. No notes on the recording.
Lyrically, it’s squarely in the meta-song box. It’s almost entirely description of the beat and the instruments. That works as a novelty, but it feels like there’s missed potential here.
I would like to hear more unsquareness beyond the meter. I’d especially be interested in hearing more adventurous vocals, whether through performance or effects. It would also be fun to have a singalong or call-and-response chorus to help listeners engage and feel the 13/8.
On a related note, you’ve been one of my most reliable sources of interesting harmony in SpinTunes 25, so I was a bit let down to get a I-IV-V from you this time, although it’s certainly in keeping with a lot of funk. At least there are some tasty extensions on those chords!
David Taro - One Hit Wonder
This is a perfect example of the kind of fictional song-within-a-song that fits the challenge -- you can uncross your fingers and toes! There are lots of things I like about the way the lyrics are written. I appreciate the way you’ve set up the choruses to keep their structure while delivering a surprise. The use of second-person is a great choice, inviting empathy. The AABCCB rhyme scheme in the verses keeps things flowing. And this is a tiny thing I particularly like in the lyrics: the way people who ask if you sang that song say “it went ‘oh my, oh my love”.
The melody really does reflect the pop catchiness the lyrics talk about. It’s got a great arc in the verses and lift and repetition in the choruses. It’s certainly been in my head a lot. Composition and performance are solid. And there are some fun production choices, like the radio-dial intro, and the filter on the “oh my” hook coming out of the bridge.
If you were to edit this, I’d suggest reworking the “unstoppable, untouchable” line, both for prosody and redundancy.
SEE/MAN/SKI - The Song I Can’t Write
I do my best to listen without the song bios, and to form impressions both with and without them. Listening to this song without the bio, I have the impression that both verses are about the same situation. Listening with the bio, I don’t feel the two situations fit in one song. I get the impression the verses were written separately. The first is unrhymed, which I like as a setup for “that’s the moment” - where everything comes into focus and rhymes - and the second is rhymed. I don’t know if the third verse is referring back to one or both of the situations. Basically, it feels like a work in progress. I really loved the specificity of detail in “Melton Mowbray” and I’m not finding that kind of thing here to ground my impressions. I appreciate the “visualize/take the time” section, and I think sometimes that’s a hard thing to do on a short deadline! Those songs may come later.
The music itself is quite emotive and well-organized, with plenty of interesting layers. My favorite thing in the arrangement is those high backing vocals on “oh, when I close my eyes.” There’s a clarity and a different side to your voice in that register I’d love to hear more of.
Jealous Brother - A Guy Like Me
This is one of the few songs in this round about one existing song, in this case wrapped up in a very sweet story. I particularly like how you reveal the happily-ever-after through the Doc Severinson and horn section references. The story itself is full of charming realizations, and I love how it mostly stays in the moment of that one performance of that one song. Another thing that’s great about the lyrics is they don’t rely on a listener’s familiarity with They Might Be Giants for the story to make sense. The descriptions of the accordion, thick glasses and so on make it accessible to the uninitiated.
The melody is also sweet, with a nice bounce to it. The borrowed chords are used well. And the band’s sound is full of pop energy, with its characteristic mix of harmonies and wordless backing vocals. The lead vocal sounds like a perfect fit for the story. The guitar solo is succinct and strikes just the right tone.
My main criticism is with prosody. In several places, emphases are on the wrong syllables or words, for example, “I barely knew what YOUR name was”. Also in that line, “was” seems like an odd word to end a line on -- it’s best to reserve those spots for words you want to highlight. “Do with a glowing friend” is a bit of an odd fragment to repeat. It almost feels like the chorus, though I think the title is correctly “A Guy Like Me” and that gets buried a bit. Perhaps that’s down to intentional quirkiness -- still, I would find a more crafted lyric easier to digest.
Bob Voyg - So Far, So Hard
I’m hearing some great bridge sections in particular this round. Maybe because bridges are a bit like songs within songs? I like this bridge both musically and lyrically, as it moves from one person’s struggles to communicate via song, to the purpose of it all -- and becomes more beautiful and communicative as a result. I think I’d count this as a self-referential song, which you’re referencing in the process of trying to write it.
The bridge is really where the song starts to pique my interest. Before that, I focus on what the bass is doing. Songwriting being difficult is something I can relate to, but so much so that if I’m going to hear a song about that topic, it has to say it in a way that feels new to me. I find that in “peak to trough” and “postcards from inside a song”. The wordless vocal harmonies also feel appropriate and sound great.
Playing along, as I did in Round 2, I happened to notice a key-change maneuver that resembled the one in Sunshine/Abyss. Funny how that happens ….
Huge Shark - Wings
Easily my favorite chord changes of SpinTunes 25 so far. Just gorgeous. Lovely melody too. I assume other judges will have production suggestions, but this piece has strong bones regardless. I think it could stand on its own with just voice and piano
Your twist on the lyrical prompt is unusual but fitting: about a pre-existing, but unknown, song! I love the way you’ve framed it with questions. The opening line and the chorus make much of the context clear, other lines make sense with the song bio, and some are more opaque. In particular, “You wrote me a song but never played it, and I can hear it right now” tied my brain in knots. But the meaning of the rest all works on a feeling level.
One line I was not sold on was “did it have notes and chords”: it sounds too prosaic compared with parallel lines about light and longing. You could substitute music-related verbs that are more evocative of life -- e.g., did it pulse, dance, swell, etc. I’d probably avoid the “feathering” rhyme too, even though it’s a wonderful image, because the “ing” syllable is unnaturally stressed.
Your voice sounds lovely and tender here, but I get the impression it’s at the top of your range, and I’m mostly missing the richness and power of your lower range. If you haven’t already, you might want to experiment with transposing it down or even singing it an octave lower.
Good Guy Sôjàbé - A Song About A Song
So I’m only peripherally aware of Tenacious D, but I like the idea of writing a song about a song about a song. It’s so fun to hear your serious baritone used for comic effect. Everything is well-played and the lyrics are tight. I looked up “Tribute” and think you’ve managed to invoke it musically while creating something original. I suspect there are a lot of fans this will really resonate with. For me it feels like more of a novelty, but I can tell it’s a great response to the prompt, executed with a lot of flair. Nice ending, heh.
The Alleviators - Song of the Ravaged
I like the spirit of this. The rhythmic play of drums and vocal melody is delightful. The “song in this song” is, as I take it, less a particular song sung at a No Kings gathering, than a kind of symbolic representation of singing as community, celebration and resistance. There do seem to be sections in here that could be the song (maybe on the word “resist” or more likely the “la la la” section). Having more of a gang vocal there would help to highlight it.
There are distinct moods here, and they’re a little confusing as to the overall message. First there’s the ironically sad description of the lack of riots in, say, Portland. Then the joyful chorus celebrating the song of the ravaged. Then, the most disorienting section for me lyrically, the one describing the shifting lies and accusations from the administration.The music is so festive, but what it’s describing is not, until the end of that section. I appreciate what you’re trying to say here, but it’s hard for my mind to parse the shifts in types of irony and sincerity as they go by in time.
Great vocals as always, and great playing and production. I do find myself inspired by the chorus and tapping my feet to the compound-rhythm sections as I prepare to dance in traffic.
Governing Dynamics - Keep Driving (I-70)
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel, and took the title as a sort of content warning, but I love what you’ve done with this. All the song references are in there for a purpose, as touchstones and acts of friendship. The music, and particularly the bass, conjures a meditative yet driving feel that makes room for the complex emotions and holds my attention throughout. The spare and expressive guitar playing gets me too. As do all the lyrics, especially at the end. And the dynamic vocal performance. The idiosyncratic, personal nature of the imagined mixtape feels so real and affecting.
Flintsteel - Master of the Art
A song about a fictional song in someone else’s fiction -- this is a unique take. I really appreciate being able to hear your lyrics this time, thanks to the slower tempo and an arrangement that leaves space for the vocal parts. The melody is pretty catchy, especially in the chorus. I like the use of diminished chords, which fit the suspenseful mood. The lyrics work to tell the story in the sort of anachronistic way appropriate to the genre, with some nice turns of phrase like “your midnight reveries reserved for spectres of the dark”. There are a couple of oddly stressed syllables on “your own aural design” and “inexorably”. I’d veer away from the life/strife rhyme, which just seems too predictable. Musically, this has a lot of drama and energy, and a good shape. I particularly like the way the guitar soloing builds, and the solid ending.
Sober - On Shenandoah
I may have been biased by the title, but I’m hearing so much of “Shenandoah” in here that it’s hard to hear the elements that are original to you. Maybe if you’d titled it “Live Forever”? I think even then I couldn’t unhear the source material, including some of the other songs you reference in the lyrics. That may be the nature of interpolating folk music that already has so many variations imprinted on it. That said, the lyrics and performance are obviously done with a lot of feeling and care. As usual, the musicianship and arrangement are excellent, every layer and placement. Very strong vocal here too.
Wendy Wiseman Fisher - The Song That Opened The Sky [SHADOW]
Great title line, very evocative. Sounds like a Disney soundtrack. I typed that sentence one measure into my first listen, and before reading any of your lyrics or liner notes! I wasn’t familiar with “A Whole New World” so I checked it out, and I’m impressed that you’ve kept the feel without sounding substantially like the song that inspired you. I’m also impressed that you’re taking a romantic duet as a part of departure for an on-my-own liberation song. The changing tonality keeps things interesting, and the orchestration gives it an epic feel. You certainly have the pipes for this. This could be part of an autobiographical musical, which maybe you should write!
Sunbucket - dreammachine (Shadow)
I like the concept. I love the catchy chorus. I expect to fully inhabit the dream in the song within a song. There’s something really satisfying to me about having unusual language like “stroboscopic images” mixed with simple changes and catchy repetitions. I really enjoy the “witness to the revolution” stanza in particular. Thought-provoking stuff. If only the Everly Brothers knew their chorus would be interpolated this way! Really interesting stuff in the liner notes, too; I’m going to learn more about this!
Gammamman - Just Felt Like That (shadow)
The tonality takes some getting used to at first. The words are sort of arbitrary and sort of about arbitrariness! It does have some elements of conventional song structure. I like the kind of hip-hop feel of the drums upon later listening. There’s some artful use of vocal pitch manipulation.
Gammamman - Under Your Shadow (shadow)
The intro is hilarious. Love when the beat comes in. Very playful rapping and hook. Dang, this is fun.
Nice pop-soul sensibility. Ha, recursive chorus. Funny serious declarations of laughing ass off. The contrast between verses and choruses works well. Lots of interesting stuff in the lyrics. Diggable harmonies. I dig the twelve-tone piano riffing. Honestly this reminds quite a bit of some of Prince’s experimental stuff, circa Sign o the Times.
Gammamman - You Are (shadow)
I also very much appreciate the intro to this, both the performance and the ideas. I like the use of contrasting scales. That pentatonic motif is really catchy. And the interplay between the two songs. I really enjoy the a capella bridge-like section addressing the other song. It’s certainly meta for this round’s challenge. Love the sign-off!
Siebass (shadow)
Haha, such a stoner collage, with the polka intro, the bubbly sound effects and minimal spoken vocals. If I hadn’t looked at the song bio, I would have guessed this was written about a Phish concert. I love the backmasked drum unding.
Nathan Joe Long (shadow)
I like the theme and lyrics. I’m not familiar with the Tool song, but I feel I can totally trust you’ve done something different! I’m enjoying the music a lot, and am impressed by the variety of styles I’ve heard from you so far. The vocal phrasing has a nice swing to it. Ooh, I like the drop. This is really well conceived and performed.
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