For those of you who have not been paying attention, you should know I started a song writing competition. The contest is now over, and you can listen to all the songs over on Bandcamp. You can also download them all for FREE! To find out more about this competition, visit "SpinTunes". There's a permanent link right up above.
I was going to post these reviews as the competition was going on, but as some of you know, there's a good reason why I stopped after round 1. Since this competition is based on 4 challenges, my rankings will strongly reflect how well you met the challenge, and not just on how much I liked your song. These are ordered from favorite to least favorite, with reviews of the shadow songs at the very bottom.
Edric Haleen (Love) - Does a great job of taking someone through the highs & lows of love. The performance is the best of the round, and I can sing it….well except the last line.
Caleb Hines (Insomniac Lullaby) - Loved the idea & story telling. The time signature changes worked to help tell the story wonderfully as well.
“Buckethat” Bobby (Space Pirates) - Most fun song of the round…hands down. I’m more of a space ninja guy personally, but I’m coming arrrround to pirates. I no Bobby was rushed in finishing (we were in ArtiFiction as he was trying to submit his song), so I hope he gives this song some tender love & care later on. It’s more than a little rough at times, and a good recording would have knocked Edric off that #1 spot. Oh….and someone get the man a cough drop.
Ross Durand (Waltz With The Devil) - First line was awesome for about 3 different reasons. The time signature changes didn’t work for me as well as some others, but I loved everything else about the song. Definitely one of my favorites this round.
The Offhand Band (Another Universe) - I didn’t rank it very high, but your last song did have me saying “Step Back Swooperman” at various times throughout the week. This time I enjoyed the whole song, and not just part of it. I really liked the transitions, which were smooth & helped the story along.
Jenny Katz (Miss You) - I love your voice. Is there someway you could sing me directions on my GPS? I can’t find anything bad to say about this, but at the same time my favorite thing about it is your voice. I have no clue where this will fall in my rankings. I have a feeling it’s a song that will move up a little with each listen. You can count on this ending up on my MP3 player.
Governing Dynamics (Eleyna Dreams) - Some of the lyrics I really dug, while others did nothing for me. Overall I enjoyed the song, and even the vocals. They still need work, but the performance is there. Styles being very different, you remind me of Jon Eric. I don’t usually like his vocals, but there’s feeling in the performance.
Kevin Savino-Riker (Here At The Door) - Is it me or is there a lot going on here? I liked the music & the performance a lot. However I’m not sure what the heck the song was about. I feel like copying & pasting a random review I’ve done for Denise Hudson in the past. This type of story telling just doesn’t do it for me. The music ROCKED though.
Charlie McCarran (Sleep On It) - I enjoyed the guitar work a lot. At times I thought you were onto something with the lyrics, but overall they didn’t do it for me. It’s a shame because I did enjoy the tune.
Steve Durand (Rara Avis) - Vocals need work, but this song was catchy nonetheless. I’m not sure why, but this song made me ‘feel’ cool while listening to it. I’m sure that doesn’t make sense, and it’s not helpful feedback, but it was a fun listen.
Sara Parsons (A Little Time) - Lyrcially this didn’t grab me (especially the chorus), but the music & singing were excellent.
Godz Poodlz (Identities Assumed) - I don’t know why exactly, but I couldn’t get into this song. I’m assuming it’s the lyrics being a bit ambiguous? Either way it’s a rarity for me not to jump on the Godz Poodlz bandwagon.
Denise Hudson (Flex Time) - Sexy voice is sexy. I was shocked there was no piano, and I’m thrilled Denise did something a little different from her norm.
Gorbzilla (Than Infinity) - Awwweeeee……it’s cuter than Justin Bieber petting a LOL cat. This song was written for his wife’s birthday more so than this contest. It’s cute, and your wife had to love it so it accomplished it’s main goal. I don’t know if it will get you to round 3, but thanks for sharing it with everyone.
JoAnn Abbott (Life) - The recording sucks. I really hope JoAnn finds someone to partner up with in the future. I really dig her work, but she doesn’t have the equipment or the ability to play music that could make her songs amazing. I’m betting she worked harder than most people this round, and I’m proud of her. Considering she didn’t know what a time signature was when the challenge was announced, she deserves a “Well done.”
Heather Miller (Bullseye) - I don’t associate the term “Bulleyes” with the game of pool…and I play a little bit. But maybe it’s just the people around here that don’t use the term. Anyways, the time sigs were a definite problem for you. It sounds like 2 different songs cut & paste together. Both of them sound like they could be good songs, but they don’t currently fit together.
Emperor Gum (Smoulder 'Yaoya Oshichi') - Some of the music is well…jarring. The transitions aren’t that smooth, but I do think Graham is improving. The production is better than his past entry was, but still needs work. I understood most of the lyrics this time without help. I don’t think he did enough to move onto round 3, but if he keeps improving I can see him getting there one day.
Shadows:
Dr. Lindyke (Minutes And Hours) - It’s pretty, but again I’m not into the lyrics. I like clear stories that don’t force me to decide what the song is about. The performance was typical of Dave….meaning it was great.
Boffo Yux Dudes (How Low Will You Go) - I got tired of the “How Low Will You Go” line, and it’s various mods. It made me laugh at times, but felt too repetitive overall.
These reviews were written long ago. After having listened to the songs more, and having time to reflect, the order may be a little different today. But honestly not much would have changed, and I don't feel like redoing my reviews or rankings since the contest is now over. Some new shadow songs were also submitted after the deadline, and after these reviews were done. So if you wrote a song, but weren't mentioned...that's probably why.
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