@Angelastic: I hadn't realized this was a formal debate, so I didn't bother to answer all your points earlier.
The fields in which pregnancy and lactation are most problematic are often those in which people are expected to work long hours without interruption and/or vacation or those in which exposure to radiation or toxins might risk the health of a fetus or breast-fed child. Chemistry comes especially to mind, largely because it's my wife's field. With reproduction often delayed by graduate school and the biological clock ticking loudly during a time in life when many men are pursuing tenure, many women end up leaving the field. My wife is currently working in industry, thereby conveniently avoiding much of the tenure-oriented pressure found in fields which are more exclusively academic while not permanently undermining her career.
I don't think pregnancy is an impediment to songwriting, and I'm not convinced that it's a major impediment to recording until late term unless morning sickness is unusually severe. That's a few months, typically only a few times in one's life. Lactating women have time between feedings to do other things, and I'd argue that it's possible (though not necessarily ideal) to write lyrics while nursing. We've all had a chance to see JoCo in a bubble, and it's fairly standard practice to record something in bits and pieces and stitch them all together at the end; it's not something that requires great contiguous chunks of time.
Expanding on my previous point about motivation, it's possible that men (some men, at least) use songwriting and performance in courtship, which is a common context for competition between men. It's a gender-specific behavior that's encouraged by sexual selection. I'm not sure women use music the same way, though the technique would probably be fairly effective. Yeah, I know, I'm making JoCo sound like some sort of passerine, but didn't he and his friends perform at his wedding reception? ;-) (This is a somewhat silly argument, which is why I didn't bring it up previously.)
well, i nearly posted my song concept and idea a couple of days ago but then i decided I didn't want to mess anyone up or distract them. But I supposed they should be all in the recording phase now so I suppose it's safe. If not, well you've been warned.
My idea was to make the song from the moons point of view as if she were in a bad relationship and lamenting all the bad things that get spoken about her. But I didn't want to specifically say that it was the moon either so that in reading it could perhaps be an actual woman. I have two verses. "You say i have a darkside/that's not really true/but i have a side that you don't see/a side i keep from you" and "you say that I am distant/you know that makes me blue/'cause i spend my whole existance/revolving around you" I needed a new middle verse. The chorus is not fully formed but has something to do with "you might think i'm a harsh mistress/but you'd be so cold without me/your nights would be so lonely/you'd find no tranquility" and the bridge, also unfromed is about "i go through phases/i know cold can't warm your heart/and despite our ages/I think we're slowly drifting apart" The music has a slow, minor, bluesy feel to it. (The musical inspiration is from the band UFO, the album Lights Out, the song Try Me) with a begining walkdown similar to I'm your moon or Still Alive. maybe i'll finish it someday.
Nice lyrics... incidentally, the poem I started writing could also be thought to be about a person (but in a good relationship, and just not there all the time.) This is all I've got so far:
I miss you when you go away. Awake on a dark lonely night, there's so much more that I could say (I just thought of that line a few seconds ago so that I could post a whole stanza, it's not exactly final) at the end of the day, you're my light
But yeah, I'll leave the stage to the actual songwriters now. I can't wait to hear all of these!
I don't think pregnancy is an impediment to songwriting, and I'm not convinced that it's a major impediment to recording until late term unless morning sickness is unusually severe. That's a few months, typically only a few times in one's life. Lactating women have time between feedings to do other things, and I'd argue that it's possible (though not necessarily ideal) to write lyrics while nursing. We've all had a chance to see JoCo in a bubble, and it's fairly standard practice to record something in bits and pieces and stitch them all together at the end; it's not something that requires great contiguous chunks of time.
As a pregnant woman I feel pretty well qualified to say that while the physical state isn't in and of itself an impediment to pursuing an interest one is passionate about, in this example say, writing and recording a song. However it does change your priorities (not to mention energy level!) and I have found that my interest in external things has waned a bit and I feel that my world has sort of shrunk to the size of my own body. I'm far more content to while away my time just resting and relaxing than before, almost never feel bored, except at work, and find it hard to concentrate on projects like knitting for long. I'm uncomfortable physically though I'm in the traditionally "easiest" trimester (the second) so I don't find myself able to sit around for periods of time and I sleep a lot more than before. I think more about nesting and tidying up my house than really anything else! Of course everyone is different, in pregnancy as well as in general, so other pregnant women might find they still had enough interest and motivation in their hobbies to pursue them in their downtime!
Sure I wasn't a song writer before, but I was a gamer and I have completely given up all interest in it now. If I were passionate about my song writing I could conceivably find the energy to partake in something like Song Fu if I really wanted to, but I'd probably the process a little too stressful at this time and wouldn't commit myself to it.
Having said that, you are only pregnant for a couple of years total in ones lifetime if one chooses to bear children, so I don't think that in itself is going to represent a large sector of the female song-writing community :P
In short, sure its still physically possible, but one may be less inclined to even try in this "condition" :P
Rob I like your idea and the lyrics! Has a little JoCo-y feel to it!
The sheer number of people just "whipping up a song" is awesome.
I'm with you Mitch! I learned to play instruments at school but I don't have a musical bone in my body. I enjoy music immensely but the idea of writing a song is totally inconceivable to me! Where does a new song come from? I can only imagine existing ones. But then I'm a visual person and can do art and design etc, and some people probably feel the same way about doing a drawing or a painting that I do writing a song, I just see the image in my head and out it comes, its easy!
I don't personally know any women (that I'm aware of, at least) who have both been pregnant and written songs.
Neither! I'm a member of a pregnancy forum where theres a board for mums to be expecting each month, so you have a little community of people at the same stage in their pregnancies as you and we are struggling to do the housework or manage a full time job or existing kids, let alone doing anything creative! There is the odd exceptional person who whips up curtains in the weekend or makes beautiful stuffed toys but we marvel at them! XD
I think we were discussing why theres a lack of women partaking and Angelastic said that perhaps stereotypical gender roles were keeping the women away and that sparked that discussion. I think its over now :P
Even if I dont win, the process has been pretty interesting, and worthwhile. I have wondered if I could write a song on a deadline and to someone else's 'specifications'. In the past any song I have written has been an accident. Not quite like tripping over my guitar and landing on a song, but not too far off either.
I made an attempt NOT put a song together that sounded like Jonathan Coulton throw-away, but I have been listening to so much of him the past three months I may have done that anyway. It sorta came out sounding like the unholy progeny of David Bowie and Slim Cessna's Autoclub.
Nothing like the gloomy 90's-era heroin/grunge rock I am used to making. (sans heroin of course)
First impressions of the Masters: P&S take it. I'm going to re-listen before voting, but while we all suspected there would be werewolf songs, they used the best song format for it (50s doowop). Rifftrax's song is too long and all over the map (while it has some great lines: "The moon is a loser."), and Jonathan's track is straightforward. I think I hold him to a higher expectation, and while it's a decent song, it's not spectacular.
Starting off on Jeff's song now. Jeff, has anyone told you that you sound like Michael Penn?~
ETA: I'm actually 5 tracks in without the site crapping out on me yet. Seems much improved over last round.
Six tracks in, and (Jason) ManFriday's the definitive leader for me. I had to pause and cover my mouth from laughter at the "guy from Bauhaus" line. Insane Ian sounds like "Booger" from the Revenge of the Nerds movies and while I can appreciate the Tom Lehrer attempt that Edric made, I can't even hear him well enough to appreciate the lyrics.
I don't understand the comments about skipping. Can't you just download the songs and play them locally? That's what I've always done, no problem with skipping that way.
I didn't even notice there were also streaming versions until just then, when I deliberately scrolled all the way down looking for them. I can't wait to get home so I can listen to them. Well, actually I can wait, because I'm going to IKEA tonight, for the first time in my life. I'm looking forward to eating tasty meatballs.
OK, I'm all the way through. Basically, if your name starts with "J" in the Challengers group, you've made it to my "listen a 2nd time" list, heh. I liked Jeff, Jason, Jeremy and Jutze's songs the best.
I'd like to note that the people on this board are such internet geeks that Jason threw in a "eaten by a grue" joke AND Jutze referenced the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Way to pander to your audience, guys.
I think Jason's getting my vote, but I want to wait a bit and listen to the four tracks again. The issue I found in general is that because the moon is all romantic, night-based and such ... a lot of the songs were of that pace. It's hard to listen to 17 tracks in a row that are "nicey nice", when a lot of them don't stand out. If not for the two peppy songs at the end, I may have fallen asleep.
A few misc notes: Bram, I liked your track but your vocals didn't do it for me. The hypocrisy of it is that that's what I sound like when I attempt to sing. Maybe you're getting some unfair self-loathing backlash from me. I think I would have like RATD's song better if I didn't hear their previous entries ... it sounds different and unique, but it sounds the same kind of different and unique that the previous entries did, ya know? And in the end, I think more people referenced the tides than werewolves. Go figure.
OK, so far I've only listened to each song once, and osme not all the way through because they didn't hold my interest. I WILL listen to each at least once again when I'm not at work, so these are my very very first impressions of songs that DID immediately hold my interest:
Masters:
1. JoCo: a much blander, simpler song than I'm used to hearing from him, but maybe it's because it usually takes me at least 3-4 listens to warm up to a JoCo song at which point I fall in love with it.
2. P&S: My favorite among the masters after one listen through (as I expected), I don't enjoy this musical style too much though so we'll see how it holds up.
3. Rifftones: Eh, it was alright. Started dragging about halfway through so I stopped it. I'll need to listen again.
Challengers:
1. Jeff MacDougall - lovely song, I listened all the way through. I genuinely enjoyed it more than the others, but that might be because I felt slightly burnt out by all the slow, romantic songs later on.
2. RATD - Different, but also boring.
3. Jason Morris - I liked the music, though I'll need to pay closer attention to the lyrics.
4. Edric Haleen - Ooh, piano! A little quiet though. Must listen again.
5. Buckethat - I liked the music and lyrics, vocals not as much.
6. Insane Ian - REALLY liked it, he had my attention until he went insane which ruined the song for me. Although, I guess I should have seen it coming?
7. Bram - I need to listen to this song again, can't give an opinion right now as I don't remember much of it.
8. Mick Bordet - ditto.
9. Steve Chatterton - The light wispy vocals put me off. I'll give it another chance and listen again though.
10. Tom Rooney - not bad, and seemed to have higher production quality than the others.
11. Nate shivers - see #7.
12. Jeremy Pierson - ditto.
13. Jutze - I liked it! One of the higher contenders for me.
First impressions of challengers - Jeff Macdougall, Jason Morriss, and Jutze are my favorites right now.
By the way, I really like following along with typed lyrics when I listen to a song, makes it much easier for me to evaluate lyrics - I have a history for confusing words in songs for years and misinterpreting their meaning. Is it possible for the challengers (at least the ones who see this) to post them?
i don't seem to have the all-consuming passion for double-tracked vocals as our hero. i feel like it would be a lot more effective if it was just the chorus and maybe just a few other spots, for emphasis. also i am not big on the christian creation myth, it being all sexist and stuff. i do like the 1st verse though, and i love the 3rd one. he's right that that's the strongest one.
i feel like i've heard about a creation myth involving bivalves recently. have to see if i can track it down.
the thing i think that's a little disconcerting about this song to me is it doesn't seem to have quite as marked a musical progression as some of his other ones that i really like. the ending is also kind of abrupt, although i guess ending songs is a problem popular music has grappled with since its inception. (fade out = cop out.) it does have a certain simplicity, or austerity that i dig. (kind of like 'heaven' by the talking heads.)
can't listen to any of the others because my work has blocked the mp3s from the site somehow, and the button on p&s's blog en't working for me.
MitchO: I had to record the vocals last night past midnight, silently so not to disturb my family in their sleep. Couldn't do better under the circumstances. And I only have a crappy pc mic to record with, so it's low quality anyway.
I will post a blog post here soon (right now it's still empty) with the lyrics, but for now they're available here.
Well this whole thing has been pretty exciting and nerve wracking to this point. Obviously there's a group of talented folks participating. I have only listened to a few so far. Maybe half. Congrats to all who completed the task in such a short time. I've learned lately that I need a challenge like this to push me to get off the couch. The only real completed songs I can claim came out of the RPM Challenge(www.rpmchallenge.com). I'm up to 4 total songs so far. Everything else has been instrumental. Emphasis on the mental. I'll probably sign up if there is a third song fu as I have no illusions about advancing to round 2.
Let me say that I marvel at the sound quality and production of JoCo's work. There's no area of the subject of songwriting where he is lacking. I'd say Always the moon is a good song but the bar he has set for himself is ridiculous. That being said, I'd say it's not his best.
My tune on the other hand is in fact my best and in the end I guess I'll be happy if it's judged to "not suck".
@Bram: I understand. I don't know how some of you are even juggling this contest in with all the "real life" stuff. I love your concept, and I'm actually a little surprised you're the only one who went that way with it. You're definitely in the top half for me, just on lyrics and idea alone, so hopefully that's enough to advance you to the next round.
I listened again to my top constestant choices, in reverse order so as to not assume the "slow song drag" was part of my decisions, and it came down to Jason and Jeff for me.
-I like Jeremy's song a lot, and if/when we see lyrics it may help me a bit on it, because I'm a little unsure where he's going with the imagery. I seem to get some weird "The moon is an apple" feeling from the food references. -Jutze cracked me up, but I think the other guys had stronger vocal recordings. I bet it's a similar issue to what Bram has, the equipment/availability thing. Maybe not fair, but judging the song against so many others, its inevitable. -Insane Ian was, amazingly enough, the only one to make a pants down reference! But I can't get past the "insane" thing. -I was disappointed that I didn't like N8's entry more; it's pretty, he seems to conjure a nice image, but again .. needs a stronger vocal recording.
In the end, I went with Jason. I really like Jeff's voice, from the previous recordings and from this one. As I said earlier, I get a real Michael Penn feel from it, and I'm a big fan of his. It stood well above the other, more bland "romantic moon" songs. I do feel Jeff strained a bit at the higher range (I noticed it in particular at the word "clear" in the chorus, especially since the next line after it has such fantastic pitch). And Jason just grabs me at the very start: "For immediate release, the Universe Corporation ..". LOL. Very Hitchhiker's Guide.
All in all, I'm glad that all the participants from this board have strong enough entries that I believe they should make the cut. I didn't want to dislike any of the songs from people I share a message board with. They only cut to top 5 though? Bleah. They should go to 7 or so.
(It appears that, as of my vote, 4 of the 5 challengers I'd want to see move on are in the top 5. We need to replace Edric with Jutze~)
MitchO: Thanks for the compliment. Exams really bogged me down so I only had the last two evenings to work on it and record. I must thank mtgordon for feedback on my ideas/work, giving ideas and helping out with the lyrics.
Quick first impressions: Among the challengers, I'm down to Insane Ian and JeffM. I'll probably end up going with Jeff, because really it's the same excellent quality that got him so far last time. But Ian had me laughing all the way through, and that's worth something.
Also, big points to Jutze for clever lyrics and especially the FSM reference.
As for the Masters, I was a little surprised. I read the comments on this forum before listening, so I was expecting good things from Paul & Storm, a slight disapointment from JoCo, and nothing good from the Rifftones.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the Rifftones - very funny, though a little too long. The moon is a dick and a planetoid loser? How can you not like that?
As for JoCo, I think folks here are selling this one short. Of course we all expect greatness from him every time, and not every song can be Space Doggity or Octopus. The first thing I thought of when listening to this was Washy Ad Jeffy. Not one of his masterpieces, but simple and elegant and wears well over time. I'll have to give them a few more listens to decide if it beats out Paul & Storm's catchy werewolf tune.
i can't stop listening to 'always the moon'. really, that's the most important part of the analysis. there are a few bits that bug me and a few bits that really stuck out as fantastic, but in the end i can't stop listening to it.
until lunch, anyway. missed breakfast today.... >.>
I'm going to have to go for Paul & Storm in the master's category. Hopefully JC sees this as a wake-up call and (assuming he makes it to the next round), he brings his A-level Fu next time.
@MitchO: "the equipment/availability thing" boils down to my limited vocal talent. The vocals are prominent in the mix, anyway. I figured I only have a chance when people can actually understand what I'm singing.
@thePregnantWomenSongwritingDiscussionGroup: The singer of my band was pregnant last year (and is now a proud mother); writing songs with her was no different during that time compared to before. Since the child ruined everything her focus has shifted (plus, I moved abroad). But if there's going to be a third Song Fu, maybe we'll participate together.
@theMoon: Writing "a song about the moon" is an ungrateful job. It works if you're Savage Garden. But the moon is basically a big rock in empty space. You might try to make it funny by assigning a personality to it. Or you just assemble lines about a big rock in empty space. Let's not forget Apollo 11. But this is hardly enough to stir up emotions imho. My favourite Master track is Paul & Storm's, very well executed and entertaining lyrics. Not as good as "Live", but it gets my vote, anyway. I gave my rivals a first listen, but it's too soon for any final words.
Jutze (wonders if he had gotten more votes for The First Monkey on the Moon)
Maybe I'm just really in the mood for a good Simon and Garfunkel type of song, but JoCo's song is exactly what I wanted to hear. It is fitting that the song challenge was from a Paul Simon song.
Do we know what the advancement rules are for this Fu? I guess since Hammer dropped out (pussy) then it'll probably be the same as last time, where the top two master vote-getters go to the next round?
I'm really surprised that the Rifftones are ahead of P&S right now.
I would think they'd want more people advance ... more fans/friends of that person, more diversity means more traffic, etc etc.
I don't understand the severe cut to 5.
I hope they assume Doc is the cut this round and go forward with 3. I would think if they had 4 Masters this round, they had 4 planned rounds, but the cut to 5 in the songwriter section makes that seem difficult .. what, 13, 5, 3, 1?
The voting system still seems a bit buggy. I've put in my votes from this IP, but I still see the voting choices on the page ... when I attempt to re-vote, to see the standings, I get an error message. I want to see where everyone stands, but I can't find a way to do that.
i generally go out of my way to avoid bringing scientology up at all or giving it any more attention than anyone else's hallucinatory ramblings. i'm vaguely recalling something where a bivalve of some sort created the earth. maybe it's just a wicked subtle case of deja vu or something, i don't know. i think it was my roommate in any case, so i'll ask when i get home.
Unfortunately it seems you can only see the totals immediately after you vote. There's no "view results" option, and trying to vote again results in being told that you've already voted.
Wait, I refreshed the page (in Safari) and got the scores, for the challengers at least. They are:
Edric Haleen: 30 Insane Ian: 30 Jeff MacDougall: 28 Buckethat: 22 Jason Morris: 20 Bram Tant: 18 Steve Chatterton: 17 Jeremy Pierson: 14 Run at the Dog: 12 Jutze Schult: 7 Tom Rooney: 5 Nate Shivers: 3 Mick Bordet: 0
This is why I love my fellow JoCoholics. Instead of "JoCo is awesome/everyone else sucks" or snarky comments about the other competitors, the comments are pretty even-handed and people are weighing each song on its merits. Well done, my friends.
I really like "Always the Moon". P&S should pull ahead of the Rifftones imho.
Also, Jeff M is on fire -- every song is better than the last.
Comments
The fields in which pregnancy and lactation are most problematic are often those in which people are expected to work long hours without interruption and/or vacation or those in which exposure to radiation or toxins might risk the health of a fetus or breast-fed child. Chemistry comes especially to mind, largely because it's my wife's field. With reproduction often delayed by graduate school and the biological clock ticking loudly during a time in life when many men are pursuing tenure, many women end up leaving the field. My wife is currently working in industry, thereby conveniently avoiding much of the tenure-oriented pressure found in fields which are more exclusively academic while not permanently undermining her career.
I don't think pregnancy is an impediment to songwriting, and I'm not convinced that it's a major impediment to recording until late term unless morning sickness is unusually severe. That's a few months, typically only a few times in one's life. Lactating women have time between feedings to do other things, and I'd argue that it's possible (though not necessarily ideal) to write lyrics while nursing. We've all had a chance to see JoCo in a bubble, and it's fairly standard practice to record something in bits and pieces and stitch them all together at the end; it's not something that requires great contiguous chunks of time.
Expanding on my previous point about motivation, it's possible that men (some men, at least) use songwriting and performance in courtship, which is a common context for competition between men. It's a gender-specific behavior that's encouraged by sexual selection. I'm not sure women use music the same way, though the technique would probably be fairly effective. Yeah, I know, I'm making JoCo sound like some sort of passerine, but didn't he and his friends perform at his wedding reception? ;-) (This is a somewhat silly argument, which is why I didn't bring it up previously.)
My idea was to make the song from the moons point of view as if she were in a bad relationship and lamenting all the bad things that get spoken about her. But I didn't want to specifically say that it was the moon either so that in reading it could perhaps be an actual woman. I have two verses. "You say i have a darkside/that's not really true/but i have a side that you don't see/a side i keep from you" and "you say that I am distant/you know that makes me blue/'cause i spend my whole existance/revolving around you" I needed a new middle verse. The chorus is not fully formed but has something to do with "you might think i'm a harsh mistress/but you'd be so cold without me/your nights would be so lonely/you'd find no tranquility" and the bridge, also unfromed is about "i go through phases/i know cold can't warm your heart/and despite our ages/I think we're slowly drifting apart"
The music has a slow, minor, bluesy feel to it. (The musical inspiration is from the band UFO, the album Lights Out, the song Try Me) with a begining walkdown similar to I'm your moon or Still Alive. maybe i'll finish it someday.
I miss you when you go away.
Awake on a dark lonely night,
there's so much more that I could say (I just thought of that line a few seconds ago so that I could post a whole stanza, it's not exactly final)
at the end of the day, you're my light
But yeah, I'll leave the stage to the actual songwriters now.
I can't even READ music.
I'm uncomfortable physically though I'm in the traditionally "easiest" trimester (the second) so I don't find myself able to sit around for periods of time and I sleep a lot more than before.
I think more about nesting and tidying up my house than really anything else! Of course everyone is different, in pregnancy as well as in general, so other pregnant women might find they still had enough interest and motivation in their hobbies to pursue them in their downtime!
Sure I wasn't a song writer before, but I was a gamer and I have completely given up all interest in it now. If I were passionate about my song writing I could conceivably find the energy to partake in something like Song Fu if I really wanted to, but I'd probably the process a little too stressful at this time and wouldn't commit myself to it.
Having said that, you are only pregnant for a couple of years total in ones lifetime if one chooses to bear children, so I don't think that in itself is going to represent a large sector of the female song-writing community :P
In short, sure its still physically possible, but one may be less inclined to even try in this "condition" :P
Rob I like your idea and the lyrics! Has a little JoCo-y feel to it!
But then I'm a visual person and can do art and design etc, and some people probably feel the same way about doing a drawing or a painting that I do writing a song, I just see the image in my head and out it comes, its easy!
There is the odd exceptional person who whips up curtains in the weekend or makes beautiful stuffed toys but we marvel at them! XD
Even if I dont win, the process has been pretty interesting, and worthwhile.
I have wondered if I could write a song on a deadline and to someone else's 'specifications'.
In the past any song I have written has been an accident.
Not quite like tripping over my guitar and landing on a song, but not too far off either.
I made an attempt NOT put a song together that sounded like Jonathan Coulton throw-away, but I have been listening to so much of him the past three months I may have done that anyway.
It sorta came out sounding like the unholy progeny of David Bowie and Slim Cessna's Autoclub.
Nothing like the gloomy 90's-era heroin/grunge rock I am used to making. (sans heroin of course)
Point is, I too am jealous-hating on all of you who are making songs. I play chords. That is what I do.
Let the listening begin!
All of our board members got their songs in in time, right? I see MF, Jutze, Jeff and Bram.
Starting off on Jeff's song now. Jeff, has anyone told you that you sound like Michael Penn?~
ETA: I'm actually 5 tracks in without the site crapping out on me yet. Seems much improved over last round.
On to Bram's ...
I didn't even notice there were also streaming versions until just then, when I deliberately scrolled all the way down looking for them. I can't wait to get home so I can listen to them. Well, actually I can wait, because I'm going to IKEA tonight, for the first time in my life. I'm looking forward to eating tasty meatballs.
I'd like to note that the people on this board are such internet geeks that Jason threw in a "eaten by a grue" joke AND Jutze referenced the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Way to pander to your audience, guys.
I think Jason's getting my vote, but I want to wait a bit and listen to the four tracks again. The issue I found in general is that because the moon is all romantic, night-based and such ... a lot of the songs were of that pace. It's hard to listen to 17 tracks in a row that are "nicey nice", when a lot of them don't stand out. If not for the two peppy songs at the end, I may have fallen asleep.
A few misc notes: Bram, I liked your track but your vocals didn't do it for me. The hypocrisy of it is that that's what I sound like when I attempt to sing. Maybe you're getting some unfair self-loathing backlash from me.
Masters:
1. JoCo: a much blander, simpler song than I'm used to hearing from him, but maybe it's because it usually takes me at least 3-4 listens to warm up to a JoCo song at which point I fall in love with it.
2. P&S: My favorite among the masters after one listen through (as I expected), I don't enjoy this musical style too much though so we'll see how it holds up.
3. Rifftones: Eh, it was alright. Started dragging about halfway through so I stopped it. I'll need to listen again.
Challengers:
1. Jeff MacDougall - lovely song, I listened all the way through. I genuinely enjoyed it more than the others, but that might be because I felt slightly burnt out by all the slow, romantic songs later on.
2. RATD - Different, but also boring.
3. Jason Morris - I liked the music, though I'll need to pay closer attention to the lyrics.
4. Edric Haleen - Ooh, piano! A little quiet though. Must listen again.
5. Buckethat - I liked the music and lyrics, vocals not as much.
6. Insane Ian - REALLY liked it, he had my attention until he went insane which ruined the song for me. Although, I guess I should have seen it coming?
7. Bram - I need to listen to this song again, can't give an opinion right now as I don't remember much of it.
8. Mick Bordet - ditto.
9. Steve Chatterton - The light wispy vocals put me off. I'll give it another chance and listen again though.
10. Tom Rooney - not bad, and seemed to have higher production quality than the others.
11. Nate shivers - see #7.
12. Jeremy Pierson - ditto.
13. Jutze - I liked it! One of the higher contenders for me.
First impressions of challengers - Jeff Macdougall, Jason Morriss, and Jutze are my favorites right now.
By the way, I really like following along with typed lyrics when I listen to a song, makes it much easier for me to evaluate lyrics - I have a history for confusing words in songs for years and misinterpreting their meaning. Is it possible for the challengers (at least the ones who see this) to post them?
i feel like i've heard about a creation myth involving bivalves recently. have to see if i can track it down.
the thing i think that's a little disconcerting about this song to me is it doesn't seem to have quite as marked a musical progression as some of his other ones that i really like. the ending is also kind of abrupt, although i guess ending songs is a problem popular music has grappled with since its inception. (fade out = cop out.) it does have a certain simplicity, or austerity that i dig. (kind of like 'heaven' by the talking heads.)
can't listen to any of the others because my work has blocked the mp3s from the site somehow, and the button on p&s's blog en't working for me.
I will post a blog post here soon (right now it's still empty) with the lyrics, but for now they're available here.
Encubed, and others.. If you are interested I have posted the lyrics on my blog/web-site thing.
www.jason-morris.com
Let me say that I marvel at the sound quality and production of JoCo's work. There's no area of the subject of songwriting where he is lacking. I'd say Always the moon is a good song but the bar he has set for himself is ridiculous. That being said, I'd say it's not his best.
My tune on the other hand is in fact my best and in the end I guess I'll be happy if it's judged to "not suck".
I listened again to my top constestant choices, in reverse order so as to not assume the "slow song drag" was part of my decisions, and it came down to Jason and Jeff for me.
-I like Jeremy's song a lot, and if/when we see lyrics it may help me a bit on it, because I'm a little unsure where he's going with the imagery. I seem to get some weird "The moon is an apple" feeling from the food references.
-Jutze cracked me up, but I think the other guys had stronger vocal recordings. I bet it's a similar issue to what Bram has, the equipment/availability thing. Maybe not fair, but judging the song against so many others, its inevitable.
-Insane Ian was, amazingly enough, the only one to make a pants down reference! But I can't get past the "insane" thing.
-I was disappointed that I didn't like N8's entry more; it's pretty, he seems to conjure a nice image, but again .. needs a stronger vocal recording.
In the end, I went with Jason. I really like Jeff's voice, from the previous recordings and from this one. As I said earlier, I get a real Michael Penn feel from it, and I'm a big fan of his. It stood well above the other, more bland "romantic moon" songs. I do feel Jeff strained a bit at the higher range (I noticed it in particular at the word "clear" in the chorus, especially since the next line after it has such fantastic pitch). And Jason just grabs me at the very start: "For immediate release, the Universe Corporation ..". LOL. Very Hitchhiker's Guide.
All in all, I'm glad that all the participants from this board have strong enough entries that I believe they should make the cut. I didn't want to dislike any of the songs from people I share a message board with.
(It appears that, as of my vote, 4 of the 5 challengers I'd want to see move on are in the top 5. We need to replace Edric with Jutze~)
Also, big points to Jutze for clever lyrics and especially the FSM reference.
As for the Masters, I was a little surprised. I read the comments on this forum before listening, so I was expecting good things from Paul & Storm, a slight disapointment from JoCo, and nothing good from the Rifftones.
Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the Rifftones - very funny, though a little too long. The moon is a dick and a planetoid loser? How can you not like that?
As for JoCo, I think folks here are selling this one short. Of course we all expect greatness from him every time, and not every song can be Space Doggity or Octopus. The first thing I thought of when listening to this was Washy Ad Jeffy. Not one of his masterpieces, but simple and elegant and wears well over time. I'll have to give them a few more listens to decide if it beats out Paul & Storm's catchy werewolf tune.
until lunch, anyway. missed breakfast today.... >.>
@MitchO: "the equipment/availability thing" boils down to my limited vocal talent. The vocals are prominent in the mix, anyway. I figured I only have a chance when people can actually understand what I'm singing.
@thePregnantWomenSongwritingDiscussionGroup: The singer of my band was pregnant last year (and is now a proud mother); writing songs with her was no different during that time compared to before. Since the child ruined everything her focus has shifted (plus, I moved abroad). But if there's going to be a third Song Fu, maybe we'll participate together.
@theMoon: Writing "a song about the moon" is an ungrateful job. It works if you're Savage Garden. But the moon is basically a big rock in empty space. You might try to make it funny by assigning a personality to it. Or you just assemble lines about a big rock in empty space. Let's not forget Apollo 11. But this is hardly enough to stir up emotions imho. My favourite Master track is Paul & Storm's, very well executed and entertaining lyrics. Not as good as "Live", but it gets my vote, anyway. I gave my rivals a first listen, but it's too soon for any final words.
Jutze
(wonders if he had gotten more votes for The First Monkey on the Moon)
I'm really surprised that the Rifftones are ahead of P&S right now.
I don't understand the severe cut to 5.
I hope they assume Doc is the cut this round and go forward with 3. I would think if they had 4 Masters this round, they had 4 planned rounds, but the cut to 5 in the songwriter section makes that seem difficult .. what, 13, 5, 3, 1?
The web page won't show me the count unless I vote first, and I'm not ready to cast my votes yet.
Edric Haleen: 30
Insane Ian: 30
Jeff MacDougall: 28
Buckethat: 22
Jason Morris: 20
Bram Tant: 18
Steve Chatterton: 17
Jeremy Pierson: 14
Run at the Dog: 12
Jutze Schult: 7
Tom Rooney: 5
Nate Shivers: 3
Mick Bordet: 0
Can't get the master's totals to show.
JoCo: 78
Rifftones: 58
Paul & Storm: 43
I really like "Always the Moon". P&S should pull ahead of the Rifftones imho.
Also, Jeff M is on fire -- every song is better than the last.