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Saturday, July 27, 2013

SpinTunes #7 Round 2 Review: Ross Durand

First of all, let me say that I did not get the time this week to have studied these songs as closely as I would have liked, so the reviews are a bit rough and I suppose there are things I may have caught on repeated listening. Even so, I am pretty sure these are the rankings I would have arrived at either way. I hope my rush did not end up giving anyone short shrift.
 
I rewarded through composition pretty heavily, and did ding things that seemed to me to include repetition that went outside how I feel about through composition. For those that were clearly through composed, I favor the ones with transitions that felt smoother, rather than those with broad stylistic changes. It seemed to me that everyone fit the content challenge, although I admit I am still needing to dig into Governing dynamic’s lyrics.
 
Anyway, tough challenge, pretty well done by everyone, and I like the variety of topics the content challenge led to - it was a fun listen.
 
Here are my brief and unrefined reviews.
 
Blimp Exhaust - Goodbye
Some super interesting stuff right off the bat, neat transitions. Fun Changes. excellent variety all stylistically consistent.
 
Turboshandy - Generic Relationship
Suite approach - classic relationship song, makes me think a little of “fell in love with a drummer” by Wilco. This is really good. challenge clearly met in multiple ways. The way the styles change with the emotional journey is really well done. (ooh, I wish you hadn’t meta-songed it at the end)
 
Ominous Ride - 2 Minute Meltdown
I really like how smoothly this transitions from section to section. The change from the beginning to the electric section is very effective.
 
Steve Durand - Airport Rag
Cute idea - I admit that I am partial to the kind of through composition with the least idiomatic change. This starts out excellently. I feel like it loses some momentum at the waltz part and the way the words lie didn’t really keep me on the story throughout. Clever ending. Challenge met, although the guy doesn’t quite go through the airport, just into :-) (not really holding that against you).
 
Menage a Tune - Transition
The very adult POV makes the beginning work great. I like the way you go back and forth between the two points of view. Another one with some fairly large section changes, a la suite. Some fun layering in the middle. It goes a bit long. Challenges met. 
 
RC - A Marriage In Seven Parts
A lot of really good things here, I think the song flows pretty well, but the tunes are not engaging me much, and it seems a bit matter-of-fact. More poetry, maybe? Too long for what it is, probably. Some really good stuff in here various places. There are spots that remind me of Kevin Gilbert’s acoustic stuff in a good way. He is a bit obscure, but worth a shout-out if you’ll check him out.
 
Edric Haleen  - Possibilites
Wow - I really don’t like Meta-songs. So bias alert.  The sound of a recap at 2:00 works against you for me in terms of through composition, although I note that you do take off from there. The “umm” “ahh” stuff is kinda weird. I guess this is about trying to write a song - going through the creative process? This is a cute idea, but there are a lot of negative buttons pushed for me, and in the end it felt to me like it ended up being about nothing, sort of. This is hard for me to rank, because I think you accomplished what you set out to do, and yet, as I say above, there were just several things that my sensibilities didn’t dig - can’t argue the quality, though. I hope you don’t get cut, this just wasn’t the song for me.
 
Governing Dynamics - Synesthesia
This starts out so slow. Having a hard time getting really engaged in it. It’s an interesting sound, but it just sounds wander-ey, to me. You sound like you mean it, but I am not sure exactly what you mean, here. What are you going through? Some great fun word play and imagery related to your title, though. Overall I thought the song sounded like a peanut butter sandwich ;-)
 
Mariah Mercedes - Breach
This takes a really long time to develop to me. It seems to be much about sound - and the other song content seems to have to compete to get through. Interesting idea, though.
 
Emperor Gum - Halcyon
Not much happening in the first minute. Is this the Odyssey? I can’t help but shake the feeling that it just develops too slowly. Ambitious, but not engaging to me. Might have been a good entry for the rock opera round last year.
 
Sid Brown - Wormhole To Hell
Going through a wormhole - nice idea. I do find myself wishing your singing had the same intensity as the rest of the track. You repeat the chorus, I am taking some points for that. The instrumental at 2:24 seems a repeat of previous content. This is just not through composed enough for me. But I like the song content.
 
Rikers Island - Hell-A-X
Lots of repeated changes right after the suspicious package part. I like the way the arrangement changes. Interestingly thematically similar to Steve Durand’s entry. This does not meet my through composed meter. Especially with the repeated “wish that I could fly away” bits.
 
Boffo Yux Dudes - Bloodstream
I have a very hard time hearing the words without the lyrics. Good transitions. Not sure I am locked into the content, but it does make the manic changes in the last part of the song work pretty well. The last part of this, starting at 3:00 or so gets too repetitive for the idea of through composed for me.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the review, sorry you didn't care for it.

    -Gray [Emperor Gum]

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