tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post6788369578941542948..comments2023-09-02T10:15:35.040-04:00Comments on ________SpinTunes: SpinTunes #3 Round 1 Review: David SantucciSpinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12452313762487064094noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-28139695221785819072011-06-29T00:47:18.742-04:002011-06-29T00:47:18.742-04:00Hi JoAnn, I've listened to your song again, an...Hi JoAnn, I've listened to your song again, and I think I like it a lot more this time through, as I am not trying to get through nearly 40 songs under a strict deadline, in between trying to keep the family happy after being at work for 12 hours a day. I like the story and the way you told it, and I'm sorry if my brain was just a little frazzled in the first round so I didn't grasp everything as readily as I should've.<br /><br />That being said though, still your song wasn't one of my favorites, not necessarily because you didn't do a good job with it, but just because the overall sound and "flavor" of the song just doesn't grab me. This goes back to the "campy" comment. I guess by that what I meant was the whole sound more than anything; the bells/xylophone/music box sound, and nursery rhyme feel to it. While that goes brilliantly with the setting and events of the song, and perhaps I didn't give you enough credit for all of it together as a whole, unfortunately it just struck me at the time as too sort of over-the-top silly. I don't want to say it wasn't "cool" sounding like some of the other songs that had more of a rock feel, because I have very diverse tastes, but I suppose that's almost one way you could look at it.<br /><br />The basic reaction I had to the music (not the words, but the music and melody) was just that it didn't grab me. I didn't dislike it; listening to it again I like it more now than I did the first time, and I think the story is awesome. I guess just the whole style of the song was something I wasn't able to appreciate or fully grasp during the judging process. As a piece of dark comedy, it's great. I wish we had had more time during the first round of judging, because unfortunately with the number of entries, and the scant amount of time I had to work on this, I had to go with first impressions and gut reaction, and perhaps I might've ranked your song higher if that wasn't the case. I don't really know.<br /><br />The concept was great, and the story was great, the sound just didn't do it for me, and that is not really anything you could've done anything about. Perhaps it is me being thick headed, and perhaps my reaction would've been different had I had more time. I hope this answers your question, and I wish you much success and continued fun with your music.Dave Santuccihttp://www.youtube.com/WhistlersBrothernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-45839403840052628842011-06-28T15:22:22.811-04:002011-06-28T15:22:22.811-04:00I don't think you should need to read the bios...I don't think you should need to read the bios to get a feel for the song or to understand it; ditto needing to read the lyrics because you can't hear them clearly. A song should stand on it's own, no matter who sings it.<br /> I didn't want to go for blatently obvious- the set up of the reason why she would want to kill, the use of "careful cutting careful mixing" after the mention of the algae killer was intended to lead the listener to a growing sense of horror at what they realized she was doing and why. Finishing with the faces turning grey as they died, and the ambulance making her feel like it was a party were intended to finish the story and let you see her happiness as well as how the abuse she endured taught her to be as unfeeling as they were. Baldly saying "I got beat up all the time so I poisoned some candy, knowing the bullies would beat me up and steal it and then die"- well it would be a really short song and have no style to it in my opinion. I have always prefered to be led along the path of a story so I can discover parts of it for myself; my favorite authors avoid obvious exposition but work the clues of the world into the story more naturally. Jonathan Coulton does a similar thing with many of his songs, I love dicussing the multiple meanings behind them with others on his forums.<br /> To put it in other words- I prefer the wit of innuendo to the club of someone naming body parts for shock value.<br /> I am not certain what you mean by "too campy", can you elaborate please?JoAnn Abbottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-14433785818081365722011-06-26T17:54:21.920-04:002011-06-26T17:54:21.920-04:00In regards to the Gold Lion incident, I chuckled w...In regards to the Gold Lion incident, I chuckled when I read the "sexy" comment because that told me, right away, that you hadn't read the bios. I made a comment about the tone of her song in contrast to her age in my Negative Reinforcement review, and seeing your comment made me proud that I was right. I don't think anyone will judge you for it, though. (Get it?)S. Kablamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-87532583073934106042011-06-26T09:39:35.438-04:002011-06-26T09:39:35.438-04:00I'm tempted to have this review framed. Thanks...I'm tempted to have this review framed. Thanks for the very kind words, Dave.Dave Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08617556290378317379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-28065876411654666592011-06-26T01:44:12.945-04:002011-06-26T01:44:12.945-04:00Shoot!! One last comment and then I promise I'...Shoot!! One last comment and then I promise I'm done for tonight. Regarding my review of Gold Lion - In the Afterlife. Why does my foot always find its way into my mouth? I deliberately did not read any of the bios prior to the competition--I never even clicked on the page at all--and only from reading one of the other judges' reviews did I just now realize that you might be young, Mariah. Had a bit of a "whoops" moment as I clicked over and saw your bio, and I want to apologize if my use of the word "sexy" was not the best choice of words when reviewing the song of a 15 year old!! Completely not intentional, and if I had known, I certainly would've used some other choice of words. That doesn't change how your sound struck me, of course. The song was, after all, sexy sounding, and now that I said it, obviously I can't take it back.<br /><br />Mainly I just want to make it clear that I did not intend to be inappropriate in any way with that choice of words. I did not read any of the bios first, so I was reviewing your music for its own sake (all of you, not just Mariah), entirely devoid of any knowledge about who made it. Never would've guessed this song was created by someone so young! Awesome job. Mariah, I hope you can accept my apology and I hope no one thinks it's weird that I felt the need to say all of this. People often make assumptions, and I simply don't want anyone assuming I knew who I was talking to when I wrote that review.<br /><br />At the risk of sounding like someone a little too worried about what people might think, I felt this was important enough to clarify. If that makes me weird, then so be it. I have been the victim of ridiculous online defamation before, so I am much more careful these days if I ever discover that I've said something that could be misconstrued and/or deliberately twisted out of context by someone with an axe to grind. It's sad, but unfortunately I can never go back to just not giving a shit how someone might perceive something. (And I truly wish I could.) Thank you for understanding.Dave Santuccihttp://www.facebook.com/professional.whistlernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-29680045442455557782011-06-26T00:59:22.758-04:002011-06-26T00:59:22.758-04:00Prime example of one song I totally didn't get...Prime example of one song I totally didn't get the lyrics on -- "Burning for You." There were a couple key words I didn't hear, especially "immolate" and "ashes" which would've made it crystal clear to me, and would've made the song that much more enjoyable because of the darkness and twisted humor of it.<br /><br />Now that I "get it" I feel like maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention when listening to your song... And yet I think I was, but still somehow missed those two key things that made all the difference. I actually feel a bit stupid now that I didn't "get it" and I promise in future rounds I will try to give songs a second listen if I think it totally missed the topic of the challenge, so as not to penalize anyone for my own occasional lapses into stupidity. Jason, I sincerely hope you make it through to the next round because I did not give you anywhere near enough credit for the wonderful creativity of your concept. I liked your song before, and now I love it.Dave Santuccihttp://www.facebook.com/professional.whistlernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5260501053118933495.post-80560074570402530572011-06-26T00:22:35.432-04:002011-06-26T00:22:35.432-04:00I probably should've written a little intro as...I probably should've written a little intro as some of the other judges did, but since I didn't, there is one thing I want to explain about my reviews: I did not read anyone's lyrics. (And I still haven't.)<br /><br />I listened to your song, and if I couldn't tell what it was about from hearing it, then I didn't get it. Whether this is a fair method of judging in a songwriting competition is a matter of opinion, and there might've been some entries with a lot more relevance to the topic at hand than what I gave credit for. But music is, after all, an audio experience to be enjoyed with the ears, and so to me even the most brilliant, thoughtful lyrics are wasted if I can't figure it out just from hearing the song. If I had to read the lyrics to grasp what a song is about, then to me the songwriter didn't quite do their job. So, if in my review of your song I said it wasn't relevant to the topic, when it actually was, this is probably because I didn't read your lyrics and didn't "get it" just from listening.<br /><br />While I just spent a fair amount of time explaining that, I also want you to know that relevance to the topic was not the only factor in how I ranked the songs, nor was it the most important. Of primary importance to me was the overall sound, the clarity of the sound and "cleanliness" of the production, the ability to understand the lyrics, and the creativity/originality of the topic and lyrics. There were other factors as well but these are the main ones I use. Again, it is all about the sound for me, and the reaction that sound gets from me as I listen.<br /><br />Lastly, I want to say, I hope no one thought I was being mean in my criticisms. That was not my intention. I tried to keep it constructive while at the same time being totally honest when there was something that could've been better. If I failed at that, and you think I was a jerk, I apologize. If there were things about your song I didn't like, I think I would be doing you a disservice as a judge if I failed to tell you these things to give you something to help you improve your craft. I will be the first to say that my own music gets a quite fair amount of criticism in addition to the praise, and the praise is always nice, but of the two, what I value the most is hearing criticism. Because that's what will help me improve so my music can be the best it can be. I hope I was not too hard on anyone or insensitive though; my goal is just to be as honest as possible.<br /><br />That being said, if you have any criticisms for me on my judging, you are certainly welcome to post a comment and let me know, so that I may improve too. Fair is fair, after all. :)<br /><br />I hope everyone is enjoying themselves with this competition!!Dave Santuccihttp://www.facebook.com/professional.whistlernoreply@blogger.com