Letters to the Editor
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Still Waiting for a Great Song
zzzzz....
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worst music contest ever
I can't believe how bad this contest is.
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Reel Big Fish?
This sounds like Reel Big Fish.
Organic?
Sounds like the Unicorns meets the Postal Service. That's not original. It's called ripping off.
The other one is helpless.
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reeeeeeely big fish, RIPOFF!!!
Jody's absolutely right. This first band sounds exactly like Reel Big Fish. Just like someone pointed out last week about Hallelujah the Hills. Is this whole thing strictly a Ska contest or what?
No but seriously, every single song we've heard so far sounds like a klezmer band on their night off doing a Thin Lizzy version of a Toto song with Ethel Mirman on vocals.
At the very least almost every band has used some combination of melody, harmony and rhythm all of which were patented by Van Dyke Parks 3 decade ago.
Total ripoffs. Can we please hear some ORIGINAL music now!?
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Seriously...
This contest is making me tired all over.
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Wow
I actually entered a song in this contest. Having heard what they've selected so far, all I can say is: Wow, did I miss the boat entirely. My song was far, far, far from anything like what the judges were apparently looking for.
I'm sure I've learned an important lesson about music from this, but I'm not sure what it was.
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Dear Editors
I'd just like to echo an earlier sentiment that all of the entries should be posted. It would generate a lot of discussion and I'm sure many of us would enjoy a lot of the songs that we otherwise would never have heard.
Yes, I submitted one.
But what a great idea! ;)
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The ways of the contest are mysterious indeed...
I, Marz I'm with you. It seems to me that the judges are favoring eclectic, artsy tunes - which, when you think about it is in keeping with the spirit of Salon.
I'm very happy with the song I submitted, and think it's certainly in the same league (quality-wise) with the six that we've heard so far. That being said, it is absolutely not in the genre(s) the judges are favoring - so I'm not breathless with anticipation that it's going to show up in the next few weeks.
Then again, who knows? Maybe the world is ready for my particular variety of urban polka!
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Haterz!!!
All ya'all are a bunch of haters who are resigned to bitching on internet bulletin boards because their dorm-room garage band tracks didn't make the cut.
Sorry, kids. Instead of hating you should praise the efforts of the fine young musicians that were selected, for they are clearly the future of independent music, and salon has always been on the cutting edge of new and exciting developments in independent music. The Hallelujah Hills' eponymous fine blend of Flogging Molly-esque Irish supremacy and 'end of the world as we know it' verses makes me entirely forget about how much I hated the Boston music scene. And if the Main Drag's "Unicorns meets Postal Service rip-off" doesn't make you want to fucking party then you may need go back to fucking Rock 101 and listen to some Death Cab and Matchbox Twenty. Jagged hours, bitches.
gc
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OK, I'll Step Up...
...and offer to host all the losers' songs on my web site.
I submitted a song as well, and like many of the people who've commented on the very biased filtering of Bartlett et al, I agree that all the contest entries should be made available to everyone so they can judge for themselves. I have the feeling there were tons of great songs submitted to this contest that are much more interesting than what's been offered so far, and I want to hear all of them as much as everyone else here does.
Go to doctechnical dot com slash cgi dash bin slash salonlosers dot cgi and fill out the form there.
-doccy
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Just to clarify
I'm not knocking the songs that did make it to the finals, I've thought just about all of them (including both that are in this week) were awesome. I was saying this: boy do they sound nothing like the song I submitted. The closest anything has been to the song I submitted was "Wikipedia" (which was also, by the way, totally awesome), and even that was way in another direction.
I'm not saying that this isn't a loser's lament. Just that it's not directed at the winners or the judges.
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No contest
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No Contest
The main drag song is pretty cool. Awesome, in fact. The other song, though, is a mammoth waste of spectral frequencies. It sounds the way radiohead would sound if radiohead were f*&%ing terrible.
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Some ideas to consider
Dear Salon,
A couple of thoughts:
1) I think having a "best-unsigned-bands" contest is a great idea!
2) Some of the hard-working artists who took the time to enter your contest are a little upset because they have no idea who entered, or what their fellow contestants sounded like. They are only taking the word of your expert music blogger panelists and your celebrity judges (which, frankly, have not to this point been agreed with) about the quality of the bands that have been included in the contest.
3) You have to admit that to an outsider, some things seem unnecessarialy "hinkey" about this contest. For example, one of the pre-contest "featured" bands (the Stairs) was related to one of the other finalists. That finalist (HTH) told their fellow finalist (The motown guy) about the contest. And, as another blogger writes, the first round "winners" were professional producers (the "motorcycle" band). Just thinking about the statistics involved when you are dealing with 10 out of a field of almost 500 bands makes me feel a little uneasy.
4) Most important, please remember that it's not just random people that filled out an online form that are providing your contest with material. The people who entered this contest spent a great deal of time (and often money) putting these songs together. They deserve your consideration and respect.
5) Finally, you should really post all of the songs that were originally submitted, once the contest has ended. Your subscribers may not agree with your panelists, but they will certainly get to hear hundreds of new songs, and in the end, isn't that the point? This has been brought up a couple of times already, but it has not been commented on by Salon. I know that it is technically possible to do this, so why not?