PE Creators Songwriting "Challenge" - Results Ready to Share :)

[battema]

(this is admittedly skirting the line regarding the main thread and self-promotion but hopefully it's OK...if not, please feel free to move accordingly)

Hey folks! So there are quite a few folks on PE who are pretty darn great artists in their own right. Had the crazy idea to have a songwriting "challenge" during October where folks could put together a complete song during the month and then we'd all share the results.

It's not a contest, there are no winners, and the only real criteria was to make the songs available on a platform that would be free to use (i.e. nothing hidden behind a subscription service or the like). A handful of us took part and the end results are really pretty fun and cover a wide range of styles. I thought it would be nice to share them here for the slightly wider audience to enjoy

This has been a fun little distraction and a reminder of how much creativity is among our members. It's likely we'll do another one next year, maybe with a bit more of a heads up in advance (30 days IS a very short window) and maybe a few more of us will be able/willing to join. I think there's a lot of awesome talent in these tunes, and I also think this represents just a small subset of the awesome we've got here on PE.

In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys these five entries! I'll put them in a second message momentarily.

Thanks as ever for reading! And Happy Early Halloween
- J

[battema]

And here they are, in order of completion

From the first posted to the latest, here you go:

From Nijinsky Hind:

Bakullama: I live in the Country
https://bakullama1.bandcamp.com/trac...country-single


From Sputnik:

Bill Noland: Little Cat


From pstrawser:

Pat Strawser: Season of Surprise


From Pekka:

O'Man: FLL 19-26


From me:

[mozo-pg]

Wow!! I listened to 3 so far but I'll be back.

[MudShark22]

Everything has been listened to at least three times.

Re: I live in the Country - Bakullama love the vox - for these ears, the cool and freaky really begins with the Velveeta at the 2min mark followed by the talking and then echoey fourth verse restatement before the Velveeta solo thru the fourth minute - everything is excellent, but those two minutes are really excellent

Little Cat - Bill Noland Love the sound of a fretless bass (I own a used beaten up one, not a bassist). The opening "head" when the bass is more supportive has great harmony; then for me it takes off when it takes more of a lead role beginning around 1:50 thru near 3 minute mark when it then blends seamlessly back into the head with some nice changes around 3:50 to finish with that chord at 4:17 (don't have perfect pitch, so I'm gonna hit the keyboard after this)

Season of Surprise by Pat Strawser This tune made me get up out of my chair and start grooveputtering[emoji769] in the basement - and that's not a bad thing at all, just grooving, moving comics, CDs and keyboard stuff around...then the solo starting at 3:30 or so commands! I say again, commands! the attention until it transitions into a more trad jazz bit around 5:30, very tasty - then it's back to grooveputtering [emoji769] to the returning initial theme to crescendo and resolution.

FLL 19-26 by O'Man This piece starts off almost contemplative until that feedback-like pitch at 1:13 makes it's entrance and the middle watery guitar layered with subtle key leads. I love the Wakeman like CttE organ flutters that pop up in the outro. Truthfully, this piece grew on me with repeated listens

His Shadow is too Long by John Battema. Psycho cyberpunk clockwork industrial overlord march fades to almost a conversation between two differing sequencers/overlords which escalated into a conflict with the drums re-entering around 2:40 - aggressive tones, up tempo key flourishes signals signal battle resolution at 4:00 with wounded losing overlord fading out. Yes, that's what I thought when I heard it.

These were all awesome and I hope to join the party at the next gathering.

- Thomas


Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit.

[Nijinsky Hind]

Thanks Mudshark. glad you found time to hear them. Nice to have the mini reviews also.

[battema]

His Shadow is too Long by John Bateman. Psycho cyberpunk clockwork industrial overlord march fades to almost a conversation between two differing sequencers/overlords which escalated into a conflict with the drums re-entering around 2:40 - aggressive tones, up tempo key flourishes signals signal battle resolution at 4:00 with wounded losing overlord fading out. Yes, that's what I thought when I heard it.

This is the weirdest, wildest description I've ever seen about anything I've done and I love it Thanks so much, Thomas...glad you enjoyed all the great music from everyone And it'll be great to have a few more participants next time around

[MudShark22]

This is the weirdest, wildest description I've ever seen about anything I've done and I love it Thanks so much, Thomas...glad you enjoyed all the great music from everyone And it'll be great to have a few more participants next time around

Sorry John for the auto correct typo on your last name - fixed

Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit.

[battema]

Sorry John for the auto correct typo on your last name - fixed

Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit.

No worries at all! It's a weirdly frequent thing and I've heard/seen anything from "Batterman" to "Bladdermax" or "Batman" As an aside, I'd love to meet the folks whose usage caused "bladdermax" to be a viable correction

[kenschwartz]

No worries at all! It's a weirdly frequent thing and I've heard/seen anything from "Batterman" to "Bladdermax" or "Batman" As an aside, I'd love to meet the folks whose usage caused "bladdermax" to be a viable correction

why did this come to mind?

Peter Blegvad
Rhymes with "egg bad"
B - L - E - G - V - A - D
Pronounced "Blegvad"

[battema]

[infandous]

(this is admittedly skirting the line regarding the main thread and self-promotion but hopefully it's OK...if not, please feel free to move accordingly)

Hey folks! So there are quite a few folks on PE who are pretty darn great artists in their own right. Had the crazy idea to have a songwriting "challenge" during October where folks could put together a complete song during the month and then we'd all share the results.

It's not a contest, there are no winners, and the only real criteria was to make the songs available on a platform that would be free to use (i.e. nothing hidden behind a subscription service or the like). A handful of us took part and the end results are really pretty fun and cover a wide range of styles. I thought it would be nice to share them here for the slightly wider audience to enjoy

This has been a fun little distraction and a reminder of how much creativity is among our members. It's likely we'll do another one next year, maybe with a bit more of a heads up in advance (30 days IS a very short window) and maybe a few more of us will be able/willing to join. I think there's a lot of awesome talent in these tunes, and I also think this represents just a small subset of the awesome we've got here on PE.

In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys these five entries! I'll put them in a second message momentarily.

Thanks as ever for reading! And Happy Early Halloween
- J

I think I missed this. Interestingly, I have a song I threw together with my band, that is pretty simple and not terribly original (I was going to name it Porcupine Floyd, lol) but maybe I could post it here? Let me know.

[battema]

Please!!

[BobM]

Here's something I just released based on a guitar piece from a very talented artist in Russia. I added the piano over his masterful work, so it is really a collaboration and not just my solo composition. I called it Impromptu, but it took a bit of work to discern what Victor was playing on his guitar, so it was not really spontaneous composition, though it feels that way in spots.

I do work in many genre's from rock, blues, electronic, prog and classical occasionally. Much more to hear on my profile on Bandlab.

https://www.bandlab.com/post/ccb0782...4-6045bd375453

Enjoy,
Bob

[Klonk]

Just sat down with these tunes this morning with my dog and coffee. Well done folks, I really enjoyed that. Talented peeps here Bravo!

[Nijinsky Hind]

Bob M. That was nice. Great playing!

[Pekka]

Bob M. That was nice. Great playing!

Indeed it was!

[BobM]

Thanks everyone for checking it out

[Dan Maske]

Nice work! When is the next Challenge?

[Nijinsky Hind]

Nice work! When is the next Challenge?

I'm going to ask John if we can this once every six months, just to keep us all working! hahah

It was his good idea.

[battema]

Hi peeps!

So a few things:

This is the last post I'll add here, on the main page; I think it's great that folks have checked out and enjoyed the tunes but I'm also weirdly (well, not so weirdly) cautious about the slippery slope that is using the main board for personal promotion. We can totally continue the convo in the Artists forum, especially now that newly-interested folks may be on board!

I'm totally happy to see this continue; my own thinking has still been yearly but with more lead time. Some of us work super fast but I suspect 2-3 months as a heads up would help others join in the fun and not be as stressed out (but have no fear, those of us who work quickly...procrastination is a beautiful and highly-effective motivator ). But while I might've started this proverbial ball rolling, I'm FAR from trying to control everything and set the terms myself!

Speaking purely for myself, this ended up being the most popular song I've put out into the world (viewed more times on YT than all my other videos combined, more likes and more comments as well). It's been an absolute hoot for this nobody and I'm 100% certain I can thank folks here on PE for that. I hope everyone else who participated feels some similar joy, and I do hope everyone here who listened (whether you commented or not) got some enjoyment from these offerings. Yay for creative people and an audience full of willing ears

- J

[Lopez]

Just listened to these, thanks to a reminder from John B. Wow! Is this stuff great! I am a failed musician, who "accidentally" stepped on my violin in the 8th grade, and have regretted not taking it back up again. I do consider myself a successful fan, however, and am humbled to be among such great company.

[mozo-pg]

Just listened to these, thanks to a reminder from John B. Wow! Is this stuff great! I am a failed musician, who "accidentally" stepped on my violin in the 8th grade, and have regretted not taking it back up again. I do consider myself a successful fan, however, and am humbled to be among such great company.

[Nijinsky Hind]

Thanks for giving them a listen Lopez!!