November / December Song Announcement!

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is it.  This will be the LAST song of the Song Writing Game.  And to keep with our normal "end of the year" theme, we will be doing ANYTHING.  That's right, ANYTHING.  Good luck!

ANYTHING

September / October's Songs!

I wont lie to anyone.  As the Song Writing Game is winding down, so is my enthusiasm with it.  Having a new schedule in the mornings that includes getting my son on the bus has left me with about 20 minutes of free time each day to dedicate towards hobbies, like the Song Writing Game.  I used to have over an hour.  This is the reason for the songs to be stretched out into multiple months for each one.  And even with that much time, I still feel rushed to put together a very specific song.  That is why my song is anything but what it's supposed to be this month.  We had aimed for Power Pop songs but I just couldn't find the time I normally do to deconstruct the genre, listen to a lot of examples and find elements that I liked.  Instead I have a cover song for a Ween tribute album that I did.  Oh well, enough of me blabbering.  Here are the songs.

Brian Salapek - Little Miss Mandee (WEEN Cover)

My comments: This song was put together for a WEEN tribute album.  If you listen to the original here, you will see that it is a LONG stretch from the original song.  It just kinda took on legs of it's own and ended up in left field (in a good way, I hope).

Rene Zansman - Figure It Out

My comments: I think Power Pop was a suggestion of Rene's and I can tell it's a genre he really enjoys.  All of his songs really have reflections of the genre in them with his melodies and harmonies.  This song is definitely Power Pop at it's core.  It starts out pretty sloppy but don't let that deter you, once Rene picks up the pace it all comes together and is a cool song.

June / July's Zydeco Songs!

Brian Salapek - Zydeco Music, I Gar-ron-tee

My comments: Even though the genre of Zydeco was my decision, I still had a really hard time getting into it.  I am not sure why, but I had a really hard time starting my song.  It got to the point where I had to force myself to do it during the last two weeks of July.  Thank god I found an accordion plug in for Fruity Loops!

Rene Zansman - Little Laura (The Sad Turtle)

My comments: This an instance where I feel bad for throwing such a weird distinctly American genre at Rene.  I imagine Zydeco isn't very popular in Norway, but I could be wrong.  Either way, Rene took the challenge and did what he does best with a pop song.  I hear where he was going with it in terms of the keyboard parts, and it may not be zydeco but it's definitely cool.  I love the piano throughout, and think Rene did a great job.

August/September 2016 Song Announcement!

As the game winds down, it's hard to find genres that havent been done before.  But we did it this time, with POWER POP!  Yep, Power Pop.  Think simple, rhythmic pop music with a strong melody and rocking guitar part, and you've got power pop.

Genre: Power Pop

You can read up more on the genre here and here.  Also, be sure to send in your Zydeco Songs for June/July!

Announcements / Update on the Song Writing Game

When I started the Song Writing Game in December, 2011 I had no real idea of what to expect.  There was no thought of how long it would last, or how the turn out and response would be.  In fact, it's never been a hindrance to me to have periods of very little music submitted.  The game was more for me; it was an excuse to write and record music for myself.

Well, come December, the game will be hitting five years old.  I feel like that is a logical conclusion to the whole thing.  I still have an interest in writing and recording, but time is the problem.  As my kids are getting older and taking up more time, we have a puppy now, and I have been pursuing a few other hobbies, making music in a timely fashion slowly gets pushed further and further back.  In fact, today is the last day of June and I have only written a bass line for my current song.

So, between now and December, each song will be on a two-month time limit.  With that, the June songs are not due until the end of July.  There will be three more, August/September, October/November and a "Whatever" song for December as usual.  After that we will have one final "Song of the Year" elected and the five winning songs of the year will be put head to head against one another.  The winner will be declared "Song of the Game" and that lucky person will be able to keep the trophy forever.

I may still use this blog in the future to post random songs I have written and recorded, but there should be no expectation and they could be once every six months or so.  I think that about covers it.  Thanks everyone!

May's Prince Cover Songs!

Lauren Hughes and Brian Salapek - When You Were Mine

My comments:  The day that Prince died, this was the song I wanted to share on FB but as we all know, Prince never allowed his music on streaming sites.  Lauren was the one to suggest we cover Prince for May so I took her suggestion with the stipulation that she sang the song.  I think it turned out pretty good even though I didn't have time to do the proper keyboard solo and just made something up.

Rene Zansman - Manic Monday

My comments:  Rene's choice of a song brings up a really good point about Prince writing music for a lot of other musicians.  This song was released by The Bangles and was a big hit for them but was written by Prince.  Rene took an interesting approach to the song by stripping it down to just guitar, harmonica and vocals.  He even added an improvised bridge to the song.  Great job, Rene!


Vote for your favorite!

June's Song Announcement!

On our fifth year of doing the song writing game, it's hard to believe there are genres that haven't been visited yet.  Well, there are a LOT of them, and this is one!  We will be doing...

ZYDECO!

That's right, Zydeco!  Fun, dance-y, upbeat Cajun music!  Get out a washboard and an accordion for this one, everyone!  It should be pretty interesting to hear everyone's songs!

Winning Game Show Theme Song!

Thank you to everyone to took the time to listen to the Game Show Theme Songs from March and April!  The songs were fun to write and I hope they were fun to listen to as well!  When the voting finished up, we had a winner...

Brian Salapek - Game Show

Thanks again everyone!  Also, be sure to turn in your Prince covers before the end of May!

March/April's Game Show Theme Songs!

To add a strange twist to the song writing game, we wrote Game Show Theme Songs for March and April.  To be honest, I had a hard time wrapping my head around this theme.  I couldn't bring myself to listen to existing theme songs to get a feel for them.  It ended up just being a mental block that I put on myself, because when I forced myself to sit down and work on it, it flowed out pretty quickly.

We have three submissions this month, from our three most consistent players of the game.  Check them out and vote for your favorite below!

Rene Zansman - Alive or Dead

My comments:  From Rene, "I got this idea watching a Norwegian game show where they guess what illness a patient suffer from and I decided to take it further and in this game show they guess if the person is alive or dead."  That sounds like a wild game show and I can't believe that it is real!  Either way, Rene worked out a nice poppy, catchy theme for his game show.  I also love that Pabst Blue Ribbon and Pushing Daisy's Funeral Home are sponsors of the show.  Great job Rene!

Danny Imig - Insipidnostic

My comments:  From Danny, "My contest entry song is a theme for a futuristic game show which melds interstellar space travel with TV evangelism and the Dating Game. It's called: "Insipidnostic".  Fun for everyone..."  Danny definitely captured his futuristic theme with this funky, jazzy theme song.  I love the combination of ideas behind his game show as well.

Brian Salapek - Game Show

My comments:  Game show game show game show.  Game show game show game show game show game show.  Game show game show game show game show game show.  Game show?  Game show game show.

Vote for your favorite!

Polls close on May 15th at midnight!

May's Song Announcement!

2016 has been a bitch of a year.  Just last week we lost a great artist, Prince.  As with February and the Bowie Covers, I feel it is only appropriate to do the same for Prince.  He was an incredibly talented and versatile artist, who transcended many genres of music.  Because of this and his 30+ year career, we will surely have some interesting songs submitted!

May:  Prince Covers

Good luck, everyone!  I can't wait to hear the songs!  Also, don't forget to turn in your Game Show Theme Songs!

February's Winning Song!

When I decided to do David Bowie covers, it was an idea to do something to honor him.  But then I thought, "What if they are all terrible?  That would be the opposite of an honor to his memory."  Fortunately, I really loved both songs turned in.  Phew!  That could have been bad lol.  Anyways, after 2 weeks of voting, the results were very close.  The winner came through 1 vote higher.

Lauren Hughes and Brian Salapek - Sound and Vision

Congratulations and thanks for participating, Lauren!  I hope to get to work with you again in the future!

February's David Bowie Cover Songs!

To try our best to honor one of my favorite artists, I decided to cover David Bowie songs for the February Song Writing Game.  Unfortunately, we ended up with only two entries.  Fortunately though, they are both great in my opinion!  Check them out and vote for your favorite below!

Rene Zansman - Rebel, Rebel

My comments:  Rene told me that he felt like this was one of his best songs submitted to the song writing game.  As he's been a part of it for over four years, that's quite a statement but I think I agree.  This song is just perfect for Rene, a great fit.  He even wrote a verse of his own and makes a reference to "I Got You, Babe."  Very nicely done!

Lauren Hughes and Brian Salapek - Sound and Vision

My comments:  Lauren and I met in college and haven't seen each other really since.  She is a huge Bowie fan and sang in bands in college, so I knew I had to ask her to sing for my song.  The biggest problem we faced was picking out a song to cover.  All in all, I am very happy with the end result.  This is one of my favorite Bowie songs, and Lauren nailed it!

Vote for your Favorite!

March's Song Announcement!

Ah snap!  I've been slipping big time on the song writing game lately, and I am sorry for that.  This will be short and to the point.  For March, our songs will be....

Game Show Theme Songs!

Specific enough?  Weird enough?  We shall see!  Good luck everyone!

January's Winning Song!

I felt it was a nice change of pace with the January songs.  Instead of specifying a genre and subject, as we have always done, we set a number of chords to limit the song writing process.  What resulted was each song was more representative of the person who wrote it.  All styles and genres were accepted and we had a big diversity as a result!
After two weeks of voting, we had a clear winner, and he was no other than Danny Imig with his song, "I Quit School 'Cause they had Recess'  Check it out here...

Congratulations, Danny!  Good work, as always!  We will be doing David Bowie (RIP) covers for February so watch out for those coming soon!

January's "Chords" Songs

For January, a set list of chords was put forth and the songs could ONLY use those chords.  This is a far different stipulation than normal, and it came through with great results!  Each song is quite a bit different and they all are great in their own ways.  Check them out and vote for your favorite below!

Ryan Kinal - My Last Night

My comments:  I dont think I have ever heard such an upbeat and catchy song about dying!  This song is a lot different than Ryan's other offering since it features an electric guitar playing lead and a solo.  I really enjoy the song and think the separate vocals for the different characters is a fun touch!

Rene Zansman - Predestined to Dull

My comments:  When I saw the length of Rene's song (about 4 minutes) I was a little reluctant but I ended up REALLY liking it.  The chorus has a great feeling of happy and sad at the same time.  The whole song is really catchy, too.  It gets a little sloppy towards the end during the solo but that's pretty minor in the scheme of things.

Brian Salapek - January

My comments:  Here's another instrumental track of mine.  It is a lot more effects heavy than I usually make my songs, but I think it works well.  I originally recorded this song on my loop pedal completely improvised but liked it enough to work it out into a whole song (by adding the chorus) and recording it properly.

Danny Imig - I Quit School 'Cause They Had Recess

My comments:  Danny's song has an awesome country feel to it.  This song came from Danny's 2006 album, Space is Your Friend, which he has submitted a few other fun songs from.  I like that this song has the country twang but is fast and upbeat enough to even touch into a little of the punk territory.  It's upbeat, a little sloppy and fun!

Vote for your favorite!

February 2015 Song Announcement

January saw the passing of one of my favorite musicians, David Bowie.  It was a pretty upsetting thing for me, especially since it came so shortly after the release of his newest album, Blackstar, which I had been listening to religiously.  I won't try to express my mindset, or give a memorial here, since words aren't my strong suit.

So jump ahead a week, Jack Eggleston messaged me and said "I'm totally going to try to do a cover of Heroes for January...It also fits with in the note limitations."  The next day I sat down with the chords specified for January and all I could play was Ziggy Stardust.  I didn't mean to, I was just messing with the chords and it flowed out of me.

So, with Bowie's passing, and the strange coincidence of the two songs, we will be doing David Bowie covers for February.  It's only fitting to try and pay tribute to the man.

2015 SONG OF THE YEAR!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to listen to the five songs I nominated, and to vote for your favorite!  After about 10 days of voting, the winner was none other than...

Eric Peabody - Never Whatever

Congratulations, Eric!  You win a hand-crafted trophy created by Danny Imig as well as a 6-pack of hand-crafted beer by me!

2015 Song of the Year Voting!

With the end of another year of the Song Writing Game comes time to vote for the official SONG OF THE YEAR!  I spent a surprising amount of time picking my five favorite songs from the year.  Not all of them won the month they were entered in.  The picking came down to listening to a lot of songs and simply picking my favorites.  Narrowing it down was hard though.  I had 10 song candidates and really struggled with the process.  I am happy with the five I ended up with, but like I said, I surprised myself with how long it took me to pick them out!

Eric Peabody - Never Whatever (From January)

Danny Imig - Six String Highway (From March)

Jonas Peterson - The Tyger (From May)

Ryan Kinal and Family - Same Old (From June)

Brian Salapek and Joel Forsgren - Jug Band Muzik (from October)

Honorable Mentions go to...
Danny Imig - Brand New Car (from January)
Jonas Peterson and Brendon Burgess - Everending (from February)
Jeff Coral - She Won't Play (from March)
Rene Zansman - I'm Such a Fool (from December)
Brendon Burgess - Mabababo (from December)

Vote for your Favorite!
(Voting Closes January 24th at Midnight)

December's Winning Songs!

For the first time in Song Writing Game history, we have a Three-Way tie for winner!  Sure, there have been ties, but never like this before!  Congratulations go to our three winners, New Contender, Joel Forsgran and Brendon Burgess!  Good job everyone!  Check out their songs here:

New Contender - Destruction Z

Joel Forsgren - Stellar Road

Brendon Burgess - Mabababo

December's "Whatever" Songs!

Again, I am super late here!  Sorry, sorry, sorry!  BUT I will have you know that the extra days gave us a few more songs to post, which is always appreciated!  You may remember that for December, we always do a theme of "whatever you want" for the songs.  I know I'm too busy to dedicate much time to a song and just assume everyone else is too.  So these songs have nothing in common and no central theme to tie them together or judge them against one another based on.  It all comes down to who you like the best!  Check them out and vote for your favorite below!

Rene Zansman - I'm Such a Fool

My comments:  Rene actually sent me two versions of this song (one fast and this one) and asked me to pick my favorite to post.  This one obviously won me over.  It's super fitting for the holiday season and the keyboards just have an overwhelming Christmas feel to them.  There is a really great full feeling to this song.  I enjoy it a lot!

Brian Salapek - Live on the infanet with Brian

My comments:  This was recorded live with my new toy, a Boss RC-300 loop pedal.  My normal recording process is a slow, stretched out one with many takes and a lot of work organizing the song, so this was a big change for me.  It's a little redundant, but I tried to switch it up as much as I can and make the song a short and sweet one.  Listen for me banging a paper towel roll against my knee at about 55 seconds in!

Ryan Kinal - Empty Sheets

My comments:  Here's a huge change of pace for not only this month, but the song writing game as a whole.  It's not often that I am able to post a sincerely beautiful and sad song like this.  The guitar plays a finger picking pattern that is soft and simple enough to meld together with the vocals and add to the mood of the song.  He probably hates to hear it but his vocals are really pretty, too.

New Contender - Destruction Z

My comments:  New Contender is the band of Matt McCray who won the 2012 Song of the Year.  It's not often that we've had whole bands submit a song, but the rest of the members are named simply Rick (drums) and Dallas (bass) according to their Facebook page.  I am not real into emo/screamo music but enjoy this song a lot.  When the heavier guitars kick in about 45 seconds in, it just has a great vibe to it.

Joel Forsgren - Stellar Road

My comments:  Joel recorded this song under the name The Enlightenment Junkies, but I am pretty convinced he did the whole song himself (a la Prince).  What I like about this song so much is the changes to it.  There are at least three whole and distinct ideas in this song that could be split out and turned into their own song, but Joel seamlessly melds them all together into one awesome track.

Jeff Coral - Your Song

My comments:  Jeff and his acoustic guitar just work so well together.  I don't think he's turned in a song that had anything else to it, but he doesn't need anything else.  His song is good all the way through but really hits it's stride in the chorus.  The chorus is really catchy and could be on repeat itself.

Brendon Burgess - Mabababo

My comments:  I have no idea what Mabababo is but I'm a fan!  This song has such an awesome groove to it that it could go on forever.  Brendon's bass really is the highlight and holds it all together.  There is a great funk/Caribbean/reggae feel to this song.  It's different and I love it!

Vote for your Favorite!

January Song Announcement!

Oof!  I have been super slacking with all the holiday shenanigans and totally missed the ball.  I usually like to announce the following month's song stipulations with a good week left in the month, but this time it will be 4 days INTO the month!

One of the leading influences for this Song Writing Game came from a similar one that would sporadically take place on the Pop Punk Message Board.  The main difference is that they would list specific chords that you needed to use for your song.  With that influence in mind, we will tap into those rules for January's songs!

CHORDS TO USE:

G  C  D  Emin  Bmin  F#sus  Amin

 These are pretty easy and common chords, so everyone should be set.  They can be used in ANY order, you do not need to use them all but you cannot use any others.  Good luck everyone!