November's 80's Pop Songs!

November has come to and end and hopefully everyone is doing a good job to shovel themselves out of the heaps of leftovers you've been buried under.  With the start of December comes a slew of 1980's themed songs for you to check out!  I honestly really enjoy all three of them so my vote will be a difficult one, for sure.  The optional subject was a doctor's appointment and only one of the songs uses it.  Either way, have a listen to the songs and vote for your favorite below!

Danny Imig - Serial Monogamy

My comments:  This song of Danny's is not just in the style of the 80's, it's FROM the 80's!  It was recorded in 1988 and has a cool new wave-y ska feel to it.  It's an upbeat, bouncy and fun song.  1980's Pop Music is such a vague genre, which leads to songs like this that I would never have expected, and I that's what I love!  Good job, Danny!

Rene Zansman - Doctor's Appointment

My comments:  Rene went total Casio on this song and it sounds great, even for a song about a butt rash!  He told me that the lyric "doctor's disappointment" was an accident, but I think that is a brilliant lyric.  All of Rene's songs have such a huge basis in pop music that this song is a great fit for the song writing game.  I really love this song!

Brian Salapek - Doctor Dance

My comments:  All of my songs start out with pure intentions of fitting the genre as well as possible.  But then I hit a niche and the song veers off into no-where land and ends up far from the original idea.  Not that that is a BAD thing though!  I had a lot of fun writing this song and especially love that harmonic note at the end of the chorus.  It just makes me happy each time I hear it!

Vote for your Favorite!

December Song Announcement!

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving!  With the holidays officially in full swing, it can be hard to find the time to write and record a song, let alone a song that fits the stupid stipulations I throw at you every month!  So we will follow in the tradition of December's past and say that you can...

DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!

That's right.  Do whatever you want!  There is no criteria at ALL for your song.  If you send it to me, I will post it and it will go into the voting poll!  It could be a 43 minute spoken word piece or a 30 second thrash metal song, I do not care!

Also, be sure to turn in your 80's Pop Songs for November!

October's Winning "Jug Band" Song!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to check out the songs from October!  I can see that both songs were well enjoyed since they ended up having almost FOUR TIMES as many views as the September songs!  Whew!  Awesome!

When the voting was all said and done, the song I wrote along with Joel Forsgren ended up being voted favorite!  Thank you so much to everyone!  The song felt like it wrote itself and when it was all done, I was thrilled with the result.  If you hadnt had a chance to listen to it yet, check it out here:

Brian Salapek and Joel Forsgren - Jug Band Muzik

Also, as November is winding down, don't forget about your 80's Pop Songs for this month!

October's Jug Band Songs!

Almost four years ago when the Song Writing Game started, the very first genre was none other than Jug Band music!  Since then we had done bluegrass and country a few times, but had never touched back on Jug Band, which started it all.  Until now!  I am not sure what put me in the mood for Jug Band, but it jumped into my mind and I am glad that it did.  There were only two songs, but they are both cool.  Check them out!

Brian Salapek and Joel Forsgren - Jug Band Muzik

My comments:  After taking September off, I had a really hard time getting into the mode to write a song.  When I finally did, I had a completely different lead melody picked out, but scrapped it when I improvised the lead you hear in the song now.  With that, it lost a lot of it's jug band feel, but I like the song so much more now.  I had Joel over who recorded the electric guitar track as well as the banjo intro.  All in all, I have to say that this song is one of my favorites.  I am really happy and proud of it!

Rene Zansman - Yatzy Pursuit

My comments:  Rene went the same route as me, giving his song the jug band feel through a harmonica track.  The song itself has Rene's trademark catchy pop punk vibe with an awesome chorus in it, which I really enjoy!  And to boot, he kept with the gambling theme by singing about my new favorite fictional game, Yatzy Pursuit.  Great job, Rene!

Vote for your Favorite!

November Song Announcement!

October still has a few days left in it, so it's time to announce how things will roll for November.  This one is pretty general, but we hadn't done it before, which is surprising because of the nature of so many of my guilty musical pleasures.  We will be diving into...

1980's POP MUSIC!

For a subject, let's be stupid (like usual).  How about.... A Doctor's Appointment?  Yeah.

When you are working on your song, just remember what you want...

Good luck, everyone!  And remember to turn in your Jug Band song for October!

August Winner and October Announcement!

Man, this song writing thing definitely was put on the back burner.  I always skip September because I run a homebrew beer competition every year, and just wouldnt have the time to write and record a song.  But this year it got so far away from me that I never even announced the winner from August!  Ugh.  Well the homebrew competition is all said and done, so I have some time to dedicate to the Song Writing Game again for the next 11 months.

First, we need to pay homage to the last winning song we had.  It was Danny Imig's Diminish +1.  If you hadn't listened to it, check it out here:

Second, it's time to announce our next song genre and subject.  As always the subject is optional.  For this one, we will be returning to the VERY FIRST genre of the song writing game from December, 2011 (That can't be right, can it?  Holy shit, it is!)...

GENRE: Jug Band Music

(Optional) SUBJECT: Gambling

There you have it, have fun and good luck everyone!

August's 5-Note Songs and September Annoucement!

August has come and gone and we have a few songs to show for it.  If you recall, we opted to go with a simple song with a limit of 5 notes, regardless of octave.  When writing mine, I found that the 5 note limit was not very limiting.  A two or three note limit would have been a lot more challenging.

Well, while we are talking, I will make the announcement for September that has slipped through the cracks...

TAKE A BREAK!

That's right, we will be taking September off.  I organize a large homebrew beer competition and it will be taking up a lot of my free time this month, so everyone gets a break.


So now without further ado, here are the songs from August.  Have a listen and vote for your favorite below!

Danny Imig - Diminished +1

My comments:  Danny put together a cool little piano instrumental.  It's got a great feel to it, almost along the lines of "danger."  Alone, it would be a little too simple, so the drums were a great touch.  They really amp up the song as a whole.  I like it a lot!

Jack Eggleston - Joney loves Charlie

My comments:  Jack utilizes his "stage name" (found embedded in the mp3) of DJ Jazzy Jack.  I only hope that is a reference to BB Jazzy B!  Again he goes full-on electronica for the song.  I have a hard time telling if he utilizes only five notes, but it definitely throws the "minimalism" theme out the window.  No worries though, because what it does, it does well.  Good job, Jack!

Brian Salapek - 5 Notes

My comments:  I chose my key as A# and every one of my notes was a sharp, which is a little different of a key for me.  To be honest, I wasn't feeling super inspired but trudged through and came up with this.  It's pretty, I guess, but that's all it's got going for it, if you ask me :P

Rene Zansman - Late Night in a Terrible Hotel Eating Potato Chips and Listening to Jackson 5

My comments:  Rene wrote a small piano instrumental as well.  Unfortunately it seems like he mistook the 5-notes as 5 single notes, rather than 5 notes regardless of octave.  This must have been pretty difficult to put something together, and I commend Rene for working with such a HUGE restriction!

Vote for your favorite here!