ROUND 1 · FEEDBACK

Obvious Corruption

...Five years and the corruption has only gotten more obvious.

RANK #10

DISPLAY SCORE 6.91 / 10

Sleeper Hit on 40 of 74 ballots — broadly liked, few #1 picks
Full Package audio + art + lyrics + both writeups

TOTAL REACH — 148 plays rank 15 / 23

SOUNDCLOUD 90
YOUTUBE 52
VPC SITE 6

TOTAL LIKES — 4 rank 17 / 23

SOUNDCLOUD 3
YOUTUBE 1

Commute

Vocalist's challenge writeup

Certain forms of popular social media are a bit like driving on a congested highway (in space!).

Producer's challenge writeup

Not part of the challenge: Drums and Clock ticking sound Challenge elements: 1. A sample I recorded of my slackboard (a slack line on a wooden board) with a bit of EQ and tuning became the bass, A sample of a finger-struck metal mixing bowl was used for everything else: the keys, atmospheric layers, intro riser, and bridge layers. The different sounds were achieved through a range of resonance shaping, time-stretching, filtering, pitch shifting, distortion, and resampling. Most of these were done with a plethora of LFO's/automation, and I'm happy to go through the details.

Lyrics

Ignition we're headed out to route 10
It's the same mission, Get locked it
It's gridlocked as it always is
It's not promising, the thing about it is
The roads crowded,
You'd think there'd be to more space 
to move around in
the infinite, 
but this is what it is.
And they drive like shit.
Why are they like this, 
they're confrontational
as possible, 
they're obstacles.

No one  stays in their lane
they cut you off, they get paid
I just want to go about my day
who owns the road it's all strange

Time comes here to die
Can you pass? I don't know, you can try
Pass or not you get harassed
It's like this is all an enormous waste of time
And space, yet we remain
Why? Cause it's the main road? Is it though?
This can't be the only way to go
You don't really have to pay that toll you know.

We got
Billboards for an AI that designs AI billboards
Some about  products that I gotta wonder who it's for
Pilots fighting over who's more misinformed
This is more than I bargained for and furthermore
This ain't at all how I pictured outer space
It's not too late to get up out this place
Maybe people worried about being late
Maybe we're afraid we'll arrive at a better place

JUDGES' BREAKDOWN

LEX the Lexicon Artist
6.67/10 score rank #14 of 23

VOCALS 6

PRODUCTION 7

CHALLENGE 7

Thing 1 being compared to thing 2 Life/Society = A Highway Commute = Space? Where does the space come in? Is it a space commute? Why are we in space? You achieved the challenge, but I think the metaphor would be much more effective if it was confined to just life/society = actual highway commute. There is so much material to draw from just being on an American highway. Cars, lanes, crashes, police, etc. Adding space just distracts from it. The vocals, chorus, and writing need work. There are a lot more clever analogies and imagery that can be drawn. Obvious Corruption had one of my fav vocal performances in Round One, full of personality and humor, but this one felt a bit lackluster in comparison. Production-wise I feel similarly; really liked their Round 0 but this prod. felt a bit plain. I do really like the glitchy rise that happens in each bar. “Maybe we're afraid we'll arrive at a better place” - FIRE! Maybe my fav. ending line
Richie Branson
7.67/10 score rank #5 of 23

VOCALS 7

PRODUCTION 8

CHALLENGE 8

Vocal performance is great, hook is catchy. This is a good song to listen to when stuck in traffic. Maybe some vocal adlibs to fill the gaps between bars in the hook could fill it out some, but well done overall. Beat is cool, enough variation to keep things interesting. Everything’s mixed nicely, and vocals sit very well in the overall mix. Bravo.
Klopfenpop
8.33/10 score rank #5 of 23

VOCALS 8

PRODUCTION 8

CHALLENGE 9

I’m glad to see Obvious Corruption back and they seem like they have been grinding since last time. The bars and the delivery are a step up, the production has reached a new level for this team. The cadence is natural, the schemes feel good, and the flow is engaging. I like your voice switch up for the hook. This beat is wonderful. I love how it leans back and forth between tinkly clean sound and gritty dark sounds. The sound work and sample transformations are excellent, these elements sound awesome, especially the metal bowl elements! The dynamics feel good from section to section. I love the clock break, but I might suggest looking for more opportunities for ear candy and engaging surprises like that. Those are the things that can really push a song over the top. Overall this is great.
Ben Tarkus
6.33/10 score rank #12 of 23

VOCALS 7

PRODUCTION 6

CHALLENGE 6

Driving for work can really push an appreciation for the message here. I relate to this on a very direct level, but might have missed the subtle side of things. Despite that, I found this to be a solid song for the daily trip.
Mark Cooper
8.33/10 score rank #10 of 23

VOCALS 8

PRODUCTION 8

CHALLENGE 9

Nice metaphor! Social media can definitely make you feel like you're stuck in traffic. I love the AI references because they are true and the music gives a digital web surfing journey inside of a computer vibe. Which is super cool. But that lead in the hook was great! I love 80s-90s synth. Looking forward to hearing more.

AUDIENCE SCORE

5.23 / 10

Aggregated from 74 ballots cast by the public.

AUDIENCE RANK

10 / 23

Out of 23 teams competing this round.

40 voters ranked them in their top 10
14 voters had them in their top 5
1 voter picked them as their #1 favorite

FINAL BLEND

The final score was a 6.91. The song received an average voter score of 5.23 from the community, and an average judge score of 7.47.

The display score blends the audience and judges' contributions at 25%/75%. Here's how Obvious Corruption's 6.91 broke down:

1.31 from audience

5.60 from judges

(5.23 × 25%) + (7.47 × 75%) = 6.91

YOUR SEASON SO FAR

Round 1 6.91 / 10 rank #10
Round 2 7.69 / 10 rank #9 PERSONAL BEST

TOTAL REACH — 148 plays · rank 15 / 23

TOTAL LIKES — 4 · rank 17 / 23