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ROUND 2 · FEEDBACK

DEADSPECTRES

Midwest 2 tha North West, KC 2 tha LIV. Synth-rap duo, formerly known as fan favourite group Cyberfunk2077, they return as DEADSPECTRES. With a style described as Dadrap or Middle aged man-funk, competition better wipe their nose and shine their shoes, cause it's gonna be a long day at the office.

RANK #17
DISPLAY SCORE 6.41 / 10
  • 📦 Full Package audio + art + lyrics + both writeups
  • 📝 Storyteller 1,058 characters across both writeups

TOTAL REACH — 73 plays · rank 17 / 22

  • SOUNDCLOUD 38
  • VPC SITE 21
  • YOUTUBE 14

TOTAL LIKES — 10 · rank 13 / 22

  • VPC SITE 9
  • YOUTUBE 1
  • SOUNDCLOUD 0

SWAMP THINGZ

Open audio
Vocalist's challenge writeup

A combination of H.P Lovecraft world building with existential dread, combined with G funk gangster rap elements such as parodying Snoop Dogg & Dre - Nuthin' But a G Thang

Producer's challenge writeup

PRODUCER NOTES Dollar Bin Heaven and hell is on earth 20th century steel band 0:08 to 0:15 / 0:52-0:58 / 1:06 - 1:13 I took the tambourines and Steel drum intro from the original song and looped the high hats on the percussion to build on the Synth track to make those drums pop out with a little flair. Give the high hats more dimension and make them stick out more. Free track Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic Issac Hayes 0:08 to 0:15 / 0:52-0:58 / 1:06 - 1:13 Took that funky lil riff from chef himself to build up a little funky twang on the back of those high hats I used from the heaven and hell earlier. a funky little aftertaste if you will International Sote Sote Adhi Rat Sapan Jagmohan 0:30-0:34 / 1:29-1:33 Slowed down the original and made the tempo match the synth track Tools & Instructional Sex, Drugs & Hip-Hop Klopfenpop 0:00-0:09 01:56-02:01 Reverb effect added

Lyrics
[CHORUS]
Ain’t nothing but a swamp thing baby,
Two mutated fish going crazy,
Take a dip, take a dive, go an wade in,
Cause the water is fine and we’re waiting,


[VERSE 1]
Full moons over black lagoons,
The rap tunes on blast, these stagnant pools
Contain, monsters, packed in, savage loons,
No raccoons, get attacked, get trashed, you're doomed.
It gets hard to protect, where your arteries kept,
With a shark at your neck, in the darkest of depths,
You’ll get targeted, get you where it's dark and it's wet,
With an army of webbed legged targeted threats,
No relent- this curse irreversible,
Crush hope quicker than the Titan submersible,
Try to escape what lurks under surface ooo-
Blow tops like you’re riding convertibles
* Fuck H.P Lovecraft,
This a bloodbath, tell me where the suds at,
On the good path since I was a rug rat,
Now I’m screaming:
Where the hood,
Where the hood,
Where the hood at?
On the coast, in the city where the floods at?
On a boat, where the dinghy’s and the ducks at?
Knee deep when you're stuck in the mud flats?
Brush with the bracken, buried in cut grass?
Socks ringing, sailors drinking, it’s got me thinking,
This godless kingdom, it’s on the brink of:
Sinking, deep in the drink and,
Shanty’s? bring them, all of us singing:


[BRIDGE]
1, 2, 3 into the 4,
The ill Alchemist, and Synthlad is at your door,
5, 6, 7 to the 8,
From the swamp to the bog, from the loch to the lake,
[CHORUS]
Ain’t nothing but a swamp thing baby,
Two mutated fish going crazy,
Take a dip, take a dive, go an wade in,
Cause the water is fine and we’re waiting,
Ain’t nothing but a swamp thing baby,
Two mutated fish going crazy,
Take a dip, take a dive, go an wade in,
Cause the water is fine and we’re waiting,
[we’re waiting… we’re waiting…We’ll be waiting…]


[VERSE 2]
People missing probably sleeping with the fishes,
Police missive: “This is hardly suspicious”
Despite the families wishes, the case was dismissed as:
“Deliberate mix-up’s of fibs, and fictions,”
You couldn’t fathom, a hundred fathoms,
A hundred lanterns, lost villagers, a hundred daggers,
You couldn't manage, blood so cross contaminated,
It isn’t lax, I’m releasing all the kraken’s
Old Greg, steer clear of my mangina,
Am I a fish or a man- kinda
I mean they’re- spinning yarns like a damn spider,
It’s a MAN-hunt, so what’s a few more bodies for the grindrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr,


[BRIDGE]
1, 2, 3 into the 4,
The ill Alchemist, and Synthlad is at your door,
5, 6, 7 to the 8,
From the swamp to the bog, from the loch to the lake,
[CHORUS]
Ain’t nothing but a swamp thing baby,
Two mutated fish going crazy,
Take a dip, take a dive, go an wade in,
Cause the water is fine and we’re waiting,
Ain’t nothing but a swamp thing baby,
Two mutated fish going crazy,
Take a dip, take a dive, go an wade in,
Cause the water is fine and we’re waiting,

JUDGES' BREAKDOWN

  1. Mark Cooper

    5.67/10 score · rank #18 of 22
    VOCALS 5
    PRODUCTION 5
    CHALLENGE 7

    Thank you for submitting this round. I have a few notes that could be helpful. So, this song tempo wise it felt just a little rushed in forms of delivery of the lyrics. Almost as you were racing the beat. Good lyrics overall but the delivery through some of it off. Production was ok, may need a little more organization in the layout overall. Execution was fine but it was hard to follow where exactly the track was going throughout the song. Other than that good job!

  2. Klopfenpop

    8.33/10 score · rank #15 of 22
    VOCALS 9
    PRODUCTION 7
    CHALLENGE 9

    This is such a party track. I love all the lyrical references. The lyricism on this has moments of greatness. The references are thick are tasty. Okay tempo change! FUCK YES, I love surprises like that. Y'all rode that nicely. The pickup was a little less smooth, but still felt good. I do wish the speech sample over the intro was a little dryer so I could understand the words. One other things I've run into myself is groove pocket alignment issue when using sampled drum breaks rather than programmed one shots. When you have a live played break, not everything is going to line up with the default MIDI grid, and if you adjust the break so it does, you lose the magic of the pocket. You want to adjust your MIDI elements by eye, then nudge by ear in context, to line up with the different transients of the live drum break. This will let the pocket of that live break soak into the rest of your production. Sometimes when combining synthesizers with older sample sources, the sheer fullness of the frequency range of a synth can really take over the mix when layered with a much narrower band sample. It can help to use effect (e.g. filters, subtractive EQ, saturation, various kinds of distortion near the lowest setting, speaker emulators, spring reverb, etc.) to "darken" the sound of the synth and help it melt into the mix more naturally. I really appreciate the sample work you've done here! i love the textures and the different synth elements you've wrangled together into a cohesive whole.

  3. Richie Branson

    7.00/10 score · rank #16 of 22
    VOCALS 7
    PRODUCTION 7
    CHALLENGE 7

    Ain’t nothing but a swamp thang baby. Like that. The tempo change was cool, although I think the transition back to ‘fast’ was a bit too abrupt. The beat is straight, although some additional non-synth instrumentation could be useful here. The we’re waiting refrain could probably be refined a bit more.

  4. Ben Tarkus

    7.33/10 score · rank #16 of 22
    VOCALS 7
    PRODUCTION 7
    CHALLENGE 8

    The Snoop and Dre homage is appreciated, I think the whole thing would have been better served slowed down just a bit to match that cadence, and it would have been better matched for a darker, lovecraftian vibe. Certainly not bad on its own merit!

  5. LEX the Lexicon Artist

    6.67/10 score · rank #13 of 22
    VOCALS 7
    PRODUCTION 5
    CHALLENGE 8

    This is a fun song. I have to say it's an interesting concept and I don't know if it works. I don't really associate west coast g-funk with Lovecraftian eldritch horrors and it's a bit too much of a jump for me. But still a valiant effort and quite funny to imagine mutant fish gangstas. At the end of the day you both achieved the challenge. Alchemist: I can hear that you've taken my notes from the last round. The writing has leveled up in complexity. The timefeel on the bridge and chorus is still a bit shaky, but good job tightening up in all aspects! Synthlad: The tempo change was a cool idea but yielded mixed results. I almost feel like this song would've benefited from a more slow-tempo west-coast chillout smoke sesh type beat. Lean into the Dr. Dre. The upbeat dance synth pop is a choice but doesn't really mesh with the overall concept.

Audience score and rank

AUDIENCE SCORE

4.64 / 10

Aggregated from 72 ballots cast by the public.

AUDIENCE RANK

13 / 22

Out of 22 teams competing this round.

  • 27 voters ranked them in their top 10
  • 15 voters had them in their top 5
  • 0 voters picked them as their #1 favorite

FINAL BLEND

The final score was a 6.41. The song received an average voter score of 4.64 from the community, and an average judge score of 7.00.

The display score blends the audience and judges' contributions at 25%/75%. Here's how DEADSPECTRES's 6.41 broke down:

1.16 from audience
5.25 from judges

(4.64 × 25%) + (7.00 × 75%) = 6.41

YOUR SEASON SO FAR

  1. Round 1 · 6.69 / 10 · rank #14 PERSONAL BEST
  2. Round 2 · 6.41 / 10 · rank #17
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