Cute take on the title and the central song is strong. The acoustic is maybe a little loud in the mix for what it’s playing? It makes the overall feel a little heavy-handed. Which the song isn’t by any stretch … will say that I don’t like the cute-but-pointless little rap break in the middle or the discordant keyboard solo that follows it. It’s a jolly, fun little song, not sure the subject matter means I would listen to it many times but it’s fine.

CD - Love the contrapuntal bvs and the beach- boys-esque middle 8 (or whatever one calls it). Punky fun for sure and I love the complicated song structure going on in the depths of the grind. The lyric is not clear enough in the mix (although having read maybe that’s a good thing 🙂 ) It’s an EQ thing not a volume thing. Then again, what the f*ck do I know about such things? It's a cracker.

Composition: 3/10
Lyrics: 4/10
Performance: 4/10
Production: 6/10

Creativity bonus: 2
Challenge bonus: 0

Not an origin story, once again (except for the spoken bridge). So no challenge bonus. This song doesn't have anything memorable in it, to me, apart from the "James Brown style breakdown", which is... um... strange. It gives you a creativity bonus though.

Cavedwellers

Composition: 6/10
Lyrics: 8/10
Performance: 7/10
Production: 9/10

Creativity bonus: 3
Challenge bonus: 4

Nice lyrics again, somehow transcending the concept of "origin story". It's an interesting way to meet the challenge, so I'll give you a nice challenge bonus! The recording, production, and performance sounds solid, but I wish it were a bit catchier. It doesn't stay in my head for long. This is why I gave you fewer composition points. The song still sticks out from most of the others - and I know what you are capable of. Looking forward to your round one entry 🙂

The first section sounds great, sloppy claps not withstanding, and if you would have ended the song after the second chorus I'd have been happy. The bridge section contains a lot of more-bad-than-funny James Brown style vocalications and to make it worse, they're mixed loud as fuck. I did however chuckle at 'ouch!'. The cyber-voice section I like a lot, but the detuned chords hurt me, although I like them notionally. The last minute of the song is a net negative.

Whoa. That big change does not feel natural at all. I was into this song for the first half, but that change was just too much. Clever tie-in with the challenge, though.

BYD must hate having me as a judge because I clearly don’t connect to their comic sensibilities. The song is “This is not a Test” yet is about standardized tests. Smdh. I may not be big on the joke but there’s some charm and solid music making here so it lands in the middle of the pack. (MID)