RotM #6 - Voting

downsideup11

Well done everyone - I've really enjoyed listening to all of these riffs and was really difficult to narrow it down to a top three but them's the rules so here goes;

1st DesVegas

2nd Spark 240

3rd Rocker

PolarityMan

I didnt have a chance to re-listen to my shortlist for votes places but I'll get to it over the next few days.

samzadgan

so...now for some notes:

Antique_Guitar: lovely finger picking and underlying melody. Its simple yet, so many intricate parts to it and played very well.

Dopesick: big rocky riff and good backing track...not sure on the flang, i think the guitar lacks a bit of punch with that effect on.

Daveww: I like it...i can imagine this being played slower and a lot more delay and reverb, and that would be perfect to my ears.

Kin: nice proggy vibe to the first part and i liked it a lot, not sure about the second part being a riff though.

JudasVigilante:  i liked this a lot as I voted for it...love the tone, the riff and the beat...my only suggestion would be to slow it down a little.

Rocker: sounds great...i can easily see this as an intro to a song

Bingfeller: I really liked this and this was probably 4 or 5 on my list.

TTony: love these kinds of riffs...i thought it sounded ver ZZ Top style...i would have like a little less gain on it. But love the groove of it.

Hobbio: great tone and rock feel to the riff. Could easily see this as the main riff with a second guitarist doing some licks over the top of it.

DesVegas:  love the atmosphere of this track...i liked it and voted for it...and the best part was the outro!!

Samzadgan: @JudasVigilante, thanks for the vote, and i'm sure no one thinks you voted for me because i voted for you...i think our styles are similar...for the record, i am a guy 

PVO_Dave: This one got my head nodding to it, had a bit of a G&R feel to it...the good era!

Anonymous1: Not easy to play these kinds of riffs and maintain groove, but you're obvioulsy from the land of southern steel!

Simonbeckwith: indie rock but a bit smarter and more interesting than the regular indie stuff that i've heard

PolarityMan: very groovy and head nodding riff and the production was great too. This was on the fringes of my top 3.

Spark240: This made me feel nice when i listened to it...it put me in a good mood. But i'm a miserable bastard and i like to feel sad! but honestly, it was a great track.

Downside11: nice intro to a song, but very trebly for my likings

Steamabacus: I did like the guitar work...but the drums in the background kinda too over, i wanted to block it out and listen to the guitar.

Rocker

The sound on my iPad is poor, my computer is being upgraded. Hope it will be operational in the next day or two....

daveww

Here goes my pre-vote review.  There's quite a few to listen to so I hope I've not been to terse.

I think the Riffs should be about the guitar and shouldn't need drums and bass etc.  Pressure to do a full production will put some people off.  So I'm trying not to vote on the production, mix, drums and bass etc.  We'll all have different views of what a riff is as well.


@Steamabacus - Steve The Loopy Drummer
Cool Jazz.  Nice and simple and the drums reminded me faintly of early Santana Caravanserai

@Downsideup11 - Tele Riff
Nice rythmic tele chordy riff.  Would like to hear a better recording with a more biting tone.  Like it a lot though.

@Spark240 - ROTM Jan 2015
Nice good chilling vibe about this one & melodic too.  Again like it a lot.

@PolarityMan - ROTM - January
Excellent stuff.  Nice riff, well played, very rythmic and catchy.  Again like it a lot.

@Simonbeckwith - 3pc 1 13.12.14
Again excellent stuff.  Very orginal and nicely played.  Like the wide note range used and the way it resolved.

@Anonymous1 - Tiger Toight
Nice riff but not really my bag.  Nothing wrong with it at all but a bit repetive for me and not a style I'm in to.

@PVO_Dave - Riff
Again not really my bag.  Well played but a bit familiar and predicatble.

@SamZadgan - Rotm - Sz
Nice riff and as others have said very Iomi like.  Took me back to Boris The Spider time.

@DesVegas - 23 Swans
Nice ambient composition.  Liked it a lot but not really a riff in my book.

@Hobbio - Jan 2015 ROTM
Nice riff and well played.  Bits of it put me in mind of Steppenwolf.

@TTony - with bass
Nice simple rythmic catch riff.  Well played and nice tone.

@Bingefeller - February Riffing
Great stuff nice riff, well played, very catch and nice tone.

@Rocker - Christmas Star
Nice composition, liked it a lot.

@Judasvigilante - ROTM
Good playing and tone, a bit predictable but again not really my bag.

@Kin - First Go
Sorry Kin couldn't really hear it well enough.  Might be fantastic but needs more volume.

@Daveww - Riffyriffrif
Well mines probably a bit random but sounds ok in my head.  Probably means there's something wrong with my head... Would perhaps have benefited from another loop and a bit of silence or intro noise at the start.

@Last Mantra - Dopesick
Nice riff, well played and nice tone.  Liked it a lot but not as orginal sounding as some of the others.

@Antique_Guitars - Scratchy Scratch
Nice naked riff.  Liked it a lot.  Perhaps not hugely orginal sounding but nice composite and put me in mind of early CSN&Y.

Hope I haven't been harsh.  I'm perhaps not the best critic but I know what I like.  It's all very subjective at the end of the day and a nice bit of fun.  Others views will be widely different.

Now I've narrowed it down I'll have another listen before my vote.

steamabacus

Right, I'm going to sit down with pen, paper and a cuppa and get these listened to properly tonight. Votes should be up later.

daveww

Hard to choose.  Narrowed it down to 5 and then down selected.  Have to admit if I listened again I might change my mind.

@PolarityMan - ROTM - January - 1st Place

@Spark240 - ROTM Jan 2015 - 2nd Place

@Antique_Guitars - Scratchy Scratch - 3rd Place

Well done to all that entered.

steamabacus

Well, it took several rounds of listening, much scribbling of notes and two cups of tea but the votes are in. After the initial round of listening there were half-a-dozen tracks that particularly caught my ear for one reason or another. All the submissions had something interesting about them but these six tracks just had 'something different'. After a second round of listening I had a top three (in no particular order as yet) but the listening was then interrupted for several hours by the small matter of a League Cup Semi Final second leg.

Bolstered by Spurs successfully negotiating their way to the final (and against my brother-in-law's club too!) I returned to try and sort out the top three places.

But, before I get to the top three, some honourable mentions - as I said, I had half-a-dozen entries that stood out from the pack for me. So well done to @JudasVigilante , @Antique_Guitars and @TTony for three great 'riffs' that didn't quite make my final cut. Good stuff, guys.

So the top three...

3rd place (1 point) - @Spark240  'ROTM Jan 2015'
Very well arranged and recorded, confidently played and with a laid-back easy-flowing pace to it. Very nice.

2nd place (3 points) - @SimonBeckwith  '3pc 1 13.12.14'
I loved these proggy, twisting lines - you manage to keep things locked with the drums, though, which keeps it grooving tightly. With a snappier track name it might even have risen to the top of the podium. 

1st place ( 5 points) - @Last Mantra  'Dopesick'
Great raw chuggy vibe, spacey fx and solid playing. Instantly appealed to someone like me with an enduring love of Hawkwind. All it's lacking is the lightshow.  @-)

JudasVigilante

Thanks for the mention steamabacus, glad your team did you proud. Against your in-laws too. Way to go!

TTony

steamabacus said:

Bolstered by Spurs successfully negotiating their way to the final

Fellow Spurs-sufferer fan!  COYS

simonbeckwith

Wey, thanks for votes guys looking forward to the next round!

beed84

My vote is as follows:

1st @Anonymous1 - Tiger Toight  (Great riff, loved it. (5pts))

2nd @Steamabacus - Steam The Loopy Drummer (Very smooth, I wanted it to carry on! (3pts))

3rd @Spark240 - No Title (Really nice, it made me feel happy! (1pt))

Top stuff, guys!

spark240

@Antique_Guitar - Very nice acoustic piece, I liked it...1 Point. 

@Simonbeckwith - Something appealing abuot this, I think some nice EQ could bring this out better..  3 points 

@Steambacus - Interesting as well as good riff and well produced...5 Points ! 

I thought all entries were really good, in fact its difficult to judge whilst sometimes trying to put the riff first against some good production.

All in all...a great turnout and some nice tunes !      

Bellycaster

Best selection yet this month even harder to choose.

Here goes.

5 Points - Polarity Man

3 Points - Simonbeckwith

1 Point - TTony.

really impressive work all round to all entries,

lloyd

There wasn't a bad one among them-great effort-I'm defo in next month

Antique_Guitars

Wow amazing amount of entries and variation!

This took a while to get through.

For me these were my top three:

Steamabacus - 5 points

Spark240 - 3 points

Kin - 1 point

Antique_Guitars

Last day to vote today

Rocker

Got my computer back and spent a bit of time listening.  Really amazing entries with lots of differing styles and influences.

Honorable mentions to:

Steambacus

DesVegas

TTony

Antique_Guitars

My top three:

Spark240 - 5 points

Hobbio - 3 points

Polarityman - 1 point 

PVO_Dave

Surprised (and impressed) by the production levels on some of these

My votes:

Spark240 - 5 points

Steamabacus - 3 points

Polarityman - 1 point

DesVegas

Well done everyone who entered. It looked like I was in the running back there for while despite 23 swans apparently not actually being a riff..
I'm looking forward to congratulating the winner later and see you all in #7.
Dv.