Home > My Tunes > SongFight > Spalding Gray is Missing
SongFight Mix
Spalding Gray is a monologist famous for minimalist films like "Swimming to Cambodia". In a car wreck in Ireland a couple years ago, he was badly injured and became depressed. He turned up missing in NYC in January of 2004, suspected to be a suicide.No, I didn't know this either. Thank you, Google. This very dark song materialized in front of me, so I captured it on tape.
Krisis:
You, sir, ARE my genre of choice. This is phenomenal, the piano is perfectly underused, the electric was subtle, the cymbal was superb. A favorite with a bullet.Blue:
the opposite of everything krisis just said. too intentional, too calculated, not enough rock.Scott Hand:
I enjoyed the performance and recording of this piece. But I didn't understand why the biggest, loudest section was a bridge inbetween the vocal sections. It may be dark, but it never screamed in the dark.Jim Hodgson:
I'm not entirely sure about the vocal melody, but this song sounds better than most. Some parts of this remind me a bit of goodbye blue sky.Yes it's my real name:
Josh "Leonard Cohen" Woodward: I normally don't have time for stuff this heavy but I think you really pulled it off. I love the way it ends.nuero:
This song is dark, but it's good.. Every once in a while, there would be a low sound that bothered me. The lyrics are great and the guitar that I heard come in near the end added to the song, as well. Very good song.15-16 Puzzle:
Hmmmmm... the way you are singing against the guitar sounds like you're trying to tell a ghost story... all creepy like. It puts me off, and I can't tell at the start if the song is going to be serious or not. I don't notice it as much as the song wears on. Oooh, big old crashing waves of guitar, I always like that. The instrumental break is very cool. I wish the different parts were sonically different, I think it would sound less rambly if like a scary cello came in for one part, or something. It's a bit too folky rambly for my tastes, but it's a nice song.RoS:
God its like a eulogy. It's just to heavy for me. Don't get me wrong. It's SUPER pretty. But the theme is so heavy. Maybe everything you're singing about is true. All those reasons that MAYBE he killed himself, but idk man. SO there's that and then it kinda doesn't make any sense that he would try to swim to Cambodia instead of just trying to DROWN himself.Roy Castle:
very well made, as usual mr woodward. good stuff. i love the guitar, and the piano/guitar section later on. not too fond of the vocals i'm afraid, so i doubt i'll vote, but props for being very very well done.Jim of Seattle:
Turn down that bass! Its not like you to let a mixing gaffe like that get by. Your songs are usually marked by velvety chord changes, but this song doesnt massage me quite that way, and the mix doesnt help. Still, this is good. Needs some more time to clarify everything. The piano break with the crashing guitar chords sounds like it wants to paint a nice landscape variation from the verse, and if it did it would have been effective. But its not there. This just isnt up to your normal standards.Lunkhead:
really good. the one aspect that i consistently get put off by about your recordings is the way you inflect some of your words, which is really nitpicky, i know. some of your words that end with hard consonant sounds seem to end a bit too sharply, especially when you end a word with a "k" or "t" sound. it makes me think of james hetfield when i hear it for some reason. anyway, i like the instrumentation, particularly those far away sounding electric guitar notes. i like the way you end this one, too. i hope you're enjoying kicking the crap out of us lightweights here on a regular basis. ;) (vote)historyman68:
Masterfully dark song. I agree with RoS that it's unfortunate that you take that "Spalding Grey is already dead" approach, but that being as it may, your song works fine. You use "Swimming to Cambodia" as a metaphor for death, like crossing the river Styx or something. What else can I say? Great understated orchestration, including the electric guitar that kicks in part of the way and the cymbol rolls. It sounds like you took people's suggestions that you expand your sound a little and did exactly that. Top choices would be Dylan Nau, which really impressed me, Lemon Party, which really impressed my roommate, Josh Woodward because... he's Josh Woodward, and maybe one or two others.the voice inside your head:
the lyrics are probably pretty good but i'm going to have to listen another time or two to really pay attention to them. the vocals just aren't grabbing me that much, i'm too busy listening to the really great sounding guitar. love the guitar. seriously. and a piano solo to die for, with some low synthy cello sounding stuff that reminds me an awful lot like a foghorn on a boat at first. which is fitting considering the staten island ferry stuff. um, then it just kind of ended...krisis (2):
(****) - Excellent. This is great; the piano is perfectly underused in the verses, the electric guitar is subtle but menacing, the cymbal was superb. If anything, i think the vocal is slightly too crisp/on-top of the mix. Though i did not vote for it, take heart in the fact that this is apparently the second most-played track in my illustrious multi-thousand-song iTunes collection.Fat Steaming Bag:
Great acoustic tone, the playing is absolutely perfect, but yeah that bass just blew my speakers, holy shit! These lyrics are also fantastic, How? . Really enjoying the distorted gtr way back in the kitchen, that guy is groovin. Piano, real nice. Im not real familiar with your old stuff, but if it gets much better than this, then DAMN BOY! You got the chops. Now Im seeing you have actually won, a couple times even, shit! Good Job, maybe a bit dpressing for a vote though.The Jazz:
A+. Starts off very very nice. The bass note (are you the one who dropped to C?) cuts off too soon, I guess you plucked it again but not very hard... I want to hear it sustain more, or at least repeat at near its original volume for longer. I think I'm explaining this a bit awkwardly... Do you hear what I mean? This is a style of song I haven't heard before here, I appreciate very much your finger picking skills. The singing is good, the lyrics are okay but not good enough for me to pay any attention to. A mostly acoustic song is like a breath of fresh air (argh! there's that inevitable reference to Swimming to Cambodia! noooooooo..... and you were doing so well) in an environment filled with sequenced and heavily produced stuff.Jack Shite:
the mix is off. the bass clips. you've probably already heard this. as for the song, it's predictably good. or good and predictable. take your pickDan the Apathetic:
i like the heavy feel to the guitar riff. no more john mayer fans for you. they might be scared by this. this is an enjoyable song. i like the piano very much and the heavy guitar. but what the frick is in cambodia besides jungles and exotic stds?GC:
Very nice. A-roymond:
Where to begin? Creepy, intriguing lyrics accompanied by dynamic harmonic gestures and lush instrumentation. Soft, understated keys and whammy guitar with delay paint a fresh landscape over which the fingerpicking traverses like a rover on Mars. Overall extraordinary and memorizing. Like the unresolved hung ending, too. 9.5/10niveous:
The guitars in this song are chilling and the vox style is very good. I also enjoyed the bridge a lot. Good job.Ice Weasel:
you actually made me sad by the end. really well done. no suggestions.Lunkhead:
I voted for Josh. I particularly loved the instrumentation and the atmosphere in your song. Great work! And good work everyone else. It should be interesting to see who comes out on top this time. It's nice to have three heavy-hitters (i.e. Josh, Dylan Nau, Lemon Party) contending for the top spot, rather than just one blowing everybody else away.The Human Cello:
Wow this is good. But your josh woodward, what am i supposed to expect? excellent, i really love this. (vote):
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