Picture this:
A dimly lit dining room, members of the Millevoi family are holding court. The conversation is tense, the reason unclear. Patiently we begin to put it all together — a neglected Crock-Pot, seemingly unlawful behavior, culinary wisdom. Two adversaries at opposite ends of an accusation: A young man in a Titleist hat defending his right to leave the stove on for hours against the anxious judgments of a stoic, enraged mother.
Your challenge for June 2019 was to make music from this incredible standoff.
As you may know, we here at Soundfly love a good challenge. We run them all the time. (If you’d like to get in on the action, hop on our mailing list and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, too.) But man, was this a tough one!
There was so much to take in from that video and the first half dozen times I watched it, I was laughing so hard and also very weirdly nervous, and I couldn’t approach any kind of music making.
When I calmed down, I started to notice a few things that were ripe for sampling for my own attempt at this challenge: a fist slamming the table, keys jingling in hand, the phrase “get your own bone broth somewhere’s else.” Yes, we may actually have something here. I finally settled on trying to adapt some of the vocals from this amazing rant to an existing beat I had coming along. A snare got replaced by a hand meeting a table, and some gold soundbites got heavily effected.
Though this started as one of our toughest challenges, we got some incredible submissions in the end, and here are our faves. Thanks to Nabil, Sam, George, and Lisa for completing this challenge and sharing your fantastic tracks with us. Because it was Nick Millevoi who risked it all to capture this incredible moment and inspire this month-long challenge, we asked him to comment on the resulting submissions. So here they are with Nick’s own commentary. Crock-Pot it!
George Korein – “Crock-Pot It”
I really like the rhythm of the intro, especially with all of the typewritery sounds (which it turns out is the sound of my mom slapping the table). The repetitions are only slightly exaggerated from the way these kinds of arguments normally go in my family, so it feels natural but still surreal. I also like the cool delay effects.
Sam Sentivan – “Crock-Pot”
Full disclosure here: This track was composed and produced by my new 12-year-old guitar student who brought this to his first lesson. So… I’m very impressed. I like that Sam banged on a Crock-Pot with drum sticks for the rhythm track, which shows a real commitment to the concept. The timing of the samples of my mom respond well to the rest of the track, especially the “please don’t” that pops up in the middle of the ripping guitar solo.
Nabil Khazzaka – “It’s Against the Law”
A hip-hop groove with my mom saying: “That is against the law” as the hook?! I love it. The repetitive delay-soaked sample of my sister is a really cool percussive touch that I dig, and I think is a big part of what makes this track so infectious. It’s weird and hard to understand what’s happening there, which keeps me listening closely. This track really grooves and I love the beat.
Lisa Reshkus – “June Monthly Challenge”
Wow, this one goes in a very different direction and completely decontextualizes the sample. Ultimately, it’s a love song that uses a clip of my mom saying “don’t leave,” and cuts off “the burner on” in order to add to the emotional arc of the song. To me, that is totally hilarious because I know where it’s coming from, but I also think it may be effective — I just wish there was more material from the argument in there.
Carter Lee – “Bone Broth”
Chilled-out, summertime vibes with samples of my mom talking about bone broth? I’m in. I like all the spacey delay on the clips. It makes the whole argument feel a little more mellow than it was in real life, which is a pretty cool thing. Also, this beat is pretty fun.
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