ONOFFON

[onoffon]

I received our first TAXI® Feedback sheet on our first submission - which was 'returned' and not forwarded - but I still thought it would serve well as today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day. I submitted two songs - #1. "Please Baby Please", and #2. "Wet Legs". #1 received 9's in Production, Engineering, and Musicianship; and 8's in Lyrics, Arrangement, and Lead Vocal. It's lowest ratings were 7's in Music and Marketability. #2 received 9's in Arrangement, Production, Engineering, and Musicianship; and 8's in Music and Lead Vocal. It's lowest ratings were 6's in Lyrics and Marketability. They were submitted in the category of 'Novelty Songs'.#1 had comments like, 'I really liked the funky groove and hooky guitar lines'. #2 said, 'The band sounds great; esp. guitars', and '#2 is well recorded & sounds radio ready'. Overall comments said, 'In terms of playing, these tracks sound excellent.' And, 'Keep up the good work & all best to you.'The criticisms of both songs came in the lyrical content. The reviewer felt that neither song was 'witty' enough for this listing. Wow - tough crowd. oh...and BTW, in "Please Baby Please", the drummer played slapping his thighs, played the zipper on his fanny pack, and used brushes on newspaper at the end. It was totally spontaneous and I thought made it perfect for the 'novelty' sound. Either way, it's still an excellent review of both songs - in musicianship and production, which is really all we can do. Maybe our next submission will hit the next reviewer on target...

[onoffon]

Today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day is from Moxie Music in Canada -Moxie MusicONOFFONReviewed by Glenn Willson"HEY GUYS.......JUST HAD TO DROP A LINE TO SAY...... YOU GUYS ARE FANTASTIC.........THE FORMATION OF YOUR SONGS HAS AN ELASTIC EDGE THAT WILL HOLD YOUR ATTENTION.......WHAT A GREAT STYLE! THE SONGS ARE FULL OF COLOUR, FEEL, POWERFULL IDEAS.......AND WELL, STICKY GLUE!! ........I'M GOING TO WEAR MY PLAYER OUT PLAYING THEM OVER AND OVER......WELL DONE..... KEEP WRITING ......CANADA WANTS MORE........glenn MOXIE MUSIC CANADA......"That's just the way he sent it to me... thanks Glenn for your passionate review of our music...

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Here's a couple of off the cuff board reviews from the old Mp3.com - I love going through all these reviews - it's what being an artist and making all these personal sacrifices is all about - thank God for each and every one of them -Mp3.com BB reviewsONOFFONThe ChozinSep 22, 2002 at 22:31:09Re: Re: First 20 submitted will get reviews"OnOffOn... That's what im talking about a tru underground artist really trying to make it happen. Songs were well thought out and very good if i may say so myself. I could listen to it anytime of the day while im relaxing. I guess i got to step my game up if i got comp out there like this. Even though we in diffent genre we are all in competition. Great work! you made a fan."csuspendedaudiodreamOct 26, 2002 at 09:33:51Re: Re: Im reviewing today "onoffonIm a big fan of every style of music... including jazz. You can tell your songs are professionaly recorded and possibly mastered. So no complaints in that dept. Every bit of detail is captured in your music. I think it would be awsome to implement some smooth jazz into your bands style... this style seems to be very appealing to the masses. Fantastic music... thanks for sharing!"Very cool...

[onoffon]

More spontaneous listener reviews from the old Mp3.com boards constitute today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day -Mp3.com BB ReviewsONOFFONrd55 Aug 03, 2002 at 15:01:49 Re: Songs reviewed by the famous Kim Riemer "Onoffon. cool name. hmmm must have a boatload of graphics or tunes,,, takes a while to load the site...whoa,,,whats dat bizzare lookin instrument de dude on the right got on the go? Mardi Gras ahhh,,, salsa jazz.. top quality recording here,,,highly recomended listening. Great musicianship, chops to the moon and back. Some day i gotta go see stuff like this live. Thanks for posting Kim Riemer."ManicD- Aug 02, 2002 at 19:09:23 Re: August Hot Artist Spotlight!!!! "Von you dog! That is fantastic man. I hope it brings you a hoard of new listeners and fans. I examined my two new OnOffOn cds that you sent my way and man they are excellent. I would not expect less. I noticed that there's some tunes I have not heard and the sound is better which is hard to believe. I am totally impressed and cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed both cds. The sound is incredible. Awesome production. Not one throw away tune. Not one. Each song stands on it's own and they all stand together nicely. I listened to "Your Mind" first and waited a few hours to enjoy "Surrender Now". You have a incredibly tight sound and I would love to see you live. I hope one day this happens. Anyone who digs ONOFFON should seriously make a committment to not buy anyone elses cds before purchasing theirs. "If A Thief Were I" is incredible. The graphics are very cool. Who is Pierre Babasin? Obviously related to you, this person has done some fantastic artwork and design. Your covers are brilliantly done. The back photo on the "Surrender Now" cd has a great effect to it. Your fan for life. ManicD-"ThomasTrotter Aug 03, 2002 at 12:36:38 Re: August Hot Artist Spotlight!!!! "ONOFFON's music should be continually featured at mp3.com, imo. Congrats on the spotlight Von - it's good to see some music I really LIKE being promoted by mp3.com. Tom"Bigtime Famous Producer Guy Sep 06, 2002 at 09:31:11 Re: Re: Reviews from the Bigtime Famous Producer Guy "You're already on my label aren't you? Professional performance and recording job. Just the right length for easy listening radio. All you need is to have Dave Matthews sing over this track and we can go platinum. Not much else to say really. Help yourself to a glass of Courvoisier. - Bigtime Famous Producer Guy"Well, another batch of wonderful reviews - can't thank these guys enough. ManicD- is an incredible musician in his own right - he's worth discovering on the internet...

[onoffon]

The ONOFFON SSP of the Day is one of the first reviews we ever received - on our first CD, Surrender Now. He also chose it as one of his Best Underground Recordings of 1998!Music Ram-blingshttp://www.ram.org/music/reviews/onoffon.htmlOnoffon - Surrender NowReviewed by Ram Samudrala "Onoffon play syncopated jazzy music that has its moments. There's some great harmonica playing and guitar work here, which goes very well with the intense saxophone. The vocals are okay; the instrumental songs/sections in this album are what appeal to me the most. Some of the more interesting songs include "Weekend in Montreal", "I Don't Give No...", "If a Thief Were I", and "Remember Only...". The latter two songs have a cool ethereal feel to them."Music Ram-blingsBest Underground Recordings of 1998http://www.ram.org/music/reviews/best98.html"By underground, I mean anything that was sent to me that was entirely self-financed and self-released. Most of these bands are not on any label and have invested their own time, money, and effort into making these recordings. Not all recordings were made in 1998, but I guess you could say they were "released" in 1998."Our sincere thanks to Ram Samudrala for appreciating the time and energy we've invested into our music....

[onoffon]

For ONOFFON's SSP of the Day - from the GarageBand community, a rather fun reviewer, quite the character, I give you, Doc Feeb - GarageBand ONOFFON - "Please Baby Please" Reviewed by Doc Feeb "So let's give this here new & improved gizmo a test drive and run a little jingle through it by ONOFFON by the name of "Please Baby Please!" Now you Garageband reg'lars will know all about VON BABY - He's the KING OF SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION! Someone in his band decides to eat Rice Krispies for breakfast, we gets ta hear 'bout it FIRST y'all!!!! DOCTAH says, "Put away those RICE KRISPIES.....break out the KRANTEENIES!!!!" Yayah! So here we go....set controls for "FEEB FUN!! (all scores out of ten:) ------------------------------------------- VOCALS - outstanding. sexy. marvellous control and expression. (9) LYRICS - slightly pedantic though sufficiently tongue in cheek. (8) GROOVE - a knee slappin' toe tappin' fonkay lil number y'all. (9) GUITAR - excellent. technically flawless. cheeky. full of ass-spankin', good time feeb. (9) BASS - solid. dependable. simple. take it seriously. (8) BOOGIE FACTOR - Yeah Baby! SCORE - 43/50 RATING - 86% --------------------------------------------------- Yeowwwwwwwwwwwwsa! You gots tha DOC-TAH's FEEB-A-CYPHER purrin' like a lil [naughty bits deleted] KAT! I haven't seen it this happy since I put it on a strict diet of KRANTEENIES and LURRRRRRRRRVE! ONOFFON? Well is it ON? is it OFF? is it ON? DOCTOR SAY, "HEY MAN! You don't even know who the HELL you are!" It's ON!" Well...as you can see, I've held the mantle of 'King of Shameless Self Promotion' for quite sometime now. Thanks to Doc Feeb for such a colorful review...

[onoffon]

This ONOFFON SSP of the Day is from Kenai, Alaska - from DIY Underground - DIY Underground ONOFFON - Surrender Now Reviewed by Crow "I just received the ONOFFON CD and have to say... ITS DEFINITELY WORTH OWNING!!! I was going to attempt to write a little review for all of you to give you a taste of what I felt about ONOFFON's "Surrender Now" CD, but the only words I could come up with wouldn't do the CD the justice it deserves.... I wish I had a genre to describe the music, but nothing seemed accurate to me... So in my mind I've classified it as "Good Music" ~ my new music Genre Hmmmmm It made me think about how I listen to music though, because this is one of very few albums I've listened to without seeing it or hearing it somewhere else.... I jumped into it not knowing what to expect, for a little while, it was merely background, and then it became the whole atmosphere, then it went to the background again, but not the background where you're not paying attention, in fact, background isn't the right word, I would say it became a part of everything, it wasn't like I HAD to listen to it, I just was, because It really fit with everything, It was there and it was enjoyable, its music for all occasions and forms to your mood.... if you're happy, it feels like happy music, if you're sad, the music has somewhat of a depressive feel.... I can't explain it.... though I've tried.... and once again feel I haven't done the CD the justice it deserves.... But I've learned how I listen to music.... there are three ways I do 1. Background, its playing and I'm not paying attention but its still neat 2. Consuming, Its the only thing, I'm staring at the stereo or have my eyes closed, I'm doing nothing but listening to the music 3. Hmmmm the 2nd phase of background, where you're noticing everything about the music, even though you're not trying.... OK this was a bizarre post from me Always Crow" I have to admit - to create music that makes people reflect on how they listen and experience music is the ULTIMATE compliment - thanks to Crow for being so moved...

[onoffon]

Today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day is from an article posted at All About Jazz - when Mp3.com was at its peak, we were involved with a compilation CD of some of the best jazz talent the site had to offer. It was an honor for us to be included in this group of artists and this is what was said about us -All About JazzCD Title - Flying Jazzhttp://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=2157ONOFFON - "Mardi Gras"”ONOFFON: MARDI GRAS”: #1 Ranked Jazz Latin Charts on Mp3.comThe most influential person in Von's life (leader of onoffon) was his father, jazz bass legend Harry Babasin, but was not the only artistic influence Von was exposed to in childhood. His brother, Pierre Babasin, is a guitarist and also a world-class graphic designer and artist. His grandfather, Russell F. Schoengarth, was an A.C.E. film editor for Universal Studios for over forty years with more than 90 films to his credit. Von's uncle, Jack Schoengarth, also edited films for Universal, and both, grandfather and uncle, were cellists in the Burbank Symphony, performing frequently at the Starlight Bowl in the hills of Burbank. Russell is no longer with us but Jack is still performing throughout the Los Angeles area. These four gentlemen were strong creative influences that helped lay the foundation for Von's expertise in film, video and music."Since this article was written, my uncle, Jack, has passed away also. He had retired from Universal but was playing concerts and teaching cello up until the day he died. My grandfather was also nominated twice for an Academy Award in film editing - and his IMDB page now has more than 130 movies credited to his illustrious career. Thanks to the background these men provided for me, I was able to receive an independent music video nomination for a video I had directed at the 1984 Billboard/MTV Music Video Conference held at the Sheraton-Universal. That was back when these awards were just starting to gain notoriety.I haven't had the money to produce and direct music videos anymore, but they are as natural to me as writing and recording "Mardi Gras" was - music and visual arts just go hand and hand...

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ONOFFON's SSP of the Day is one that I stumbled upon, on a website that supports holistic products - I guess they thought our music supplies more than just entertainment - OHOHIAhttp://www.ohohia.com/feature4.htmlONOFFON - Surrender Now"A spectacular 11-song assemblage of great and mellow jazz combined with poetic and enlightening words. A superior album by truly talented people. Don’t miss it!"We sincerely thank the people at OHOHIA for including our CD in their content - while the review is short and to the point, what more could an artist ask for?

[onoffon]

More from the Swedish reviewer, Jocke Ohlund, about our CD, Your Mind, is today's ONOFFON SSP of the Day -ONOFFON - Your MindReviewed by Jocke Ohlund"Thank you very much for the CD, I've been playing it it a lot over the last 5 or 6 days. It's great, it's even better than the first, even though I can't really put my finger on why. Maybe it's the fact that the tracks fit together a little bit better. It's hard to explain but on this album I feel that there are some songs that you can say...well these two or three songs go into the A bin and these into the B bin and so forth. Even though there are still songs that stand out not resembling any others on the album as well. I feel more of a "typical ONOFFON sound" on this one, though I'm not sure there is such a thing... I tried to explain this to a friend of mine who's very much into the same music as me and he has also borrowed Surrender Now from me before, and he said...yes! exactly what I hoped you would say!...He has now also heard Your Mind and what we have come up with is that the music is just as varied as on the previous one if not more...within the tracks, but maybe not between them. And we both agreed that that was a good thing. On the previous album you never really knew what to expect from one track to another and you still don't but the transitions are not as abrupt on this one. This album feels more like a "solid unit of variation" for lack of a better word. While the previous one, which was just as great as Your Mind musically was a little more "disjointed". I will add a review as soon as I have taken it all in in full. I have already added a short comment on your album in one of my new sections., the spotlight section. Spotlight of March -99. Also I have added another shorter review of Surrender Now in my infoviews section, which contains, or will in time contain, shorter reviews of all my "prog" albums. Thanks once again and congratulations on a great new album!! regards,Jocke"Thanks again, Jocke!!!!