There might be some mistakes in this as it's very late, so just tell me if I've got something wrong or left you out completely,
1st Place – 6 PointsFluffy Lothario
Fat Freddy’s Drop
This is the first instance in this roulette where after being sent a track I immediately went and listened to the whole album it was on. Fluffy’s description of it as ‘soul, jazz, reggae, synth-ey techno/drum and bass’ left me very excited to hear how this could possibly all come together, and my God, did it deliver. This was one of the most original songs I’ve heard in a long time, and the whole album is INCREDIBLE and fuses all of the genres I’ve been particularly interested in lately into one mindblowingly genius whole. This wasn’t even my favourite track on the album! (that honour goes to Shiverman based on my first listen) So yeah, wow, what a band. Edit: ARGH I’ve had the ‘waiting for the storm to come’ bit stuck in my head ALL DAY! But I can’t complain, I love it.
2nd Place – 5 PointsPortucci
Emancipator - Safe In The Steep Cliffs
Bearing in mind the fact that Portucci sent this song, with 2 others, in the 20 frantic minutes before he left for the airport, I wasn’t expecting this to be up to his usual quality of picks. But OH MY GOODNESS, how wrong I was. After one of the most gorgeous intros I’ve ever heard to a song, this track just kept on giving, with some lush guitar work and brilliant strings throughout. I was hesitantly expecting vocals to come in the whole way through, but I’m actually glad they didn’t, as this is basically one of the most beautiful, calming instrumentals I’ve ever heard outside of strictly classical and ambient. Lovely track.
3rd Place – 4 PointsJamesman
Jesus Culture – Where You Go I Go
This woman has one of the most amazing voices I’ve heard in a long time. Seriously, before the song had even got going I loved it just due to her singing. This song was, in every non-stupid-internet sense of the word, epic, and I didn’t mind whatsoever that it was a worship song, I think everyone should check this out regardless of religious beliefs. It progressed into an amazing climax in the middle, and then calmed down again superbly for an excellent ending. What was really nice here was how perfect the singer’s voice was both in the quiet intro and outro, and in the soaring choruses. What a great song, one that’ll definitely be on repeat on my laptop for a long time to come. Also funny was that Jamesman actually forgot to send me a link this time, but it was fine.
4th Place – 4 PointsKari
Yeasayer – O.N.E.
This was the kind of thing I was hoping to get in this round, as I knew there was amazing modern, relatively popular music that I hadn’t heard, and would never have done without being shown like this. This band is really innovative, they have a sound that feels really fresh but somehow has a sort of retro-vibe to the instrumental side of things too. I really loved the guy’s voice, and the song was constantly exciting and surprising for all of its length. The last minute or so is so perfect that I’d be fine if the song had a 10 minute coda of just that.
Not much more to say here, as literally everything in the song was great.
5th Place – 3 PointsGorille85
Mew – Introducing Palace Players
Mew are a band I’ve heard loads about, all of it good, but haven’t ever gotten round to checking out. I was expecting some Radiohead-style art rock, but the guitar in this blew me away! This song has some of the most intricate but elegant guitar work I’ve heard in modern music, and the way it develops throughout the song is amazing. The vocals here were also really cool, and I like how they’re only introduced fairly late in the song, which always leaves me wanting more. I’ll be asking for recommendations for Mew after this roulette fo’ sho.’
6th Place -3 PointsSonatafanica
The Depreciation Guild – Digital Solace
Despite Sonata making me
hard with his message telling me to at least only give him one point, I can’t comply, I enjoyed this too much. The guitar work in this was really chilled out and excellent, and then the energetic chiptune fit bizarrely well over it. I really liked the guy’s voice a lot too, and the breakdown where it was just him over the drums at around 2 minutes in was perfect and awesome. So sorry Sonata, but this has to get more than 1 point.
7th Place – 2 PointsKingshmegland
Our Lady Peace – Monkey Brains
What a fun, fun song. This track is really energetic throughout and just has a great sense of playfulness and rebelliousness that I really enjoyed. The vocals were great, and the guitar work throughout was really speedy and bouncy, and great fun to play. My only complaint is that the section in the middle feels a little bit disjointed from the rest of the song, and it doesn’t flow back into it too well, but that final chorus gets me every time, it’s just such a good singalong track!
8th Place – 2 PointsZxlkho
Karnivool – New Day
I’d heard comparisons of this band to Tool so I’d always been curious as to how well they actually held up to my joint favourite artist EVER. And this song really, really did. The vocals were great and actually better than Maynard in some moments (blasphemy!) and the structure overall was really cool, the way it crescendoed and decrescencoed several times throughout kept things interesting. Of all the songs I’ve been sent so far, this was the one that really didn’t feel anywhere near as long as it was, it was great, and finally gives me the push I needed to know that I’m a nub for not checking this band out before now.
9th Place – 1 PointDTVT
Enslaved – Clouds
This was creepy, and heavy… BUT I really liked it!
The chords at the beginning set the mood amazingly, and when the harsh vocals came in I actually didn’t mind, they fit the atmosphere really well. The song was heavy and awesome until about 4 minutes in, then THAT break happened and it was like an even better version of the kind of thing Opeth would do, and I was hooked. As DTVT will know, I’m not the biggest fan of harsh vocals, but this song really pulled them off well and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
10th Place – 1 PointSpace Invader
Pathosray – Sons Of The Sunless Sky
This WHOLE song reminded me very strongly of Systematic Chaos era DT, which, for me, is no bad thing, as I really enjoyed that album more than most here. The riffing in the beginning was breakneck and awesomely heavy, I really loved how unrelenting it was in the first minute or so. The song progresses really nicely into some softer sections, and the guitar solo that you feel coming for the whole song doesn’t disappoint, it’s great technically and pretty good emotionally too. I’d actually go as far as to say that this track balances the heavy and the soft better than DT ever did in SC, and it’s just overall a really fun listen every time. EDIT: Hot damn, how did this end up in last place?
Fluffy Lothario – 26 Points
Gorille85 – 23 Points
Jamesman - 22 Points
Portucci – 22 Points
Kari – 20 Points
Space Invader – 17 Points
Kingshmegland – 17 Points
Zxlkho – 16 Points
Sonatafanica – 14 Points
DTVT – 12 Points
I might consider doing a wager thing in the final round to let people in the bottom half have a chance to move up more if you guys want.
Penultimate round: Songs with great solos, on any instrument!
Topic: Marvellous G's Song Roulette - Round 8 Resuuuuults! (Read 41377 times)
