I had a lot of trouble ranking songs this round, but this is the best I've got…
1.
Dark Castle The Tinder Box- To the Road
Here's the exception to my difficulty in ranking the songs. At first, I was very unsure about this song. It's got a sort of bluegrass feel to it, that I don't particularly enjoy… normally. It definitely sounds like music that would come from South Dakota, and not typically make the journey into my listening rotation. Thankfully, it did, and it will stay there for a little while. For most of the round I had it sitting at third or second, but it grew on me a considerable amount and thankfully has more going on in it than the other top contenders. Singer has a great voice that couldn't fit the music better, the banjo works really well, and the mid-song change in pace works really well. I can't wait to check out more from these guys, and hopefully get a full album soon.
2.
jingle.boy Evergrey- Madness Caught Another Victim
I guess I can understand how this fella's voice might be a bit polarizing, but I couldn't possibly imagine coming up on the other side of that spectrum. I don't know what to say about it… range? check! power? check! emotion? check! just the right amount of rawness? check check check and check! If I was ranking vocalists alone, this one would probably be the number one of the entire roulette thus far. As for the acoustic guitar work, it's nice but nothing too spectacular. Thankfully, it fits the song well, and that's all that really matters. My only issue with this song is that I'm not sure how well it stands alone. It definitely sounds like a transition piece, and I think it would deliver more effectively within the context of the full album. Speaking of which, that other song was also incredible, and I will absolutely be getting the rest of the album. Unfortunately it wasn't quite what I had in mind for the acoustic round, so I had to go with this one. Still, excellent 3 minutes of music here.
------------------This is where it became a lot more difficult to rank. All of these are good songs, but nothing that made me gasp----------------
3.
LieLowTheWantedMan Belle and Sebastian- Expectations
At first I thought there wasn't much to hear in this one. The voice is pleasant, but also seems to drone a bit on the verses. I do appreciate the little vocal melody that comes at the rear of the chorus. Also like the horn-instrument (is that a trumpet? I dunno, I'm ignorant when it comes to that family). The strings are also a nice complement to the rest of the song. Another highlight is the lyrics, not overly complicated but effective. Overall I'd classify this song as pleasant and relaxing background music. Nothing gripping, but it does serve a purpose.
4.
Elite Ben Folds Five- One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
Another double submission this round, this times for the Ben Folds Five, with this song being my favorite of the two. The Good: it's playful and moves along quickly enough. The Bad: those lyrics… I get that he doesn't take himself too seriously, and that's alright, but it backfires here quite a bit. bleh…. The Ugly: his voice is uninteresting to me, verging on bland. There you go, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I did forget the excellent though: the piano. Very, very good job there. Love every bit of that piano! Just wish the rest of the song had lived up to that piano work.
5.
Dr. DTVT Ben Folds Five- Song for the Dumped
Song for a dead friend was much more to my liking, as it dealt with a really sad experience in an appropriately sad manner. Not to say that being dumped is anywhere near as painful as losing a close friend to suicide, but it is the comparison that comes to mind when trying to write about this song. I mentioned it briefly above on Elite's submission, but the silly lyrics detract from this song a little bit more IMO. With that being said, the piano work is, once again, both excellent on the ears and the primary highlight of the song.
6.
black_floyd Days of the New- Whimsical
First the questionable vocals… a bit too grungy for my tastes. Reminds me of Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, and that's not a good thing. They're much better outside the verses, I think, but it's still enough to grind on my ears a little bit. Now with that out of the way, I do think this song does some things well. I think it's well-paced, well-produced (I guess that's not saying too much when you've just got a voice and a guitar, but worth mentioning nonetheless), interesting lyrically, and got a nice little guitar solo near the end. An enjoyable listen, but probably not something I'll be rushing back to.
7.
Shadow Ninja Gypsy Kings- Bamboleo
Not what I was expecting from this round, but interesting nonetheless. It hurts to put it so low on the list, because it does a lot of things well. It's catchy and fun, got a nice splash of flamenco, and nice vocals. The guitar is really nice too. Unfortunately, it's way too repetitive. Despite being one of the shorter songs this round, it drags on unnecessarily long due to incessant repetition. The actual 'Bamboleo' sounds a lot less fun after it's been repeated 20 times. Also, not a fan of the clapping bit; it's just not my thing.
8.
lonestar Tesla- Modern Day Cowboy (Unplugged)
What a shame… I want to like this song more, I really do. And I do like bits of it (looking at that guitar solo, in particular). Yet, it's still my least favorite of this batch, and it's because of what feels like an unnecessary problem. The production on this live album is terrible. It's a relatively common issue I have with live recordings, as I like 'em pretty well-polished. And this is definitely not well-polished on that front. The audience is too damn loud. It wouldn't be so bad if they just shut the fuck up, but they don't. It ruins the first couple minutes for me. As for the actual music, seems aight. Not a fan of the 'bang bang, shoot 'em up'' bit, but the rest is nice. Are these guys criminally underrated? Maybe… I'll check out some of their studio work to see what I think. But this song, alone, definitely didn't do the trick for me.
Standings:
jingle.boy 13
Dr. DTVT 12
Dark Castle 10
LieLowTheWantedMan 9
Shadow Ninja 9
Elite 7
black_floyd 7
lonestar 6
I'll post the next round's theme later, after the chef has chopped me up