Author Topic: 425's Roulette v. We crown the skies with our tiara! (Final Results Inside!)  (Read 55167 times)

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Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #35 on: May 08, 2015, 08:20:53 AM »
It was a test to see if any of you was willing to flout the rules. You all passed. Or failed. Depending on how you look at it.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #36 on: May 08, 2015, 08:34:59 AM »
It was a test to see if any of you was willing to flout the rules. You all passed. Or failed. Depending on how you look at it.

*In a Tommy Chong voice* -You're messing with my perception man.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Online TAC

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #37 on: May 08, 2015, 09:02:10 AM »
It was a test to see if any of you was willing to flout the rules. You all passed. Or failed. Depending on how you look at it.

*In a Tommy Chong voice* -You're messing with my perception man.
You know what's funny is that I actually heard him say that once but he used his Kingshmegland voice.  :D
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #38 on: May 08, 2015, 09:39:25 AM »
Nobody is quite like me.





They spell better.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Online lonestar

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #39 on: May 08, 2015, 09:52:49 AM »
OK, sent.

Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #40 on: May 08, 2015, 10:45:39 AM »
Got it! I have everybody's now, so I'll start listening tonight, probably.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #41 on: May 09, 2015, 10:49:53 PM »
So I lied yesterday when I said I'd listen last night.

I just listened through everything for the first time tonight. Obviously I'm going to listen several more times before I actually say anything definitive, but overall I'm really impressed with this first round. You would not believe the diversity of music I'm getting. Or maybe you would, particularly those of you who sent some of the more far-reaching choices. In any case, after just one listen, I'm already down here noting some of these artists as artists who I absolutely have to hear more from.

I guess right now the biggest thing I'm trying to work on is how to score these things. It's becoming pretty clear that I'm going to need to take care to avoid too much crowding near the top. I imagine the result here will be that there will be practically no 10s, certainly none this round, but a decently generous number of 9s. I just want to give myself room at the top in case some song that becomes an instant classic in my view comes along. The other issue is low scores. The way I'm thinking about this now, practically nothing is going to score low unless you send me a song that has parts that really annoy me or where the song just does nothing for me. Most of the music I've been getting is stuff that I at least like okay, so if this round is a basis for how things proceed, I just can't really justify handing out 1s and 2s and 3s all willy-nilly. The lowest I would even consider giving to any song in this round based on my initial impression is a 4, and I don't think I would do that, I think it would be more like a 5. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts, particularly if you've done this before, about how to handle the low end?

Other than that, there's not really anything substantive I have at this time :P . This is really just to say that I've listened to everything, I'm really happy with what I've received this round, and I'm excited to listen to this stuff some more and at some point soon get around to doing scores and writeups. I don't have a specific date at this point, but the way I'm feeling about this right now, I don't think I'll have a problem shooting for around a 1 round per week pace.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

Offline Sacul

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #42 on: May 09, 2015, 11:09:35 PM »
Vote as you may. If you feel a tune is perfect, 10/10, and you love it in every sense, well, give it the max score - but it's up to you.

As for low scores, in my roulette just very few earned less than or 5, and just because they were either underwhelming or downright awful. If no songs deserve a bad score on this round, then what's the problem? This is your roulette man :P .


PS: If you don't give my tune an 8 or more, I'll send you Swans, grindcore, and power metal tracks for the rest of the game.

 :neverusethis:

PS2: When should we expect results? :)
« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 11:29:20 PM by Sacul »

Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #43 on: May 09, 2015, 11:40:50 PM »
Alright, that's good to know. I'm just kind of looking for a sense of whether or not it's weird to not have many low scores, so it's good to know that someone else has had very few things scoring under a 5 in their own roulette.

PS: If you don't give my tune an 8 or more, I'll send you Swans, grindcore, and power metal tracks for the rest of the game.

If I don't give you a good score you'll harm your own chances at winning? And make me listen to grindcore? Now that I think about it, I guess that would be an effective revenge strategy  :P

PS2: When should we expect results? :)

I don't really have a specific date pinned down, but I would imagine somewhere around Thursday. This is the busiest week I'll have during this roulette, since I have to finish up final exams and then move out of the residence hall, which I'll be doing on Tuesday. So because of that (and because I'm still trying to develop things like exactly how many times I'm going to listen to each song, how I'm going to score the songs, etc.) I'm not precisely sure when I'll get done with this, but I would give Thursday as a rough estimate. After this week it should be smoother sailing for me.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

Offline Crow

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #44 on: May 10, 2015, 12:12:44 AM »
i like a 0-10 scale where 5 represents "average", 0 is "complete waste of my time" and 10 is "i will marry this song"
but that's just me.

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #45 on: May 10, 2015, 12:50:29 AM »
And the 11 song is the "I'm cheating on the song I married because it's just so dirty..."

Online King Postwhore

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #46 on: May 10, 2015, 04:16:28 AM »
And the 11 song is the "I'm cheating on the song I married because it's just so dirty..."

Nigel Tufnel is in the house.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #47 on: May 12, 2015, 12:49:13 PM »
Do the bumpty bump!
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Offline Big Hath

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #48 on: May 12, 2015, 01:52:47 PM »
you sent Digital Underground!?
Winger would be better!

. . . and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #49 on: May 12, 2015, 02:01:10 PM »
Hey, you got it!  Lol
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Offline bl5150

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #50 on: May 12, 2015, 07:12:09 PM »
Do the bumpty bump!

I give permission for you to use my patented Winger bump if things get serious king  ;D
"I would just like to say that after all these years of heavy drinking, bright lights and late nights, I still don't need glasses. I drink right out of the bottle." - DLR

www.theguitardojo.com.au

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #51 on: May 12, 2015, 07:14:56 PM »
Oh, it would be great to zing 2 people.   :lol
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #52 on: May 13, 2015, 03:32:06 PM »
:soon:

No, but seriously, I had an exam to take and a paper to write on Monday and I had to move out of my room and drive 12 hours yesterday. I think I'll have results Thursday; I want to take at least one more go at these songs before doing writeups. And this will hopefully be the slowest round on my end, because of that whole end of the semester thing I just described.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #53 on: May 13, 2015, 04:10:35 PM »
Cool.  Take your time.  Pun intended.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #54 on: May 14, 2015, 12:59:21 AM »
Just went through another listen. My scoring on this round is taking shape. This is a really strong round, and I'll be beyond pleased if you all keep up this level of quality throughout the roulette. I'm still finalizing the scoring, and that's what I'm going to do tomorrow (Thursday) on my last listen, which will also be when I do the write-ups. Once I'm confident that I have scores and write-ups, I'll post them. I'm just trying to work out exactly where I want to score the highest and lowest songs and how to make sure that the scores in between make sense with regard to the tiers I see in the quality level of these songs and that the score of each song in between the highest and lowest makes sense given the quality of that song. You all made it very hard on me by sending me so many good songs.

Because I know you all are eagerly waiting and will probably be mad to see yet another post by me in this thread that ISN'T results (soon, I promise), I'll share some of the more interesting remarks from my initial impressions of the songs as a teaser. Obviously without labels as to what the song is or who sent it.

"The chorus is infectious."
"Again, this is totally something I would never have found by myself."
"Wtf is this genre though?"
"Chorus kinda sticking in my head first few minutes after the listen, which is a good sign. Okay, it’s really sticking."
"Interesting atmosphere for sure."

I'll have something real to post within the next 24 hours.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

Offline OpenYourEyes311

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #55 on: May 14, 2015, 11:15:10 AM »
I'm excited to hear the results! I feel like most of those "impressions" could fit for my song, but you could also wind up hating it, too, haha. Can't wait! ;D
I don't want MP playing with DT unless they were making a drummer change. If they let MM go and bring back MP, then fine, but no guest appearance please.
WELP.

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #56 on: May 14, 2015, 11:27:03 AM »
Well, if one of those is mine, it's probably the one about chorus. Then again, all choruses on that album are catchy and infectious, if you ask me.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #57 on: May 14, 2015, 01:53:05 PM »
Also, only an hour until it's Friday here where I live. :corn
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

Offline Crow

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #58 on: May 14, 2015, 02:17:08 PM »
i hope mine is the "wtf genre" or "interesting atmosphere" one 'cause it doesn't really have much of a chorus

Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #59 on: May 14, 2015, 02:31:10 PM »
Also, only an hour until it's Friday here where I live. :corn

I have 7 and a half hours by my Eastern Daylight watch :P .

And actually, by some weird coincidence, each of the three people who responded since I posted those quotes submitted a song about which one of those quotes was written...
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #60 on: May 14, 2015, 02:53:26 PM »
TEASER!! :lol
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.” - Bob Newhart
So wait, we're spelling it wrong and king is spelling it right? What is going on here? :lol -- BlobVanDam
"Oh, I am definitely a jackass!" - TAC

Offline Sacul

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #61 on: May 14, 2015, 04:24:20 PM »
:dangerwillrobinson:

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #62 on: May 14, 2015, 07:30:45 PM »

Offline Sacul

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Offline Crow

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #64 on: May 14, 2015, 08:47:36 PM »
patiently waits for 9.5/10 score

Offline Sacul

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #65 on: May 14, 2015, 09:30:27 PM »
patiently waits for 9.5/10 score


Come on man, I made it for you, just a bite :(

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #66 on: May 14, 2015, 09:41:00 PM »
i'm sorry but this song is 2 good to get anything less

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Entry Closed. Round 1 Underway.
« Reply #67 on: May 14, 2015, 11:32:41 PM »
i'm sorry but this song is 2/10

Fixed that for you.
This first band is Soen very cool swingy jazz fusion kinda stuff.

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Offline 425

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Re: 425's Roulette v. Round 1 Results
« Reply #69 on: May 15, 2015, 12:03:27 AM »
Sorry, guys, if you're hoping for Parama to have a bad day...

Again, as I said, this is a really impressive round. The scores range from 6.5-9 without bonuses, 7-9.5 with. Hopefully y'all keep it up, though the fact that everything is so good makes it harder to figure out how to score these things!


Round One Results


Sacul: Burial – Raver

Sorry, Sacul, you fell a bit short of the 8 mark. Please don’t sent me grindcore.

Honestly, I really did like this track. It has a really cool atmosphere and some good musical themes. The vocals are really weird, but I wound up liking them and finding them well-fitting. You said that he puts a lot of feel into his music by the standards of the genre, and I have to agree. I can definitely feel the emotional power behind the music. I’m not sure how well I relate to the emotions of the track, personally, but I definitely enjoy experiencing his passion anyway.

One of the downsides to me is the repetitiveness of the song. Perhaps there’s a good reason for it, but in the end there are relatively few themes repeated a lot of times over a five minute runtime.

You said I should listen to this song at night, and you weren’t kidding. This is a definite mood piece that is appropriate for nighttime listening. Ultimately, this may have hurt you a bit, because it feels like something I have to be in a particular mood for, which caused some of my listens to be less enjoyable than others. That and the repetition factor is why ultimately, I feel that this is deserving of a slightly lower score than the next song listed.

I feel bad because I told you to go for electronic music and then I gave you the lowest score in the round, but I really do feel open to the genre. And I like this song, but at the end of the day I just don’t feel strongly enough about it to give it a higher score.

Score: 6.5 + 0.5 bonus = 7


Big Hath: Tower of Power – Squib Cakes

This entry is a very fun soul/funk instrumental. I’ve long been a fan of brass instruments but never really checked out any artists that place them front-and-center. Tower of Power does so in a big way, though the traditional rock instruments (drums, guitar, organ) impress here as well. Squib Cakes is absolutely packed with some great rhythms and brilliant solos on practically every instrument. Somehow, every solo manages to fit well into the piece and make the song feel like a coherent whole.

The main detraction from this song is that there are a couple times where the organ player holds a high note for like 20 seconds; something about those notes are kind of grating to me. On the whole, though, I really enjoyed listening to this song. It doesn’t reach the levels of some of the other songs this round because of those high notes and because I lean a little more towards emotional or atmospheric gravitas than towards pure composition, but that isn’t meant to take anything away from this song. This won’t be the last I hear from Tower of Power.

Score: 7.0 + 0.5 bonus = 7.5


kingshmegland: Lo-Fi Resistance – Fading Pictures

This prog rock song really impressed me off the bat with its strong emotional core. The sad piano melody is simple, but really quite powerful in its simplicity. On my first couple of listens, I wasn’t too sure about the transition into the louder chorus, but I’m finding it more and more fitting the more I listen to this song. It’s not as good as the verses, though. I really like the singer’s voice; he conveys a lot of emotion and really fits the song perfectly without sounding jarring at all, which can occasionally happen with prog. The guitarwork is also really quite impressive as well, I especially like the slow solo at about the halfway mark, though the subtle, quiet playing on the first verse also deserves credit.

The main flaw here is that I’m not head-over-heels about the more chaotic, loud section near the end. I think it’s Gavin Harrison drumming on this track? I’m not sure if it’s him and I know I’m not allowed to criticize him on this forum, but the drumming on that part is just more busy than I’d like it to be. But to the band’s credit, the transition out of that part into the outro is fantastic, and the song ends on a solid note.

I do feel like the first half of the song is stronger than the second half, because it creates this impressive buildup while the second half has to figure out what to do with that buildup, but on the whole, I greatly enjoyed this song.

Score: 7.5


Evermind: The Gentle Storm – New Horizons (Gentle Version)

I really didn’t expect to get anything like this on the opening round of the roulette, but it really was a pleasant surprise. The Celtic vibe really appealed to me right off the bat on the very first listen. It’s an interesting texture that’s totally different from that of most music that I listen to, and I really value that.

I know that it’s practically a crime on this forum that this is the first time I’ve listened to anything involving either Arjen Anthony Lucassen or Anneke van Giersbergen. Well, I won’t remain an outlaw in that regard any longer. The song was ear-grabbing enough to get me interested in Mr. Lucassen’s work, but the main focus for me is Anneke. I assume I’m preaching to the choir here, but I really greatly enjoyed her soft, sweet singing. She really lent a hand into giving this song a really pretty, hopeful feeling. I particularly loved her soft vocals.

In the end, what keeps this song back from scoring higher for me is that the composition is not extraordinary once you get used to the arrangement. Don’t get me wrong, the composition is good, particularly the vocal melodies which are very strong, especially the chorus, but it’s not extraordinary. There’s a novelty factor to the fact that the song uses a really unconventional set of instruments, but the composition itself is really good, but not great, in my opinion. I guess it’s a case of “there’s something missing” for me. Maybe it would be better if I heard it in the context of the concept album. Ultimately, the atmosphere and Anneke’s singing help it out a lot and make it really enjoyable listen, but only up to a certain point.

Score: 7.5 + 0.5 bonus = 8.0


lonestar: Enchant – Juggling Knives

This song might be the clearest case of a grower in this round. It went from being one of my least favorite entries to ranking in the top half of all the songs in this round.

The musicianship of these guys is spot on. The instrumentalists play just as much as they need to on the vocal parts. The verses have a nice groove and the choruses are carried well by the band’s playing. Great job complimenting a vocal section. On the instrumental section, the band really gets a chance to shine. I really like keyboard solos most of the time, and this is no exception—this key solo is one of my favorite parts of the song.

The vocal melodies, though, are what really makes this piece for me. The chorus is brilliantly catchy. It’s been running in my head all afternoon today, along with the chorus of one other song this round (coming soon…). The singer isn’t really distinctive stylistically—his style definitely shouts “I like Jon Anderson,” which isn’t my favorite style vocally (though not something I dislike either)—but he hits the melodies well. That’s good enough for me when the melodies are as good as this.

Score: 8.0


Shadow Ninja 2.0: Beach House – Myth

Stylistically speaking, you nailed it on the first go. This sounds like the type of music that I’m looking for more of. Atmospheric, dreamy, vocal pop music. I really love the soft guitar (?) work that makes up the primary instrumental melody. Quite gorgeous, and it really helps with the spacey vibe created by the keyboards and vocals.

The vocals are probably the main focus here, and fortunately, they’re quite good. The singer’s tone is perfect for this type of music, and he hits the right notes emotionally as well. And the melodies are just spectacular. The verses and choruses are memorable and lovely, but the bridge is just amazing.

I just have to mention the dreamy vibe. I absolutely love the atmosphere here. It feels like being on the beach at night, which is one of my very favorite things to do. I like to think they felt similarly given the name of the band. Spectacular, beautiful vibe. If this band’s other songs have a similar level of attention paid to atmosphere, and especially if they have a similar atmosphere, sign me up.

Score: 8.0 + 0.5 bonus = 8.5


TAC: Iris Divine – Prisms

This is a really impressive heavy prog rock song from what seems to be a new band, Iris Divine. Everyone, if you haven’t heard this band and you like prog rock or heavy metal, you should give this song a go. It’s really quite good.

It might be a weird comparison, but this band reminds me a little bit of a more metallic Haken. That’s a positive comparison. The heavy riffs that these guys throw out left and right are really good. There’s a lot of memorable guitar work in here, in those riffs and also in the solo during one of the instrumental breaks, which are both pretty cool proggy parts.

The singer is perhaps not the most extraordinary vocalist you’ll ever hear, but he’s actually quite good. He has a strong voice and just the right amount of grit for the more aggressive bits. The vocal melodies may actually be the strongest part of this song. After my first listen, my opinion of this song was mixed, because I liked the riffs, but wasn’t sure how much more this had than just good riffs, but I found that the chorus was seriously sticking in my head. Next time through, I paid closer attention to the melodies and found them to be really very good.

Overall, this song is a strong entry from, again, what appears to the be the debut effort of a new band. These guys may not be breaking any new ground, but they don’t have to be if they can produce prog metal of this caliber.

Score: 8.0


OpenYourEyes311: The Lone Bellow – Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold

Wow. This is totally something I would never have found myself, and I love it so much. I wondered whether someone would actually pay attention to that bolded “Taylor Swift” on my banned artists list, maybe this answers that question?

Perhaps more than anything else in this round, this song and this band worked its way into my heart. You should be glad that you sent me the music video, by the way. Because I sure am. You can hear it in the song, but it’s even clearer in the video: these people care so much about this music. This band put so much passion into this song. I could watch the male lead singer perform all day, because he so clearly puts all his heart into everything he does.

As for the music, this is the simplest of the top three songs of this round, but I love it for its infectious catchiness and heart-on-its sleeve passion. The chorus is absolutely infectious, and so are the verses, really. The instrumentation isn’t complex, but it fits the song perfectly. Same with the singers, who aren’t technically stunning, but they are perfectly suited to the song and have such emotional power.

This song has been steadily climbing up the rankings since the beginning. It was in the top half right off the bat, but I think I had some hangups about putting something this simple this high. Well, this song has been playing in my head for four days straight, and my fourth listen was enough to convince me that it absolutely belongs among the top songs of this round.

Score: 9.0 + 0.5 bonus = 9.5


Parama: Casualties of Cool – Moon

Another artist that I’ve broken DTF law by not having heard up until this point: Devin Townsend.

This song really impressed me. The main attributes of this piece—subtle instrumentation, strong sense of atmosphere, memorable vocal melodies—match up quite well to a lot of what I’m really liking in music lately. And yet this song did so in a way that I totally didn’t expect. As I put in a more brusque fashion in the element of my initial notes that I quoted a few posts up, “wtf even is this genre?” Honestly, this combines so many elements of different genres into one completely cohesive piece that I have no idea what to call it, except “good.”

I assume Devin Townsend himself is the one doing the male vocals. He’s not doing a whole lot, but it absolutely works for the song and is one of my favorite elements of the song. The song does a good job of building from the sparse beginning to something of a crescendo, bringing in the female vocals and saxophone while never totally abandoning the original melody, though it does get a little busy for a minute or so there, but it somehow works with the union of the male vocals, saxophone and female vocals building working in tandem.This is a standout piece and definitely deserves a place among the top three of the round.

Score: 9.0 + 0.5 = 9.5


Scorpion: Portishead – Glory Box

Right from the beginning, this song was the class of the round. And it still is right at the top (though two other songs have managed to ascend to a similar height). Because this is just spectacular.

The smokey beat here is spectacular and is a big part of what makes this song so enjoyable, but it’s just the beginning. The instrumentation appears where it needs to and really contributes to the excellent vibe of the piece. I love how the guitar supports the vocals on the chorus and on other bits of the song. It’s used really well.

And then there’s the real reason to listen to this song. The singer’s amazing voice. Her singing is really beautiful, emotional, and, frankly, smokey as fuck. I love the way she sings the word “tenderness” in the second verse. And really everything else. She’s quite a spectacular singer, and really makes the song that much better for her presence. The lyrics also really add to the total package, because they’re really quite touching and relevant.

Score: 9.0 + 0.5 bonus = 9.5


Standings:
OpenYourEyes311 - 9.5
Parama - 9.5
Scorpion - 9.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 8.5
lonestar - 8.0
TAC - 8.0
Evermind - 8.0
Big Hath - 7.5
kingshmegland - 7.5
Sacul - 7.0




Round Two: Open

Another open round. Impress me again.
And if spirit's a sign,
Then it's only a matter of time