Author Topic: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Quick Album Reviews)  (Read 68656 times)

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Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1085 on: September 21, 2017, 08:28:23 PM »
Les Discrets, Kauan and White Moth Black Butterfly go on Trainy's EP, the Amy Shark and Tusks songs on Bolsters'. "At Least I Managed to Finish the Roulette" is obviously Luke's :lol

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1086 on: September 21, 2017, 08:33:16 PM »
tusks is actually not on bolsters', someone guessed that before  :corn

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1087 on: September 24, 2017, 01:35:40 AM »
so, i have just finished the last of the writeups for each of the 5 EPs that matter. i'm gonna do brief writeups for sacul's EP so I can include his songs in the overall song rankings & then after that give each EP one more listen so I can have more confidence in my scores, and we're gonna be posting results one at a time until the winner is revealed. I actually have a fairly good guess at who it's going to be though, just based on where all the scores are right now - it has the majority of the 8+ scores, though there were disappointingly few of those overall, and has a pretty good EP score overall. I definitely know who's landing in 5th place too, but I'd have to add up all the other scores to tell you who's getting 2nd through 4th and even then I'm not 100% sure of 1st place either. Plus, a few scores might change on relistens - I'm gonna order every last song ahead of doing my relistens and if any of the rankings feel really weird to me there, there will definitely be some point reshuffling. It's not a very easy thing to keep consistent and while I feel like the scores within each EP reflect my opinions on each song I'm not so sure about scores between the different EPs right now. I've done... a lot of scoring today, guys  :lol my roulette doc is 31 pages long & with over 14k words. And that's without any writeups for Sacul's stuff. So yeah. I would expect result posting to start on Monday if I were you. So y'all better finish up hangman before then.

Offline Bolsters

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1088 on: September 24, 2017, 02:07:06 AM »
So by one at a time do you mean one per day?

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1089 on: September 24, 2017, 02:34:03 AM »
it'll probably be more like "one in the morning after i wake up unless i forget in which case oops" and then "one in the evening probably after i've had dinner" which will put things at like 12 hours or so apart for each one

i mean i'll probably post 1 & 2 at the same time but otherwise yeah that

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1090 on: September 24, 2017, 07:58:37 AM »
Give me an i
When Ginobili gets hot, I get hot in my pants. 

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1091 on: September 24, 2017, 09:39:20 AM »
Sacul: Out of Season
1. Saltillo - Giving In
2. No-Man - Song of the Surf
3. No-Man - Back When You Were Beautiful
4. Talk Talk - After the Flood
5. Saltillo - I'm on the Wrong Side
6. Fishmans - Long Season Pt. _

Luoto: Songs From the Edge of the Earth
1. In Vain - Image of Time
2. In Mourning - From a Tidal Sleep
3. Pressure Points - Between the Lies
4. Amendfoil - Darken Waters
5. Ghost Brigade - Elämä on Tulta

Nekov: The Happy Prog EP
1. The Flower Kings - Poor _r. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar
2. Agents of Mercy - Between Sun and Moon
3. Karmakanic - Ale_ in Paradise
4. Moon Safari - Too Young to Say Goodbye
5. The Flower Kings - __ _os_i_ Lover
6. Karmakanic - Turn it Up

Bolsters: The Ghost in You
BT - The Ghost in You (Intro)
Passion Pit - Take a Walk
Tegan and Sara - _aint o_ _eart
Tegan and Sara - D_in_ to _no_
Amy Shark - Drive You Mad
M83 - Another Wave From You
Amy Shark - Adore
BT - The Ghost in You
M83 - Outro

twosuitsluke: "At Least I Managed to Finish the Roulette"
1. Buckethead - For Mom
2. Kylesa - Unspoken
3. Kvelertak - Ulvetid
4. Killer Be Killed - Wings of Feather and Wax
5. Kvelertak - Sultans of Satan
6. Glassjaw - Ape Dos _il
7. Glassjaw - Cosmopolitan Blood Loss

Train of Naught: The Intercontinental Train (of Naught) of Impending Doom... Extravaganza
White Moth Black Butterfly - Rising Sun
Wardruna - Raido
Wardruna - Odal
Les Discrets - Song for Mountains

Song Titles

Kauan - I_
_lades - Dri_e
Tusks - Toronto
__ns_ip - Te__ Noir

Letters Guessed:
ABDEIJLNOPRST

Nekov waits 3
Luoto waits 2
Bolsters waits 1

Offline Bolsters

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1092 on: September 24, 2017, 09:47:00 AM »
Is the Kauan song IV or IX?

Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1093 on: September 24, 2017, 10:36:40 AM »
IV, and belong on trainy's ep. Tusks one on his EP too I guess?

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1094 on: September 24, 2017, 11:16:52 AM »
Sacul: Out of Season
1. Saltillo - Giving In
2. No-Man - Song of the Surf
3. No-Man - Back When You Were Beautiful
4. Talk Talk - After the Flood
5. Saltillo - I'm on the Wrong Side
6. Fishmans - Long Season Pt. _

Luoto: Songs From the Edge of the Earth
1. In Vain - Image of Time
2. In Mourning - From a Tidal Sleep
3. Pressure Points - Between the Lies
4. Amendfoil - Darken Waters
5. Ghost Brigade - Elämä on Tulta

Nekov: The Happy Prog EP
1. The Flower Kings - Poor _r. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar
2. Agents of Mercy - Between Sun and Moon
3. Karmakanic - Ale_ in Paradise
4. Moon Safari - Too Young to Say Goodbye
5. The Flower Kings - __ _os_i_ Lover
6. Karmakanic - Turn it Up

Bolsters: The Ghost in You
1. BT - The Ghost in You (Intro)
2. Passion Pit - Take a Walk
3. Tegan and Sara - _aint o_ _eart
4. Tegan and Sara - D_in_ to _no_

5. _lades - Dri_e
6. Amy Shark - Drive You Mad
7. M83 - Another Wave From You
8. __ns_ip - Te__ Noir
9. Amy Shark - Adore
10. BT - The Ghost in You
11. M83 - Outro

twosuitsluke: "At Least I Managed to Finish the Roulette"
1. Buckethead - For Mom
2. Kylesa - Unspoken
3. Kvelertak - Ulvetid
4. Killer Be Killed - Wings of Feather and Wax
5. Kvelertak - Sultans of Satan
6. Glassjaw - Ape Dos _il
7. Glassjaw - Cosmopolitan Blood Loss

Train of Naught: The Intercontinental Train (of Naught) of Impending Doom... Extravaganza
Tusks - Toronto
White Moth Black Butterfly - Rising Sun
Wardruna - Raido
Wardruna - Odal
Les Discrets - Song for Mountains
Kauan - IV

Letters Guessed:
ABDEIJLNOPRST

Nekov waits 3
Luoto waits 2
Bolsters waits 1

we're so close to finishing. do it
i've marked everything unfinished in red for you

Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1095 on: September 24, 2017, 12:00:26 PM »
Let's try:

The Flower Kings - Poor Mr. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar
Karmakanic - Alex in Paradise
 Glassjaw - Ape Dos Mil

Gimme the M.

Offline Crow

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1096 on: September 24, 2017, 12:07:58 PM »
Sacul: Out of Season
1. Saltillo - Giving In
2. No-Man - Song of the Surf
3. No-Man - Back When You Were Beautiful
4. Talk Talk - After the Flood
5. Saltillo - I'm on the Wrong Side
6. Fishmans - Long Season Pt. _

Luoto: Songs From the Edge of the Earth
1. In Vain - Image of Time
2. In Mourning - From a Tidal Sleep
3. Pressure Points - Between the Lies
4. Amendfoil - Darken Waters
5. Ghost Brigade - Elämä on Tulta

Nekov: The Happy Prog EP
1. The Flower Kings - Poor Mr. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar
2. Agents of Mercy - Between Sun and Moon
3. Karmakanic - Alex in Paradise
4. Moon Safari - Too Young to Say Goodbye
5. The Flower Kings - M_ _osmi_ Lover
6. Karmakanic - Turn it Up

Bolsters: The Ghost in You
1. BT - The Ghost in You (Intro)
2. Passion Pit - Take a Walk
3. Tegan and Sara - _aint o_ _eart
4. Tegan and Sara - D_in_ to _no_

5. _lades - Dri_e
6. Amy Shark - Drive You Mad
7. M83 - Another Wave From You
8. __ns_ip - Te__ Noir
9. Amy Shark - Adore
10. BT - The Ghost in You
11. M83 - Outro

twosuitsluke: "At Least I Managed to Finish the Roulette"
1. Buckethead - For Mom
2. Kylesa - Unspoken
3. Kvelertak - Ulvetid
4. Killer Be Killed - Wings of Feather and Wax
5. Kvelertak - Sultans of Satan
6. Glassjaw - Ape Dos Mil
7. Glassjaw - Cosmopolitan Blood Loss

Train of Naught: The Intercontinental Train (of Naught) of Impending Doom... Extravaganza
Tusks - Toronto
White Moth Black Butterfly - Rising Sun
Wardruna - Raido
Wardruna - Odal
Les Discrets - Song for Mountains
Kauan - IV

Letters Guessed:
ABDEIJLMNOPRST

dropping the waits because w/e it's so close to being done anyways

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1097 on: September 24, 2017, 12:18:17 PM »
Faint of Heart

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1098 on: September 24, 2017, 12:41:55 PM »
My Cosmic Lover?

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1099 on: September 24, 2017, 12:53:08 PM »
yeah those are both right but not enough to update for  :corn

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1100 on: September 24, 2017, 01:08:47 PM »
Dying to Know
Always too soon, always too late, always in between.

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1101 on: September 24, 2017, 01:18:49 PM »
Dying to Know

...if I'm in last place!

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1102 on: September 24, 2017, 01:38:27 PM »
Gunship - Tech Noir

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1103 on: September 24, 2017, 01:49:45 PM »
quick, which long season part is it? that's like the last thing left i'll update when someone guesses. just guess like every number from 1 to 10 i dunno how many parts there are

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1104 on: September 24, 2017, 02:01:10 PM »
Long Season Pt. & Knuckles

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1105 on: September 24, 2017, 02:32:02 PM »
Sacul: Out of Season
1. Saltillo - Giving In
2. No-Man - Song of the Surf
3. No-Man - Back When You Were Beautiful
4. Talk Talk - After the Flood
5. Saltillo - I'm on the Wrong Side
6. Fishmans - Long Season Pt. 5

Luoto: Songs From the Edge of the Earth
1. In Vain - Image of Time
2. In Mourning - From a Tidal Sleep
3. Pressure Points - Between the Lies
4. Amendfoil - Darken Waters
5. Ghost Brigade - Elämä on Tulta

Nekov: The Happy Prog EP
1. The Flower Kings - Poor Mr. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar
2. Agents of Mercy - Between Sun and Moon
3. Karmakanic - Alex in Paradise
4. Moon Safari - Too Young to Say Goodbye
5. The Flower Kings - My Cosmic Lover
6. Karmakanic - Turn it Up

Bolsters: The Ghost in You
1. BT - The Ghost in You (Intro)
2. Passion Pit - Take a Walk
3. Tegan and Sara - Faint of Heart
4. Tegan and Sara - Dying to Know
5. Glades - Drive
6. Amy Shark - Drive You Mad
7. M83 - Another Wave From You
8. Gunship - Tech Noir
9. Amy Shark - Adore
10. BT - The Ghost in You
11. M83 - Outro

twosuitsluke: "At Least I Managed to Finish the Roulette"
1. Buckethead - For Mom
2. Kylesa - Unspoken
3. Kvelertak - Ulvetid
4. Killer Be Killed - Wings of Feather and Wax
5. Kvelertak - Sultans of Satan
6. Glassjaw - Ape Dos Mil
7. Glassjaw - Cosmopolitan Blood Loss

Train of Naught: The Intercontinental Train (of Naught) of Impending Doom... Extravaganza
Tusks - Toronto
White Moth Black Butterfly - Rising Sun
Wardruna - Raido
Wardruna - Odal
Les Discrets - Song for Mountains
Kauan - IV

we did it
guess i'll go do final listens for all the EPs now  :corn

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1106 on: September 24, 2017, 02:54:59 PM »
Other than Pressure Points I don't listen to a single band here. I have no clue as to how I've faired. Maybe I haven't shit out after all  :corn

Offline Crow

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1107 on: September 24, 2017, 11:30:20 PM »
because i hate myself i decided to listen through every song and try to rank them all individually, rescoring a lot of things in the process.
this is primarily done because i realized i have had a seeerious number crunch between like 6.0 to 7.5 or so and there were a lot of entries i had quite different opinions on scoring only .5 or .75 points difference, which to me just seemed way off. i moved the 6.0 score down to like 4.5 or something based on it being the only track here that genuinely had more i disliked than liked, which is imo fair for "below average", and hopefully whenever i next run a roulette i can fix my scoring better

it's hard to keep this stuff consistent though. since the previous round scores don't matter much for this round i decided now was probably about the best chance i'd get for this, anyways. so don't reasonably compare a lot of the lower scores to similarly score songs from previous rounds - if i went back and rescored some of those i think they'd end up even lower using the scale i'm trying to move towards.

anyways. i'm about 2/3rds of the way through rescores & going to finish them tomorrow and then i'll try to have sacul's EP up tomorrow night.

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1108 on: September 25, 2017, 05:06:22 PM »
I'll be up for about another 30 minutes before I go to sleep. Are the first lot of results due in before then? If so...

 :corn :corn :corn

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1109 on: September 25, 2017, 05:10:22 PM »
No, I'm at work and they're sacul's results anyways so go sleep

edit: okay so i have 13 songs left to rank (the top 13 or roughly that, might be a bit of reshuffling) and looking over what's left i am kind of amazed
10 of the 13 tracks come from two EPs. so i'm pretty sure i know who #1 and #2 are atm, lol.
i actually think the overall EP score might end up the deciding factor here. I could see these two being pretty close in terms of individual scores but one of them has a better EP score overall by a decent amount and that could seal the deal. i'm gonna go finish up these scorings now, anyways. i wanna listen to the good stuff.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2017, 07:53:57 PM by Parama »

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1110 on: September 25, 2017, 09:23:27 PM »
Just end my suffering :P

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (Final Round First Impressions)
« Reply #1111 on: September 25, 2017, 09:31:32 PM »
Sacul: Out of Season

Saltillo – Giving In

I think my biggest issue with a lot of trip-hop is the percussion, which is just not the kind of percussion I want to hear in my atmospheric music. It’s so constant and unchanging and doeasn’t really give the song room to hit a more ethereal mood that would work well for me.

Aside from that, and aside from the samples I’m not a huge fan of, I do like this as a whole though. The percussion is a constant problem but I can overlook it when the emotion of the singer and all the little nuances in the music can at least keep me interested. I think it may be a bit melodramatic at points but the singer definitely sells the climax of the song.

So yeah, okay enough song. Not hugely in love with it but it’s nice enough.

6.75/10 (#24 out of 40)



No-Man – Song of the Surf

I would’ve totally banned this if you were a legit roulette participant for what it’s worth. Steven Wilson should be banned for his entire body of work alongside a few others (Arjen, Devin come to mind) but since this is an unofficial EP I’ll allow it, whatever. I was at least a little curious.

Apparently this one came out when PT was on its last legs so you’d think it’d be the best kind of downtempo SW song. I mean, there are several haunting tunes on In Absentia and Deadwing. But… I don’t know, this one feels a bit emotionally dry to me. As much as it tries, with those swells of strings and a solid buildup towards the end, I just don’t think Wilson himself is doing a good job selling the emotion of the track in his vocals. They feel really cold and dry in a not particularly interesting way and that’s weird coming from him, in my opinion at least.

I do think the instrumental climax of this is at least pretty satisfying, some nice roaring guitars and a denser sound overall, though when that all fades I do find that the twinkly piano(?) and percussion under it really doesn’t do a lot for me.

So yeah… ehh. Kind of okay at times but I can’t say I’m a huge fan.

6/10 (#31 out of 40)



No-Man – Back When You Where Beautiful

I don’t really have a ton to say on this one that I didn’t say on the last one. I think this one has better atmosphere throughout and I think Wilson sounds better here too, which, god I’d hope so, this is right between the two best PT albums. He doesn’t really sound -amazing- though. I guess, he’s one of those artists that just sounds a lot better when he sounds utterly miserable? Something like that.

Oh and there’s the random banjo at the peak of the song which… yeah, this doesn’t hit as strong of a climax as the last track for sure. It’s an okay enough tune though. On the basis of these two tracks I am not remotely interested in checking out more No-Man, but, okay.

7.25/10 (#18 out of 40)



Talk Talk – After the Flood
This is kind of a meandering, rambly kind of song that really does feel more like a jam session than a song they sat down and wrote. Like, the off-kilter vocal lines embody that notion perfectly. I think there are a few moments where some degree of emotional potency is hit upon, but most of the time it just seems like random rambling. I guess the bit that counts as the “chorus” is the part I’m liking in that regard.

Musically it’s… okay, but definitely longer than it needed to be, I am pretty bored by halfway through this if I’m being honest. Aside from the vocals there’s just no variance in dynamics or emotion, it’s just this constant humming vague pleasantness. Again it seems like a track where the subtleties are supposed to be the main point of interest and music like that just does not tend to do much for me.

As background music it’s totally fine, sure, but outside of that specific use I don’t have much use for this at all. This at least fared a lot better than the last time someone tried to send me a formative post-rock song because this does at least have, like, atmosphere and substance and all. But not enough to keep me wanting to come back for more.

6.5/10 (#26 out of 40)



Saltillo – I’m on the Wrong Side

This certainly exists. I dunno, it’s pleasant I guess, but also so brief that it doesn’t have any time at all to leave an impact. It’s basically just album filler, or EP filler in this case, and I think you explicitly said that was how you intended to use it here too so. Whatever. I don’t have any real cohesive opinion on this because I’ve heard it all of three times and it’s been too short to leave much of an impact each time. But it’s pleasant enough so whatever, I don’t hate it?

5/10 (#39 out of 40)



Fishmans – Long Season Pt. 5

The “ba-ba-bum” bits at the start are not my thing and have never been my thing, it’s just impossible to take seriously for me. And the piano driving this entire thing isn’t quite something I’m a fan of either, it’s hard for a song to really get an atmospheric vibe going with a piano line that seems to want to be driving a faster pace.

The strings or synthstrings or whatever that play that one motif actually work better than they have any right to though, there’s a bit of a nostalgic vibe to them and that section as a whole that I can at least appreciate. Oh and there’s the accordion about halfway through the song too that makes me feel like I’m listening to a Layton soundtrack. The different layers of instrumentation do build up nicely towards the end of the song, it’s a really pleasant sound that makes me just want to chill out.

I don’t think the first half of this works much for me but a lot of the stuff going on in the second half does make this at least my favorite of the tracks on your EP, though I still can’t say I love it as a whole. I dunno, maybe this works better in the context of the album, I may or may not check it out, no clue.

7.5/10 (#16 out of 40)



I didn't do an overall EP writeup for this one because I'm tired. Here you go Sacul. Don't take these scores that seriously because I listened to yours like half as much as the others.

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11 Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1112 on: September 25, 2017, 09:48:39 PM »
Current Overall Rankings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16. Fishmans – Long Season Pt. 5
17.
18. No-Man – Back When You Where Beautiful
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24. Saltillo – Giving In
25.
26. Talk Talk – After the Flood
27.
28.
29.
30.
31. No-Man – Song of the Surf
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39. Saltillo – I’m on the Wrong Side
40.

Also, some fun stats:

Average ranking value of each EP (rounded to the nearest tenth):
??? - 15.7
??? - 16.1
??? - 18.8
??? - 21.3
Sacul - 25.7
??? -28.8

5 M's
Mean: 6.92/10
Median: 7/10
Mode: 7.5/10 (5 songs)
Minimum: 4.5/10 (1 song)
Maximum: 9/10 (2 songs)

EP scores:
6/10
7/10
7/10
8/10
9/10

As of the last post I am officially locking all scores but I haven't actually parsed out all the points and percentages of each EP that each song counts as and all that so I am actually not 100% sure who's won quite yet - though I can say with certainty who #5 is going to be. I'll do that in a few minutes. Whichever of these two EPs wins I think I'll be fairly satisfied, they're both on par with the better EPs from my first roulette for sure.

Offline Sacul

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11th Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1113 on: September 25, 2017, 10:38:06 PM »
Saltillo – Giving In
I think my biggest issue with a lot of trip-hop is the percussion, which is just not the kind of percussion I want to hear in my atmospheric music. It’s so constant and unchanging and doesn't really give the song room to hit a more ethereal mood that would work well for me.
Yeah I totally get it, that used to bore me, and it kinda does to me if the music is really uninteresting. But I just have found it helps put me in a hypnotic mood or something, dunno I just dig that these days if the percussion is good and the music too.

Talk Talk – After the Flood
This is kind of a meandering, rambly kind of song that really does feel more like a jam session than a song they sat down and wrote.
I mean, that's the whole point, Mark Hollis wanted to emulate that jammy, "natural" feeling of jazz he loved, so literally everything on the album was jammed with no second takes. But each musician was given some chord progressions and vague directions, not knowing how it fitted into the whole thing. The real magic was piecing all of that into a somehow coherent piece :P But yeah that record is kind boring except for that song and one or two more, I prefer the previous one, was definitely more cohesive and straightforward but with the same approach. Their pop records are my jam tho  :heart

Fishmans – Long Season Pt. 5
I don’t think the first half of this works much for me but a lot of the stuff going on in the second half does make this at least my favorite of the tracks on your EP, though I still can’t say I love it as a whole. I dunno, maybe this works better in the context of the album, I may or may not check it out, no clue.
Oh you'd like it, most of the album is in the vein of the last half of this song and it's very relaxing and lovely. One of my favorite discoveries of the year.

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11th Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1114 on: September 25, 2017, 11:59:55 PM »
So I have some more numbers for you:
The EP scores. Spent like, two hours doing all the math and double-checking everything and I am pretty dang confident now that I know who won this.

24.80
27.83
29.35
29.66
30.37

And well... the scores actually turned out quite a bit different than I was originally expecting. I was expecting maybe a close competition between two particular EPs with the rest falling behind  fair bit... which didn't happen, and instead there's a pretty tight three-way race going. Huh. Shows what I know, but the EP I was expecting to win has indeed won.

I will say this though: The #1 song is on the winning EP of the roulette, which makes me at least feel satisfied. The top 4 songs are all honestly pretty great, with at least a decent number of songs I find pretty enjoyable beyond that, but then there's just a lot of stuff I wish you guys hadn't sent.

Will those bonus points have an effect on the overall EP results? Who had the best flow? Who had the best song? Who's the grand winner of the longest roulette I'll ever run jesus christ end me already? Find out... starting tomorrow. Good night, DTF!

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11th Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1115 on: September 26, 2017, 12:22:36 AM »
but then there's just a lot of stuff I wish you guys hadn't sent.
That's why I only sent 30 minutes of music, less to dislike :corn if you at least like Kauan I guess I'll be satisfied. New Kauan album came out last week but I haven't checked it, according to the singles released before it's way more ambient though and sounds like they probably ditched the harsh vocals on this one too. I'm gonna check it out this week

Also congrats to sacul with his baby medal
people on this board are actual music fans who developed taste in music and not casual listeners who are following current fashion trends and listening to only current commercial hits.

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11th Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1116 on: September 26, 2017, 12:34:14 AM »
Luke actually sent 9 seconds under the 30 minute minimum and i was considering penalizing him slightly for it but i decided 9 seconds isn't a big enough deal so whatever  :corn

I will spoil that Kauan did not get #40 out of 40 on the overall rankings, but something from the EP I'm posting tomorrow morning did. Fun times.

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11th Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1117 on: September 26, 2017, 03:28:00 AM »

but then there's just a lot of stuff I wish you guys hadn't sent.

I really didn't have much left to send at this point and unfortunately hadn't discovered much in the run up that I thought you'd like. Except perhaps Volur, but I didn't send them.

Luke actually sent 9 seconds under the 30 minute minimum and i was considering penalizing him slightly for it but i decided 9 seconds isn't a big enough deal so whatever  :corn

I could've found a 10 second song to send you  ;)

Or I could've added 9 seconds of silence, may have ended up being the highlight of my EP. Pretty sure I'm last so, yea...

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (11th Place - it's sacul)
« Reply #1118 on: September 26, 2017, 06:46:52 AM »
Will those bonus points have an effect on the overall EP results? Who had the best flow? Who had the best song? Who's the grand winner of the longest roulette I'll ever run jesus christ end me already? Find out... starting tomorrow. Good night, DTF!

Dammit, I was expecting to see something :getoffmylawn:
When Ginobili gets hot, I get hot in my pants. 

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Re: Parama's Confrontational Roulette v2.5 (#5 - What They Call Hard Feelings)
« Reply #1119 on: September 26, 2017, 09:22:44 AM »
5th Place: Nekov: The Happy Prog EP

The Flower Kings – Poor Mr. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar

First Impressions:
A bit of an awkward start considering it’s an EP opener but. And I had these guys sent in my previous roulette, the song I got there was… okay but never checked them out further. From the start of this I am actually digging this a fair bit, for “happy” prog this dips into relatively dissonant stuff quite a bit. The interplay between melody and dissonance is what makes a lot of music interesting to me these days; and I feel like this song does a good job of balancing those. Though some of these melodies are, yeah, not huge on them. Yeah, this middle section isn’t doing as much for me as the stuff before nor the stuff after, but I mean on the whole this is a pretty solid instrumental and kicks off the EP well aside from the weird start.

Final Thoughts:
So it turns out I’d actually been listening to the wrong song this entire time (it’s hard for me to figure this out, especially when I’m being sent a file directly so whatever). I think this does make a lot more sense as an EP opener, especially for this EP. But I’m gonna leave the writeup I did for… whatever song you send me the first time for one purpose.

Uhh. It was the best song on the entire EP. The song you didn’t mean to send. Interested me way more than the five tracks following it. Heck, it was one of the better songs of the entire round. So cutting that away and replacing it with this track feels like a significant downgrade, but hey, this is the track you meant to send.

The track itself? It’s a solid enough, fairly nostalgic little guitar piece. As a song on its own it’s a bit lacking in substance but as an opener for the EP I think it does a pretty decent job and fits the tone well. It’s certainly pleasant to listen to. But also a bit hard for me to really evaluate seeing as I have only heard it twice in total (as opposed to the 5-6 listens songs usually get). But yeah. Solid enough intro at least.

6.25/10 (#28 out of 40)



Agents of Mercy – Between Sun and Moon

First Impressions:
The singer of this sounded exactly like what I expected them to sound like. Because apparently it’s Roine Stolt, okay. That makes sense. Roine Stolt is apparently in three of the four bands you sent me, wow. It’s a good thing I’m not a huge fan of his voice then, oops. Actually that’s probably a bad thing. This one’s definitely more in line with what I expected from a “happy prog” EP though. The strings and the choir vocals and cheery guitar lines. Though there’s a bit of a darker turn for a moment in the middle of the song and, again, that’s probably my favorite part of this, again. Maybe I’m just missing the point. Not a fan of those synth tones either. This sounds nice enough and it isn’t really boring but considering the one moment where it sounds less “nice” is the only moment that really caught my interest the most I’m not sure what to think really.

Final Thoughts:
Yeah, the guitar work in this is pretty nice. I especially like that one melody right before each verse. And the bass gets a lot of mileage here just doing some fairly cool stuff, though the mix doesn’t really bring attention to it.

The chorus of this one sounds more like a prechorus than a chorus itself but regardless of that I still think it’s a pretty solid chorus? It’s mildly catchy and the stomping, lumbering beat makes it somewhat memorable.

Aside from that the only thing that stands out here is that instrumental bit in the middle which, yes, it’s a pretty cool instrumental break but in part because it does sound pretty out of place compared to the rest of the song, though it still works well in spite of that? I don’t know, it’s a cool moment. I do think the song meanders on a bit long after the last chorus though, I kind of wish it had just skipped that descending action and gone straight to the louder reprise bit that closes the song off.

Overall… yeah, I think this is among the better songs on the EP but I can’t say I really love it either. There’s stuff here that works but most of it doesn’t resonate that strong with me. I’ll be a little cautious with this one because there’s nothing I really dislike here either, so… yeah.

7/10 (#20 out of 40)



Karmakanic – Alex in Paradise

First Impressions:
The longer this goes on the more I wonder if I’m going to start finding the cheeriness oppressive. I think I’ve made it pretty clear that happy, sugary music doesn’t tend to do as much for me so sending an entire EP aimed that way is a weird risk to take, but. I only say this because I don’t have much else to say about this one? The vocalist is the same as the last song. The instrumentation is a bit more energetic here, maybe a bit more technically interesting? But at the same time less diverse, focusing more just on the traditional guitar/bass/drums. with the occasional synth and piano. I do dig the chill guitar solo in the middle of the song, I almost kind of wish the rest of the band didn’t come back in and make that section more energetic, it’s a nice reprieve. Well anyways. Not much else I have to say on the matter. Well, ending is a bit abrupt.

Final Thoughts:
I get the impression this entire song is intended to be ironic. Like “look how cheery and dumb this song is”. As a metaphor for the person being sung about. Blissfully ignorant and thus completely lacking in strife. I dunno, that’s just the vibe I get from this, especially given some of the lyrics. So if the entire song is a joke it’s hard to really take seriously.

And god I hope it is a joke because if not this borders on insufferable. It absolutely is that kind of oppressively cheery I am just not a fan of and it feels a bit one note in that too. Like you get the one groove and variance on one riff for a good half of this song at least.

There’s still aspects here I do enjoy though. The bass work throughout is pretty damn tight throughout the song. The intro melody is pretty solid and as well the guitar solo in the middle is pretty nice too. But I just don’t like the chorus here and I’m not a fan of the verses either. Maybe the vocals are the biggest problem I have here but I think even besides them there’s just not too much here that really appeals to me.

5.25/10 (#38 out of 40)



Moon Safari – Too Young to Say Goodbye

First Impressions:
I think I may have checked out one of these guys’ albums at some point but never being too huge on prog rock as I have been it didn’t really do a ton for me. Was wondering if this was instrumental until two minutes in when the vocals did come in. And yeah, I do like this singer more than Stolt, his tone just sounds smoother to my ears. Sounds more modern but doesn’t really clash with the style either. Some of those vocal harmonies are great too. Instrumentally this is solid but admittedly not standing out too much, the vocals seem to be the main attraction here and they do keep me interested at the very least.

Final Thoughts:
God, having this guy on vocals is such a nice reprieve when literally four of the other songs on this EP all have the same mediocre singer fronting them. There’s just something about the tone here I like a lot more, and especially those harmonies in the chorus. Best vocal moment of the entire EP for certain.

It’s actually interesting how the verses of this very much have a rock vibe despite being driven mostly by the piano and synth and not so much by the guitars. And the prechorus here, it builds up energy pretty nicely leading into the chorus. The bridge after the second chorus too. There’s a nice level of dynamic energy to this song, the feel of the song being able to switch up whenever it needs to and keeps things interesting by doing so.

Tonally this song is also just a bit more up my alley. It’s got a kind of cheery vibe but it’s very decisively bittersweet and not really that sugary. Which I can get into way more than a complete lack of strife. It’s most evident in the vocals but I think musically it accomplishes the same feel too.

So yeah at the end of the day, with the first track being gone, I’d say this one definitely ends up as my favorite on the EP as a result. Best vocal performance, probably the most compelling musically too. It’s not too show-offy but I’m kind of glad for the sense of restraint, it manages to stay interesting the whole way through regardless of that. So yeah, pretty solid stuff. Can’t say I’m super in love with it but it’s a very solid, enjoyable song.

7.75/10 (#10 out of 40)



The Flower Kings – My Cosmic Lover

First Impressions:
Well, that intro sure is something. I uhh. Kind of failed to have anything else to say about this song in particular. I’m just a little confused as to why you’d send an EP full of very similar sounding songs. What are the unique features of this one, uhh, I guess, it’s a bit more laidback in nature? But I mean, it’s Roine Stolt again. Nothing new to say vocally. And the other Flower Kings song was more interesting instrumentally. This honestly sounds like an early 90’s rock song with just slightly more interesting instrumentation, which isn’t really something I want to hear. The groove of this is okay but it gets old pretty quick and there isn’t really much else to the song, especially for its length. In the spirit of trying to have something positive to say. It’s not unpleasant and it’s not instrumentally overly simple and if I didn’t have several other similar songs on the same EP maybe I’d like it more than I do. Uhh, that’s barely positive, whatever.

Final Thoughts:
This song ended up being kind of memorable, at least more so than a few of the other tracks here, but… I kind of wish it wasn’t. I don’t really know what it is about this track but there’s just a lot here I find rather offputting.

Like the most obvious thing is that the song is locked in one groove the entire way through. It basically leaves the bass and drums as negligible the entire way through as they change so little if at all.  I’m also just not a huge fan of the chorus here. Or at least I think it’s the chorus but whatever.

Mostly I just think this one ends up slotting right into that “overly cheery” vibe that makes me lose interest quick. The prechorus melody here is honestly not bad at all, it’s a solid melody? It gets reprised throughout the song a few times but I don’t think it gets overused. And there’s just a vibe of “jam session” throughout a lot of this that isn’t necessarily a bad thing? Even gets what sounds like a saxophone in there for a bit near the end?

Ehh. This one isn’t really awful at the end of the day but at the same time it does get on my nerves a little and definitely overstays its welcome, without having anything that really stands out in a positive way. Not awful? Not particularly good either though.

4.5/10 (#40 out of 40)



Karmakanic – Turn it Up

First Impressions:
Yeah this one starts off a bit more interesting (and is like, actually a rock song, with guitars that have some actual power to them this time), so already this is a step up from the last track. I think it sacrifices some of the other instrumentation for it though? I do hear other instruments doing some okay stuff but the guitars are really driving this one the most. As an EP closer it’s also certainly more bombastic than the past few tracks. The “turn it up” chorus gets a bit old by the end of a single listen too which definitely isn’t a great thing. I don’t know, I think I’m mostly just… exhausted. By this entire EP, which is just not up my alley at all and to my ears is very, blatantly lacking in any diversity or dynamic and just leaves me completely losing interest by the third or fourth track. Hopefully it’ll be better on relistens but, who knows.

Final Thoughts:
I think at this point in the EP it’s hard for me to not be exhausted by this kind of sound. This one definitely fares a little bit better than the other Karmakanic song because it at least feels earnest and isn’t a monotonous sugary cheeriness like that one, or the song before it on the EP either.

I actually like the general vibe of the verses here, it’s a bit more understated than the rest of the song, with the tom-heavy drums and the mish-mash of guitar lines. And while the chorus itself isn’t really too bad in isolation, it’s fairly catchy, it has a nice lead-in to it… I do get tired of it by the end of the song. I don’t want to turn anything up and/or down ever again after how many times I’m being told to in this song.

Beyond that… I don’t really have much to say about this one? It doesn’t really have anything that stands out much at all. It’s solid as a closer I guess but there’s just not a ton here for me, it’s a bit on the dull side as well. It’s not as obnoxious as the other Karmakanic song can be at times but it also doesn’t have the cool moments that at least make that song interesting at times.

5.25/10 (#37 out of 40)



Overall EP Thoughts:
Err. I really don’t know what you were thinking with this one. I know I’ve made it pretty clear that standard prog rock usually doesn’t do a ton for me, and also made it pretty clear that overly cheerful music often tends to grate on me. And it’s not like any of the songs here are totally awful, but only two of them interest me much at all, and the one song I was previously really into on the EP turned out to be… not on the EP, whoops.

Cohesiveness? Absolutely, it’s there for sure. Variety? No, it’s not there at all. There’s another EP this round that had a serious struggle with variety but even it feels at least a bit more diverse than this one, and I think having the same singer for four out of five songs with vocals is the biggest reason why. As far as flow goes I guess it’s fine enough, the track ordering feels solid though if it were me I’d have put the first Karmakanic song right after the intro track, that would’ve been a bit better of a transition in my opinion, going from an acoustic track to a clean guitar intro. But that’s nitpicking and it’s not a big deal overall.

Ehh. At the end of the day it checks most of the boxes in terms of EP score but it does totally fall flat on its face in terms of variety and that definitely counts as a big mark against it as a whole.

7/10



Song Score Breakdown:

Total EP Length: 32:59 -> 1979 seconds

Poor Mr. Rain’s Ordinary Guitar - 2:44 -> 164 seconds
164/1979 = .083
6.25 * .083 = 0.51875

Between Sun and Moon - 5:04 -> 304 seconds
304/1979 = .154
7 * .154 = 1.078

Alex in Paradise - 5:04 -> 304 seconds
304/1979 = .154
5.25 * .154 = 0.8085

Too Young to Say Goodbye - 6:24 -> 384 seconds
384/1979 = .194
7.75 * .194 = 1.5035

My Cosmic Lover - 6:46 -> 406 seconds
406/1979 = .206 (rounded up .001 so the sum is 1.000 instead of .999)
4.5 * .206 = 0.927

Turn it Up - 6:53 -> 413 seconds
413/1979 = .209
5.25 * .209 = 1.09725

Sum: 5.933
EP Song Score: 5.933 * 3 = 17.80
EP Score: 7
Bonus Points: 0

Final EP Score: 24.80/40

Yeah, sorry, but it was pretty evident from my opinions of most of the individual songs that I was not particularly a fan of this EP. Maybe one or two of the best of these mixed in with some darker, moodier stuff would’ve fared better, but as it stands only two of these songs I was particularly fond of, and losing the one song I actually genuinely liked the most of the bunch didn’t help your EP either. What was that song by the way? I really want to know, because it was quite good, would’ve gotten like a 8.25 or something around there.