The Bolsters™ v3 Mini Roulette ★ [2017 Edition] ★ THE CONCLUSION

[Evermind]

Y'all just need to look harder, I had way more in 2017 than I could even get to, heck I'm still looking into the last of the 2017 stuff I missed 

I just kind of have no real desire to discover a lot of new music I suppose. I've checked some albums here and there from my favourite bands and a few from the bands I didn't know about but that was it.

But hey, maybe I'll find something I would want to check out in this roulette.

[Elite]

I shift between wanting new stuff desperately (and listening to a lot of 'new' stuff weeks in a row) to not giving a damn about anything new that's released and returning to my favourites. On a yearly basis I think I'll listen to about 30 records released from that year, in addition to at least that amount in albums released earlier. There's no way I can even come close to some of the end-year lists I see on these forums, where people have managed to listen to and rank over a hundred albums.

[Crow]

I've probably listened to around 150-200 2017 albums but only have about 45ish (looking to get 10-12 more at most from what I'm still checking out, dunno)

Year end lists for best albums of 2017 helped a little 

[jingle.boy]

Y'all just need to look harder, I had way more in 2017 than I could even get to, heck I'm still looking into the last of the 2017 stuff I missed 

Rite??

I'm by no means on Brent-tier level of looking for new releases, but I had about 130 albums I sampled - 27 I purchased; 30 are saved on Spotify, and the rest weren't worthy of repeated listens.  There's probably another 30 or so that I got a few songs in before realizing 'not mah thang'... and pulled the ripcord.  I'm sure Brent's year end podcast will add at least another 20 to the list.

Ruslan... you're free to check out all my stuff - it ought to be right up your alley.

Kade... you are not - since I'll be likely to use at least a couple in your roulette.   

[Train of Naught]

I counted 16 artists/albums of last year that I would have sent Bolsters regardless of restrictions, and if for whatever reason I run out of stuff by round 5 there's still the 2017 album bands that I normally wouldn't send Bolsters but I do like enough personally to send them in roulettes. Of those 16, only 1 other than my own got sent (Persefone).

Speaking of, I'm pretty sure which of you fuckers sent Persefone, has to be Puppies at this point right?

[Elite]

are you sure?

[Train of Naught]

Well yeah, because only you and puppies are left. It can't be you, because you sent Golden Caves - Child of Mine already

 

[Elite]

screw you

I'm sure that a minute before posting that you had no idea that band even exists

[wolfking]

Kade... you are not - since I'll be likely to use at least a couple in your roulette.   

I'd like to follow this to be honest, but I won't check anything mate.  Thinking about my roulette it might be hard to find artists that wouldn't be banned that would appeal to me so I think a lot of this new stuff you guys are checking is probably perfect.  You know, looking at Jon's banned 2017 list and you guys saying how much other stuff you have, I could do the same thing, make it a full roulette and probably you guys still wouldn't struggle to find stuff.

[jingle.boy]

Kade... you are not - since I'll be likely to use at least a couple in your roulette.   

I'd like to follow this to be honest, but I won't check anything mate.  Thinking about my roulette it might be hard to find artists that wouldn't be banned that would appeal to me so I think a lot of this new stuff you guys are checking is probably perfect.  You know, looking at Jon's banned 2017 list and you guys saying how much other stuff you have, I could do the same thing, make it a full roulette and probably you guys still wouldn't struggle to find stuff.

So long as your banned list included Brent.   

[wolfking]

Kade... you are not - since I'll be likely to use at least a couple in your roulette.   

I'd like to follow this to be honest, but I won't check anything mate.  Thinking about my roulette it might be hard to find artists that wouldn't be banned that would appeal to me so I think a lot of this new stuff you guys are checking is probably perfect.  You know, looking at Jon's banned 2017 list and you guys saying how much other stuff you have, I could do the same thing, make it a full roulette and probably you guys still wouldn't struggle to find stuff.

So long as your banned list included Brent.   

Brent will always find something to send no matter what......always!!

[jingle.boy]

Not if he's banned!

[wolfking]

Not if he's banned!

Oh, haha.  Don't know if I can do that to the big fella, I want what he's got!!

[Bolsters]

TAC: Daydream XI - Trust-Forged Knife
soupytwist: Mew - Twist Quest
Sacul: Brand New - Same Logic / Teeth
jingle: Masqued - The Light in the Dark
Parama: The Hirsch Effekt - Inukshuk
Train: Brand New - 137
home: Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and James McAlister - Jupiter
Puppies: Persefone - No Faced Mindless
Elite: Golden Caves - Child of Mine


None of the letters on Inukshuk had been guessed but you had it narrowed down to two songs, might as well just end this.

Results on the weekend, most likely Sunday.

[Crow]

i'll be totally honest same logic / teeth is definitely better than what i sent. and jupiter is close to it too. i dunno most of the other songs though

[wolfking]

Fuck yeah, Persefone.  Probably the only one I could have sent but even that album I only gave a single listen and didn't spend more time on it like I should have, great band.

[Train of Naught]

Hey Bolsters I just noticed in the tracker thread you have Parama listed as the only participant in your roulette

@Persefone: I kinda think that song suffers a bit from overly technical wankery, personally would've sent Stillness is Timeless as that's my song of the year, but still hope Persefone fairs well with our host cause they have a lot of good stuff in their discography

@The Hirsch Effekt: I think Inukshuk might have been the best pick for Bolsters specifically, but personally there's at least 4-5 songs I prefer on that album

137 > Same Logic / Teeth 

[soupytwist]

Quick question about them rules.

I have a song I'd like to use in a later round.  The song itself was released as a single in 2017, but the album it's on only dropped last week.  I'm guessing I can't use it then?

137 > Same Logic / Teeth 

Cant Get it Out > Other songs of Sci-Fi.   

[Bolsters]

I have a song I'd like to use in a later round.  The song itself was released as a single in 2017, but the album it's on only dropped last week.  I'm guessing I can't use it then?

Correct.

[Crow]

@The Hirsch Effekt: I think Inukshuk might have been the best pick for Bolsters specifically, but personally there's at least 4-5 songs I prefer on that album

i mean yeah exactly 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Hey Bolsters I just noticed in the tracker thread you have Parama listed as the only participant in your roulette

@Persefone: I kinda think that song suffers a bit from overly technical wankery, personally would've sent Stillness is Timeless as that's my song of the year, but still hope Persefone fairs well with our host cause they have a lot of good stuff in their discography

@The Hirsch Effekt: I think Inukshuk might have been the best pick for Bolsters specifically, but personally there's at least 4-5 songs I prefer on that album

137 > Same Logic / Teeth 

I was torn between No Faced Mindless and Stillness is Timeless. I eventually just said YOLO and flipped a coin. I think I may have tried to hard to pick a band that I think Bolsters would like based on his last.fm profile. From here on in I'm just going to send songs from my absolute favorite albums of 2017, consequences be damned...

[Elite]

[Bolsters]

I'm still on track for results Sunday.

Since I'm several listens in, some impressions: While there's clearly songs much better than others here and despite having little trouble with the ranking outside one or two instances, this was a solid round. I am quite certain that I will check out all eight of these albums, which is great. The songs receiving pink stars probably deserve (slightly) better, but there's nothing I can do about that.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I'm still on track for results Sunday.

Since I'm several listens in, some impressions: While there's clearly songs much better than others here and despite having little trouble with the ranking outside one or two instances, this was a solid round. I am quite certain that I will check out all eight of these albums, which is great. The songs receiving pink stars probably deserve (slightly) better, but there's nothing I can do about that.

Pink star incoming!!!!!! 

[Crow]

same

[Elite]

Give me one of the shiny ones then

[Bolsters]

If any of you are actually here at this particular time: Results are incoming.

[jingle.boy]

[Elite]

Nice

[Bolsters]

Puppies_On_Acid: Persefone - No Faced Mindless (Aathma)

• This song is a real punch in the face, in the best possible way. I can kind of see what Train meant when he said it's very technical, but honestly I'd rather listen to something like this where the technicality is in short intermittent bursts these days than I would something that goes for 14 minutes and has a solid 8 minutes of pure musical wanking. That kind of thing wears thin on me. This stuff? Not so much.
  
  This song has a bit of an identity crisis, but it works, because it helps to keep things interesting. One minute it's technical prog, then it's fairly death metal inspired, it's almost black metal, and around the half-way mark there's a nice little piano break and chords/synths that give the song some more melodic heft that it somewhat lacked up until that point, before going back to prog again with a cool little rhythmic guitar riff. The structure of the song is pretty frantic really, but each of the things it does are done exceptionally well, and it's plenty catchy to boot, so the one thing you can't say about this song is that it ever gets boring.
  
  Vocally, things are also good. Core-like vocals can be a bit hit-or-miss with me, but I like what's going on here, and the singer doesn't really rely on one particular genre trope anyway; there's lines where he starts out sounding like metalcore only to descend into something I'd expect from black metal. Like the instrumental parts of the song I guess, in that there are a lot of influences here that it goes back and forth between, and excelling at all of them. The clean vocals in the latter half are good too, and at that point of the song it's a welcomed way to change things up. The clean vocal sound reminds me a bit of the style used by Being.
  
  Overall, this is just too for me not to have loved, it pretty much touches on all the things I like without annoying me with the things that I don't like too much, like excessive self-indulgence from prog metal or lack of melody in death metal. A very good choice for a Bolsters roulette, probably why Train seemed annoyed that someone had sent this band before he got a chance to.

Train of Naught: Brand New - 137 (Science Fiction)

• You know, this song kind of reminds me of that Long Distance Calling track I got in my last roulette. If that's why you chose to send this song and it wasn't simply chance, it was a wise decision.
  
  This song is one giant build-up, and that's fine, because it's done well. I dig these twangy clean guitars and minimal, low-end drumming and these simple vocal harmonies in the intro, and the slow build as more guitars and the rest of the kit are added. But there's a bit more to it than that, the vocal harmonies get additional layers and the singer goes into higher register as this goes on; it seems more elaborate than simply just throwing in another instrument or another part of the drum kit every now and then, even though it does do that too. And of course, the natural conclusion is to just let rip with distorted electrics and a guitar solo, and one final chorus with everything all at once. This song builds its dynamics up very effectively, from its great atmospheric beginnings to the climax.
  
  It's also catchy, that guitar/vocal line shared melody is great and after listening to all of these songs I'd often find that was the thing that would stick with me for a while afterwards. I have to say if this was a deliberate attempt to try to achieve the success of that Long Distance Calling song, it was definitely a wise choice.

Parama: The Hirsch Effekt - Inukshuk (Eskapist)

• I have to admit to having gone into my first listen of this song with some bias. I knew this was a highly rated album of yours from last year, and I don't really think I've found us all too compatible when it comes to metal. So it was surprising when I actually quite liked this song, and liked it as much as I did.
  
  First, I like the atmosphere in the verses and other lighter parts of the song. There's a rumbling, distorted synth that starts the song off and sits in the background in a lot of places that I like, and there's a natural progression in dynamics from the first verse with just the clean guitar into the second verse with a chugging riff and busier drumming, and I really like the post-second chorus build up; glitchy white noise, a slightly distorted piano playing what I think is an ascending chromatic chord progression? That and the lo-fi drumming build the song up very effectively for the final chorus. The song is just really good at building up, not just with the dynamics and fullness of sound, but these ascending progressions, one in the chorus played by the bass that ultimately gets pulled out by switching to a much lower note at the end. Even the screamy, core-like vocals aren't a detriment for me here, the talents of the vocalist are utilised perfectly to suit the tone of the song at any given point.
  
  That's not to say I don't have gripes. You probably expected that I would comment on the production, so here it is. The intermittent distorted guitar notes during the first verse sticks out like a sore thumb, and I found it rather obnoxious, although as the song progresses it becomes less annoying (probably because there's more going on and it fits in better at that stage). I think the mix works perfectly fine in the lighter parts of the song, such as the verses and that build-up in the second half of the song. Infact, if anything the fact that the production isn't too perfect or clean actually enhances these parts of the song. But the chorus is fairly muddy, there's a lot of boomy low-mid on the bass and kick that causes them to clash with one another, and the lack of high-end (those cymbals in particular) that works for the verses contributes to this muddy/boxy sound aswell. The kick lacks the punch to make it stand out properly in the chorus, but its very strong low end results in it just being a loud thudding noise. It almost sounds as though they mixed the entire song based on what it was going to sound like in the verses but didn't take the time to tweak the mix for the choruses at all, and so the production doesn't work that well in the chorus as a result. But overall these aren't enormous gripes that have a huge effect on my enjoyment of the song, just a little bit of an effekt.
  
  So, the Paraman gets silver in the first round and is off to a pretty good start, still plenty of time for him to fuck that up though I guess.

Sacul: Brand New - Same Logic / Teeth (Science Fiction)

• Like the previous Brand New track, I really dig the atmosphere and dynamics here. With this one I prefer the lighter parts, and the interplay between clean guitars and vocals. There are some beautiful vocal harmonies in this song aswell, "Well this is the same logic..." is a great example and I like how the slow build-up up to that point is dropped and the song thins out again.
  
  The chorus is probably my least favourite thing, not that it's bad, but it's definitely the weakest part of the song, it's perhaps a bit too much of a generic modern rock sound with the raw, slightly distorted vocals. Everything else is definitely stronger here.
  
  There's some really effective panning in this track aswell (is that an odd thing to praise? ), the way the busier, harder guitar lines are hard left and then the drums are used in the right to balance that out; generally you don't see the snare move out of centre much in music, but it gets panned slightly to the right with the hi-hats at any point the guitarist is playing over on the left - but any time he isn't, such as during the chorus, it's back to being dead centre again. I really appreciate this kind of attention to detail in the mixing, changing where things are depending on which elements are present in order to keep the L/R dynamics balanced, and it creates a nice juxtaposition between verse and chorus, as the verses heavily rely on left/right panning but the choruses are mixed to favour the centre over everything else.
  
  Definitely only the second-best Brand New song I received, but still quite good.

soupytwist: Mew - Twist Quest (Visuals)

• This is not the first time I've received Mew in a roulette, and if I recall the last one didn't do too well. Although, that was quite a few years ago and my tastes have evolved more than enough since then that I expect I'd probably like that former song more now than I did back then if I were to listen to it again. Anyway, I had high hopes for this song and it didn't disappoint.
  
  The first thing that stands out about this song is the groove on the drums, I like the alternating single and double hits on the hi-hat with the same on the snare, and there's some subtle ghost hits filling out the beat aswell. There is a nice almost ethereal chorus in this song I like too, filled out nicely with strings.
  
  I'm a sucker for a good saxaphone, and that song has that going for it aswell. The earlier use of the saxaphone is this bouncy, almost staccato melody that fills out the second verse, but it's allowed to let loose with some melodic playing not soon after.
  
  All in all, a solid submission and one that I really would have liked to give a much better star to. Alas, there were a lot of strong submissions this round and I unfortunately have to give this song a bronze star. But, giving this song bronze is probably my biggest regret of the round, so I hope you don't loose too much confidence over it.

Elite: Golden Caves - Child of Mine (Collision)

• Not a bad song (despite the low ranking) but like a few other submissions this round, I just couldn't get past the "heard it all before" feeling every time I listened to this song. The hammond sound in prog rock/metal has been done to death for one. There's some nice grooves with the drumming and guitar chords in particular driving the song here, during the verses that is, which for some reason I kind of expected from a song that you sent. I think the drummer overall makes the song a bit more interesting in a lot of places, even if again it doesn't seem like anything I haven't heard before. Maybe it's just that he(?) seems to be trying a bit harder? Anyway, having said all that I think that the vocalist is probably the star here, I actually quite like her and it's again something I sort of thought I would take away from something you'd sent. This is a pretty good chorus too really, I like the way the piano cuts above everything else in the mix.
  
  Yeah, I mean this is a pretty good song despite my gripes about it not really breaking the mould in any way. It did kind of grow on me too though, at first you were 100% going to be pink, then I was kind of feeling bad about giving it pink, then it actually managed to break above Tim's song into bronze at the last minute, but I just didn't feel like ranking this song any higher than this.

home: Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and James McAlister - Jupiter (Planetarium)

• This song was probably the biggest mixed bag of the round. By that I mean, there's some stuff in here that I really like, but unfortunately my gripes with other stuff had a fairly large impact on my overall enjoyment of the song. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy it, and to be honest I'd have liked to award a better star here, but I just really couldn't bring myself to rank the song higher than any of the previous tracks.
  
  Anyway, let's start with the good. There's some really good atmosphere in this track that I like, the synths are appealing and the vocal style and scat along with the effects on the vocals really mesh well together - the delay on the vox in particular also helps to flesh the sound out a bit. I also like the use of strings in the parts of the song where they appear, and there's a really strong showing from the brass section during the outro aswell.
  
  The things that detracted for me? Well the song can be a little repetitive in places, the drum beats especially. The latter parts of the song when the drum samples are more prominent and playing in quick bursts grated on me quite a bit; I know it's electronica but the overly mechanical sound of the samples is too painfully obvious during this point in the song, whereas it wasn't a problem for me elsewhere, and this goes on for quite a bit and returns for the outro aswell.
  
  All in all I think this was probably the most divisive song of the round for me. I really dig the things that I liked, the lighter electronic sections and the general atmosphere in most of the song, but then there were a few things that dragged the song down in a big way aswell, unfortunately. It probably barely deserves better than pink but I'm just not able to give you anything better this time.

TAC: Daydream XI - Trust-Forged Knife (The Circus of the Tattered and Torn)

• I'm not sure if you'll be disheartened by where this song ranks or not. I definitely think it's a solid metal track but when it comes to this sort of stuff, I am always asking myself "What makes this stand out?" and while this is definitely an enjoyable track, I can't really say that there is much that does, and that's why you didn't rank higher.
  
  Anyway, highlights. I like the riffing and drumming in this song, the chorus being a particular standout. Don't mind this vocalist which helps, but at the same time it's not really the most stand-out performance either. The lighter middle section is cool, probably my favourite part of the song. I like that it's stripped back with clean guitar, but the drum breaks are fairly busy, and the backing vocals fill out the sound well.
  
  So overall this ain't a bad song, definitely checking out the album... it's just not anything too spectacular at the same time. But at least you beat Chad?

jingle.boy: Masqued - The Light in the Dark (The Light in the Dark)

• This song definitely isn't bad despite ranking so low, but every time I listened to it I couldn't help but think to myself how unspectacular it is. There's not really anything here I haven't heard before, and I have to use a phrase I think I've used a few times with your submissions and call this "good but not great". Instrumentally it's fine, some decent riffs and I like the drumming, although the keys are extremely generic in both sound and style. The abrupt change going into the chorus is rather jarring, sounds like there might be a slight tempo change there aswell which makes it worse. Neither of these vocalists is anything special either, and I don't really like the female vox. I mean I'll check this album out but this song doesn't really stand out at all.
  
  You're not off to the best start this time, I'm afraid, and as the round went on I just found myself wanting to bump this down more. I really didn't think you'd end up at the bottom of all places, but both Rich and home's submissions kind of grew on me a bit more as I listened to them; yours, not so much.

Feel free to send your next submissions as soon as possible.

[Train of Naught]

Wow, Persefone at #1, amazing! You're gonna love that album (the name is Aathma btw, not Aethma). I'm not going to doubt your song picks anymore Puppies

I was starting to think Same Logic / Teeth would edge out my song but I'm glad you liked both and obviously will check out that album, it's one of my most listened albums of last year and it's still on regular rotation. And about Long Distance Calling, honestly don't like a lot of their songs, the few ones I do like are the instrumental post-metal/rock tunes, so that was just coincidence I guess.

I'll send right now in case I happen to send the exact same song as someone else and get cockblocked.

[Bolsters]

And about Long Distance Calling, honestly don't like a lot of their songs, the few ones I do like are the instrumental post-metal/rock tunes, so that was just coincidence I guess.

I had to wonder because that song got diamond, it's structually very similar to what you sent, and I know you were familiar with it because you mentioned at the time that I'd like that album.

[jingle.boy]

I see what you're saying about the Masqued track, but I still think you're full of shit  .  That album very much gave me the same vibe as The Butterfly Effect, and that's a "top" album on the banned list.

If that - and Daydream XI (which was my AOTY) - were the bottom two, methinks our tastes have diverged a bit since your last roulette.  I also just listened to the Top 3 tunes and yeah... definitely far too growlie and non-metally for me.

[Bolsters]

I see what you're saying about the Masqued track, but I still think you're full of shit  .  That album very much gave me the same vibe as The Butterfly Effect, and that's a "top" album on the banned list.

I know what you're saying, The Butterfly Raiser is far from the most original sounding album ever. But I thought it was extremely well executed, very strong melodically, very consistent quality, and I like the vocal performances. This Masqued track just seemed to lack the polish to really make its mark on me; it's not anywhere near the same league as The Butterfly Raiser as far as I'm concerned. Plus The Butterfly Raiser would probably struggle to rank against my top albums from the last few years, it's just 2017 was a bit dull for me overall.

If that - and Daydream XI (which was my AOTY) - were the bottom two, methinks our tastes have diverged a bit since your last roulette.

I do think my tastes have evolved since my last roulette in the sense that it's now more inclusive - there's more that I like now that I wouldn't have then. But at the same time I don't think anything has been pushed out, as it were. I slammed some of your submissions for the same reasons back then as I did this song right now.

[TAC]

• But at least you beat Chad?

Well, at least that's familiar territory.