A Note about Scoring:
I have done several things to adjust my scoring mechanism since the roulette championship and my v1 roulette. So the most important thing I want to ask is for people to please not take these scores and put them up against the scores I've done in the past and try to make a 1-to-1 comparison. I don't think I've ever scored a song less than 6/10 before. This time I have given a single 5.5. That does not mean that this song is my least favorite song I have ever received in a roulette. It is not. It's just that I'm trying to be meaner, partly to get a bigger spread between the higher and lower scores, and partly to bring these scores more in line with the reality of my thoughts about each song, and to adjust a little bit for what I'm calling "roulette goggles"—where I like something more in the context of a roulette than outside that context.
To give you a rough idea of what each score means, here's a little chart:
10 = An instant favorite.
9 = A song that I really like, which has something special that I particularly enjoy.
8 = A song that I like quite a bit and have no objections to.
7 = A song that I definitely like, but just doesn't get me as enthused as others. Might have something minor that is off-putting.
6 = A song where I like more about it than I don't, but there may be something I don't like so well that I can't really ignore.
5 = A song that I feel neutral about.
4 = A song where I dislike more than I like, but still close to neutral.
1-3 = Varying shades of genuine dislike.
Also, ultimately, these scores come down to me trying to put a number to my personal feeling about the song (and, as a new important thing I think about: how much it makes me want to hear more from the artist). I struggle with a lot of these, and ultimately just try to do the best that I can.
Train of Naught: Little Tybee - More Like Jason
Snippet: I don't dislike this, but the only part that really feels substantial to me is the instrumental section near the end.
I don’t know how exactly I would describe this song, except to call it something like “airy prog.” The instrumentation is definitely proggy, and almost all the music and singing is in a pretty high register.
I’m not familiar with a lot in this specific style, but for anything that’s very cheery and floaty like this, the issue for me is not whether it’s going to be pleasant or unpleasant. The question is whether there’s substance that is going to make me remember and want to return to it.
And here, unfortunately, there is not… for most of the song. There are a couple of decent melodies, but nothing that really strikes me as all that memorable until the last minute or so, when there is an instrumental section. This section finally starts exploring the lower register a bit more, and heads in the direction of rocking rather than floating. I do like this section. But right when I feel like the song is about to get a lot better, it ends!
There’s nothing bad here, and there’s one section I enjoy, but this song did not have enough going for it, either.
Score: 5.5 out of 10
Sacul: múm - Green Grass of Tunnel
Snippet: This song is pleasant, but I'm not sure yet if it's the sort of thing to leave a significant impression.
This is another song that I am not quite sure how to describe, but the gist is that it is a quiet, quasi-electronic piece with soft, airy vocals.
This one does have a good instrumental hook, which is definitely memorable. And it seems to be a well-written song, and maybe one that I would return to on certain occasions. I wouldn’t even hesitate to call it a very pretty piece.
However, I must say that since my first roulette, this is the type of music that has most fallen out of favor with me. Yeah, it’s pleasant, and it sets something of an interesting vibe, but it just doesn’t have much more going on that I am interested in (I get that there are things going on with the layering of the electronics, but that’s not something that strongly interests me).
Score: 6 out of 10
Aefenwelg: The Mars Volta - Son et lumiere/Inertiatic ESP
Snippet: I'm not really a fan of the lyrics on this one, so it's a question of how much they detract from some pretty enjoyable instrumentation.
I’ve heard a lot about The Mars Volta, but I don’t think I had ever listened to one of their songs. My first reaction was one of surprise—I don’t know what I had expected, but it wasn’t anything as melodic or dynamic as this. The vocal melodies are quite good, especially on the first verse, and chorus riff is memorable.
Now, as for what I didn’t like: For one thing, I did not particularly enjoy the quiet part at the end, from the last verse to the end of the song. There were some elements of dissonance introduced there that I wasn’t keen on.
But my far more significant complaint was indicated in my snippet: the lyrics. I do not like lyrics that talk about morbid and disgusting things. I don’t care if there’s some artistic effect they are meant to achieve—they just make me feel gross. And that’s how the lyrics of this song make me feel.
The music here is mostly good, and would probably be worthy of at least a 7. But one of the tests I’m using in scoring this roulette is how likely I am to come back to this song, and whether the song makes me want to hear more from this artist. The dissonant stuff and the lyrics push this one down by that standard.
Score: 6 out of 10
Kattelox: Sonata Arctica - My Dream’s but a Drop of Fuel for a Nightmare
Snippet: Importantly, this song avoids sounding generic, which is criticism I have of a lot of stylistically similar music.
This song is probably the one this round that I spend the most time going back and forth on. I really did like the style of this one, and (as the snippet indicates) appreciated that it avoided sounding like generic power metal. My first impression was quite positive, and even though there was a lot of stuff going on in this one that I couldn’t quite hold together on the first go, I was optimistic that on future listens it would settle in.
Unfortunately, it never really got to that point. This song still does feel pretty disjointed to me. There are good sections and good moments, like the opening part, the early verses and the choral element on the line “for a nightmare.” As I said, I really like the style, and I think the singer is quite good. But the song as a whole doesn’t really work for me.
Score: 6 out of 10
Nekov: Karmakanic - Alex in Paradise
Snippet: I like how this song has a lot of substance in the instrumentation despite feeling a little bit "airy."
This song is an interesting prog rock piece that was pretty enjoyable. As the snippet indicates, what I really found interesting here is that the overall sound of the music is pretty light, happy and airy. But unlike a lot of songs that have that sort of feel, this one has a lot of underlying complexity in the instrumentation. It’s one of those prog songs that seems simple, but that apparent simplicity is deceptive, because there are layers.
In particular, I would note that I really enjoyed the prominent role of the bass on this song. I found the work there quite good, and a nice compliment to the soaring vocals.
It is partly the vocals, however, that hold this song back from a higher score. I think the lead vocalist is decent—nothing special, but capable. The backing vocals, however, are a little bit annoying, particularly on the chorus, where they are somewhat distorted (“repres-en-ta-tive”).
The other thing that keeps me from awarding a higher score is simply the fact that the emotional tone of this track is not one that particularly appeals to me. This sort of uncomplicated, relaxed positivity just does not interest me as much as a lot of other emotional tones. That’s not to say I’m anti-happy-songs, quite the opposite… just that the note this one hits does not strike a particularly strong chord with me.
Score: 6.5 out of 10
TAC: Kælling - Cognition
Snippet: This song really wanders a lot of places, and there's a lot of good stuff, but I'm not hearing much that stands out as more than just good.
This is an interesting prog metal piece from what looks like a pretty new band. The song, as the snippet says, wanders through a number of sequences, many of which have some pretty good melodies and proggy instrumentation. The closest comparison I have is Haken—some of the way they play with time signatures is Haken-esque, and there is a multi-layered vocal part that is a bit reminiscent of recent Haken—but these guys are definitely their own thing. Importantly, I really like the vocals on this track. The melodies are well-written, and the singer is quite good. There are a few growls, which are well-used and well-placed.
The thing that keeps me from scoring it any higher is indicated by the snippet. I think this song is good, but there is nothing that stands out to me as a great moment or section, and even after listening to this song several times, there are few parts that stay in my memory and push me to want to go back to it.
Score: 7 out of 10
Parama: Amy Shark - Drive You Mad
Snippet: This sounds a lot like [an artist I really like], but it doesn't really reach their level.
So, first things first, the artist described in brackets is obviously Lorde, which is probably obvious to you upon seeing that this is your snippet and might even have been part of the reason you chose this song.
Well, I do enjoy the spare electronic instrumentation on this track. And I do enjoy the female vocalist who does a nice job of exploring the lower registers. Like many pop songs, the chorus is the main attraction here, and it is indeed a good one. The verses are solid as well.
Like a lot of the songs in this score range, there isn’t really anything negative I have to say. This is a good song that will encourage me to check out more of her music. It’s just that the ones that outrank this have something more that pushes them into the higher scores.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
lonestar: Ostura - The Room
Snippet: There is a surprising diversity of good parts in this one, but I'm a bit uncertain how it coheres into a whole.
As the snippet indicates, this is a song that has a lot going on, especially for being less than 5 minutes long. This song is primarily metal, but has symphonic elements, a piano section, a guitar solo and multiple vocalists. For my first several listens, I had a hard time seeing how all these pieces come together into something coherent.
After allowing it to settle in a bit, however, I am starting to enjoy this song pretty well. I think the female vocalist, in particular, has a very nice voice, and her section is quite pretty. The chorus feels nice and big, and provides a bit of a hook to draw the listener into this multifaceted piece.
In the final analysis, I enjoy this one, and have no real reservations. It has gotten me interested in checking out more from this artist. The higher songs just have something extra that interests me a bit more.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
OpenYourEyes311: James LaBrie - Agony
Snippet: I like the vocals, but I'm still trying to get into the riffs, which feel like they lack a bit in color.
Believe it or not, despite having been a fan of Dream Theater for almost 6 years, this is the first time I have ever heard a James LaBrie solo song. I guess I was worried that, like a lot of solo projects, his music would be a fairly generic effort, or a clone of the namesake’s primary band.
Here, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The music on this song is a lot heavier and faster than I was expected, but the riffs, I eventually concluded, are actually deceptively melodic. It’s not the most exciting riffing I’ve ever heard, but it is no bland chugging. And, instrumentally speaking, I am impressed by the guitar solos at around the midpoint of the song.
Vocally, I am, perhaps unsurprisingly, a fan of James LaBrie. While I love his work on soaring, progressive material in Dream Theater, I think this song actually plays better to a lot of James’s core strengths as of the last decade than a lot of the DT material released during that time. He seems to run effortlessly through these fast-paced yet memorable vocal melodies, and the little bit of edge that he uses recently fits perfectly. And, hey, he sounds great doing counterpoint with the growler on the first verse.
I’m now certainly interested in checking out this album, and sorry I never gave poor James a chance before on his solo stuff. Definitely a good song.
Score: 8 out of 10
Topic: 425’s Second Roulette v. Keep your hands upon the wheel (Read 97175 times)
