........................is to send me some kick ass music from albums I don't have in my collectiontl:dr version : Anywhere from 5 to 10 participants wanted to send me some good shit.
PARTICIPANTS:
Bolsters
Evermind
jingle.boy
TAC
wolfking
Sacul
kingshmegland
splent
Big Hath
jjrock88
Lowdz
erwinrafaelWelcome folks and thanks for accepting your mission. "Impossible" is the first thing that comes to mind for some (including me) when it comes to a BL5150 roulette...............hence the theme
And the fact that I can be a difficult bastard to impress.
If anyone can do it though , I know you guys can.
Long,boring post ahead.......just jump ahead to whatever section you need.
MY TASTE - OR LACK OF: Tastes huh?.........so hard to judge . Why is it that we share so much in terms of taste and yet I can’t hear the overwhelming brilliance of the latest Maiden or Opeth album and some other poor souls can't hear the brilliance of Winger, Poison and Nitro ? It’s all very hard to fathom but I’m going to try and give you as much guidance as I can anyway.
1) Be Careful : Anything with harsh/growly vocals or in a genre that includes “core”,”death”,”math”,”modern”,”post”, rap,”ambient”,”neo””sludge”,punk .....or anything to do with gazing at shoes. Just be very careful. Chances are you’re going to be caned with the rating if I don’t like it but if you’re convinced you can win me over then go for it and you might just get a bonus in addition to your high score (later).
2)AOR/melodic rock /classic rock: If anything my tastes have become a little heavier in recent times but I still love these styles when done well and am happy to receive anything from AOR/westcoast to the hardest melodic rock/hair metal. Just make sure it has something to make it stand out as if there’s one genre where I’ve come close to hearing it all ,then this is it. My collection is weak in terms of classic bands originating in the 60's-70’s like Led Zep ,The Eagles, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones etc....there is a reason for that (I like much less music from that era) but I do enjoy some of the hits from such bands so don't be shy about trying them if you think they can impress .
3) Hard rock/classic metal/power metal/thrash : Go for it...... great melodies, some balls and nice guitars go a long way. Just be aware with the power metal that generally I prefer riff based (slower) power metal to double kick drumathons. Clever use of the double kick is great but the traditional happy one paced power metal wears thin very quick. When it comes to thrash I want clean vocals and some melody.
4) Blues: I don’t listen to much but I do like blues that rocks a la Gary Moore/Eric Clapton (some)/SRV in small doses. I don’t really go for traditional blues in the style of BB King etc...
5) Classical: I basically never listen to it , although I did study it fairly extensively in my music studies. I would rather listen to it than most of the stuff on the radio though. Happy for you to try.
6) Pop : It’s possible you may be able to sway me on some pop. If you think I’ll like it ,then go for it. I never listen to anything that I’d call “pop” these days and didn’t get into too much back in the day either outside of radio. Having said that there’s plenty of stuff by Phil Collins , Hall & Oates and the little Tears For Fears I know etc.... that I find quite listenable if there’s some catchy melodies. I heard Against All Odds on the radio recently and thought to myself "That's pretty damn good." And Aussie pop rock band Noiseworks made my all time DTF Top 50 , much to a few people’s disgust
7) Prog: I love prog metal , but only when melodic and with a structure that makes sense and goes somewhere. Endless wankery without melody does nothing for me , nor does music that meanders around endlessly. My fave DT albums by some way are Images and Words(close enough to my all time favourite album), Awake and the last two , if that helps. Old style prog/neo prog I generally don’t like....most of it just makes me feel like it’s “there” and not going anywhere. One poster on DTF in particular has mentioned a couple of neo prog bands that I really liked , so there is definitely hope. Kingcrow is an example of a band that has managed to hit the bullseye with some of their stuff.
And if the 90’s classics thread is anything to go by –please don’t send anything that’s considered a 90’s classic FWIW my DTF top 50 included AOR (Chicago, Giant) , hard rock (Van Halen, KISS, Whitesnake, Skid Row), classic metal (Metal Church, Judas Priest, Ozzy, WASP, Savatage), power metal (Stratovarius) , prog metal (DT, Queensryche, SX, Labyrinth, Conception, Threshold) , classic rock (Doobie Brothers), instrumental guitar (Satriani), female fronted (After Forever) , pop rock (Noiseworks)........even Pink Floyd got a slot with A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Although that all seems a bit one dimensional to some , that's hugely diversified taste to me
BANNED ARTISTS/ALBUMS: I’ve tried , with little success, to think of a way to approach a banned list that covers my collection and doesn't become ridiculous. Basically if I don’t have the ALBUM in my collection it is allowed. I have already pre-approved a swag of artists with TAC, Bolsters and jingle.boy , so I am more than happy to do that for anyone that has similar taste to me and is worried about the risk of rejected submissions back and forward – it can save a lot of time. Just send me a list of artists you’re thinking of using and I’ll respond with those I’ll allow and/or the albums I don’t have .
I think that'll work better than an infinitely long banned list of artists where some albums may actually be accepted. If you're desperate then have a look at some of the other roulettes in recent times - I would say 90% of the artists submitted are news to me.
Those of you that have less in common with my taste , just send away and we'll deal with any re-submissions as we go.
Once an artist has been submitted it is banned for the rest of the roulette.
FORMAT: I would prefer to use email as I have been gifted a tiny PM inbox on DTF . My email is BL5150 at westnet dot com dot au
For the music mp3 via email would be preferable but Youtube links are fine ,as are cloud account links. I don't have a Spotify account or the like.
RULES/TACTICS What I would like to do is to introduce some tactics into the equation, potential reward for risk and give those who’ve fallen behind a chance to stage a comeback with some ballsy play . The following rules have been made with this in mind:
1) Rounds: There will be 11 rounds ,divided into 5 prelims , 5 regular competition rounds and a Grand Final.
In order to allow you some room to experiment early on (especially those who may not know my taste as well as others) your three highest scores only from the prelim rounds will be carried forward to the regular competition rounds. So feel free to really test the boundaries, get a feel for my preferences and go for a slam dunk in the prelims as you can afford two horror rounds in the first five without penalty. There will be no such flexibility in Rounds 6 – 11.
The final 11th round will be contested by the Top
5 6 as at the end of Rd 10 and is a 20 min EP round – submit 18 to 20 mins of music made up however you like.........it could be a single epic or five 4 minute songs.
2) Scoring: The basic scoring format will be a rating out of 10 (except Rd 11). I have given a guide as to what the ratings mean below
3) Bonus : I reserve the right to add a half bonus point where someone pleasantly shocks me with something I deem to be “way out of my comfort zone” , so if you take a risk a score of 10.5 is possible . These will be given out very sparingly (if at all) and require a base score of 8 or better for the track .
4) Themed Bonus : I have decided not to theme rounds , mostly because I reckon they disadvantage a portion of the players (translation: they’ve cost me dearly in a roulette or two as a participant
) and can leave participants unable to send a lot of stuff they really wanted to. As an alternative I have an OPTIONAL bonus point system related to a couple of areas that interest me – you can attract a bonus point for a submission that is either an instrumental or a song from one of the following
"DTF faves" that have never done much for me from the songs I have sampled:
Tool
Devin Townsend/DTP
Spock’s Beard
Neal MorseAyreon and other Arjen stuff except Star One (which I do like a bit).
Pain Of SalvationRiversideSteve WilsonPorcupine TreeRush (aside from stuff from Moving Pictures)Opeth (aside from Damnation)AmorphisAnathemaThe Dear Hunter
Coheed & CambriaDestiny Potato
Sigur Ros
Oceansize
Tesseract
HakenGenesis - nothing off their "The Hits" compilation (reserved for Tim
)
Muse
Periphery
Leprous
Sun Caged
IQ
King Crimson
The Flower Kings
Geoff Tate
All of these artists are a risk but if you feel confident and think that the bonus point can make a difference then fire away.
(limit 2 bonus points per person during the roulette. And only one instrumental/ one DTF fave bonus point per person)
This way ,if you are weak in instrumentals or don’t wish to take the risk on the DTF faves , then just keep submitting cool rock and metal or whatever. A regular 9/10 will always beat a 6/10 + bonus point. Let me know the tracks for which you wish to claim a bonus point.
5) The Winner : will have made the Top 5 after Round 10 and won the Grand Final with 20 mins of awesome. A life size cutout of my favourite Kip Winger photo will be up for grabs - not in 3D as that could be dangerous.
Scores will NOT be zeroed for the Grand Final as I don't want to diminish the efforts of the leaders to that point BUT Round 11 will be a score out of 20 , so there is potential for a big comeback if the leaders slack off in the "Granny".
RATINGS: (what is he thinking?)
2: Close to unlistenable (but I forced myself)
4: very few redeeming features and I struggled with the listen
6: Some redeeming qualities- decent enough song but I have no real desire to listen other than very occasionally
7.5: A really solid song that had me involved . happy to hear it semi-regularly but not a stand out track
9: A great song that had me very involved and will be on regular rotation. Not quite a classic
10: As for 9 but could grow to be an all time favourite/classic with more spins
All of the above descriptions relate to my opinion ,nothing more.
QUESTIONS: Feel free to ask me questions about my taste in the thread only (not PM) so everyone can see a response. I will not answer questions about specific bands , just general info.
Any band that is submitted becomes banned for the remainder of the roulette ,so get in early if you have concerns about being gazumped. If two people submit the same band for the same round then I will accept both - if it gets to a third then I will ask for another entry. I am prepared to accept one extra round in advance at any time. If you're away or otherwise tied up (hold back on the detail ) then just let me know and we'll work something out.I am in the middle of a whole lot of stuff at the moment myself (incl selling a house and moving) so apologies in advance if I slack off from time to time , but I will be aiming to get through at least a round every 4-5 days ( 3 per fortnight).
I won't start getting on your case or listening until Shadow Ninja has finished his roulette , so let's say that everyone has about a week to get some ideas together , ask questions and get cracking on Round 1...