I’m really glad to see album roulettes proving popular among some other DTFers – I loved my first one (and indeed really enjoyed participating in Katt’s and Parama’s) and so I’m doing it again. But I’m doing it differently this time – I’ve learned from last time and from seeing what others do.
GENERAL RULES:- Submissions: Whole albums (which can include EPs), sent to me by PM.
- Scoring: Albums will be rated out of 10.
- Length: There is no maximum or minimum length. In general, I have no particular preference for longer or shorter albums, though albums that don't have much variety of tone or style tend to be better if they're not too long IMO. And on the flipside, an EP of just three short songs probably won’t have much impact unless they’re really, really good.
- Banned artists and albums: As in previous roulettes, instead of typing out a banned list, banned artists are based on my RYM profile (https://rateyourmusic.com/~ariich – scroll down to the "music" section and you can use the "ratings" tab to see what I've rated, or use the "Search ariich's music for" bar to see if something you're thinking of is already in my list - If you really can't figure out, you can just ask!). The banned rules are as follows:
- Any album I have rated is banned.
- Anything by an artist that I've rated 3 times or more is also banned, even if I haven't rated that particular album. Basically, If it's an album that I haven't rated, by a band or artist I've rated only 1 or 2 other albums by (or none, obviously), it's cool.
- Any artist that scores 7.5 or above in the roulette will also have any other albums of theirs banned, and I’ll maintain a list in this OP.
ROUNDS:- The first round will be open to anyone. Assuming this is more than 8 players, the 8 highest scoring will progress to round 2 and everyone else will be booted. So, you know, start strong.
- There will then be 4 further open rounds with no eliminations. After this, the 4 highest-scoring players will reach the semi-finals, and everyone else will be eliminated.
- The semi-finals will be knockout – 1st v 4th place and 2nd vs 3rd. The winners will progress to the final.
- To make the final more of a challenge, and a bit of fun, the two finalists will submit 2 albums each, which will need to be very different in style and tone. As well as the two ratings out of 10, an additional score out of 5 will be awarded based on how different the two albums feel to me, for a maximum total score of 25.
- The winner will be bathed in glory for all eternity.
- (EDIT: After the first round, I decided to accept 11 people to round two instead of 8. Therefore 6 will be in the semi final and 3 in the final!)
OTHER INFO:- The first round may take quite a while if there are lots of entries, which is why I’ve created this thread slightly early. After that I will try and keep rounds to between a week and 10 days. Hangman will occur.
- I have a Spotify subscription, so that's pretty ideal for submissions as I can sync for offline listening, but other free streaming platforms such as bandcamp are also acceptable. You can always just tell me what the album is, and I'll see if I can stream it from somewhere, or if absolutely necessary you can send me the files - better to have your preferred submission than whatever happens to be on Spotify.
- I will commit to listening to every album an absolute minimum of twice, though I should normally be able to listen three or more times. If I'm really not finding myself at all interested after two listens, then even if I have time I reserve the right to give up on it. The ease of streaming platform may also affect the number of listens.
MY TASTES:I haven’t really done a “my tastes” section before, and I’m not really going to do a proper one now, because I don’t really know how to describe them. My RYM profile probably gives a decent idea, particularly on albums I rate 4 stars or higher (though in terms of style I wouldn’t read much into the difference between 4 and 5 stars).
I have a general leaning towards rock and metal, but I like music from pretty much any other genre too, as will be clear from my RYM profile. It’s a bit of a cliché, but broadly speaking the stuff I like the most is that which evokes a feeling in me, or makes me want to immerse myself in it. But there are completely different ways that music can do that, which depending on the style could contrast or could complement. An incomplete list of ways that music can, but does not necessarily, speak to me includes:
- Strong melodies and harmonies (I’m absolutely fine with harsh vocals, though I don’t think there are many albums I rate highly that are 100% harsh);
- Energy and dynamism/variety (which can include technicality);
- Strong production, of various types (e.g. punchy, deep, etc.);
- Atmosphere.
I’d say that all my favourite music hits at least one of those, often more. And if something is particularly weak in one or more of those areas, it would normally need to really excel in others to compensate. But to be honest, I’m unpredictable and something might tick all those boxes and still just not really speak to me. So, yeah, good luck.
Additional note from later in the thread:
A couple of people have commented in here, and in PMs when submitting albums, about my favourite albums on RYM, so I just thought I'd provide a note on how to sensibly interpret my RYM ratings if people are using that as a guide.
Essentially everything 4 stars and above I consider to be excellent. Within that, the stuff that I rate even higher (4.5-5 stars) is pretty random and really just comes down to how much it really grabs me, but that almost always comes after many listens (or if I'm already very familiar with an artist). With completely new stuff, I rarely commit to a 4.5 star rating (and pretty much never a 5 star rating) after only a few listens. So if you're trying to judge what I might like a lot, taking in everything 4 stars and up is a good starting point, and higher ratings can of course be considered but may not be as reliable (to the extent that anything is very reliable, which is not much).
Stuff I rate 3.5 stars I still consider very good, but there's normally something about it that I find slightly lacking for whatever reason. Even more so for 3 stars which is basically "good enough but not very exciting". 2.5 stars and lower is basically the range where I'd probably never bother to listen to it again.
PARTICIPANTS:1. Train of Naught
2. Parama
3. Luoto
4. twosuitsluke
5. LordCost
6. TAC
Eliminated in Round Five:7= jingle.boy
7= Sacul
7= Lethean
7= Puppies_On_Acid
11. Kattelox
Eliminated in Round One:12= Nekov
12= romdrums
12= kingshmegland
12= Elite
12= Evermind
17= Indiscipline
17= Stadler
BANNED DURING ROULETTE:Ábime
AFI
Alithia
Amendfoil
Arcane Roots
Astronoid
Be'lakor
Cardiacs
Conception
Devil Sold His Soul
Dreamgrave
The Earth and I
Earthside
Eidola
Enslaved
Euphoreon
Evership
The Fall of Troy
Fireproven
The Flaming Lips
Ghost Brigade
Hannes Grossmann
Hooverphonic
Hyperomm
Kælling
Katatonia
Kauan
Kepler Ten
The King Blues
King Goat
Kingcrow
Kings of Leon
Little Tybee
Lör
Morcheeba
Mr. Bungle
Need
New Horizons
Odd Palace
Omnium Gatherum
The Ongoing Concept
OWEL
Phi
Port Noir
Rishloo
Rolo Tomassi
Rx Bandits
Sieges Even
Skyclad
Sons Of Seasons
Structural Disorder
St. Vincent
Talk Talk
Toto
Tribulation
The World Is Quiet Here
Vangough
Voyager
Zeal & Ardor
ROUND RESULTS:Round OneRound TwoRound ThreeRound FourRound Five (end of group stage)Semi finalsFourth place matchFinal