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General => Archive => General Music Archives => Topic started by: Xanthul on April 16, 2012, 07:47:02 AM
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Welcome to my dull joint - if you're expecting some quirky roulette with rounds that are scored by some complex algorithm involving the size, hardiness and duration of the erection I've had while listening to the submitted songs you're in for a disappointment. This is going to be a rather standard roulette with some pretty basic rules:
- 6 to 8 rounds, depending on how fast it's going.
- Scoring will be 0 to 10 for each round.
- One bonus point will be awarded if the song belongs to one of the artists I have on my to-check list.
- Time permitting, last round will be a full album (will probably have to limit this to around 2 or 3 finalists in order to have enough time).
Ideally since I'm working out of town you will submit all songs by Friday, I will listen and rate the songs during the weekend and post the results on Sunday. We will see how this goes.
Submission method: Personal message with link to wherever I can listen to the song (grooveshark, youtube, whatever) or you can PM me for a gmail account and send the file if you want me to enjoy your stuff in high quality. I don't have accounts in any music websites but I guess could create one if there is some site that will be terribly useful.
Banned bands: anything that shows in my RateYourMusic profile: https://rateyourmusic.com/~xanthul regardless of whether I have rated all the albums by them or not.
My current favorite 10 bands roughly ordered so you can get a glimpse of my taste: Porcupine Tree, The Dear Hunter, Opeth, Radiohead, Goodspeed You! Black emperor, Riverside, dredg, Sigur Ros, The Mars Volta, OSI
Roster is full so unless any of these guys/gals do some Onan stuff and pull out at the last minute, there is no room for anyone else.
Gorille85
LieLowTheWantedMan
Ultimetalhead
obscure
kári
Elite
Zantera
black_floyd
ReaperKK
Round 1: Free round with a small catch - I want the song to be representative of your tastes, like a small intro to what I can expect from you in this roulette.
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1267892#msg1267892)
Round 2: Do you think you know some *flawless* albums? An album so awesome you still love its worst song? Then be honest and send me just that - a song that is the WORST song of an album while still being awesome.
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1270294#msg1270294)
Round 3: I'm going to abandon the difficult themes for a round or two and go with a more classical one. I LOVE drumming, I would have liked to be a drummer but I never got around to it so I vent my frustration listening to groovy motherfuckers that hit the bonjos with style. I want something with awesome drumming - I have to warn you that I prefer groovy, laid back drumming that makes complex time signatures and rythms sound easy, but if you would rather go with extreme, fast technicality it's up to you (and the size of your balls/ovaries). I will judge the drumming and the song separately (zero to five for each) and add the result for the final score.
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1275923#msg1275923)
Round 4: We're back to difficult themes. I've always wanted to be the cool kid that could say "I was a fan before they got big". In this round, I want something from an artist that has one single album. Couple of rules: EPs don't count (so you can send something by a band that has 1 full album and 2 EPs) and the band has to be active (otherwise I won't be able to brag about knowing them since the start, y'know).
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1278822#msg1278822)
Round 5: It's fusion time! I want something that mixes genres (blues, jazz, punk, rap...) or has some "exotic" influence (latin, eastern, ethnic, whatever). Just as long as it isn't "straightforward GENRE" it's fair game.
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1281046#msg1281046)
Round 6: My original idea was to do an "interlude" round with transition songs but I feel this is very limited and would not allow room for upsets and comebacks, so I'm going to do a FOUR theme round. I want you to choose one of these themes and then submit a song:
1: Crescendos: Not necessarily post rock, just something that has a huge crescendo.
2: Piano: Something with classic piano in it.
3: Avant-garde: Hit me with the crazy stuff. Avant-garde metal is of course within the theme.
4: Ambient: Anything remotely resembling ambient is fair game - shoegaze, dreampop, ambient metal, lowtempo...
I will judge submissions from 1 to 10 regardless of the chosen theme - however, it's important to fulfill said theme. If you choose ambient and send me avant-garde, my friend, you are entering a world of pain. A WORLD of PAIN
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1285325#msg1285325)
Round 7: In my initial plan this was going to be a free round to wrap up the roulette but we're going to add a twist so you guys can have some fun instead of me hoarding it all for myself.
For this round you will send three songs of your choice - since it's going to be a lot of music to listen to (27 songs) I'd like you to send shortish stuff but it's not a theme restriction, if you have a really awesome 10 minute song you want to send, do it (though I might listen to it less times than I would for a 5 minute song due to time restrictions). The catch in this round is that you will have to choose how you want to be scored. There are three choices:
- Best: Highest rated song times two. For example, if I rate your submissions 7, 9 and 5 your score would be 9 * 2 = 18 points plus any bonus points if any of the songs are from my list of bands (these bonus points don't get multiplied).
- Worst: Lowest rated song times three. Following the same example, your score would be 5 * 3 = 15 plus bonus points.
- Sum: Sum of all scores minus four. For the same example your score would be 7 + 9 + 5 - 4 = 17 points plus bonus points.
You will have to estimate my scores and calculate which is the option that suits you best - each of them has its pros and its cons. The scores will be high enough that anything could happen, so choose wisely.
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1287352#msg1287352)
Round 8: This will be a very straightforward round to judge the winner - finalists, send me an album and I will judge it over 20 points, no bonus for anything, score does NOT build on previous results (whoever wins this round, wins the game). Good luck to both of you!
Results here (https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=31913.msg1292140#msg1292140)
Congratulations to Zantera, winner of Xanthul's Boring and Unimaginative Roulette!
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I'm not familiar with rateyourmusic, so a newb question: Does it apply to things on your wishlist as well? I see you've rated like 176 albums, but there are some under "wishlist", could I send anything that might be on there?
Probably a dumb question but yeah. :biggrin:
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If one of participants drops out I want in. . .
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Zantera: Anything I've rated, regardless of if I own it, have it wishlisted or none of the two. You can search by band where it says "Search Xanthul's music for "_______________" (Artist). If anything shows up, the band is forbidden.
ReaperKK: Give me one day or so to see how many people show up / want to sign up and if the list doesn't grow too large I'll take you in.
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My tastes are scattered all over many genres, so this might be hard. I'll think of something though. :)
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It doesn't need to be representative in a genre way, rather in what kind of submissions I can expect from you - I know this is hard to do in a single song but that's part of the challenge. For example, if you enjoy a lot of different genres you can send something that's a bit out there or blends several influences so I know your tastes are varied...
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Herro.. my song is in....
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wow that first round will be very difficult for me...
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Xanthul @ Got ya. I'm gonna think a bit, but you should have a song within the next 20 mins or so.
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Zantera: Anything I've rated, regardless of if I own it, have it wishlisted or none of the two. You can search by band where it says "Search Xanthul's music for "_______________" (Artist). If anything shows up, the band is forbidden.
ReaperKK: Give me one day or so to see how many people show up / want to sign up and if the list doesn't grow too large I'll take you in.
Thanks, I'll be following regardless.
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Song sent.
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Quick note since I got an email for your PM. I'm on holiday and won't be able to submit before sunday evening. I would like to join in, but can't do it now. Sorry. I'll send sth sunday evening of I don't hear from you otherwise.
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I wanted to post the results sunday night and start a new round but we can postpone it one day, don't worry about it. I already have the writeups for the songs I received so far (all except black_floyd, Elite and LLTWM) so even if I could adjust something here and there on further listens, the work is mostly done so I will just have to review yours and I can do that quickly.
ReaperKK, I'm doing this quicker than I thought I would so feel free to join and send me a song for the first round.
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YAY... KK is in :victorydance:
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You already have some writeups done? :lol Fast pacing! Just out of curiosity, how many times will you spin each song (average), like 3-4 times?
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I'm doing a three section writeup for each song: impressions on first listen, impressions on subsequent listens (3 more listens in addition to the first one), what I think I can expect from you based on your submission.
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Cool. :tup
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YAY... KK is in :victorydance:
I know I can barely contain my excitement :caffeine:
Song Sent.
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The song is not really representative of my taste but at least I went with a diverse one.
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Not representative, but here goes something that might work.
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Sent last night.
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Sent a while ago :)
Sunday night is a long time to wait!
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Since everyone submitted except Elite I will probably post the results tomorrow and judge Elite's first and second round together in order to avoid effectively stopping the roulette for four days.
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Cool.
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:tup sounds good
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phew..
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Here are the results and writeups for the first round. Mostly excellent submissions, I had to review my ratings and become a bit more strict. Rough rating explanation:
0-2: Varying degrees of unlistenable
3-4: Not my thing but I can see positive qualities in it.
5: Neutral, good enough to listen to but I don't think I'll check the band further.
6-7: Pretty good, can see myself delving deeper into the band.
8-9: Awesome, will check these guys out for sure.
10: Perfect.
Ultimetalhead - SikTh - Pussyfoot (5 points)
First listen: Alright, this was a brutal way to start the roulette. I have to admit I'm not a fan of harsh vocals but I can do with them under certain circumstances - these circumstances were not met here though. It's as if this song was *daring* me to enjoy it, some passages were good and had me thinking I could end up liking this but as soon as I started to think that, some screams would pop up that would discourage me. I never thought a three minute song could be such a rollercoaster.
Subsequent listens: I still enjoy some parts and the drumming is awesome but I can't get past the vocals... I gave it one last spin with headphones and I have to admit it sounded a lot better. I had this as a 3 for the whole week but this last listen is propping it up to five. I still don't think I could listen to this regularly, but I can see its appeal.
What I think I can expect from you: Headaches? Just kidding, I think you're going to provide the necessary doses of violence for this roulette - I'm definitely looking to expand the metal section of my music library since it's currently pretty limited.
obscure - Ihsahn - The Pain is Still Mine (5 points)
First listen: Another song of a genre I'm not too fond of. After an incredible intro I was thinking this could go places but I was afraid it would become black metal (judging by the cover and some youtube comments). There weren't any screams however and some of the instrumental passages were very nice, so I ended up enjoying this. The vocals turn me off somewhat, I can't put my finger on exactly what is off about them but at least they didn't ruin the rest of the song.
Subsequent listens: The song has some cons and it could be trimmed down a couple of minutes but it's still quite enjoyable so I gave this five points. I think you made a very solid choice here by choosing from the more polished side of the genre. Good submission!
What I think I can expect from you: Like UMH, it looks like you're mostly into metal (you said so in the roulette tracking thread) so I guess there will be some headbangers here and there to add to my library.
Zantera - Anathema - Thin Air (8 points + 1 bonus point for Anathema)
First listen: While I don't find the song as uplifting as you do, it certainly is very emotional. The first half is very mellow and haunting, I quite enjoy the vocals here. On the second half I absolutely love the vocal harmonies and the landscape they create throughout the long buildup. I also love the way the tension of that buildup is resolved - not with a bombastic climax but with a rather sudden end and a beautiful, simple outro. I can see where the PT comparisons come from, I think this is a band I can easlily end up loving.
Subsequent listens: This was such a great first listen that the next few ones have just confirmed how much I love it, not much more to add. Keeping in line with the tight scoring I'm going to give this eight points - 9s and 10s will be reserved for absolutely mindblowing tracks.
What I think I can expect from you: As suspected, you're probably going to submit a lot of stuff I'm eager to try out since we have pretty similar tastes. Don't get overconfident though, this roulette is going to be a long war and there are a lot of bonus points to be distributed.
kári - Mono - Follow the Map (8 points + 1 bonus point for Mono)
First listen: Awesome.... Mono is another band I've been wanting to check since I decided to delve deeper into Post-Rock and this first impression was great. After listening to GY!BE for a while it's refreshing to see another take into the genre, Mono provides just that (at least in this song) - a calmer, cleaner, shorter look into Post-Rock while retaining all the qualities that make GY!BE a great band: great melodies, excellent string arrangements and an incredible bundle of emotional, even cinematic feelings.
Subsequent listens: The song feels even greater with repeated listens, stressing how good the main melody is. The length is perfect, allowing said melody to be repeated throughout without creating a sense of repetition or saturation. A solid eight here, up from the initial 7 I would have given it on the first listen.
What I think I can expect from you: According to yourself, "music that will blow you away in sheer beauty or awesomeness". Hopefully that's true, you definitely backed that up on your first submission.
Gorille85 - Unexpect - Unfed Pendulum (7 points)
First listen: If Danny Elfman is Dr. Jekyll, this must be Mr. Hyde. I love the violin or whatever it is and the growls don't throw me off as I thought they would, they feel somewhat appropriate in the middle of all this chaos. All in all, a very eclectic and crazy little piece of music.
Subsequent listens: For the first few listens I had a review here saying that while good, it was too disjointed for me... but this is another song that greatly benefitted from one last spin with headphones. I was able to get a clearer feeling for what each instrument is doing and all the shit that's going on and I really enjoyed this last listen. I really need to check this guys further. 7 points.
What I think I can expect from you: Judging by this and your top albums thread I think I'm going to get pretty varied and experimental stuff from you, which is nice.
ReaperKK - From Monument To Masses - Beyond God & Elvis (6 points)
First listen: More post-rock! After good experiences with Sigur Ros & Godspeed and a very good submission by kári, some disappointment was bound to happen within the genre, and sadly this was it. I don't mean it's a bad song by any stretch, it just didn't grab me and hold my attention like I wanted it to. I love the simple but groovy drumming on this one and the little piano melodies in the background. A solid song, but not outstanding.
Subsequent listens: I think it's a solid song and I mostly enjoyed it but I don't love it as much as I want it to. The flow of the song feels somewhat strange, I kind of feel some tempo changes and breakdowns are out of place somehow. I still enjoyed it a lot, six points for you.
What I think I can expect from you: If I'm not mistaken I think I've seen some musical opinions from you here and there that seem to match my own, so hopefully you will send some stuff that will click better than this one.
black_floyd - Cynic - Veil of Maya (4 points)
First listen: I have to say this song didn't do much for me. Contrary to what I would've thought, it wasn't the vocals that turned me away but rather the production, the song sound somewhat flat and muddy (if that's even possible) to my ears. There were some interesting riffs but I didn't enjoy the soloing that much.
Subsequent listens: I really tried to get something positive from here but I guess it's not my thing. It's not something I actively dislike, I can listen to it just fine, it's just that it doesn't really demand my attention in any way. I will give it four points.
What I think I can expect from you: Lots of songs in the vein of Metallica's Load? Just kidding, I know you despise that record. From what I've seen you post in the forums I know you're the third metalhead in this roulette but I've also seen you talking about some bands (both metal and non metal) that I'd like to check out, so I'm sure I will get some interesting submissions.
LieLowTheWantedMan - Massive Attack - Teardrop (9 points + 1 bonus point for Massive Attack)
First listen: This is way chiller than I expected this band to be - the female vocals were also a surprise, I had to check Wikipedia to make sure I wasn't mistaken in regards to this band. I like the relaxed beat and the soft vocals, it's a cute little song. On one hand I feel like something more should happen in the song but on the other hand I'm quite happy taking it for what it is and even with the simple theme and almost 6 minute duration it doesn't feel too long at all.
Subsequent listens: Damn, this is relaxing as fuck. If I let go for two seconds I find myself dancing in my chair like a moron, this is good stuff. Nine points sir, you win this round.
What I think I can expect from you: If this is representative, I like that you went out of this forum's niche genres (metal / prog / post). I want to broaden my horizons so this is a very welcome change.
Elite - - ( points)
First listen:
Subsequent listens:
What I think I can expect from you:
Wow what a wall of text... Rankings:
(https://img710.imageshack.us/img710/3905/roulettef.jpg)
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Round 2: Do you think you know some *flawless* albums? An album so awesome you still love its worst song? Then be honest and send me just that - a song that is the WORST song of an album while still being awesome.
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That's a great theme!
Question: do obvious filler tracks count as songs? Like a piece of music that's less than 2 minutes long that is obviously used as a transitional tool. Like Sigur Rós' Straumnes.
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Sweet! Glad you loved. :) On that particular album they use female vocals on 3 different tracks, that being one of them.
As for the round theme, really interesting theme. :o I'll have to think on this one.
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Happy with the high score, hopefully I can provide you with more good music, though it wont be an easy task to do well in each round.
Interesting idea for a theme, but I'm gonna have to think about it for a bit. Will get back.
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Nice writeups :tup, this next round is going to be a tough one so I'm going to do some homework on it. . .
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Ooh. I like this theme. I'll give it some thought.
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That's a great theme!
Question: do obvious filler tracks count as songs? Like a piece of music that's less than 2 minutes long that is obviously used as a transitional tool. Like Sigur Rós' Straumnes.
I'm in the same boat. My favorite album has an instrumental track that is quite atypical of the remainder of the album's overall sound and is less than two minutes long.
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I knew this roulette would be tough when I saw your top 10 bands.. we're on the opposite sides of the spectrum... I'm more likely to finish this roulette last .. or hopefully third from last, considering the other 2 metalheads. :laugh:
Anyway though, just like you pointed out, those who share your taste increase the depth of your library while we the three metalheads might widen it... Just like Kari and Zantera did in my roulette for which I'm grateful...
quality, well thought-out write ups.. and interesting theme indeed...
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Thanks obscure! Metal didn't fare too well in this round but don't get discouraged, I believe it was more due to these particular submissions than the genre (unexpect did pretty well for example).
As for filler or intermissions tracks, feel free to count them out and send the worst full fledged song.
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OK that's great, thanks! :)
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Thanks obscure! Metal didn't fare too well in this round but don't get discouraged, I believe it was more due to these particular submissions than the genre (unexpect did pretty well for example).
Cool :tup
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Song sent! Hope you'll like it. :)
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Song Sent!
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Also sent :)
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Sent.
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Sent for both rounds! :)
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Sent.
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Alright I have all submissions now including Elite's first round. Depending on how the day goes I will post the results today or tomorrow.
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Today would be cool. ;)
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Take your time :)
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Round 1 results for Elite:
Elite - Seventh Wonder - Welcome to Mercy Falls (6 points)
First listen: I can see where the DT comparisons come from, these guys sound a little bit more melodic to me though. Soloing isn't too prevalent which is nice because I'm not too fond of wankery.
Subsequent listens: I'm torn between a 5 and a 6 here. on one hand it reminds me too much of DT - and that's not a good thing because I've grown tired of them. On the other hand, if I clear my mind of prejudices and just listen to the music I have to admit it's enjoyable, so I'm going to lean towards the 6 this time.
What I think I can expect from you: I would be tempted to call you the fourth metalhead of the roulette but judging by your ongoing top 50 thread I think you have a lot more to offer than metal. Choose well and you will be in contention for the crown.
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Round 2 results! I was NOT more benevolent with scoring because they are supposed to be "worst" songs, I judged them as I would have done with any other song. A 10 here means the same as a 10 in any other round.
Ultimetalhead - Strapping Young Lad - Underneath the Waves (7 points)
First listen: Is this what they call "wall of sound"? I never really understood the term but now I think I do. It's a different kind of production to what I'm used to but it doesn't bother me. Musically, this is still aggressive as fuck so I see you haven't lost your punch. I feel like this is a lot to digest on a single listen but I like it so far.
Subsequent listens: I really don't know what to make out of this song, all I know is it won't let me breathe for the whole duration. I'm getting warmed up to the production style and I like the aggressiveness of the riffs and vocals. If this is the worst song, I guess I could enjoy this album. Seven points.
kári - Bon Iver - Creature Fear (6 points)
First listen: I felt kind of underwhelmed with the first listen. The song reminded me of Kings of Convenience - lowtempo, acoustic guitar with very faint drumming and the occasional uptempo chorus here and there. Not something I dislike, but it doesn't stand out either.
Subsequent listens: I liked this more on repeated listens, the lowtempo sections didn't feel as long as on the first listen and the choruses gained some strength. The abrupt ending doesn't help a lot but I know this is a continuous album that I should listen in one sitting, so I won't hold that against the song. Six points and a new entry in my musical "to-do" list because I feel I owe this album a full listen.
Zantera - Amplifier - Post Acid Youth (9 points)
First listen: I was kind of afraid seeing the "Progressive Rock" tag that this would be a more traditional kind of progressive or neo-prog but this turned out awesome. It reminds me a lot of Oceansize (even though I have only listened to Effloresce yet), the space rock feeling here is very strong. I quite like this.
Subsequent listens: If this is the worst song of the album (at least in your opinion), Amplifier has to be an Effloresce-like effort that I will automatically love on the first listen. Even if no single instrument stands out, the whole band sounds really tight together. Another nine points for you, very good.
ReaperKK - Fair to Midland - Walls of Jericho (9 points + 1 point for Fair to Midland)
First listen: I thought FtM were metal with harsh voices and very crazy in an avant-garde sense. Either I'm wrong or this song isn't too representative of their style... either way I pretty much enjoy this song. It isn't anything extraordinary but it has some nice melodies and is a very listenable piece of music.
Subsequent listens: Reading what I wrote above I have no idea why I said it isn't anything extraordinary. I love the vocal melodies and the light hearted guitar riff and synthetizer background. It does have a slight "radio-friendly" feeling but I'm not bothered by it in the slightest. For some reason the song reminds me of These Walls by DT only several times better since I fell out of love with DT a long time ago. You get nine points too, good work.
LLTWM - Frank Turner - Nights Become Days (5 points)
First listen: A nice acoustic track, but I can't say it's doing a lot for me. As soon as it finished I couldn't remember the melodies, I guess I need more listens to get more out of it.
Subsequent listens: Never been a fan of the singer-songwriter stuff but I usually enjoy acoustic, solo performances of certain frontmen (Dustin from Thrice and Casey from TDH) so I guess it's more a matter of knowing the song. After repeated listens, the song still doesn't grab me until the last minute when the piano becomes more prominent. I guess I could end up liking this in the context of an album, but as a standalone song I must give it 5 points.
black_floyd - Spiral Architect - Conjuring Collapse (4 points)
First listen: The instrumental sections at the beginning remind me of the Dance of Eternity, which isn't a bad thing. Not a fan of the singer, for some reason it reminds me of classic heavy metal which I'm not a fan of. The instrumentation is interesting enough to cover for that, so I don't necessarily dislike the song. Nice instrumental outro too.
Subsequent listens: This is still a bit too "in your face" technical for me. I would have adored this 3 or 4 years ago when I started getting into DT, but in the last few months I have shifted my interest towards other genres. Like I said above, I don't dislike the song but it's just something I can't see myself delving further into. I give it four points.
obscure - Guilt Machine - Over (6 points)
First listen: The opening electronic sounds have me so confused, coming from you surely this must be metal? :P
Subsequent listens: While the mix of electronic and guitars is pretty interesting I feel the vocal melodies in the chorus could have some more strength, I feel they have some untapped potential. Still, the song was interesting enough to make me wonder about the whole project, 6 points.
Elite - Shadow Gallery - Society of the Mind (5 points)
First listen: More prog metal? You guys are bent on giving me a hard time, aren't you? This sounds like pretty formulaic stuff, none of the instruments stand out to me. With that I don't mean it's a *bad* song, it's just that it doesn't make me want to check the whole album or anything.
Subsequent listens: Repeated listens confirm the above - this song is a step below your previous submission (Seventh Wonder) which was a bit more interesting as far as prog metal goes. The little vocal harmonies here and there make it a bit different but it's still not enough to get out of the neutral zone - five points.
Gorille85 - Frank Turner - Wessex Boy (7 points)
First listen: Another Frank Turner submission on the same round, you guys must hold him at a very high regard. This one worked better though due to many reasons: interesting guitar especially during the chorus, the claps giving it a more dinamic feel and better vocals.
Subsequent listens: The vocals definitely feel more emotional here than in Nights Become Days and the guitar riff is something that stays long after I have stopped listening to the song. I'm baffled as how you consider this worse than Nights, are you cheating? :P Seven points.
Rankings:
(https://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1636/roulettebl.jpg)
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Round 3: I'm going to abandon the difficult themes for a round or two and go with a more classical one. I LOVE drumming, I would have liked to be a drummer but I never got around to it so I vent my frustration listening to groovy motherfuckers that hit the bonjos with style. I want something with awesome drumming - I have to warn you that I prefer groovy, laid back drumming that makes complex time signatures and rythms sound easy, but if you would rather go with extreme, fast technicality it's up to you (and the size of your balls/ovaries). I will judge the drumming and the song separately (zero to five for each) and add the result for the final score.
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Glad you liked Amplifier! :D
The song is from their debut which is really awesome, so you're in for a treat if you check them out. They do have a certain Oceansize-influence in their music, the bands have toured together a lot, and performed on each other's albums, so that might have affected them in different ways. Amplifier has only put out 3 studio albums and a few EPs so far (though the latest album was a double album, and there's a new album coming out this year), but they have climbed very high among my favorites already. :)
I will think a bit about the next round.
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I think I got a great drummer for you but I fear the band may be very hit or miss
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Ah, crap. Seems like I should try a little harder!
Also, this:
I think I got a great drummer for you but I fear the band may be very hit or miss
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Song sent, though I sense the band might be a bit hit or miss. Hopefully the former.
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Come on guys, don't hesitate and send me these two bands! Even if I end up not enjoying the music you can get a pretty decent score if I give the drumming 5 out of 5, so it's worth a shot.
I know I'm scoring prog metal and metal in general a bit low but there are some exceptions (Fair to Midland, Amplifier, Strapping Young Lad, Unexpect). In general metal is more hit or miss for me than other genres but that also means you could get some 9-10s with the right bands.
It's a game after all, a low score just means we have different musical tastes - I appreciate every single submission even if I rate it low because it gives me more musical knowledge and lets me define my own preferences even further. Roulettes are the musical equivalent of spiritual journeys, I'm just thankful to have you all here... Now wipe the tears off your face and submit some gems!
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hmm gonna have to think about that one
also i love every single song from the frank turner album so no i wasn't cheating :P i did came close to send a song from a 1-song album though :lol
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Song Sent!
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hmm gonna have to think about that one
also i love every single song from the frank turner album so no i wasn't cheating :P i did came close to send a song from a 1-song album though :lol
We both sent from the same album. :lol Wessex Boy is nowhere near the bottom for me though.
Lots of choices to go for here! I'll have to think.
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Hmm the band I really wanna send I think would be way too weird... But I'll think of a good one. Harder than I thought it'd be considering I'm a gigantic proggy.
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I'll send something today... finally narrowed it down to 3 drummers....
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still have to think about it...
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Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't have a clear-cut idea what to send :lol
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Sent
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Sent.
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Right, I went with insane technicality. About the most insane stuff I think I know. I hope you'll like it, but I can perfectly imagine the song I sent not warranting me any points at all :lol
So; sent.
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Only black_floyd and kári left, hurry guys!
I already have most songs listened to and judged so as soon as I get the remainding submissions I will post the results and move on to the next round. I have holidays during monday and tuesday so hopefully we can squeeze another quick round out of those days.
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so have you got a theme idea yet?
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I have themes for all rounds madame, I'm a planner :hat
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good job mister :tup :laugh:
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The themes have been great so far. Really enjoying this roulette.
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So when we gettin' results?
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Wow, didn't realize it's been a week! I'll send one now, sorry guys!
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black_floyd's submission is missing, I sent him a PM. If I don't receive it during the day I may post results tonight regardless and advance to the next round, judging his 3rd round together with the 4th, like we did with Elite in the first.
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black_floyd's submission is missing, I sent him a PM. If I don't receive it during the day I may post results tonight regardless and advance to the next round, judging his 3rd round together with the 4th, like we did with Elite in the first.
yeah it's been a week, i'd say go for it.
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Round 3 results! 0 to 5 for the song itself, 0 to 5 for the drumming. DISCLAIMER: like I said I'm no drummer so I have absolutely ZERO idea about drumming. My comments are probably technically off or whatever, I'm just describing how much I like it and how it makes me feel.
Zantera - Between the Buried and Me - Specular Reflection (9 points + 1 point for BTBAM)
The song: Pretty good... an 11 minute song is a lot to digest in a single listen but the vocals were pretty good (yeah, that includes the harsh vocals) and the heavy / mellow dinamics were also nice. I guess they should remind me of Opeth but the guitar tone and harsh vocal styles are different enough that they don't really remind me of them. There are so many different sections here that the song feels almost like a suite - and the amazing thing is all of them are brilliant. Four points out of five only because I'm not used to this style of harsh vocals, but I NEED to check these guys out.
The drumming: It's complicated to focus only on the drums for 11 straight minutes but the drumming is really tight here. The song goes through so many different phases yet the drumming always fits perfectly and enhances the mood of each section. If I had to judge from this one song, I'd say this is a pretty versatile guy. I especially enjoyed the ambient-ish section around the five minute mark, the varied fills, the faster heavy sections... just an excellent job all around. Five out of five - hits the spot.
Ultimetalhead - Andromeda - Chameleon Carneval (6 points)
The song: Even though this is not my style of music anymore I have to admit I enjoyed this song. The fast tempo kept it interesting throughout and the solos don't go overboard so it didn't make me feel tired of it which is what usually happens with this kind of stuff. Even though I have listened to only two or three songs by LTE, it kind of reminded me of them. Three points out of five.
The drumming: Very solid drumming, fast when needed and calmer and groovier on quieter sections. I especially enjoyed the little drumming interlude in the middle of the track and the little breakdowns throughout. Three out of five.
ReaperKK - Dave Matthews Band - Lying in the Hands of God (9 points)
The song: The only thing I have ever heard by these guys is a remix of their "When the world ends" in the Matrix sountrack that I quite enjoyed. This was very different, I wasn't expecting such a relaxed and groovy song. I have been listening to other submissions in between listens to this one but still I keep the groove in my head, very good submission. Five out of five, outstanding.
The drumming: Groovy fella right here, even though it was really hard to focus on just the drumming because the song was so dreamy that I was drifting half the time. I love how he stands back when it's time for other instruments to shine. The one thing keeping it from five points is that the fillers feel kind of repetitive after a while. Four out of five.
LLTWM - King Crimson - Indiscipline (7 points)
The song: Weird as fuck doesn't even begin to describe the song. It's a good kind of weird however, I was afraid that this would be more of a classic style of prog with overcomplicated instrumental sections and wankery, but it was a lot more experimental than that. In the end, "I like it!" so four out of five.
The drumming: This was also very hard to judge - the overall crazyness going on made it very hard to focus on the drums. On the fourth listen or so when I finally managed to do so I could appreciate the nice pattern that sounds kind of like a pendulum or something - I can't really describe it, it's like it goes back and forth with itself. It really must be a hard job to keep the instrumental passages together, the riff is barely discernable so it's all on the drums to keep a sense of tempo going on. Three out of five.
obscure - John Scofield - Drop and Roll (7 points)
The song: Although I wouldn't mind getting into the genre, I'm not much of a jazz expert. The song was pretty cool, it has a nice groove and the guitar work is excellent. The length is enough to let the groove shine, leaving enough time for variation and solos to make it interesting before it becomes repetitive. Four points out of five.
The drumming: The first pattern is really awesome - my only grip is that it is repeated through the first half of the song with very little variation. I get the feeling that the song is meant to be a guitar work, allowing less space for other instruments to shine. The last couple of minutes are better in that regard - overall I give it three points out of five.
kári - And so I watch you from afar - Don't waste time doing things you hate ( points)
The song: Great title! The mood of the song seems to match it too, it's kind of uplifting which is a change of pace from the post-rock I've heard until now which was mostly depressing and lowtempo. Even though the song lasts 7 minutes it never feels too long since there are so many different sections and riffs going on. The vocal touches are great too, adding a different twist without adding lyrics. Excellent song, four points.
The drumming: The drumming in the first half is solid (good fills, nice galloping during certain sections) but not outstanding. However, like you said yourself in the second half when the funky stuff beings they start shining a lot more, grabbing the song by the balls and forcing it to become *happy*. Excellent, four points out of five.
Gorille85 - Brad Mehldau - Paranoid Android (8 points)
The song: I would have never expected a jazz cover of a Radiohead song, very surprising to say the least. From my limited musical knowledge I'd say this is a brilliant interpretation of the original song. Some parts are clearly recognizable and others are lush, almost improvisational passages. This kind of passages I can't fully appreciate yet, I guess I would need more listens and some more experience in the genre to be able to appreciate them fully, but I still enjoy them. Four points out of five.
The drumming: I love the lounge-y feeling during the first couple of minutes of the song, it's very relaxing and suits the music perfectly. The chaos during the busier passages is harder to judge (is there additional percussion beyond the drummer?) but there is some varied stuff there - sometimes it sounds latin influenced and sometimes it sounds almost like a big band. Four points out of five.
Elite - Planet X - Alien Hip Hop (7 points)
The song: Good old Derek! Trial of Tears and Lines in the Sand are two of the few DT songs I still love and the hearing Derek's characteristic keyboard sound in this song brings that love back. All the instruments are awesome to tell you the truth but the odd sections near the end of the song are kind of a downer for me, they feel complex for the sake of it. 3 points, would have been a four without the last couple of minutes.
The drumming: Donati was one of the drummers I was rooting for when the auditions happened, I felt he was really unique and it was clear that he *breathes* odd time signatures. He knows when to restraint and play a simple beat and when to go all out with complex fills. Drumming wise this and BTBAM are the best submissions of the round, but I didn't get that "I want to be the drummer in this band" feeling with this one so it's four points. Donati is still a beast though.
black_floyd - - ( points)
The song:
The drumming:
As you can see, there wasn't much variety in the drumming scores - nothing was bad enough to warrant a 0, 1 or 2 and only one was so outstanding that deserved a 5. Solid round by everyone.
Rankings:
(https://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8351/roulettepz.jpg)
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Round 4: We're back to difficult themes. I've always wanted to be the cool kid that could say "I was a fan before they got big". In this round, I want something from an artist that has one single album. Couple of rules: EPs don't count (so you can send something by a band that has 1 full album and 2 EPs) and the band has to be active (otherwise I won't be able to brag about knowing them since the start, y'know).
I know this is a harsh theme and you might not even know such a band (I know I don't). If that's the case, feel free to send me a band with more albums (up to 3) - I trust that you will try to fulfill the theme requirement first and only send such a band if you really don't have anything.
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Glad you liked BTBAM! :) This next round sounds really interesting. I'm gonna have to think a bit about it, and hopefully I wont disappoint.
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Yeah, I almost gave them a 10 (5+5) but the first two or three minutes of harsh vocals are still a bit hard to digest for me. I trust that I will end up loving them though, just like it happened with Opeth. The softer sections and the instrumental breakdowns were incredible.
What album by these guys should I check out first? I've heard good things about Colors but maybe there is some other preferred order to get into their discography.
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Yeah, I almost gave them a 10 (5+5) but the first two or three minutes of harsh vocals are still a bit hard to digest for me. I trust that I will end up loving them though, just like it happened with Opeth. The softer sections and the instrumental breakdowns were incredible.
What album by these guys should I check out first? I've heard good things about Colors but maybe there is some other preferred order to get into their discography.
Colors is generally regarded their best, it's my personal favorite as well. To be honest they've become a bit more prog over the last years, (the song I sent is from the latest EP), but I guess you could work your way backwards, and either you love all of the discography, or you wont like the first, or maybe the first two albums since they are more heavy, less soft so to speak. :P
It's tricky, I think both Colors and The Great Misdirect would work well as starting albums.
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Awesome glad you liked DMB, check out Before These Crowded Streets if you want some more drumming goodness.
This round is going to be hard, the active part is going to be tough to find . . .
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I sent a song, hopefully you will like it!
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Sending in a second.
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Oh, wow! Glad you actually liked it, because I wasn't sure about it. I'll have to look into this next theme though, for it could prove difficult :P
I just found out that the band I wanted to send released their second album last month. Crap.
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But I found something else. Sent!
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Sent!
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Sent
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SENT
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Everyone except LLTWM and black_floyd already sent, maybe I will be able to post results tomorrow night.
Interesting round, I think there will be some surprises and ranking distances may shorten...
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I would love to keep a distance in the top, but that will be pretty hard. I don't expect to score high every round, but as long as you actually like the stuff and feel some urge to check it out further, then I feel like I have succeeded even if I'm not the highest on the score. :)
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I'm still missing black_floyd submissions for rounds 3 and 4 and LLTWM for round 4... I already have the rest of the songs judged and written so if I don't get any song by tomorrow I will probably post away and add those to the pending submissions list.
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Rounds 3 and 4 sent.
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I can't really think of a one-album band I think you'd like... I'll go for a band with 2-3 then. I'll think of something in a sec.
EDIT: Nevermind, thought of a possible 1 album one.
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Cool, thanks everyone. I'm at work now, I'll try to squeeze three listens for each of the three submissions I have to judge and post the results today.
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Round 3 results for black_floyd
black_floyd - Primus - To Defy the Laws of Tradition (7 points)
The song: The riff is pretty good but I feel that it's repeated too much, a little bit of variation would have been nice. The vocals are somewhat weird, it's a very different voice and singing style to what I'm used for but I didn't dislike it. I guess I should check something more by these guys to get a clear picture of what they are about. Three points out of five.
The drumming: I have to admit the first couple of listens didn't do much for me in this regard, I thought the drumming was repetitive. However, when I focused on the drums for a whole listen I started appreciating the little fills here and there and the subtle double bass work that is going on. I was between a 3 and a 4 here but since I feel the song deserves a 7 overall, I will give it four points out of five.
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Will be interesting with the results. I am excited.
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I can't really think of a one-album band I think you'd like... I'll go for a band with 2-3 then. I'll think of something in a sec.
EDIT: Nevermind, thought of a possible 1 album one.
I didn't even notice the 2-3 album limit, I guess I just glossed over it, anyway, this band was a roll of the dice but hopefully you'll dig it.
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Round 4 results! Shit just got real
Zantera - The Safety Fire - Grind the Ocean (5 points)
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. As you said, sooner or later you were bound to get a low score and it looks like this was it. The song started promising with some excellent drumming and a nice spacey feeling to it. The vocals didn't amaze me but they were OK but then... I can't really stand the choruses, the vocal melody and the background riff sound very detached or disjointed to me, like they don't belong together. The screaming didn't help either. It's a pity because the verses and the outro were good enough for around seven points, but the choruses and screaming bring it down to five.
UMH - Polkadot Cadaver - Pure Bedlam for Half Breeds (7 points)
From what I had read about these guys, I was kinda expecting some Pussyfoot-like crazyness. It was a pleasant surprise though - while crazy, this was more catchy and controlled. The vocal melodies are interesting and the only thing that throws me off is the little piano interlude that sounds like a broken record. It doesn't last too long though so it doesn't really hurt the song overall. Seven points.
Gorille85 - Peeping Tom - We're Not Alone (6 points)
The first few times I listened to this song I forgot it as soon as it was done, it took me a couple of listens to be able to evaluate it. I don't really have much to say about it, it was a nice song but there's nothing really memorable about it. If I had to break it down I'd say the verses with the weird voices and the sparse instrumentation create a nice atmosphere. I can't judge the chorus - sometimes I love it (it has a nice vocal melody) and sometimes I feel it doesn't fit the rest of the song. Overall, it's a nice mix of ideas that I can't really figure out as a whole. Six points.
obscure - Leprous - Mediocrity Wins (8 points)
With that name I thought this would be death metal or something a bit more extreme. It was a pleasant surprise though, I love the electronic bits and the ambient keyboards. In a way, they remind me a lot of Riverside or even PT in that they explore the more atmospheric side of prog metal. The voice of the singer during the choruses doesn't do much for me, it's the one thing keeping it from being a nine. Excellent submission, I will make sure to check these guys out. 8 points.
ReaperKK - The River Empires - Catacombs and Orchards (8 points + 1 point for The River Empires)
These guys were in my to-do list due to Casey's involvement, bonus point. I was expecting something more folky but I got a very quiet piano lead song. The piano lines are extremely beautiful, they sound almost like a soundtrack. A very minimalistic and haunting track - I also happen to love the singer's voice so this is a strong 8 for me. I need to check the full album, this sounds like something I should enjoy.
kári - The XX - Infinite (6 points)
Not too big on the intro but the song soon gets better with the addition of the female vocalist and the different percussion patterns. I was expecting the song to pick up the pace at some point but it never did, for this reason it felt kind of incomplete to me. A little more variety would have made it better in my opinion. Six points - I didn't dislike it and I will probably check the whole album at some point, but as a song it hasn't done enough for me to give it more than that.
Elite - Flying Colors - Blue Ocean (9 points + 1 point for Flying Colors)
I've been wanting to check this new project due to MP and NM's involvement but I hadn't really had time except for one casual listen to Kayla, which I didn't really like. Due to this I put this song will really low expectations but it was a pleasant surprise. Nice grooving bass, solid drumming, vocal harmonies that make me giddy and an excellent lead singer - shake together and you get an excellent pop-rock tune. For such a straightforward song there are a ton of ideas flying around and very different sections tied together seamlessly (the bass groove is really valuable in keeping everything consistent). The instrumental passages are also tasteful enough that they don't feel like wankery. All in all, very good tune. Nine points.
black_floyd - Francisco Meza - The Departure of a Soul (8 points)
This is a lot to digest in just a couple of listens. I was somewhat afraid this wouldn't be up to par when I saw it's self produced, instrumental and long (three qualities I don't particularly love) but it turned out pretty good. For a guitar soloist the guy shows a lot of restraints and there are several passages that are outstanding: the eerie introduction, the clean solo near the end, the lowtempo section around minute 4... Even though this isn't really my style I have to give this song an 8, very nice submission.
LLTWM - Kimbra - Two Way Street (7 points)
Very original submission, I commend your courage. This girl has a sweet voice, that's for sure. The relaxing blend of pop and soul works pretty well, I'm probably saying something incredibly stupid but it reminds me of Michael Jackson sometimes. This is something I could probably listen to with my wife (which isn't the case for most of my music collection to be honest). 7 points.
Rankings:
(https://img403.imageshack.us/img403/1059/roulette.jpg)
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Round 5: It's fusion time! I want something that mixes genres (blues, jazz, punk, rap...) or has some "exotic" influence (latin, eastern, ethnic, whatever). Just as long as it isn't "straightforward GENRE" it's fair game.
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Glad you liked it! ;), now you can check out the rest of the album.
Also, Leprous has 2 albums! The first one is indeed almost death metal-ish, but remains very progressive.
I have something very funny to send for next round, but I'm not sure whether you like it..
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That's what the roulette is for, let's find out
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Oh man this is going to be a fun round, going to try and send something today or tomorrow.
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Oh and you hit the nail on the head, The River Empires cd is almost like a soundtrack.
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Yeah it was a really great track, I didn't score it higher because it felt more like part of a whole than a standalone song and these are always harder to love in limited listens. I will get the CD for sure, I had the feeling I would enjoy them from the online reviews I had read and this song definitely encouraged me to go for it.
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That's what the roulette is for, let's find out
Okay then, you're getting some insane shit. I'll just have to figure out which song, as I know the band I'm going to send.
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It's a bit sad because The River Empires was the other band I thought about sending, oh well...
I might have an idea for the next round, but I will probably wait a bit and think about it so I don't shoot myself in the foot again.
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It's a bit sad because The River Empires was the other band I thought about sending, oh well...
I might have an idea for the next round, but I will probably wait a bit and think about it so I don't shoot myself in the foot again.
In 4 rounds you've shown me 3 great artists that I will get into so don't worry too much about that last round, it was bound to happen sometime. I'm sure you still have lots of great stuff to send, you'll be fine :tup
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Haha yeah, it's not ranking low that bothers me, but just ironic how I had two artists in mind, went with one, and the other one scored high. But I probably wouldn't have sent that TRE-song, so even hypothetically I could have done worse. :P
Also, I have a band (or maybe two) in mind. I might have to think a bit about which to send. :lol
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Sent. One of these risks might pay off eventually. :P
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Yo Zantera which on would you have sent, just curious.
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Yo Zantera which on would you have sent, just curious.
Good question. I would say either "Witches Blossom", "The Coventry" or "A Toast to the Snake King" possibly.
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Sent. One of these risks might pay off eventually. :P
If they don't pay off I will create an special award for Ballsiest Participant just for you
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Looks like this is a round for me.
Sent.
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I've sent a song now. I'm really interested in seeing your response actually. :biggrin:
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Glad you liked it! ;), now you can check out the rest of the album.
Also, Leprous has 2 albums! The first one is indeed almost death metal-ish, but remains very progressive.
I have something very funny to send for next round, but I'm not sure whether you like it..
Actually, they have 3 albums + 1 EP.
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Glad you liked. :D
Also, this is my kinda round. :) I'll think on it for a bit though.
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Glad you liked it! ;), now you can check out the rest of the album.
Also, Leprous has 2 albums! The first one is indeed almost death metal-ish, but remains very progressive.
I have something very funny to send for next round, but I'm not sure whether you like it..
Actually, they have 3 albums + 1 EP.
Looks like someone forgot the round theme! ;)
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Glad you liked it! ;), now you can check out the rest of the album.
Also, Leprous has 2 albums! The first one is indeed almost death metal-ish, but remains very progressive.
I have something very funny to send for next round, but I'm not sure whether you like it..
Actually, they have 3 albums + 1 EP.
yeah, crap, you're right :lol
I always thought TPS was their first.
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sent...
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:lol I can get away with pretty much anything guys...
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tCD-PEOyehM/TacRYxzOIzI/AAAAAAAAAKY/k3jZoyD8yKE/s1600/tumblr_ljafd8dhX51qaz0qto1_500.jpg)
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Sent! :)
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Elite, LLMTW and Reaper left.
I've spun all other songs once so far - all the submissions have been pretty solid and one is outstanding. We MAY see the first 10 of the roulette (not counting bonus points)... I'm undecided yet.
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I know, I know..
I'm in huge debate with myself with what I should send. I have 3 songs by 3 different artists that I would like to send, but I'm unsure which one you would like best. I will try to send one by the end of the day, but so far I want to send all of them :lol
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In a previous round someone sent me 3 links and I chose randomly the one that would be judged before listening to any of them (I asked my wife for a random number from 1 to 3). Feel free to do that if you can't decide :tup
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That's a very good idea! I might just do that then, or just send you one link if I decide what to send. For this round I can't give you an mp3 version unfortunately, because I'm not at my own computer at the moment. I hope that's not a problem.
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That was me BTW. I really couldn't decide which song on For Emma... was the worst (except for Team). :)
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Sent by PM!
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Sent
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Sent by PM!
Crap, in my PM I said 'round 4' I believe. Well, it's for this one :P
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WHO SENT THE SAME THING I DID? :lol
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Hehe.
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It was you? :P
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Nope. :lol I was just laughing because that's king of funny.
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Well, it could be you and you don't know it yet.
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Perhaps. But given my submission I doubt that.
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Yeah, I thought that too about mine.
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Sent.
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Well we have TWO repeats in this round... Elite repeated someone's submission, as did LLTWM with a fourth person :eek what are the chances?
That said, I have all submissions but I can't judge them now. I have already listened to all of them at least once and I have a pretty good idea what the scores will be. I will give them a couple more listens tomorrow early in the morning and then I will write the reviews and post the results.
Thanks everyone!
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How the hell? :lol There's another fan of my band this roulette? Not to mention we chose the same song from a 20 song album? So I'm assuming from that post you wish to keep it?
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That's what I thought as well.. The band I sent doesn't really have a whole lot going on about them on these forums. But judging by the song I sent I guess Gorille sent the same as I did (?)
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I don't see a problem with two people sending in the same song though... They just get equal points for this round, no?
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Well I dont really care either way, the way I understand roulettes the score represents the affinity of our musical tastes so I wouldn't want to screw with that by forcing you to send anything but your desired submission just because someone else sent the same song. With that said, if you'd prefer to have a more unique scoring that's fine too, just send a new song.
@kari: yeah, same score for both
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Hrmmm I wonder if someone sent the same song as me.
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Round 5 results! Very strong round with the lowest score being a 7, I see you guys are using heavy artillery now.
UMH - Sigh - A Sunset Song (7 points)
You hit the nail on the head on your submission PM - I loved the riffs, the little disco interlude and the overall upbeat feeling of the song. Sadly, you also hit the nail on the head saying I wouldn't like the vocals. Black metal vocals are probably the hardest type of singing to get used to for me. With another kind of vocals this would probably be at least an 8, but I guess in that case the interesting contrast between the raspy singing and the music would be lost. Overall, even if I don't think I will be able to get into these guys I feel the song deserves seven points.
Gorille85 & Elite - Diablo Swing Orchestra - A Tap Dancer's Dilemma (10 points)
This blew me away. From the tap dancing drums to the swingy horns, from the sweet female vocals to the excellent guitar riffs, I loved this piece of music. All instruments are excellent and the tempo of the song is awesome throughout, making me want to dance like my life was on the line. Regarding the vocals, the guy provides a nice contrast with the low screams and the female singer is excellent, specially in the quicker verses. All in all, I don't really feel confortable giving this song less than 10 points.
Zantera - Mr. Bungle - None of Them Knew They Were Robots (9 points)
I felt this was a crazier, darker, more depressing A Tap Dancer's Dilemma. While Diablo Swing Orchestra succeeded on the very first listen, this would probably need a lot more listens to be able to appreciate fully since it seems to have around three million different sections and riffs. For some reason, like Unexpect these guys also reminded me of Danny Elfman in that sometimes the song feels like the OST for a Tim Burton film. I loved this but like I said it didn't possess the instant gratification of DSO and I probably need more time to get into this so nine points.
black_floyd - Gordian Knot - Reflections (7 points)
At first I thought this would be more straightforward Prog Metal and that I wouldn't enjoy it but it ended up being a pretty nice song. I loved the spanish guitar throughout but the other instruments didn't really stand out to me. In the end, I listened to the song a few times and even though I didn't really find anything to make me want me to come back, the truth is that I enjoyed every single listen so I will give this seven points.
obscure - Proto Kaw - Daylight (7 points)
For some reason this was a very hard song to judge for me, I found it difficult to focus on it. I don't mean it's bad, it just didn't hold my attention like other songs do. The little eastern sounding interludes were good and the sax provides a nice touch too. I felt the song was kind of repetitive but similar to black_floyd's submission, I liked every listen so it deserves seven points.
kári - Yeasayer - O.N.E. (8 points)
I love the electronic beats on this one and the echo effects that give it somewhat of a dreamy feel while keeping it upbeat. While the vocals are pretty similar throughout the song there are enough instrumental interludes, subtle riff changes and additional instrumentation (like the high pitched keys near the end) that the song never feels repetitive. All in all a pretty interesting band, I should probably check them further. 8 points.
ReaperKK & LLTWM - Shpongle - Levitation Nation (8 points)
The last thing I was expecting after the first couple of minutes of the song was a spanish guitar, but there it was (and what an awesome spanish guitar). As far as fusion goes, this probably takes the cake: ethnic vocals, electronic instruments, tribal percussion and spanish guitar - all in less than four minutes. The song is really great but like Reaper said, the abrupt ending indicates this is meant to be listened to in the context of the album and takes away a bit from the song as an standalone piece. Eight points and another entry in my list of albums to check once this madness ends.
Rankings:
(https://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8763/rouletteh.jpg)
So far we have some clear grouping: two people pulling ahead fighting for the win, a group of four wanting to upset them and the three metalheads chasing them like mad men (and women). With two rounds + the extra final round left, there are 30 points in the air so anything could happen, don't get overconfident!
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I need a few more minutes to think about the theme for round 6. It's going to be the last themed round so I want to make sure I choose the right theme. I had something in mind from the start but considering how the roulette has gone so far I feel what I have in mind will be too restrictive and it will not allow a high variety of scoring, which is the opposite of what I want.
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Sigh's album, "Gallows Gallery" is completely absent of harsh vocals, if you want to give that one a try. Each of their albums sound fairly different though.
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Great, I will be checking that out. I felt somewhat bad giving that song 7 points because I loved the riffs (I've had them in my head for two days) and it had very original ideas going on, but sadly the vocals are a turnoff for me.
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Yeah, unfortunately the rest of their material is 95% screeching. I've grown accustomed to it though, so maybe you will too. :tup
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Round 6: My original idea was to do an "interlude" round with transition songs but I feel this is very limited and would not allow room for upsets and comebacks, so I'm going to do a FOUR theme round. I want you to choose one of these themes and then submit a song:
1: Crescendos: Not necessarily post rock, just something that has a huge crescendo.
2: Piano: Something with classic piano in it.
3: Avant-garde: Hit me with the crazy stuff. Avant-garde metal is of course within the theme.
4: Ambient: Anything remotely resembling ambient is fair game - shoegaze, dreampop, ambient metal, lowtempo...
I will judge submissions from 1 to 10 regardless of the chosen theme - however, it's important to fulfill said theme. If you choose ambient and send me avant-garde, my friend, you are entering a world of pain. A WORLD of PAIN
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Glad that you liked Mr. Bungle! I've sent a song for Round 6 that I feel very confident in, since it fits a bit into two of the themes mentioned. It's a song I really love, so I hope you will like it as well. :)
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Mr. Bungle was one of the other bands I thought of sending. Pretty awesome that there were two groups of people that sent the same song :lol I'll have to think about this, see which theme I can gain the most.
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aaaaaaannnddd sent!
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One question regarding this roulette; can we send bands that have already been sent in previous rounds by other people?
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In my roulette I allowed it when I didn't give the band a good score.
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Sent
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Mr. Bungle was one of the other bands I thought of sending.
Me too :omg:
and we don't have it for this round... damn...
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Well there are other very evident avant garde metal artists out there, if that's what you want to send :hat
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One question regarding this roulette; can we send bands that have already been sent in previous rounds by other people?
Sorry I missed this, it's ok by me as long as the song is different enough from the first submission that I don't feel you're just taking advantage. If I feel like that, I will ask for another submission.
Of course, no bonus points for repeated bands that were on my wishlist :)
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Good. I was thinking of sending a previous band and I feel my song is pretty different.
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I hope you're not think of Bon Iver 'cause I was forced to send the worst song!! :)
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Sent.
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Well there are other very evident avant garde metal artists out there, if that's what you want to send :hat
Oh no worries... I have an arsenal of avant garde bands... it's just hard for me to pin down your taste... oh you already know that I struggle :laugh:
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Sent by e-mail. Hope you like it :)
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Friendly reminder for obscure, black_floyd, LLTWM and Reaper
The five submissions I've got so far are all amazing. This is shaping up to be the best round so far, every song is excellent.
In other news I've thought about a great theme for round 7 that I think you will all enjoy. It will also provide some challenge in that you will have to choose how you want to be scored, I think it's going to be fun. After that, round 8 is going to be finalist-only (2 top scores) so you better use all your secret weapons in these two rounds!
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Sent.
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Wait did you get my round 6 submission?
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Yeah, I did a wrong recount of the people that was pending to send a song... The current status is the following:
Sent: Zantera, kári, Reaper, UMH, Gorille, LLTWM, Elite
Sent but need to resubmit: obscure (repeated band but you're free to keep the submission), black_floyd (band in my RateYourMusic profile, I already know them)
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will send today....
sorry guys :-\
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It's ok, it's not you or black_floyd who is holding up the roulette even if I don't have your songs, I have an extremely busy week at work so I think I won't be able to write the reviews and post results until friday :(
Sorry everyone
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Don't worry, take it easy :)
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Don't worry man. Also, you could always write one song here, the next there, simply when you have some time left. Writing all of them at the same time might take some time, but then again I'm not quite sure what your routine is, and obviously work and other things are more important.
Frankly it doesn't matter that much, I'm glad just to read the write-ups, if they take some time it's not the end of the world. :)
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I don't usually review all songs at once, mostly because submissions are spaced out. The normal routine is to listen to them in batches of 2 to 4 songs depending on how many people submitted and then I start including later submissions if I get them. Once I have listened to a song 3 to 5 times I write the review.
This round has been more complicated because I've been busy so I have only listened to each song a couple of times. Once I get home next friday I'll set apart a couple of hours to give everything a proper listen and write the reviews at once (it won't be a problem since each review doesn't take me too long, I usually write it in the time it takes me to give the song a final listen).
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Sounds cool. And to be fair, I'd much rather have a good and interesting write-up, and the knowledge that you listened to the song an extra time or so, then to see something you've put down in haste because people wanted the results early.
So just take your time and I don't think anyone here will be upset about the wait. Hell, Friday is just 2 days away. :)
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Just got home, what a PoS week at work.
I just started listening to what I have so far and writing reviews. BF, obscure, I still don't have your submission. If I don't have it by tomorrow I will post the results anyway and judge you in the next round since this one has already taken too long.
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I had a hectic week too :(
it's coming today....
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Round 6 results! In this round, Zantera mops the floor with every other participant (no disrespect though, he does it very tactfully and with a lot of love). Very strong round regardless, lots of 8s and a couple of 7s, we'll see if black_floyd and obscure can keep it up when they send their submissions.
Zantera - Mew - Comforting Sounds (10 points + 1 bonus point for Mew)
It's amazing how a song can be so simple, yet so epic. This song is a very easy song to get lost to, the first few times I would listen to this my mind would start wandering off and before I noticed the song was over (which is incredible for an almost nine minute song). I love how it starts like a slow poppy tune and slowly builds up, gradually increasing the intensity - the guitars, the keys / strings, the wonderful vocals that remind me of the Ecstasy of Gold... The more I have listened to this song, the more I have enjoyed it. What more can you ask for? 10 points.
kári - Múm - The Land Betweeen Solar Systems (8 points)
The first thing I need to comment is how perfectly these guys set the tone for the song with the electronic/noise introduction, you really feel like you're out there floating in the outer space. I found it interesting that even though this introduction is not very rythmical, by the time the drums came in I had interiorized it to a point that the drums felt very natural and didn't change the feeling of the electronic noises at all. The vocals are somewhat Sigur Ros-ey - I thought it could be the icelandic but then I noticed she sings in english. One thing this song didn't accomplish compared to Mew is that it has very little variation and, great as it is, it still feels repetitive after a while. Perhaps the song would have been better with a couple less minutes or perhaps I need more time to get into it and listen to it in the context of the album (which I definitely will) - either way, right now I have to give it 8 points.
Reaper - Kaki King - Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be A Bad Person? (7 points)
I had heard a lot about this girl and I remember I once listened to one of her songs that didn't do much for me. This was better but it still lacked something to make it a really great song. her guitar playing skills are obviously great but I felt the first part of the song is too stripped down - the song got a lot better when the other instrumentation (keys, strings) gained relevance. I think I would have liked it better if that instrumentation shift happened a couple of minutes earlier instead of so close to the end. Anyway, even though it could have been better it's still a very solid tune and I may check her out at a later date, so seven points.
UMH - Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Sleepytime (8 points + 1 bonus point for SGM)
This is weird a shit, a very difficult song to judge. At first I thought it was a bit repetitive and that I wouldn't enjoy this much but the louder section makes it better and adds a lot of variety with the different riffs, vocal harmonies and even some semi-growls. All in all the song didn't really feel as long as it actually is and it kept me wanting to give it another listen. I would have liked to dedicate it enough time to be able to know the different sections and what to expect at any given time but I guess that will come with repeated listens once the roulette ends. I know that in a few days I might regret not giving this a higher score, but for now it's 8 points.
LieLowTheWantedMan - Boards of Canada - Kid for Today (7 points + 1 bonus point for Boards of Canada)
Another slow song that had me doing some mental escapism (like someone commented on Youtube) for a few listens until I could focus enough to judge it. Musically there isn't a whole lot to write about - a nice little beat, dreamy instrumentation and not a whole lot of variation. However, I didn't really feel like I wanted to it end at any point so I guess the song achieved its purpose and had me relaxed and just enjoying my thoughts for a few minutes. This is probably better in the right context, like traveling and looking out the window of a train. Seven points.
Gorille85 - Her Name is Calla - Pour More Oil (8 points)
This was a bit underwhelming for the first couple of minutes, you've all decided to put me to sleep with these submissions (all very good ones though). Thankfully the song got a bit more uptempo after the first half with some very simple drumming that sounds almost like a militar march. The vocals in this section are outstanding and then the strings (which also seem to be a common denominator in this round) and horns take over for another while before the operatic vocals brilliantly close out. All in all this is a very good song that left me wanting more, if it weren't for the first three minutes it would probably be a nine but I will have to give it eight points.
Elite - Genesis - Firth of Fifth (8 points)
I've tried to get into the 70s prog bands a couple of times by listening to spare songs but I never really felt attracted to that kind of production and vocals (except for Pink Floyd). This song was a lot better than what I had listened to before - I feel like I can now trace, at least partially, the origins and influences of the modern (but classic-style) progressive rock of Transatlantic. The piano is wonderful throughout the whole song, I really love classic piano and this one had some excellent melodies to work with. The rest of the song is also great, I feel like this prog rock is less "in your face" than the current one and more "musical" if you will. I thought I'd give this song a low score but I think an eight is well deserved since it has even managed to wash off some of the indifference/disdain I was lately feeling towards this genre.
obscure - - ( points)
black_floyd - - ( points)
Rankings:
(https://img838.imageshack.us/img838/368/roulettec.jpg)
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Round 7: In my initial plan this was going to be a free round to wrap up the roulette but we're going to add a twist so you guys can have some fun instead of me hoarding it all for myself.
For this round you will send three songs of your choice - since it's going to be a lot of music to listen to (27 songs) I'd like you to send shortish stuff but it's not a theme restriction, if you have a really awesome 10 minute song you want to send, do it (though I might listen to it less times than I would for a 5 minute song due to time restrictions). The catch in this round is that you will have to choose how you want to be scored. There are three choices:
- Best: Highest rated song times two. For example, if I rate your submissions 7, 9 and 5 your score would be 9 * 2 = 18 points plus any bonus points if any of the songs are from my list of bands (these bonus points don't get multiplied).
- Worst: Lowest rated song times three. Following the same example, your score would be 5 * 3 = 15 plus bonus points.
- Sum: Sum of all scores minus four. For the same example your score would be 7 + 9 + 5 - 4 = 17 points plus bonus points.
You will have to estimate my scores and calculate which is the option that suits you best - each of them has its pros and its cons. The scores will be high enough that anything could happen, so choose wisely.
Being the final round, I'm going to give you some hints about my list of 30 bonus bands:
Between the Buried and Me
A******h
Anathema
A***** ***e
D**** *******d
m****** ** *** ***l
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Boards of Canada
K*** **t
T** ******* ***s
T*** ***k
M********** ********a
U***r
Flying Colors
M******n
Mew
B**** **w
P********d
S******e
N****** **** ****l
M**** ****s
J*** *******e
Fair to Midland
The River Empires
Mono
6************c
S*************s
P******t
Massive Attack
C*n
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I'm going to ace this last round. I love the idea, so let's get it on.
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Sent three songs. Hope you'll like them. :)
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Múm are icelandic BTW. :)
Also SENT
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I know exactly what I'm going to send.
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Sent three very different songs...
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I see 3 of my favourite bands in the mystery bands. ;) Sent all 3.
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Lots of stuff to post about, let's do this by pieces like Jack the Ripper said
- I already got black_floyd's submission for round 6, listening to it right now
- We've lost obscure to Real Life, let's all keep one minute of silence :sad: I hope you will still read the roulette obscure since I have something in store for each one of you when it ends.
- I received 5 submissions for seventh round already, and all three scoring methods have been selected at least once - this is going to be a fun round to score (even though I have no idea where I will find the time to listen to 24 songs 3 or 4 times each).
Also,
Múm are icelandic BTW. :)
Also SENT
Yeah I saw in Wikipedia, what I meant was that at first I thought they were singing in icelandic but then I realized (with the help of lyric sites :P) that they were singing in english. Really surprising band BTW, they've made the list of bands that I need to check out once this hectic game finishes.
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Round 6 scores for late submissions:
black_floyd - The Smashing Pumpkins - Porcelina of the Vast Ocean (9 points)
Another excellent song that doesn't feel as long as it actually is. The intro is brilliant with the changes in dynamics and when Billy starts to sing and I see that we're already almost in minute 4 I'm surprised that much time has already passed by. I know his voice is pretty controversial and a lot of people dismiss the Pumpkins just because of that - but don't worry, I actually enjoy his voice. I like the mix of heavier choruses with the ambientish (oceanic if you will) verses and instrumental breaks. This is the second song off this album I listen to (after Tonight, Tonight 17 years ago when the album was published) and it looks like I need to check out this album - better late than never. 9 points.
obscure - *shels - Journey to the Plains (9 points)
This wasn't really a submission but more of a farewell song (I hope it's ok for you that I post it) but I found it so great I included it as your round 6 song. I had never listened to any post-metal before this (at least I think this is post metal) but if this is indicative of the genre, I will need to delve further into it. I love the mix of heavy instrumentation with an ambient style and the little vocal touches in the last couple of minutes added to the crescendo give it a very epic feeling. Nine points for you (and just to be clear that does not include a single bonus point for farewells, the song is just that good).
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hahhahaahha... thank you Xanthul!
me happy :laugh:
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SENT! :)
Also, isn't there a round after this one, just for the top 2?
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Yeah, I want to do an album round but I can't really listen to 8 albums so I will take the two highest scores (could be more than two participants if there are ties) and have them send me one album each.
This round is going to be crazy with the high scoring (up to 33 points for three perfect submissions) so everyone has a chance to advance to the finals really.
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This round is going to be crazy with the high scoring (up to 33 points for three perfect submissions) so everyone has a chance to advance to the finals really.
Three perfect submissions all by bands in your list and the person who sent it must have chosen worst, right? Otherwise it would be 23 or 29 respectively.
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That's right, scoring method matters a lot. So far I've judged two people, one of them chose the best scoring method for the scores he got, the other could have received 1 more point with a different method. I will give all this info when I post the results
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I found choosing the scoring method actually the hardest thing to do :lol It's still pretty difficult to pinpoint what you like and what not, so I hope I went with the best, but we'll see.
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Haha glad I made it hard to choose... I actually spent some time creating an Excel file to check the score of all the possible score combinations (from 0 0 0 to 10 10 10) and in what percentage of them each scoring method was best. Then I did the same for the most likely score combinations (from 6 6 6 to 10 10 10) and I fiddled with the parameters until everything was pretty even. I wanted to make sure there wasn't any clearcut best scoring method and that you had to actually evaluate my most likely scores for your songs to decide what you wanted.
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You need to change your thread title. This round is anything but "unimaginative". I'm about as confused as a baby in a topless bar. Thankfully, I can just sit on the sides and watch.
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I'll send my submissions tonight, I've been a little busy with work :)
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Wow I just noticed that one of my like top 5 bands was on the list just now. Haha.
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LLTWM you're free to change one of your songs if you want, I still haven't started with your submissions
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Done. :)
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I'll send my submissions tonight, I've been a little busy with work :)
hhhmmmm....
(https://phillbarron.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/bullshit-button.jpg)
This saturday I feel is going to be long and dull gonna spam DTF all day it seems.
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:lol BUSTED
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You seem to forget, that spamming DTF is work . . .. ;)
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Reap, you get a 5 point penalty this round for not loving this roulette as much as it deserves :heartbreak:
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Reap and floyd left, I have already listened to and done the writeups for the rest of the participants
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But Reaper was in second place, why would he leave?
Also, when can we expect the results them? I must sat, you did find that time quickly to listen to all that! :)
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Left to submit I mean :P
I only need their songs to be able to judge them and post the results
And yeah I've had a lot of free time this weekend, I spun each song 3 times
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Oh, I get it :lol
Sure, no rush. I'll be patient.
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Sent!
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Sent!
Judged!
I'm so excited to post the results, I ended up doing the usual writeup for each song so it's going to be a HUGE post (with a 25% reading attendance I think :lol) and I have some stuff for you guys.
So, what I mean by all of this is... O black_floyd, where art thou?
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I'm quite excited. Also a bit curious since 3 songs per person is quite a lot, and some songs might need more spins to fully click.
When can we expect the results? (don't want it to sound like it's a rush, just curious)
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I have everything judged and written up, I'm just waiting for black_floyd's submission. Therefore, you can expect results roughly 1 hour after he send me his stuff ;)
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GOOOOOOOOO
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Just got them, I have to wake up in 6 hours so I don't know if I'll do it now or tomorrow... we'll see
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OKKKKKKKKKKK
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:(
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:tup
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I guess not. :(
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Round 7 results! INCOMING WALL OF TEXT
UMH - The Devin Townsend Project - Bend it Like Bender (8 points + 1 bonus point for DTP)
FUCK YOU. The intro riff reminded me so much of another song and I was trying to figure out which for a whole fucking hour (it was I Couldnt Do It Alone from The Dear Hunter). Anyway, a very energetic song and like you said the female vocals add a very nice touch. 8 points.
UMH - Dog Fashion Disco - The Hitchhiker (8 points)
I was going to make a joke about these guys being best pals with Polkadot Cadaver given the stylistical similarities but I already knew they're some of the same guys, so fuck jokes. I liked this better than Polkadot, the first and last sections are pretty good (especially the quiet piano parts with almost whispered vocals) and the middle section is just batshit crazy. 8 points.
UMH - Foxy Shazam - Oh Lord (9 points)
Fun fact: I listened to this the first time without watching the video and I thought they had a female vocalist (now it sounds totally male to me and I can't understand how that could have happened). Anyway a very nice song, terribly hard to classify in a genre (which isn't a bad thing) and very upbeat. This was an 8 on the first listen but now is a nine, you really did bring out the big guns like you said in your PM.
Zantera - Kayo Dot - A Pitcher of Summer (7 points + 1 bonus point for Kayo Dot)
It took me three listens to even start thinking what could I write about this song - it's that difficult to judge. The first calm section is pretty nice and it already shows glimpses of the weirdness that is to come with the different tempos, spoken words and other tricks. The vocals are somewhat weird, like he's running out of breath or something, I can't describe it. Sometimes I like them but and some other times they bother me. On the third listen I found out there was something similar to a chorus behind the distorted guitars of the middle section. The last two minutes are just a big WTF for me. I'm not sure if avant-garde is my thing. 7 points.
Zantera - Brand New - Luca (8 points + 1 bonus point for Brand New)
Excellent song all around. I love the singer's voice and the instrumentation is also very good though it takes a bit to get used to the squeals and high pitch sounds in the background in the middle section. Repeated listens made this better, I got used to that section and I continued enjoying the rest of the sections - the awesome quiet verses in the second middle of the song, the surprising heavier section that closes the song... 8 points
Zantera - Agalloch - Fire Above, Ice Below (7 points + 1 bonus point for Agalloch)
I wasn't expecting any black metal vocals, I thought they had turned into a non-metal band kind of like Anathema. Anyway these vocals were very limited so they didn't really bother me. It's a quite long song so it's hard to judge in three listens but I know I enjoyed the vocals (non harsh part) and that the instrumentation had a nice ambient feeling to it while being very guitar-driven. 7 points, could be higher with more listens but that's what I think of it right now.
Gorille - Ulver - Providence (9 points + 1 bonus point for Ulver)
I've been reading people raving about Perdition City for ages so I was kinda hoping someone would send something from that album, but this works too. I love the ambience on this one and the female vocals which, as you probably know by now, are a big turn on for me. I like how the song evolves from ambient to heavy and oppresing, back to ambient with a different touch to keep it from being repetitive and so on. This is another song that's probably enhanced by listening to it in the right context - anyway, it still deserves 9 points.
Gorille - Ferry Corsten - Ain't No Stoppin' (10 points)
Trance time! Never in a million years I was expecting this kind of song in a DTF roulette, it goes to show what a great, varied place this is. When I was younger I had my electronic music phase, going to dance clubs and all that stuff. While I no longer do that I still enjoy electronic a great deal and trance is the subgenre I love the most even though I don't know any artists by name. Anyway, this song was very awesome with very good melodies and a lot of variety (for a trance song). Truth be told, at first it had me dancing in my chair like a retard... then it had me dancing all over the room like a retard. 10 points.
Gorille - Nekrogoblikon - Bears (7 points)
After the surprising trance song this is even more surprising if that's even possible. Could it be that you're playing it safe? Sending three very different song hoping for a 10 in one of them to go with the "Best" scoring method? Anyway, for an extreme metal song this was quite nice, the raspy vocals don't bother me much which is weird for me and the mix of black, death and regular vocals is a nice one. The instrumentation in the background is very uptempo (excellent drumming) which also helps to avoid getting me bored or focusing too much in any specifics. I was tempted to give this 8 points which is weird for such an extreme metal song but I feel the second half is a bit worse than the first so I will give it 7 points. I might check these guys out though. BTW, they have no Wikipedia page so I searched them in google, this is what I found (from metal-archives): Genre: Symphonic Folk / Death Metal. Lyrical themes: Goblins :lol
kári - 65daysofstatic - Radio Protector (7 points + 1 bonus point for 65dos)
It's nice to see a piano driven post-rock song, as you already know by now I love the sound of classic piano. The song has a nice crescendo which is par for the course within the genre and good upbeat drums, especially after the calm section in the middle of the song. However, I feel like the first half of the song is clearly the best and after that it becomes a bit repetitive. All in all, not really much to write about but it's a nice song. 7 points.
kári - Portishead - Roads (10 points + 1 bonus point for Portishead)
Great, I already had this album in my computer in lossless format but I hadn't listened to it so it's good to have an starting point. This reminds me a lot of the Massive Attack submission in the first round, I love the downtempo, dreamy electronics with the delicate female vocals. I recently saw these guys in a list of artists with small discographies that were a must and if this song is representative of the rest of their work, I can see why they made such a list. Very good song, 10 points.
kári - Kyte - These Tales of Our Stay (9 points)
Another hard to pinpoint song - is this shoegaze? is this ambient? is this post-rock? I don't care, it's awesome. After a very quiet intro the vocals and the bass pick the song up and start moving it in a more dynamic direction before they stop in the quiet instrumental break in the middle of the song. The second half of the song has a very cinematic feeling to it and I love how the drums keep the nice groove right until the very end where there's only a xylophone? keyboard? repeating the main theme of the song. It's weird how this main theme and its variations are repeated throughout the whole song but it never feels repetitive because of said variations and because half of the time it's in the background letting other instruments do their thing. Very good song, 9 points.
LLTWM - Can - Sing Swan Song (7 points + 1 bonus point for Can)
I added these guys to my list of bonus bands since I saw a lot of people in RateYourMusic raving about them and what a visionary band they were. When I saw in YouTube that this is from a 1972 album I knew they were right, it's incredible how music made 40 years ago can sound as modern as if it was made today. Regarding the song itself, it's nothing that rocks my socks off but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It has a very ethereal feeling, almost eastern sometimes and the little noises and squeals in the background give it a nice touch. I don't think this is something I could listen to regularly but I wouldn't mind checking out a whole album to have some background and knowledge in bands that changed the musical picture. 7 points.
LLTWM - maudlin of the Well - Geography (8 points + 1 bonus point for motW)
Another quiet song by Toby Driver, I get the same feeling about his voice that I did with the Kayo Dot submission but it has less of the "whiny" moments in this one. Truth be told, I was expecting some weird song with growls, weird tempos and breakdowns and stuff like that, which I think is what motW usually does, right? Regardless, this was a nice dreamy song with the right length to avoid boring the listener. I guess I need to check these guys out further if I want to see what the fuss is all about. 8 points.
LLTWM - Neutral Milk Hotel - Ghost (9 points + 1 bonus point for NMH)
That's some powerful intro riff and bass there. I think I've heard a song by these guys at some point in my life, the voice sounds familiar. I love the intensity on this one, especially for a mostly acoustic track. The drums and horns are also very intense, joining the bass to buryi the initial guitar riff as soon as they have chance. You said some people can't stand the singer - I love him, I think he is at least half of this song. It seems like the song segues right into another one so I guess this will be even better in the context of an album. Still, as an standalone track, 9 points.
Elite - maudlin of the Well - Gleam the Ranks (9 points + 1 bonus point for motw)
Nice to see a heavier song by these guys - still no growls though, I get the feeling you guys are hiding the big bad guy from me fearing growls might turn me off :P Anyway, some very awesome drumming and keyboards on this one and the singing is a notch above the other two Toby Driver songs I have received. I feel he does better this kind of singing than the whiny quieter parts (though I have to admit I'm warming up to those too). The riffing is also awesome so really, there's nothing objective to complain about, the only thing keeping it from a 10 is that I don't really feel like it's one of those songs that keeps wanting me to listen to it. 9 points.
Elite - Mastodon - Black Tongue (9 points + 1 bonus point for Mastodon)
You should have sent this for the drumming round, it's amazing. This is probably the kind of metal I've been searching for to expand my library: excellent riffs, powerful drumming and good vocals. I love how they keep the song short and to the point without adding unnecessary solos or over-repeating any riffs. Again, this would have fared awesomely in the drumming round, I love it. 9 points.
Elite - Alcest - Écailles De Lune (Part I) (6 points)
This was a pretty difficult song to judge, it's pretty long and I found myself losing attention too often. The first part is a bit too "thick" for me and the vocals don't do much for me. The instrumental sections in the middle were OK I guess and there is a nice riff here and there, but overall the song felt too long and I kept losing attention. The calm guitar before the outro is also nice but the outro itself is again very thick with the blast beats and quick guitar. I don't know, it's not a bad song or anything but it didn't really grab me at any point and force me to listen to it. 6 points.
ReaperKK - Devin Townsend - Down and Under (7 points + 1 bonus point for DT)
This is more folkish than UMH's submission though it does become heavier towards the end. Even though I like the different riffs in the song none of them stand out to me, the thing I like the most about the song is the soft intro and the bagpipes or whatever it is during the middle section. Once the heavy stuff starts I feel overwhelmed with the sound, it sounds too thick for me and I lose interest. I've heard a lot of good things about Terria so I keep wanting to like this but it's just not happening for now. 7 points.
ReaperKK - God is an Astronaut - Post Mortem (10 points)
Looks like post-rock library is going to grow quite a bunch after this roulette. I haven't heard much of Mogwai so I might be way off but this song reminded me a bit of Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. It's very rythmical, it's got lots of nice guitar riffs and keys supporting the whole thing in the background. I like how they take the opposite approach to standard post rock and instead of building up a crescendo they kind of break it apart, deconstructing it for five minutes until it becomes just a loud hum. I was sure they would bring the whole thing back with full force after that but they surprised me by just letting it die slowly. Beautiful song, 10 points.
ReaperKK - 65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat! (8 points + 1 bonus point for 65dos)
More post rock! This is more energetic and upbeat than kári's submission and also a tad more noisy with the buzzing bass and heavier guitars. Like in Radio Protector, the drums here are pretty good too so I think I'm going to like these guys if only for the drums. There's a certain feeling of grandeur during the first couple of minutes that I enjoy and the calmer section adds enough of a twist to keep me from getting bored. A little bit better than the other song in my opinion, 8 points.
black_floyd - Days of the New - Whimsical (9 points)
I could get flamed for this comparison, but after Unplugged in New York this is the direction I think Nirvana would have taken if it weren't for the death of Kurt Cobain. Excellent, dark acoustic guitars with gritty vocals, nice melodies and heaps of emotion - it really reminds me of Unplugged and that's a good thing since I love that record (fuck the haters). This is really is a great song, my only grip is that it could have been one or two minutes shorter. Still, good enough for 9 points.
black_floyd - Lush - Ladykillers (7 points)
Infectious riff plus fast vocals, very energetic song. I like the vocal harmonies during the choruses and that they keep the song short at to the point. Very power-poppy, there used to be a band here in Spain a while ago that had tunes very similar to this and they achieved some short-lived popularity. This is basically the same formula - female vocals with catchy melodies, power chording to the max and short songs. It is a nice song and though I believe I would quickly get tired of this kind of music I have to be fair - I'm judging songs by their impression in three listens, and in three listens this is an 7.
black_floyd - Jimmie's Chicken Shack - When You Die You're Dead (7 points)
Another catchy riff, you've really gone the alt-rock way this round. This one has a little bit of crazyness added to it though, for a three minute song it was incredibly hard to get into it and start appreciating what's going on. The riff in the chorus was surprising, I thought the whole song would be upbeat but they turned somewhat heavy in that section. All in all, a rollercoaster of a song and I seems like the main riff is stuck in my head, I can't help it. 7 points.
Scores:
UMH (Scoring method is "Worst"): 8 * 3 = 24 + 1 bonus = 25 points You chose correctly
Zantera (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 8 + 7 - 4 = 18 + 3 bonus = 21 points You should have chosen "Worst" for 24 points
Gorille85 (Scoring method is "Best"): 10 * 2 = 20 + 1 bonus = 21 points You should have chosen "Sum" for 23 points
kári (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 10 + 9 - 4 = 22 + 2 bonus = 24 points You chose correctly
LLTWM (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 9 + 8 - 4 = 20 + 3 bonus = 23 points You should have chosen "Worst" for 24 points
Elite (Scoring method is "Worst"): 6 * 3 = 18 + 2 bonus = 20 points You should have chosen "Sum" for 22 points
Reaper (Scoring method is "Sum"): 7 + 10 + 8 - 4 = 20 + 2 bonus = 23 points You chose correctly
black_floyd (Scoring method is "Sum"): 9 + 7 + 7 - 4 = 19 + 0 bonus = 19 points You should have chosen "Worst" for 21 points
Ranking:
(https://img205.imageshack.us/img205/79/roulettej.jpg)
With this, our finalists are: Zantera and ReaperKK!! Incredible final round with some excellent submissions but sadly the lead built in previous rounds proved an invaluable asset for these guys. Still, I loved this round a lot and the fact that all songs were above 6 says a lot about how you guys have managed to pin down my taste - believe it or not, a six still means what it meant in the first round and everything you've sent has managed to spark at least some interest in me :tup
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Round 8: This will be a very straightforward round to judge the winner - finalists, send me an album and I will judge it over 20 points, no bonus for anything, score does NOT build on previous results (whoever wins this round, wins the game). Good luck to both of you!
Now, before everyone loses interest and doesn't even check the results of the finals, in a feeble attempt to thank you for all the music you've shown me, here are some farewell presents coming directly from Spain for all of you:
- For the metalheads: Crazy avant-garde from Spain, shitty production though since it's a local band that didn't last too much. I give you the whole album link, even though it's 16 songs it's pretty short so give it a spin if you can. If you can't be bothered, listen at least to "Positive" and "Heterogenea":
Album: https://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Love+Gastronomy/5651467
Positive: https://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Positive/3vMTY4?src=5
Heterogenea: https://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Heterogenea/3vMWJ2?src=5
- For the rockheads: One classic band from Spain, Heroes del Silencio. Their first albums are softer based mostly in very nice arpeggiated riffs and then they turned somewhat harder on the final stages of their career (but not much). The guitar and the vocals are something to behold:
The classic (modern re-recorded version, sounds better to me): https://grooveshark.com/#!/s/H+roe+De+Leyenda/3ZnDtX?src=5
The ballad: https://grooveshark.com/#!/s/La+Chispa+Adecuada+bendecida+3/4iIWhK?src=5
The rocker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bALV7vg3U2Q&ob=av2n
- For the progheads: I'm going to give you two choices: Triana, a flamenco-rock band with deep King Crimson influences (or so I'm told) and The Soulbreaker Company, a band that I really don't know except the song I will give you (a very good 10 minute song that reminds me somewhat of Transatlantic)
Triana: https://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Abre+La+Puerta/1VINCK?src=5
The SoulBreaker Company: https://grooveshark.com/#!/s/It+s+Dirt/3UJ3qO?src=5
If any of you tries any of this stuff please let me know in this thread what you thought of it (even if you thought it's shit).
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You need to change your thread title. This round is anything but "unimaginative".
Sorry, missed this comment earlier.
Xanthul's boring and unimaginative Roulette
You mean it IS boring then? ;)
Thanks for the props, I'm following yours from the stands too, shaping up to be quite interesting with the matchups and everything :tup
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A theme like this is pretty hard. Since choosing a full album is quite the task.
However I might have one, at least I think so.
Will send through PM.
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Don't play victim with me, I know your shady ways
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Took a bit of a chance, but I guess that's the point. Either it will pay off big time, or I will loose, but hopefully the first option. :lol
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ohh man, I'm going to have to give this some thought, I'll submit it tonight.
Damn this has been a great roulette so far.
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Ah, I took a bit of a chance with that Alcest song.. and failed :lol
Glad you liked Mastodon and maudlin of the Well though, and yes, I did intentionally send you a song without growls :lol
Check out Bath and Leaving Your Body Map by them, great albums!
Zantera & ReaperKK, good luck!
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So, I lost the roulette, but I won the round.
I'm okay with that. :tup
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Yeah UMH that was a great comeback, you sent very solid songs and chose the best scoring method for your choices, very good job.
Elite, I really felt bad about giving a 6 to that alcest song because your other two submissions were outstanding :( but I really tried to like it and I did enjoy some parts but I kept getting distracted with something else.
You've all been great participants though, it's going to be HELL to catch up with so many excellent artists, I foresee a very busy musical future for me :coolio
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Great! Congrats Zantera and Reaper. :) SO CLOSE :D
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:)
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Elite, I really felt bad about giving a 6 to that alcest song because your other two submissions were outstanding :( but I really tried to like it and I did enjoy some parts but I kept getting distracted with something else.
Ah, well. I thought you would like it, that's why I chose the 'Worst' thing, assuming I would get at least 8 points for every song. Turned out I was wrong though, and that's no problem at all. I do agree on it being a little long, yes.
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Elite, I really felt bad about giving a 6 to that alcest song because your other two submissions were outstanding :( but I really tried to like it and I did enjoy some parts but I kept getting distracted with something else.
Ah, well. I thought you would like it, that's why I chose the 'Worst' thing, assuming I would get at least 8 points for every song. Turned out I was wrong though, and that's no problem at all. I do agree on it being a little long, yes.
Those are some good calculations, with an 8 worst you would have obtained just enough points to match Reap and become the third finalist.
It was still damn close though, I'm glad most of you had a realistic chance to get into the finals, goes to show what a great roulette it's been.
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I've been an interested lurker in your roulette and have found a couple of bands I'd not heard anything by but which I now enjoy (Gordian Knot and Diablo Swing Orchestra), so thanks to those involved.
Also thanks for the link to the Triana track. I've always been a sucker for flamenco and I really enjoyed that.
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Thank you, it's great to hear there's been some interested people, honestly sometimes I've felt as if I was writing for myself. Good to hear you've enjoyed Triana too, they have some incredible songs though sadly they also were wildly inconsistent so they have their fair amount of turds too. If you're interested in checking them out, the album of that song is called "El Patio" and is considered their best work.
Also, just curious - who would have won the roulette if you were the judge?
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Thank you, it's great to hear there's been some interested people, honestly sometimes I've felt as if I was writing for myself. Good to hear you've enjoyed Triana too, they have some incredible songs though sadly they also were wildly inconsistent so they have their fair amount of turds too. If you're interested in checking them out, the album of that song is called "El Patio" and is considered their best work.
Also, just curious - who would have won the roulette if you were the judge?
Just looking back, seems like Elite meshes most with my taste, and bonus points for recommending DSO.
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Still cooking that album Reap?
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You'll have it by 8pm tonight :)
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Sent!
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Thank you, it's great to hear there's been some interested people, honestly sometimes I've felt as if I was writing for myself. Good to hear you've enjoyed Triana too, they have some incredible songs though sadly they also were wildly inconsistent so they have their fair amount of turds too. If you're interested in checking them out, the album of that song is called "El Patio" and is considered their best work.
Also, just curious - who would have won the roulette if you were the judge?
I lurk on all Roulette's. Fun to see the interaction, submissions, and results ... even if the genres/tastes are about the last thing that I'd be interested in.
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j.b: Deathcore or GTFO!
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I will be posting the results tonight :caffeine:
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Cool. I would be so bummed if I lost, it's not the first time I've gone far in a roulette to lose on the finish line. :lol
Nah but in all seriousness, I feel happy that I've contributed with music that you've liked.
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Nice Miss Universe speech there Zant but your jedi mind tricks don't work on me
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I'm happy I got as far as I did with my first roulette :)
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Guys I know I'm sucking donkey stuff but finding an hour to listen to the album in full is quite a challenge... I already gave Zantera's submission 3 listens and did his writeup, I'm in 2 listens for Reaper now and trying to find an hour for a third listen while I do the writeup.
Best case scenario I post this tonight, worst case scenario tomorrow first thing in the morning.
Sorry again.
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Take your time man :)
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Final Round Results!!
Zantera - Gazpacho - Night
The album starts with a 17 minute song - fuck the weak. This first track titled Dream of Stone starts very atmospheric and then quietly evolves going through several phases adding guitars, vocal harmonies, high pitched sounds and even a violin. This transformation (along with the fact that the whole album flows as a whole, making tracks somewhat irrelevant) keeps the song from feeling too long for its own good. The slow drums and fuzzy bass provide a very solid foundation that keeps it all tied together, allowing the sweet piano lines and cool guitar riffs and arpeggios to shine. The singer's voice is very soothing too and even when singing in falsetto it's never annoying. Despite its length, if I just put on the headphones and listen to it without worrying about track lengths I can't help but love this.
Chequered Light Buildings opens with an excellent, beautiful composition of piano and vocals with some excellent melodies before adding the rest of the instruments creating a relaxing canvas in which the falsetto voice paints its own picture. The song gets louder with a tension-filled riff that is resolved with a slower guitar riff and the vocals bringing back the chorus. Good song.
A short but excellent guitar transition gives way to Upside Down which is probably my favorite song in this record. The first half is driven by some excellent, very rhythmic drums that keep the theme consistent while the other instruments play around with different melodies and riffs.The second half contains some cinematic duets of violin and keyboards - I could picture the music playing in a war movie set 200 years ago, the camera panning over the battlefield, showing the corpses and smoke while the survivors walk around aimlessly. Excellent song.
Valerie's Friend starts off exploring the acoustic side of the band with some decent melodies that don't really manage to hook me. The song soon gives in to a more oppressing electric sound, channeling a feeling of unease that stays through the softer outro. I find this song the least interesting of the five - it's not a coincidence that this is the song with the least keyboard and violin in the whole record since in my opinion these two instruments are the ones that add the most personality to this band. Not a Debbie Downer, but not all that interesting to me either.
The album closes with Massive Illusion which clocks in at over 13 minutes. After another excellent ambientish intro this song contains some of the most upbeat (if you can ever use that word) sections of the album, such as the clapping and the electric guitar driven section in the middle of the song. Thankfully, for the last third of the song the band taps again into the well of musical bliss that represent the classic piano and violin duets, providing some of the best minutes in the whole record. Although the more uptempo sections aren't that great the excellent intro and outro make up for it, very good song.
All in all, these guys sound incredibly ethereal and dreamy while adding the right amount of electric guitar and louder sections to keep the album from losing the listener's interest. However, necessary as those sections are, I feel sometimes they aren't as brilliant as the electronic or the violin and keyboard driven sections which are clearly my favorite.
ReaperKK - Jeff Buckley - Grace
This is one of the albums that I've seen revered in a lot of places so I have some high expectations for this. Mojo Pin starts and it doesn't disappoint, Jeff's voice dominates the song with his incredible range and distressed vibrato. I particularly enjoy the softer parts here with the arpeggiated guitar while the choruses don't impress me that much - anyway, it's made clear from the start that this is an album in which Jeff's voice is the absolute protagonist and the instruments have a secondary role.
After an almost Sigur Ros-esque outro, the title track starts full of vibrant energy with a more uptempo riff that adds some folk touches while the voice remains somewhat more restrained than in the previous song. Again, there are some excellent arpeggiated guitar sections, this guy clearly knows how to play. Jeff then tickles Xanthul's weak spot with some excellent vocal harmonies before going full force with his voice to close the song at its peak. Nice song.
Last Goodbye starts out more traditional - strummed chords, straightforward drumming, no vocal excesses. There really isn't that much to say about the song during the first half, but during the second half there are some nice strings added to the mix and Jeff again increases his vocal presence and strength. This song didn't do as much for me as Grace but it was still decent.
We reach contemplative ballad time with Lilac Wine, a song with very sparse instrumentation in which again the voice is in the driver's seat - and what a voice it is. From the quiet parts during the intro to the soft, melodic sections Jeff dominates the song like nobody's business. Again, decent song but I feel I was expecting something to happen and it didn't.
So Real is a quirky little piece - I love the guitar work and weird riffs on this one and the chorus is simple but effective. The song alternates between soft and intense for a while before ending with a bang with some excellent harmonies and even screams. Even though I appreciate this song it doesn't reach the "highlight" status of Grace.
However, the best song comes with Hallelujah, one of his most famous songs if I'm not mistaken, and not without reason. Like Lilac Wine, the instrumentation here is very minimal - however, it really works here because the guitar is excellent as it was during the first couple of songs and has a personality of its own. The vocals here are probably at his absolute best, fully submerging the listener in the experience and making him (me) beg for this song to never end. Incredible song.
Being the song that comes after the best one is never easy, but Lover, You Should've Come Over manages nicely. A more traditional ballad than Lilac Wine, the more fleshed out instrumentation (do I hear a Hammond over there? I love Hammonds!) gives it a better support to avoid relying only in Jeff's voice. This one joins the ranks of the highlight songs, taking over Grace as my second favorite.
Corpus Christi Carol brings back the contemplative ballad that relies only in the vocals and it does so with some melodies that don't really do much for me. Even though Jeff does a great job and sounds operatic at times, I feel he abuses the vibrato and there's too little going on. This is probably my least favorite song in the record.
The record tries to pick back some of the lost energy with Eternal Life with a very alt-rock feeling song. Highly distorted, dirty, fuzzy guitars and bass take me by surprise since I didn't think such a thing would happen in this kind of intimate album. Even though I feel like the song doesn't belong in this album (maybe in The Bends), it's a decent song.
The album closes with Dream Brother which starts with some eastern sounds before going into a very relaxing mood driven by a beautiful guitar and Jeff doing his thing, bringing the most soothing side of his voice. I somehow feel like this is the most carefully crafted song of the record - it has the right amount of emotion, the vocals do exactly what is needed in each section, the drums are interesting for once… Very, very good song.
Jeff really has an incredible voice and knows how to put it to use - sometimes he sounds quiet, others he dominates with his unreal range and high pitched falsetto. Sadly, as much as I love his voice I'm not a fan of this kind of songs as a usually prefer to have different stuff to focus in depending on my mood - drums, guitars, vocals… That happened in Lover, You Should've Come Over and in Dream Brother, but overall I felt like the vocals were the only thing I could focus on.
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The scores:
Zantera - Gazpacho - Night (15 points)
ReaperKK - Jeff Buckley - Grace (14 points)
It was really hard for me to give them different scores since they're really similar to me. As you can read in the writeups, I enjoyed both albums but neither made me go crazy... Both have some exceptional stuff but they also have a couple of major aspects that keep me from loving them. Ultimately, Gazpacho won because the keyboard plus violin duets are something to behold and that's what could make me come back to check them once I've caught up with all the awesome bands I've received during this roulette.
Congratulations to Zantera, winner of Xanthul's Boring and Unimaginative Roulette!
Thanks again to everyone that has participated for letting me know about your awesome music and for the patience you've had (although a little over a month for an eight round roulette is not that bad, is it?)
Final standings:
(https://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1059/roulette.jpg)
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Awesome! Really great roulette, I enjoyed the write-ups and it's nice to see that you spent time on doing them.
As for Gazpacho, while Night is my favorite album, I could also recommend their latest album, "March of Ghosts" (came out this year) which is still them, but a bit different. Night is a concept album about dreams and the sound reflects that, March of Ghosts has another "sound" (while still having the keyboards and violin) so maybe it's worth checking out.
Still, awesome job at running the roulette! :tup
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Congrats Zantera!! This was a great roulette :) Please update the thread in the future as you listen to all the new music, that's always a great read. :)
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So far, I've given at least one listen to these full albums from the roulette:
- Anathema - WHBWH (bought it too, waiting for it to arrive) - Incredible, I love it
- Mono - Hymn to the Immortal Wind - There are some gorgeous songs here and others that are more GYBEsque and will take some more time to get to appreciate them
- Portishead - Dummy - Will take more listens but I enjoy it
- Fair to Midland - Fables - Only listened to it once
I think I'm going to check God Is an Astronaut, Bon Iver, Diablo Swing Orchestra and Mew next.
By the way, the full list of bonus artists was this:
between the buried and me
agalloch
anathema
arcade fire
devin townsend
maudlin of the well
sleepytime gorilla museum
Boards of Canada
kayo dot
the flaming lips
talk talk
manchester orchestra
ulver
flying colors
mastodon
mew
brand new
portishead
slowdive
neutral milk hotel
miles davis
john coltrane
fair to midland
the river empires
mono
65daysofstatic
sleepmakeswaves
pavement
massive attack
can
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Oh wow. I could've sent you a some of those. In case you're still looking:
Arcade Fire: Just start with The Suburbs :) Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) is a mind blowing track!
The Flaming Lips: I couldn't really give you an album to start with but some of my favourite tracks: She Don't Use Jelly, Do You Realize?., The W.A.N.D., ... :)
Talk Talk: One of my favourite bands!! Spirit Of Eden is an amazing album. I Believe In You is so beautiful.
:)
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And that folks, was a well run roulette. Good on ya Xanthul. I didn't post much during it... these bands/songs aren't my cup of tea, but to each their own.
Congrats Zantera.
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Congrats Zantera.
Awesome roulette, I had a blast. What did you think of Fables btw?
And check out God Is An Astronaut's first album :tup