As I said earlier, another very difficult round where literally any of the top 5 were in contention for the 1st place spot, so don't read too much into the points, the descriptions are a more accurate portrayal of what I though. With that said, rankings are rankings, so:
1st Place - 6 PointsGorille85
Boards Of Canada – Everything You Do Is A Balloon
Okay, so the first minute of this is one of the nicest pieces of music I’ve ever heard, seriously. I’d have been fine with just a loop of the intro seven times over.
But what did happen was equally good; some really relaxing, really atmospheric chillout stuff. It’s still got a kind of underlying sense of foreboding that manages to keep it more engaging than other music of its kind. This has become my new go-to homework music, which isn’t to say it’s boring, just that it’s perfectly relaxing and awesomely textured. Great choice, I knew you’d do really well in this round!
2nd Place – 5 PointsPortucci
Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto In E Minor Op 64 (first movement)
I knew Portucci would do well in this round as well, and he didn’t disappoint. I’m basically a complete classical music noob, so it was nice to have some specific stuff to look out for here as illustrated by Portucci in his message. I’m gonna have to agree with the classical bs talk and say that the music here really is very lyrical, and much more straightforward (in a good way) than a lot of the classical music I’ve tried, and failed, to get adequately stuck into before, which made for a nice change. The movement was incredibly well structured, the way it begins to wind down towards the end but then picks up again is great and keeps it exciting throughout. I’m gonna make sure to check out the whole concerto at the end of the roulette, Mendelssohn really does seem like the kind of composer that could actually successfully get me into classical music more.
3rd Place – 4 PointsSpace Invader
Rajaton – Nouse Lauluni
I’m surprised this was the only a capella song I got sent this round, but I’m sure this would also be pretty damn hard to beat in that category. Firstly, if we remove the fact that it’s a capella, it’s still a really great pop song as it is, and the lead vocal melody is excellent. THEN if you factor in the a capella-ness, it becomes that much more awesome.
It’s really astonishing how layered this is for something comprised solely of vocals, but it really got across the sound of a full band, and it didn’t even feel gimmicky after the surprise I felt at the intro wore off. I would say I’d like to check out more a capella, but this seems like far and away the best in the genre I’ve ever heard. Other than that YYZ thing on YouTube.
Very interesting pick!
4th Place – 4 PointsFluffy Lothario
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – A Night In Tunisia
I was really hoping I’d be getting some jazz from Fluffy in this round, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. The amazing percussive intro really sets the almost-frantic mood here, and the song just builds on that without looking back. The sax work here is great, and the song takes a left turn at about 8 minutes that was playful but still fit the mood really well. Not to much to say here as I don’t know enough jazz to compare this to anything too well, but I really enjoyed it and it was a great pick.
5th Place – 3 PointsJamesman
Aphex Twin and Squarepusher - Freeman, Hardy, and Willis Acid
I’ve been reading about IDM recently after gettomg Nothing Lasts… But Nothing Is Lost by Sphongle and loving it, but I wasn’t sure where to go from there. Aphex Twin now seems like the best possible direction! The drums here were indeed crazy and hypnotic at points, and the sounds in the background were creepy and built up a really cool atmosphere. I love how the drums are literally constantly building up in the first half, and then they ratchet up the tension even more at the halfway mark by exploding into an even more complicated sounding beat. The song then ‘calms down’ a bit around four minutes in, and there are more really creepy ambient noises in the background, and then some random bass stuff that made me laugh the first time I heard it.
It was cool though, and as James says, the song ends awesomely, with some sort of effect at 5:05 that left me and some YouTube commenter perplexed, but amazed. Awesome track!
6th Place – 3 PointsZxlkho
Portishead – Numb
I love all Portishead I’ve heard up to now, so I knew this was gonna be great as soon as I saw who it was. It didn’t disappoint; the vocals were as good as ever with this artist, and the music was bit more creepy and distant than I was expecting, which was a nice surprise. As you said I would, I now know that this album is awesome and I MUST CHECK IT OUT, I’ve always wanted to get into Portishead more (ha) and now I know where to start. Good pick!
7th Place – 2 PointsDTVT
Peter Gabriel - Moribund the Burgermeister
This was an interesting pick for non guitar music, and was probably the only more traditional rock/prog song in this round, which set it apart nicely. I’ve never been an enormous fan of Gabriel but I’ve enjoyed everything of his I’ve heard well enough, and this was no exception. The verses had some great synth stuff going on in the background, and the chorus was (intentionally it seems) cheesy 70s prog at its best, with a brilliantly overblown refrain that worked really well. The bridge was very unexpected
But was still cool. This is another song to add to the bunch of Gabriel tracks that I like, and might well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and gets me to check him out properly!
8th Place – 2 PointsSonatafanica
Vanessa Carlton – The Wreckage
I have no idea if Sonata was being ironic with his pick here or not, but I actually loved it.
I’ve always really liked Vanessa Carlton’s voice, and her piano work here was as good as I’d have expected from her. The lyrics were INTENSE AS HELL (although not as intense as any Mark Gormley song) and overall I really enjoyed it, plus the ‘dark’ atmosphere was pretty cool (I say dark relatively to other Vanessa Carlton songs) So yeah, I liked it.
9th Place – 1 PointKari
Arvo Part – Spiegel Im Spiegel
After I got over the initial lolling at the song title, I settled down to listen. My overall conclusion is basically that it’s objectively amazing, but it went over my head a bit in terms of general maturity. It was incredible and I can easily see why it’s so emotional, and it is just a really great minimalist piece in general, but I feel like I personally couldn’t bring myself to ‘sit through’ the 10 minutes length more than a few times, despite how much I enjoyed it every time I did. So basically, this is a wonderful piece that the more discerning of you should check out, but I’m a bit too shallow to place it too highly here.
Blame me for this not yourself Kari, your pick was still awesome, I’d just rate it much more highly if it was half as long for meatheads like myself.
10th Place – 1 PointKingshmegland
Ben Folds Five – The Battle Of Who Could Care Less
First thing that came to mind: modern day Beach Boys. Admittedly they turned out to remind me a bit more of Weezer by the end, but the harmonies are very Beach Boys-esque at points in the chorus and the ‘doo doo’ bits. For what seemed to be a mainstream song for a second, this was really pleasantly jazzy, and the lyrics were funny and clever the whole time. The video was also great; I’d recommend everyone watch it.
My only problem here is that other than the jazziness, the music is a little generic here, but I think Folds’ voice and lyrics are enough to carry it.
Fluffy Lothario – 20 Points
Gorille85 – 20 Points
Jamesman - 18 Points
Portucci – 17 Points
Kari – 16 Points
Space Invader – 16 Points
Kingshmegland – 15 Points
Zxlkho – 14 Points
Sonatafanica – 11 Points
DTVT – 11 Points
Also, just so you guys know, Portucci did manage to send me his remaining songs in the heat of leaving for the airport, so he's still in.
Round 6: I've realised that I barely listened to anything other than the big mainstream albums of the last few years, so
Songs From 2008-2010 is the next category, which should interesting. Apologies for the brevity of some of the writeups this time, but if all the submissions are in by Sunday then I'll be able to spend longer on the writeups as school's the main reason for the shortness of these ones. GOGOGOGO
Topic: Marvellous G's Song Roulette - Round 8 Resuuuuults! (Read 41410 times)
