Round 3 – Late Night Songs
1st Place – 6 PointsGorille85
Caravan Palace – Ended With The Night
I have a feeling some people here might listen to this song and hate on it, but I LOVED it. From the second the strings kicked in at the start, I just knew it was perfect for what I meant in this round. The instrumentation just screams ‘late night in a European city’ to me, and the rain sound effects in the background are like the chillout opposite of Tool’s 10,000 Days.
I’ll admit, the vocals did give me a bit of a ‘WTF.’ Reaction at first, but they quickly grew on me even before the end of my first listen. On repeated plays, they’re perfect for the song. The solos were also brilliant, and only added to the incredibly rich atmosphere and mental images that this song managed to conjure up for me. As Gorille said, ‘this song is pretty much the definition of a late night song.’ I’d have to agree.
2nd Place – 5 PointsSpace Invader
Black is the Colour of My True Love's Heart - Neverending White Lights
Wow, this might even have challenged Fluffy’s pick last round.
But, as you say, it works awesomely here too. After I got over the mindblowing similarity the female singer’s voice has to Zooey Deschanel’s, I was able to just zone out to the world and sink into this song, which resulted in a depressing but AMAZING experience. Judging by how little I could find out about this guy online, this seems to be a moderately low budget song, but the production just screams the opposite. That piano riff is the perfect backdrop to the fantastic vocals, whichever singer it is. The climax they reach together at the end (haha sex) is just amazing, and, luckily, this song fits into the late night category awesomely as well, so I can place this as highly as it deserves. Awesome awesome song, and 3:30 ranks as one of the best ‘momens’ in any of the tracks I’ve been sent in this roulette so far. But seriously, HOW is that not Zooey Deschanel singing?
3rd Place – 4 PointsPortucci
H.U.V.A Network - Rain Geometries
This song is certainly on the darker side of late night music, which is by no means a bad thing. It’s creepy, but probably one of the deepest songs instrumentally that I received this round. There’s just so much stuff going on here that it’s taken me multiple listens to hear some of the subtleties, and I’m sure I’m only scratching the surface as it is. The use of acoustic guitar in this kind of music is also really inventive, but equally effective, and it created an atmosphere quite unlike the other choices this round, while still retaining the feel of music best enjoyed in the wee small hours. I’m definitely interested in getting this band’s discography now, as long as Rainymood is playing in the background while I listen.
4th Place – 4 PointsFluffy Lothario
Bic Runga – Ruby Nights
This is one of those songs where the vocals, the piano, the drums (the drums! They’re amazing here) and the occasional guitar are all used just enough to be in perfect counterpoint to each other, but never approach being overused or becoming boring. Awesomely produced, nice chill lyrics, and a wonderful voice to carry the song. The breaks they have at some points during the verse, and the sparse section that hits in the middle of the song, are all judged excellently, and, as Fluffy said, you really get a more spatial feel from this song than you do from a lot of others. A keeper for the late night playlist.
5th Place – 3 PointsKari
Talk Talk – I Believe In You
An awesome late night song in every way basically, very chill and well produced. The vocals were really nice and relaxing and fit the mood perfectly. The song progresses into being basically a really vivid soundscape, and it’s perfect for the category this round.The outro with the ‘spirit’s was really ethereal and ambient-sounding, but it’s like the great bits of ambient combined with more traditional music, which made for a really relaxing track, and a new favourite for my late night playlist.
6th Place – 3 PointsJamesman
Dustin Kensrue – Blanket Of Ghosts
This immediately stands out as the kind of late night style track I was looking for! The song’s pace is gentle and relaxing, and Dustin’s voice is just as good here as it is in his best moments in Thrice, perhaps even better, and I might have dismissed him as not being the right guy for this kind of song if I hadn’t witnessed the evidence to the contrary. The organ really stands out to me in this song, creating a sort of Gospel style vibe that just makes the song more suited to very early morning listens. The solo and licks the guitar provide throughout are also really mellow, and definitely evoke the SRV style vibe I mentioned in my examples. Great song, and one that I’ll be listening to for many insomnia-ridden nights to come!
7th Place -2 PointsZxlkho
Anathema – A Beautiful Disaster
You shouldn’t have been worried about being unsure what I was asking for here, as this is definitely the kind of thing I was looking for!
I was taken aback by the female vocals, having only heard ‘We’re Here Because We’re Here’ by Anathema before this, but they were excellent. This song swings along at a slow pace, but it never feels boring at all, and whoever’s singing really carries the music well. Not that the music needs carrying; that riff is hypnotic, and the production was great, and the fact that I didn’t notice a difference to their SW-produced recent album shows just how good the production is. Great pick, and a song that just encourages me to delve further into Anathema’s catalogue.
8th Place – 2 PointsDTVT
Follow Me To Sleep
There was a dilemma I faced when scoring this song. On the one hand, it was really good, but on the other, it was probably the least ‘late night’ style song I got sent, but as DTVT didn’t get the category I though it was better to let that go. I’ve, amazingly, never actually gotten round to listening to any Spock’s Beard before, so this was quite an enlightening song to get this round. It was definitely very cool, with awesome keyboard work being the main thing I noticed in the first half of the song. The second half is lead by some ‘rockin’’ classic style guitar, which had some nice unison style stuff with the keys, that didn’t get to the overbearing level of some of DT’s unisons. And DAT keyboard solo was great too. So a great song, but one that I feel I can’t quite give all the credit it deserves this round simply due to the category.
9th Place – 1 PointKingshmegland
Da Da – Bob The Drummer
The first thing that struck me about this song was the guy’s voice. I’ll probably get hated on by DTVT for liking this guy and not the Enchant singer, but something about this guy’s voice was just instantly really appealing. The drumbeat is really hypnotic, and I completely see where you’re coming from by saying this is a late night song. The only thing that drags it down for me a tiny bit is how the calm/quiet verses transition pretty suddenly into the rockier chorus. But other than that, this was really nice and relaxing, with some neat layering by the keyboards which took me a while to notice to top it off. And yeah, the lyrics were cheesy, but, as you say, in a good way, they fit the mood nicely.
10th Place – 1 PointSonatafanica
Built To Spill – Kicked It In The Sun
The major stumbling block for me with this song was that I didn’t really like the singer’s voice at all. The instrumentation was very nice and mellow though, and the licks the electric did over some of the verses were so relaxing. The rhythm work here was also great, and the song built up well and kept me entertained for its considerable length for the genre, which is no mean feat. Not an especially ‘late night’ song for me, but it is pretty mellow so I can definitely see how this would be a good midnight listen. My only minor problem with the music itself was that the tempo change around 5 minutes in was a bit jarring when I first heard it. Other than that, this was pretty good. If only I liked the guy’s voice!
Fluffy Lothario – 14 Points
Gorille85 – 13 Points
Space Invader – 11 Points
Kingshmegland – 10 Points
Kari – 10 Points
Portucci – 9 Points
Jamesman - 9 Points
Zxlkho – 8 Points
Sonatafanica – 7 Points
DTVT – 5 Points
Holy crap, this scoring system's hard. The way I do this is I do all the writeups in Word one by one, so without really considering the positions, and then when it finally comes to the time for scoring I realise that some AMAZING songs with glowing writeups have to be placed low because everyone is sending in such good stuff, so for the lower down people, the stuff you're sending is still amazing, it's just that with everything being amazing this round something has to come lower down. Specifically this round I was ready to put Jamesman's at number 1 or 2 when I first heard it, but then other stuff just ended up edging it when it came to scoring. Still, thanks to all of you for making this roulette have a ridiculously consistent level of quality so far, even if it makes it impossible to score.
For the next round, I figured we'd have a comparatively simple Open Round, as this category seemed to cause some people problems whilst others knew exactly what I meant, which made it kind of unfair on the people that didn't. So, send away!
Topic: Marvellous G's Song Roulette - Round 8 Resuuuuults! (Read 41382 times)
