Round 4 Results:LordCost: Slint – Don, AmanFirst Impressions: Honestly I was never too big on the “post-rock with samples or talky bits thing, it’s part of why I can’t love GY!BE as much as I’d want to. And this first section might drag a tiny bit, I feel. Actually, that just seems to be the theme of this song in general. It… drags. The song isn’t very full at all. It’s an acoustic guitar and I think a bass at some points. And like one section of electric guitar. This is just really tedious to me, overall, even on first listen.
Final Thoughts: Sorry man, this only got more tedious for me on future listens. Honestly… I can see how this is proto-post-rock, but it’s just, all the elements of post-rock I don’t like. I have never liked the excessive use of samples or talky bits. Singing is fine, though it shouldn’t be the focus, but these words spoken right over the music don’t do much for me. I can look them up, but I’d rather read them than listen to them.
The music is super empty and pretty repetitive. There’s almost no build to it, just one louder sections and one slight break to it early on. The guitar lines aren’t particularly compelling. And the tone of the electric guitar part is just… ugh. Really messy and unappealing. I can’t really get anything out of this song at all, and each time I have to listen to it, I really find myself not wanting to.
Score: 2 (+.5 Bonus) = 2.5/10Shadow Ninja 2.0: Tom Waits – Hang Down Your HeadFirst Impressions: I’ve heard a little Tom Waits before, I think, and was a bit turned off by the roughness of his voice in what I heard. It’s not as rough a voice here, which I think is for the best. The music is vaguely pleasant but seems to just serve as a backing track for the vocals and… nothing more. It’s a bit light on substance, mostly.
Final Thoughts: My rating here is gonna come down to the fact that I just don’t like Tom Waits’ voice. Never have, don’t think I ever will. Yes, it’s unique, but the roughness of it just doesn’t appeal to me. It turns me off a song as much as awful growls will. It’s more tolerable here than the most recent Tom Waits song I was exposed to prior, but other than that? Nah…
And the music here… it’s pleasant, sure but it’s… nothing. It’s a backing track, the sole purpose of it is to direct attention to the vocals. There’s nothing wrong with it but if you took it on its own you’d barely have a song left. Plus, the song is so short that it barely has time to begin before it ends. Just don’t get much out of this, sorry.
Score: 3.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 4/10Train of Naught: Tremonti – You Waste Your TimeFirst Impressions: The verse and chorus gives me a very grunge-y vibe, though that could be mostly because of the singer. The riffs, not so much, they’re very much modern metal riffs, and pretty solid ones at that. It’s a pretty decent rocker front-to-back, but I worry that it won’t lack enough depth on relistens.
Final Thoughts: Solid rocker. Solid. Solid vocals. Solid. Solid solo. A bit shreddy and wah-saturated, but solid. Nothing about this is spectacular in any way though. Maybe this is because pure rockers just never have done much for me, great in a live setting I’m sure but not for me here. I can see the lyrics at least have a bit of depth here but they’re so vague and nonspecific that they end up feeling like nothing in the end. The enunciation of “tiiiiIIIIME” on the chorus started to irk me on the third or fourth listen of this and I never found myself really having any desire to come back to this one, but I can’t say anything about it is “bad”, just “not for me”. I can say the same about Tom Waits, to be fair, but this one I at least get a bit of a positive reaction to, though not too strongly of one.
Score: 5.5/10Elite: Gary Clark Jr. – When My Train Pulls In (Live)First Impressions: Blues has always occupied the space of “I can appreciate the musicianship of the artists” but “generally it doesn’t do much for me when I listen to it” which is kind of funny because my guitar teacher has me do a lot of blues improv and that’s generally pretty fun. This has a bit more of a pulse and more flavor than other stuff in the genre, though, and I can see it winning me over. Though this does feel like it starts to meander, at the length it’s at.
Final Thoughts: Mmm. Again. I imagine this would be really great in a live setting, were I to be there. The musicianship is pretty good, though the mixing is reeeeally guitar-and-vocals-focused, would love to hear the drums, bass, and keys all better. I think, the music feels a bit too bright and cheery compared to the lyrics, too. There’s a bit of emotional depth to this, for sure, the vocals are good.
The solos, while technically fine, leave me a bit cold. Dunno, just, I like a bit of soulful playing in solos and these ones… have a little bit, I guess, but I dunno, I’m not huge on them, and the second solo goes on far too long and meanders a fair bit too much for my taste. It just kind of eventually descends into mindless noise for the sake of noise. Dunno. I vaguely like this, but only vaguely.
Score: 6.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 7/10senecadawg2: The Cure – Pictures of YouFirst Impressions: I’ve heard a little bit of The Cure before (who hasn’t?) but never really looked into them past that. I’ve always appreciated the full sound they have, though, because I always appreciate full sounds and I have to say it every time. I think the music may be a bit undynamic for my tastes, it stays at a “mid-level volume” for pretty much the entire song with only a few somewhat louder bits. The singer is the only one really adding any sense of dynamic here, but he does a good job of it and I definitely find his voice fits the music well. Kinda wish this was shorter though.
Final Thoughts: This band has a sound that I quite like a lot. Judging from what I know from them (the two songs sent this round, as well as Fascination Street, which is, of course, also off this same album). Very spacey and chill, tons of texture and atmosphere with an overall bright feel. I like that. It puts me in a good mood.
THAT BEING SAID. I find it hard to connect with this on as strong of an emotional level as I’d like to, because, yes, the lyrics are pretty nice, a strong sense of regret in them from what I’m picking out. But lyrics alone won’t sell me on a song, and the bright feel of the song does clash a tiny bit with the lyrics. If ignore the lyrics, I get a nice, pleasant song with some good vocals, but one that might go on a touch too long.
Score: 7.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 8/10425: Taylor Swift – Wildest DreamsFirst Impressions: Well, you have guts seeing as I’ve only kind of liked one Taylor Swift song ever. I can definitely see why you sent this particular song though, the music on this one is a lot more subdued and atmospheric, but definitely in a good way, I can get into this a lot easier. On the other hand, I do wish it wasn’t just “another love song about some boy” from Taylor Swift, Blank Space was lyrically interesting because it wasn’t about anyone other than the character of the song, really. If there’s one big criticism of this, though, that isn’t a nitpick… Taylor really doesn’t bring a lot of flavor to this song, you could probably replace her with any other pop singer and get about the same song.
Final Thoughts: This is definitely my second favorite Taylor Swift song (at least of the ones I know) behind Blank Space, and both are pretty atmosphere-heavy songs musically. I think Blank Space has more personality and better lyrics, though this may have slightly better music. The lyrics are something I, again, can’t really connect with on a personal level, it’s kind of standard love song stuff. And I am aromantic, soooo.
And mostly, I can see myself getting tired of this song fairly quickly; I kind of am at this point after the fifth listen, honestly. It doesn’t have the depth of pop like Lorde’s, honestly, which is one of my few comparison points (Sia is kind of another but I never listened to her album). I definitely like pop-Taylor more than I liked country-Taylor, though. I can say that much.
Score: 7.5 (+.5 Bonus) = 8/10FlyingBIZKIT: The Cure – ClosedownFirst Impressions: Just from the intro alone, I feel I’m going to like this song more than the other song from this artist. It grabs me a lot more, at the very least. Halfway through and I’m about to go “is this an instrumental” but then the singer comes in. I think the singer was a bit more convincing on the other song from this artist, but I like the music here a lot more, and that’s what’s most important in the end.
Final Thoughts: This one wins out over Pictures of You mostly on the basis of “I like the drums and bass more on this song”, really. It’s much less about the lyrics than Pictures of You is, too. The shorter length might help a little. Again, I like the sound of this band, the bright tones, the texture and atmosphere of the music. I’m probably going to end up checking out this album even if I’m not a super-huge fan of either of these songs (but I liked them both, for sure).
But yeah, the vocals on Pictures of You are more compelling than here, mostly for there being more of them, but the lyrics do admittedly have more depth to inject emotion into them on the other. But I like the sound of this one more, and at the end of the day, I tend to rate songs almost exclusively on how they sound, lyrics being secondary, only really awful lyrics will hamper my enjoyment of a song and that’s not the case here at all. Cool stuff.
Score: 8 (+.5 Bonus) = 8.5/10Tomislav95: Björk – JógaFirst Impressions: I’m actually not sure how I’ve never heard a single song from her (or don’t think I have). She’s got a pretty powerful and unique voice, and the music itself does a lot of cool things to go along with it. Granted, added strings into a song is generally always gonna be a positive.
Final Thoughts: Honestly, this was going to be higher, but there’s one big flaw this song has. It reeeally drags in the last minute, it could’ve been a much better 4 minute song than a 5 minute one. A minor nitpick that doesn’t really affect much is that I am not a huuuuge fan of when Björk’s voice is more heavily accented. It’s not very obstructive though and at the fifth listen I’m kind of used to it by now.
Her voice is very powerful. She is a very good singer. There’s no denying that. The music can plenty well back up the power of her voice, too. Doesn’t stay dull for a moment, heavy amounts of strings that swell at the right moments, electronic elements to give the song a bit of a pulse for the second verse onward, and a huge build by the end.
But damn. She sings “state of emergency” way too many times at the end, I really don’t see the point of the song going on for as long as it does, and I can’t ignore the fact that I’m not too sad to see the song finally end when it gets around to ending.
Score: 8 (+.5 Bonus) = 8.5/10mikemangioy: Foo Fighters – RopeFirst Impressions: I know a few Foo Fighter songs, but, as always, only through guitar hero. You weren’t kidding about the groove of this song, were you. This is a song that’s just plain fun to listen to. Upbeat and with some good rhythm and some good bass. Grohl’s drumming is great and the instrumental break is pretty cool.
Final Thoughts: If y’all want to know how I like my straightforward rock songs. Well. Just give me some groove. Because holy hell is the groove of this song addictive. It’s just, super fun to listen to, very upbeat. The stop/start nature of the bass and guitar with the drums accentuating them, the big full sound of the chorus. And Dave Grohl is just a beast on drums, always has been, always will be. This is pretty even with Everlong for me, the chorus of Everlong is probably the best part of either of the two songs but this is easily more enjoyable throughout for me.
Score: 8.5/10Sacul: Ulver – EosFirst Impressions: So I actually did listen to this album once before but only once and I really liked it anyways so why not allow this. And yes. The atmosphere of this track is great. Calm and subdued without ever feeling too empty. Honestly it gives me chills, which is always a good sign. It’s very emotionally gripping just by how haunting it is.
Final Thoughts: Really, there’s not much to say about a song like this. It’s incredibly haunting, and I like haunting music. The sound is never too empty. The atmosphere is intense. Calm, but intense. I don’t really need many words to say that I love this, and am definitely gonna have to get this album.
Score: 9/10Current Standings:Sacul – 35.5
mikemangioy – 35
senecadawg2 - 34
Tomislav95 – 32.5
425 – 32
Elite – 31.5
FlyingBIZKIT - 30
Train of Naught - 26
LordCost - 24.5
Shadow Ninja 2.0 - 21.5
Send in your round 5 entries as soon as possible, please! Don't take the wagers!
And I'm sorry to those of you who are kinda struggling in this roulette :<