Bolsters™ The Roulette, v2 ★ THE CONCLUSION ★

[Evermind]

It's hardly the first time anyone has relistened to previous rounds and given more points, either.

I know, and I never liked it. I usually avoid saying anything on that matter, but I'm really invested in this roulette, so I decided to comment on that. Anyway, it's your decision.

[Train of Naught]

Bronze star worked pretty good in the v1 but I just think it's rare that there would be a round where he wouldn't like either of the 10 songs sent.

[Bolsters]

I just think it's funny there are so many pink stars, yet not a single bronze star in the entire roulette.

It probably wasn't necessary to keep it. In the last roulette it was necessary because the songs scored based on how they rated against just one other song, so there were bound to be instances where both of the songs would be pretty average, and that's exactly what happened because I ended up handing a few of them out. This time however it's a ranking of every song I was sent, so in order for a single bronze star to appear, it would mean a minimum of 7 people missing the mark, simultaneously. I'm not surprised that it didn't happen, you guys aren't that bad at picking out songs for me (for the mostpart  )

[jingle.boy]

Well, I'm going to meh this for two reasons: I certainly won't get any more starts since I'm already at maximum (selfish, yes), and I think you should stick with your decisions whenever you made them. You didn't think that song should get a pink star at that moment? Well, tough luck.

I mean, what makes you so sure you know how to properly award pink stars now? You can re-listen and award some more stars for earlier rounds, find some grower songs, but what about Round 7 and 8? What if some of the grower songs are there? Will you be relistening to the Round 8 songs a few weeks later and postponing the final results until then? I guess no, because that's ridiculous. So, tough luck. I don't see why it should be any other way for any previous round.

But you're the host and it's your roulette... so I'll just stick to sending good songs and leave the decisions to you.

100% agree with this.  If you're going to 'add' pink stars, then in theory you should also go back and potentially 'delete' pink stars.  My opinion is that when a round is over, it's over.  Scores are set - you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.  People don't go back and re-score songs towards the end of the roulette.... 'ya know, that song really deserves an 8 now, not the 6 I gave it initially'.

I've said this before, but this is the fallacy of scoring systems vs stack ranking.  Scoring systems have the challenge of trying to score consistently across rounds.

But, as Evermind said - and I agree wholeheartedly - it's your roulette; you make the rules/conditions.

[Crow]

I rescored a ton of songs in my roulette tbh

[jingle.boy]

I rescored a ton of songs in my roulette tbh

I stand corrected then.  It doesn't typically happen though - at least, not that I've seen in the ones I played/followed.

[Evermind]

Sacul also added some scores on re-listening.

But as far as I remember no one so far gave the songs a lower score than they actually had.

[Sacul]

I felt tempted to do so, but it would have felt a bit unfair, thus when initially scoring, I went with lower scores in case I felt the tracks deserved something better in the relistens.

[Crow]

there were some I really wanted to go back and lower the score of but I'm not that mean

well, I might be that mean nowadays

[splent]

there were some I really wanted to go back and lower the score of but I'm not that mean

well, I might be that mean nowadays

Whenever you do a roulette my goal will be to get 0/10s from you and then you relisten to them and I win

[Bolsters]

I wasn't really expecting this kind of reaction actually. I wouldn't be much of a host if I intentionally pissed off my contestants.

There is nothing about this in the rules I suppose plus it looks like it won't be all that well received by several people. So I've changed my mind, no do-overs.

[bl5150]

Ruslan just missed the champs by a point - better be nice or things could get ugly 

[Bolsters]

[Crow]

someone sent Halsey? uuuggghh
also the first is Clint Mansell - Death is the Road to Awe

[Bolsters]

someone sent Halsey? uuuggghh

So you're a fan then?

[Crow]

all i actually know is that awful, awful new americana song but everything i've heard about her suggests that's about par for the course

[Bolsters]

I just realised that the third one looks like it could be "Bag of Dicks"

[Evermind]

I just realised that the third one looks like it could be "Bag of Dicks"

So it actually wasn't PelleK - Bag of Tricks?

[Crow]

really hope halsey gets coal star

[Bolsters]

So it actually wasn't PelleK - Bag of Tricks?

It might be.

[Evermind]

So it actually wasn't PelleK - Bag of Tricks?

It might be.

Well, since you didn't reveal it when I guessed it yesterday, I assume it isn't.

[Bolsters]

Here are some star facts for you all to chew on.


As of the end of Round 6, if you were to add up the points of every star that has been awarded, all of the bonus stars (the seven gemstones and pearl) make up roughly 30% of the total.

The point value difference between a bonus star that only one person has and a bonus star that all ten of you have is roughly 300%.

[jingle.boy]

So it actually wasn't PelleK - Bag of Tricks?

It might be.

Let me put your mind at ease. I sent an instrumenta with orchestral elements.

Here are some star facts for you all to chew on.


As of the end of Round 6, if you were to add up the points of every star that has been awarded, all of the bonus stars (the seven gemstones and pearl) make up roughly 30% of the total.

The point value difference between a bonus star that only one person has and a bonus star that all ten of you have is roughly 300%.

I have no idea what this means.   

[Bolsters]

It means

[splent]

really hope halsey gets coal star

I don't

[Bolsters]

Can confirm that one of you is going to be disappointed.

[splent]

Can confirm that one of you is going to be disappointed.

Well it's probably me then

In my defense the song was quirky enough that it would have the possibility of you liking it but everyone else probably sent amazing songs and I've run out of ideas

[Tyrias]

Don't worry, I'm getting coal this round.


With a song as risky as I sent, I'm just going to be pessimistic. Only good surprises that way

[Bolsters]

Round Seven Results

senecadawg2 - Clint Mansell - Death is The Road to Awe

• The Fountain is one of many films that I've been meaning to watch for years, but haven't ever gotten around to yet. This is fortunate for you, obviously, because this was my favourite song of the round. I've been told that The Fountain has a good soundtrack and if this is any indication, I was told right. This song has a mostly ominous atmosphere which I appreciate, the cello in particular really drives a lot of this track. I like the inclusion of guitar aswell, in particular during the quieter sections such as near the beginning, a little after the 2 minute mark. But then in parts like the build-up towards the end the guitar really fills out the sound more and builds the dynamics of the track very well. dat ending aswell, with the choir and the shrill violin/viola sound. Love the melodies throughout the whole thing aswell. I'm already liking this a lot, but I have a feeling my appreciation for it will increase once I hear it in context. I might just have to push The Fountain up to the top of my imaginary viewing list. This song is also a threefer - besides the diamond and emerald stars, I'm also ranking this at the top of the emerald rankings and thus you will also receive a pearl star.

Elite - alt-J - Taro

• This one was a pretty big grower this round, starting out down in range of the pink star, but I found myself bumping it up every so often. This is another track I got this round that has some tasty, ominous cello work happening that I like. I like this combination of cello/violin, occasional bright percussion (is it a Glockenspiel?), and folk elements. There's actually quite a lot of different instruments appearing here and all of them are utilised perfectly for the song. I didn't like the vocalist at first but I warmed up to him; I think his performance improves as the song progresses aswell. Fine submission.

bl5150 - Defecto - When Daylight Dies

• For a last-minute backup submission after I had to reject your first, this one actually did quite well. Some very nice riffage but still melodic as hell, great chorus that is also bolstered by some subtle string interjections. The "it's fading" section is cool aswell, if perhaps a little too brief. I thought I knew this singer but after looking him up, he hasn't been in much, but I like him. I have a tendancy to be indifferent to guitar solos these days especially when they lean away from being melodic and more towards shred, but the solo in this song stood out, I liked it.

splent - Halsey - Colors

• Yeah, so it's Parama who is going to be disappointed fortunately, not you. I'm not really big into this kind of electropop but there's a few things in that style that I like, and I can now count Halsey among them. I guess she's reasonably popular? Despite listening to stuff like Taylor Swift I kind of live under a rock as far as knowing what's popular or who is well known in music these days, but I've never heard of Halsey. Anyway, I like the active percussion in the verses and of course the anthemic synthy chorus, and Halsey has a nice voice. This gives me a few more ideas for your roulette aswell actually.

jingle.boy - PelleK - Bag of Tricks

• Yeah, you're ranked right underneath an electropop song. It's a Bolsters roulette - deal with it. I quite like this instrumental though. It sounds an awful lot like a song from a video game, but fortunately I listen to actual video game music, so this is merely an observation and not a criticism. But really, a lot of the melodies and the songwriting really do sound like something from a 90's RPG. But it's cool, I love it. Melodically this is just brimming with catchy little hooks everywhere, the guitars especially. I'd have liked to award a better star to this, but you will have to settle for pink again.

Train of Naught - Waken Eyes - Exodus

• This one took a while to get a grasp on, probably because of its length. Anyway, I like this intro, but the band wastes no time getting to the heavier stuff. There's some good heavy riffage in this song even if it sometimes sounds repetitive, but the leads are generally all really good. There's quite a few moments in this epic that remind me of Transatlantic; not because of the structure of the song so much, but the songwriting. Take out the heavy rhythm guitar in some places and you find a few sections that could very well fit on a Transatlantic album. Even the vocalist at times has a timbre similar to Neal Morse. This isn't criticism either, because I love Transatlantic, and in a lot of ways this could essentially be "metal Transatlantic" This middle section is cool too, with the marching snare drum rolls and acoustic guitar. You mentioned that I listened to this at some point when it first came out last year, but I don't remember it at all, but now I look forward to giving the album another shot because I think I'm going to like it more this time.

Tomislav95 - Wishbone Ash - Throw Down The Sword

• Not a bad song at all. The standouts for me were the bass melodies, especially in the verses, very 70's sounding stuff (in a good way) and the vocalist, whose vocals in this track suit the music perfectly. I kept being reminded of another song when listening to this, but I never put my finger on what; but it's a fairly typical sound/style so it could be anything, really. Good stuff, worthy of a pink star.

Evermind - Blackmore's Night - 25 Years

• I was aware of Blackmore's Night and what kind of music it was, but it was many years ago that I last listened to any of Blackmore's Night's music - probably the early 2000's infact, so this album didn't even exist at the time. At the time I was into the classic rock stuff far too much to have any appreciation for folk so I passed. These days though, I'm much more open-minded, and today, I quite liked this track. It is perhaps a little repetitive with its drumming/percussion but I'm not really annoyed by it too much, and there's sufficient amounts of variety in other elements of the track. Candice Night's vocals are nice aswell.

Shadow Ninja 2.0 - Killer Be Killed - Wings of Feather and Wax

• These guys don't waste any time getting into the meat of the song. Some decent riffage in this track and I like the chorus, but everything is perhaps a bit generic to me and I never found myself wanting to move this one up the rankings. As mentioned I like the chorus, that's my favourite part of this song in part because the vocalist gives his best performance in this part of the song. The song loses me a little with the thrash-inspired section before the guitar solo, and for a song of 3:40 it seems a little repetitive - pretty sure the second chorus stars at only 1:10 or so. I feel this one is just barely out of range of being a pink star song, so I've nothing for you this time.

Tyrias - Igorrr - Tout petit moineau

• You expressed that this one was a risky submission, and unfortunately it didn't pay off at all. On first listen I was liking how the song started out; I realised that it sounded familiar and that it was a classical piece, but I don't listen to classical music so I had to look it up to find out that it was Beethoven. Anyway, that's all well and good but soon the electronic beats appear and the song loses me - big time. I obviously don't have anything against electronic music or fusion material, but I didn't feel that this was a successful fusion at all; there's a significantly large disconnect between the electronic elements of this track and the classical. It literally just sounds like some DJ heard a Beethoven track and though "all this song needs is some SICK BEATS to make it better" so he did just that. It wouldn't surprise me if the beats themselves were made from loops aswell, because they don't seem to play off of what is going on in the original classical piece, it almost sounds like two different things at the same tempo being played together. On the plus side (and believe it or not, there is one ) I thought the vocalist was great, and in the latter half of the track she did her best with the guitarist to try and pull the song together but it only manages to become borderline original at best. Sorry, but this ain't doing it for me at all.

Scoreboard


Bonus Star Rankings

Well it's perhaps taken a little longer than I would have liked, but we are now entering the final round of the roulette. Ruslan, Chad, Tyrias and seneca all have one last bonus to go for, though it looks like Naught has given up on them. The standings at the moment are very interesting...take my word for it.

[Evermind]

Huh, I thought you'd like my song better. Guess Brent might be ahead of me now. Maybe my luck in roulettes ran out.

[Crow]

to be fair, i haven't listened to that specific halsey song and it might not be as bad
the lyrics look awful tho tbh

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Yeah, I figured that one was kind of a wild card. Alas. Anyway, sent.

edit: Also if that's the same Igorrr song that Sacul sent in my roulette, I thought it was fantastic. I sort of have the same feeling about the electronic stuff, actually, the vocalist was just fantastic enough to really sell it.

[bl5150]

Oh, and here's the thing from that rather pointless deviation earlier. Figured out what they are yet?

Sorry if I missed it - struggling to keep up with everything while away - but what was this all about?

[Sacul]

Also if that's the same Igorrr song that Sacul sent in my roulette, I thought it was fantastic. I sort of have the same feeling about the electronic stuff, actually, the vocalist was just fantastic enough to really sell it.

It's pretty awesome and doesn't deserve a Coal star at all 

[Train of Naught]

I think I'm in last place

Going to try and still get a second bonus star here.