Bolsters™ The Roulette, v2 ★ THE CONCLUSION ★

[Evermind]

Alright judges, before I send, I've got a question... how much attention are you willing to spare for each song now there's only three of us? I've got a very complex song, power metal, progressive metal, orchestra, lots of overlaying vocals, harmonies, the storyline, lots of subtle textures and changes of pace, 14+ minutes long too. But it really requires multiple listens (and I mean not 4-5 listens, I mean 10+ listens) to take everything into account. At least that's how it was for me.

Just be honest here, if you ain't gonna bother, I'm going with something much shorter and accessible.

[Train of Naught]

I think you're playing too many roulettes man, you're starting to get delusional, there's only one judge in this roulette.

[Evermind]

Oh ffs. I saw "Bolsters" in the title and decided this was the best place to post it. That's what getting up at 5 A.M. does to you, I'm not in my best posting mode by the end of the day.

Gonna post it in the right roulette. I'll keep this one though, just for laughs.

[Big Hath]

I think you're playing too many roulettes man, you're starting to get delusional, there's only one judge in this roulette.

he's also listening to 6 EPs of ~30 minutes each in his own roulette 

[splent]

This is beautiful lol

Evermind you were actually quite close on the band name

[Elite]

Mine hasn't been guessed yet either. I love 'The Fuck - Kingkong' though

[jingle.boy]

Let's see ... Playing in all 4 active roulettes, and just wrapping up hosting his own (with 3 hrs of listening to do there. Talk about a glutton for punishment!

[Evermind]

Well it's not my fault that all the awesome roulettes started at the same time.

[jingle.boy]

Well it's not my fault that all the awesome roulettes started at the same time.

Tell me about it.  I'd be in four as well if RJ had started his on time.

[Bolsters]

I might have made these too easy this time, but I can't be bothered redoing it.

[bl5150]

Scorpions - Humanity
Darkwater - Again

[Evermind]

Happy Diet? 

[Train of Naught]

How you managed to guess "Closure In Moscow" with pretty much info in the first place is beyond me, especially since you seem to have no clue about the song name whatsoever

[Crow]

prob because he lives in moscow 

[Evermind]

The band name just popped in my mind when I saw "Cl..." and that it was three words. Weird how this happens sometimes.

Oh right, nice one Brent, the Scorps entry is mine.

[Elite]

I sent the Darkwater song.

[splent]

 So... I am not anticipating a silver star, or a gold, and definitely not a diamond... I don't think I'm going to get Cole... I'm probably going to get pink, and if that...

Meh.

[Bolsters]

I'm probably going to get pink, and if that...

Meh.

I could always just give you nothing instead.

[splent]

I'm probably going to get pink, and if that...

Meh.

I could always just give you nothing instead.

My if that I meant if I get a star. Can't say I'm super confident. It's one of those songs I think you'll really enjoy or you'll think is really meh and then I'll kick myself for not sending one of the two others I was going to send.

[Bolsters]

Round Four Results

Evermind - Scorpions - Humanity

• Two diamond stars in a row...has your second conquest begun? Perhaps it has. I would like to once again mention that this wouldn't have ranked so highly in the first two rounds, but your continued consistency seems to be doing you favours where a lot of other players are beginning to struggle. So I'm rather familiar with and fond of a few 80's hits from these guys but I don't think I looked into their discography at all. This is from 2007 and not really much of anything has changed; these are familiar sounds from their 80's songs, the production sounds fairly close, and the singer doesn't seem to have skipped a beat at all. None of these are bad things though, because their production in particular was good in the 80's, so it's great that they managed to retain that after all those years. At first the sounds reminiscent of those from Wind of Change made me think this was going to be a ballad, but quickly the chorus approaches. I'm liking pretty much everything but the post-chorus goodbye bit is the standout here. There's some string action going on aswell which is never a band thing, and the majority of the song is also accompanied by acoustic guitar, even some of the heavier parts. I'll excuse the ending as you suggested since you mentioned that this was a concept album, so I'm guessing it will make sense when I listen to the album. Yeah, I'm liking this.

Tyrias - Bent Knee - In God We Trust

• I'm fairly certain I listened to a Bent Knee album at least partially somewhat recently, maybe around the end of last year or the beginning of this one. My only memory of it was that I thought it was "boring" though. I will admit that I went in thinking that this song would be like that, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised because it was not boring in any way. Vocally this is very strong and the way the guitars are utilised is very unusual - but in a good way, it's actually quite inventive in some ways and gives the song a unique sound. Then of course there's the stripped-back middle section building up to the latter third of the song which is gorgeous. There's a lot going on in this song for something that goes just 5:20 but it's never confusing nor convoluted at all.

Tomislav95 - Mark Knopfler - Border Reiver

• Our first garnet star submission and the last of the seven to be awarded goes to this Mark Knopfler track. Ruslan seemed...disappointed that someone else had sent Mark Knopfler as he's a regular Evermind submission in roulettes, I'm wondering how he feels about this one ranking so highly - I got Dream of the Drowned Submariner from him in my last roulette but didn't end up awarding it a star at all. Onto Border Reiver however...this is definitely more up my alley. It sounds almost like country at times, and not in a bad way, but there's some strong celtic influence here from the flute and violin, and of course the accordion, which was a welcome change as it's something I don't get a lot of in the celtic stuff I listen to. I like the energy of this track aswell. Mark Knopfler's vocals aren't something I've really ever been a fan of, I wouldn't say I actively dislike him but I've never been impressed. However, he's probably at his most tolerable for me here in this song, which also helped this song to rank so highly.

Elite - Darkwater - Again

• Well you managed to avoid getting a third coal star this time and even got yourself on the board finally, with a silver star.You came second in my last roulette so it's about time you got your shit together in this one (hopefully that's what you've done?). Well, I don't think I've ever heard anything from this band before, but I'm not minding this at all. It's got some nice crunchy guitar work which I like but I think it's the keyboard player that elevates this song. He uses some pretty standard faux-string sounds (somewhat cheesy, but not bad sounds per se, they suit the song) but then some other sounds are more akin to what I'd expect from electronic music. The guitarist then joins in by utilising some effects such as delays to create soundscapes in some of the lighter parts of the song. The little breakdown before the keyboard solo around the halfway mark is a good example, and it's something I really liked about this song; it isn't just chuggy metal riffs for nine minutes, there's a lot of things going on to keep it interesting and original. So yeah, well done.

bl5150 - Mattador - Tired

• I'm not sure if this is a controversial placement for this song or not, but it is what it is. This is a very nice steelstring acoustic ballad enhanced by its lyrical content (which if you hadn't mentioned when sending, I probably wouldn't have paid any attention to - I tend not to notice lyrics on my own unless they're horrendeously bad ). I guess the only reason I don't rate this any higher is that it's pretty standard fare for an acoustic ballad, and the sound effects were borderline cheesy at times. Still, I did like this song so you earn a well deserved pink star.

splent - Foster The People - Houdini

• You seemed worried about this song, not sure why though. It's not one of the highest ranked of the round (which I'm sure you had figured out by now) and it's definitely not one of the best things you personally have sent me so far, either...but it's still a solid enjoyable track. The piano chords here don't let up - no additional notes or melodies, just the stab of the chords, which along with the drums drives the song. There's some good synth lines aswell and weird little sound effects, which can tend to be annoying at times but these ones fit into the song perfectly. Vocally it's quite good aswell, I like the backing vox in particular.

jingle.boy - Powerworld - East Comes To West

• Going back to trying to send solid meat n' taters hard rock I see. Yeah this song has a lot of good stuff, the chorus is pretty good which is necessary for this kind of song, I don't mind this vocalist either. The breakdown after the halfway mark is a welcome changeup before the soloing begins. That first guitar riff in the intro that appears throughout the song reminded me of something and it kind of annoyed me that I couldn't figure out what. Anyway, this is really good but not as strong as some of the other stuff you've sent me thus far, but you can definitely have a pink star this time.

Shadow Ninja 2.0 - Landon Tewers - Ma and Pa

• When you first sent this, I thought the band name was a piss-take of "London Towers" but apparently that's the guy's name. This is some pretty chill stuff, but I like it. The vocal performance is very interesting, in that a lot of the song is sung quite softly, to the point of actual whispering, which then becomes aggressive whispering. Which sounds a bit like an oxymoron, but that's exactly what it is, and it's a very effective way to build the song back up after the first chorus. This song is very short but it somehow doesn't seem like it should go longer, it does what it does and it's left at that, it probably would have felt overlong had it been over the three minute mark. Not enough to rank highly and get a better star but here's another pink one.

Train of Naught - Closure in Moscow - Happy Days

• Well I didn't mind this or the last modern rock song you sent, but I have to say I didn't like this one as much as the Rival Sons track. This one has a good chorus again, but not really as good. I like the way the song changes gears in the middle and then how it continues to the end, instead of just repeating its chorus from the first half of the song verbatim. I guess this song feels a bit long aswell, I wouldn't have minded if some of the fat were trimmed and it was more concise. I feel this is outside pink star territory though I'm afraid.

senecadawg2 - The Cure - Lovesong

• I'm passingly familiar with The Cure but I'm reasonably certain I don't know this song. I will preface this by saying I did like the song...I just didn't like it enough to let you avoid taking a coal star this time. Instrumentally the song is decent but it's awfully repetitive and feels like it goes on for longer than 3:28. I think I like the post-chorus instrumental part the most. Vocally I wouldn't say I don't like him, but I can't say this performance is something I can get excited about either. That, the repetitiveness of the track, and the fact that there's nothing all that spectacular happening in it has forced me to rank you at the bottom this time, unfortunately.

Scoreboard


Bonus Star Rankings

Alright, so we're officially half way through now (if you don't count the qualifying rounds). The scoreboard is looking a bit mixed up but Ruslan manages to become the first person to be awarded a second diamond star...but hopefully (for the rest of you) he doesn't run away with the rest of them like he did the gold stars in my previous roulette. In other news Brent becomes the first person to lock in all three of his bonus stars.

Start sending me round 5 songs as soon as you can be bothered to.

[Train of Naught]

I think I'm just, well, not sending this type of upbeat rock anymore at all, seems to really fall flat. Even if you're so-so about it, that's just not gonna cut it for me.

I noticed a lack of a certain band in the banned list so I'm waiting for a PM response, but I'll be sending soon.

[jingle.boy]

1/2 way thru, and here's my best guess at the standings:

Evermind
Tyrias
Brent (I'm assuming that 1 gold > 2 silver)
Splent
Train of Naught (assuming that 1 silver > 2 pink)
Me / Shadow Ninja
Tomislav
Elite
Seneca

Even if 2 pink > 1 silver, I'm still in 5th place, and virtually no chance to win this with my current attempts to send the "best" song I can, so I'm going to spend the next four rounds and get all 7 themes in.

Will send shortly.

[Bolsters]

You defintely have a shot at winning actually, but you'll need one or two diamond and/or gold stars to do it.

As for your guess at the standings...I'm not sure you are taking the bonus stars into account, so you're off in more than a few places.

[splent]

The fact that you didn't like the cure song helps me with my submission choice. I'll send later.

[bl5150]

Hmm - expected a little better with that one and now need to pick things up a bit.  Will send shortly.

[senecadawg2]

Repetitive?

Have you heard Taylor Swift?

[Bolsters]

Have you heard Taylor Swift?

No.

[Elite]

The way you toss around those pink stars makes me believe they're the most worthless star out there.

[Bolsters]

The way you toss around those pink stars makes me believe they're the most worthless star out there.

They aren't.

[Elite]

No, there are coal stars as well.

And perhaps the bronze star is worth less too.

[jingle.boy]

The way you toss around those pink stars makes me believe they're the most worthless star out there.

They aren't.

That would be coal

In all seriousness, I think the bronze and theme stars are of the least actual value.  They're earned just for submitting something.  Here's my hypothesis:

Diamond
Gold
Pearl
Silver
Pink
Themed / Bronze

Pearl/Silver could be reversed, but this seems to make the most sense to me.  Who knows what the spread of "points" is between them though?  We'll find out when it's all over I guess.

[Tomislav95]

It looks like I didn't get coal star for Mark Knopfler
Will send something today.

[Bolsters]

Diamond
Gold
Pearl
Silver
Pink
Themed / Bronze

Pearl/Silver could be reversed, but this seems to make the most sense to me.  Who knows what the spread of "points" is between them though?  We'll find out when it's all over I guess.

Makes sense perhaps, but it's still wrong.

[splent]

Why are we even bothering guessing? He's not gonna tell...

Because it's

I'm still a little disappointed. I'm wondering if I sent a different song by FTP that it would have gone a different way for me (then again, it could have been worse... I was basing it on repetitiveness and different sounding) ... but this was the most different and most quirky of the three of four I was debating between.

If you aren't familiar with them, I do recommend checking them out, because they are one of my favorite groups in mainstream alt-pop right now.

[bl5150]

Sent.