Round 10 Resultshome: NO BS! Brass Band – KhanFirst Impressions:Sorry about the vid only available in the US but I couldn’t find anything else. Anyways this kind of gimmick band is often one I can find interesting but also tends to not do a ton for me beyond the initial interest. I checked out Brain Tentacles last year which had a decent concept for a band but the songwriting wasn’t there and I got bored of it really quickly. Like the song itself is pretty fine? I’m not sure why this specifically has to be all brass though, or if that was the right compositional choice. You certainly *can* have this song be all brass but some of these instruments could easily be guitar, bass, violin, piano, whatever you want and it wouldn’t make a difference, and would probably make the song more dynamically diverse. Also the random screaming is weird.
I will say, it’s a somewhat fun sounding song and there’s some impressive soloing on it. That’s about all I can say positive on this though, unfortunately. Don’t really expect you to make the finals after this entry, I don’t think this is going to grow on me, if anything it’s likely to get worse.
Final Thoughts:I did find the main motif of this kind of memorable in the end. Not in a good way. Oh lord not in a good way. It plays throughout way too much of the song and it’s almost inevitable for it get stuck in my head after several listens. But god did I wish it didn’t. Because I don’t like it. I don’t like this at all. I don’t like any of this at all. Genuinely thinking this may be my least favorite song of the entire roulette.
And it is exactly the problem I mentioned in my writeup. Decent concept. Weak songwriting. Got bored of it quickly. And I didn’t even really like this that much to begin with. For starters. I don’t tend to like brass sounds on their own. I like some horns adding flourishes to a song, providing a solid climax. But I think the instruments themselves lack a lot of elements that basically all other types of instruments have. There’s a significant lack of dynamics and the tones always just sound stiff. And it’s not a tone that sounds very good to begin with. It’s just like a more aggressive sounding saxophone that loses the slickness that instrument is capable of.
And the random screaming of “Khan” is stupid too. It’s completely out of place and I assume this entire song is probably a star trek reference I don’t get because of that but I have no clue really. If there’s one part of this song I do like it’s those quiet moments, but don’t think I don’t notice that it’s basically just the same section repeated twice. It sounds nice and breaks up the monotony of the rest of the song well enough, but it’s maybe 30 seconds total in a over 5 minute song and definitely isn’t enough to salvage this.
Also I previously complimented the soloing on a technical level, but listening to it over and over again, it actually sounds pretty awful. It’s fast yeah but there’s a wild lack of tonality that just doesn’t fit. And the song ends really abruptly too, not even any cooldown period.
I just. Honestly can’t find much of anything to like in this. There’s one part I kind of like repeated twice throughout, and the rest of this is just two variations of one main riff with one okay recurring melody and some inane, wanky soloing. Nothing wows me and a lot of it is just plain unpleasant.
I honestly can’t stand this much at all. I plan to do another relisten for this round just to solidify my scores but I will be excluding this song when I do because I never want to hear it again in my life. I’m almost worried my score here is too nice to this one. And yeah, it’s absolutely no question you won’t be making the finals with a score this low, but I can’t really apologize for that when I’ve just gotta be honest about my feelings here.
Quick addition since I forgot to remove this from my relistens and decided… ehh. I might be giving this a bit too little credit, the main bits of this song kind of suck but the melodies are okay (the bit that pops up over the main riff and the quiet bits) and make this at least… not completely insufferable the whole way through, though there’s still a lot I dislike here. So ehh. The score bump isn’t going to save your score either way though, unfortunately.
4.25/10Stadler: Motörhead – One Track MindFirst Impressions:Ahh, here’s a band I’ve heard a fair few songs from but have never been particular into. Though this seems to be a bit slower paced than any other song I’ve heard from them, so, fair enough. I may have to see if I can find a better video for this one, this one seems a bit… quiet for one, and kind of shaky quality-wise though I checked to make sure it was at least 480p so I dunno. And I’m sorry, RIP Lemmy and all but I have never and probably will never be a fan of his vocal style, it just has no appeal for me in the slightest.
There’s a solid groove running throughout this that I can appreciate, at the very least, and for the most part it doesn’t sound unpleasant. But that’s kind of the nicest thing I can say here, it’s just very much not for me. Not awful or anything but not much beyond that.
Final Thoughts:And of all the entries you’ve sent me, this is probably my least favorite of them all. I don’t even really know why. It’s less having a lot negative qualities as much as it is just a lack of positive qualities.
Okay, let’s start with this: I don’t like Lemmy’s vocals here at all. I have heard other Motörhead songs and while I was never a fan of his vocals on them, they never annoyed me this much either. But here… honestly it feels like he’s just checked out, making his voice sound as rough as possible without putting any feeling or emotion into it, and it just sounds plain unpleasant to listen to.
As far as the rest of this song… to my ears it just sounds like one repeating groove occasionally broken up by the chorus. And there’s occasionally some stuff happening on top of the groove. Some bright sounding guitar leads. A rather shreddy and not particularly appealing guitar solo. Like I said previously the groove is solid, but it isn’t that memorable either and I’m just not too into it at all.
I don’t even know what more I can say about this. I’ve already said this style of hard rock & early metal never really appeals to me much and this is just solidifying that in my mind. It doesn’t even have the energy that makes other Motörhead songs I’ve heard at least somewhat interesting. It’s a mid-paced snoozer with bad vocals and nothing to really hook me in. Far, far from the worst track this round, but not something I see myself ever returning to either.
5.25/10Nekov: Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk – Chasing RainbowsFirst Impressions:Okay from the first 50 seconds or so I was expecting something a bit more downbeat and then I get slammed in the face with a funk groove. Works for me, ‘cause I mean it’s a pretty solid groove. Though now halfway through the song and I’m waiting for vocals to show up and realizing it’s probably an instrumental. So it’s kind of like… post-rock with a bit of a rock/funk groove to it? That’s certainly a combination alright.
I dunno it makes it a lot more fun than the genre usually is but also gives more atmosphere to the groovy nature of the song and I think they complement each other pretty well. I can see myself tiring of this quickly though, so we’ll see. Also the sound quality seems to suffer during the louder parts of this a little I’m gonna check if it’s just the video but I don’t think it is… which is worrisome. …nope, it’s just that video, so I replaced it with a better one, okay.
Final Thoughts:I usually try not to let the secondary judge scores or comments affect my opinion of songs much and I’d say for the most part I’ve succeeded. But the secondary judge this round said something about this track that just instantly ruined it for me.
This is just… a generic background music track. Like this is just something you’d play in the back of some shelled out, bland product, or as like the soundtrack to some instructional video made in the 90’s. Like, okay, if I’m being fair a lot of music is like that – I know Explosions in the Sky gets used as background music for inspirational videos and movies quite a lot, and yeah, they don’t really feel out of place there, but… at least their music inspires emotions?
I mean, not the entire song is like that, at the very least. During the louder and more atmospheric moments there’s at least something there. Some warmth emanating from this song, some power and emotion bubbling up from the surface.
There really isn’t a lot of substance here in the end though. It starts quiet, it builds up a groove, it reaches a climax with that groove, cools down a bit, then goes back to a louder bit with some added synth stuff, the end. And of course it’s atmospheric music more than anything else so there’s not a ton going on here instrumentally, though it isn’t dull or anything, I’ll give it that.
In the end, it’s an okay and inoffensive song, but it’s not one I see myself remembering much about in the future – heck, it’s barely memorable to me now, having listened to it a fair number of times already. Mostly I am just wondering what qualities about this made it worth sending to you, though? I don’t see how anyone could get passionate over this song, how this could be anyone’s “jam”. I can see that with a lot of the other songs in this roulette, but there’s just… so little personality to this one.
I dunno, Maybe I’m letting that one comment get to me a bit too much but I also can’t just ignore it entirely. Just gotta be fair as ever.
6.25/10Evermind: Evergrey – Hymns for the Broken (Piano Version)First Impressions:Well, it’s a solid piano ballad.
Both vocalists put a lot of passion into this and the piano does at least do a good job of matching their emotion, it definitely works as a ballad. But it’s probably not going to score great points unless I can find a real emotional sticking point, because there’s not much else here. Like that’s all I can really say.
Final Thoughts:Piano ballads, and really ballads in general, need to have really good lyrics to work for me. Really personal and intimate lyrics. Like, I’ve been listening to the new Lorde album recently and there’s a track on their, Liability, that’s just… otherworldly in terms of the emotional potency it delivers through piano ballad form, because of how personal and passionate the lyrics (and the tone of her voice) is. That’s a ballad that works goddamn well.
And heck in the scope of DT we even have a good example – Disappear is very much about a specific topic and it’s utterly heartbreaking and emotional, a bit more complex of a song to be sure but it runs on the same idea. Hospice by The Antlers is basically an entire album full of really intimate and personal lyrics like that too, though wrapped up in a metaphor, but it’s clear the struggle and feelings the protagonist are experiencing.
This song, though, just falls flat because the lyrics are so impersonal and broad in their nature. What is this song about? The singers wanna disappear, but why? The chorus is uplifting in its tone but for what reason? What do these people have in common other than feeling sad? It’s just… nothing.
The song itself? It sounds fine. Both are plenty capable singers and emote well enough. But it’s weird to hear them passionately sing about such a nothing song. Maybe these lyrics are deeply personal and powerful to them but I don’t see it myself. And the piano, it’s pretty basic but it sticks to a few main motifs and it never overshadows the singers but gives a good foundation to the song. In terms of actually sounding decent, it passes just fine. I don’t dislike this at all.
But the emotional disconnect present here means my feelings towards this basically end at “it sounds pretty” which is not enough for me. Especially when there are so many better, more emotive ballads out there that do the same thing better.
6.5/10LordCost: Tomahawk – Point and ClickFirst Impressions:I know you basically don’t care anymore anyways but. A three minute song in my roulette is always a bit underwhelming, that’s like barely a song yo! I dig the bass groove this starts out with though… but I’ve never been a huge fan of Mike Patton as a singer and have probably said as much by now.
There’s a ton of noises in the background creating a kind of sinister atmosphere and the vocals do actually fit that tone well too. It kind of feels like it’s holding on to tension without ever releasing it but if it does at the end then that’ll probably work well. And yeah seems like there’s a loud part right at the end. Well then. Yeah, it’s alright.
Final Thoughts:This song… hmm. I really have had a hard time holding any sort of opinion towards it, either positive or negative. It’s not a bad song by any means, certainly not, but there’s just… not a lot about it that makes it stand out or makes it particularly memorable. I’ve listened to it as much as the other songs here but aside from “has a cool bass groove” I couldn’t tell you much about this song unless I was actually listening to it.
Which I am, right now, of course, and even then I don’t have much to say. It’s quite a short song and it’s basically just a buildup to the loud bit near the end. There is atmosphere here, yes, but it’s often not too dense, though it has its moments. It’s mostly driven by the bass chugging and the sinister-sounding vocals, and it sets a mood fine certainly. It’s just not a mood I find myself really digging. It’s not a style of music I can ever get too into.
I don’t really feel like this is a bad song by any means, all the pieces are in place for it to function the way it wants to. I guess if anything, the climax feels a bit underwhelming and brief and they could probably have taken it further, but… the entire song is so brief as it is anyways.
I don’t dislike this song at all, as I’ve said, but there’s not a lot for me here that makes me want to return to it either. It’s alright. It’s a bit lacking on substance and a bit too short for what it’s going for, in my opinion; there’s no real hook besides that bass groove and the vocals don’t really do it for me. But I can see why someone would like this a lot. I just… don’t, really.
6.5/10Bolsters: The Naked and Famous – Laid LowFirst Impressions:I am just not sure what I expected here but it’s apparently somewhere between rock and synthpop? Like I dunno I’m finding this to be Very Much Not My Thing on first listen and have basically nothing else to say. Like the vocals are fine and the song is fun enough but it doesn’t really click for me.
I do appreciate the way the rock and pop instrumentation work together to make the chorus heavier but still as fun as the rest of the song. Maybe this will grow on me, I dunno, a few of your other songs did, so.
Final Thoughts:So I know for certain that I didn’t find this one as memorable as some of the better pop tracks you sent me. It hasn’t been invading my brainspace much at all in the past week and a half, I didn’t even really remember how it goes until about 15 seconds into the song. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I dislike it.
It also definitely means I don’t love it though, a pop song that fails to be memorable and catchy is definitely doing something wrong. That one synth line is kind of catchy but that’s really the only part of this that pops out to me. The vocals are… really understated & have so much goddamn reverb on them that they don’t hit with any power. And the melodies are kind of sugary nothingness, not unpleasant to listen to but they don’t have any real hook power to them.
I don’t think the sound of the song is unpleasant though. There’s a solid energy running through this, it’s decently dynamic throughout, giving the song plenty of room to breathe, and the ending definitely hits upon a solid climax. Though there’s something bothering me about the offbeat title drops that show up in the chorus… it’s just weird and off and I can’t really understand why they made that decision the way they did.
In the end… I can’t say this is a bad song, but it’s a bit inconsequential and just not very memorable. I can totally see the appeal but for me it doesn’t hit the same notes that stuff like Purity Ring and CHVRCHES did that really made me love those tracks.
6.75/10