Sacul's controversial roulette v3. Less frustration™️, A REAL WINNER AT LAST!!!!

[Sacul]

Here it is, fellas, the final round! For half of you . To those that leave us, you've sent some great tracks and will make me check several albums so thanks for playing

Elite: Kayo Dot - All the Pain in All the Wide World
This song is a mess in plenty of senses, the most noticeable for me being the production, too compressed and muddy but I guess that was the idea. The second and most important one, is the songwriting: this is just all over the place, with Toby rambling, instrumentation meandering more and more. I don't understand what this song was trying to do other than maybe establish a kind of psychedelic, synthwave-y atmosphere, probably inspired after watching Drive (while thinking it was a good movie ). So... yeah, this is just one giant mess that hardly has any identifiable sections, filled with bland melodies, and that overstays its welcome. It doesn't inspire any negative feelings - just bores me a lot. 2.5/5


Parama: Spectral Lore - The Veiled Garden
Actually the beginning of this song is pretty interesting, for the first 3 minutes, despite not being much up my alley. Then I get a little bored but things get cool in that ambient section at around minute 6. The buildup is well done, then it breaks into heavy guitars, and... blast beats. And more black metal of course. For another 6 minutes in which I've lost the little interest I had. Sure, I'll give it that the songwriting is pretty varied here, but black metal is a sound and aesthetic I don't like from the go, one that just subtracts by default so unless there's something that really compensates for it, it's likely it won't get a good score from me.

This track certainly feels more accomplished and ambitious than most black metal I've listened to, so I see why you love this record so much. Sadly, it's not really my thing but I'll give it some merit. 3/5


Bolsters: Purity Ring - begin again
This is a pretty repetitive song, using very few melodies and lyrics that rhyme too much. Hooks feel kind of cheap and generic. I don't like the trap-influenced beats on this track nor how processed the vocals and keys feel. But, it's not really a bad piece. Despite its shortcomings, I find the production to be decent, and overall it's enjoyable - more of the passive kind you'd get by something on the background. Just another pop song. 3/5


kingshmegland: DADA - Star You Are
When the guitars appeared, almost thought this would be a lame adult contemporary track or something . Anyways, I don't understand the lyrics too much but they seem to be about a toxic relationship, or a creepy follower/stalker? Kinda contrasts with the soft instrumentation in a nice way. Which is pretty cool but way overshadowed by the acoustic guitars in the mix imo. Certainly the vocal harmonies are quite well arranged and pleasing... when the melodies are. Parts like 'I wanted too much' feel kind awkward and the singer's voice becomes a little grating.

Other than that... it feels like a pretty simple ballad in terms of structure and arrangements. I'm not sure there's much special about this track. 3.5/5


home: Ólafur Arnalds - Tomorrow's Song
This style reminds me of some of Nils Frahm output, lovely piano songs with some sounds from the instrument, the chair, hammers hitting the strings, etc. And this... is nice little song, but just that. Could easily have been part of a soundtrack as it is comfy and pleasant to listen to, but rather forgettable. I feel this guy has way better tunes on him. 3.5/5


Train of Naught: Kauan - Kit
I'm a little conflicted with this one - it has such great beginning, with a lovely ambient section with interesting samples, and a great buildup, tinged with melancholy. Love the electric guitar on this track, mostly the clean playing. And there are some excellent vocal harmonies. Yeah it's pretty nice. Until... the second breakdown, with the acoustic guitars and the slow metal music building up. To end up in... nice riffs but lame growls, instrumentation nowhere close as intense as before. And the song ends up abruptly, but you already warned me of that. I don't know, has this track ended up earlier, would have definitely gotten more points from me. +3.5/5


Kattoelox: Cat Stevens - Where do the Children Play?
I wonder why this guy wants to know the whereabouts of minors? About the song, at first I was just bored because it felt like another folk song. But it's been slowly growing on me - I like how each chorus adds something small but interesting, the synths have a lovely sound, the occasional background vocals add up to the mood, and I like how the drums break in. It's a simple song, but a pretty comfy one.

On a side note, took me a while to realize this song is from 1970! Definitely a great version you sent me. 4/5


Nekov: Agnes Obel - Familar
Now I realize where I had listened to this track before, was it a part of Dark's soundtrack, right? Seems you've been digging it . Anyways, this track is pretty nice, I like the strings here, and her voice, while not singing in a very unique style, fits well the mood. The other vocals are a little weird, in the sense they feel somehow processed and unnatural, but again, they fit. Somehow it felt the whole track was about to build up to something or change in mood or structure near the end, and it didn't. Which is ok. Overall, nice lovely song. 4/5


Tomislav95: MGMT - Little Dark Age
Heh, I remember this album was memed, because the day of release /mu/ was flooded with yellow posts . Anyways to the music, we got some interesting synthpop with more discrete beats instead of the typical bombastic ones. Vocals are quite processed and along with synths, they all have a sound of their own, I'll give them that. It's kinda quirky and fun, trying to be spooky. And the little instrumental sections are pretty cool.

I guess my main complaint is that it feels a little repetitive, mostly the vocals varying very little in the melodies it sings. But I'll admit it grew on me quite a bit. 4/5


ariich: Oddarrang - Central Sun
This is quite the obscure but intriguing submission I always get in roulettes. I just can't think of a genre tag, it's kinda jazzy but also post-rock-ish but also uuhhhh folk something? It's definitely an atmospheric piece that for some reason would fit as a soundtrack to... something . I really like the melodies played by the strings here and the vocal harmonies fit nicely. I don't know what else to say, it's a pretty interesting track and a creative one. 4/5

Positions
Nekov 34.5
ariich 34
Bolsters 33.5
tomislav95 +33
kingshmegland +32.5
-----------------------------
Elite 32.5
Train of Naught +32
Parama 31
home 31
Katteolox 31

From three ties last round to a clean top 5 now, congratulations to those that have entered the EP round! I'll post rules soon, but they'll likely be the same as my previous roulette's. Start planning something, haven't defined a submission date yet so take your time.

[Sacul]

Finals

As I said in the OP, there's an EP round for the top 5 players to determine the winner. Rules are the following:

   
• Minimum of 3 songs.
• Minimum EP length of 15 mins.
• Maximum of 15 mins per artist.
• The recommended maximum length for the EP is ~30 mins, the absolute maximum is 35 mins.
• Flow will be taken into account, but it will have a small influence in the score (more on this later)
• When you send it, include a tracklist with the song names (duh) and the track lengths.
• A zip/RAR file with the tracks is preferred since I do most of my listening on my music player - please correctly tag your files. Spotify or youtube playlists work as well. If you can't in any of those ways, give me the tracklist and I'll get the files or whatever is needed.
• Don't manually alter the songs' volume in order to normalize them, just add ReplayGain Track info to each.
• Deadline is Tuesday at 11:59 PM

Scoring
So I didn't want something that would make Nekov the only winner even if he screwed up, making this final round pointless. But even then, it'd be unfair to make him lose right away without taking the first 10 rounds into consideration, so a "best EP wins" wouldn't work. Ultimately, I've crafted a middle-of-the-road system, so that if he fails, the bottom players might have a chance to steal the crown if they shine, or tie the first place at least. The rest can also take the first spot if they do well ofc. So, how your EP shall be scored:

   
• Since not all EPs have the same amount of songs, a way of "normalizing" was needed, so I'll individually score your songs out of 5, multiply each by 4, and take the mean of that, so the EP score will be out of 20.
• Flow will be scored out of 5 in positive integers, and added to the previous score. This takes into account how well songs transition into each other, and how it all works as a single piece overall.
• The bottom player's score will act as the zero or base for the "roulette points" (RP) - it's the difference between a given person's score and the player's at #5. This means king will have zero RPs, and Nekov +1.5.

So the score should look like:

Score = EP average out of 20 + flow + RP

Thus, the maximum score you can get on this round is 25+RP.

[Crow]

EP rules: send something that sucks

[The Walrus]

At least I went out on a good note  This was fun, Sacul - thanks for letting me play. Hope you check out some more Incognito and Chris Joss.

[Elite]

Hahaha I completely blew it

[Sacul]

EP rules: send something that sucks

Seems you're eager to send one

At least I went out on a good note  This was fun, Sacul - thanks for letting me play. Hope you check out some more Incognito and Chris Joss.

Thanks for playing! I started checking the Incognito album some days ago, it's quite nice, and have the Chris Joss and Cat Stevens ones saved as well.

Hahaha I completely blew it

Quite a shame since you were in the top 3 for most of the roulette  . Thanks for playing!

[Elite]

you just disliked my song in purpose

[Sacul]

Or maybe you sent a boring track in purpose to stop your current streak of roulette wins

[Crow]

i don't know why you would send kayo dot in a roulette, they do suck, so

[Train of Naught]

oh

Alles kits, Sacul?

[Tomislav95]

I didn't expect it to get to the EP round but now I want to win, of course

[Elite]

Or maybe you sent a boring track in purpose to stop your current streak of roulette wins

it's all your fault

i don't know why you would send kayo dot in a roulette, they do suck, so

well, at first I wanted to send Marathon by Kayo Dot, but I bet Sacul wouldn't have liked that either. You might though.

[Crow]

i've listened to choirs of the eye several times and never liked it, so, doubtful 

[Sacul]

I've listened to Hubardo, which wasn't my cup of tea, but And He Built Him a Boat and some tracks from Part the Second are pretty good

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Part the Second is maudlin of the Well, though, which I've always enjoyed more than Kayo Dot.

[Sacul]

Yeah forgot to mention I was referring to Toby Driver in general

[Elite]

Bath blows Part the Second out of the water

[Sacul]

I've updated the post after results with info about the EP round. You've got some days to prepare and EP and send it.

[Nekov]

Nice. I have absolutely no idea what I'll send to bee honest. That first place now might be my consolation price

[Sacul]

Got 1 EP and another that has to resubmit so far 

[Nekov]

I started a new job yesterday and also started attending school so I've had very limited time. I've put together a couple of songs and I'm working on the order. Should send something soon.

[Sacul]

Only waiting for the new dad to send his EP - if you need a bit more of time, let me know.

[Crow]

Ariich's EP:

Dream Theater - Honor Thy Father
Devin Townsend - Babysong
Justin Bieber - Baby

[Elite]

The Ronettes - Be My Baby

[King Postwhore]

Salt N Pepper Push It. Ooh Baby baby, baby baby!

[Sacul]

Anathema - Childhood Dream

[ariich]

Thanks dude. Will try to send it today, but it might need to be tomorrow if that's OK.

[Sacul]

Yeah don't worry mate. I'll begin listening today and will give your EP a few additional spins to compensate so all entries make me suffer the same amount of times

[ariich]

Thanks, EP now sent!

[King Postwhore]

Thanks, EP now sent!

Rock A Bye Baby
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Hush Little Baby

[ariich]

Thanks, EP now sent!

Rock A Bye Baby
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Hush Little Baby

You are correct







about the number of tracks.

[The Walrus]

If I had made it this far I would've sent the same Rhapsody song in 4 different languages + an instrumental version

[Evermind]

If I had made it this far I would've sent the same Rhapsody song in 4 different languages + an instrumental version

I think you weren't around back then, but I did kind of the same thing when I got to the final EP round in Parama's elimination roulette. My EP was half acoustic guitar ballads (Arstidir, Mark Knopfler) and half power metal (Primal Fear, Serious Black).

[King Postwhore]

Thanks, EP now sent!

Rock A Bye Baby
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Hush Little Baby

You are correct







about the number of tracks.

1 for 2 then!

[The Walrus]

If I had made it this far I would've sent the same Rhapsody song in 4 different languages + an instrumental version

I think you weren't around back then, but I did kind of the same thing when I got to the final EP round in Parama's elimination roulette. My EP was half acoustic guitar ballads (Arstidir, Mark Knopfler) and half power metal (Primal Fear, Serious Black).

You're doing the lord's work with that kind of EP