Results Are IN!!
Soupytwist
(Sweden) First Aid Kit - Fireworks
Loved the vocals from the get go. Something about the way female vocals harmonize like this just sounds great to me. The rest of the song is fairly simple, but it's really just serving as a vessel for the fantastic vocals and lyrics (which are also fairly simple but at the same time fantastic). This song is outstanding in every way and I loved it more the more I heard it. This beat out the Goldfrapp song at the last minute. Great pick Soupy, you get the Round 2 victory!
10/10
Tomislav
(UK) Goldfrapp - Stranger
This was my favorite of the round for most of the week, but just barely lost out to First Aid Kit in the end. This is simply beautiful. It flows almost perfectly. This takes Chamber Pop and adds a folky element to it with a touch of chill dreaminess. I'm curious to check out more from this artist to see if they have some more upbeat songs, mostly because I'm curious what the singer would sound like if she belted out more. This song is also the perfect length, not too short and doesn't overstay its welcome. When the song ended I wanted to start it over again and again.... A much stronger showing for you in round 2.
9.5/10
TwoSuitsLuke
(UK) Portishead - Glory Box
I have an image in my head of this song being played in a 1950's smoky lounge. This has a sexy, yet melancholic vibe to it. There's a great guitar solo that comes in toward the end. The lyrics are also super catchy. I did get a few weird looks at work when I would randomly hum this song and sing "Give me a reason to be a woman, I just wanna be a woman." I'm glad someone sent Portishead, since I had always wanted to check them out, but never got around to it. I'm going to have to check out the rest of this album now.
9/10
Parama
(Germany) Esben and the Witch - No Dog
This has a lo-fi quality to it at the beginning, but it fits the sound they are going for and the vocals. Love the dynamics of the song. At first I didn't like to vocals at the end. I felt they needed to be more powerful to finish out the song, but the more I listened to it I realized she has this almost vulnerable determination to her vocals and I started to kind of fall in love with her voice. This is one of those songs that I just liked more and more each time I heard it. I wanted to look in to this album further, but they I happened upon your review for it. Seems like this is the only good song there. I'll still give it a once over to see if I like any of the rest of it.
9/10
Sacul
(USA) Saltillo - Giving In
You are keeping up the trend of sending super smooth songs. The singer reminds me of Shakira times, for some reason. I enjoy the quieter parts during the verses more, but that's not to say the chorus is bad. This is actually quite a bit better than the song you sent last round. I really like the lyrics. The line "I don't mind the people staring, cause I know they never see me anyway" really resonates with me. It's a pretty powerful line, in my opinion. This song was definitely more up my alley.
8/10
TAC
(Greece) Bare Infinity - In Desertis
Leave it to one of the fogeys to blow the lid off this round with heaviness and speed. First of all, the drummer here is really good and knows how to use speed to the song's advantage. The vocals are good, but nothing to get too excited about (nothing mind blowing here). Closest band I could compare this to would be Epica (without the harsh vocals), but I don't think Epica has released a song this good in recent years. I like the overall heaviness and the few sections of quick blast beats were fun (made me actually sit down at my drum kit to learn this song, it's fun to play). Not quite as memorable or original sounding as your round 1 song, but a strong song in an overall strong round.
8/10
Train of Naught
(UK) Rolo Tomassi - The Hollow Hour
Love that intro! The vocal and instrumental variety is nice, although I don't particularly love the harsh vocals in this. They aren't bad, but I feel like there should be a different style of harsh vocals on this (like maybe something more Tommy Rogers style?). I really like the ethereal/airy quality to the clean vocals. There are parts that really remind me of something Envy or Devil Sold His Soul would do. Overall this song is very strong. The only reason it didn't rank higher is the majority of the songs this round were very very good. I'm not sure how I never came across this band before, but I will definitely be checking them out further.
7.5/10
Evermind
Avatarium - Moonhorse
I thought I would love this just based on your description, but I ended up only liking it. Glad I didn't give you that preemptive round 2 victory
But still I love female fronted traditional doom metal. I actually kind of wished this was more heavy throughout. I think it might have made it more memorable. There wasn't really anything I could really latch on to that made me want to come back for more. Not quite what I was expecting, but still a pretty decent song.
7/10
Elite
Golden Caves - Child of Mine
This one actually had a much lower score at first. It took me quite a few listens to finally come around to this. I do like the touches of prog rock mixed with the alternative/hard rock base. The vocals were pretty good. The rest of the band sounded kind of generic, but they held the song up reasonably well. I will definitely check out the rest of the album to see if I like the rest of it more.
7/10
Home
(Netherlands) Eefje de Visser - Sheef
This has a very chillwave vibe to it. I like her voice. I think I had a hard time connecting with it, because I don't understand a word of Dutch (at least I'm pretty sure it's Dutch, correct me if I'm wrong). This normally wouldn't be a problem for me in music, but I think in this style of song the listener needs an understanding of the lyrics and he/she is listening to it. Now none of this is the fault of the song, I just don't speak Dutch, so my fault.
7/10
Kattoelox
Enya - Even In the Shadows
This song seems to not know when to stop. The vocals get pretty repetitive near the end. Enya has a nice voice and the ambient, chilled out song structure was nice and makes this a decent song for background listening while relaxing. A stronger song than your last round pick, so at least you are on the upswing.
6.5/10
jingle.boy
(USA) Roswell Six - Need
Not digging the vocal style here at all. The rasp in here voice is a little much, imo. In fact, after about 4 listens I started skipping this song on the playlist, because I disliked the vocals so much. The music is a little on the boring side as well, although the fretless bass in parts is pretty cool. The guitar solo in the outro was pretty cool too, except the vocals kept interrupting it. Sorry Jingle, you swung and missed on this one.
4/10
Current Standings
Soupytwist - 18
Train - 17
Tomislav - 16.5
TAC - 16
Sacul - 15
Parama - 15
TwoSuitsLuke - 15
Home - 14.5
Evermind - 14.5
Jingle - 13
Elite - 13
Kattoelox - 12
Poll
Topic: Puppies_On_Acid's Gentlemen's Roulette! Epilogue (Read 81729 times)