Hi everyone. This is my first roulette, so we'll see how it goes. I called it laid back not because I won't hound you for submissions if you are late
, but because of the lack of themes or eliminations, and also my comments on the submissions will probably be more laid back than a lot of what I've read. Usually something resonates with me or it doesn't and I don't have a list of reasons that question the band's artistic choices to explain why. I will try to give the best feedback I can, and liking/disliking the vocals will be part of it because that's an easy one.
I'm not a musician and I usually don't care about "production," "the mix," "loudness wars," or things like that. It'll be, do I like the vocals, do I like the melodies, is there a cool little part here that makes me want to hear it again, am I moved by it, do I find it a chore and can't wait until it is over, does the constant double bass drumming make me want to throw myself from a cliff, etc.
In the roulette thread, I joked that I was going to call it Lethean's Sad Music Roulette, but you don't have to send sad music. Some of my favorites (especially Katatonia, Leprous, Riverside) have been described as on the sad, dark, depressing side, but listening to them makes me happy, whereas often, music that is described as "happy" makes me irritated. I love Angra though, and they are on the happier side, so it all depends.
My tastes:
Mostly in the metal arena but I like other music as well. You're welcome to send whatever you want, but I would really prefer you to avoid country, rap, and hip hop. I used to exchange music with dorm mates and heard enough to know that at best - it just doesn't move me, and it worst, it grates on me. Also - the way Kattelox described some of the music in his roulette made me want to throw up.
Sugary, flowery, sweet, etc. I'm not sure if I'd actually dislike the music because it might not sound that way to me, so there's that.
For example, I love Anathema, so if he would describe Anathema that way, it might be fine. (I definitely wouldn't, however). They're on the lighter side of what I listen to but there's an intensity to them that I like.
Prog metal is my most listened to genre, I like some prog rock but find a lot of it uninteresting to me, I like a fair amount of power metal but also dislike a lot of it, I like Iron Maiden and Dio but a lot of bands that are compared to them miss the mark for me. It's hard to say why I like one band but not another. I really dislike harsh vocals - Kattelox might be surprised since I sent him an album with harsh vocals during his roulette (Solefald), but it's a very rare exception rather than the rule. I really hate the more guttural death metal vocals and even Opeth, who everyone else who doesn't like harsh vocals likes, falls into that category. I am more likely to tolerate vocals like those in Solefald or Borknagar (and those bands also have clean vocals too). I've also been told that I don't like music that is too blues based in case that helps anyone.
Rules:
8 rounds, no themes, no eliminations. If everyone sends me 20 minute songs in the first round I might impose a time limit, but for now I'll leave it open. Once an artist is sent, that artist is banned for the rest of the roulette. I'll take duplicate submissions in the same round. I'm stealing an idea from Elite by scoring the songs in each round against each other. So 1 will be my favorite song of the round, 2 is the 2nd favorite, etc. I reserve the right to have ties if I can't decide between 2 songs. Whoever ends up with the lowest score at the end of round 8 wins.
Also, to discourage people from sending me music that I'm likely to hate (Stadler), here's an incentive for the top 3 scores:
3rd place - choose an album for me to listen to; the album has to contain a song you sent me that I liked
2nd place - choose 2 albums for me to listen to - one has to contain a song you sent me that I liked, and the other has to contain a song you sent me, whether I liked it or not
1st place - choose 3 albums for me to listen to; same rules as 2nd place for 2 of the albums, and for the 3rd album it doesn't have to be from the roulette. Rap and country are banned from this, however, unless you sent me something in the roulette that I actually liked.
Now - I won't listen to these albums right away (will want some time to focus on ProgPower USA bands), but I will listen to them and will post my thoughts before the next DT album is released at the latest.
Edit:
How to submit - youtube would be great, send me a link to a file if your song isn't on youtube. I don't use Spotify or other such services. (Sorry for any inconvenience).
(participants and banned list in next posts).