Round 9 Results
Sacul vs. AriichSacul: Massive Attack – Mezzanine
So far, this feels like one of your worst submissions yet. Maybe I’m just not in the mood to be writing up first impressions right now, but I found several of these songs tiresome, alternating between boring and stressful. As much as I’ve heard about this group/artist, I expected something better than a meandering, moody mess.Yeah, so I really don’t think this is one of your better submissions. It feels like a very well-constructed whole, I’m just not a fan of all the elements, and I wish some of the songs weren’t here at all. Angel is really illustrative of the album as a whole: it nails the mood (dark, loveless and yet unnervingly seductive) but also the album’s shortcomings (the frigid, almost clinical, electronic elements, the sometimes-dull repetitiveness, the sparseness of vocals). These shortcomings are entirely my own, I get that, I just can’t get over them. Unlike the vocal harmonies in Moon Safari, however, these at least feel highly deliberate, rather than a compulsory consequence of being a happy Swede. Other things I don’t like about this album: the hip-hop elements (see Risingson) and the more trance-sounding tracks (Inertia Creeps). As negative as all that sounds, I did enjoy some of these tracks a fair amount. Dissolved Girl sounds like a psychedelically infused Bjork, which is a pileup of weird but also oddly effective; Teardrop is lovely, and Exchange a fun instrumental track that somehow makes me feel nostalgic about the future. So yeah, overall not great, but good enough. Lucky for you, Ariich saved my least favorite submission for last. 5.5
Ariich: Moon Safari – Lover’s End
I think you may have accidentally stepped on a landmine. The longer the album goes on, the more exhausted I become—by the voice(s) but especially by the mood. There are contrasts buried in here, but it’s going to take a couple more careful listens to appreciate whether they are the contrasts I’m looking for. Right now, I fear they’re not.Although I do enjoy a lot of music with vocal harmonies, I find them tiresome on this album. I think I might be able to explain what it is about them that doesn’t work for me if I could compare the album to the Von Hertzen Brothers track you send me a couple rounds ago. The harmonies never seemed to take center stage in Prospect for Escape. They added texture, depth, emotional complexity to the vocals. But they were a means to an ends, never the point of the song. Throughout this Moon Safari album, the harmonies feel much showier. There are even sections that pass almost entirely a Capella (see Southern Belle), which is not a style of music I’ve ever really liked. The cliched critique of prog music as “wanky” doesn’t, in the case of Moon Safari, apply to the instrumental music, but I can’t shake the feeling that it does apply to the vocals. I know it probably seems like I’m harping on the vocals a lot, but they really wear me out.
Otherwise, the album is interesting but it never really won me over. The contrast between the brightness of its sound and the darkness of its lyrical content is interesting, I suppose, but the contrast feels more to me like a necessity than a stylistic choice—like Moon Safari is only capable of producing a bright sound. That’s probably not fair—maybe they do know how to put on a darker sound and do so excellently—I’m just trying to explain my hunch, which undermines what might have been this stylistic choice. 4
Favorite Song: The World’s Best Dreamers
Evermind vs NekovEvermind: Mark Knopfler – Kill to Get Crimson
It’s almost pointless to do a first impression for this album; so far, I feel it’s impossible to distinguish one track from the next without repeated listens and closer attention paid to the lyrics. There are a couple songs that I vaguely remember enjoying more than others, but I also remember wondering: is this the same song I just listened to? Have I been listening to the same song on repeat for an hour? I know you’re going to resent me saying this, but a lot of these songs
do feel the same to me. There are certainly musical differences, as you pointed out, and some of the instrumentation is interesting, but in terms of the overall mood and atmosphere, it’s not a very diverse listening experience for me. Combine that with the fact that the mood and atmosphere is generally subdued, and I find myself drifting in and out even when I’m listening attentively. And ultimately, that is the biggest obstacle—the obstacle which is, sadly, ending your involvement in this roulette. Mark Knopfler is a good songwriter and I’ve long been a big fan of certain Dire Straits songs (Brothers in Arms and Lady Writer being the standout examples), but this more stripped-down offering isn’t quite doing it for me. Similar to the first song you sent this roulette, the David Gilmour track that I know you were sad to see score as low as it did, this album doesn’t reach to the height that I was hoping for, given the mastermind behind it. 5.5
Favorite Songs: The Scaffolder’s Wife, In the Sky, Punish the Monkey
Nekov: Bend Sinister – Animals
A little bit scattered, I think: there are a couple songs that I find myself wanting to skip, but also a couple songs that really suck me in. The musicianship is interesting but well-restrained. Sometimes a little irritatingly playful, like a party whose invitation I politely declined but was relocated into my living room anyway. I was surprised by the emotional depth of some of these songs, which have snuck up on me after a couple listens.Your submission was definitely the surprise of the round for me. There are a couple songs on here that wouldn’t score very well as individual submissions (the four-song run from Thunder and Lightning to You Remind Me is okay, but kind of a let-down compared to the other six tracks), but even those have a place in the album as a whole, throwing a different kind of mood and energy into the mix. Speaking of mix, I appreciate the way this album very accessibly integrates some prog elements into what is otherwise a more conventional indie/alt rock sound, the best example of this being “Best of You.” I especially like the second half of that song, but the first half grew on me a lot as well. And in general, the slower-paced sections (like the second half of Best of You) work really well throughout the album. Through the Week is another good example. Even the most familiar bits, bits that don’t sound super original to me (Fancy Pants sounds to me like a mashup of The Shins and Oasis), are enjoyable. As I said in my first impression, I wasn’t originally convinced by the more playful parts of the album; I am now. Sign me up! 7.5
Favorite Songs: Through the Week, Best of You, Better Things to Do, It Will Never End
Sadly, that's it for Evermind and Ariich. Both of you have introduced me to some stellar songs and several albums that I'm really looking forward to listening to further. If not for the single-elimination structure of these final rounds, y'all would both be ahead of Nekov, but alas that's the way the rules were set.
Final Round:
Sacul vs Nekov
Greatest Hits. One artist. 30-60 minutes of music. Preferably from at least two
different albums (unless you're reeeaaaalllly set on sending a band/artist with only one release). I think I'll accept submissions from different projects, but
only if the central figure is a control freak and has their fingers deep into both projects. I trust your judgement, but let's try to keep this simple. (e.g., Steven Wilson solo and
early PT would be allowed; Steven Wilson solo and Storm Corrosion would
not be allowed, as Steven is not the undisputed protagonist of the second group).
Poll
Topic: Seneca v3 results (Read 75371 times)
