Puppies' Rush Roulette V.3 (Ultimate Post-Roulette Mega Rundown!)

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Sorry guys. Starting a new business is a lot of work. Especially when I'm already working full time. I should be able to get at least 1 more result posted tonight.

[The Walrus]

Take your time, Pup. 

I haven't heard Nekov's yet due to personal things but I will once I'm ready.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Elite

Of Faraway Places, Bones and Sleep

Temko – 27 February 1990 - 6.977.115.067 km
White Walls – Another Sun
Mr. Bungle – Sleep (Part II): Carry Stress in the Jaw
Scarlet Stories – The Gallows Tree: Part I Lullaby
Scarlet Stories – The Gallows Tree: Part II The Price You Paid
White Walls – Dead Heart Part III
Scarlet Stories – In Blood and Limbs and Gore and Clay
Twelve Foot Ninja – Dig For Bones
Mr. Bungle – Goodbye Sober Day

First Impression - I feel like I just went on an acid trip and as I was slowly coming out of it, decided to take a hit of Ecstasy...

Oh boy, this EP is a hell of a thing. And mostly really good. This EP really felt more like a drug trip on first listen rather than a dream and confronting your own consciousness as your story states, but it could work either way. And the more I listened and read your story and the lyrics, it does make sense from the dream/nightmare standpoint.

This start off well with 27 February 1990 - 6.977.115.067 km. This could work as either falling asleep or falling under the influence of LSD. I like the almost playful, but kind of sinister vibe to it. Works well as an intro track. And now I'm curious what the album this comes from sounds like. The transition into the first proper track (Another Sun) is perfect and sonically it works well too. This song sounds very similar to Remission or Leviathan era Mastodon. There's that groove, the dissonance, even most of the vocals sounds similar (the exception being the cleans). It's probably not as technical as Mastodon tends to be and the song likes to sit in the pocket much more. The story kind of takes a dark turn at this point. The next song is where I start to have problems production-wise with the EP. The transition actually works well, but the production quality is so different that it's hard not to notice it. On the other hand, I do typically like most Mike Patton stuff. And this song is no exception. It's heavy, slightly quirky, and works well as a nightmare or a freaky acid trip. I'm going to have to do a deep dive on Mr. Bungle now. The transition to Gallow's Tree is kind of clumsy, if I'm being honest. However, this song is amazing! The atmosphere, the vocals, the buildup....everything here is near perfect. Not only that, but I think this song works perfectly for this part of the story you are trying to tell. The lyrics are a tad repetitive, but the dynamics of the vocals make up for that a bit. I'm definitely going to check out this band, based on just this song. Again the transition into Dead Heart Part III could have been better. Unlike the other White Walls song, this sounds nothing like Mastodon. This is good, and interesting....How diverse is this band? This is almost like Leprous mixed with Between the Buried and Me or something... I like it. The clean vocals here are much better than the other White Walls song. It's the harsh vocals that kind of annoy me here. The transition into the next Scarlet Stories song actually works for me. It might sound a bit off at first, but I think you may have hit on some accidental genius here. This song is almost as perfect as Gallow's Tree. I really like her vocals. I notice also that the guitarist in this band is the mastermind behind Witte Wieven (atmospheric black metal band), Carmen Raats. I have their EP they released, and now having listened to this, I can hear the similarities So the transition to Dig for Bones is pretty cool. Unfortunately I kind of wish you kept on with another more atmospheric song. This one takes me out of the more dreamlike state the previous few songs had. It isn't a bad song so much as it just doesn't work for me stylistically in this EP. Story-wise the song really works, I just wish there was another song in between to kind of bridge the gap a bit, make the transitions between styles not so jarring. So going in to the final song I think this transition could have been perfect if it was executed differently, but that's ok. This song is where my hit of Ecstasy comment comes from. This song is so all over the place, but works so well for the conclusion of the EP. I'm not quite sure why I like Mr. Bungle so much more than a band like Cardiacs. They kind of employ a lot of the same techniques. I just do.....

Song quality overall is actually really good, despite a couple songs that I feel could have been either a little better or exchanged for something more mood/atmosphere appropriate. I award you (8.2/10)

The story is unique and very different from anything I've received in any of my roulette's so far. It was also well written and interesting. I'd watch that movie (9.5/10)

As far as flow goes, this is going to hurt the score a bit. The transitions were about half and half good/bad. The biggest issue is with differences in production values and volume. And then songs stylistically clashing. (2/5)

Overall I really enjoyed this EP and looked forward to listening to it again each time it came up in my rotation. I think maybe with a little more time or a larger pool of songs to choose from (or perhaps fewer rules for the round ) you could have had an EP for the ages.

Overall Score (19.7/25)

[Elite]

Assuming you're posting these in order of scores, there no way I've won this (not that I have a lot of chance going in 9 points behind), but your write-up made me feel good about what I sent. Glad you enjoyed it

I agree the flow is probably the worst thing about this EP. I tried making it work, but most of the songs on the EP have either a fade-in or a fade-out which made it a bit difficult. I also stated in my write-up that I thought it would be weird, especially since you can hear the late 90's production on the Mr. Bungle tracks compared to the modern sounding sounding other songs. Ah well.

White Walls - made one album that varies from very good to meh, some nice tracks there, but overall I think the album lacks replay value because it's a little unpolished and contains a bit of filler

Scarlet Stories - brilliant debut album (indeed the same guitarist - one of two in the band) with a very compelling atmosphere. If you thought the songs I sent are good, you should definitely check out the rest

Twelve Foot Ninja - I like them in small doses, honestly. The song I sent is probably my favourite by them.

Mr. Bungle - where do I start... one of my favourite acts, though nobody gets why. 'California' is a top 10 record for me, because of its weirdness, but 'Disco Volante' excels in avant-garde nonsense. Their first self-titled album is good too, a bit more straightforward, but it also throws you off at some occasions. I've had this idea of making a top 31 Mr. Bungle songs (their entire studio output) thread for a while now, but never acted on it, because I think most people would hate it Both songs I sent you are ranked pretty high up there



Thanks for having me, good luck to the rest of the participants!

[ariich]

Assuming you're posting these in order of scores, there no way I've won this

If it's in order of scores then it seems almost certain that Train is winning.

[The Walrus]

Okay even if I come next it blows my mind that, in a Puppies roulette, my concoction apparently ranked better than Elite's. These are bizarro times indeed.

Going to start Nekov's in a few minutes.

[Elite]

^ yeah mine is linked up there for everybody to enjoy as well

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I actually decided to not do it in ascending order of scores, just to keep y'all guessing 

[The Walrus]

Oh well RIP me

Nekov, this is a nice chill little EP. Interesting approach to send all instrumentals to tell a story, although listening to it I don't really get a story out of it. I recognize one of the Leech songs 'cause you've sent it to me in one of my past roulettes but imo the Lights & Motion tracks (particularly Pandora) are the standout tracks here. Pandora is sooo good.

EDIT: I honestly don't know if I can make it through Elite's. You like some really weird shit, dude! 

[ariich]

I actually decided to not do it in ascending order of scores, just to keep y'all guessing 

Well then.

[Crow]

John Zorn, John 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Oh well RIP me

Nekov, this is a nice chill little EP. Interesting approach to send all instrumentals to tell a story, although listening to it I don't really get a story out of it. I recognize one of the Leech songs 'cause you've sent it to me in one of my past roulettes but imo the Lights & Motion tracks (particularly Pandora) are the standout tracks here. Pandora is sooo good.

EDIT: I honestly don't know if I can make it through Elite's. You like some really weird shit, dude! 

At least listen to those Scarlet Stories songs. Those you should like.

[The Walrus]

I got up to the second White Walls song and tapped out. I'll be honest, nothing there was appealing to me, sorry! 

[Nekov]

Nekov, this is a nice chill little EP. Interesting approach to send all instrumentals to tell a story, although listening to it I don't really get a story out of it. I recognize one of the Leech songs 'cause you've sent it to me in one of my past roulettes but imo the Lights & Motion tracks (particularly Pandora) are the standout tracks here. Pandora is sooo good.

I'm glad you liked it. Lights & Motion is pretty neat though it's way to happy for some people

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I got up to the second White Walls song and tapped out. I'll be honest, nothing there was appealing to me, sorry! 

Fair enough, but I thought for sure you would dig Scarlet Stories

By the way I'm on track to post another result tonight. GO ME! 

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Romdrums

The Weapon Is No Longer Under Lock and Key (bonus point for EP title)

we.own.the.sky – YB-76
we.own.the.sky – Transmissions of Static
Solkyri – Petemkin
Pillars – Dissolution
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster – Calligraphy
we.own.the.sky – The Space Between Us
Solkyri – Well, Go Well
Solkyri – Gueules Cassees

First Impression - I got goosebumps listening to this while reading along with the story.

So the second of two all instrumental EP's (with the exception of some spoken word). And again mostly made up of Post-Rock and/or Post-Metal. This is an interesting approach for what is supposed to be a story driven EP. I like the 2 tracks that were chosen to start this thing off. The buildup really seems to work hand in hand with the story you went with here. I can easily visualize what is going on here. Even though these 2 tracks take up 9 minutes, I never get bored with it. It's constantly engaging and never too repetitive. The transition to Potemkin leaves a little to be desired and our old enemy, production differences, crops up on yet another EP. The sonic quality of this song is nowhere near as listenable as the we.own.the.sky songs. Overall this song isn't nearly as good either. Dissolution is a step back in the right direction though. This song has some nice story to go with it and a nice build up and groove. The lighter moments build tension into the more bombastic parts really nicely and the whole last half of the song is just amazing! After this it flows into Calligraphy by Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, a band I'm familiar with, but not this song. I've liked a lot of stuff this band has done and this song is no exception. The problem I have hear, and it became more apparent the more I listened to it, is I don't really feel a connection between the story and the music that is presented here. This is wherein lay the inherent problem with using purely instrumental music to tell a story. Each individual person can imagine a completely different story or image or whatever from the song. Fortunately for you, I was with you on the story up to this point. This one just didn't do anything to convince me story wise. At least the music here is good. It has a nice bass groove and great dynamics and melodies. It does get a tad repetitive in parts, but not in a beat-a-dead-horse way. Next up is more we.own.the.sky! Yay! Original this band may not be, damn if I don't enjoy the hell out of their choice of melody, buildup, climax, etc. This song also reels me back in with the story. I can't say enough good things about this band! So the last two Solkyri songs still have weird sonic issues (maybe it's just me), but they work much better than the other one on the EP. Perhaps it's because there's a little time to breathe before they kick in, perhaps because they close out the album, I don't know what it is exactly, but they do work better. I just with the production was cleaner on these tracks. I also lose sight of the story here again as well. It's an intriguing bit of music to close this out though.

The songs themselves are overall excellent with one big dip and a couple of other 'meh' moments, but at least overall it's positive. (7.9/10)

Storywise this suffers from the same issues as Nekov's, but I felt like I connected to it more with the music, at least mostly. There were a couple spots where I lose the plot. I do, however, love how you used all Rush lyrics and song titles to tell the story, that was amazing and an awesome tribute to The Professor. Therefor (7.7/10)

Flow is always important to me, and there are so many little things that I listen for that contribute to it. This works, for the most part, due to it all be in the same genre (or at least within shouting distance), but the production issues are what really drags it down for me. (2.5/5)

I enjoyed this enough that I'm definitely going to be checking out the individual artist, especially we.own.the.sky. I'm a little on the fence about Solkyri. I enjoyed reading your story, short as it was. Neil's lyrics always bring a smile to my face and to have you merge lyrics from disparate songs together like that was cool. Also you are getting the bonus point for Favorite EP Title.

Overall Score (19.1/25)

[Lethean]

That EP title is awesome.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Indeed it is!

[The Walrus]

I think mine are cooler tbh Will listen soon!

EDIT: AIFF file? WTF romdrums?  I can't listen, so I'll just take Pup's word for it.

[romdrums]

I think mine are cooler tbh Will listen soon!

EDIT: AIFF file? WTF romdrums?  I can't listen, so I'll just take Pup's word for it.

Dude, I'm in pro audio! I used a 2-track mastering software to get that together. 

I can get a spotify playlist together later if you'd like.  I've been super busy with work stuff.  Nothing like working 6 straight weeks of Cyber Week level business from home.  I'm gonna need a Corona or twelve once this is all over.

[The Walrus]

I think mine are cooler tbh Will listen soon!

EDIT: AIFF file? WTF romdrums?  I can't listen, so I'll just take Pup's word for it.

Dude, I'm in pro audio! I used a 2-track mastering software to get that together. 

I can get a spotify playlist together later if you'd like.  I've been super busy with work stuff.  Nothing like working 6 straight weeks of Cyber Week level business from home.  I'm gonna need a Corona or twelve once this is all over.

I've definitely played AIFF files before but I can't on my work computer or (strangely) on my phone, so it threw me for a loop. I haven't seen that format in years. I'd totally listen if you can get a Spotify playlist together at some point but don't stress

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I actually converted it to mp3 if you would like me to upload it for you

[ariich]

[Crow]

[ariich]

Most ambitious crossover event since Avengers.

[Crow]

Cornman; The Newest Avenger

[The Walrus]

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Corn-ception shall be answered

Kattelox

The Evils of Lucy: Friday Night Trouble Bound (playlist) (story)

Eminem – Farewell
Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah – Lake Shore Drive
Kendrick Lamar – For Sale?
D12 – Purple Pills
Eminem – Lock it Up
Kendrick Lamar – u
Eminem – Framed
Eminem – Bad Husband

First Impression - Heartwarming and full of good feelings and happiness...Faith in humanity restored.

Hehehehe, yeah, this EP is definitely not happy. At any rate I feel like I've been Stockholm Syndromed.... I like this way more than I should and way more than anyone has a right too. What does that mean? I don't know, I'm pretty sure my brain was scrambled by this. I'm not even sure where to start or even how to articulate why I enjoy this or how I enjoy this. Meh, let's just get started....

Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat. I could do with less vulgar language. I mean, I get it. The subject matter kind of calls for it. I will talk more about the story separately. At any rate, the first track Farewell has a fairly catchy chorus and some pretty decent verses and a nice cadence to it. I've always liked Eminem's rapping style and skills and this song is no exception. I mean, I've definitely heard better from him. I'm curious as to why this album has such low scores on RYM, is the rest of the album that terrible? Is there some vendetta against Eminem these days? I'm genuinely curious. This song then transitions in to perhaps the oddest inclusion of a song in any EP I've ever received. But here's the thing, the more I listened to this EP, the more I realized this song is a necessary inclusion. I really started to enjoy the song too. Is this song really supposed to be about dropping acid? Or is it just about a road called Lake Shore Drive? Interesting side note, there is a road in Lake Tahoe area called Lake Shore Drive. There's a lot of extremely large, fancy, homes that I do work at frequently. Now on to the first Kendrick Lamar song, For Sale?. The two Kendrick Lamar songs on this EP are the best Kendrick songs I have ever heard. I listened to the whole Damn. album and was pretty meh on the whole thing. I've heard a few other songs from the album this is from and didn't like them. OK, real talk, I think Kendrick Lamar is a pretty mediocre rapper and his skills both lyrically and cadence and tone and flow pale in comparison to many other Hip Hop artists that I like, including Eminem. Now, having said that, I always like the music and beats he uses in his songs. They are always creative. This song is no exception (granted this is more like a dream pop song). He also does some interesting things with his voice occasionally that kind of helps with getting into "character". Now moving on to Purple Pills, this is the Eminem that I really enjoy. Yes, I know this is D12, but really D12 is nothing without Eminem. Not much else to say about this song until I talk about the story. I'm not too big on Bizarre's parts, meh... Lock it up is next and I gotta say I think I like Anderson .paak's parts the most. He kind of has a bit of a Bone Thugs N Harmony tone to his style. I love me some old school Bone Thugs. Ok, next is u, no not you, u. Heh heh heh. OK, sometimes I feel like Kendrick is trying too hard and I end up not taking him seriously. This song could be amazing, but his style always hinders my enjoyment. But, my god, is the underlying music and all the backing vocals amazing. Uhhhgggg, I want to like Kendrick Lamar, but the problem is, Kendrick! He also falls in to some Lil Wayne-esque levels of bad rhyming/lyrics/flow at parts. Seriously Lil Wayne is the worst. The transition from here to Framed is the only transition I have a problem with. It could have done with a touch of editing. Now Framed has an extremely catchy chorus that was constantly getting stuck in my head. I don't like some of the staccato style rhythms, but they don't detract too much. It's a pretty decent song. The final song Bad Husband is kind of the Magnum Opus of the EP. There are problems with the song, for sure, but the sentiment and the backing vocals make up for a lot of the issues. Eminem gets stuck in some weird cadences in a few spots that I feel he should have gone back to the drawing board on. Oh well, the song is good and probably the best on the EP.

Now, song quality is a bit hard to quantify here. There are clearly songs I like better and none are particularly bad, but at the same time I don't think I would return to any of these songs on an individual basis, with the exception of maybe a couple of the Eminem songs. This is tough to score.... (3.9/10)............Just kidding (7.9/10)

The story is good. Really really good. I'm surprised how well this works. I know originally you wanted to put For Free on the EP, which might have worked storywise, but fortunately for you I banned it, because it would have tanked your song quality score. I'm also not sure how it would have fit storywise. Anyway I digress, what you did with the EP as far as story goes is amazing, even though it's depressing as all hell. (9/10)

The flow is about 80% there. There was a slight hiccup in a transition or two. I want to ding you for including the Lake Shore Drive song, but I just can't. The story even flows nicely. (4/5)

I will probably return to this EP from time to time. It's a dumpster fire as far as being a mood lifter, but it's an excellent example of story telling using disparate parts. Pretty amazing job.

Overall Score (20.9/25)

[The Walrus]

I am very proud of that EP and it paid off imo. That's far better than what I was expecting. More comments tomorrow. I'm so happy my calculations re:  the story in spite of the genres and language paid off. Really glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for listening.

[Lethean]

Good thing it was saved for a future roulette instead of TAC scoring it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Oh boy, TAC would have hated this. 

[The Walrus]

Good thing Slim put out his best album in 18 years this past January too, lucky me

People just dump on modern Eminem because it's the cool thing to do and haters just want more of that drugged out young Em. Encore and Relapse suck, Recovery has wack production, but he's been unstoppable since Recovery. His new album is amazing. I'm also biased. He's been sober since 2008 and he's just been killing it ever since, Relapse excluded, it's ridiculous

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

OK, I have the day off work tomorrow, so I will be finishing this up.

I'm excited because I have an interesting thread idea I'm going to fire up over the weekend. It may not get much traffic (probably Cyril, maybe Katt and TAC, possibly Ariich, a small chance some others), but it's going to be more for my enjoyment than anything else and for my desire to share music. So the 3 likely people to be interested......get hyped!

[Elite]

(probably Cyril, maybe Katt and TAC, possibly Ariich, a small chance some others)

Music taste-wise that's a pretty random group of people.

[Train of Naught]

He's making a Moonsorrow discography thread

I like the approach Katt took with that EP, very bold. u is one of my favourite Kendrick songs, straight up puts me in a happy mood, I don't know any of the songs except for the Kendrick songs except I've tried some Eminem songs and it totally wasn't my thing. I may just check out the EP though

So is it like 2 people left now? Me and ariich?

EDIT: Wait, I totally confused "u" with "i" , why does this guy have multiple song titles with just one letter.