LithoJazzoSphere Roulette V1: Variety & Reciprocity (Post-Roulette Playlist)

[LithoJazzoSphere]

[LithoJazzoSphere]

13th Place

Stadler - "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)"

1:  Phil Collins - "Don't Lose My Number"
2:  Jon Bon Jovi - "Billy Get Your Guns"
3:  Robert Plant - "Billy's Revenge"
4:  Def Leppard - "Billy's Got a Gun"
5:  Bruce Springsteen - "Rockaway the Days"
6:  B.J. Thomas - "Billy and Sue"
7:  Van Halen - "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)"

Early Impressions - "Even your initial tracklist submission was (unintentionally?) in character." - "This is a slightly different side of a number of artists than I'm used to hearing from them."

Favorite - Def Leppard - "Billy's Got a Gun"
Least Favorite - Bruce Springsteen - "Rockaway the Days"

Final Summary:

Even with two banned songs, this excels on the storytelling front, and gives a more complete picture of the sounds of a few artists.  None of it really blows me away, but it's an enjoyable enough listen. 

Details:

It's just like Big Bad Bill to try and smuggle some contraband songs past customs, isn't it?  He got caught, but that sure didn't stop him, did it?  Phil Collins' "Don't Lose My Number" is my true favorite song of the bunch, but that's been the case for quite awhile - I could immediately hear the chorus as soon as I saw the tracklist.  I've long been a fan of Genesis' pop era and Phil's solo work, and it actually took me longer to warm up to their earlier material with Peter Gabriel. 

And then the other banned song bookending the batch is Van Halen's "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)".  Now this one I didn't recognize from the title, but since I own the album on vinyl and cassette I figured I might recognize it once it started playing.  And sure enough, I did.  It's not one of theirs that I know well, but they often would have at least a song on each album that significantly deviated from their normal kinetic hard rock style, and it's a refreshing one for that with the Dixieland jazz-esque atmosphere.  And of course it holds the theme together quite well.  I actually like David Lee Roth's vocal delivery on this song much more than on their more conventional material.  Eddie Van Halen is one of my absolute favorite guitarists and "Respect the Wind" is one of the primary reasons I learned guitar (though there's much less guitar in "Big Bad Bill"), but part of the reason I've never listened to Van Halen quite as much as a band as I'd like is because I historically haven't been a fan of DLR or Sammy Hagar.  Paying more close attention to this song does shine a bit of unexpected new light on DLR though, though I don't know if it'll move the needle on his normal shtick. 

Overall the EP is a quite well-executed concept, and you can definitely feel the storytelling and redemption arc for the eponymous main character (and semi-cheeky meta relevance for the final round itself).  These are almost all artists I've heard varying amounts of material from beforehand, but it certainly shows a few of them in a bit different light than I was expecting.  B.J. Thomas is the one I've heard the least from, mostly just a bit by reputation.  Stylistically he's probably the furthest away from my normal interests, and I at first was expecting it to be the weakest track, but I was reeled in by it a bit more than I expected I would be around the time the key change occurred. 

Def Leppard's "Billy's Got a Gun" is easily the closest to what I was anticipating.  I'm familiar with some of their singles, particularly "Photograph" from the same album, Pyromania.  Mutt Lange really worked some magic there, everything just sounds really rich and detailed.  It's kind of a bit more subdued but atmospheric take on a lot of the glossier hard rock of the time.  I suppose Jon Bon Jovi's "Billy Get Your Guns" isn't terribly far off from other Bon Jovi I've heard, just a tad bluesier than some of their bigger hits of the era, almost a bit Aerosmith-like.  There's a surprisingly stacked cast on this one, with Jeff Beck on guitar, Randy Jackson on bass, Elton John on piano, and Kenny Aronoff on drums.  Those are quite some heavy hitters.  It's probably the second best song of the batch, with easily the best musicianship, but just not quite as arresting of a sound or melody. 

Robert Plant's "Billy's Revenge" is definitely a bit out of left field for me.  I've heard a decent amount of Led Zeppelin, and several of his more recent collaborations with Alison Krauss, but the decades in-between were a bit of a mystery box for me.  I'm not even sure what exactly you'd call the overall style of the song - it seems to mash a variety of different elements together, but it's a rather revitalizing surprise and not something I'd have thought he was capable of.  Bruce Springsteen's "Rockaway the Days" is probably the hardest sell for me.  Structurally it works well to transition into the reformation story of the last two songs, so it's effective thematically.  I've just never been able to get into much of Springsteen's music.  It's well-done for what it is, and a bit different from most of what I've heard from him, but I still just can't connect with his work and voice for whatever reason. 

Score:  22/30

Final Cumulative Score:  8.5 + 7.5 + 7 + 7 + 8.75 + 7.5 + 6.75 + 6.75 + 7.5 + 7.75 + 7.25 + 7.5 + 8.25 + 22 = 120

Final Overall Thoughts:

So when I was trying to find a few more people to fill out my roulette, and you hadn't noticed it yet, I'm not even sure I knew your age.  I had just noticed that in 425's roulette you'd been sending some off-the-beaten path stuff compared to some others, and I wanted some variety in submissions.  I didn't realize at the time that it would mostly be some older music that I'd been overlooking, but it's a strategy that has worked quite well on a number of occasions.  Even one of the relatively newer bands that did well, Rival Sons, hearkens back to older styles.  But I need that sort of range, since all the best music is spread out over the decades, and I tend to overly focus on the last few.  I think Michael Schenker, Hank Williams Jr., Motörhead, and Duran Duran were the ones I'd heard the least from before the roulette, with more of just a surface-level understanding of their places in music history and some scattered songs here and there, so I'll certainly dig into more of their work at some point.  I knew slightly more about Saga, Joan Baez, Sting, Marillion, Our Lady Peace, and KISS, but certainly have much to explore there as well. 

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12th Place

Tomislav95 - "Swimming through the nothingness"

1:  Midlake - "Roscoe"
2:  Brand New - "Same Logic/Teeth"
3:  Modest Mouse - "A Different City"
4:  Modest Mouse - "The Cold Part"
5:  The Hotelier - "Two Deliverances"
6:  The Hotelier - "Soft Animal"
7:  Midlake - "Young Bride"
8:  Brand New - "Daisy"
9:  The Hotelier - "Your Deep Rest"
10:  Brand New - "Handcuffs"

Early Impressions - "I think I'm unlikely to love this style as a whole, but this is a better selection of songs in it than I was expecting." - "The nice thing about my rating philosophy in general for this is that a couple good songs are more likely to pull the rating up a bit than a couple weaker songs are to drag it down."

Favorite - Midlake - "Young Bride"
Least Favorite - Brand New - "Same Logic/Teeth"

Final Summary:

Surprisingly, three of the four bands here each have a song in my trio of favorites for this EP, and even the one that doesn't (The Hotelier) has instrumental elements I enjoy.  This will likely continue to be a genre that I'm pickier about than normal, but this does provide several splendid tunes to branch out from. 

Details:

When you mentioned that this was going to be an indie EP I became nervous again.  But I guess that's what often happens near the end of roulettes - when people realize they're at the point where they're not really in contention anymore they feel more free to just send whatever they're into with less fear of consequence.  And this time, it actually kind of works.  I think I talked about this more a few rounds ago regarding Okkervil River, but often the indie philosophy and my own are at odds.  Collectively they tend to be much more comfortable with rawness, sloppiness, and particular types of quirkiness than I am.  But here it's actually not so much of an issue. 

Midlake's "Young Bride" is certainly the standout of the EP.  That violin melody is just gorgeous, as well as the various exquisite ornamentations later in the song.  They remind me a bit of Fleet Foxes, which is a sort of indie artist that I like more.  "Roscoe" isn't as strong of a selection, but it's pleasant enough that I think it could be worth checking Midlake out to see if more of their music resonates with me. 

I was a bit worried about seeing Modest Mouse on the playlist since the very limited selection of their music that I've heard has had odd vocals that didn't really appeal to me much.  But "The Cold Part" is probably my second favorite song of the whole EP.  It helps that it's more heavily slanted towards instrumental bits, and the vocals present are more subdued.  I adore the overall atmosphere and melancholic vibe, it almost feels like how Katatonia might sound if they were an indie rock band, with a hint of Black Tape For a Blue Girl.  There's delightful violin work, and some tasty more unusual instrumental flourishes and effects scattered throughout.  "A Different City" is alright, with a more propulsive post-punk-ish groove, though the vocals are less appealing.  I imagine they're the sort of band I might enjoy particular songs from but might struggle with albums as a whole. 

The Hotelier have pretty consistently great guitar tones throughout the three songs here.  That alone helps a fair amount.  I started off really disliking the vocals, though I've gotten a bit more accustomed to them over time.  I still don't really like them, per se, but they don't bug me quite as much as they did initially. 

Brand New is a bit more all over the map.  "Handcuffs" is probably my third overall favorite song of the EP.  I've found that some indie bands either intentionally or due to lack of interest can be pretty loose in tuning their instruments, but here they seem to intentionally tune the rhythm electric early on just slightly off, but in a way that adds a more ethereal vibe to the proceedings.  And at least for this set, violin seems to continue to be a magic ingredient, as it certainly elevates the song when it appears later, as does the sustained chromatic percussion towards the end.  "Daisy" is a rather fun song, relatively simple, but just off-kilter enough in an enchanting way.  "Same Logic/Teeth" is probably the most frustrating song from them.  The refrain is kind of catchy, the slow bends/vibrato in the guitar lead are rather enigmatic and yet charming, the acoustic and bass work are quite nice, but the shouted vocals don't really work for me in this song. 

Score:  23.5/30

Final Cumulative Score:  7 + 8.25 + 7.25 + 7 + 7.5 + 7.5 + 8 + 7 + 7 + 6.25 + 8.75 + 7.5 + 8.25 + 23.5 = 120.75

Final Overall Thoughts:

I'm still kind of in disbelief at my placement in your roulette, since it seems some of our primary listening interests are rather different.  Regardless, you've certainly given me a variety of music to look into further.  Paramore has already been one of the big hits of the roulette for me, and I'll certainly have to check out more from Reign of Kindo, Seventh Wonder, Dvne, Arcane Roots, and Micah P. Hinson.  Reign of Kindo in particular was quite a steal since I thought that might be a band Soundscape would have sent at some point. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

11th Place

senecadawg2 - "From the Bed of the Woods"

1:  Osi and the Jupiter - "Fjörgyn"
2:  Hexvessel - "Cosmic Truth"
3:  Helen Money & Will Thomas - "Half Asleep"
4:  Ellereve - "Colorblind"
5:  Musk Ox - "Inheritance, Pt. 1 (Premonition)"
6:  Cigarettes After Sex - "K."
7:  Clint Mansell - "Together We Will Live Forever"
8:  Dir En Grey - "VINUSHKA"

Early Impression - "Much of this is adjacent to the type of music I've been getting into the most in the past few years." - "The "ending" came out of nowhere, though I mind it less than I thought I would."

Favorite - Cigarettes After Sex - "K."
Least Favorite - Dir En Grey - "VINUSHKA"

Final Summary:

This mostly occupies a mellower, but moodier side of music that has been resonating with me in recent years, and captures a variety of different approaches to it that I really enjoy. 

Details:

It was hinted at with my round five mystery songs, but generally speaking, slower-paced, atmospheric, darker, melancholic, (and often folky) music has been arguably my biggest exploration focus over the past few years.  Some of it winds up getting tagged with some version of "dark folk", "neofolk", or even "psychedelic folk", though those styles tend to have more specific meanings and scenes they're attached to where the core of them doesn't always work for me.  Others land somewhere in the dream pop/ethereal wave/slowcore range.  And often I seek out more vocal-oriented music, but even some of the instrumental pieces here capture some of these vibes. 

You sent "Hollowed" from Osi and the Jupiter in a couple other recent roulettes, which I found intriguing, and this seems to hit on a slightly different side from them.  The guest cello work here is really fantastic, and it sets the table well for the entrees to come.  Hexvessel's "Cosmic Truth" was giving me more of gothic country vibes with the tremolo guitar effects, though Rate Your Music calls them psychedelic folk/rock.  Perhaps this particular track is somewhere in-between there, but it's great regardless. 

Helen Money & Will Thomas' "Half Asleep" has a similar feel to "Fjörgyn", just with less string droning accompaniment and more piano chording, but it's equally efficacious.  Finding me more atmospheric music in a roulette format has proved a bit risky so far for many, but this EP is working quite superbly in this regard. 

As I mentioned over PM, I already knew two Ellereve songs, but hadn't gotten around to hearing any more.  This is definitely right up my alley.  A haunting, lighter, airier song this time with more delicate piano work - it does feel kind of as if successive songs take elements from previous ones and reconfigure them.  I was aware she had an album out this year, but this will definitely ensure I make time for it.  Musk Ox's "Inheritance, Pt. 1 (Premonition)" is back to more of the template of the first and third songs, but with some nylon-string guitar ornamentation.  It's the weakest song so far, but is still fairly good. 

"K." from Cigarettes After Sex is one of the most unexpected and enthralling delights of the whole roulette.  It's more in the dream pop realm, but is absolutely stellar.  They're another band with an odd name that probably turned me off from ever investigating them beforehand.  Well, turns out it was quite a loss for me.  The ambiance here is magnificent.  I thought initially it was a female vocalist, though a bit of research confirmed that it was not.  It kind of reminds me of the first time I heard Silversun Pickups and had the same initial thought and puzzling realization after looking into it.  It's just a really relaxing and ethereal vibe that I cherish though.  My only small gripe is that I'm not crazy about how the vocals are panned mostly to the right.  And I've tried to dial down the gear nerd in me, but watching live videos of this song makes it impossible to suppress.  Greg has the exact same model and color of Parker Nitefly that I have, down to the pickup configuration, and the keyboardist has a smaller version of the Virus TI keyboard that I have.  Apparently my love of this song was predestined. 

For Clint Mansell's "Together We Will Live Forever", it's always fascinating to hear music from a film score to a movie I've never seen.  You always wonder what potentially poignant moment it's attached to and how that could alter your perception of it.  But good music can stand on its own, and this piece most certainly does. 

Dir En Grey's "VINUSHKA" definitely sticks out like a sore thumb.  I suppose there's a bit of a tie-in with some of the folkier passages in the song to the rest of the EP, but the extreme metal-ish sections were certainly a bit unexpected.  I've meant to check out some of their music, and I suppose this is a toe in the water, but it'll probably take a lot more music from them to really get a sense of them.  I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure I quite "get" it yet.  Some of the vocal harmonizations are rather piquant though.  This might be a rare example of my final opinion being a bit more negative than my initial impression.  I did listen to it a few times in isolation as well, but in the context of the EP this song just feels out of place.  Something more like, I don't know, possibly Opeth or Oceans of Slumber might have threaded the needle of connecting the gloomier folkiness of the other songs with a more extreme approach.  The rest of the EP is too good for it to weigh it down too much, fortunately. 

Score:  25.5/30

Final Cumulative Score:  8 + 7 + 8.5 + 6.75 + 8.25 + 8 + 8 + 7.25 + 7.5 + 6.75 + 7.25 + 5.75 + 8.25 + 25.5 = 122.75

Final Overall Thoughts:

You'd had quite a last minute push the past two rounds to finish a number of spots higher than you were.  And you've probably sent me a wider variety of artists in the roulette than most.  I've already listened to most of Loreena McKennitt's discography now, which turns out to have been a glaring oversight for me, since I used to listen more to some Celtic-related music, but mostly forgot about it for awhile.  That has changed now and I sense I'm going to be binging on some other loosely-related artists in the near future.  Renaissance was another artist that I'd heard some material from, but really should have dug deeper into earlier, since they seem to be an origin point for the ideas of some other artists I like, and I'll have to spend much more time with them soon.  There are various other artists I'll certainly have to check further into in varying degrees too, from Floating Points (+ Pharaoh Sanders) to Sarah Fimm to Kauan to Khôrada to Leonard Cohen.  Even Agalloch, who I know you were disappointed didn't score higher, is still back on my radar more, as I could see there being other music I'd enjoy more from them, and there seems to be so much overlap in their fanbase with those of many other artists I adore. 

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10th Place

Buddyhunter1 - "Heartbreak in the U.S.A."

Act I: Red

1:  Sabrepulse - "First Crush"
2:  Gorillaz - "On Melancholy Hill"
3:  Anamanaguchi - "Prom Night"
4:  Gorillaz - "Magic City"

Act II: Blue

5:  death's dynamic shroud - "Games"
6:  Gorillaz - "Fire Flies"
7:  death's dynamic shroud - "Infinite Staralgia"

Act III: White

8:  Anamanaguchi - "Tear"
9:  Anamanaguchi - "We Die"
10:  death's dynamic shroud - "King & Queen"

Early Impressions - "I'm surprised at how well you can feel the storytelling here, even in the instrumental portions." - "This 80s virtual reality dating app is so realistic!"

Favorite - Anamanaguchi - "We Die"
Least Favorite - Gorillaz - "Magic City"

Final Summary:

This is a different flavor of electronic music than what I normally prefer, but it undergirds and reinforces a surprisingly cohesive and effective concept, though the overall execution is stronger than the individual tracks. 

Details:

First bit-crush, amirite?  I really wasn't sure exactly how this was going to come out given the title of the EP, and the fact that I've listened to very little from any of the artists consciously, though I've heard the names thrown around a decent amount.  Thematically, it's quite strong.  From the titles of the songs and the musical feelings of them, you can sense a fairly simple but complete story.  I listened to the full versions of some of the songs separately at one point, and I can hear some bits and pieces missing, but overall it works fairly well.  This is fascinating in how efficacious it is as an overall package, though I'm not particularly crazy about any specific song or especially motivated to check out any of the artists individually. 

I suppose a central feel running throughout the songs is that these are pretty heavily in or influenced by the genres of chiptune and bitpop, which has a heavily novelty feel stylistically.  This gives it this near-constant 8-bit video game sound which ties together the theme, but is a sound I'm less likely to come back to outside of the context of hearing the EP. 

"First Crush" has a nice and energetic drum and bass sort of vibe, though the frequent arpeggiated power-up style sounds get a bit much after awhile.  The transition between it and "On Melancholy Hill" is pretty clever, with the station tuning static and lo-fi sample of part of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." chorus (which is lyrically referenced later in death's dynamic shroud's "Games").  "On Melancholy Hill" is probably the easiest listen instrumentally, almost an indietronica vibe, with the catchiest instrumental melodies.  The vocal delivery is pretty sleepy though. 

"Prom Night" is probably the closest to something I would normally listen to, and would be fascinating to hear a remix that subbed in more "normal" synthpop/electropop sorts of sounds.  "Magic City" is decent enough, it just doesn't really stand out in any special way.  "Fire Flies" fares a bit better with the funky synth bass throughout.  "Games" has a pretty lush atmosphere, and would probably be more of a highlight with stronger vocals.  As it is it's probably the third best song here. 

"Infinite Staralgia" is rather fascinating.  The versions I could find online seem to be pitched an octave lower, which gives it a totally different mood, kind of like some of those "slowed + reverb" mixes that seem popular on Youtube.  I don't know if you used a different version that isn't available or is difficult to find online, or you just tried pitching up the audio file an octave and it restores it to "normal".  I wouldn't think that would work properly, but my audio editing skills have atrophied from a place of never being that great in the first place. 

Regardless, "Infinite Staralgia" provides the most cinematic vibe of the whole EP.  I'm getting this vision in my head of this hypothetical 80s-ish teen movie where this couple is laying on the grass staring at the stars, and then it alternates between match cuts of that with them laying on the floor of a roller rink staring at the oscillations of a disco ball overhead in the spots where the stars were in the sky.  I don't have synesthesia, but that song almost makes me momentarily feel like I do.  I'd love to hear someone like The Midnight cover their songs. 

Anamanaguchi's "Tear" has some of the fullest, lushest synth moments, I especially like how massive they sound in the passage at 32:08.  "We Die" has an almost euphoric, anthemic feel to it, kind of an instrumental-ish, but more epic, punchier version of some of Lights' material, but with the heavier sidechain compression towards the end.  It probably could have ended there, but I suppose "King & Queen" gives it an epilogue/ending credits feel to it. 

Score:  23/30

Final Cumulative Score:  7.5 + 6.5 + 7.75 + 7 + 8 + 7 + 7 + 7.75 + 7.75 + 8.75 + 8.75 + 8 + 8.5 + 23 = 123.5

Final Overall Thoughts:

We're probably two of the bigger fans of electronic music on the board, though it seems our interests in it are in somewhat different areas.  Nevertheless, you've certainly gotten me interested in exploring more from Blanck Mass, IAMTHEKIDYOUKNOWWHATIMEAN, and The Comet Is Coming.  Avant-garde metal is a really tricky area laced with landmines that have sunk other competitors, but you managed to sneak one through that worked quite well with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.  It's possible I've already heard the best Comus has to offer for my tastes now, but I'll probably revisit that album anyway sometime just in case.  Two of your biggest successes were redirecting my attention to artists I'd already heard, but hadn't given enough of a chance yet with Riverside and Guilt Machine.  And I'm sure I'll investigate more from Elder and Della Zyr as well at some point. 

[Buddyhunter1]

Top 10! Not bad, thanks for running this, even with how long it ran for.

All of the death’s dynamic shroud songs on the EP are re-made versions of earlier songs that were a lot more vaporwave-y, so the versions of Infinite Staralgia you were finding were probably the original. The only edit I made to it was cutting out like 1 repitition from the finale, I certainly didn’t fuck with the pitch of anything.

[Tomislav95]

Firstly, thanks for having me, it was fun

I didn't expect you to like the EP as much as you did but now I know what you don't like the most about "emo" music.

I'm still kind of in disbelief at my placement in your roulette, since it seems some of our primary listening interests are rather different.

I get what you might like, I just don't have such a huge library to choose from

[Lonk]

Surprised I'm still on the board lol, I expect I'll appear in the next batch 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

[LithoJazzoSphere]

9th Place

Vmadera00 - "To the Island"

1:  The Expendables - "Down Down Down"
2:  The Expendables - "Sacrifice"
3:  Passafire - "Submersible"
4:  Lionize - "Surrender"
5:  The Movement - "Take Me To the Ocean"

Early Impressions - "Wow, this is a treat.  It's a version of a genre I love, but haven't received all roulette." - "This has some really tasty and crisp drumming."

Favorite - The Movement - "Take Me To the Ocean"
Least Favorite - Passafire - "Submersible"

Final Summary:

I kind of knew that reggae never actually died, but I hadn't been acting like it in my listening and exploration before.  This takes elements of the old-school sound I love and adds some more modern elements in a tantalizing way. 

Details:

Well, so this was one of the most serendipitous submissions of the whole roulette.  I kind of wish you'd found another 15-20 minutes of music like this to send, it probably would have scored even higher (although the gap to the next tier would have been likely prohibitive to break into).  I used to be really into roots reggae.  I was one of those guys who'd be wearing Bob Marley hoodies and t-shirts around campus sometimes.  Of course, there's way more to reggae, but I pretty much stuck to the 70s/early 80s era or artists.  To be honest I wasn't as crazy about the direction it started taking later into the 80s.  But these groups remind me that forms of it remained alive, and for whatever reason I never got around to checking them out, mostly just sticking to the early classics I found at first and some lesser known gems of the earlier era that I ran across now and then whenever I got in that mood. 

But I really like what these artists are doing with the template.  The Expendables add this rock edge with riffing and soloing that on paper I'm not sure I would have thought would work, but they really pull it off.  I mentioned this for Luke's EP, but I used to really be into third wave ska in the late 90s, and even before I heard reggae proper I liked some of the influences it had on those sorts of bands, though the ones I listened to didn't really go fully into it.  And awhile after exploring reggae on its own some and trying to get more into hardcore, Bad Brains appealed to me more because they had some legitimate reggae in-between the rest of the intensity of their sound. 

But The Expendables actually seem to be coming at it from more of a hard rock approach rather than a punk/hardcore direction.  I doubt they're the first to do so (heck, Rush dabbled very lightly in it), but it's a mixture I've somehow managed to avoid that I now have much exploring to do for, so this has been quite a joy.  A few of the older reggae bands that were in my rotation would have the occasional rock solo, but the incorporation of heavier riffing is a newer angle for me.  There are great guitar tones all around with them, both clean and more saturated. 

Passafire is probably the weakest of the batch, but are still pretty good, with some nice synchronized riffing, the acoustic solo, and the melodica.  Lionize incorporates a lot of cool keyboard work between the spacier synths, organ, piano, and clavinet, not to mention the percussion, or some of the delay trail experimentation on the guitars.  Plus, the vocal ad lib at 3:14 is on fire.  And man, "Take Me To the Ocean" from The Movement sounds like it would probably be used to advertise tropical vacations or cruises, but it just really hits a sweet spot for me melodically.  It has such a multidimensional sound, infectious melodies, a wonderful chromatic percussion sound and riff, and the electric piano soloing at the end caps it off oh so nicely. 

I'm definitely going to have to be checking albums from three of these artists.  It'll make a great pairing with The Skints from Luke's EP. 

Score:  25.5/30

Final Cumulative Score:  7.25 + 7.75 + 8 + 6.75 + 7 + 7.75 + 7.25 + 8.75 + 7 + 6.75 + 8 + 7.75 + 8.25 + 25.5 = 123.75

Final Overall Thoughts:

Like seneca, you've managed to leap-frog a few other participants with a strong showing in the last couple rounds.  You also happened to be involved in both band battles in the roulette.  One with Mastodon, which essentially ended in a draw.  The other was with Coheed & Cambria, where you sent the better batch of songs, much to Luke's chagrin.  :-)  I'm not sure they're a band I can get into as a whole, particularly due to the vocals, but the guitars on "The Dark Sentencer" sounded so perfect that I'll still definitely at least be checking out that album at some point.  You also sent a variety of things I want to look into further, from Bonobo to The Mask of the Phantasm to Sufi's Life.  Even though St. Vincent didn't score as well I suspect at least something of her's would interest me.  And then I had already heard some Howe/Wooten/Chambers and Steely Dan, but you've raised my interest in revisiting them again. 

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8th Place

HOF - "Beautiful Songs You Should Know (Get This Tape To Litho)"

1:  Tim Bowness - "Worlds of Yesterday"
2:  Chroma Key - "Another Permanent Address"
3:  Kip Winger - "Landslide"
4:  Chroma Key - "Undertow"
5:  Tim Bowness & Giancarlo Erra - "Beautiful Songs You Should Know"
6:  Kip Winger - "Only One Word"
7:  Chroma Key - "On the Page"
8:  Kip Winger - "Don't Let Go"
9:  Tim Bowness - "Songs of Distant Summer, Pt. 2"

Early Impressions - "This makes me want to make a kind of music that I don't think exists." - "I love the stylistic textures of much of these songs, the question is going to be if the melodies and vocalists stand out."

Favorite - Tim Bowness & Giancarlo Erra - "Beautiful Songs You Should Know"
Least Favorite - Kip Winger - "Landslide"

Final Summary:

Well, they still don't stand out as much as I'd like them to, but that doesn't mean there aren't quite a variety of things I appreciate about this batch. 

Details:

I feel like I should know Chroma Key.  Of course they're one of Dream Theater's earlier "side projects", and given that "Space Dye Vest" is one of my absolute favorite songs of theirs, I would think I should like Kevin Moore's work, well "more".  I know I heard some of it much earlier, but I guess it failed to captivate me.  It seemed at the time that there was a lot of overlap between fans of the DT albums with Kevin, his side projects, and electronic music in general, which would take a number of years for me to really get into more deeply.  In retrospect I think I would have blamed the part of me at the time that was generally more into the uber-technical and virtuosic sides of music - all the prog and power metal I was mainlining back when I was looking into the DT-adjacent bands. 

But my tastes have broadened quite a bit since then, so I would think this would appeal to me more now.  And I guess it kind of does, just not quite as much as I want it to.  I like it, but I still don't quite "love" it.  I'm not entirely sure why.  [Although I have to note that in editing writeups it has slowly grown on me a smidge more and I bumped the score up a bit, so you might need to mentally reduce the intensity of any criticism down 10-20%.]  Kevin is a more palatable vocalist to me than James LaBrie is, but I guess I just don't find the melodies in these songs as indelible as I'd like them to be.  I do enjoy some of the instrumentation though, the tremolo/Leslie effect at 0:09 and other spots in "Another Permanent Address" is a particular favorite, for example.  There are some splendid effects cymbal accents and bass fills in "Undertow" and "On the Page".  The latter of course has the title drop for the parenthetical half of the title, and the piano riff is rather hypnotic.  Even more so than some other styles, this might be a case where it could be other tracks on an album that would hit more strongly and everything would cohere more. 

Tim Bowness is kind of a similar story.  In this case he's Porcupine Tree-adjacent, which is another band that I like the music of, but don't enjoy the vocals from as much.  Tim's are alright, I suppose, but aren't even quite as effective as Kevin Moore's are.  The instrumental backing of the Bowness tracks is really what intrigues me the most though.  Especially on "Worlds of Yesterday", the lush 12-string textures and some of the atmospherics remind me a bit of a band I really love, Autumn's Grey Solace.  But there's this proggier flair to the music, with the fretless bass, the Melotron, the flute, the slide guitars, sustained leads, atmospheric ornamentation and such.  The heavier modulation effects in "Songs of Distant Summers, Pt 2" are also a welcome addition. 

Autumn's Grey Solace is more ethereal and with vocals I like more, and I really want to mash the two bands together to create a super-band in the "progressive ethereal wave" subgenre, which as far as I know doesn't really exist.  Reading that the Tim Bowness/Giancarlo Erra album has a guest appearance from Julianne Regan (one of my favorite vocalists, of All About Eve, who have some sonic similarities to AGS) piques my interest even more.  "Beautiful Songs You Should Know" is the highlight of the EP though, the sublime cello work there lifts it, and the melodies are more memorable.  That track and the Regan connection alone are probably enough to get me to check this album out. 

Kip Winger is basically a meme at this point on DTF, and this could be a case of just picking the wrong songs.  In 425's prior roulette I remember you sending some of his work, and I gave a few listens to those at the time, as well as a number of others that came up on autoplay (back when I had more time for listening to music outside of my roulette).  I remember enjoying those a bit more than these tracks.  There's nothing wrong with them, really, I just remember there being even better ones that I'll have to revisit.  So much to TAC's chagrin, I'm probably going to have to explore more of Kip's work as well.  But Jordan Rudess worked with Kip, and JR is part of DT, so yeah, checkmate Tim.  *mic drop*

"Landslide" might be my least favorite song of the EP, but even it has some intriguing qualities, like some of the bass lines, and the percussion, some of which sounds like an udu, one of my favorite hand percussion aerophone/idiophones.  "Only One Word" has more of that rich and delightful 12-string guitar texture, and an excellent guitar solo with a savory tone.  The solo in "Don't Let Go" is tasty as well. 

So ultimately I like the flavors of a lot of these songs even if they don't particularly become earworms after listening.  For whatever reason we just have less overlap in some of the more minimalistic-leaning, atmospheric artists than some of the more densely-packed ones.  Still, it's a fairly good EP, and grew on me a bit even as I was finalizing everything, so I do like it even a tad more than the overall tone comes across.  I hope you run your own roulette at some point, because even some of your lower-scoring entries give me ideas that other participant's submissions don't, and it would be a joy to immerse myself in some of those headspaces a bit more. 

Score:  23.25/30

Final Cumulative Score:  9 + 9 + 6.5 + 7.25 + 8.5 + 7 + 8.25 + 7.25 + 8 + 9 + 8.75 + 6.75 + 7.75 + 23.25 = 126.25

Final Overall Thoughts:

You've had one of the most fascinating trajectories of any participant.  Right out of the gate you started out with two smash hits I'd never even heard of with The Far Meadow and Yaatri, both of which are still some of my favorite music of the roulette.  From there on was quite a lot of seesawing, with your submissions either tending to work really well or just not really connecting with me much.  It seems like the more heavily-layered the music you sent was, the better it did.  Our taste in sparser, atmospheric music might not be quite the same.  But you really filled in a gap in my musical taste that I didn't even realize was there, focusing more on the lighter end of the modern and neo-prog scenes with those artists, plus Ske and Big Big Train being especially big big hits.  Or artists that are a bit more loosely affiliated with that sound like Rocket Moth, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, The Week That Was, or Stefano Panunzi.  Even with an artist that didn't score quite as well like McStine & Minnemann, given my penchant for Marco's playing, I'm still likely to investigate more of their work. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

7th Place

soupytwist - "Dudes & Divas Duet Delights"

1:  The Pet Shop Boys - "What Have I Done To Deserve This" - with Dusty Springfield
2:  Van William - "Revolution" - with First Aid Kit
3:  Avantasia - "Misplaced Among the Angels" - with Floor Jansen
4:  Lana Del Rey - "Tomorrow Never Came" - with Sean Lennon
5:  The Decemberists - "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid" - with Shara Nova
6:  Arion - "At the Break of Dawn" - with Elize Ryd
7:  Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros - "Home"
8:  The Mendoza Line - "Aspect of an Old Maid" - with Will Sheff
9:  Orden Ogan - "Come With Me To the Other Side" - with Liv Kristine

Early Impressions - "Am I in an early 2010s Apple commercial?" - "I'm not sure these styles normally live in the same area of town, but your theme makes it work well enough, I suppose."

Favorite - Arion - "At the Break of Dawn"
Least Favorite - The Mendoza Line - "Aspect of an Old Maid"

Final Summary:

This is possibly the widest varying EP of the whole round in terms of quality, with one of my favorite songs of the round ("At the Break of Dawn"), and also one my least favorite ("Aspect of an Old Maid").  The clash of styles between power metal and indie folk/pop works better than it has any right to though. 

Details:

So either by paying closer attention than most or by happy accident, you've discovered that this format is definitely a musical trope that I find quite irresistible.  And I never thought that power metal and indie folk/pop could happily coexist, but it turns out they actually have more than a few things in common.  This also ends up being a fun "which song is the most out of place" game, where I could see multiple correct answers being plausible. 

The best candidate might just happen to be the opening track.  It's much older than the other songs, and is much more broadly electronic in nature.  I have a couple of Pet Shop Boys CDs, including this particular one, so it always feels a little weird when people recommend me music that I already own.  But this roulette has proven time and time again that I clearly need those recommendations.  I hadn't even rated this CD yet, and the only song from it that I know without relistening is "It's a Sin".  I think I heard the Gamma Ray (hey, there's more power metal!, maybe these songs secretly do have more in common after all...) cover of it first.  Maybe that's how I first heard about PSB in the first place, but it's been so long that I don't trust my memory there.  And of course Ghost from last round has a cover of that song too.  But enough of a tangent on a song that's not even in the round...  "What Have I Done To Deserve This" is one I was lukewarm on at first, but it's grown on me a decent amount.  Generally the synthpop I like in this era is a bit more melancholic than this, but it's actually rather charming. 

We've already broached the topic of power metal, so we might as well dive full-bore into that next.  On paper I should like Avantasia, with the epic guest lists that I love with an artist like Ayreon.  And I've listened to a number of albums of theirs and various other tracks, but they've never quite clicked.  Edguy was one of the first few power metal bands I got into, but I grew weary of Tobias' voice after awhile.  I think that put me off listening to them as much, although I've been slightly warming back up to Tobias over the last few years again.  And of course Floor is one of my favorite vocalists, so I'm pretty sure I at least gave a cursory listen to "Misplaced Among the Angels" at some point.  And it's a pretty fun track.  I love a good belter-off, and it excels on that front.  I'm handing Floor the win, but I think I already disqualified myself a few sentences ago.  But wait, apparently I'm still the judge though for some reason, so I guess that's the verdict. 

Speaking of Ayreon earlier, now we have the improperly-spelled dollar store knock-off "Arion"'s "At the Break of Dawn" - a song I know I stumbled upon at some point because I find Elize easily the best part of Amaranthe, but I somehow didn't really know it yet.  Which turns out to be fortunate for you, because this is just a tremendous firing-on-all-cylinders slab of power metal.  That chorus has nuclear-grade hooks.  A great solo, tasty synth work, sprinklings of piano, the cornucopia of delights abound.  I never get tired of that slow low pass filter sweep to fade the song in either.  It's definitely the best song of the lot, and one of the top tracks of the round.  Good thing you didn't can it.  Maybe they're not such a dollar store knock-off after all - oops, those pesky homophones. 

Orden Ogan's "Come With Me To the Other Side" is pretty good, but doesn't quite reach those same heights.  I enjoyed one of their albums a few years ago, and like a lot of Liv Kristine's projects, though they usually aren't quite my absolute favorites of their type.  That drum fill at 0:55 to kick the song into high-gear kind of comes out of nowhere, but I look forward to it now.  I also like how towards the end it modulates down a step rather than up to subvert the cliché key change, but then subverts that by raising back up to the original key again - that's a fun sort of fakeout. 

Now we swing back and look at the more indie folk/pop sort of songs.  I was momentarily confused because Van Williams was Nevermore's drummer, definitely not an indie folk artist and if anything far closer to power metal.  The lack of the "s" in the last name turns out to be crucial.  I must say that I had some mild resentment towards First Aid Kit because they single-handedly wrecked my score for 425's last roulette, stealing the second round away from Kingfisher Sky.  But you know, that's not really their fault, it's your fault for sending them.  :-p  "Revolution" is a pretty rousing song though, that simple bass drum and snare/tambourine back and forth is astoundingly effective - it should not work that well, but yet it does.  I can't get that trumpet melody out of my head either.  I enjoyed my rushed single listen to First Aid Kit's '22 album (and more than the earlier album I'd heard), but I clearly need to check them out further, they're FAKing good. 

Then for Lana Del Rey's "Tomorrow Never Came", it's been a long slow journey trying to get into more of her music.  It's adjacent to a lot of other music I like, but I've never fully gotten onboard with her, though I slowly add more songs I like over time.  This one is pretty solid, though Sean Lennon doesn't do much for me on it.  And I don't like the "isn't life crazy I said, now that I'm singing with Sean" line, it's a bit too self-referential and on-the-nose. 

The Decemberists' "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid" is basically four-songs-in-one.  And they're all quite good.  I know I used to listen to them a little bit, and apparently even heard this album at the time, but I don't really remember it.  I remember The Crane Wife seeming better and listening to it more, but based on this song I'll probably need to reevaluate The Hazards of Life.  The mixture of baroque pop/folk and sort of blues rock is pretty addictive here.  You were worried about whether I'd like Colin's voice, and you needn't have been, he's perfectly fine. 

Now we get to the most challenging section of the EP.  Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home" is where my impression was drawn from.  This song apparently is something of an inflection point in the indie folk takeover of TV commercials for awhile.  I've never been a huge TV watcher, but there was a vague familiarity to it, so I imagine I must have heard this song or others inspired by it at various points.  Other than by occasionally stumbling upon things I just didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the indie scene though, so even a lot of the more famous and/or renowned music from it tended to pass me by.  Apparently some people think a song I relish, "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men, is a ripoff of this song, but I can only hear rather superficial similarities. 

Between the whistling, the group "hey!"s and "ho!"s in the background, and that amusing but silly and nonsensical middle skit of sorts in "Home", apparently indie folk can be even cheesier than three power metal songs, cheesier than a five-cheese Ziti al Forno.  Checkmate, hipsters.  That chorus is so undeniably catchy though, I just can't hate this song.  Even that utterly ridiculous but impossible to take your ears away from skit segues so seamlessly back into the chorus it's maddening.  For some reason I get this visual from The Wizard of Oz of Dorothy/Toto, the tinman, the scarecrow, and the cowardly lion bouncing along down the yellow brick road side-by-side to that chorus.  I've probably ruined this song for you now, haven't I? ;-)

The Mendoza Line's "Aspect of an Old Maid" though.  Oof, this one's not so good.  The vocal stylings of both vocalists (uh oh, Okkervil River again), the Bob Dylan-esque harmonica noodlings, the cringey lyrics, there's probably some irony to this song that's just completely going over my head, but yeah, this one's just not working for me.  You knew I wouldn't like it and yet you sent it anyway.  Crow would approve of this strategy.  :-)  Fortunately one of my impressions for Tomi's EP works for yours as well, and the better songs easily outweigh the weaker ones here. 

Score:  24.5/30

Final Cumulative Score:  6.5 + 6.75 + 9 + 8.75 + 8 + 8.25 + 8.25 + 7.75 + 8.75 + 8 + 7.5 + 7.25 + 8.25 + 24.5 = 127.5

Final Overall Thoughts:

You had easily the most meteoric rise of the roulette.  Being near the bottom after the first two rounds, a strong series of submissions rocketed you briefly into the top third after the sixth round, and then you pretty much continued to hover right around the fringe of it for the rest of the roulette.  Your most outstanding entries were from bands I'd never even heard of with Katzenjammer and Camera Obscura.  Most of your other submissions were improving moderately to majorly my opinions of other artists like Seven Spires, Ancient Bards, Ghost, Beach House, Bring Me the Horizon, and Manic Street Preachers.  And of course, we'll always have Dirt Poor Robins - easily one of my favorite artists of the whole roulette at this point, and you managed to swoop in and send them before Soundscape did.  Even Yeah Yeah Yeahs, while not scoring quite as well, I imagine have other material I'd enjoy, so I'll probably investigate them further at some point. 

[Evermind]

[twosuitsluke]

Guess I should check out The Expendables.

[soupytwist]

'Little talks' was actually on the EP originally - was quite annoyed when I found it in your RYM page 

I won't post to much now as what I intend to do (if it's any interest to you?) Is post once all the results are in with an analysis of the songs I chose, the reasons behind them and the scores they got.

Other than that I'll just end here with a it's been fun, thanks 'Lizzo'.

[Lethean]

Arion took their name from Greek mythology and isn't supposed to be related to Ayreon.

I haven't thought about Orden Ogan for a while - not a huge fan, but they do have a bunch of cool songs and their set at ProgPower the year they played was a lot of fun.

[HOF]

I have to confess, my library of interesting music to send felt pretty barren by the time we made it to the EP round! But it was a fun roulette and I got to send some stuff I’ve never sent before. I’m just glad I finished the marathon! Also glad you liked so much of what I sent.

I went with the more mellow stuff from Kip’s solo catalog to kind of fit it in with the Bowness and Chroma Key stuff. Not that he has a ton of rocky solo stuff (that’s more what Winger is for), but if these were too low key there is more upbeat stuff there. I’m surprised Landslide didn’t do as well just because that track is so immersive to me. But it also fits better within the context of that album. Those solos on Only One Word and Don’t Let Go are by Andy Timmons, BTW, someone I know you’ve mentioned being a fan of before. His work on Kip’s first two solo albums is outstanding, so I definitely recommend you at least check those out.

I figured Bowness and Moore’s voices would be a sticking point for you. To me they both fit the music they make very well, but obviously neither are especially gifted vocalists. Still I enjoy what they each do with what they have. Bowness is especially adept at just making his voice another sound texture in the whole musical picture. I think you’d definitely like both the album with Giancarlo Era and also Lost In The Ghost Light which is more of a 70s prog affair.

Chroma Key I think you should also explore those full albums because if you liked those tracks well enough there are others you should like too. Some of them I prefer but didn’t include here because I had to fit everything into the EP requirements. Dead Air for Radios is my favorite of the Chroma Key albums, so at least check it out, but You Go Now is good too.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Guess I should check out The Expendables.

Oh, a comment you made earlier made me think you already knew them.  I guess you just knew of them. 

I won't post to much now as what I intend to do (if it's any interest to you?) Is post once all the results are in with an analysis of the songs I chose, the reasons behind them and the scores they got.

I'm definitely interested.  Though I think you might be mistaking the scores for each of the 14 rounds adding up to the cumulative total, for an EP song score.  I didn't score those individually, doing near 150 of them probably would have broken my brain. 

Other than that I'll just end here with a it's been fun, thanks 'Lizzo'.

I unearthed that gem when skimming 425's previous roulette and couldn't resist it.  I'm half-tempted to make my user text as something like "King Lizzo & The Jazz O'Spheres" to be trendy. 

Arion took their name from Greek mythology and isn't supposed to be related to Ayreon.

It's so much more fun my way though. 

Those solos on Only One Word and Don’t Let Go are by Andy Timmons, BTW, someone I know you’ve mentioned being a fan of before. His work on Kip’s first two solo albums is outstanding, so I definitely recommend you at least check those out.

Oh, wow.  Yeah, due to the sheer volume of music I didn't have time to do as much research as I normally try to do, so I didn't get around to checking who played on those tracks, and just assumed it was Kip or some anonymous studio guy. 

I figured Bowness and Moore’s voices would be a sticking point for you. To me they both fit the music they make very well, but obviously neither are especially gifted vocalists.

They weren't a problem, really, there were plenty of vocalists throughout the roulette that rankled me far more, they just didn't give it the pizzazz say, Vincent Cavanagh or Garm could have given it.  But everyone has different vocal tastes. 

[Lonk]

Thanks for having me, I had a good time 

Yeah, As I mentioned in my email, I really had no time to work on the EP much, obvious by the fact that I did not finish it  (August and the first have of this month have been consumed by work and other personal obligations). I could have come up with an extra 3-4 songs that would have made up for a nice EP (with a story), but guess I'll need to save the songs for the next one 

[ariich]

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Thanks for having me, I had a good time 

Yeah, As I mentioned in my email, I really had no time to work on the EP much, obvious by the fact that I did not finish it  (August and the first have of this month have been consumed by work and other personal obligations). I could have come up with an extra 3-4 songs that would have made up for a nice EP (with a story), but guess I'll need to save the songs for the next one 

I'm surprised you didn't add some Tomorrows Bad Seeds to go with The Expendables. I think Litho would like them if he liked Expendables.

[Lonk]

I don't know a lot of their music, but I actually had R.O.M.P. on the "maybe" list. I need to check out more of their music

[soupytwist]

I'm definitely interested.  Though I think you might be mistaking the scores for each of the 14 rounds adding up to the cumulative total, for an EP song score.  I didn't score those individually, doing near 150 of them probably would have broken my brain. 

Sorry, I meant I've do a write about all of my selections starting with round 1 and ending on the roulette.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I could have come up with an extra 3-4 songs that would have made up for a nice EP (with a story), but guess I'll need to save the songs for the next one 

Heh, well three of those bands may very well be banned by then.     Maybe there are more I won't find by whenever that is.   

I'm definitely interested.  Though I think you might be mistaking the scores for each of the 14 rounds adding up to the cumulative total, for an EP song score.  I didn't score those individually, doing near 150 of them probably would have broken my brain. 

Sorry, I meant I've do a write about all of my selections starting with round 1 and ending on the roulette.

Oh, oops, I thought you were misinterpreting me, but it was me that was misinterpreting you.   

[LithoJazzoSphere]

[LithoJazzoSphere]

6th Place

TAC - "Hazel The Witch"

Side 1:

1:  Adrian Tăbăcaru - "Lucifer"
2:  Tanith - "Falling Wizard"
3:  Pale Divine - "Satan In Starlight"
4:  Phantom Spell - "Blood Becomes Sand"

Side 2:

5:  The Vintage Caravan - "Dark Times"
6:  Horisont - "All Must Come To An End, Pt. 1 & 2"
7:  Winterhawk - "Revival"
8:  Dead Lord - "Evil Always Wins"

Early Impressions - "Getting the right vibe with this approach is a tricky endeavor, but this does better than I worried it might." - "I probably complain an uncomfortable amount about the keys songs are in, but possibly the best song is in one of my least favorite keys, which is the sign of a really good song."

Favorite - Phantom Spell - "Blood Becomes Sand"
Least Favorite - Horisont - "All Must Come To An End, Part I & II"

Final Summary:

While my tastes are generally more modern, this throwback-style EP outperforms expectations with engaging musicianship and a cohesive feel. 

Details:

I must confess that while the wordplay is clever and the concept is intriguing, I was a bit apprehensive going in about how the execution would come out.  Wytch Hazel is easily my favorite of the current retro-styled bands, but explaining what it is about them that is so appealing is quite difficult to do.  A lot of it is in intangibles relating to their guitar tone, production style, songwriting, vocal character, and even their tuning and keys they perform in that are difficult if not impossible to boil down to a concrete formula.  But to praise with faint damnation, if I'd come across this EP idea in the abstract in 2019 I'd have expected it to score less than it actually will.  It's also fascinating that I knew next to nothing about any of these artists.  Admittedly I don't seek out these type of bands very frequently, but I like to think I at least have my ear to the ground, and yet I think I might have heard one song each from Tanith and Winterhawk before, and never even heard of any of the other artists before this. 

Adrian Tăbăcaru's "Lucifer" really sets the tone immediately.  Of course he'd be Romanian, that Dracula-esque accent is just unmistakable.  And it's a pretty good song to boot, with those fascinating sustained guitar lines, the contrast between the organ/vocal bits and the heavier passages, and then the last minute or so with the solo and guest vocals is particularly strong.  Tanith's "Falling Wizard" is fairly straightforward, but with some solid playing, nice guitar harmonies, some tasty high-pitched toms, and more variety in the vocal format.  Pale Divine's "Satan in Starlight" continues in the same vein, with more excellent playing and harmonized soloing. 

Phantom Spell's "Blood Becomes Sand" was easily the more serendipitous song of the set.  It sounds like an Iced Earth-Thin Lizzy collaboration that I didn't even realize I wanted.  It has an outstanding epic feel, starting from just the acoustics, flanged electric fingerpicking, and delicious tone on the lightly overdriven harmonies.  I'm unsure how exactly the chimier sustained guitar tones are being achieved, but they really add a lot, as well as the Melotron backing a couple minutes in.  And then halfway through it becomes quite a journey with the tempo change, some superb harmonies, and the solo gets increasingly voluminous-sounding applying all the reverb and flanger to it while the drums go to having the snare on every beat.  Then we get the sparkling synths panning across the stereo spectrum as it fades out, this is really just a magical track.  All it really needs is a vocalist on the level of Matt Barlow or Phil Lynott to be complete. 

We're back to more straight-ahead territory with The Vintage Caravan's "Dark Times", which is pretty good, but doesn't stand out as much.  Apparently this is the heavy modulation section of the EP though with the strong effects on the vocals around 2:47.  Horisont's "All Must Come To An End Part I & II" is pretty decent, and the piano is a nice contrast, though the song is a bit more on the lo-fi side production-wise than the others, and the vocals sound distractingly like Ozzy in many spots (although the lyrical reference is of course to Maiden). 

Winterhawk's "Revival" might be the best song instrumental performance-wise of the set.  It has quite a bit of Rush DNA to it.  It has probably the best solo of the EP, some fabulous bass work, lively drumming (more vibrant higher-pitched toms), but nettlingly true to the early Rush experience, the vocals are a little overbearing in the higher range.  Dead Lord's "Evil Always Wins" is a capable enough closer, with some more striking guitar work and harmonies.  The vocals remind me of someone, but I can't put my finger exactly on who it is. 

Score:  24/30

Final Cumulative Score:  8.25 + 8.25 + 8.75 + 7.5 + 7.25 + 7.5 + 9 + 8.5 + 9 + 7.25 + 8 + 8.25 + 8 + 24 = 129.5

Final Overall Thoughts:

You're probably a bit disappointed with your sudden dip in the standings in the last few rounds, but I think it has more to do with the unusually strong last minute push from a few of your competitors.  More generally you seem to have a chameleon ability to mold many of your submissions to what people are looking for, which explains why you seem to perform unusually well at many of these roulettes.  Circus of Fools and Dreamgrave in particular were two artists I knew nothing about, but out of hundreds of artists sent in the roulette seemed like part of a small handful that felt uniquely-suited to me.  Lost Domain, Ereb Altor, Altherya, Abduction, Euphoreon, and Moonshade all interest me in varying degrees to listen to more from them.  Even some of your more arguably self-indulgent submissions like Alice Cooper, Lucifer's Friend, and Helloween have expanded my views of them and I'll probably pursue them further as well.  I might as well remind you again about that Alice Cooper playlist you've talked about, thought I imagine you probably haven't forgotten anyway.  And outscoring Buddy with Innellea was a coup for the ages. 

[LithoJazzoSphere]

5th Place

Lethean - "Second Chances (or Suicide?)"

1:  Caligula's Horse - "Songs For No One"
2:  Fates Warning - "The Light and the Shade of Things"
3:  Leprous - "Distant Bells"
4:  Sailors With Wax Wings - "If I Should Cast Off This Tattered Coat"
5:  Einar Solberg - "The Glass Is Empty"

Early Impressions - "O I C what U did there." - "It feels like this ends rather abruptly, which is a little frustrating, but the journey was epic enough otherwise that I can only complain so much."

Lethean:

Favorite - Leprous - "Distant Bells"
Least Favorite - Fates Warning - "The Light and Shade of Things"

Final Summary:

I don't know if I'm yet 100% sold on some of these artists, but this is a much stronger foot forward for several of them, accomplishing the goal of the EP in spades. 

Details:

So this is a rather fascinating mixture of artists.  I've heard material from all of them before (sometimes in ways I didn't realize at first), so the title makes perfect sense.  I already talked briefly about how I seem to be getting quite a lot of Jim Grey in this roulette in my writeup for Puppies, which has a different Caligula's Horse song.  But you're the first one to actually submit a song that makes me think I've been undervaluing this band more than I realized.  I don't know if you went back and read my writeup for "Dragonfly", which appeared in the first round, but one of the things that didn't quite work for me was Jim's upper range.  This song thankfully mostly avoids it, or when it's there it's part of backing vocals awash in enough effects to make it more palatable.  It also focuses more on the heavier, bassier riffing feel which works well for their sound, and has a lot of notable guitar work.  So this is definitely the best thing sent from them or Jim yet. 

Fates Warning is one of those gaping holes in my musical knowledge.  I own one of their earliest albums, but I've heard a miniscule amount of their work since then.  This is unfortunately the weakest track on the EP, but that says something about how marvelous everything else is, because even here while I'm not blown away, I am still interested in pursuing Fates Warning further, and I've only heard a limited amount of Ray Alder, but I can see why he's become a fairly revered vocalist, as his vocals here are definitely the strong point of the song.  I also particularly like the quieter middle part of the song at 6:14 with the acoustics, flanged clean electric, and slide lead work.  Jarzombek's playing is perhaps a bit more restrained than I would have expected, but still supports the material quite well and adds some flair.  I'll have to listen to their earlier work to hear Mark Zonder, who I've always been a bit curious about. 

I suspect Leprous is still going to be a lengthier process for me to really get more into, but I think you've struck gold with this particular song.  I still worry superficially-similar ones from them are not going to work as well, but "Distant Bells" manages to strike the right chords.  Einar's vocal style is not one of my normal preferred types, but he's so good at it, and the melodies and dynamics are so exceptional that he makes it work better than it has any right to.  That more fragile male falsetto range often nettles me, but he threads the needle here, reminding me a bit of Sam Smith, one of the more skilled practitioners of that approach.  The piano, cello and harp accompaniment and the two layers of percussive but heavily-delayed guitar in the five minute range also add quite a lot, including the pizzicato strings at the ending.  Kolstad's drumming is rather tasty as well, though I still feel like I've mostly heard him in more relatively subdued modes. 

Jumping ahead, where Einar remains the central feature of the final song, "The Glass is Empty", the first half of the song is quite excellent with the interaction of the string arrangements, piano, and choral backing vocals.  My main quibble is that the last six-ish minutes of the song have this nearly constant slow build, and then it cuts off right as it reaches maximum tension.  I guess the "progressive" thing may be to subvert your expectations, but it just builds up so much pressure with no release for it that it is a bit rankling, even on repeat listens where I know what is going to happen.  It's tempting to make a custom cut of the song that just splices in a repeat of the section at 4:10, which would achieve a more proper catharsis.  Given the title of the song, "The Glass Is Empty", that's probably not the artistic intention, but it would make it a more fulfilling listening experience, for me at least. 

And then we circle back to the crowning achievement of the EP, somehow sneaking in some Jonas Renkse.  Now all is clear what you meant in the initial PM.  It's possible I've been remiss in hearing other guest appearances of his as well, but apparently this is one that I really overlooked.  Perhaps I heard it years ago and since he's a bit buried in the mix, just never consciously thought to return to it, I'm not sure.  I was really missing out though, because it's quite a magnificent track.  Those exquisite harmonies, the cello and sublime drenched guitar tone in the middle, it's almost like a Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Katatonia collaboration I didn't even realize I needed. 

And just reading lightly about them, they really are a supergroup of sorts.  I've heard some of Aidan Baker's ambient work, Colin Marston has been in a bunch of bands I've listened to, I know I've heard something or another of Prurient's at one point, Hildur Guðnadóttir has done some stellar film/show scoring (and I didn't realize that her brother is in Agent Fresco, and guested on "The Glass Is Empty"), David Tibet is an iconic figure in the industrial scene, plus there are guest spots from Aaron Stainthorpe and Marissa Nadler.  I've already given cursory listens to several other songs from this album, and will have to sink much more time into them later. 

Score:  26.25/30

Final Cumulative Score:  8.25 + 8.25 + 8.75 + 7.5 + 7.25 + 7.5 + 9 + 8.5 + 9 + 7.25 + 8 + 8.25 + 8 + 26.25 = 129.75

Final Overall Thoughts:

I can't seem to find the quotation now, but I remember you saying something awhile back about us having Katatonia as a shared favorite band not really meaning anything about our tastes having much in common.  While that's technically true, your placement here would certainly indicate that we do though.  I'm not quite as into some of your favorite bands as you are (yet?), and I'm sure I have many pockets of favorites that aren't your thing, but we do seem to both have an affinity for certain varieties of bands, especially the somewhat more somber ends of the global prog metal scene in particular.  I had kind of gotten away from it to a certain extent over time, but a lot of your entries have made me realize it's still a vital aspect of my taste that'll probably never go away.  I'll certainly be looking forward to hearing more from Voyager, Solefald, Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik, Kiko Loureiro, Angra, Threshold, Crimson Glory, Riverside, and Daydream XI.  And it's quite a feat for you to have snuck in at least three loosely Katatonia-affiliated artists with Arcturus, Full of Keys, and now Sailors With Wax Wings.  Your strong performance in the final few rounds has managed to catapult you from 8th place after round 11, now to finishing in the top 5.  Bravo, bravo!

---

4th Place

ariich - "Paragons of Creation, Arbiters of Change"

1:  Disillusion - "In Waking Hours"
2:  An Abstract Illusion - "Drop This Planet of Dust"
3:  Xanthochroid - "To Lost and Ancient Gardens"
4:  Aetherian - "Army of Gaia"
5:  Xanthochroid - "The Sound of Hunger Rises"
6:  Disillusion - "The Liberation"
7:  Xanthochroid - "To Souls Distant and Dreaming"

Early Impressions - "This dances around the edges of the sounds I like, and that's probably good enough." - "One song sounds like part of a holy grail long lost Disney musical that there have only been whispers regarding."

Favorite - Xanthochroid - "To Lost and Ancient Gardens"
Least Favorite - Aetherian - "Army of Gaia"

Final Summary:

This is a pretty safe submission, but I'm quite often perfectly fine with safe, and this late in the game, it's all it takes to finish well. 

Details:

So it seems that we generally have slightly different flavors of melodeath we prefer, but they're still overall close enough to be safe bets.  And we send each other these heavy EPs with lots of harsh vocals, and what are our favorite tracks on them?  The folky acoustic ones with nary a hint of aggression in sight.  Yeah, go figure. 

Disillusion's "In Waking Hours" makes for a great intro.  I find a lot of those shorter acoustic pieces that these type of bands release quite addicting.  Sometimes the ones with string accompaniments can be a bit more artificial than I'd like when they're keyboard-generated, but here it's clear that the patch is more of a synth pad that is obviously electronic, but has the timbral characteristics you'd want from a string section, so it merges the worlds quite nicely.  I've heard a bit of Disillusion before, but they're one of far too many bands that I have just never gotten around to familiarizing myself enough with.  "The Liberation" is probably my second favorite song of the batch, it feels somewhere in the ballpark of Soilwork covering Opeth, but with enough unique characteristics to not sound just like a clone (though sometimes the clones are a lot of fun too).  The modulation effects on the clean vocals about a half-hour in and some of the doomier riffs are a nice touch as well.  I clearly need to check out more of their work. 

An Abstract Illusion seems to be becoming one of the bigger names of late, particularly here.  As you pointed out, I did check out their album last year fairly early on in the roulette to see if it was worthy of a high placement on my too hastily thrown-together best of the year list.  I enjoyed it but found it too dense to rocket up the list very quickly, and my time was stretched extra-thin as it was anyway.  So this is quite useful to see that their earlier work is also of a high quality.  "Drop This Planet of Dust" doesn't move me quite as much as I'd like it to, but it's still close enough to what I like that I'm interested in exploring more of their material as well.  The more prominent bass work, sustained guitar lines, synthesizer lead incorporation, and piano are auspicious to more of their work having a chance to resonate even more with me. 

Easily the most enchanting piece here is Xanthochroid's "To Lost and Ancient Gardens".  There's a certain whimsical quality to it which generated the impression, and the vocals are rather amusingly anodyne for a metal band, almost Glee-like, but I enjoy those sort of contrasts, and it's just an ensorcelling bit of songwriting with quite charming interwoven acoustic guitar tapestries, almost dulcimer-like.  I can't help but be drawn to it.  It reminds me a little of Green Carnation's "Transparent Me". 

Then "The Sound of Hunger Rises" opens with that sort of dramatic Latin chanting that has been done quite a lot, but it's another trope that I just can't resist.  The metallic parts of it aren't particularly compelling, and the croaky harsh vocals are a bit odd, but the pipe organ and acoustic ending with the choral vocals are engaging enough to elevate it some.  I also particularly enjoy the chromatic percussion doubling the riff at 19:16.  :"To Souls Lost and Dreaming" has some excellent soloing, atmospheric clean guitar work, a splendid bass-driven intro, and it seems too on-the-nose to be just a happy accident, but the percussive acoustic guitar work evokes my worst submission in your roulette.  Maybe not all was lost there.  ;-)

Aetherian's "Army of Gaia" sounds impressively Insomnium-like.  I still don't entirely know why that particular slant on melodeath is one I often like but don't completely fall for, but it's fairly well-done.  They have a rather unique-sounding percussive attack to some of the synchronized riffs that I haven't heard anything exactly like before. 

As I told you earlier, I appreciate the extra effort in crafting a story of sorts, picking artwork and such.  Part of me wants to hand out extra points to the few of you that went above and beyond in that regard, though it wouldn't technically be fair via the guidelines I created earlier.  This EP is solid enough to not really need them anyway though. 

Score:  25/30

Final Cumulative Score:  7.75 + 7.5 + 7.5 + 8.25 + 8 + 8 + 9 + 7.75 + 8.75 + 7.75 + 8.25 + 8.25 + 8.75 + 25 = 130.5

Final Overall Thoughts:

You are one of the relatively few people left from the "glory days" of the forum, and though I don't recall us interacting a whole lot back then, from what I can recall, while the specifics differ a bit, we've had broadly similar musical trajectories.  Sometimes the oddest things stick in your head years later though.  I remember at one point earlier on way back then grapping with the spelling of your username and making some pirate joke about how I thought it was or should be "arrich", lol.  You've given me quite a lot of music to chew on now though, with Monica Heldal being one of my most-listened-to artists of the roulette so far (with poor Puppies having had yet another artist stolen out from under him), and Dissona and Submotion Orchestra being two other top favorites.  Nova Collective, Stortregn, Wormwood, Ocean Colour Scene, Ultravox, and Beyond the Bridge were also less familiar to me (in sound if not in name), and I'll have to explore more from them.  And then you've further stoked my interest in Jani Liimatinainen, Insomnium, Feed Me, and Borknagar as well.

[twosuitsluke]

Who are the final three now?

[Lonk]

Evermind, Soundscape and Natchmerrie?

[Evermind]

Yeah but there's no way I'll clear the 1.25 point gap. My first impression said "the least comprehensible flow".

And obviously Lethean managed to sneak in some Jonas Renske on his EP

Good luck Nachtmerrie and Soundscape!

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Yeah but there's no way I'll clear the 1.25 point gap.

Vmadera00 and Lethean cleared larger gaps than that.

[LJS's secretary posting who has not yet been informed of the last three results]   

[Nachtmerrie]

Yeah but there's no way I'll clear the 1.25 point gap. My first impression said "the least comprehensible flow".

And obviously Lethean managed to sneak in some Jonas Renske on his EP

Good luck Nachtmerrie and Soundscape!

Thanks! I´ll stay awake until we get the final results 

Good to see Litho likes Disillusion. Ayam might be might favorite 2022 release in hindsight.

[Lethean]

5th Place

Lethean - "Second Chances (or Suicide?)"

1:  Caligula's Horse - "Songs For No One"
2:  Fates Warning - "The Light and the Shade of Things"
3:  Leprous - "Distant Bells"
4:  Sailors With Wax Wings - "If I Should Cast Off This Tattered Coat"
5:  Einar Solberg - "The Glass Is Empty"

Early Impressions - "O I C what U did there." - "It feels like this ends rather abruptly, which is a little frustrating, but the journey was epic enough otherwise that I can only complain so much."

Lethean:

Favorite - Leprous - "Distant Bells"
Least Favorite - Fates Warning - "The Light and Shade of Things"

Final Summary:

I don't know if I'm yet 100% sold on some of these artists, but this is a much stronger foot forward for several of them, accomplishing the goal of the EP in spades. 

Very glad to hear this!

Details:

So this is a rather fascinating mixture of artists.  I've heard material from all of them before (sometimes in ways I didn't realize at first), so the title makes perfect sense.  I already talked briefly about how I seem to be getting quite a lot of Jim Grey in this roulette in my writeup for Puppies, which has a different Caligula's Horse song.  But you're the first one to actually submit a song that makes me think I've been undervaluing this band more than I realized.  I don't know if you went back and read my writeup for "Dragonfly", which appeared in the first round, but one of the things that didn't quite work for me was Jim's upper range.  This song thankfully mostly avoids it, or when it's there it's part of backing vocals awash in enough effects to make it more palatable.  It also focuses more on the heavier, bassier riffing feel which works well for their sound, and has a lot of notable guitar work.  So this is definitely the best thing sent from them or Jim yet. 

I didn't re-read that writeup.  I just absolutely love this song, and it was between this one and Graves. Graves was too long to be able to fit everything else, so the choice was easy.  For me, this song is just about an emotional connection and the lyrics are incredible.

Fates Warning is one of those gaping holes in my musical knowledge.  I own one of their earliest albums, but I've heard a miniscule amount of their work since then.  This is unfortunately the weakest track on the EP, but that says something about how marvelous everything else is, because even here while I'm not blown away, I am still interested in pursuing Fates Warning further, and I've only heard a limited amount of Ray Alder, but I can see why he's become a fairly revered vocalist, as his vocals here are definitely the strong point of the song.  I also particularly like the quieter middle part of the song at 6:14 with the acoustics, flanged clean electric, and slide lead work.  Jarzombek's playing is perhaps a bit more restrained than I would have expected, but still supports the material quite well and adds some flair.  I'll have to listen to their earlier work to hear Mark Zonder, who I've always been a bit curious about. 

Yes, I'm sure that there are better Fates Warning songs to showcase the drumming a bit more.  For me, this song is absolutely about Ray Alder and I definitely wanted to showcase him.  I sometimes underrate him when thinking about my favorite singers, but every time I hear him I correct myself.  He has a very expressive delivery and is a huge part of what makes Fates so special.

I suspect Leprous is still going to be a lengthier process for me to really get more into, but I think you've struck gold with this particular song.  I still worry superficially-similar ones from them are not going to work as well, but "Distant Bells" manages to strike the right chords.  Einar's vocal style is not one of my normal preferred types, but he's so good at it, and the melodies and dynamics are so exceptional that he makes it work better than it has any right to.  That more fragile male falsetto range often nettles me, but he threads the needle here, reminding me a bit of Sam Smith, one of the more skilled practitioners of that approach.  The piano, cello and harp accompaniment and the two layers of percussive but heavily-delayed guitar in the five minute range also add quite a lot, including the pizzicato strings at the ending.  Kolstad's drumming is rather tasty as well, though I still feel like I've mostly heard him in more relatively subdued modes. 

  I'm pretty sure I mentioned in the pm that this song was a grower for me; I wasn't sure it was the best idea to send in a roulette but decided to go for it.  I'd had the album for quite a while and thought it was a pleasant enough song, then one day it *really* hit me and it's been a favorite ever since.  Another emotional heavy hitter for me.  And I saw this on a live stream where Einar was on fire and embellishing his vocals and that only made it even that much more important to me.

Jumping ahead, where Einar remains the central feature of the final song, "The Glass is Empty", the first half of the song is quite excellent with the interaction of the string arrangements, piano, and choral backing vocals.  My main quibble is that the last six-ish minutes of the song have this nearly constant slow build, and then it cuts off right as it reaches maximum tension.  I guess the "progressive" thing may be to subvert your expectations, but it just builds up so much pressure with no release for it that it is a bit rankling, even on repeat listens where I know what is going to happen.  It's tempting to make a custom cut of the song that just splices in a repeat of the section at 4:10, which would achieve a more proper catharsis.  Given the title of the song, "The Glass Is Empty", that's probably not the artistic intention, but it would make it a more fulfilling listening experience, for me at least.

I get this and probably felt the same way at first.  Especially since it closes the whole album.  But I guess I got used to it because it doesn't bother me anymore.  And I would agree that it fits with the song title.   

And then we circle back to the crowning achievement of the EP, somehow sneaking in some Jonas Renkse.  Now all is clear what you meant in the initial PM.  It's possible I've been remiss in hearing other guest appearances of his as well, but apparently this is one that I really overlooked.  Perhaps I heard it years ago and since he's a bit buried in the mix, just never consciously thought to return to it, I'm not sure.  I was really missing out though, because it's quite a magnificent track.  Those exquisite harmonies, the cello and sublime drenched guitar tone in the middle, it's almost like a Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Katatonia collaboration I didn't even realize I needed. 

I think this was the crowning achievement of the entire roulette.    I definitely wanted you to discover his vocals while listening to the song vs reading about it first, so I'm glad it worked out that way.  There might or might not be others you're missing based on your rym - I'm pretty sure you've heard both The Ocean tracks for example even though one of the albums is just on a wishlist.  What about Long Distance Calling?  I was really tempted to send that one but I thought there was a greater chance you'd have heard it before.

I can't seem to find the quotation now, but I remember you saying something awhile back about us having Katatonia as a shared favorite band not really meaning anything about our tastes having much in common.  While that's technically true, your placement here would certainly indicate that we do though.  I'm not quite as into some of your favorite bands as you are (yet?), and I'm sure I have many pockets of favorites that aren't your thing, but we do seem to both have an affinity for certain varieties of bands, especially the somewhat more somber ends of the global prog metal scene in particular.  I had kind of gotten away from it to a certain extent over time, but a lot of your entries have made me realize it's still a vital aspect of my taste that'll probably never go away.  I'll certainly be looking forward to hearing more from Voyager, Solefald, Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik, Kiko Loureiro, Angra, Threshold, Crimson Glory, Riverside, and Daydream XI.  And it's quite a feat for you to have snuck in at least three loosely Katatonia-affiliated artists with Arcturus, Full of Keys, and now Sailors With Wax Wings.  Your strong performance in the final few rounds has managed to catapult you from 8th place after round 11, now to finishing in the top 5.  Bravo, bravo!

That's awesome. Aside from Crimson Glory and Daydream XI (both of which I do like just fine), and Full of Keys and Sailors (which I only know a little), the other bands listed are favorites of mine.  I hope you enjoy discovering them and getting more into them. 

Glad to have had a strong finish to the roulette, and it was a lot of fun to participate.

[TAC]

6th Place

TAC - "Hazel The Witch"

Oh..bummed to fall out of the Top 5.
But 6th out of this many participants is pretty strong.


Thanks for running this marathon of a roulette. That was a lot of rounds.

Personally, I actually love my EP and it's probably my favorite one I've made, but I knew it was chancy, and very happy it exceeded expectations.

[Lethean]

And obviously Lethean managed to sneak in some Jonas Renske

And on not just any random roulette host, but on a huge Katatonia fan.  Quite pleased with myself.

[Stadler]

Great job, Litho.  This was fun.

[Evermind]

Great job, Litho.  This was fun.

Still is

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Great job, Litho.  This was fun.

Still is