ariich’s roulette v8 – DARK TO LIGHT LIGHT TO DARK DARK TO LIGHTAlrighty, it’s been a couple of years since my last roulette – from my v3 onwards I basically was doing one a year, but just didn’t have the time or headspace on 2022 due to house renovations, son, pregnant wife and then new baby. Life is still pretty chaotic but I’m able to get quite a lot of time to listen to music again, and I’ve been itching to do another roulette for a while.
Like my last two, this will be an inclusive roulette, with no eliminations and as many people as want to join in. I didn’t want to just repeat my v6 and make it completely open, but I also didn’t want themes that would be too complicated or too restrictive. I toyed with some ideas for themes based on some other recent roulettes, like TAC’s and Litho’s especially, but in the end decided to keep it reasonably simple and open to interpretation.
The theme is heavy and light. Rounds will cycle between being heavy, light, or completely open. My tastes are very varied, so the main thing I wanted to do this time is encourage everyone to have a bit of variety in their submissions. A lot of my regulars very much do this already, but others stick fairly closely to one mood or style.
But the themed rounds are up to you to interpret based on your musical interests. Heavy does not have to be death metal and light does not have to be acoustic ballads. Everyone has a different range – for example, I wouldn’t be surprised if wolfking’s “light” is heavier than Stadler’s “heavy”, and that’s fine. For those of you with very diverse tastes, feel free to get creative with it in terms of meeting the themes, e.g. heavy might mean emotionally heavy rather than aggressive, or light could mean fun and upbeat rather than gentle. Some artists are very varied too, and not every song needs to be heavy for the overall submission to be a heavy one. I’ll only be comparing you to your other submissions, not to other players.
SUBMISSIONS:- Submissions: Send me under 20 minutes of music by a single band/artist, subject to the banned list (see next section).
- This can be a single song or as many tracks as you like, from as many different albums as you like, as long as it’s all by the same artist and under 20 minutes. To be clear, by “under 20 minutes”, I mean maximum 19:59, not “it’s really 20:55 but the Spotify app rounds it down to 20 mins”. (EDIT: That said, I can probably accept a few seconds over especially if there's a few seconds of silence/fade out/etc at the end anyway, but I'll judge on a case-by-case basis)
- The one exception is that I will allow some leeway if you’re only sending one track that’s a long one, say around 25 minutes would be ok but feel free to check with me first. And by “one track”, I mean one track, not “multiple tracks but really it’s one song”.
- I’ll listen to everything in the order you send it. Your submission doesn’t need to be “curated” like an EP (other than the EP round, obviously) so don’t worry about flow, though if a particular order improves the listening experience then by all means send it that way.
- Format: I can accept any format really but my strong preference is either Spotify (so I can sync for offline listening) or if any song is unavailable there then mp3s (so I can add them to my local Spotify files and again sync up). But other free-to-use streaming platforms are acceptable - better to have your preferred submission than whatever happens to be on Spotify.
- Duplicates: Fine for more than one person to send the same artist in the same round.
- Scoring: Simple ratings out of 10.
ROUNDS:Seven rounds:
1. Heavy
2. Light
3. Open
4. Heavy
5. Light
6. Open
7. EP round finale (see rules below)!
EP round rules:- Length will be 20-35 minutes.
- Number of artists will be minimum 2, maximum 5.
- Maximum score will be 15 points, this will be the regular 10 point scale for how much I like the music, plus up to 5 points for flow.
- Theme or concept is entirely optional, though in my experience it can be helpful in articulating a narrative flow of some kind, so it's entirely up to you.
- Format is up to you, it can be a Spotify playlist, a collection of mp3s or a single edited mp3, send me a 3D printed vinyl in the mail, whatever works.
- The TAC rule: Banned list rules remain the same with one exception, known through the ages as the TAC rule: So that you can plan your EP ahead of time, if an artist you plan to use in your EP is used by someone else in an earlier regular round, you can PM me (after hangman is revealed but BEFORE first impressions are posted) and tell me that you plan to use that artist in your EP. However, once impressions are posted, you will be locked in to using that artist in your EP with at least a full song (i.e. not just a short intro/interlude), although you can choose whichever song(s) you like, including any sent already.
- Short intro/interlude tracks that are used for flow are exempt from the rules on number of artists and the banned list - i.e. you can use any artist at all for that purpose, and it doesn't count as one of the maximum 5. It may help your flow score but won't contribute to your music quality score.
BANNED ARTISTS AND ALBUMS: As in previous roulettes, banned artists are based on my RYM profile (
https://rateyourmusic.com/~ariich – scroll down to the "music" section and you can use the "ratings" tab to browse what I've rated, but more useful is the "Search ariich's music for" bar to see if something you're thinking of is already in my list. Although it will return everything with any of the words so it’s generally best to search based on only one word - if you really can't figure it out, just ask!). The banned rules are simple like last time:
- If I’ve rated an album (including compilations), all songs from it are banned. All other songs are not banned.
- Any songs sent in this roulette, and any artist that scores 8/10 or above, will be banned for the rest of the roulette.
OTHER INFO:- I will try and keep rounds to around a week, maybe 10 days. Last time I managed to keep a good weekly schedule, but can’t promise I’ll be quite as consistent this time. If at any point I need to take an extra few days, I’ll check in and let you know, but I’m pretty optimistic I can keep a good pace like I usually do.
- Hangman and first impressions will occur as usual. Probably comparisons as well.
- In line with previous roulettes, I will listen to every submission at least three times, but often I’ll listen more especially if I like it a lot or if I can’t decide what I think of it.
MY TASTES:I think my tastes and interests are pretty stable these days, so here’s what I’ve posted in the last two roulettes with some minor tweaks.
I have a general leaning towards rock and metal, but I like music from pretty much any other genre too. It’s a cliché, but broadly speaking the stuff I like most is that which evokes a feeling in me, or makes me want to immerse myself in it. But there are different ways music can do that, which depending on the style could contrast or could complement. An incomplete list of ways that music can, but does not necessarily, speak to me includes:
- Strong melodies and harmonies (doesn’t necessarily need to be vocal melodies, and I’m absolutely fine with harsh vocals);
- Energy and dynamism/variety (which can include technicality);
- Strong production, of various types (e.g. punchy, deep, etc.);
- Atmosphere.
I’d say all my favourite music hits at least one of those strongly, often more. And if something is particularly weak in one or more of those areas, it would normally need to really excel in others to compensate. But to be honest, I’m unpredictable and something might tick all those boxes and still just not really speak to me. So good luck.
My RYM ratings are probably a useful reference point, if used sensibly. Essentially everything 4 stars and above I consider to be great and likely to make me want to come back to it. Within that, the stuff that I rate even higher (4.5-5 stars) really just comes down to how much it really grabs me, which I can’t always explain. Higher ratings tend to come either after many listens if something is new, or if I'm already very familiar with an artist then it can happen quicker. With completely new stuff, I don’t often commit to a 4.5 star rating (and basically never a 5 star rating) after only a few listens.
Stuff I rate 3.5 stars I still consider good for a listen or two, but there's normally something about it that I find lacking for whatever reason. Even more so for 3 stars which is basically "decent but not very exciting". Both of those I’d be unlikely to seek out again. 2.5 stars and lower I’d be more likely to want to actively avoid.
RESULTS:Round 1:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
ResultsRound 2:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
Comparisons |
ResultsRound 3:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
Comparisons |
ResultsRound 4:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
Comparisons |
ResultsRound 5:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
Comparisons |
ResultsRound 6:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
Comparisons |
ResultsBonus round: Playlist
Spotify &
Youtube | Results
Part 1 &
Part 2Round 7:
Stats |
Spotify playlist |
First impressions |
Tops & Bottoms | Results: ranks
24-21;
20-18;
17-14;
13-11;
10-7;
6-4;
3-1PARTICIPANTS:Final scores:
1. Crow = 8.8 + 8.4 + 8.6 + 8.3 + 8.2 + 8.2 + (8.4 + 4.3) = 63.2
2. Evermind = 8.4 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.4 + 8.2 + 8.7 + (8.6 + 4.2) = 63.0
2. Puppies = 7.9 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 7.8 + 9.0 + 8.8 + (8.4 + 4.5) = 63.0
4. Luoto = 8.3 + 8.7 + 8.0 + 8.6 + 8.2 + 7.9 + (8.5 + 4.5) = 62.7
5. TAC = 8.2 + 8.7 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.4 + (8.3 + 4.1) = 62.4
6. nick_z = 8.2 + 8.5 + 8.3 + 8.4 + 8.5 + 8.0 + (8.3 + 4.0) = 62.2
7. Buddy = 8.4 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.3 + 8.0 + 8.1 + (8.4 + 4.3) = 62.1
7. Litho = 8.3 + 7.8 + 8.4 + 8.4 + 8.8 + 8.3 + (8.3 + 3.8) = 62.1
9. wolfking = 8.6 + 8.1 + 8.4 + 8.5 + 8.4 + 7.8 + (8.1 + 3.8) = 61.7
10. lonestar = 7.8 + 8.0 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 8.4 + (8.4 + 4.0) = 61.3
11. soupy = 8.4 + 7.9 + 8.2 + 8.4 + 8.3 + 8.0 + (8.0 + 4.0) = 61.2
11. jingle = 8.2 + 7.7 + 8.6 + 8.4 + 8.1 + 8.2 + (8.1 + 3.9) = 61.2
11. seneca = 7.6 + 8.3 + 7.8 + 8.6 + 8.3 + 8.5 + (8.2 + 3.9) = 61.2
14. luke = 8.2 + 7.9 + 8.2 + 7.9 + 8.5 + 7.8 + (8.2 + 4.2) = 60.9
15. romdrums = 8.0 + 8.2 + 8.0 + 8.3 + 8.4 + 8.2 + (7.8 + 3.9) = 60.8
16. Sacul = 8.3 + 8.9 + 8.0 + 7.8 + 7.9 + 8.1 + (7.6 + 3.8) = 60.4
16. King = 7.3 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 7.8 + 7.7 + 8.4 + (8.4 + 4.4) = 60.4
18. Vmadera = 8.0 + 8.0 + 7.3 + 8.3 + 7.9 + 8.2 + (8.3 + 4.1) = 60.1
19. Reaper = 7.6 + 8.1 + 7.7 + 8.0 + 8.2 + 8.2 + (7.9 + 4.0) = 59.7
20. HOF = 7.5 + 7.9 + 8.7 + 7.7 + 7.5 + 8.4 + (8.0 + 3.9) = 59.6
21. Stadler = 7.9 + 8.4 + 7.9 + 7.4 + 8.0 + 7.4 + (8.2 + 4.2) = 59.4
22. faizoff = 7.2 + 8.2 + 8.3 + 7.0 + 8.1 + 7.7 + (8.2 + 3.7) = 58.4
23. Glasser = 8.1 + 8.1 + 8.8 + 8.2 + 8.2 + 7.9 + (6.6 + 2.0) = 57.9
DNF Elite = 7.8 + 8.0 + 7.5 + 7.2 + 7.9 + 8.4 = 46.8 after 6 rounds
Click the graphs to enlarge.
Topic: ariich's DARK TO LIGHT roulette (v8) - Post-roulette updates (ongoing) (Read 91083 times)