FINAL THOUGHTS AND SCORESBuddyhunter1 - 13Main Entry: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Cornflake
9/10
Wine Pairing: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Bill’s Mandolin
4/5
Great riffs, catchy melodies. I love the 5-6-5-8 section of Cornflake. I’m a sucker for stuff with revolving time signatures. Parts of both songs remind me of King Gizz, but with better production.
By fair my favorite pairing of all the submissions.
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ariich - 13Main Entry: Amorphis - Sacrifice
7/10
Wine Pairing: Amorphis - The Wanderer
3/5
+3 Secret MenuAnd here’s the first artist from the Secret Menu! Amorphis is a name I’ve seen around here many times, but never checked them out. After listening to just these two songs, my thoughts are….”it’s alright”.
So congrats, ariich, you get 3 bonus points!
Both songs are solid instrumentally, still not sold on the vocals. I know you asked if I was picky about vocals, and I said no…but maybe I am
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Puppies - 12.5Main Entry: Mew - Why Are You Looking Grave?
9/10
Wine Pairing: Mew - Am I Wry? No
3.5/5
Really enjoyed both songs. I like the riffs, I like the dreamy vocals, and the addition of J. Mascis on the ME is a nice touch. You’ve changed my mind about a band I had written off for over a decade.
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Sacul - 12.5Main Entry: Sui Generis - Cancion Para Mi Muerte
8.5/10
Wine Pairing: Sui Generis - Rasguña las Piedras
4/5
I don’t understand a word they’re saying but I love every minute of it. 2 really great, light, catchy songs. More of this, por favor.
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Lizzo - 12.5Main Entry: Emma Ruth Rundle - Shadows of My Name
9/10
Not much to add that I didn’t say in my first impression. Love the haunting, cinematic vibe of this song. This is the song I’ve gone back to the most out of all the submissions.
Wine Pairing: John Mayer - The Heart of Life
3.5/5
Never been much of a John Mayer guy outside his handful of hits. Very talented and tasteful guitar player. This song is nice.
Love the pairing of these two songs together. Light and dark. They work well together.
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TAC - 12Main Entry: Lumsk - Das Veilchen
8/10
Wine Pairing: Lumsk - Trolltind
4/5
LOVE the vocals. Love the operatic-ness. Love the guitar work. Melodic and beautiful. Both great submissions.
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HOF - 11.5Main Entry: Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Just Above Midtown
8.5/10
Woke up with this stuck in my head today, and it hasn’t left. Love the vocals, love the funkiness. The chorus is catchy, I just wish it had a bit more to say.
Wine Pairing: The Clientele - I Wonder Who We Are
3/5
This song makes me wanna go to the beach.
HOF wins this round in terms of catchiness. Both songs are just infectiously catchy. Get the CDC on the phone.
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Evermind - 10Main Entry: Kalandra - Brave New World
9/10
I love the vocals, the groove, and the dynamics. I love everything but the abrupt ending. Feels like it could have kept building up to something.
Wine Pairing: Ghostly Kisses - The City Holds My Heart
1/5
This one didn’t do it for me. I find the vocals too breathy and sleepy, and the music behind it just uninteresting.
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ProfessorPeart - 9.5Main Entry: The Cure - Lovesong
6/10
I gotta thank you again for solving a musical mystery that’s been bugging me for years (the keyboard melody), unfortunately this song just didn’t go anywhere interesting for me.
Wine Pairing: Bruce Soord & Jonas Renkse - Stacked Naked
3.5/5
Really like the vibe and vocals. My only real complaint was the lyrics, which I found kind of dumb. And what does the title even mean?
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lonestar - 9Main Entry: Protest the Hero - Underbite
8/10
First song submitted to the roulette, and it’s a very fitting opener, with the opening line “SO HOW YOU FUCKING FEELING TONIGHT?!”
I’m feeling great, thanks for asking.
Love the energy, love the guitar playing, love the vocals for the most part. Didn’t love the vocals in the ending section. Is that a guest vocalist? Someone else in the band? Either way, didn’t love that part, but it doesn’t ruin the song for me. It also feels like they didn’t know to end the song, so they just stopped playing.
Wine Pairing: Amahiru - WTTP
1/5
Why would you aspire to be Nickelback? This isn’t wine, this is a flat, room temperature, generic, store brand Diet Coke.
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wolfking - 9Main Entry: Vega - Explode
6/10
I also miss the 80’s. I wasn’t even there. I stand by my Rocky Balboa training montage comment. If Rocky VII ever happens (it shouldn’t), someone send this to Sylvester Stallone.
Wine Pairing: Edguy - Superheroes
3/5
Thought this one was cheesy as hell at first. Still do, but it’s grown on me a lot. Pairs well with the ME.
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romdrums - 9Main Entry: Marillion - A Collection
6/10
Wine Pairing: Marillion - Cover My Eyes
3/5
I’m only familiar with the Fish-era of Marillion, and I do prefer the more cinematic and proggy style of that era. These songs are nice for what they are. Goes without saying they pair well together.
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King Postwhore - 8.5Main Entry: The Rembrandts - New King
6/10
I found myself humming this one to myself a lot throughout the day. Simple, jangly 90’s pop rock. Nothing wrong with that.
Wine Pairing: The Rembrandts - Lost Together
2.5/5
I like the Beatles vibe to this one.
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twosuitluke - 8Main Entry: Frank Turner - Don’t Worry
5/10
This ended up growing on me, but not much. Despite me being a millennial, millennial pop has never appealed to me much.
Wine Pairing: Frank Turner - Photosynthesis
3/5
This one I liked from the get go. I relate to the lyrics a lot, and I like the music a lot more.
I think both songs pair well together, not just because they’re from the same guy. It’s like a call and response thing.
A: “It’s ok if you don’t know what to do.”
B: “I’M GONNA DO WHAT THE FUCK I WANT.”
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faizoff - 7Nirvana - All Apologies
6/10
Dave Grohl, Kirst Novoselic, and Steve Albini were on Conan O’Brien’s podcast recently talking about the 30th anniversary of this album, and I’ve been meaning to give it a listen. I really like the main guitar riff. I’m not a huge Nirvana guy, but I’ve always thought Nirvana had some great riffs. I know Kurt isn’t known for his guitar abilities, but I’ve always appreciated sloppy guitar playing just as much as super-precise, technical playing.
Wine Pairing: Nirvana - Dumb
1/5
Fitting title.
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Stadler - 7Main Entry: Blackmore’s Night - Self Portrait
5/10
Wine Pairing: Blackmore’s Night - Under a Violet Moon
2/5
I don’t have much to say about either of these. Nice, catchy, folksy, medieval songs. They didn’t stand out much to me though.
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jingle.boy - 5.5 Main Entry: Yargos - Time Drops
2/10
This one just did nothing for me. As I said before, melodramatic, and I don’t love the vocals.
Wine Pairing: Headspace - Soldier
3.5/5
This was better. I like the melancholy vibe, and definitely prefer these vocals over the main entry.