Had to get this out before Stadler left for the weekend. If he's going to ruin my week by making me listen to Radiohead, it's only fair that I ruin his weekend by giving the scores.
Stadler: Radiohead - Exit Music (For A Film)Seriously, are you fucking shitting me!?!?! ... Is still my reaction after listening to this. I really don't know how to take this seriously, other than you're trying too hard for the intangible points (which is backfiring on you for the most part), and completely disregarding quality. Even if you'd had a perfect 10 on the intangibles, you'd still have a weak score here. The acoustic intro was decent, but in only 27 seconds, this song went to shit. The tone and content of the Yorke's singing was a bucket full of meh, and I'm being generous. Then the band kicks in at 2:55, and ... um, no. I might have been able to find some enjoyment (despite the depressing melancholy) if they'd just left it an acoustic piece, but the last 90 seconds are unlistenable - it literally hurts my ears. I gave this four honest listens, which by Tim's Winger-scale, was 5 listens too many.
You've tried the game the system twice now, and failed spectacularly both times - having a lowish intangible score, and sending music that had little-to-no appeal for me. Your best scores were the rounds you sent good music, so how's about focusing on quality first for the last few rounds, yes?
ScoresQuality: 2 (AND I STILL THINK THIS IS GENEROUS)
Unpredictability: 4.5
Anonymity: 2
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Puppies: Cosmograf - Rattrapante#dafuq … did I just listen to? Risky, and in the words of Han… "I've got a bad feeling about this". On more dedicated listens, this actually had a lot to like - the opening has a big IQ vibe. I especially liked the vocal harmonies and musical melodies in the chorus, and I started to warm up to the first solo at 1:50; and the duel with the keyboards at 5:00 was mucho bueno, along with the subsequent instrumental after the NASA samples. It wasn't the longest song this round, but it sure felt like it. I suspect this is part of a concept album, and would likely work better in the broader context. It was clearly your turn to get hooped on the intangibles because of the unfortunate letter reveals (T and R... and methinks Tim just started firing vowels into R_ttr, letting Spotify auto-suggest - either that, or he is stalking you on Spotify via the Friend Activity). A rather enjoyable song, but one that falls just short of being able to round up to an A-ish score.
ScoresQuality: 7.5
Unpredictability: 0.5
Anonymity: 0.5
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Lonestar: Spiritrial - 1999Ballsy, given the lyrical content of that middle section. You're not gonna give up on this stuff with me, are ya? Actually, I was wrong, this was not very "ballsy" at all - in the sense that most of it falls into the 'soft-cock' realm - especially that chorus (which actually, I liked the most about the song). There's very little 'balls' to this, and a bit too much simplicity. This has the text-book prog-power opening that slides right into my wheelhouse - acoustic with very melodic driven and silky smooth vocals. For the heavy verses and pre-chorus, something just isn't working - and it's not the Japanese lyrics. I don't think English lyrics would've made much of a difference - some difference but not much - I mean, the composition and structure of these sections are designed to highlight the singing, but it's hard to appreciate that when I don't know what's being sung. The breakdown starting with the bass-slappin at 5:20 was fucking awesome - but over in 35 seconds. Shit man, even I can stay hard for longer than that! The outro was pretty good, but on the whole, I was not wow'd with this one.
ScoresQuality: 7.5
Unpredictability: 5
Anonymity: 3
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TAC: Paul Wardingham - Rise of the HordeYou chose wisely, as door number 1 or 2 would've cost you some points. But, this certainly didn't have "9" written all over it. After the slow start, and the blast beats (man I hate those), we got a Jason Richardson vibe going on. Thankfully they dialed those blast beats back (with a brief reprise later in the song), but that first 90 seconds or so were just so-so. The 'chorus' melody at 1:40… now that was the goods. Really nice guitar tone throughout this entire track, and he does a great job of letting the rest of the instrumentation stay out of the way of his riffing and shredding. Luckily, those blast beats don't stick around for too long at any one-time - even still, I could do without them... They just make those parts too "thrashy" for my liking. Overall, very impressive for one person to perform everything about this song.
ScoresQuality: 8
Unpredictability: 3
Anonymity: 5
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Indiscipline: Embrace of Souls - The Number of DestinyCheesy as fuck- like a deep dish slice of 'za with 6 kinds of cheese on it. This is Italian prog/power done right (though, it's VERY light on the prog
. Yet, those background lyrics are so cringey ("You are heeeeeeeere")
… they ALMOST trend in to the realm of "so bad they're good". Not really, that line in particular could spoil milk, but fortunately it's only a few bars at a time. The actual writing of the lyrics in the chorus is also kinda laughable - but at least they're in English
! The guitar/keys solo duelling is mag-fucking-nificent - everything I want and love in power metal, with the rhythm section not being too bland or monotonous in support of the solos; frankly, in support of the entire song... regularly switching up the deployment of the double-bass kicks helps a lot. If it was constantly 'galloping', or the Dragonforce-esque speed double-bass, I'm not sure I'd be too keen with that. You too were screwed with the intangibles. This one was an A-, but you can blame the lyrics and backing vocals for rounding the score down to an 8.
ScoresQuality: 8
Unpredictability: 1.5
Anonymity: 1
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Wolfking: Takayoshi Ohmura - Face the SkyChallenging Josh to see who can find the best Melodic Power metal eh? Musically, this started off hot; not sure on the lead vocal lines though (initially, I'm enjoying the backing vox more). I worried I steered you wrong when I told you I was a big Edman fan - I really am! And it took a couple of spins, but I really warmed up to the chorus with each and every listen; and a few more spins later, the lead vocal lines really settled in. The instrumental breakdown was dynamite, and the outro was very reminiscent of Magnus level melodic metal writing. And after a few more listens, I'm finding more to like in this one vs Embrace of Souls … but just by a sliver. It too gets an A-, but is just good enough to round up.
ScoresQuality: 8.5
Unpredictability: 4
Anonymity: 2.5
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Evermind:Kenziner - DimensionsAhh… so this is where JP found his Budokan tone for Hollow Years. Shit, 1/2 the song titles on this album steal from DT! (Live Forever, Trial of Tears, Eternity). Maybe DT stole "The Razor's Edge" from them?). I digress. After the Hollow Years homage, we get the purpose of the song …. shreddery. Glorious shreddery - like Cliffs of Dover level of glory. The unisons with the keyboard are very nicely done as well. Lots of great playing, great riffing, and great arpeggios. My only beef is that it was a rather abrupt slow down out of nowhere and then fade out that just left me wanting more.
Scores Quality: 8.5
Unpredictability: 2
Anonymity: 4.5
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Litho: Karnataka - The StormFlutes, mother fuckers! It was a risky start, but it ended up paying off. She's got a gorgeous voice, and hey! You're learning… that voice matches the overall feel of the song
And once the solo hits, man alive that was sexy. First half was a nice slow build; 2nd half said "hold my beer". Jesus H that was sweet - very Gilmour-esque. I'm very curious to know what 2 minutes was cut from this version - whether it trimmed some fat, or whether the live element just enhanced the hell out of this tune.
ScoresQuality: 9
Unpredictability: 3.5
Anonymity: 1.5
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King: Earthside - The Lesser EvilThis is a sonic buffet. So much to listen to / for. Let's detail our adventure … smooth and soulful vocals; atmospheric; tickling keyboard runs; horns; djent-y guitar riffs; pounding percussion; non-growlie screams; funk and soul splashed throughout; proggy-as-shit with all those time changes; keyboard solo extraordinaire (but brief); slow and mellow acoustic passage; and then a smorgasbord of it all together for the final 2.5 minutes. How do you classify this?? Motown-funk-progressive-metal ... AS FUCK, is as good as I can do.
ScoresQuality: 9
Unpredictability: 1
Anonymity: 3.5
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Dr. DTVT: Barock Project - The Longest SighWhile Cheffy is looking for the prog-metal sweet spot; and Litho searches for the melodic metal sweet spot, you have absolutely found that neo-prog-rock sweet spot. I've tried a couple of the songs that King has pimped from these guys in roulette's, and while I enjoyed them all, nothing had grabbed me as much as this tune. These guys just scream RoSFest - absolutely the poster child for the music you'd expect there - I figured that was going to be a softball impression for you to pick. Other than the stomping nature of rhythm section at the start of the instrumental, this was a beauty from start-to-finish. But even in that section, the guitar and keyboard solos compensate for the dreary rhythm. Overall, it's like Moon Safari meets Mystery. I debated a perfect score, but
ScoresQuality: 9.5
Unpredictability: 2.5
Anonymity: 4
Total Round 5:Dr. DTVT - Barock Project / The Longest Sigh: 2.5 + 4 + 9.5 = 16
TAC - Paul Wardingham / Rise of the Horde: 3 + 5 + 8 = 16
lonestar - Spiritrial / 1999: 5 + 3 + 7.5 = 15.5
Evermind - Kenziner / Dimensions: 2 + 4.5 + 8.5 = 15
wolfking - Takayoshi Ohmura / Face the Sky: 4 + 2.5 + 8.5 = 15
LithoJazzoSphere - Karnataka / The Storm: 3.5 + 1.5 + 8.5 = 14
Kingshmegland - Earthside / The Lesser Evil: 1 + 3.5 + 9 = 13.5
Indiscipline - Embrace of Souls / The Number of Destiny: 1.5 + 1 + 8 = 10.5
Puppies - Cosmograf / Rattrapante: 0.5 + 0.5 + 7.5 = 8.5
Stadler - Radiohead / Exit Music (For A Film): 4.5 + 2 + 2 = 8.5
Overall Standings:Litho - 73.5
TAC - 71.5
Wolfking - 71.5
Evermind - 71
lonestar - 69.5
Dr. DTVT - 67.5
Indiscipline - 63
Puppies - 62
King - 61.5
Stadler - 53.5
Quality through 5 Rounds:
lonestar - 42
Dr. DTVT - 41
Litho - 41
King - 40.5
Wolfking - 40
Indiscipline - 39.5
Evermind - 39
Puppies - 38.5
TAC - 36.5
Stadler - 31.5
Topic: Re: jingle.boy's Roulette v5 - th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks! (Read 44525 times)