Song Contest 201 (Results posted)

[Aristophanes]

/in

[Aristophanes]

The deed is done

[Aristophanes]

Spoiler: I think I wrote more than usual, this was a fun one!

Sweden: Diablo Swing Orchestra - The Age of Vulture Culture

I love the string intro! It's such a powerful way to begin a piece!

Ooo, this is like swingy-ska-rock. Interesting mix of genres.
Great trumpet break, great strings, very cool voice. That growl at 4:08 when she starts singing again is *chefs kiss*

This is awesome!

Paraguay: Inchiuvatu - Matri Addulurata

This is a very interesting one...

I don't mean that in a bad way, and it's definitely going for something. I like the guitar it starts off with, it has a very spanish feel.
I'm torn on the vocals. It's like metal-voice but without the screaming, and I can kind of jive with it.
As it goes on into the carnival of strangeness I feel like the kazoo/birthday noisemaker and the circus parade bits make me think of dia de los muertos clowns, which may or may not be a thing, but were quite the thing to imagine.

It used a lot of dissonant feels and I should dislike it for so many reasons but it was interesting. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't put it on myself ever.

post-note
I just realized the vocals make me think of Animal from The Muppets XD

Mali: Foals - Inhaler

I love the layering and the play between the left and right sides in the intro. It lets you know this is supposed to be an experience of some sort.
I didn't get right away that this was about drugs, but it makes sense. I like the vocals and having them set back in the mix was a bold choice that I think does an awful lot for this song's goals. It gives you that little bit of distance from what you're used to and expecting.
The popping in the left ear does so much heavy lifting in this piece and while it is important throughout it really shines in the outro. I live how they built this conceptually. It's really cool.

Scythia: October Project - Bury My Lovely

This is another really interesting one. Her voice is really neat, it feels throat-deepened, which is I guess what I'm calling the Shakira feel sans the Kermit. I think it would work really well for some Gaelic songs. The polyrhythms were really weird, her singing in longer almost 5/4 time over what I took as 3/4, and the timing of her start make the sustained noted over the busy framework striking. It maybe makes more sense as being 6/8 with her coming in on the 3& when I really listen back, but that's still off enough to justify this.

It's cool and it's got some strong theory behind it and it's obviously using a lot of elements to make a point here. I did note that the driving rhythms started to get more dissonant in each verse which I thought was cool. This is a really strong theory piece.

Chile: Miranda! - Mentía

This was a fun song! I didn't get all of it, but it was nice to dust off my Spanish vocabulary again.

Classic pop setup of him longing for a girl he can't have, though the video implies cheating which I may have gotten with a bit more language knowledge.

This was a nice, fun, easy to listen to song that I could see being in my playlists.

Kazakhstan: The Callous Daoboys - What Is Delicious? Who Swarms?

The intro surprised me and I accidentally turned the volume to 0. I listened to the rest of it on 2 and he was still screaming too loudly.

I didn't mind the bit where he was actually singing. But no, this is not for me.

Venezuela: Maylene and the Sons of Disaster - Caution: Dangerous Curves Ahead

Well, I was glad I forgot to turn the volume back up, listening at 2 again. I just can't do all of this screaming stuff. I try. And occasionally one works, whether it's from the mix or the supporting instrumentation or whatever. But I just can't with screaming and the heavy electric guitar. That's not to say the guitar solo break wasn't good, I thought it was actually. It's still a hard pass though.

I guess I should say that with headphones on and when it's quiet, I usually listen at a volume of 6, so there isn't a lot of play to the volume levels here, especially as they move in increments of 2.

United Kingdom: David Poore - Springwatch Theme

Ahh, the Celtic feel. Love it. The fiddling is so good and the build is really well done. It gets so much done in such a short time! I am guessing the gulls at the end are integrated into the intro to this Springwatch, but they work pretty well musically so well done with that.

I've often thought about entering some shorter pieces but I always figured they'd be out of place. This is not, so thank you!

Belobog: Parius - Dimension Y

Ooo yes, dark sci-fi future sound, I like it. I like to call what this intro sounds like "future funk" but I'm sure it's something else haha.
This isn't quite what I would listen to typically, a little harder than my usual. But I like the scape they've carved out here.
That drop out in the middle is so cool, and the future dystopia feeling is really well done!
There's a hopeless struggle going on and it is reflected very nicely.

Galápagos: Allan Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue

This is a cool sound. It's got some bits that make me think of Bill Wurtz.
It's definitely a little more electric guitar distortion than I like, the uneasy feel of the piece with the difficulty finding the rhythm is cool and goes well with the theme of the song.
I gather that the jaggedness is the world that we've created, and he's looking for a way back to the flowing feels of nature which I think he's getting in the guitar of all places, the distortion and cuts of course being us again. It's a cool concept again, and I can appreciate that without liking the song per se.

Peru: Caroline Polachek - Pretty in Possible

This is cool again. I like her voice and I like the vibe.
It's really cool how the dynamics and spatial movement in the headphones is used again. It almost feels like some of the vocals are coming at you from behind, like the "ayayaya" at around 2:10.

Listening to it again, I really can't say enough how cool her voice is. The way she uses vocal breaks especially in her runs gives such a cool sound. Again, she would do really well in a lot of very classic Gaelic music and I'd love to hear that!

Gibraltar: Bob Dylan - Positively 4th Street

Ah, Bob Dylan. What a great songwriter!
A lot of his songs don't work for him, but this one does. It's the right speed for his tendency to mumble to not get in the way, and it's a very straight forward, message based piece.
Very easy to listen to, straight to the point. I think it could do with a couple more flourishes really, but it's nice and it gets the job done.

eSwatini: Holly Humberstone - Falling Asleep at the Wheel

I really like this song. It's such a good vocalization of a relationship that was fine, but stresses have gotten in, life started doing what it does, and the drift is in full swing.
But instead of being hopeless, while it hammers on the distance that is growing, the sadness at not being a ray of light when needed, at not listening or caring in the moment, there is this hope that things can be shaken up and that this is temporary.

It has so many elements of what feels like the conversation and arguments in this relationship, mostly in the little fillers and breaks.
"light up another cigarette" "not a cloud in sight, what a perfect night" are two of them that show the 2 sides to the relationship, but neither has any feeling anymore.

In the beat, it goes from this driving feel to a dreamy one when she first says she is falling asleep at the wheel, and the play between them is really expressive.
Her pleading to be woken up, but without any feeling like she is invested in the words, perfectly captures what she is saying in the song.

Gabon: Khai Dreams - Rats

I like this, but it feels very generically here. I thought it was fine, the vocals are nice, the music is nice. Nothing stood out as something to say about it to be honest. But it was fine.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Buck-Tick - Die

The intro screeches had me really worried here, but it was alright.
They achieved their vibe I think, but it didn't do anything for me.

Oh, except for the ending. I hated the ending. Start with a screech, end with a screech I guess.

Looking at my rankings, they all make good sense to me. There's a really drastic dip after the first few and another as we get to the ones that didn't make it. I ranked on stairs rather than a straight line down this time it seems. It was a good contest though!

[Aristophanes]

Spoiler:

Chile: Miranda! - Mentía

This was a fun song! I didn't get all of it, but it was nice to dust off my Spanish vocabulary again.

Classic pop setup of him longing for a girl he can't have, though the video implies cheating which I may have gotten with a bit more language knowledge.

This was a nice, fun, easy to listen to song that I could see being in my playlists.

Spoiler:

You’re not that far. He’s singing to his ex, that’s the video theme too, he’s like stalking her. “Hey bad idea going to the same place where I was with him. I know it’s over but this isn’t finished, if I see you both again I’ll kill you. Not literally of course, but I’d love too. As you can see I’m a little jealous”, etc etc

Oh nice! That makes a lot of sense actually!

Cool to know I wasn't too far off base
Thanks!